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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outThilan Samaraweera smashed 11 fours en route to his second ODI century•Associated Press

Rarely does a centurion get overshadowed in a match of middling scores. But though Thilan Samaraweera finished with an accomplished unbeaten 105, the headlines were stolen by Thissara Perera, who celebrated his third cap with a power-packed 15-ball 36. From needing 54 off 39 balls when he arrived at the crease, Sri Lanka romped home with two overs to spare, as India’s quest for yorkers merely resulted in one too many no-balls and full tosses. Chanaka Welegedara’s five-wicket haul had killed India’s batting momentum at crucial times, and with the dew playing such a factor in the evening, 279 was not quite enough.After taking Zaheer Khan through cover to get off the mark, Perera transformed the game in Ashish Nehra’s seventh over. He had been India’s best bowler, but Perera pierced the off-side cordon, flicked behind square and then nonchalantly hoicked the free hit for six in the same direction.Samaraweera got to his hundred straight after, but was then more than content to watch the fun from the other end.Zaheer was then carved through the covers twice, as he made light of being struck in the ribs, and a meaty club through wide long-on finished off matters well ahead of time. Sri Lanka had been given a brisk start by the new opening pair of Upul Tharanga and Lahiru Thirimanne, the debutant who replaced Tillakaratne Dilshan, but once India conceded just 16 in the five overs of bowling Powerplay, the onus was very much on the old hands to see it home.Tharanga had set the tone with a casual loft for four off Zaheer, and then two then took 16 from an over that also featured wides down the leg side. With runs leaking, MS Dhoni gave the ball to Sreesanth, only for Thirimanne to reveal glimpses of his potential with three cracking drives through the covers. It was too good to last though. In Sreesanth’s next over, he got into a tangle trying to pull off the front foot and the ball ballooned to midwicket.Soon after, Harbhajan Singh was introduced and Tharanga chipped his fourth ball straight back. But Samaraweera came in and wrested the initiative with deft cuts and a paddle for four. And with Kumar Sangakkara unafraid to come down the pitch and chip over the infield, the innings quickly revived. By then the towels were out, and the Indian focus was as much on keeping the ball dry as it was on taking the wickets needed to win the game.Samaraweera was the primary aggressor, scooping Sreesanth for four in an over that cost 16, and Sri Lanka were cruising when Sangakkara, who had eased to 60, stepped out and lofted Harbhajan Singh straight to cover. Thilina Kandamby then top-edged a wild swipe to midwicket and when Suraj Randiv backed up too far, they were in trouble. Perera, though, ensured that India would get no reprieve.Earlier, Yuvraj Singh had marked his return to the XI with 74 from 84 balls, while Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja all contributed decent cameos after Virender Sehwag had played a typically effervescent hand. He cruised to 47 from 30 balls before playing too early at one bowled with fingers rolled across the seam from round the wicket, and after his exit, India had to build steadily on a surface where the ball didn’t always come on to the bat.Sehwag had announced his intentions from the outset, off-driving Welegedara for four, but there was an early setback for the Indians as he sneaked a yorker underneath Gautam Gambhir’s bat and on to the base of leg stump. With Sehwag taking Suranga Lakmal for three fours in an over, and Virat Kohli playing a lovely straight drive, the 50 of the innings came in just the seventh over. The game changed, though, in the space of two eventful overs from Welegedara.Sehwag had scythed two off-side fours and been caught behind off a no-ball by the time Kohli tried too cute a deflection to a ball pitched outside off stump. Having conceded 18 in that over, Welegedara came back in the next to have Sehwag caught at mid-off by Thirimanne. India had taken 76 from the first Powerplay, but only 13 came from the bowling one as the bowlers kept a leash on the new batsmen. Both Yuvraj and Dhoni clipped boundaries through point, but with Randiv getting pretty sharp turn, and Kandamby filling in with part-time spin, the runs were no longer coming at Sehwag pace.When Muthumudalige Pushpakumara went off injured after a dive in the outfield, Sangakkara had to turn to his occasional bowlers, and Yuvraj quickly cashed in, pulling Samaraweera for four and then heaving Kandamby for two consecutive sixes to reach his half-century. At that point,Perara, deputising for Chamara Silva, was called on, and Dhoni’s attempt to force the issue only found Sangakkara’s gloves. Soon after, he induced a miscued pull from Yuvraj, and by the time the batting Powerplay was taken after 43 overs, there were only 225 on the board.They took 14 from the first of those overs, bowled by Welegedara, but with Jadeja going four-six-four-four against Thilan Thushara, the innings finally had some energy. But back came Sri Lanka again, with Welegedara castling Raina and Zaheer, and Harbhajan playing a hideous stroke to point. By the time Jadeja holed out in the final over, all hopes of 300had long since disappeared, leaving Sri Lanka with a chase that they timed to perfection.

New Zealand recovered from their disappointing batting performance against Australia on Sunday to give the record books a rewrite in their match with India in the World Series of Women’s Cricket at Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln University today.Opening batsman Nicola Payne started the trend when achieving the best score of her 63-match One-Day International career. She scored 93 off 130 balls to help New Zealand to a record score against India of 248 for five wickets.Her effort was deserving of a century but after 47-over stay at the crease she succumbed to leg cramps and was unable to avoid being run out as she and Haidee Tiffen were putting intense pressure on what had been a game Indian fielding effort.Payne’s 93 bettered the highest score by a New Zealand player against India which was 89 jointly held by Janette Dunning at Jamshedpur in 1984/85 and Anna O’Leary at Lincoln during the CricInfo Women’s World Cup in 2000.New Zealand’s total was also its highest against India, surpassing the 224 for five wickets scored at Lincoln in 2000.When Payne was out, New Zealand were in the strong position of 222 for four wickets. She had shared an 87-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Tiffen.Tiffen scored her fifth half century soon after, off 47 balls, including six fours. However, she was out in the next over when undone by a slower ball from Jhulan Goswami and bowled for 52 with New Zealand 230 for five wickets.Payne, who had played 37 ODIs for the Netherlands, was playing her 26th game for New Zealand. Her previous highest score for New Zealand was 60 scored against Ireland on last year’s tour to Britain and Europe while her highest for the Netherlands was 73 not out against Denmark in a match at Husum in Germany in 1997.Payne, Canadian-born but whose parents live in the Netherlands, and who first came to New Zealand to live in the 1994/95 season where she has been a club coach in Christchurch with the St Albans club, said she had been “a little bit more relaxed” in her batting this year, largely the result of accumulated experience more than anything else.She said that the plan she and opening partner Rebecca Rolls used was to do nothing too fancy and just get the side away to a good start. She said one of her main roles as an opener was to feed Rolls the strike as often as possible and then pull her back a bit when she gets wound up. They like to score 60 or 70 in the first 15 overs.Payne said she had been having problems getting stuck in the 30s in her previous international innings and it was good to get such a good score. While it would have been nice to get a century, the team situation of scoring 240-250 was the main goal and that had been more important.She said captain Emily Drumm had said to her during her stay at the crease to go on and get a big one today.Payne hadn’t been counting off the various milestones as they came along.”I’m not that good on numbers. But the last 10 overs went exactly to the plan we had, it was just that it is usually Tiffen and [Sara] McGlashan who are putting the pressure on the field at the end. There was a change in the wind at one stage of the innings and when the nor’wester came in there was one really hot spell,” she said.Earlier, Payne had shared a 79-run opening stand with Rolls who was dismissed for 38 runs, and after Payne’s dismissal Tiffen was out for her fifth half century, 52, and it was left to Maia Lewis who finished 17 not out and McGlashan who was five not out in a high risk stand that allowed New Zealand to go to lunch on 248 for five wickets.India showed batting defiance by only losing five wickets during their innings but it was at the cost of haste in their run scoring. Jaya Sharma (37) and Sunetra Paranjpe (41) scoring 75 in their opening stand. But India couldn’t lift the pace of their scoring and at the 37 over mark the requirement was already over 10 runs.The match had been interesting because the Indian openers had provided their side with a good start and with such good batsmen in their team they were capable of doing what New Zealand did, but when the time came to put the foot on the accelerator, the Indians had proved incapable of making the adjustment.The New Zealand bowlers had been generally inexpensive but they did concede 21 wides with Nicola Browne taking one for 21 off 10 overs and conceding seven wides while debutant left-arm spinner Rebecca Steele conceded 21 runs off her 10 overs but with no wides.

.Each of the 13 fours Rahul Dravid drove in the arc between point and long off was crowned with the perfect follow-through•AFP

On the opening day of the Ashes in 2002-03, after Nasser Hussain had sent Australia in to bat, Matthew Hayden set the agenda for an utterly one-sided contest, powering his way to an unbeaten 186 out of 364 for 2. On the first day at Motera, Rahul Dravid finished with 177 of the 371 runs that India scored after he arrived at the crease. Hayden faced 255 balls at the Gabba that day. Dravid faced four fewer. Hayden scored 104 of his runs in boundaries (23 fours and two sixes), while Dravid took 110 from strokes to or over the fence (26 fours and a six).As batsmen, they couldn’t be more different. Hayden was the colossus who stood outside his crease, walked down the pitch and generally bullied bowlers into submission. Every ball was a confrontation, one more opportunity to assert his dominance over the opposition. Dravid, one of the cornerstones of India’s batting strength over the past decade, has made his runs far more sedately, with greater subtlety. Where Hayden went for the first-round knockout, sheer persistence was the Dravid way. On occasions, even mighty Australian sides were worn down to the point of exhaustion.This was a very different Dravid. From the moment he placed one from Dammika Prasad through the covers, the positive intent was evident. But unlike many of his modern-day contemporaries, who use bats as thick as arks and prefer to stand-and-deliver, there was nothing frenetic or brutal about his methods. Dravid bats the old-fashioned way, bending his knee and transferring the body weight at just the right time. Each of the 13 fours he drove in the arc between point and long off was crowned with the perfect follow-through.Even late in the day, with the second new-ball taken, he chose his battles carefully. He invariably got into line for each delivery, and was perfectly content to leave off-stump bait well alone. “I knew we needed a partnership,” he said later, having spent some time in the ice-bath to recover from the day’s exertions. “I had that South African game [April 2008] at the back of my mind, where we were bowled out in 20 overs and the wicket became good later on.”I knew that if we could get through to lunch, batting would get a lot easier. Yuvi [Yuvraj Singh] came and batted really well. He was very positive and played some good shots. We were able to put on a 100-run partnership and that set the platform for me and Mahi [MS Dhoni]. We showed character today to be able to fight back.”More than his powers of concentration, always a hallmark of his game, what was most impressive was his ability to find the gaps. At one point, Kumar Sangakkara had a short cover and a sweeper in place, in addition to the mid-off fielder. He still threaded the ball through. Late on, with square leg and fine leg in position, he pulled Chanaka Welegedara so precisely that neither man moved more than a five yards before the ball crossed the rope.He made four half-centuries in New Zealand earlier this year, including match-saving efforts of 83 and 62 in Napier, but this was an innings played at an altogether different tempo. Not since The Oval in 2007, when he eased to a half-century before being castled by James Anderson, had he played with such freedom.He admitted as much. “It’s nice to get this feeling of batting the way I have. I’ve been through some tough times for a couple of seasons. I thought the flow’s sort of come back this year, in various forms of the game. It was probably one of my most fluent efforts over the last few seasons.”With the pitch conducive to run-scoring, Dravid reckoned that India would need around 500 to put some pressure on the Sri Lankans. And he was in no hurry to critique this particular innings. “It’ll be a good question to answer at the end of a game,” he said. “I always rate an innings in the context of the game. From 32 for 4, at the end of the day I’m really happy with what we’ve achieved. If we go on to win this Test match, you’d say it’s somewhere up there.”That’s why the innings I’ve played in Kolkata [v Australia, 2001], in Adelaide [v Australia, 2003] or in Rawalpindi [v Pakistan, 2004] … when you go on to win, that’s when you realise the value. In terms of shot-making, this was a good one. It was a pretty flat wicket. I’ve played on much tougher ones. If it ends up being a draw, it’s a great knock, but not as meaningful as some of the other ones.”After scoring 11,000 runs and 27 centuries, he really has nothing left to prove to anyone. But on a day when he frequently put two far more aggressive strokemakers in the shade, there was plenty for selectors and supporters to ponder. Instead of a Wall-like immoveable object, this was a free-flowing stream of an innings. “I’m not even thinking of selection,” he said when asked a question that alluded to his exclusion from the one-day scheme of things. “I’m just trying to play every single game.”There could well be a few more if this latest uptempo back-to-the-wall effort produces a result.

James Goodman, the England Under-19 allrounder, has had to return home from the ongoing tour of Bangladesh because of an illness.”Obviously I’m very disappointed that I couldn’t carry on in Bangladesh, but the doctor has told me that I need complete rest for a week to 10 days, and I have to respect that,” Goodman said.Goodman, who also plays for Kent, batted at No. 3 in the first innings of the only Youth Test but did not bat or field on the last day as England lost narrowly.”We are fully behind the decision to send James home on health grounds,” Kent coach Paul Farbrace. “I’m sure that James will play a key part in next year’s Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, so we want him to fully recuperate and get back playing as quickly as possible.”England U-19 are currently preparing for a seven-match one-day series against Bangladesh U-19.

The trouble with having a charge laid against you is that, whether you’re cleared or not and even if you pay your penance, you’ll always be regarded with some suspicion. Just ask Jacob Zuma, Chris Brown or even Johan Botha. After being cited for a suspect action for the third time, Botha must feel like a wanted criminal every time he steps out to play.Despite being cleared by Cricket South Africa (CSA), Vincent Barnes, South Africa’s bowling coach says the suspicion over Botha’s action “will always be there”, but it is something the bowler has learned to deal with. According to Barnes, Botha always had a mature attitude to his problem and recognised that the question marks over his action were unlikely to disappear.Before being called in the match between the Warriors and the Lions in East London, Botha had already planned to undergo testing at the Sports Science Institute this week. “It was just a coincidence that he was called, and he had to have the tests done for more serious reasons,” said Barnes. “We know that his bowling has to be monitored on a regular basis and this was part of that process.”Botha was last tested in May, when he was banned from bowling the doosra, and although there were more tests lined up in the future, Barnes said they had not conducted one because of Botha’s playing schedule. Since that test, he played a few IPL matches, the World Twenty20, the Champions Trophy and three first-class games.It was in the last of those games when “a few deliveries were thought to be suspect,” said Barnes, who was confident that the offspinner would be cleared even before the testing took place. “We were asked to focus on a particular delivery, which was the quicker one,” said Barnes. “Ironically, in the previous testing, the quicker delivery was the one with the lowest degrees.”Even though he thought Botha would come through the testing with no problem, Barnes said it was imperative to have a back-up plan in place. “We don’t want him to banned from bowling another delivery, so if we found something irregular than we would definitely work on it. The reality is that he is always going to have an awkward action because he can’t straighten his arm. He has a natural bend at the elbow.”The solution is that he has to bowl as naturally as he can. He is aware that he has to be careful and we will be monitoring him on a weekly basis.”The first time he was called [on his Test debut in January 2006], it took him 18 months to get back into the national side, so every time this happens it could determine where his career goes from now.”Botha has had to accept that ongoing testing would be part of his career, but it certainly becomes stressful every time he has to go under the microscope. During the May test, Barnes said: “I asked him which is more pressure: bowling now in the test or if this was the last ball of the World Cup final and you could win or lose the match with it? He said the test was more stressful.”It is for this reason that Barnes thinks testing bowlers in an indoor facility is not a fair way of determining if their action is legal or not. “In my opinion, they must be tested in the environment they are playing in,” Barnes said. “The testing is all done in an artificial environment where the surfaces and the conditions are different. For example, there is no wind, they don’t use boots, and there’s no batsman. The fatigue factor is completely taken out of it, because they only bowl 10 deliveries of a particular ball. But in a match, they could get called after 24 overs, when the bowler is feeling completely different.”Barnes admits that with the various camera angles required to conduct the testing, it’s unlikely that it can take place in a match situation, but he is hopeful that there is another way.

USA’s senior and Under-19 teams are scheduled to compete in several major tournaments over the next five months. However, USACA is currently struggling to figure out the best way to prepare them.USACA is planning on having its National Championship in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from November 13 to 15. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from October 9 to 11 in Houston, Texas, but officials wanted to move the event to Florida to give players competing for spots on the national teams the opportunity to play on turf pitches, as opposed to the matting wickets used in Houston and around most of the country.Florida’s venues would provide them necessary preparation for when the United States travels to Dubai for the 2010 World Twenty20 Qualifier from February 9 to 13 as well as to Nepal for the World Cricket League Division 5 from February 20 to 27.The National Championship will pit four regional teams, which qualified through USACA’s Eastern and Western Conference tournaments, against each other in 50-over matches on November 13 and 14 to determine the national champion.November 15 was intended to be used as an opportunity for players from these squads to be selected to face teams from Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago in Twenty20 matches, but those plans are now on hold because a financial agreement hasn’t been reached to lure the teams from the Caribbean to play on US soil.”We would have picked the best team we have and played Jamaica and Trinidad,” said Krish Prasad, chairman of USACA’s cricket committee. “Seeing that that is not likely to happen, we will have to come up with a different structure, because we’re going to Nepal and Dubai to play Twenty20 and Nepal to play 50 overs. We’ve got to come up with a plan to facilitate both teams’ preparations.”Another problem in selecting the senior team is trying to get the entire short list of 40 probables an opportunity to play and be evaluated when some of them belong to regional squads that were eliminated in the tournaments leading up to the nationals.”Hopefully we have, I think 90% of the players in the four regional teams,” said Prasad. “We’ve already selected 40 players to get there. We’re going to have to somehow get all those 40 players there. The ones that are not from the regions that’s going to be contesting in the national tournament will also be invited there to participate maybe in the Sunday tournament or something like that.”But we have to come up with a way of getting these guys there. The original plan we had was going to work well, but unfortunately that’s not going to work. So we’re going to have to get everybody there because we can’t select 40 guys and then don’t take them to a trial to see who’s the best team that we can send to Dubai and Nepal.”Other financial issues are also a consideration in the planning process of the weekend. The matches for the USACA National Championship will most likely be played at Brian Piccolo Park rather than Central Broward Regional Park because USACA is reluctant to pay for the Broward stadium’s rental fees for a non-revenue generating event.”If the stadium was available, we could have used the lights in there and played two night games also,” said Prasad. “That was the plan if the Jamaican team was going to come, because that would be a revenue generating opportunity.” According to Prasad, it would cost $2,500 per match to rent the facility.USACA’s financial constraints are also having an effect on the Under-19 squad, which is set to compete in the 2010 ICC Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand from January 16 to 30. A training camp had been planned to take place concurrently with the senior tournament in Florida, but those plans have been shelved for the time being.”The junior team, we were hoping to get them there at the same time,” said Prasad, “but because of the funding situation, we are just going to sort of keep them on hold for now and hopefully get them into some sort of practice sessions, playing a couple of games and fitness because I think our major problem with the Under-19 has been their fitness.”Living in the United States, they don’t play cricket every day in the summer and when they went to that tournament [Under-19 World Cup Qualifier in Toronto], it showed that nine games in 13 days was a little bit too much for our boys. We learned that we need to get them physically fit for this tournament that’s going to be starting in New Zealand in January.”There is hope that the situation will change in the near future though as USACA is currently trying to lock in a commercial partnership to generate significant funding to be used for improvements both on and off the field.”We are looking at these commercial programs, which the CEO [Don Lockerbie] is pursuing as we speak,” said Prasad. “So if that comes through in a couple of weeks, we could be in a very good position financially to start some very good programs. But like everything else, we have always been hampered by financial problems and once again we are encountering the same thing.”

AB de Villiers believes the ICC Champions Trophy presents South Africa with an “ideal opportunity” to prove they are the best in the world. South Africa are currently No.1 in the ICC ODI rankings but their record in ICC tournaments has been below expectations, having only emerged triumphant in the inaugural Champions Trophy in 1998. They’ve reached the semi-finals of the competition each time except in 2004, appeared three times in the final four of the World Cup, qualified for the semis of the ICC World Twenty20 this year and were knocked out in the Super Six round of the same tournament at home in 2007. But de Villiers was confident his team would go the extra mile this time around.”We came short a few times, but there are many players in the team who are eager to improve,” he told . “We believe we are the best team in the world and now is a good chance to prove that. It’s the ideal opportunity.”South Africa have hosted two ICC tournaments at home and have disappointed each time, but are training rigorously for the Champions Trophy which commences on September 22. They are currently in Potchefstroom, attending a training camp, and de Villiers admitted it’s the hardest they’ve been made to work.”It’s the hardest I have trained with this team,” he said. “We run three or four times every day, attend net sessions, sweat in the gym and work on our fitness in the pool.”South Africa have played ten ODIs this year, all against Australia, winning seven and losing three. They’ve won both the ODI series against them, home and away, but will be playing their first ODI after a gap of more than four months. de Villiers said the intense preparation, which includes practice matches, was adequate for gearing up for the Champions Trophy. “We have not played much cricket in recent times, but have a few training games behind us,” he said. “I believe we are all professional enough to gear ourselves mentally for the tournament.”One of the practice games de Villiers was referring to took place in Potchefstroom on September 3, with Johan Botha’s XI beating Jacques Kallis’ XI. JP Duminy was the star, making 68 in 78 balls with four boundaries. The match was a high-scoring encounter with both teams managing over 270, and coach Mickey Arthur said he was encouraged by the batting performances on a pitch that wasn’t too favourable. “The pitch was very slow which did not make conditions easy for the batsmen,” he said. “I was very impressed with all our senior batsmen. Duminy looked as though he had never stopped playing from last season, AB de Villiers showed excellent intensity and Boucher confirmed what an outstanding power hitter he can be.”Arthur expected the tracks for the tournament to be similar. “Generally speaking I was very happy with what we got out of this game,” he said. “The fact that we played on a slow pitch is no bad thing. I expect the pitches to be on the slow side for the start of the Champions’ Trophy as it is being played very early in the season and we will get more of the same for other upcoming tournaments such as next year’s ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean and the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent.”

Sachin Tendulkar has said he is not satisfied with his achievements and hopes to accumulate 15,000 runs and win the World Cup in 2011.”I am not pleased yet with what I have done,” Tendulkar, who has scored a record12773 Test runs at an average of 54.58 from 159 matches, said in aninterview with the . “Sunil Gavaskar has told me that Ihave to get to 15,000 runs. He said he would be angry with me and wouldcome and catch me if I didn’t. I admire him so much and to score that manywould be a terrific achievement, but that is not the only aim.” His other big cricketing ambition is to “win the World Cup in 2011”.Tendulkar, 36, also spoke about how he has been consistently playing with pain. “I always play in pain, all the time. I played with a broken finger for the last three months, but you know when pain is manageable or not, and most of the time I can do it,” he said. “I can still do what I did when I was 25 but the body is changing, so your thought process has to change too. I have had to change how I think, which is about taking less risk.”Tendulkar also disagreed with John Buchanan, former Australia coach, who felt Tendulkar had become susceptible to the short ball early in his innings because of a lack of footwork. “It is only his opinion; John Buchanan doesn’t have to be right all the time. If I couldn’t handle short deliveries, then I wouldn’t still be scoring runs,” he said. “Maybe he needs to change his opinion. There must be something very wrong with all the bowlers around the world that they have allowed me to score so many runs.”Don Bradman had said Tendulkar reminded him of himself and the Indian batsman was the only modern player in Bradman’s all-time XI. Does Tendulkar think the same way about anyone? “I would say Virender Sehwag comes closest to my style.”Tendulkar said he was not thinking about retirement yet but he would knowwhen to quit cricket. “I will know when it is the right time, I won’t have to bedragged away. I am the person who will make the decision and I will knowwhether I still belong.”He admitted life after cricket wouldn’t be easy. “It’s a scary thought. It has been there for my whole adult life, it will be difficult, I have been around for a long time, I can imagine when I finish I will long to face just 10 more balls but you have to move.”

Fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and opener Imran Nazir have been recalled to Pakistan’s one-day international squad after two years. Naved and Nazir have become the third and fourth Pakistan players to make comebacks to the national team after cutting ties with the unofficial ICL. Nazir’s inclusion has come at the expense of Salman Butt, whose poor form has been a serious concern for the Pakistan management. However Butt, along with the rest of the squad, has been named in Pakistan’s 30-man probables for the Champions Trophy.Shoaib Akhtar was not picked in either squad because of uncertainty surrounding his match fitness, as Wasim Bari, the PCB director for human resources and administration, had earlier said.Handed a maiden international call-up for the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka which starts at the end of this month is Umar Akmal – younger brother of wicketkeeper Kamran – who scored heavily on Pakistan A’s tour of Australia recently.While some national boards have set a ‘cooling period’ before players associated with the ICL are considered for selection, the PCB accepted players into official cricket immediately. “I’m back playing for my country and its a great feeling,” Naved told . “I got the call [on Tuesday] from the PCB and I was delighted to hear the good news”.Naved, 31, last played for Pakistan in the opening match of the 2007 World Cup against West Indies and was not only dropped for the subsequent matches but also omitted for the tours to Abu Dhabi and Scotland. Disenchanted with the set-up in Pakistan, he signed up with the unofficial ICL in February 2008. That virtually ended his career with Pakistan, but when the ICL accepted his resignation before the ICC World Twenty20 in June he found himself up for national selection.”I’ll be leaving for Lahore with my family and then leaving for Colombo on July 24 from Lahore,” said Naved. “I will be as always giving my 100% effort and hope that I can justify my recall to the international team”. Naved has played nine Tests and 62 ODIs for Pakistan.Nazir, 27, recently returned to the official fold after ending his stint with the ICL, where he represented the Lahore Badshahs. Earlier this month Wasim Bari, Pakistan’s interim chairman of selectors, publicly voiced his view that Nazir should have been an automatic choice for the World Twenty20 in England after making himself available for national selection. Nazir had a very successful stint with the Badshahs in the ICL with his explosive batting setting up his team’s title win last year. He last played an ODI against India in Jaipur in November 2007.Umar, 19, scored 283 runs at 94.33 in the unofficial Tests against Australia A and 155 at 51.66 in the three one-dayers that followed. The opener Nasir Jamshed and medium-pacer Rao Iftikhar Anjum, who were not at the World Twenty20, have retained their ODI spots from the series against Australia in the UAE. The ODI series in Sri Lanka will begin on July 30.Mohammad Asif has also been named in the Champions Trophy probables after completing his one-year ban, as have other fast bowlers Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat and 20-year old Mohammad Talha, who played the aborted Test against Sri Lanka in Lahore. Wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, who played the last of his eight ODIs in 2008, left-arm fast medium bowler Wahab Riaz and opener Mohammad Hafeez also got recalls. The selectors have also included 23-year-old uncapped left-hand Karachi batsman Shehryar Ghani, who was Pakistan A’s top scorer in the ODIs.Pakistan ODI squad:Younis Khan (capt), Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Rao Iftikhar Anjum.Pakistan Champions Trophy probables:Younis Khan (capt), Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Salman Butt, Khalid Latif, Azhar Ali, Umar Amin, Sheharyar Ghani, Yasir Arafat, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Talha, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Abdul Rehman, Mohammad Hafeez.

The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has launched a Twenty20 tournament as part of its plans to expand the game in rural districts. The ten-side zonal league, to be known as the Karnakata Premier League (KPL), will be held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore between September 12 and 27.It will feature eight teams backed by the KSCA and Frontiers Group India, with the state association to host an auction on August 8. The eight so-called franchises will pick from a minimum of five from a pool of 40 domestic players in Karnataka. The 40 cricketers will be divided among ten zonal teams: Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Dharwad, Raichur, Tumkur, Shimoga, Bellary, Gulbarga and Belgaum. The KSCA has fixed the minimum bid at Rs 20 lakhs.Announcing the details, KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel said the board was looking to capitalise on the growing popularity of the format. “This will be a good opportunity for the young cricketers to showcase their talent as the tournament would have live TV coverage. First the tournament would be played in the city and later we have plans to take matches to the districts.”Patel said there was no need to seek the Indian board’s approval because this was deemed a local tournament.The announcement has been received with hesitation from Anil Kumble, a Bangalore resident, who feared that corporates would not ensure long-term financial prospects for players involved.”Why should we have something that is similar to the IPL? Do we have such a large pool of talented cricketers in Karnataka? If you say there are eight players from the State in each playing eleven then that is about 64 cricketers; do we have that many cricketers? The tournament should not become an opportunity for mediocrity,” Kumble told the . “If it is about exposing our state cricketers to Twenty20 then the association can conduct a proper Twenty20 tournament instead of getting the corporates involved.”But since the tournament has been launched and companies are involved then the organisers should make it doubly sure that corporates nurture their team players right through the year, give them jobs because unemployment is a factor with a lot of our cricketers.”