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Scorecard

Ravi Shah’s fighting century proved the difference as Kenya held their nerve to beat Scotland for the second time this competition. Shah rescued Kenya from the mire at 90 for 5, after they lost five wickets for 23, to lift them to 259. Steve Tikolo then needed all of his experience to produce a vital three wicket-burst which staved off a determined Scotland assault with the bat, as Kenya won by seven runs.After Kenya chose to bat, Shah had his work cut out when all about him were losing their heads, but he kept his and put on a crucial 117 with Thomas Odoyo for the sixth wicket. Inspired by Shah, the tail gave him full support and Kenya managed to bat all of their overs as Shah smashed his way to 113 from 121 balls. His knock included eight fours and three sixes, Odoyo added 36, and each of those runs was vital.Kenya’s innings started brightly enough, with Maurice Ouma and David Obuya sharing an opening stand of 67. But Ouma’s run out on 14 triggered a collapse as five wickets fell in quick succession.At this stage Scotland would have fancied their chances of killing off the innings early and hunting down a revenge win against Kenya, who beat them in the first round of this competition. But Shah wasn’t going to give up – and he turned the innings on its head.Scotland then had a mountain to climb and they were doing well in scaling the heights, their openers, Fraser Watts and Majid Haq, putting on 99. Both made 59. They continued to rack up the runs and were well set at 217 for 3 when Tikolo turned things around for Kenya. He grabbed the next three wickets for no runs, puncturing Scotland’s momentum so thoroughly that they were unable to recover.

Kyle Mills, Scott Styris and Jacob Oram, the injured New Zealand bowlers, have not been included in the squad 14-man squad to tour Australia for the Commonwealth Bank series beginning on January 12.The squad was not very different from the one currently involved in a five-match series against Sri Lanka. James Marshall, who averaged 18.33 in the first three one-day games against Sri Lanka, wasn’t included in the squad for the month-long series.John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, said that the management did not want the injured players to enter a fitness race and get back into international cricket too early. “They will return when ready, even if it is part way through the tour,” he said.”Because of the looming World Cup, we are managing the selection process for this tour differently to other tours,” Bracewell explained. “The selectors have reserved the right to interchange the squad at any time during the tour.”The Commonwealth Bank series, in which Australia, England and New Zealand meet each other four times before the top two teams play out a best-of-three finals, begins with Australia playing England at Melbourne.New Zealand squad:Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Hamish Marshall, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan, James Franklin, Dan Vettori, Jeetan Patel, Andre Adams, Mark Gillespie, Michael Mason, Shane Bond

The annual general meeting and elections of the Sri Lanka board which were scheduled for July 15 have been cancelled. This means that the Interim Committee will continue to be in charge of cricket in Sri Lanka.Announcing the decision, Jeewan Kumaratunga, the minister of sports, indicated that it was the wrong time for elections. “We have the South African team coming here for a Test series next week and it will be followed by a triangular series which also features India. Then, we have to work with a vision with next year’s World Cup in mind. Hence this is not the time to have elections,” Kumaratunga was quoted as saying in .Kumaratunga also feared that elections in the current environment could further vitiate the already bitter atmosphere which exists between the parties contesting for the top posts in Sri Lankan cricket. “Then the ICC could even question and we may have problems in hosting international matches and even playing in the World Cup.”The Interim Committee is currently headed by Jayantha Dharmadasa, and he was expected to contest the elections against Mohan de Silva, former SLC president. Media reports in recent days said the rivals had promised huge payments to member clubs to secure their votes for control of the nation’s richest sports body. Kumaratunga said the composition of the committee could change later, but insisted that the interim administration of SLC would continue.Dharmadasam, meanwhile, accepted the decision but insisted that he would have won had the elections taken place. “I am sure the Minister has taken this decision in the best interest of the game,” he said. Talking about the progress made in the 15 months he was in charge, Dharmadasa said he was happy with the progress both on the field and off it. “When I took over I had a time to put the house in order. Now we have established financial discipline corporate government, set target to each director, and performance are measured periodically. The achievement in England in the one day series [Sri Lanka won 5-0] was great.”I strongly believe that we could win the World Cup again, in 2007. I have done all basic work focused on the World cup. I have already earmarked people with professional competency to drive this program.”de Silva, meanwhile, expressed his shock at the cancellation of the elections. “Had the elections been held our team would have won comfortably,” he said in a media release.SLC Interim Committee
Jayantha Dharmadasa (Chairman), Adel Hashim (secretary), Sujeewa Rajapaksa (treasurer), Damien Fernando (member), K. Mathivanan (member) and Prakash Schaffter (member).

Kenya’s allrounder Thomas Odoyo was named as the winner of the inaugural Associate ODI Player of the Year at the ICC Awards ceremony in Johannesburg.In 19 ODIs during the voting period, including two for Africa XI against Asia XI at the Afro-Asia Cup in India, Odoyo took 27 wickets with his right-arm medium pace at an average of 24.25, including three four-wicket hauls. In that time he also scored 488 runs at an average of 48.80 and with a brisk strike-rate of 85.61 runs per hundred balls.His efforts were instrumental in securing victory for Kenya at the inaugural ICC World Cricket League Division One in Nairobi last February and he also represented his country at the World Cup in the West Indies in March.Competition for this award was stiff and Odoyo narrowly beat off the challenge of other short-listed candidates, fellow Kenyan Steve Tikolo, Netherlands allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate and Canada wicketkeeper-batsman Ashish Bagai.Accepting his award, Odoyo said: “It is a great honour for me. It’s the first time for an Associate player to win an ICC Award so I am truly delighted. When we [Kenya] played in the first ICC World Cricket League I really played well and helped my team to win the competition. Hopefully this will encourage more guys in Kenya to play the game and that can only be a good thing. It is a great day for me.”The Associate ODI Player of the Year Award serves to recognise and reward the efforts in ODIs of an outstanding cricketer from the six countries outside the ICC Full Members – Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands and Scotland. Each of the six countries was invited to nominate players and an initial 18-strong list of nominees for this award was the result.

On a day when Sourav Ganguly and Irfan Pathan saved Indian blushes, it wasHarbhajan Singh – whose cavalier 47 in the final session exasperated thebowlers – that came to address the media. The official line was that bothmen were too exhausted, though it didn’t stop them jogging around the parkwith their team-mates as the evening shadows lengthened across SedgarsPark.Harbhajan sounded bullish after contributing his bit to a determinedfightback. “We can take a lot of confidence from today’s battingperformance,” he said. “When you make 300 runs in a day, it’s abig positive. One of our goals coming into this game was to make 300 runsin a day. That has been achieved. Now we need to do well with the ball aswell. The way Sourav [Ganguly] and Irfan [Pathan] batted was veryheartening.”He refused to point the finger at any of his top-order mates, whoseslipshod batting against the pace of Morne Morkel had India reeling at 69for 5 at lunch. “I feel it’s always just a matter of one innings,” hesaid. “All these batsmen have been successful in the past, and there’s noreason why they can’t score again. I think once they make runs in oneinnings, they will start contributing regularly.”If we play to our potential in the Test matches, the seamers and spinnersas well as the batsmen, we can do a good job against South Africa. I’mlooking forward to bowling here. I don’t know if it will help thespinners, but it will be good to get a long bowl before the first Test,should I play in that match.”One person who won’t be playing any part at the Wanderers next week isMorkel, but surely the day’s not far off when he’ll get his first nationalcap. He had figures of 4 for 29 before lunch, finishing the day with 4 for74. Had Vaughn van Jaarsveld not spilled Ganguly in the gully, and JacquesRudolph not dropped Zaheer Khan late in the day, the figures would havebeen even more impressive.When asked about the experience, Morkel called it a privilege to bowl tothe likes of Sachin Tendulkar. “They were my heroes growing up,” he said.”I was lucky enough to be able to play against them today, and to get themout was very special. I can go home now and sleep well tonight, knowingthat I have gone a good job.”Allan Donald had written recently that he considers the 22-year-old MorkelSouth Africa’s next potential fast bowler, and there were definitelyshades of the man they called White Lightning as he scythed through thetop order using pace and bounce as his primary weapons. “I had my ownlittle plans for them,” he added. “I had an idea what lengths to bowl tothem. I wanted to hit the deck hard and get it to climb. I could’ve had afive-for but unfortunately, a couple of catches did not stick.”On a day where he did very little wrong, the Indians will be grateful forthose small mercies.

New Zealand’s connection with first grade cricket in Sydney was apparent again on Saturday.Last week former Central Districts batsman Joseph Hill, who is now living permanently in Sydney scored 123 not out for his Randwick side. However, he wasn’t so fortunate on Saturday as he was out for a duck while Australian international Simon Katich scored 177 against Mosman. Randwick Petersham declared at 428/6 and Mosman were 14/0 at stumps.Hill hasn’t given up returning to New Zealand to have another shot at breaking into the first-class scene but for the moment is taking his chance in Australia.Otago’s Brendon McCullum is also playing in the competition until October 31 and made his mark yesterday for the UTS-Balmain side by taking five catches as Fairfield-Liverpool were dismissed for 208 with UTS-Balmain 76/1 at stumps.The Northern Districts connection saw Scott Styris make 37 in Gordon’s total of 216 while Daryl Tuffey took four for 60 for Sutherland who were 132.1 at stumps with Styris having none for 18 off five overs.James Marshall scored 40 for Eastern Suburbs in their total of 123 while Hawkesbury were 136/4 at stumps.Bruce Martin had a tough time at the bowling crease as Penrith scored 305 against Manly-Warringah. Martin sent down 24 overs for one for 105.

Younis Khan, the Pakistan captain, and Bob Woolmer, their coach, haveadmitted that they were “very disappointed” with the events that led to acouple of their players testing positive for banned substances, addingthat they would have to accept part of the responsibility for the same.Both refused to divulge too many details but said that the team couldn’tafford to be bogged down by this setback, especially before their crucialChampions Trophy opener against Sri Lanka tomorrow in Jaipur. Younis, while denyingspeculation about a third player coming under the scanner, admitted that thenews had come as a jolt but hoped that his team could pick themselves upand raise their game in tomorrow’s clash.Interestingly it was Woolmer who’d mooted the idea of testing players fordrugs – when the ICC officially instituted random dope tests for theChampions Trophy. “I instituted the idea of having our players tested fordrugs to try and obviate anything that might happen at a particular venueor tournament,” he told the media in Jaipur. “So we asked the medicalpanel to give the players drug tests – which they did at the end ofSeptember. So I take responsibility for that.”This is the first time that drug testing is officially instituted by theICC,” he continued. “Therefore we thought we’ll pre-empt that by having tosee what the players were doing. In a coach’s life, you prepare. The teamplays on the field, but you try to prepare the team. You try and make theenvironment to the best it can be, you try and give the players the bestopportunity you can. So what we need to do is to test our players – infact 25 players were tested – and unfortunately, the timing was not right,but there we are. If it’s going to happen, it happens.”However, he refused to be drawn into discussion about the exact reasonbehind the players taking banned substances. “I’ve been involved withProfessor Tim Noakes at the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town on theseparticular issues,” he continued, “and I do understand what happens. Theimportant thing is that the Pakistan Cricket Board will make a statement and let’s leave it at that for now.”Younis, who clarified that the delay in sending the results of the testsmeant the news broke on the eve of their first game, echoed the sameviewpoint. “In today’s situation, players take any small thing and itturns out to be a banned substance,” he said. “It’s all our responsibility- players, management. Hopefully it won’t happen again.”For a team that’s been shrouded in controversy over the last three months,the Champions Trophy couldn’t have got off to a more inauspicious start.Yet, Woolmer had no doubt that they would “rise to the challenge”.”We haven’t discussed this as a team yet as the events have happened veryquickly from yesterday to this morning,” Woolmer reflected. “We will besitting down with the team this evening and will chat it through. I’mpretty confident that the team will take any adversity in their stride andthey’ll rise to the occasion and play good cricket tomorrow. We have toput these issues behind us, as we have with all the other issues and get onwith playing cricket, because that’s our job, that’s what we’re paid to doand that’s what we have to do. We’ll make it very clear that we’re goingto go out there and fight very hard. It’s very important for us to try andgain two points against Sri Lanka tomorrow.”It’s been a tough few months for Woolmer, who’s had to experienceconsiderable turbulence as the Pakistan coach. He admitted that it was aunique journey – when asked if he thought about quitting the job – addingthat his love for the game was keeping him going. “There are a lot ofthings that go through your mind when these things happen,” he explainedemotionally. “One thing that holds me is that I love the game of cricket.I’ll be more excited tomorrow to get on the field and play some cricket. Iwill be honest – I haven’t come across anything like this in my life, itwill be a wonderful experience for me, it is a wonderful experience forme. It’s difficult to understand why it’s happening but it is happening,and therefore I have to deal with it as it happens. But I enjoy cricket, Ilove cricket and cricket is my first passion and only passion. I do thisjob because of that reason so whatever happens, happens.”

Scorecard
Punjab rode on centuries from Ravneet Ricky and Gaurav Gupta to reach 392 for 4, gaining a 192-run lead, to put Punjab on top by the end of the second day’s play against Hyderabad at Mohali. Both came together with Punjab rattled at 31 for 3, but their 213-run association ensured that Punjab assume complete control. Once Gupta fell at the score on 244, Ricky – who smashed 23 fours in his knock – put on an unbroken 148-run stand with Muneesh Sharma to further stretch the lead.
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Half-centuries from Kiran Powar and Rakesh Solanki, buttressed with handy contributions from the rest of the batsmen, propelled Baroda to 306 for 9 at the end of the second day, gaining a crucial 46-run lead. Haryana fought hard through a four-wicket haul from Joginder Sharma but could not prevent Baroda – powered by three fifty partnerships – from taking the first-innings lead.
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Amol Muzumdar’s superb century and his123-run partnership with Nishit Shetty for the fourth wicket steered Mumbai to 83-run first-innings lead before Bengal reached 37 for no loss to reduce the deficit at Wankhade Stadium. Mumbai, having resumed at 50 for 2, had reached 71 for 3 for the loss of Vinit Indulkar before Muzumdar and Shetty came together. Shetty, who has often rescued Mumbai from precarious situations, carted five fours and two sixes to seize the initiative before Muzumdar consolidated their position with his 19th first-class century. At a certain stage Mumbai were cruising along at 193 for 3, but Ashok Dinda, the medium pacer, grabbed five of the eight wickets that fell today and brought Bengal right back into the contest.
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Rain continued to play spoilsport at Chennai and only 16.3 overs were possible on the second day’s play. The Tamil Nadu openers, S Vidyut and Hemant Kumar, motored along at over three-and-a-half runs an over but it is highly unlikely that their efforts will alter the course of the game.
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Powered by a five wicket haul from Kulamani Parida, the offspinner, Railways shot out Gujarat for a paltry 79, gaining a vital 109-run lead, before reaching 35 for 1 at stumps to gain complete command of the game in Delhi. Parida ripped into the middle order after Sanjay Bangar and Madan Yadav, the left-arm spinner, had removed the top four, to put Railways, the defending champions, on course for their first victory of the season.
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An unbeaten 74 by Mayank Tehlan, the 19-year old batsman who is Virender Sehwag’s cousin, steered Delhi to a strong position by the end of the second days’ play. Earlier, Kunal Lal, the left-arm medium pacer, removed Sairaj Bahutule and Kaushik Aphale, the overnight batsmen, and along with M Deewan, who also finished with a four-wicket haul, bowled Maharashtra out for a modest 208.
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A watchful half-century from Sarabjit Singh, the Services wicketkeeper batsmen, stretched their total but Uttar Pradesh rode on Suresh Raina’s unbeaten fifty kept Uttar Pradesh in the game at the end of the second day at Lucknow. Sarabjit guided the tail – with plucky contributions from AK Mohanty (30) and Amrinder Singh (33) – to lift Services, overnight on 207 for 5, to 321 in their first innings. But Piyush Chawla, the legspinner, was rewarded for his persistence and he ended with a five-wicket haul in a marathon effort that contained 42 overs.

England compled a convincing win over Sri Lanka in the Under-19 `Test’at Trent Bridge with a day and an innings to spare thanks in the mainto Kabir Ali’s accurate seam bowling.Kabir was backed up by slow left-armer Monty Panesar, who collectedthree wickets as the Sri Lankans collapsed for 184 in their secondinnings.Jehan Mubarak, who top-scored on the first day, was again the main rungetter with 44.But after he was fifth out, the Sri Lankan tail added just 47 moreruns before England won by an innings and 22 runs.Resuming on 325 for five and a big lead of 114, England’s Kadeer Ali,who had steadied the innings superbly the previous day, fell soonafter the start to a juggling catch at slip having made 59. Hisovernight partner Peter Trego, continued however with the sameaggressive strokeplay that had brought him a half century the previousevening.After hitting 13 fours and a six, Trego seemed headed for a centurybut he was bowled attempting to cut a ball from spinner RanilDhammika. But by now England were 180 runs in front and Kabir hit abreezy 28 before the innings ended on 417, a lead of 206.In the second innings, Sri Lanka raced to 25 before Kabir uprootedopener Ian Daniels’ off-stump in his third over. The 19-year-old thendismissed the other opener, Nimesh Perera, caught at backward pointand Sri Lanka were 42 for two.The third and fourth wickets also fell before 100 had been registeredbut the batsmen continued to adopt aggressive tactics.Panesar then removed three left-handers, all to edges caught at slipor by the wicketkeeper and at 156 for eight it was just a matter ofhow long it would take England to seal the win.

Division Two

Shane Warne led from the front for Hampshire, picking up 4 for 14 to edge past Kent by 18 runs at Canterbury. Chasing 201 for a win, Kent lost the openers in quick succession before Martin van Jaarsveld threatened to take the initiative with a quick 42. But Warne and Sean Ervine tore through the middle order to dismiss the hosts for 182.Despite a brilliant 152 from Darren Maddy Leicestershire fell to a 33-run defeat to Surrey at The Oval. Maddy received scant support from any of his team-mates; the next highest score after Maddy’s valiant effort was Darren Robinson with 32 as Leicestershire were bowled out for 242. Nayan Doshi (4 for 63) was the pick of the bowlers after Surrey’s innings had been given a powerful injection at the top of the order from James Benning, who smashed 70 from 43 balls.An excellent 72 from Chris Taylor led Gloucestershire to an easy four-wicket win over Somerset at Cheltenham. Set the tricky target of 245, the hosts lost Phil Weston for a duck and were struggling on 76 for 3. Taylor smashed nine fours in his 59-ball knock and, thanks to an equally brisk 41 from Steve Adshead, guided them home with 41 balls to spare.

Division One</p?Sussex got the better of their C&G final opponents, Lancashire, thanks to a brilliant 132 not out from Chris Adams as they squeezed home by two wickets, with two balls to spare, at Hove. After the frustration of having Lancashire nine wickets down at the end of yesterday’s Championship, Adams played a stunning hand as his team chased down a testing 278, based on four Lancashire half-centuries. He added 124 with Ollie Rayer after Sussex had slipped to 5 for 2. Steven Croft grabbed four wickets to take the match down to the wire but Adams had just enough in the tank.Essex cantered to a nine-wicket win against Middlesex at Garon’s Park as a second-wicket stand of 117 between Mark Pettini and Darren Gough made mincemeat of a target of 145. Gough hit a 49-ball 53 with ten fours and Pettini faced 48 balls for his 60. Gough had earlier taken 3 for 16 as Middlesex fell to 29 for 5 and Scott Styris’s 50 didn’t give Middlesex anywhere near enough.A fourth-wicket stand of 133 between Dale Benkenstein and Gary Scott put Durham on course for a four-wicket win over Northamptonshire at Chester-le-Street. The pair hit six sixes between them as Usman Afzaal’s earlier 108 proved in vain. Afzaal had added 100 with Lance Klusener to pull Northants around from 112 for 4.Glamorgan‘s match with Warwickshire at Colwyn Bay was rained off after just 29 overs with the visitors having reached 120 for 6. Navdeep Poonia was the top scorer at that point, with 47