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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.

Fazl-e-Akbar’s four wicket burst helped Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) take control of their second-round Patrons Trophy Cricket Championship Quadrangular Stage match against Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), on its second day at the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) Stadium on Sunday.After having extended their overnight score of 243 for 4 to a healthy looking 369, PIA had table leaders PTCL tottering at a poor 147 for 6 in reply by the day’s close. Akbar has now taken his season’s tally in first-class matches to 49 wickets with his haul of 4 for 32 yesterday. PTCL are now 222 behind PIA’s score and still need another 73 to avert the follow-on.At stumps, Shahzad Malik was at the crease with an unbeaten 62 to his name, having faced only 99 balls hitting eight boundaries. He was involved in a fifth-wicket stand of 57 with the left-handed Usman Tariq, who made 21.Earlier, Faisal Iqbal narrowly missed reaching his 13th century in first-class cricket. But the later order batsmen continued to prosper. Faisal’s fifth-wicket partnership with Mahmood Hamid (35 off 61 balls with three fours) was worth 72. Faisal’s 91 runs came off 178 balls in just short of four hours with 11 fours. Ahmed Zeeshan (35), the wicketkeeper, and Tahir Khan (44) the offspinner then added 68 for the seventh wicket.Naved Latif from Faisalabad scored a scintillating 123as National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) raced to an 89-run first-innings lead over Habib Bank, on the second day of their second-round Patrons Trophy Cricket Championship Quadrangular Stage match at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Sunday.In reply to Habib Bank’s rather modest score of 261 on Saturday, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) have now reached 350 for 8 and should be at least looking towards gaining the three points for the first-innings lead.Naved hammered his ninth century in first-class cricket, facing a mere 167 balls in just short of four hours with 13 fours and five sixes. He came in with his team’s score at 119 for 3 and then saw three more wickets fall as the total reached 174. Naved found Yasir Arafat an able partner in a big 164-run stand for the seventh wicket. Yasir scored 62, hitting nine boundaries.Earlier, there was a 78-run third-wicket stand between Imran Nazir (62 off only 58 balls with nine fours) and the young Shahid Yousuf (40).

Heath Streak, who was sacked as captain of Zimbabwe earlier this month, has urged England and all other Test-playing nations to boycott Zimbabwe until the current impasse over player selection is resolved. Streak’s dismissal triggered off the dispute which culminated in 15 rebel players being fired by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.England are scheduled to tour Zimbabwe in October, and Streak expressed the fear that a decision to play there would been seen as approval of Robert Mugabe’s regime. Talking to the BBC’s Test Match Special programme, he said, “If England come, it would suggest they agree with what is going on. I don’t think any country should be coming to play cricket in Zimbabwe until they have fixed the problem, whether it be England, Australia or Bangladesh.”The International Cricket Council is set to debate Zimbabwe’s Test future in June, after the two-Test series against Australia – scheduled to start last Saturday – was cancelled. The team that took on Sri Lanka recently was barely club standard, and two crushing defeats reinforced the fear that such unequal contests were making a mockery of the game.The rebel players have turned to the ICC to resolve the crisis, and it is currently making a legal assessment of whether it can intervene in what some, including Imran Khan, seen as a domestic dispute. As things stand though, it’s unlikely that England’s players will have to make that trip to southern Africa this autumn.

Pakistan will try out youngsters for the five one-dayers against Bangladesh next month at home. But though some new players will be given a chance, chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed said Pakistan would not take Bangladesh lightly.”They can be a dangerous team on their day,” Salahuddin told the , a Pakistan daily. “For us the most important task would be to win the series and win comfortably.”After Australia decided to postpone their tour of Pakistan, the PCB searched for a team to replace them for a five-match ODI series. The PCB was keen on India to play the matches but the BCCI could not fit another series in to an already jam-packed itinerary.In their recent ODIs against Zimbabwe, Pakistan tried out opener Nasir Jamshed, bowlers Abdur Rauf, Junaid Zia, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Khurram Manzoor and Khalid Latif. They also played wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed for the last two games in place of regular keeper Kamran Akmal.But Salahuddin said Pakistan would not take any chances in playing Bangladesh. “Bangladesh proved they are a good one-day side by reaching the last-eight in the World Cup,” he said. Bangladesh beat India and South Africa in the tournament while Pakistan, along with India, made an exit in the first round.The Pakistan selectors will meet members of the junior national selection committee on March 21 for advice on the young talent available in the country and announce the squad by the end of the month.

A report in the Zimbabwe Independent claims that the clubs who earlier this week disaffiliated from the Matabeleland Cricket Association are planning to combine with rebel clubs from Mashonaland to form a new national cricket league.The action by the Matabeleland clubs was a direct challenge to the way that Peter Chingoka has run Zimbabwe Cricket and was aimed to coincide with him attending the ICC executive meeting in Dubai.Mashonaland’s dispute dates back to last year when six leading sides were expelled from the provincial association. Five of those clubs – Old Hararians, Harare Sports Club, Alexandra, Old Georgians and Universals – have said they will join the breakaway league, and they are joined by four more from Matabeleland – Queens, Bulawayo Sports Club, Bulawayo Athletics Club and Crescent. The Mashonaland and Matabeleland Country Districts sides and Midlands’ Kwekwe Sports Club have also thrown in their lot with the rebels.The league aim to draw up a new structure in the coming days, and the article reported that the organisers were confident of landing a sponsor.”We are no longer in a position to negotiate with them (ZC),” one club official was quoted as saying. “We’ve made our stand. As for the ICC, they have not made a decision which will improve our situation. They have showed they do not care about Zimbabwe.” A dossier sent to Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, on behalf of the provincial chairman ahead of the meeting has yet to be answered.This development leaves Zimbabwe Cricket without any credible domestic structure. The Faithwear Cup, the one-day tournament which took place in February, was dogged by substandard performances, and the Logan Cup, the first-class competition, has been indefinitely postponed.Alhough the bulk of the country’s rank-and-file players have defected, those will national ambitions will need to switch to one of the clubs still loyal to ZC. But the standard in those will, aside from the top players, be woefully poor – as evidenced by the Mashonaland team in the Faithwear Cup – and it will make official domestic tournaments almost impossible to stage with any degree of credibility.

England Under-19 189 for 4 (Harmison 40*) trail India Under-19 472 for 4 dec (Pujara 211, Tewari 109) by 283 runs
ScorecardAt the close of the second day’s play at Jamshedpur, England Under-19’s hopes of avoiding a 3-0 series whitewash against India were resting on the shoulders of Ben Harmison, the younger brother of the Test paceman, Steve. Harmison Jr was unbeaten at stumps on 40 not out, as England reached 189 for 4 in reply to India’s hefty first innings of 472 for 4 declared.It was another arduous day for England’s young cricketers, who watched and learned during the first session as Cheteshwar Pujara converted his overnight 162 into a brilliant double-century, and M Tewari recorded a century of his own in a 217-run stand for the third wicket. Both men eventually fell in quick succession to give England’s spirits a timely lift, and when the declaration eventually came, their own openers responded in kind.Michael O’Shea and Joe Denly added 81 for the first wicket, but the needless run out of the captain, Steven Davies, for 4 put England back under pressure at 99 for 2. Denly and Harmison then added 74 for the third wicket to carry England towards their initial goal of avoiding the follow-on, only for two late wickets to dent their prospects. But with Harmison unbeaten at the close, England still harbour hopes of a face-saving draw.

Ricky Ponting has been fined 25% of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the second Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong. The offence related to his reaction when Bangladesh batsman Aftab Ahmed was initially given not out following a referral to the third umpire during Sunday’s first day of the Test.Ponting was found guilty of dissent by the match referee, Jeff Crowe, in a hearing after the second day’s play on Monday. He was found to have breached 1.3 of the ICC Code which relates to “Showing dissent at an umpire’s decision by action or verbal abuse.”In explaining his decision, Crowe said: “Although I have sympathy for Ricky I cannot accept his move towards the on-field umpires as they made a move towards resuming play.”He did not ask for the third umpire to be consulted but when he made that move and spoke to the officials I believe his involvement played a part in prompting the referral. That is a breach of the ICC’s Test match playing conditions, which states that players may not appeal to the umpire to use the replay system.”The two umpires – Aleem Dar and Ian Howell – had not raised the issue and it was Bangladesh who took the matter further. Earlier, Crowe had cleared up how the event unfolded: “I think he [Ponting] indicated that the word that came from the Bangladesh dressing-room was that he was out and he was just inquisitive as to what went on,” he was quoted as saying by Fox Sports. “But it was not a direct ask that the umpires should review the decision or go upstairs.”It was a communication problem really,” Crowe added. “In fairness, what we had to say that with the referral upstairs, it should have been highlighted what they really wanted. The number three umpire […] is not the most fluent in English, although he is a very good man and does communicate well, he wasn’t sure really about what they wanted at that point.”That’s why after what was done, when the decision was first given, the umpires down below weren’t sure he got the right information, or understood what was required. Once they found that information out – that the ball had hit the boot – that’s all they needed to confirm what they thought. That’s why it was reversed.”Meanwhile, Crowe also commented on the Australian team’s interactions with Dar, noting that there were a few issues the team needed to sort with the umpire. Lee had an animated conversation with Dar after the umpire apparently asked him to move away in his follow through, while Stuart MacGill too expressed his displeasure after a couple of lbw appeals had been turned down in an over.”The fact that it has been a long tour for everyone and given the fact there is a bit of cabin fever with Aleem Dar having been involved in Australian matches over the last six months, I think they need to sort it out,” Crowe was quoted as saying in . Dar has seen a lot of the Australian side lately, officiating in 13 Tests since July 2004, and in 12 ODIs over the last six months involving the Australians.

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

The minnow-bashing was not as brutal as South Africa’s, but Australia motored along like a well-oiled machine and exploded during the final overs to bat The Netherlands out of the match with 358 for 5. After being stranded in the nineties twice this year, Brad Hodge reached his maiden one-day hundred during what was a perfectly paced innings. Defending 359 was always going to be a cake walk and Australia’s battery of fast bowlers was too hot for The Netherlands to handle and they were skittled for 129.The pitch was a belter and Ricky Ponting jumped at the chance of more batting practice. Adam Gilchrist provided the propulsion at the start, but once Australia lost him and Ponting with the score on 116, Michael Clarke and Hodge were impossible to contain during their partnership of 204.Hodge will be fighting for a spot in the XI once Andrew Symonds returns and he was impeccable today. Although both batsmen’s strike-rates were nearly identical when they reached their fifties off successive balls, Hodge soon left Clarke behind.Hodge finished with 123 off 89 balls with seven sixes, one short of equalling Ponting’s World Cup record. He had taken 61 deliveries to get to 50, but in his next 28 hammered 73. His favoured region was the arc between square-leg and long-on, though he sent several over the cover boundary as well. Only after Hodge was bowled by Peter Borren did Clarke step out of his shadow. He biffed three sixes off consecutive deliveries right at the death to make a sprint for his hundred, but with two balls left and eight to get, he took a single and had to settle for 93.

The Netherlands did themselves no favours by dropping both Gilchrist, on 34, and Ponting, who continued where he had left off against Scotland. Fortunately for them Gilchrist holed out on 57 and Ponting (23) was caught and bowled splendidly by Ryan ten Doeschate. If The Netherlands had hopes of an Ireland-esque performance after those quick wickets, Hodge and Clarke gave them a bitter reality check.The Netherlands openers showed stomach for a fight when Bas Zuiderent and Darron Reekers managed 36 for the first wicket at nearly six an over. But when Nathan Bracken deceived Reekers with a slower ball and trapped Alexei Kervezee leg before two balls later, The Netherlands began sliding swiftly towards defeat.They were struggling at 36 for 3 when Glenn McGrath was brought on at first change. Two balls later he nailed Luuk van Troost before making Daan van Bunge his 50th World Cup wicket.All the Australian bowlers used got wickets and Shane Watson didn’t even get an over. There were encouraging signs for Brad Hogg, who used his googlies and quicker balls to bamboozle the clueless Dutch tailenders. He picked up 4 for 27 as The Netherlands folded with 23.1 overs to spare.

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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.
Scorecard
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.

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).