Milestones Preview: India v Sri Lanka

Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) needs 85 runs to complete 9000 ODI runs
Virender Sehwag (IND) 103 runs to complete 2000 ODI runs
Dinesh Mongia (IND) needs 96 runs to complete 1000 ODI runs
Javagal Srinath (IND) needs 118 runs to complete 1000 ODI runs
Anil Kumble (IND) needs 158 runs to complete 1000 ODI runsZaheer Khan (IND) needs 5 wickets to join the 100 ODI-wicket club
Harbhajan Singh (IND) needs 10 wickets to join the 100 ODI-wicket clubMarvan Atapattu (SL) needs 96 runs to complete 500 World Cup runs
Hashan Tillakaratne (SL) needs 117 runs to complete 500 World Cup runsSanath Jayasuriya (SL) needs 10 wickets to join the 25 World Cup wicket-clubAravinda De Silva (1028) needs 56 runs to become the second leading WorldCup run-getter, current record holder is Javed Miandad (1083)

Martin-Jenkins unfit for Sussex's clash with Hants

Robin Martin-Jenkins is still unfit to play with the Sussex first XI and will not be playing against Hampshire in the Cricinfo Championship match starting tomorrow. He is currently playing as a specialist batsman with the second XI.Tony Cottey is unfit to play due to recurring tennis elbow. He is assisting Keith Greenfield with coaching the second XI and Under-19s until declared fit to play.Expected team:Montgomerie,Goodwin,Adams,Zuiderent,Yardy,House,Prior,Davis,Kirtley,Lewry,Robinson,Rashid

Cricket must deal with 'new climate' of terrorism – BCB

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said that cricket cannot be held hostage to terrorist threats and has to devise a way to deal with the new climate. He said he wanted the ICC to get involved and would raise this point at its next meeting.”Bangladesh is at No. 23 in the terror index published recently,” Hassan said. “There are other countries on that list. But does it mean countries like India and Sri Lanka won’t be hosting cricket? Won’t there be any international cricket? My main point is that these terrorist threats cannot control our cricket. We have to decide and the ICC has to intervene to see what type of security plan will help everyone play cricket.”Hassan was speaking at his residence a few hours after Cricket Australia informed the BCB of their decision to postpone the tour on grounds of players’ safety. The decision came less than a week after they had delayed their arrival in Bangladesh – scheduled for September 28 – to play the two Tests.Hassan believed that the decision was influenced by the killing of an Italian national in Dhaka on Monday, just as CA’s security team was ending meetings with Bangladesh’s top security officials.”As far as I know CA has still kept the dialogue open,” he said. “They wrote in their press release that they didn’t get clearance from their government.”Hassan said that the people of Bangladesh would feel let down. “There is no doubt that we have been hurt. The country of 160 million people was eagerly awaiting the Tests against Australia. The fans have been deprived and everyone feels let down.”Hassan said that his main task now would be to bring back international cricket to Bangladesh.”Till now I don’t know why they postponed the tour. It is hard to understand through written correspondence what actually prompted them to ignore our security plans. I hope to discuss with them at the ICC meeting this month. Our main task now would be to bring back international cricket to Bangladesh,” he said.

Gray wishes he had caught more match-fixers

Malcolm Gray, the outgoing president of the International Cricket Council, has said that he wishes more culprits had been caught in the matchfixing controversy. In an interview to The Melbourne Age, he implied that some of the cricket boards were too keen to protect their national sporting heroes.”One of the disappointments is that we didn’t get more scalps,” said Gray, “but it’s probably understandable because we and the anti-corruption unit don’t have any legislative power. We cannot march into somebody’s house and carry out a search or we cannot arrest people so we can only do it by investigation and by persuasion.””The other reason,” he continued, “is that there is a tendency to want to protect the sporting hero, and that’s [something] the fans, the public and I think some of the authorities tend to [do] as well.”It was an accusation that didn’t go down well with the Indian board (BCCI). Kishore Rungta, treasurer of the BCCI, and Jaywant Lele, former secretary, said in Mid-day that the Indian board never tried to conceal the identity of any cricketers."I don’t think the Indian cricket board, or any cricket board for that matter, has tried to protect the identity of any cricketer who was involved in the match-fixing scandal."Lele agreed: "The Indian board has brought to book all the culprits who were involved. I think Gray is just talking in the air, without any support or evidence to support his claims."Gray, who has just handed over charge of the ICC to Pakistan’s representative, Ehsan Mani, said that it was time to “draw a line in the sand” and move on. He did not think any more culprits would be uncovered.

Chandigarh's Sector-16 Stadium shuts off ICL

Kapil Dev’s meeting with the Chandigarh Administration has not borne fruit © AFP

Chandigarh’s regional administration has ruled out hosting matches organised by the Indian Cricket League (ICL) at the Sector-16 Stadium. The administration, which controls the ground, had earlier seemed amenable to hosting the ICL’s matches but decided against it after the BCCI had directed all its affiliates to stay clear of the ICL.Although the ground does not come under the purview of the BCCI, a report in said the administration was keen to continue its renewed association with the Indian board.”Kapil Dev brought up the topic [of having ICL matches at the Stadium] and we informed him of our intent; the stadium has got an ODI after 14 years [the India-Australia match on October 8], and we don’t want to go against the BCCI. We will be corresponding with only the BCCI on cricketing matters,” I. S. Sandhu, Chandigarh’s sports director, told the paper.Meanwhile, Kapil Dev, who is on the ICL’s executive board, has challenged the BCCI to remove him from his position as chairman of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for associating with the ICL.”I have not done anything unethical by aligning with the ICL. However, if I am stopped from teaching cricket, they [BCCI] would be doing an unethical thing,” Kapil, who is from Chandigarh, said.”If they want to remove me they are free to do so” he said. “Matches should be played here [the Sector-16 Stadium] more often, both of the BCCI and the ICL tournaments. When you hear that it’s getting to host a match after 14 years, I feel ashamed.”Niranjan Shah, the secretary of the BCCI, in a recent television appearance had said “We have decided not to recognise ICL in our Working Committee meeting as no State Association was in its favour. We don’t want to promote anybody who wants to be a parallel body. We have a policy and there will not be any re-think on this.”The ICL was launched by the Essel Group a few months ago and intends to organise a Twenty20 tournament in October.

Tushar recalled to Bangladesh side

Bangladesh’s loss in Zimbabwe was Habibul Basher’s ‘most painful experience’ © Getty Images

Bangladesh have recalled Tushar Imran, the middle-order batsman, for the forthcoming one-day series in Kenya. Bangladesh, who recently lost a five-match one-day series to Zimbabwe, are scheduled to play three one-day internationals in Nairobi on August 12, 13 and 15.”Imran had been a stand-by for the African tour. We have called him as a replacement for injured captain Habibul Bashar,” Mahmudur Rahman, the Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive, was quoted as saying in an AFP report. Imran, whose last one-day appearance was against Australia at home in April, has so far scored 545 runs in 35 matches with two half-centuries. Khaled Mashud, the wicketkeeper-batsman, has been retained as the captain.Bashar, who was ruled out of the series owing to a finger injury, couldn’t hide his disappointment after Bangladesh went down 3-2 at Harare. “You can’t imagine what a pathetic moment it was when the embassy officials at Nairobi informed me that Bangladesh lost the match badly,” he told . “I had a 24-hour stopover there and obviously it was the most painful experience for me. I feel sorry for the country’s cricket mad people but I must request them to keep faith in us because we have proved in the last few series that we are an improving side. There is no room for excuse for this debacle but I still believe that we are far better a team than the present Zimbabwe side.”

Ganguly ruled out of first two ODIs after second surgery

Sourav Ganguly, who underwent a second operation on his left thigh, has been ruled out of the first two one-day internationals of the tri-series later this month. Ganguly was operated upon to remove an abscess on his left thigh, in a 30-minute surgery under general anasthesia in a hospital in Kolkata.Speaking to the Press Trust of India, Ganguly said, “I’m now feeling better. The pain is much less.” The nursing home where he was put up issued an evening bulletin saying that Ganguly’s condition was stable and he was on a normal diet.Dr Mrinmoy Nandy, the supervising doctor, elaborated: “We went for the minor surgical procedure as he was in severe pain and in a great deal of discomfort. We’ll review his condition late tonight, after which a decision will be taken on his release. But the normal hospitalisation period in such cases is 48 hours.”Ganguly’s brother, Snehasish, said that Ganguly was expected to be discharged on Sunday morning. But when would he be back on the field? That question remained in the corridor of uncertainty.

Bahutule spins Hyderabad to their doom

Mumbai 476 (Mazumdar 51, Raju 6-139) beat Hyderabad 166 and 158 (Rayudu 53, Bahutule 6-53) by an innings and 152 runs
Scorecard
Sairaj Bahutule weaved his web around the Hyderabad batsmen as Mumbai romped into the final with a massive victory at the Wankhede Stadium. Hyderabad capitulated for just 158, to follow up their first-innings debacle, and were whipped by an innings and 152 runs. Bahutule, who engineered the collapse, finished with 6 for 53 with his legspin.Mumbai began the day with an imposing 389 for 3 and Amol Mazumdar soon completed a confident half-century. The Hyderabad bowlers had suffered a severe mauling yesterday, with Vinayak Mane and Vinod Kambli smashing hundreds, and a total in excess of 500 was very much in sight. But they struck some vital blows this morning and restricted Mumbai to 476. Venkatapathy Raju, the left-arm spinner, picked up three important wickets and the offspinner Shivaji Yadav spun out the tail.The Hyderabad batsmen put up a sorry show in the second innings as well. Ambati Rayudu and Anirudh Singh put on 71, but that was the only consolation in a miserable batting effort. The last six managed only 15 between them as Nilesh Kulkarni, the left-arm spinner, and Bahutule got stuck in. Rayudu also played the lone hand in the first innings, but his elegant 95 was the solitary light in a dismal batting show.Railways 251 for 5 (JP Yadav 73*) trail Tamil Nadu 481 by 230 runs
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Tamil Nadu tightened their grip on their semi-final at Chennai as they prised out five Railways batsmen on the third day. Chasing a daunting 482 to gain the first-innings lead, Railways went about their task in a very patient manner. Sanjay Bangar survived 255 minutes for his 47 and got them off to a solid start. But Somsetty Suresh and Ramakrishnan Ramkumar, the left-arm spinner, picked up two wickets each and put Railways in trouble at 122 for 4. But they managed to wriggle out due to Jai Prakash Yadav’s unbeaten 73, which included eight fours and three sixes. But Yadav will need plenty of support from the tail, if Railways are to grab that lead.Orissa 318 and 110 for 3 (RR Parida 74) lead Madhya Pradesh 258 (Ojha 74, Patwardhan 71) by 170 runs
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At Cuttack, the pendulum swung back Orissa’s way as they sat cosily on a 170-run cushion by the end of the third day. Things had been completely different at the end of the second day, though, with Madhya Pradesh coming back well into the game. MP began the day at 132 for 2, still 186 runs behind, but they were reduced to 177 for 8 as lunch approached. Nikhil Patwardhan’s 71 was largely responsible for lifting them to 258. Earlier, Naman Ojha was run out after a well-made 74. The Orissa bowling was led by Deepak Mangaraj (3 for 61) and Sanjay Satpathy (4 for 75). Orissa finished on 110 for 3 at stumps with Rashmi Ranjan Parida anchored the innings with a 145-ball 74.Maharashtra 546 for 7 (Kanitkar 180, Jadhav 132, Satbhai 84) lead Haryana 236 by 310 runs
Scorecard
Maharashtra, as they have done in most matches this season, piled on a mammoth total at the Nehru Stadium in Pune. Hrishikesh Kanitkar hammered 180 and Satyajit Satbhai, the wicketkeeper, contributed 84 as Maharashtra went about batting Haryana completely out of the match. Kanitkar stroked 19 fours in his 498-minute innings, before he was caught behind off Gaurav Vashisht, the offspinner. Satbhai remained unbeaten at the end of a day in which Haryana were given a thorough hiding.

Pakistan take on England in must-win encounter

CAPE TOWN, Feb 21: Prediction of the outcome of a one-dayer especially when there is not much difference between two teams is risky business. Taking this factor into account, no one here is sticking out his neck to foretell the result of Saturday’s crucial Group ‘A’ clash between Pakistan and England at the Newlands.The match is equally important for the survival of both Pakistan and England if they harbour aspirations to make it to the Super Six stage.It is more vital for England who can not afford to lose any points, after having forfeited four against Zimbabwe by refusing to play in Harare citing security fear in the politically unstable co-hosts. And above all, their next two matches are against all-conquering Australia, already assured of a place in Super Six with the added satisfaction of taking points into the next stage, and India who revived their challenge for the next stage with a comprehensive victory over Zimbabwe in midweek.A loss for Pakistan will be a disaster but not catastrophic as they could still squeeze into the next round by winning all the remaining three matches. However, their position could become precarious if the weather plays tricks in their remaining matches.Yet instant version of the game is not all that teams likely to win should succeed as things could go wrong as the unfancied New Zealand and West Indies proved against the hosts and second favourites South Africa that had left Shaun Pollock and his colleagues at the mercy of their opponents and the real possibility of an early ouster from the tournament.The Pakistanis for the past two days have been taking nets very seriously and every player seems to mean business and Waqar Younis’s boys were determined not to repeat the mistakes made again Australia.There are no injury problems and the Asian giants are in a happy position to field their strongest lineup unlike England, who are troubled by niggling injuries to skipper Nasser Hussain – who missed the Namibia match – Ashley Giles and Ian Blackwell.But England coach Duncan Fletcher, hopes that the trio were getting better and expected to be considered for the vital encounter.”We have had few injury problems but I am confident the players will be fit” he told a press briefing on Friday.Well aware of the potential of Pakistan team the Zimbabwean-born coach admitted that they were a side to fear and capable of beating the best when on song. “Pakistan are a real threat to any team. They have class players but we are not overawed by the occasion” he added.Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis appeared more confident that the boys had learned from the past mistakes and were keen not to repeat them against England as a slip could prove fatal.”We did not do well against Australia especially in the middle overs and threw the early advantage. We have to bowl better besides the batting has not clicked. I am hoping our premier batsmen Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana to strike form tomorrow which will definitely put them on right track in the competition,” Waqar hoped.Waqar said England were always a competitive side as they have some good all-rounders and warned that opener Marcus Trescothick was a dangerous batsman who could turn a match on its head.Teams (from):ENGLAND: Nasser Hussain (captain), James Anderson, Ian Blackwell, Andrew Caddick, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Stephen Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Ronnie Irani, Nick Knight, Alec Stewart, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Craig WhitePAKISTAN: Waqar Younis (captain), Saeed Anwar, Taufiq Umar, Saleem Elahi, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Wasim Akram, Rashid Latif, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq.Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and Brian Jerling (both South Africa).TV umpire: Steve Bucknor (West Indies).Match referee: Mike Procter (South Africa).

Somerset 2nds need Coles to make big score

Resuming at 218 for 4, Somerset 2nds lost their six remaining wickets for the addition of just 82 more runs on the third day of their game against Gloucestershire 2nds. For Gloucestershire Tim Hancock took 3 for 59 while Jon White ended with 3 for 66.Following on 303 runs behind, Somerset had reached 214 for 4 by close of play, with Michael Coles not out on 37. Earlier Chris Hunkin had made 77, Wes Durston 41 and Keith Parsons 31.Somerset require 89 to make the visitors bat again, and if they are to save the game will be looking for Coles, who has enjoyed a great start to the season with the bat, to go on and make a big score.

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