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Scorecard
Glamorgan hit back on the second day of their tour match against Sri Lanka A at Swansea. After Sri Lanka posted a healthy 367, Matthew Elliott and Ian Thomas helped to guide Glamorgan to 118 for 1 at the close, 80 runs behind.After Sri Lanka A resumed at 178 for 3, Jehan Mubarak was out early on, caught by David Hemp off Mark Harrison for 66, Jeewan Mendis was soon run out for 5, and Sri Lanka had stuttered to 195 for 5. However, Bathiya Perera continued the momentum, adding 22 quick runs before he was caught by Robert Croft off Darren Thomas.Then came Charith Sylvester and Gayan Wijekooon, who put on a fifty stand to further frustrate the Glamorgan attack. Sylvester scored a bright 44, including four boundaries. He was finally bowled by Croft, but Ranga Dias and Nuwan Kulasekara chipped with a couple of 20s down the order to boost the total to 367 with Ramyakumara left not out on 60.Elliott and Thomas, however, then made a better fist of things second time around, as they added 113 for the opening stand. Thomas was the more aggressive of the two, reaching his half-century from 76 balls, while Elliott cracked four fours and a six in his 53. It was Kulasekara who eventually made the breakthrough, with Elliott caught by Fernando shortly before the close.

The East Zone Under-22 match between Bengal and Tripura at the PolytechnicGround in Agartala meandered to a draw on the third and final day on Thursday.Bengal took home five points by virtue of the 113-run first innings lead whileTripura had to be content with three.Opting to bat on the first day, Bengal declared at 387 for 9. Opener Arindam Das(177) held the visitors’ innings together. After the early loss of his partnerPrasanta Sinharoy (1), Arindam shared a 126-run second wicket partnership withstumper AA Sikdar (40). The fall of Sikdar triggered a minor collapse, andBengal found themselves losing four more wickets.Subrahdip Ganguly (90) joined Arindam at this juncture and 126 runs for theseventh wicket. Arindam was the eighth batsman to be dismissed caught by Sahaoff R Ghosh. Arindam, who stay at the crease for close to eight hours faced 305balls hit 28 boundaries.In reply, Tripura scored 254 thanks chiefly to some useful contributions by themiddle order. M Gupta (63) was the top scorer. The only significant partnershipin the innings was shared by M Gupta and C Sachdeva (56) for the third wicketwhich was worth 75 runs. Thereafter none of the Tripura batsmen made anysignificant scores. Bengal in their second innings lost three wickets whileputting up 157 on the board. Arindam Das was again the top scorer with a fine60. Bengal managed to receive 48 overs on the final day before stumps were drawnafter the 8th mandatory over with the score 157 for three.

Auckland Cricket chairman Don Hattaway is not seeking re-election at Thursday’s annual meeting.The popular Hattaway has been chairman for the last five and a half years and a member of the board for seven years.”I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a board member serving the interests of Auckland cricket.”I have always believed that the game of cricket is for playing and that administrators should never overlook that fact. To this end, the move to strengthen grass roots cricket and the positive development of the State Aces and State Hearts has been particularly worthwhile,” he said.Acknowledging the success of the Auckland Hearts in winning the State Insurance Cup for the second time, and the number of talented young players in the Aces side, Hattaway said Auckland continued to make a substantial investment in coaching and development.”It is pleasing to see this investment reflected in the development of elite players and the continuing growth of coaches in Auckland,” he said.The development of a career path for coaches had been helped by the requirement that all premier and first grade cricket club sides in Auckland have a coach attached to them.This also helped lift the standard of cricket.”Whilst the standard of cricket varies amongst the teams the standard is improving and the trend is in the right direction,” he said.”During the past year one of the main areas of focus has been to strengthen the grass roots level of the game by encouraging clubs to improve their governance structure.”A professional management scheme has been developed and it is pleasing to note that this has been embraced wholeheartedly by the major clubs in Auckland,” he said.Hattaway said New Zealand Cricket was committed to supporting grass roots cricket and funds have been allocated to provide the necessary financial resource.”Although the board of NZC has not yet determined the timing of payment and how much each association will receive, the clubs are preparing their business plans for review by Auckland Cricket.”By making good use of the time available to properly plan for the implementation of the professional club managers’ scheme, it is anticipated that when final approval is given by NZC that we and the clubs will be ready to implement the scheme,” he said.

Habib Bank Limited (HBL), lifted the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) one day Cricket Cup, defeating Khan Research Labs (KRL) by 19 runs, in an exciting finish at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore on Thursday.The KRL Captain Nadeem Abbasi (a former test player) won the toss and invited HBL to bat first on warm sunny late spring day at Lahore. Led by the former Pakistan Captain Saleem Malik, HBL were all out for a modest total of 182 runs. Hasan Raza who had at one time created the record of being the youngest test player in the game, was the top scorer with 57. Incidently, the two former stars of Pakistan, Saleem Malik and Ijaz Ahmed were out for a duck each. With 4 wickets for 31, Yasir Arafat was the most successful bowler for KRL.In reply, the KRL were bundled out for 163 runs in 47.5 overs. Imran Farhat, an upcoming leg spinner had caused the rout by claiming 4 wickets for 57 runs. Naseer Ahmed was the highest scorer with 41.HBL, one of the leading teams in the tournament thus clinched the trophy. The tournament sponsored and organised by the National Bank of Pakistan having offered attractive prize money as well as other awards, was participated by the best teams in Pakistan’s domestic cricket.Chairman PCB Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia was the Chief Guest, who in the company of NBP President Mian Mohammad Soomro awarded the Championship Trophy and a cheque of Rs.100,000 to the HBL Skipper Saleem Malik, while the KRL Skipper Nadeem Abbasi received the Runners-Up prize of Rs. 50,000. Imran Farhat, deservedly, won the Man of the Match award.Among the other players, Iftikhar Hussain (KRL) won the best batsman of the tournament award for scoring 497 runs while Fazl-e-Akbar of Customs, was declared the best bowler of the tourney with 19 wickets. Taufeeq Umer (HBL) and Aamer Iqbal (Customs) were declared the best fielder and the best wicket keeper respectively. Each one of the players received a cash award of Rs. 5000.

Indian captain Saurav Ganguly, who ended his recent run-drought with apainstaking 85 to lay the foundation for India’s four-wicket winagainst Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Wednesday, thanked one and all forsupporting him through his lean period.”It is good to score runs. I thank my teammates, family, friends andall supporters here and back home for their encouraging words,” arelieved and happy Ganguly said.Asked whether he would continue with the winning team in the next twomatches, the Indian captain replied in the negative.”We will give a chance to all. There are players who have not playedfor quite some time and all of them are good enough to play in theeleven,” he said. “In the process, we will also be able to fix acombination for the final."Man-of-the-match Rahul Dravid, who saw his team home with an unbeaten72, said, “Sourav showed a lot of character to hang in there and scoreruns.”On his own performance, Dravid said “I am happy to score a matchwinning knock and continue my good form on the tour. Even in the netsI am hitting the ball well.”Guy Whittal, leading Zimbabwe in the absence of Heath Streak, said histeam missed the services of Streak. On the team’s further progress inthe tournament, Whittal said “We will try to play as hard as we can inthe next game too.”

Before the team left for Sharjah I had prayed for a triumphant start and that was exactly what the boys achieved for us. After the initial hiccup, things took a pretty smooth route. Aided by the indomitable Wasim and Waqar, the Pakistan team looked a well-knit unit. Critics could always point out that this triangular was only a two-way race but they should also keep in mind Sri Lankan power in recent desert tournaments. They had been decisive winners in the last two competitions at Sharjah, and Pakistan beat them twice, quite convincingly, in the tournament.

Admittedly, Sri Lanka were seriously handicapped by the absence of Fernando and Kaluwitharana. Fernando had bowled at a furious pace in the first game and some of our batsmen had looked uneasy with his length. Kaluwitharana, as most of us know, can be devastating with the bat and is no mean achiever behind the stumps.In our first match against Sri Lanka our batting looked rusty and with Inzamam absent, were in disarray against incessant short of length deliveries. Yousuf Youhana was the only batsman who seemed at ease with these tactics.

We introduced Naved Latif in this tournament and he did not disappoint his admirers. He loves playing square off the pitch and being an unknown quantity, took Sri Lankan bowlers by surprise. In the absence of Fernando all the Sri Lankan bowlers lacked some awareness and penetration. Instead of switching to ‘Plan B’ they limited themselves to the original plan that had worked well for them in the first game. Many a well-devised plan goes awry on the day and one must be flexible enough of change at a very short notice.Inzamam played a patient innings in the beginning and thrashed the bowlers towards the end of the game. It was a masterly knock. He also persuaded the adjudicators to nominate Naved Latif for the Man of the Match when they wanted to share it between him and his junior. I thought this was a tremendous gesture and went a long way in building up more team sprit.

Mahela Jayawardene had scored a scintillating 92 in the first session of the match. What a graceful and intelligent player he is. This young man seems destined for greatness.Before the tournament final, a lot of expatriates had reminded us not to fall at the final hurdle. I do not think we needed a reminder. We were extremely confident after our third win on the trot while the Sri Lankans looked totally devastated after Pakistan had chased a huge total batting second. The manner in which we chased such a commanding total would have knocked the stuffing out of many sides.What’s more, we also had our ace Wasim Akram back in the side. It was a difficult choice to leave out Shoaib Malik who has bowled reasonably well and was by far the best ground fielder of the tournament. Saeed Anwar also had to miss out because of an injury to his wrist. It was a painful loss to us as his record in Sharjah is outstanding.On a hot and humid day, Jayasuriya won the toss and elected to bat. We had planned to take early wickets and cramp both the left-handed opening batsmen for room. Jayasuriya and Gunawardene can tear into you if you give them the slightest bit of freedom on the offside.Wasim and Waqar once again belied their age and were very hostile. Both were among wickets very early on, which gave us a distinct advantage.

Enter Jayawardene, and the whole game took on a different dimension. He treats every bowler in the world with disdain and has more time than most players I have come across in my career. If he were not an opposite number I would pray for him to bat all day for my sake!His six off Shoaib Akhtar was a delight and would have done Sir Viv Richards proud. Ironically, it was Shoaib Akhtar who had the last laugh by removing him when Jayawardene appeared to be running away with the game. This is the beauty of playing Shoaib Akhtar. He can go for runs but will always feature among wickets. Greatest way to check the run rate is by picking up wickets at regular intervals. It breaks the opposition’s rhythm and also leaves them with fewer wickets in hand for the slog overs. In fact, Shoaib Akhtar fit in the tournament and being played more consistently will get better. A fit and healthy Shoaib Akhtar is an asset for our team. On the tour he was completely focused on his game. I really am at a loss why his bowling action is under scrutiny again. If, for scientific reasons, Brett Lee and Muttiah Muralitharan are allowed to operate then why pick on our youngster? Shoaib is an emotional young man and these things affect him more than most people. I really despair for him.Wasim Akram was his lethal best in this tournament. At one stage I became concerned, as he seemed to be trying too hard. I did not want him to break down, so we rested him in one game. He vowed to win the tournament for Waqar and us. I once played in two one-day games against England in the same team as Michael Holding. Michael bowled 20 overs and picked up 6 for 48. I thought I would never see anything like that again. Wasim proved me wrong and in this tournament took 6 for 69 in 29 overs. He was my Man of the Tournament with Waqar a very close second.Waqar Younis is very much like Dennis Lillee (the greatest fast bowler of my era, if not the best ever). Both are classical, side-on bowlers. Waqar being a little shorter then Dennis, bowls to a fuller length but the game plan always is the same, attack. Like Dennis, Waqar also strives for wickets rather than conserving energy and achieving a decent economy rate. To this day, Ian Chappell maintains Dennis was a ‘captain’s dream’. Well, I wish I had played in the same team as Waqar let alone captain him. What marvellous services these two W’s have given us and any history of cricket would be incomplete without our two W’s.

Without a shadow of doubt, the find of the tour was Naved Latif. He came to prominence by scoring 394 runs in one innings in a first class game. When I first saw him in nets, about ten months ago, his stroke play was very catching. I was astonished when a few of my colleagues seemed to differ from my views. Despite this, we selected him for the Pakistan Academy. Much to my dismay he chose to go to England instead of joining our ranks. He was disillusioned and thought he deserved better from the cricket selectors. He likes playing square on the offside, and in his eagerness to do that, sometime he does not go back and across enough. Those who watched his dismissal in the Sharjah Final will know exactly what I am trying to put across. Had he stayed in the Academy we would have worked on his technique. Anyway, it’s better late than never.We have a month before we take on Bangladesh and the West Indies. A lot of hard work beckons all of us. Let us hope we carry the Sharjah spirit forward with us wherever and whenever we play in the future.

Punjab handed down a humiliating innings and 343-run defeat toHimachal Pradesh in their North Zone under-14 tournament match at theDhruv Pandove Stadium in Patiala on Tuesday.Set to get 405 to avoid an innings defeat, Himachal Pradesh were shotout for just 62 runs in their second innings. None of the batsmenreached double figures with the exception of Aditya (27). All the sixPunjab bowlers shared the spoils with Jund (3 for 10) being the pickof the lot.Earlier, on the first day, opting to bat, Himachal Pradesh werebundled for a paltry 24. Four of the batsmen failed to open theiraccount. Harmanjit, with figures of 3 for 5, was the pick of thebowlers. In reply, Punjab declared their first innings at 429 runs forseven. Openers A Vinayak (29) and Karan Goel (50) gave Punjab a goodstart by putting on 81 runs in 18.3 overs. Then with the score reading125 for 4, M Bhatia (87) and U Kaul (95) added 163 runs for the fifthwicket in 45.4 overs. A seventh wicket partnership of 132 runs off 29overs between A Jund (50) and P Sharda (79) ensured Punjab a big lead.Punjab got eight points.

Sri Lanka Cricket has announced an overhaul of domestic cricket, which features three city-based tournaments that will be launched in the upcoming season.

Elite Championship teams

Colombo
Base: Khettarama
Catchment area: Western province
Major affiliated clubs: SSC, Ragama CC, Badureliya CC
Kandy
Base: Pallekele Stadium
Catchment area: Central Province & Sabaragamuwa
Major affiliated clubs: Colts Cricket Club, Moors Sports Club, Saracens Sports Club
Hambantota
Base: Hambantota Stadium
Catchment area: Uva Province and parts of Southern Province and Eastern Province
Major affiliated clubs: Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Burgher Recreation Club, Army Sports Club
Galle
Base: Galle Stadium
Catchment area: Part of Southern Province
Major affiliated clubs: Galle CC, Nondescripts CC, Lankan CC
Kurunegala
Base: Dambulla Stadium
Catchment area: Northwestern Province, North-Central Province, Northern Province, and part of Eastern Province
Major affiliated clubs: Tamil Union, Chilaw Marians, Navy Sports Club

The 2015-16 season will also feature a four-day, 50-over and Twenty20 tournament based out of five regional hubs, in addition to the club-based premier tournaments which will continue as usual. The new city-based structure, titled the ‘Elite Championship’ aims to decentralise Sri Lanka’s cricket from Colombo, and distill talent to ensure a sterner level of domestic competition.According to SLC officials, the plan for the Elite Championship was “spearheaded” by Mahela Jayawardene. The interim committee, which took over in early April, has made the overhaul of the domestic system a priority of their administration, which is set to end in January – before any of the new tournaments are played. It is hoped the new structure will help better identify and foster provincial talent.”Today, the bulk of our cricketers are coming from the outstations,” SLC chairman Sidath Wettimuny said. “We’ve got to encourage these cricketers to remain in their home territory and play. Everybody doesn’t need to come to Colombo. We’re taking cricket out to them and providing them with what they need.”The five Elite Championship teams will be based out of stadiums in Pallekele, Dambulla, Hambantota, Galle and Khettarama, and will take the names of the nearest major urban centre (Kandy, Kurunegala, Hambantota, Galle and Colombo respectively).”Historically and geographically, these are the cities that have brought cricket to the level it is now,” SLC cricket operations manager Carlton Bernardus said. “The advantage also is that the facilities in these regions cater to the game.”By fielding only five teams, SLC aims to concentrate the talent in its domestic pool, in order to better prepare domestic cricketers for the international level. The Premier League first-class tournament, which features 14 club sides, has been criticised by players and administrators for being bloated, and as such, producing relatively-low quality cricket.Each Elite Championship team will be assigned SLC coaches and support staff. Romesh Kaluwitharana, Nuwan Zoysa, Piyal Wijetunge, Roy Dias and Avishka Gunawardene have been identified as head coaches for the five teams. SLC said it was also in the process of advertising for managers, and assigning trainers and physios for each side. The Elite Championship support staff will be advised and overseen by the national coaches in Colombo.Existing clubs have also been given an administrative role to play in the Elite Championship. The top clubs have been split into five clusters, each of which has then been assigned an Elite Championship side. For example, Sinhalese Sports Club, Badureliya Cricket Club, Ragama Cricket Club along with several other clubs have been clustered with the Colombo team.”We will get the support of the clubs and the district associations to run the tournament,” Bernardus said. “The tournament will tap into the facilities and infrastructure which the clubs have.”A new player-payments structure has also been announced for the Elite Championship tournaments. Seventy-five players (15 per team) will be signed up for these tournaments, and those who play will receive 20,000 rupees per day for the Elite Championship four-day tournament, 25,000 rupees per 50-over match, and 15,000 rupees per T20 game.The Elite Championship T20 tournament is set to be the first of the city-based tournaments to be played: it is scheduled from January 26 to February 5 – ahead of the World T20. The Elite Championship four-day tournament is scheduled for March and April 2016. The teams are scheduled to play a round-robin, before two sides progress to the final.The club-based Premier League Tournament is still set to take the largest part of the domestic calendar. That tournament features seven three-day group fixtures for each of the 14 sides, before the top eight teams split off to play four rounds of four-day cricket, known as the Super Eights phase. Club-based 50-over and T20 tournaments are also scheduled.SLC has sought to persist with the club structure instead of doing away with it in favour of the new tournaments for two major reasons. First, the clubs control much of the existing domestic infrastructure and facilities, including coaches, equipment and grounds. Secondly, the clubs also wield substantial constitutional power, via SLC votes.Any moves to marginalise the clubs would have effectively killed the city-based tournament at its inception. At any rate, with SLC elections scheduled for January, the clubs would likely have elected candidates promising to return the club tournaments to their historical place – as the centrepiece of Sri Lanka’s domestic season. Playing the Elite Championship after the Premier League tournament is seen as a sort of compromise.SLC has previously held provincial tournaments that sought to concentrate domestic talent. However, those tournaments had been administered directly by SLC, from Colombo. The Elite Championship aims to herald a greater devolution of power. It is hoped that district associations and the club clusters will administer the week-to-week affairs of each team, and that these teams will only be broadly overseen by SLC. It is also hoped that this devolution of powers brings with it grassroots support from fans in the various cities, as well as organic development of cricketers at each hub.

Pakistan allrounder Shoaib Malik has been included as the 16th member of the Test squad for the upcoming series against England in the UAE. Malik, who last played a Test in August 2010, was picked on the request of the team management who were keen to have him in the side based on his current batting form in limited overs and as an extra bowling option.A press release from the Pakistan Cricket Board stated that team manager Intikhab Alam had made the request to chief selector Haroon Rashid, stating that he and head coach Waqar Younis were in favour of Shoaib Malik being retained “given his present form in T20Is and the ODIs”. Rashid’s recommendation was then approved by PCB chairman Shahryar Khan.Malik made a comeback to the international side in the home series against Zimbabwe in May, after a gap of two years, and struck an ODI hundred in Lahore. In 11 ODI innings this year, Malik has scored 500 runs with a century and three fifties at an average of 100, while his run tally in T20 internationals stands at 118 from six matches. Malik’s most recent fifty was an unbeaten knock of 96 in the second ODI against Zimbabwe in Harare, which ended in a five-run defeat for Pakistan due to bad light.”Following Intikhab Alam’s request, I spoke with my fellow selectors and there was unanimity over retaining Malik keeping in mind his current batting form and the off-spin bowling option that could be handy in the all-important forthcoming Test series against England,” said Haroon Rashid.The three-Test series against England kicks off with the first match in Abu Dhabi from October 13. The second and third Tests will be played in Dubai and Sharjah from October 22 and November 1, respectively.

The Logan Cup match between the CFX Academy and Mashonalandpetered out in a drawThe Academy resumed on 28 for one, and it soon became clear thatthe Academy were taking perhaps a realistic view of theirposition: that they had insufficient time to push for victory byconventional means and even to aim for a declaration game wouldbring about a situation where they were hardly likely to bowl outMashonaland in less than half a day. The overnight batsmen RyanKing and John Vaughan-Davies settled in on a pitch that wasplaying slowly with a bit of turn, and after an hour they werestill there and Mashonaland were growing disgruntled andpressurising the umpires.Then two wickets fell quickly. King was given out lbw toPeacock, the ball hitting him quite high, and soon afterwardsVaughan-Davies was deceived into shouldering arms to the samebowler, who was spinning the ball quite sharply, only to find itcoming straight on and hitting his off stump – the third batsmanto be out this way in the match. He had mixed some good driveswith some vigorous fresh-air swings at balls outside the offstump. Both had made 24, and the Academy were now 68 for three.Greg Lamb scored only 10 before hitting a sharp return catch toViljoen, but Travis Friend was batting soundly, playing some gooddrives and strokes to leg. Due to the slow outfield he hit fivethrees against two fours in his 35 before becoming the eighth lbwvictim of the match, to Matambanadzo. The Academy went in tolunch on 139 for five, 112 ahead (Colin Delport 22, Jason Young2).The afternoon session was a dull one, but vital for the Academy,and Mashonaland grew increasingly frustrated, as was shown intheir body language and the amount of ‘chirping’ they engaged inat times. The only wicket to fall was that of Delport (34),checking a drive against Craig Evans and sending an easy catch toTrevor Penney at mid-on. The score was now 160 for six. PaulStrang, with his knee injury, prepared to come in at nine, butYoung and Clement Mahachi showed tremendous determination andconcentration to hold on until tea, when the score was 201 forsix – unbeaten on 26 and 17 respectively – and the match all butsafe. They mixed sound defence with firm strokes when safe to doso, but the heavy outfield made fast scoring difficult under thebest circumstances. The only chance given was when Young duckeda bouncer from Matambanadzo and wicket-keeper Don Campbell misseda shy at the stumps with the batsman still out of his crease.The Academy batted on after tea, useful practice for theirbatsmen, and the only further wicket to fall was that of Young,lbw to a yorker from Viljoen for 34. Strang decided to risk hisknee by batting with a runner, to be not out with 4 at the end,while the left-handed Mahachi was undefeated with 24. The finalscore was 221 for seven, a lead of 194, at 4pm, the time at whichthe teams could call off the match as a draw if there was mutualagreement. It was a creditable achievement for the Academyplayers to bat out the match, although with more experience theyshould be able to take greater toll of bowling that was ofteninaccurate. They will also learn to build on a good foundation;in their second innings six batsmen passed 20 but none scoredmore than 35. Unfortunately some of the Mashonaland players wereless than gracious about their successful effort to force a draw.