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At the appointed hour, 20 minutes past five, Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar’s car pulled into the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). He stepped out ceremoniously, and wanted to lead the way into the president’s office, but couldn’t compete with the TV crews and photographers. A strong believer in doing things at auspicious times, Wadiyar sat in the president’s seat at 5.30 PM and threw the floor open to the media.Wadiyar’s working relationship with Brijesh Patel, the man he fought bitterly before and during the election, was one of the main points raised. Patel retained his post as secretary of the KSCA.”The first priority is the one day international here on September 29 [against Australia],” Wadiyar said. “We have to conduct it well and Brijesh Patel is well aware of the day to day affairs of conducting an international match. I will discuss it with him and we need to ensure that the match goes well.”Yes I know that we are two groups working together and we need to find a formula of compromise so that the best ideas are used. When I say compromise I mean to sayno-confrontation, at least in the beginning. There is no point in starting with a confrontation with Brijesh.”When asked of the charges of financial misconduct leveled against the rival groupduring the course of the election campaign, he refrained from making any comments.”We have stated the facts and in fact we discussed these issues in the AGM (Annual General Meeting) too yesterday,” he said. “Yes we did speak about these issues during the election campaign and the facts are there but I don’t want to say anything more at this stage. The law will take its course.”On the priorities of the KSCA apart from Bangalore’s international matches in the upcoming home season, Wadiyar addressed the need to develop cricket in Karnataka, especially in the districts. He also mentioned that the proposed salary hike for all KSCA staff will be discussed later with Patel.”Promoting cricket at all levels is the number one priority,” said Wadiyar. “Improving cricket in the mofussil areas, improving the standard of club cricket, all these are issues that we need to work on.”Patel then walked in, posed for photos along with Wadiyar. There was a momentary awkward silence, which Wadiyar broke, saying “See we are sitting together and we will work together,” as the gathered media and KSCA members broke out in laughter. “We will take the best ideas from both groups and work together for the game. Yes in the campaign, a lot of words were exchanged.”But even political parties become friends once the elections are over. And here we are not talking about political parties, there are no high-strung egos. And I believe two different heads are better than one and I am sure we will work well together.”Patel then played down the pre-election jousting. “We are all sportsmen and as Wadiyar said `two heads are better than one.’ They are also sportsmen who have the good of cricket at heart and I am sure the differences can be worked out.”He also wanted to put all the mudslinging and threats of lawsuits behind him. “Let us not talk about that. It’s all over. We want to work towards improving the game. We have already done some good work and we need to carry that forward.”

After a year which included the disastrous Ashes campaign and a hernia operation which kept him out of the series against India, Steve Harmison says he understands his bowling better and is “desperate” to play for England again.”It has been a nightmare year,” he told the . “But what I believe I’ve learned is that I need to stop worrying and start enjoying my cricket again, playing with a smile not a frown.”While he was sidelined due to hernia, Ryan Sidebottom, Stuart Broad and James Anderson all turned in strong performances to stake their claim for fast-bowling slots in the Test side.”Maybe I’ve got to accept that with my action and the way I bowl I’m going to have wayward spells, and instead of beating myself up about sending one way down leg side, I should concentrate on where the next one is going.”Harmison, who has been playing for the Highveldt Lions in a bid to get match fit for the Test series against Sri Lanka, gave the example of last week’s match against the Cape Cobras to explain his new approach to bowling.”In the past I would probably have agonised too much over the rubbish, but now I was thinking ‘Give me the ball because I’m also bowling some top stuff’. By sticking at it I bowled better as the match went on and ended up with nine wickets and a great deal of confidence.”Harmison said the advice of Allan Donald, who was a bowling consultant with England in the summer, was also extremely helpful.Harmison, 29, also reiterated his desire to play for England but added, “if I’m supposed to be in the side for line and length consistency I shouldn’t be. Let’s be honest, I’m not the best 83mph bowler available to England or the best at 85mph. But when things are going right, with my height and bounce, I can be the best 90mph-plus bowler.”He will join his England team-mates in Sri Lanka on Tuesday and the first Test starts in Kandy on December 1.

India batsman Rohit Sharma has railed against the popular perception that he isn’t making best use of his abundant natural talent, saying that he has got where he is through sheer hard work. Rohit said that the widespread opinion about him was “unfair and wrong.””People say, ‘Boss, this guy is gifted and he can do this and he can do that.’ But nobody knows what happens behind the scenes,” Rohit told . “Nobody knows about the hard work that’s been put in.”This ‘talent’ talk has messed things up for me. I started my career as a bowler. I was never a batsman. All this natural talent, god’s gift that you guys in the media talk and write about is unfair and wrong. I have worked on my batting to get here. I used to bat at No. 8. From there, I made my way up. Ask my coach, Mr Dinesh Lad, and he will tell you that I was an offspinner.”Whatever I have achieved is because of my hard work. All these terms like ‘lazy elegance’ have been coined by you guys. Maybe on TV it comes across like that, but that’s not the right way to judge anyone. One must get to the root of the matter. I became a serious batsman during my under-17 days. I broke the middle finger of my right hand during a 50-over match against the visiting Sri Lankans in 2005. It was difficult for me to grip the ball after that injury. That’s how I became a regular batsman.”Rohit made his Test debut in the home series against West Indies in November 2013, having already played 108 ODIs since June 2007. He began with two hundreds in his first two innings, but has not scored one in 23 innings since. Rohit has 870 runs at an average of 37 in 14 Tests so far.”Honestly, as a batsman, there is a lot more I have to do,” he said. “That’s very, very clear to me. Fourteen Test matches is nothing. I have nothing great in Test cricket. This is just the start. In ODI cricket, yes, I know have done well, especially after becoming an opener.”Rohit made 202 runs in six innings during India’s recent 2-1 Test series win in Sri Lanka, their first victory in the country since 1993. He was their second-highest runscorer, though only four specialist batsmen played all three matches. Rohit was out for 9 and 4 in the defeat in Galle, but contributed 79, 34, 26 and 50 to India’s wins in the next two Tests. The 79 was Rohit’s highest score since his debut series, but his push for a third hundred was cut short in the final over of the first day at the P Sara Oval, when he was lbw to Angelo Mathews.Elaborating on that dismissal, Rohit said it had come about because he had not played his natural game. “Just before I got out on 79, I told [Wriddhiman] Saha, ‘Partner, you know what, the light is fading and I think this is going to be the last over. Let’s just play out this over and come back tomorrow.’ The idea was to just to block those six balls and get back into the dressing room. But I ended up making a big mistake. I thought hard about survival. And what did I do by doing that? I forgot about my natural game, which is anything but blocking the ball. So, I got out because I did something completely different.”I was thinking of stumps, staying not out and going to the dressing room. I was over-cautious instead of being just me. The moral of the story is: Do not tweak your natural game.”One aspect of his game that Rohit said he had been born with, however, was his temperament. “Now, that’s a natural gift. That’s something I was born with. Actually, I have never had to work on staying relaxed or calm. Even in the middle, I take my mind off cricket in between deliveries and overs. I don’t think about the swing, the wicket or the bowler. I look at the scoreboard, I look at the fans sitting in the stands, I look at the guy playing the drums. I divert my mind.”India’s next Test series is at home against South Africa in November and December, and there is stiff competition for place in a shortened batting line-up. If India continue to use the five-bowler plan that worked for them in Sri Lanka – and if all batsmen are fit – then M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit will be competing for five spots.”Let the people who are in charge of the team take that call,” Rohit said. “I am a team man. It doesn’t matter if I am in the XI or not. I still represent India. I am still part of the team. And I will do whatever is expected of me.”

A century from Chirag Khurana and three wickets from the in-form Anupam Sanklecha left Maharashtra in a dominant position against Assam at the IIT-Chemplast ground in Chennai. Khurana, who began the day batting on 14, finished unbeaten on 112 as he helped Maharashtra’s last five wickets add 190 to their overnight total. They were eventually bowled out for 542. Khurana stretched his overnight partnership with wicketkeeper-batsman Vishant More (48) from 25 to 124, and added a further 68 with Sanklecha for the eighth wicket. Abu Nechim Ahmed and Syed Mohammad were Assam’s most successful bowlers, picking up three wickets apiece.Sanklecha – who picked up two seven-fors in his most recent game, against Vidarbha – then came back and ripped out three wickets to leave Assam 13 for 2 and then 56 for 3, before the opener Rishav Das (53*) added an unbroken 76 for the fourth wicket with Kunal Saikia (38*) to steer them to 132 for 3 at stumps, still trailing by 410.Rishabh Pant continued his run of form, scoring a rapid half-century to help Delhi take the first-innings lead against Rajasthan in Wayanad. Resuming on 37 for 0, Delhi were bowled out for 307, with seamers Pankaj Singh and Tanvir Ul-Haq taking three wickets each. Rajasthan ended the day 19 for 1 in their second innings and trailing by 50.Delhi’s openers stretched their overnight partnership to 52 before both fell in the space of four balls, Gautam Gambhir for 10 and Shikhar Dhawan for 38. Unmukt Chand (32) and Nitish Rana (24) added 51 for the third wicket, before Pant walked in at No. 5 and proceeded to score 75 of Delhi’s next 93 runs. He was fifth out with Delhi still trailing by 42, having scored his runs off 59 balls, with nine fours and three sixes. Delhi lost two more quick wickets and were 204 for 7 before Milind Kumar (42) and Sumit Narwal (34 off 25) steered them into the lead with a 54-run eighth-wicket stand. With Vikas Tokas (18) and Nitin Saini (16*) making useful contributions as well, Delhi stretched their lead to 69.Half-centuries from Biplab Samantray and Saurabh Rawat hauled Odisha out of a tight spot and into a sizeable lead against Karnataka at the Palam ground in Delhi. Replying to Karnataka’s 179, Odisha were 140 for 6 when wicketkeeper Rawat joined Samantray. They proceeded to add 106 for the seventh wicket in 34.4 overs before Samantray was out to the legspinner Shreyas Gopal for 58.Shreyas then dismissed Suryakant Pradhan (23) and Rawat, for 85 off 124 balls, to end the day with figures of 5 for 73. Odisha were 318 for 9 at stumps, leading by 139, with Basant Mohanty and Alok Mangaraj adding an unbroken 26 for the last wicket.A 171-run opening stand between Sanjay Ramaswamy and Faiz Fazal moved Vidarbha within sight of taking the first-innings lead against Saurashtra at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. At stumps, Vidarbha were 242 for 3, trailing by 59.Saurashtra had to wait till the 59th over of the day to taste any success, and used nine bowlers. Eventually, it was the part-timer Prerak Mankad who had Sanjay lbw for 77 to claim his first wicket in his third first-class match. Another part-timer, Amitoze Singh, then dismissed Fazal for 94, before the offspinner Vandit Jivranjani, sent back Ganesh Satish to have Vidarbha 223 for 3. Shalabh Shrivastava (31*) and Jitesh Sharma (6* off 41) saw out the rest of the day, putting on an unbroken partnership of 19 in 13.4 overs.

The final of Sri Lanka’s Inter-Provincial Limited-Overs Tournament will be a repeat of the last qualifying match between Kandurata and Wayamba after the final day of the qualifying stage was affected by bad weather.At the Welagedera Stadium, in a match reduced to 31 overs, table-leaders Kandurata, captained by Kumar Sangakkara, beat Wayamba by eight wickets to finish with a 100% record in the qualifying round.However, despite the defeat, Wayamba, who were captained by Mahela Jayawardene, were tied on 10 points with Basnahira North and went through to the final on superior net run rate.For Kandurate, only Jehan Mubarak, the tall Sri Lanka left-handed middle-order batsman, gotinto double figures after they were asked to bat first in seamers-friendly condition and were eventually bowled out for for 79 in only 21 overs. Mubarak, pushing for a place in the Sri Lanka side for the ODI series in Australia, top-scored with 36 with extras taking the second spot (10). The damage to the Wayamba batting was done by the fast bowlers; Akalanka Ganegama, Kaushal Weeraratne, Thilan Thushara and Chintaka Jayasinghe who captured all ten wickets to fall.Faced with the target of only 80 in 31 overs, Kandurata knocked the runs off in 19 overs to move into the final on Sunday with a great deal of confidence.The bottom of the table clash between Basnahira South and Ruhuna at the Galle International Stadium ended without a ball bowled due to rain.

Delhi middle-order batsman Virat Kohli will lead India Under-19 in their tour to South Africa early next year. He will have Saurashtra’s Ravinder Jadeja as the vice-captain, in a tour that includes two three-day games and a tri-series with Bangladesh as the third side.The squad included familiar names who have been hitting the right notes in the ongoing Ranji Trophy. Tamil Nadu’s Abhinav Mukund and Maharashtra’s Harshad Khadiwale were rewarded for a string of good scores and Pradeep Sangwan, the left-arm seamer from Delhi, picked himself with a fine season so far.KP Appanna and Iqbal Abdulla, left-arm spinners from Karnataka and Mumbai respectively, made the cut. There was also space for batsmen shining in the age-group levels like Manish Pandey, and Siva Kumar Duvarapu.The junior selection committee also chose 30 probables for the Under-19 World Cup, set for Malaysia in February next year.U-19 squad for tour to South Africa
Virat Kohli, (capt, Delhi) P Sangwan (Delhi) Ravinder Jadeja (vice-capt, Saurashtra), Abhinav Mukund (TN), Tanmay Srivastava (UP) Saurabh Tiwari (Jharkhand), KP Appanna, (Karnataka), Manish Pandey (Karnataka) Taruwar Kohli (Punjab), Amanpreet Singh (Punjab), Sreevats Goswami (Bengal) Siva Kumar Duvarapu, GVS Prasad (AP), Mohammad Arif (Rajasthan), Iqbal Abdullah (Mumbai), Harshad Khadiwale (Maharashtra).Stand-byes: Ajitesh Argal (Baroda) Perry Goel (Punjab) D Prabhu Kiran (AP) N Einstein (TN).Probables for the U-19 World Cup
Abhinav Mukund (Tamil Nadu), Harshad Khadiwale (Maharashtra), Manish Sharma (Rajasthan), Rohan Banerjee (Bengal), Virat Kohli (Delhi), Manish Pandey (Karnataka), Taruwar Kohli (Punjab), D. Parabhu Kiran (Andhra Pardesh), N Einstein (Tamil Nadu), Saurabh Tiwari (Delhi), Manprit Juneja (Gujarat), Ankit Tiwari (Uttar Pradesh), Tanmay Srivastava (Uttar Pradesh), Sreevats Goswami (Bengal), Rubin Dalwadi (Baroda), Perry Goyal (Punjab), Amanpreet Singh (Punjab), Pardeep Sangwan (Delhi), Mohammed Arif (Rajasthan), Dhawal Kulkarni (Mumbai), Ajitesh Argal (Baroda), Siddarth Kaul (Punjab), Siva Kumar Duvarapu (Andhra Pardesh), Ravinder Jadeja (Saurashtra), Sumit Khatri (Rajasthan), Yogesh Nagar (Delhi), GVS. Parsad (Andhra Pardesh), KP Appanna (Karnataka), Iqbal Abdullah (Mumbai) and Swapnil Singh (Baroda).

Robin Brown, the Zimbabwe coach who replaced Kevin Curran last month, has asked his players to hold the celebrations till after the game against England today.”I told them to keep the celebrations until tomorrow night when we have beaten England,” Brown told AFP. “Then we can have a full go.”Zimbabwe beat Australia by five wickets at Newlands and Brown, on his first international assignment, said that before the game he reminded the players of Zimbabwe’s win on debut against Australia in the 1983 World Cup. “I reminded them of that and told the guys to go out and express themselves in our first World Cup Twenty20 game.”Brown was part of the Zimbabwe squad in the 1983 World Cup but did not play against Australia.Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, admitted that Zimbabwe had done better than Australia in most aspects in the game and Brendan Taylor, the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 60, felt Ponting’s remark was a great compliment to Zimbabwe. “That’s a great compliment because we try to model ourselves on them,” Taylor said.An England win over Zimbabwe will make it more difficult for Australia to qualify for the Super Eights. They play England on Friday at Newlands.

Pakistan’s national selectors will meet next week to pick the squad for the five-match ODI series against Bangladesh in April. A selector told that the selection committee will start taking inputs from the Pakistan team management before naming the squad.The selectors will be particularly keen on speaking to the management after it emerged that Geoff Lawson, the coach, was unhappy with the selection procedure before the ODI series against Zimbabwe. Lawson said, in a report to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), that despite assurances from the board he was not consulted in the finalisation of the 15-member squad named for the series, which Pakistan won 5-0.There have been reports of friction between coach and selectors earlier but this was the first time Lawson had put it in writing. PCB rules stipulate that national selectors should consult the captain and coach while finalising the squad during a home series. The selectors, though, have the prerogative to pick the final playing eleven, a change from the past when the team management had the authority to do this.Lawson’s grouse was that the selectors had not even consulted him while picking the full squad. In his report on the series against Zimbabwe, Lawson also talked about the 2011 World Cup and his doubts over whether allrounder Shahid Afridi had a role to play in the tournament. “The performance of Shahid Afridi will have to be closely monitored before finalising the likely team for the World Cup 2011,” he wrote.The series against Bangladesh was hurriedly lined up by the PCB after Australia refused to go ahead with the tour scheduled for March-April because of security concerns. Bangladesh are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on April 6 to play five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 international. According to the unofficial itinerary, the opening match will be played on April 9 in Lahore, which will also host the second one-dayer on April 11. The rest of the ODIs will be played on April 14 in Faisalabad and April 17 and 20 in Rawalpindi. Karachi will host the only Twenty20 match on April 22.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

The ICL India XI may have not reached a target they would have expected after a solid start, but a superb spell of bowling (4-1-10-1) from Syed Mohammed left ICL World XI with a stiff task during their chase, and despite Damien Martyn’s 60, it was India XI that prevailed to clinch the title.India XI, looking for their fourth successive win, decided to bat at the toss. The going was slow, with Johan van der Wath bowling a maiden first up and Daryl Tuffey conceding only one in his opening over. However, from then on, G Vignesh and Ibrahim Khaleel picked up steam as they put on an opening stand of 76.Khaleel, who was later declared the Player of the Series, fell for a run-a-ball 34. Vignesh, dropped early in his innings, was the more aggressive of the openers, and was severe on Andrew Hall, hitting a six and two fours off the South African. Vignesh survived a stumping chance off Upul Chandana on 38, and brought up his fifty as India XI went past the 100-mark, before he fell to the same bowler for 57.However, World XI fought back well in the latter half of the India XI innings, with Russel Arnold conceding only six runs off his two overs. At 104 for 2 after 13 overs, India XI looked poised for a score over 160, but the last seven overs only fetched 44 runs as they were restricted to 148. Hall and Chandana finished with two wickets apiece.Matthew Elliott perished early during World XI’s reply, but Martyn and Vincent kept the runs ticking over and after eight overs, they were at 61 for 1. Mohammed then came into the attack, and his first two overs went for only one run each. Martyn had till then dominated the scoring, and Vincent had begun to gather momentum, hitting a six followed by a four off T Kumaran and Ali Murtaza. However, Mohammed had him stumped in his second over.The runs from then onwards came at less than the required-rate for World XI, and the pressure got to the batsmen, with captain Chris Cairns and Martyn dismissed by run-outs. Despite the best efforts from the rest, the target remained unconquerable; a ten-run win capped a four-match unbeaten streak that helped India XI conquer the title. Vignesh won the match prize, with two wickets to add to his fifty.

Match facts

Thursday, May 8 2008
Start time 11.00 (local), 10.00 (GMT)

The Big Picture

This is the final chance for New Zealand to fine-tune their preparations ahead of the first Test and also a last opportunity for England’s fringe players to give the selectors a headache ahead of the squad announcement on Sunday. It should prove a tough assignment for the visitors with a strong Lions team including eight players with international experience. New Zealand managed a win against Essex, but they were rescued by their bowlers after two batting displays – James Marshall apart – that didn’t bode well ahead of Lord’s. Kyle Mills, at No. 8 in the second innings, was the only other player to pass fifty and they are also without Daniel Vettori, who has a finger injury. The Lions are led by Robert Key, who already has an unbeaten 178 against New Zealand in the tour, while Matthew Hoggard is hoping to push for a Test recall with more wickets after a promising start to the season for Yorkshire.

Team news

England Lions: The decision could come down to whether both spinners, Adil Rashid and Graeme Swann, make the final XI. If the spell of warmer weather pushes the selectors that way then one of the four frontline quicks will probably miss out.Squad: Robert Key (Kent, capt), Ravinder Bopara (Essex), Michael Carberry (Hampshire), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Steven Kirby (Gloucestershire), Matt Prior (Sussex, wk), Graham Onions (Durham), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire), Luke Wright (Sussex)Player to watch: Ravi Bopara has been one of the form batsmen early season and added 66 to his impressive tally against New Zealand and Chelmsford last week. He said he was frustrated to miss out on three figures, so this is another chance for him to put pressure on England’s current batting line-up.New Zealanders: The visitors have already named their XI, which shows how they will probably line-up at Lord’s except for Vettori, who misses this match after splitting his finger at Chelmsford and the rested Mills. Vettori is hopeful of being fit for the Test, although a lack of bowling will be an issue, and Jeetan Patel is the back-up spinner. Daniel Flynn, the left hander, seems set for a Test debut after being given another chance in the middle order as does Aaron Redmond in the opening position.Team: 1 Jamie How, 2 Aaron Redmond, 3 James Marshall, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Brendon McCullum (capt, wk), 6 Daniel Flynn, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Jeetan Patel, 10 Iain O’Brien, 11 Chris MartinPlayer to watch: Tim Southee made an impressive start to his Test career with a five-wicket haul on debut in Napier. He has suffered some back problems in the early stages of this tour, but has now been given the all clear to resume. Barring any later reaction he is set to be part of the pace attack at Lord’s and a good performance against the Lions will be a timely confidence boost.

Quotes

“I’m having the stitches taken out on Saturday or Sunday and I’ll know a little bit more then. I’m confident, but I’ve never dealt with this before and it’s in the worst possible spot.”
“It’s always good to play a touring side in this part of the year, especially going into the first Test because you’ve got a great stage to stake your own claims personally and you can also do a little bit for England.”
Robert Key looks forward to the chance of making a few points over the next four days