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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Thisara Perera picked up his maiden T20 five-for•AFP

An inspired Comilla Victorians crushed Rangpur Riders in a 72-run win to qualify to the BPL final. They not only withstood Thisara Perera’s five-wicket burst and a threatening start from the Rangpur openers, but also shrugged off their own injury-ravaged roster. Rangpur will now have a second shot in the second Qualifier on Sunday, facing the winner of the Eliminator.Comilla missed the services of Shoaib Malik due to a finger injury and used Nuwan Kulasekara, who bowled with a shoulder injury. The most heart-warming sight was to of the captain Mashrafe Mortaza, carrying a Grade-1 right hamstring tear, sending down four overs for only 13 runs, taking one wicket.Comilla batted well in two patches either side of Perera’s wickets. Imrul Kayes cracked 67 at the start and Ashar Zaidi slugged two sixes in a 15-ball 40 to power them to a total of 163.Rangpur began the chase in perfect manner. In the third over, Soumya Sarkar struck Shuvagata Hom for a reverse-swept four before Lendl Simmons added three more boundaries through the leg-side. Andre Russell then dropped Soumya, pedalling back from mid-off in the fifth over. But Rangpur’s fall began the very next ball.Running from deep midwicket, Shuvagata made up for his 17-run over with a superb catch at the square-leg boundary to get rid of Soumya, who made just nine. Abu Hider then made it two wickets off two balls when he removed Simmons with a stunning yorker, the batsman falling over and the ball ricocheting off his pads and into the stumps.Zaidi bowled a maiden in the sixth over, and Mortaza gave away just a single off the next over, his first in the tournament since December 8. The pressure told, as Zaidi had Mohammad Mithun stumped and Shakib Al Hasan caught at deep midwicket off the next ball. Mohammad Nabi struck a six and a four but fell to Mashrafe in the 11th over before Hider came into the picture again, this time with a running catch to get rid of Jahurul Islam. At 62 for 6, Rangpur were well past gone in the chase.Hider came back to bowl his second over and saw Ahmed Shehzad drop a simple chance at long-on off Perera’s bat before clean bowling him a ball later. Zaidi’s fourth wicket was of Darren Sammy in the 16th over, the arm ball capping a stunning all-round display. Hider then picked up another to bag his second four-for in the tournament and become its highest wicket-taker with 21 scalps.Put in to bat, Comilla waited till the end of the third over to find the boundary, Kayes swatting Arafat Sunny through square-leg. Liton Das struck one four in a labored 37-ball 28 but Kayes kept the run rate up with two fours each off Shakib and Mohammad Nabi in the fifth and sixth over. A Kayes blast over cover, off Al-Amin Hossain, then brought up Comilla’s highest opening stand in the tournament as well as the longest opening partnership from a team batting first this season.Liton fell to a beautiful delivery from Saqlain Sajib in the eleventh over before Kayes reached his first fifty of the season, and his second overall in the tournament.Mashrafe’s promotion of himself and Andre Russell to No 3 and No. 4 didn’t work, and the captain’s wicket began the Perera show. The Sri Lankan seamer then dismissed Russell and had Kayes caught and bowled, ending a 48-ball knock that included seven fours and two sixes. Both those sixes came off Shakib, who also had a stumping missed by Mithun when Kayes was on 58.When Shehzad was trapped leg-before for a golden duck at the end of the 16th over, Perera had picked up his first T20 four-for and although he didn’t complete the hat-trick in the next over, he finished with 5 for 26 from his four overs with the wicket of Alok Kapali. Courtesy of Zaidi’s 15-ball 40 in the last 4.3 overs, Comilla took their score to 163 for 7. He struck four fours and two sixes, one a straight blast off Sunny and the next a hit over midwicket off Nabi who gave away 18 runs in the last over.

Vijay Hazare, the former Indian captain, has died in Vadodara after a prolonged illness. Hazare, 89, was suffering from intestinal cancer and had been kept on a life-support system in a private clinic for the last couple of days. The end came on Saturday afternoon.Hazare led India to their first Test victory, against England at Madras in 1951-52. He captained India in 14 of his 30 Tests, in which he scored 2192 runs at the impressive average of 47.65, with seven centuries – two of them in the same match, against Don Bradman’s “Invincible” Australians at Adelaide in 1947-48. There were two more in his first two matches as captain, against England in that 1951-52 series.He was one of the heaviest runscorers in the history of Indian domestic cricket, and once put together a run of 264, 81, 97, 248, 59, 309, 101 and 223 in first-class matches in 1943 and 1944. He shared a mammoth 577-run partnership with Gul Mohammad in the Ranji Trophy final between Baroda and Holkar in 1946-47, a world record for any wicket in first-class cricket.

National League Division TwoDivision Two Table Hampshire 216 for 8 (Kenway 78) beat Northamptonshire 162 (Mascarenhas 4 for 22, Udal 4 for 40) by 54 runs
ScorecardDimitri Mascarenhas and Shaun Udal took advantage of The Rose Bowl lights as Hampshire bowled out the league leaders Northamptonshire for a meagre 162 and won by a comfortable 54 runs.While the Northants bowlers struggled to extract life from the pitch, Mascarenhas darted the ball around at will, and took the two big wickets of Mike Hussey and Phil Jaques early on, both trapped lbw with the ball swinging in to their pads. That left Northants on a stuttering 19 for 3 and two more wickets from Mascarenhas sank them in to further trouble at 50 for 5.David Sales provided some resistance with 73 from 115 balls, but while his team-mates continued to perish at regular intervals, he was fighting a lost cause. He was eventually last man out, bowled by Udal, who wrapped up the tail with 4 for 40 as Northants crashed to 162.For Hampshire, Derek Kenway held the innings together with 78 from 112 balls, and put on 75 for the second wicket with James Hamblin, who scored 32. It was Hampshire’s seventh win of the season and pushed them up to third spot of the second division.

Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Sri Lanka’s legspinning allrounder, narrowlyescaped serious injury after a car accident on Saturday morning thatkilled a woman and critically injured her son.Lokuarachchi, who claims to have fallen asleep at the wheel, lost control of his car and ploughed it through a wall and into a house. He suffered minor shoulder injuries.”He knocked into a mother and son waiting at a bus stand at 4.20am on Saturday morning,” confirmed police spokesman Rienze Perera. “The mother later succumbed to her injuries in Ragama National Hospital while the son is still critically injured.”Lokuarachchi was arrested by the Kadawata police and examined by a medicalofficer who reported that he had not been under the influence of alcohol. Heappeared before a magistrate at 6pm the same day and was released on bail of 50,000 rupees (US$500).He will appear before court on August 29 charged with causing a fatalaccident.Lokuarachchi, 21, has played three Tests and five one-day internationals.

Abhijit Kale will face a disciplinary committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India for his final hearing on April 29. Kiran More and Pranab Roy, two national selectors, alleged that Kale offered them bribes in order to be selected in the Indian team.The panel that will hear Kale’s case is headed by Jagmohan Dalmiya, the BCCI president, and includes Kamal Morarka and Ranbir Singh Mahendra, two vice-presidents of the board. Kale had earlier replied to the board’s show cause notice with a 17-page letter.The Press Trust of India reports that SK Nair, the secretary of the BCCI, said, “It’s going to be an in-camera meeting and no details can be divulged at this juncture.” The same report adds that Kale has confirmed receiving the notice.

Ajit Agarkar, discarded from the Indian team for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, is all set to ply his trade at Lord’s. He is due to fly out from Mumbai soon to join Middlesex for a one-month stint that ends on August 20.If Agarkar joins Middlesex, pending permission from the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, he will become the first Indian to play for Middlesex, the county that plays at the home of cricket. He has already informed the SK Nair, the board secretary, of his wish to turn out for Middlesex, and the necessary paperwork is being processed. Agarkar’s contract with Middlesex is carefully drafted, however, allowing him to be released at any stage should the Indian team require his services.Agarkar is no stranger to Lord’s – he made a stroke-filled maiden Test century there in 2002 when India lost to England by 170 runs. This stint will be Agarkar’s first in county cricket.The opportunity to play for Middlesex came about when Nantie Hayward and Lance Klusener, originally signed as overseas professionals, were called up by South Africa to tour Sri Lanka. While it is not yet clear what all matches Agarkar will play, Middlesex are scheduled to play five National League (one-day) and two County Championship (four-day) matches between now and August 20. Should Middlesex qualify for the semi-finals of the Twenty20 Cup, Agarkar will get a chance to biff the ball around with all the enthusiasm that brought him his fastest one-day score, an astonishing half-century off just 21 balls against Zimbabwe at Rajkot.Middlesex can certainly do with some perking up. They’ve won only one of their eight county championship matches this season. But Agarkar’s arrival will also coincide with that of a certain Glenn McGrath, who has agreed to a month of county cricket between July 18 and August 15, a spell which will include four County Championship matches and five National League games. One way or another, it promises to be a mouthwatering partnership.

The Test series between Sri Lanka and West Indies, the first international cricket to be played on the island since the tsunami disaster, has lost much of its lustre as the West Indies will be fielding a depleted side, and elicited a strong response from the media and the cricketers involved. The series, which begins on Wednesday in Colombo, will not feature Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Fidel Edwards, among others, as they were left out in the aftermath of the contract impasse.Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the West Indies captain, is the only player in a squad that includes six debutants to have played more than 10 Tests. “Chanderpaul and his cricketing babes face what appears to be a mission impossible,” Tony Cozier, the West Indian broadcaster, told AFP. He described the contracts issue as “a senseless and self-defeating squabble” and added, “The players are inexperienced and unprepared for the sudden challenge that has come their way.”Marvan Atapattu, the Sri Lankan captain, was disappointed that the West Indies were without their star players. He acknowledged the importance of the series in the light of the recovery after the tsunami. “Cricket was the last thing on our minds in December, but now we are keen to get on with the game,” he said, referring to the Sri Lankan tour of New Zealand that was postponed in December 2004 and rescheduled to April 2005.”It does not matter whether it is the first Test or the 150th, we have to do our best,” said Atapattu. “The team will be motivated enough even though we are disappointed we will not be playing the best West Indian team.”The absence of Lara in particular will disappoint Sri Lankan fans who were enthralled when he plundered a mammoth 688 runs in the three Tests in 2001. His missing the series will deny him the chance of surpassing Allan Border as Test cricket’s highest run-scorer. Lara, with 10,818 runs from 117 Tests, is just 356 runs short of Border’s 11,174 from 156 matches.However, there are other milestones to look forward to: The first Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club will mark Sri Lanka’s 150th Test. Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan offspinner who has 532 Test wickets, will return to international cricket after a shoulder injury sidelined him for 11 months. He will aim to close in on Shane Warne’s world record of 583 wickets. It will also be Tom Moody’s first assignment as the Sri Lankan coach.

Shane Warne, who is serving a year-long ban for drug use, is convinced that the time spent on the sidelines will help prolong his career. He tested positive for a banned diuretic in the build-up to the World Cup in February, and was sent home without playing a game.Speaking to BBC Online during a brief visit to Hampshire, whom he would have captained this summer but for the ban, he said, “I’m enjoying this break and it will probably help me play for longer. I’m the fittest I’ve ever been in my life. All the little niggles and shoulder problems have had 12 months to settle down.”Warne reckons he has another five years of cricket left in him, and sees the ban as no more than a temporary aberration. He did admit however that it hit him hard initially. “At the moment, I miss playing for Australia and representing my country,” he said. “But I know the time will come when hopefully I will be back out there. I see this as a hiccup, no more than a hiccup,” he added. Despite the ban, has been awarded a contract by the Australian Cricket Board.While Warne’s making the most of his enforced vacation, he insisted that motivation wouldn’t be a problem when he makes his way back next February. “Playing for Australia, you don’t need any motivation,” he said. “That’s motivation enough.”

Kevin Curran has been confirmed as Phil Simmon’s replacement as Zimbabwe coach, hours after he leaked the fact to reporters. If the on-field performances of Zimbabwe of late have bordered on the farcical, the off-field dealings of Zimbabwe Cricket in the last day or so over the position of national coach has come close to matching it.For several hours the board refused to answer media enquiries, but after the conclusion of the Bulawayo Test, Ozias Bvute, ZC’s managing director, finally confirmed the news. “We asked everyone involved with the team to be critical of their part. We expected a sea-change in the second match,” he said. “As custodians of cricket in Zimbabwe we have to be accountable.”The handling of Simmons’s dismissal was dreadful. Rumours had been circulating for several days that he was being lined up for the sack, and these escalated yesterday when Curran was spotted at Queens Club. Curran then told reporters that he would take over before next week’s one-day series. All the while, Simmons was still officially in tenure.To add insult to insult, the press release that ZC finally issued was dated Monday, August 15. That is likely to have been the date the decision was taken, as Peter Chingoka, the board chairman, and Bvute were both at the ground for the first day’s play, and both subsequently left. Chingoka is now in South Africa for the Afro-Asian Cup.Curran, who played 11 ODIs for Zimbabwe, was their assistant coach before taking charge of the Namibian national side for a spell, returning home in September last year to take over as director of coaching at the CFX Cricket Academy in Harare, as well as looking after the Zimbabwe A and Under-19 sides.

Australia A 120 for 6 (Jaques 56*) v Pakistan A
ScorecardGiven the decline in fortunes that Australia’s senior team has suffered in recent weeks, their A-team tour to Pakistan has suddenly taken on an added significance. But on the evidence of the first day’s play at Rawalpindi, only Phil Jaques has anything to be proud of, as their top-order was torn apart by Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul.By the close of a truncated day, Jaques was unbeaten on 56 having opened the batting, but his team had slipped to 120 for 6. Nazir, with 3 for 28, was the pick of the pacemen, and it wasn’t until Cameron White (23) helped add 45 for the sixth wicket, that they were able to reach triple figures.Michael Hussey, who was tipped by many pundits to take Matthew Hayden’s place for the current Oval Test, managed 2 before he was bowled by Nazir, while Brad Hodge, Dominic Thornley and Shane Watson managed only 12 runs between them. Brad Haddin, Australia’s reserve wicketkeeper, made just 9 before falling to Sami.