The pre-season friendly between Nashua WP and Boland is heading for an exciting finish at Brackenfell on Thursday.WP sportingly declared their first innings closed on 221 for the loss of five wickets, 67 runs behind the Boland first innings total of 288. Boland reached 89 for the loss of two wickets at the close giving them an overall lead of 156 runs with eight wickets in hand.Earlier Darren Bassage and JP Duminy posted a 127 run partnership for the second wicket.

On a day that was curtailed after tea by gloomy light, Hampshire were firmly in control of their final Frizzell County Championship match of the season at Derby.Going into the final day, Hampshire, who had a lead of 263 on first innings, had taken four Derbyshire wickets and there was some doubt whether captain Dominic Cork would appear for the home side having tendered his resignation.James Hamblin and Dimitri Mascarenhas took their overnight partnership beyond three figures before the rather circumspect latter fell to the impressive Graeme Welch.Despite being felled from a ball that would have had him palpably leg before to Welch only to see the umpire signal yet another Derbyshire no-ball, he and Hamblin took Hampshire well past 500 before Hamblin fell four short of a well deserved maiden first-class century. He was unfortunate to receive a delivery with barely lifted off the ground from off-spinner Nathan Dumelow.Shaun Udal passed a half-century and in doing so gave Hampshire a new all-time record of six individual scores of fifty or more in an individual innings – something that had never been achieved in the 140 year history of Hampshire first-class cricket.It also took Hampshire to their highest first-class team total against Derbyshire.Australian Michael DiVenuto hit out in an attempt to put his side back in the game with a 50-ball 52 before James Tomlinson had him caught behind. His opening partner Andrew Gait was forced to retire hurt when the same bowler got a ball to lift and hit him under the heart.Rawait Khan steadied the middle-order once Stubbings and Hasan Adnan had been dismissed with a solid half-century, but shortly before the players were taken from the field, James Bruce upended his off-stump with his score at 58.Gait returned, received a Brucie bouncer and the light was offered.Hampshire will be looking to press home their advantage, with Derbyshire still 103 behind with six, or maybe five, wickets in hand.

Mohammad Rafique has been fined half of his match fee for taunting England batsman Mark Butcher on the first day of the second Test at Chittagong.Rafique was reprimanded by Wasim Raja, the match referee, after television replays showed him angrily pointing Butcher towards the pavilion after bowling him.It was the second fine of the series, following a similar punishment handed out to England’s Rikki Clarke after he was found guilty of swearing at Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahman during the first Test at Dhaka.

Close Sri Lanka Board President’s XI 142 for 8 (Perera 29*) v England XI
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James Kirtley bowled himself into contention for a place in next week’s first Test at Galle, and Ashley Giles showed a welcome and timely return to form, as England took control on the shortened first day of their warm-up match against a Board President’s XI at the Colombo Cricket Club. Play was called off at tea after the now-habitual bank of clouds rolled towards the ground and poured down. But by then, the President’s XI had slumped to 142 for 8 after winning the toss.England began the day like a team desperate to put a dreadful week behind them. Kirtley had been due to fly home with the one-day specialists on Monday, but stayed with the party as cover for James Anderson, whose ankle he had helped to twist during an energetic squash match on Thursday evening. He bustled in from his long run, and required just four legitimate deliveries to claim his first wicket – Michael Vandort lbw for 1 (3 for 1). In fact he might have struck even earlier, but umpire Gamini Dissanayake turned down a stone-dead appeal second ball, when Vandort offered no stroke to one that arced into his pads.Kirtley was lively and accurate throughout, and his skiddy pace and eager approach provided a passable resemblance to Darren Gough. Chamara Silva edged to Geraint Jones for a 13-ball duck (6 for 2), and Jones added a second catch to his collection when Dhammika Sudarshana drove at a half-volley outside off stump (19 for 3). The Sri Lankans went to lunch at 69 for 3, but Kirtley required just three balls of the second session to take his fourth wicket, as Gareth Batty clung on to a sharp chance in the gully off Russel Arnold, the home side’s captain (69 for 4).

Robert Croft, back in England contention after a two-year absence, did not make the best of returns when he reprieved Thilan Samaraweera at third slip. It was a regulation edge off Andrew Flintoff, who is captaining England for the first time in a first-class match, and whether by accident or design, Croft was not called upon to bowl in the first session. Instead he was limited to seven wicketless overs, as Gareth Batty and Giles were given the chance to renew the spin partnership that failed to take off in Bangladesh.Giles has spent the winter working on a new approach to the wicket, and at last he is showing signs that he has rediscovered his rhythm and balance. He grabbed two wickets in four balls, including a smart stumping by Jones, before dismissing Dilhara Fernando lbw on the stroke of tea. Batty did not go unrewarded either, when Nasser Hussain held on to a regulation bat-pad chance, to end Samaraweera’s innings of 32 – the highest score of a piecemeal batting performance.For Kirtley, the day’s success came as a pleasant surprise. “It’s been a very simple day for me,” he said. “It’s probably a game I didn’t expect to play in, so the pressure’s been off. I’m not here to compete for a place, I’m just here to bowl, and when you’re relaxed like that, it can sometimes be your day.”I’m only here as cover for Jimmy’s ankle,” he stressed. “When he’s fit, that’ll be my time to depart, although I might yet try to play Johnno or Hoggy at a game of squash …”England 1 Mark Butcher, 2 Nasser Hussain, 3 Graham Thorpe, 4 Chris Read, 5 Andrew Flintoff (capt), 6 Gareth Batty, 7 Ashley Giles, 8 Robert Croft, 9 Geraint Jones (wk), 10 Matthew Hoggard, 11 James Kirtley.Sri Lanka Board President’s XI 1 Michael Vandort, 2 Dhammika Sudarshana, 3 Chamara Silva, 4 Russel Arnold (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Rashan Peiris (wk), 7 Bathiya Perera, 8 Ranil Dhammika, 9 Nandika Ranjith, 10 Chamila Gamage, 11 Dilhara Fernando.

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Daniel Marsh, Tasmania’s captain, was delighted with his team’s unusually lofty mid-season standing after a 213-run win over South Australia at the Adelaide Oval.The resounding victory lifted Tasmania into second place in the Pura Cup table, behind Victoria, unfamiliar territory at this stage of the year given Tasmania’s tradition of poor starts.”Normally we’re just starting our run, we normally don’t get too many points before Christmas,” Marsh said. “And I guess the beauty is we’ve got Michael Di Venuto to come back into the team and Shane Watson to start bowling again, hopefully in the not-too-distant future.”Watson, an Australian one-day player who had to withdraw from last year’s World Cup squad with a back injury, has since been playing for Tasmania purely as a batsman. But Marsh said Watson had been bowling in the nets and was set to bowl later this month: “We’re hoping to have him right to bowl for the next one-dayer.”Tasmania cleaned up the win in the space of a session, taking the final six second -innings SA wickets needed. Chasing an improbable 430 to win in the final innings, SA resumed at 4-110 with little hope of avoiding defeat.Darren Lehmann (10) popped a simple catch to gully off Damien Wright’s bowling on the opening ball of the day. Gerard Denton, the Man of the match, picked up Graham Manou in the following over, then, in the fifth over of the day, Wright dismissed John Davison to leave SA on 7 for 126.By then a Tasmanian victory was inevitable, although Mick Miller and Mark Cleary delayed it with an entertaining stand of 65 in 99 balls.They took a particular liking to Shannon Tubb’s left-arm spinners, with Miller hitting consecutive sixes off one of his overs, and Cleary belting consecutive fours off his next over.Andrew Downton then bowled Cleary to snuff out SA’s resistance and they were all out for 216 soon after. Denton finished with 3 for 22 and Wright 5 for 43.SA’s meagre total today, along with their first innings of 112 – a record low against Tasmania – caused Lehmann to apologise to supporters.”We apologise for what we’ve been doing and we can only promise that we’ll work harder and play better,” he said. On a brighter note, Lehmann said he had pulled up well physically after his first Pura Cup match back from an achilles tendon injury.

Brian Lara has denied reports that he overruled Viv Richards, West Indies’ chief selector, by changing his team moments before the toss at the start of the fourth Test at Centurion. In his column for the Trinidad Guardian, Lara said that he had great respect for Richards and that to “consider disrespecting him is unthinkable”.Neil Manthorp, writing for Wisden Cricinfo, said that Lara reinstated the fast bowler Mervyn Dillon to the starting XI even though Richards had insisted on his omission. “Lara asked him [Graeme Smith] whether he was carrying a pen,” wrote Manthorp. “A perplexed Smith looked in his pocket, found a pen and offered it to Lara. Odd became odder when Lara asked Smith to make the change himself, holding the teamsheet and requesting that Smith put a line through Adam Sanford’s name and write ‘Dillon’ in its place. A dazed Smith duly did as he was told.”Lara insisted that the decision to play Dillon rather than Sanford came about because of the state of the pitch. “After looking at the pitch, I noticed that there were visible cracks and moisture, which would have worked in Dillon’s favour, because of his height,” wrote Lara. “Sir Viv was not there and he had to be contacted. When I reached him, he agreed and, as you know, Dillon was selected.”Lara added that the article was penned by a foreign journalist (Manthorp is a leading South African cricket writer), although Tony Cozier, writing on the series for various Caribbean-based newspapers, reported that Manthorp’s version of events had supporters. He wrote: “Individuals who were in the middle when the toss was made have confirmed the report that Lara did belatedly alter the team-sheet.”Ricky Skerritt, the West Indian team manager, refused to confirm or deny the matter. “I am out of the loop as far as team selection is concerned,” he said. “You would have to ask Brian or Sir Viv.”

Marvan Atapattu blamed his batsmen after Sri Lanka had slumped to a five-wicket defeat against Australia in the third ODI in Colombo. “It all went wrong at the start,” he admitted. “We should have ended up with 30 or 40 more runs on a good batting track.”It was a great innings by Mahela [Jayawardene] and the lower orderbatsmen to get us to 226 at the end, and then [Chaminda] Vaas gave us a great start with those early wickets. At that moment we had a sniff but Martyn and Ponting then batted superbly. When the ball got soft and started turning at the end we also had another chance as the run-rate crept up to 6.5 per over. If only we had grabbed a couple more wickets.”Atapattu also noted that the Australians had played Muttiah Muralitharan with a lot of confidence, but argued that the wicket had not turned like a normal Premadasa pitch. “The next match is obviously crucial if we are going to stay in the series,” he said, “and we will try to win that.”Australia’s captain, Ricky Ponting, was extremely pleased with his side’s victory. “We bowled the right lengths and had them under pressure,” he said. “When you dare bowling like that it can look like there is more happening in the wicket than there actually is. I think it was a pretty good wicket and I think we would have got a few more than 227 if we had batted on it first.”I don’t think Murali is bowling that badly,” he added. “I just think we are playing him pretty well. Our approach to him has been spot-on so far. No wickets for 90-odd runs in the last couple of games has been a great result for us. Most of our batsmen are picking him and playing him pretty well and hopefully we can do that again on Friday.”Ponting was full of praise for Andrew Symonds after he had steered Australia to the win. “He is playing beautifully and it is exciting to think that he could be in the Test line-up. He plays the spinners well and if they bowl a bad ball he is going to hit it. To have someone like him around is good for the team.”

India won by an innings and 52 runs and lead the three-match series 1-0ScorecardDay 5Bulletin – India clinch an historic win
Verdict – Aspiring to greatness
Roving Reporter – An hour to remember
Pakistan View – Time to start afresh
Quotes – ‘The boys can be justifiably proud’ – Dravid
Quotes – ‘We should look at our weaknesses’
Day 4Bulletin – India on the verge of history
Verdict – Triumph and defeat
Quotes – ‘It felt like Sydney again’ – Kumble
News – Zaheer out of second Test
Day 3Bulletin – Pakistan struggle against determined Indians
Verdict – Wanting to win
Quotes – ‘Do we need a spinning coach as well?’ – Inzamam
Roving Reporter – Give us some Milo
Comment – Ghost stadiums
Feature – The battle-scarred boy – Parthiv Patel
Day 2Bulletin – India high on Sehwag’s 309
Verdict – Departures from the past
Quotes – ‘I was taken by surprise’ – Sachin
An appreciation – Watching Sehwag bat
Day 1Bulletin – Sehwag’s unbeaten 228 rocks Multan
Verdict – Breaking away
Pakistan view – Listless and helpless
Roving Reporter – Alexander’s lung
Quotes – Sehwag: ‘I would like to go for 300’

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.

Nottinghamshire 189 for 4 (Read 77*, Warren 45*, Franks 3-27) beat Wiltshire 186 for 7 (Rizvi 47, Adams 43) by six wickets
ScorecardThere was no upset in the delayed C&G Trophy match between Nottinghamshire and Wiltshire, but the minor county did enough to cause more than a few jitters among the Trent Bridge faithful.Wiltshire’s score of 186 for 7 was not enough on a pitch where 220+ looked to be par. Baqar Rizvi (47) and the former West Indies captain Jimmy Adams (43) had guided them to 152 for 2 before Adams was stumped giving Kevin Pieterson the charge in the search for quick runs. But the middle order failed to capitalise on the sound foundation.Nottinghamshire wobbled when they chased, slumping to 69 for 4 as Michael Coles took two wickets in four balls. But as he showed in Guyana, Chris Read is warming to the one-day game, and his unbeaten 67-ball 77 averted any disasters, and he added 120 with Russell Warren (45*) to see Nottinghamshire home.”We were struggling a little bit but Warren anchored the innings well and gave me room to free my arms and hit boundaries,” Read said. “It was a good wicket to bat on and the ball was coming on nicely. I made sure I got myself set before I cut loose.”