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Stephen Fleming said New Zealand’s task of remaining in form for six weeks would be a challenge but the length of the World Cup meant no side would go through undefeated. Bangladesh upset New Zealand in their opening warm-up game but Fleming and Lou Vincent led the team to a good win over Sri Lanka three days later.Fleming said following on from New Zealand’s unprecedented 3-0 victory over Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, the loss to Bangladesh served as a wake-up call. “What it does show is we can’t afford to have a good week here and there – we have to be on song for two months and that’s always been a challenge for this side,” Fleming told .”You have to come down a little bit to come back and the Bangladesh loss did that,” Fleming said. “If we hadn’t bounced back and beat Sri Lanka, who are close to favourites, I’d be concerned, but we did so I’m looking forward.”Fleming said the Super Eights format would mean it was even harder for a team to win the tournament without dropping a game than in 2003. However, in that World Cup, Australia won all of their 11 matches and this year, a side would also need to win 11 to have a perfect record.”The winner here is going to lose games,” Fleming said in . “Form at the right time, winning key moments and key games will be crucial.”He said Australia’s five straight losses leading up to the Caribbean proved there were “no clear favourites”. “[The Chappell-Hadlee series] gave us the confidence that we needed,” Fleming said. “We were doing a lot of things both on and off the field which were spot-on but the performances on weren’t reflecting that.”New Zealand begin their World Cup campaign on Friday when they meet England in St Lucia. Peter Fulton, the batsman who broke his little finger in the warm-up game against Sri Lanka, was optimistic he could play on Friday if required.

Scorecard
How they were out

India Blue rode on a batting masterclass by Sachin Tendulkar to thrash the Greens by a massive 266 runs and assure themselves of a place in the final of the Challenger Trophy. Tendulkar set the Blues up for a massive total, blazing his way to a 100-ball 139, while Irfan Pathan, Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni all chipped in with half-centuries in quick time. Chasing an improbable 382, the Greens were never in the hunt and crumbled to a measly 115 in less than 27 overs, in the process handing India Blue victory with the all-important bonus point.The story of the day was Tendulkar. He has already notched up four Test hundreds at this ground, and today he continued his love affair with the MA Chidambaram Stadium, toying with the bowling and charming the crowd with a quite dazzling display of strokes all round the park, creaming 20 fours and four sixes, almost all of them struck with a precision, timing and authority that had the holiday crowd in raptures. In fact, the Blues got 236 runs in boundaries alone (35 fours and 16 sixes), far more than the opposition managed in all.The fall of an early wicket – Tanmay Srivastava, a 16-year-old left-hander drafted in from the Green squad, fell third ball – prompted Tendulkar to exercise caution up front, with his first 14 coming off 24 balls. Pathan did most of the damage at that stage, but once Tendulkar wassatisfied that he had got his eye in, there was no doubt who held centrestage. On an excellent batting strip which offered no seam or spin, there was little that India Green’s modest attack could do.The fun started in the 11th over of the day, when Lakshmipathy Balaji, attempting a comeback into the national team and buoyed by his first-over success here, bowled one perfectly in the corridor on a good length, only to see Tendulkar caress the ball on the up through cover. That over produced a couple more fours, and thereafter it was mayhem, as Tendulkar unfurled his entire range. Nehra was driven on the up with minimum effort, and then gently caressed past point, while Praveen Kumar’s modest pace gave Tendulkar plenty of time to either shuffle across his stumps and flick to leg, or make room and drive through off. The one bowler who felt it the most, though, was Piyush Chawla.In the last edition of the tournament, Chawla had nailed Tendulkar with a googly. But here it was revenge time. Chawla wasn’t helped by some reckless captaincy by Mohammad Kaif, who brought him into the attack at the start of the third Powerplay. Tendulkar deposited a six over long-on to get to his fifty, and then got 14 more in the next three balls, including a glorious inside-out cover-drive and another down-the-pitch hoick over long-on. As if that wasn’t enough, Chawla was then slog-swept and reverse-swept off consecutive deliveries as Tendulkar went into overdrive. Kaif was soon forced to turn to his part-timers, which for Tendulkar meant more opportunities to find the boundaries, by conventional and unconventional means. He finally fell to Saurasish Lahiri, the Bengal offspinner, but by then India Blue were going at more than seven an over.

While Tendulkar played the key knock, the rest of the batting all chipped in. Pathan played a crucial role at the start, tonking a couple of huge sixes over long-on and third man and playing the No.3 role to perfection; Rahul Dravid settled in while Tendulkar blazed, and then spanked Lahiri for three sixes en route to a run-a-ball 62, while Dhoni applied the finishing touches to perfection, being chiefly instrumental in ensuring that 109 came off the last ten. Praveen, the birthday boy, and Balaji were carted for boundaries almost at will as India Blue finished with the third-highest total ever made in a one-day match in India.The only hope for India Green was a blazing start, but both Sourav Ganguly and Wasim Jaffer fell before they got into their stride. Ganguly, in need of a big knock to stake his claim for a national berth, began with three glorious silken drives through the off side, while Jaffer played a coupleof pleasing drives, but the runs still only came at around five an over. With the asking-rate mounting, the batsmen attempted more strokes, and fell in the process.Jaffer led the procession, falling in a manner that has been his undoing in international cricket too, square-driving a delivery which bounced more than he anticipated. Ganguly, who had been cheered enthusiastically throughout in the field earlier this afternoon, perished next for a 30-ball 24, cutting tamely to backward point. Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif, who both fell for ducks, played strokes they wouldn’t want to see the replays of. In fact it was the forgettable day for the five Uttar Pradesh batsmen, who combined a total of four runs. Parthiv Patel battled it out with a fluent 43, driving and cutting with panache before tamely tickling one to the keeper. The rest of the batting was a complete shambles, allowing Harbhajan Singh to help himself to flattering figures of 4 for 10.

India Blue
Tanmay Srivastava c Jaffer b Balaji 0 (2 for 1)
Irfan Pathan c Lahiri b Chawla 54 (132 for 2)
Sachin Tendulkar c Kaif b Lahiri 139 (226 for 3)
Rahul Dravid c Ganguly b Nehra 62 (286 for 4)
Yuvraj Singh c Chawla b Kumar 19 (326 for 5)
Dinesh Mongia c Kaif b Balaji 1 (328 for 6)
India Green
Wasim Jaffer c sub (Jadeja) b Munaf 12 (31 for 1)
Sourav Ganguly c sub (Jadeja) b Munaf 24 (48 for 2)
Suresh Raina c Harbhajan b Pathan 0 (52 for 3)
Mohammad Kaif c Mongia b Pathan 0 (55 for 4)
Parthiv Patel c Dhoni b Harbhajan 43 (88 for 5)
Praveen Kumar st Dhoni b Harbhajan 0 (88 for 6)
Saurasish Lahiri run out (Pathan/ Dhoni) 2 (91 for 7)
Piyush Chawla c Patel b Harbhajan 2 (100 for 8)
Hemang Badani c Agarkar b Mongia 16 (109 for 9)
Ashish Nehra c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 0 (113 all out)

Following recent explosions in the country, the Bangladesh Cricket Board have promised Australia the tightest possible security when they arrive for their tour later this week.Australia will fly to Dhaka on Thursday after wrapping up a 3-0 series victory in South Africa, including a thrilling two-wicket win at Johannesburg on Tuesday. Their tour of Bangladesh will comprise two Tests and three one-dayers, with the first Test getting underway on April 9.”Unlike other tours, we will have extra security for the Australians,” Mahmudur Rahman, head of the BCB, said. “No-one will be allowed to have undue access to them.”Steve Bernard, the Australia team manager, is satisfied with the extra security the BCB have promised the team and, last month, undertook a pre-tour visit to the country to assess the situation.”Clearly we never comment in detail on security issues,” Bernard said. “But we are very comfortable with the security measures that are being put in place for the arrival of the Australians.”

Iqbal Qasim, the former Pakistan left-arm spinner and current national selector, was admitted to hospital over the holidays in Pakistan, following a heart attack.Qasim was admitted on Sunday, but family sources told a newspaper that he was now in stable condition after an angioplasty. “Iqbal is making a steady recovery and is held in the hospital because of chest infection.”Qasim played the last of his 50 Tests in 1988-89, against Australia, eventually ending with 171 wickets. He remains the most successful of Pakistan’s left-arm spinners though missed out on a number of Tests in his career as Abdul Qadir’s legspin was generally favoured.He has since retirement worked in several coaching positions and is currently employed as head of sports for National Bank of Pakistan. He has been serving on the national selection committee, headed by Wasim Bari, for the past four years along with Ehteshamuddin.

Senator Enver Baig, a member of the Standing Committee on Sports that is currently probing the bank accounts of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has accused its chairman Nasim Ashraf of ‘deliberately avoiding’ a meeting with the committee in Islamabad on Thursday.”He [Ashraf] was supposed to appear before the committee and answer important questions but he conveniently proceeded to Dubai to avoid us,” Baig told .”The worst part is that we were given a false excuse for his absence as a top PCB official told us that Ashraf had gone to Dubai to meet ICC president Ray Mali. But I’ve confirmed with the ICC headquarters in Dubai that no such meeting took place. In fact Mali had left Dubai two days ago for South Africa,” said Baig, who has been a major critic of the PCB top brass in recent years.Baig added that Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told the committee during an “on-camera” session that Ashraf had to rush to Dubai to meet with Mali and discuss some important issues related to the ICC Champions Trophy which Pakistan are to host this September. “He [Naghmi] told us that Ashraf had to leave in a hurry because Mali had told him that he was in Dubai just for a day on Thursday.”Baig said that it all turned out to be a “pack of lies”. “I believe that Ashraf flew off to Dubai to avoid the committee that was supposed to ask him some probing questions.” Baig also said that he and some Senators had requisitioned another meeting next month to discuss the PCB’s finances and have asked the Senate committee to make Ashraf’s presence mandatory.The committee, according to Baig, found out an “astonishing” fact from the details of the PCB bank accounts provided by the board that the it spent Rs 1.2 billion (US$17,788,340) during a short span of the last six months. “We were really surprised because that means that the PCB has been spending 12 crore a month. We’ve asked them to provide details and now they are supposed to submit balance sheets within the next three weeks.”

Scorecard

Sri Lanka took every opportunity to give their batsmen time in the middle on the second day of the tour match against Sussex at a chilly Hove, piling up 521 for 5 before declaring at tea. By the close, Sussex had reached 41 for 1 in reply.Yesterday it was Upul Tharanga who took centre stage, and today it was the turn of Chamara Kapugedera and Thilan Samaraweera who both reached hundreds, in Kapugedera’s case the first of his career.James Kirtley struck early to remove Mahela Jayawardene without addition to his overnight 45, but that was to be Sussex’s only success for almost two sessions as Kapugedera and Samaraweera smashed 248 in an unbeaten sixth-wicket stand. Samaraweera hit exactly 100 from 203 balls, including seven boundaries, while Kapugedera, who faced one more ball, scored 134 including 15 fours.The Sri Lankans finally declared at tea, but bad light forced Sussex to wait more than an hour to start their innings. When they did, they soon lost Richard Montgomerie who was caught behind for 27 off Lasith Malinga.

Derbyshire have signed Charl Langeveldt, the South African fast bowler, on a two-year Kolpak contract. Langeveldt could be in action for Derbyshire as early as Sunday’s Friends Provident Trophy match against Yorkshire at Headingley.”Charl is an excellent addition to our squad and brings real quality and experience to our side,” John Morris, the head of cricket at Derbyshire, said. “He has proven ability at the highest level of the game and just as importantly is exactly the sort of character we are looking for.”We have managed to bring him to Derbyshire ahead of several other options he had and we are delighted to have him on board.”Langeveldt, who has played 59 ODIs and six Tests, last turned out for South Africa in the one-day series against Bangladesh last month. He pulled out of the subsequent tour of India after being picked ahead of Andre Nel in a move many perceived to be driven by Cricket South Africa’s transformation policy.He was in sensational form for the Cape Cobras in the recently-concluded Standard Bank Pro20 series, taking 18 wickets in six matches, including a five-wicket haul and a hat-trick. His previous county experience includes short stints with Somerset in 2005 and Leicestershire in 2007.

Cricket Kenya has secured a sponsorship deal worth Sh7 million (US$105,000) with East African Breweries Limited.The four-year deal, which runs to 2011, will mean the national side wearing shirts with the Tusker branding. In anticipation of this tie-up, Kenya’s players have been using Tusker-logos on kit since before the ICC World Twenty20.Although the official launch of the contract is not expected until next month, Tom Tikolo, the board’s CEO, told The Standard that some of the income from the deal would be used to pay players and the remainder for development, including an ambitious schools’ programme.Kenyan cricket has been without a major sponsor since before the 2003 World Cup.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:08

India’s win-loss ratio of 0.625 at home

Kasun Rajitha, Dushmantha Chameera and Dasun Shanaka – Sri Lanka’s lanky seam-bowling labour force – came upon a thoroughly surprising green Pune deck, and wound up delivering their team a surprisingly thorough victory. The three quicks took eight wickets for 59 between them, to blow India away for 101. Sri Lanka’s inexperienced batsmen were rarely at ease in pursuit, but did well enough to get to the target with five wickets in hand and two overs to spare.Chameera had provided glimpses at his penetrative potential during the recent tour of New Zealand, but Rajitha and Shanaka had gone unheralded until today. If Binura Fernando – the left-arm quick – had not injured a hamstring ahead of this match, Rajitha might not even have debuted. Instead, he claimed two wickets in a tone-setting first over and finished with 3 for 29. Shanaka is in the team largely for his batting, but bowled magic deliveries through the middle overs, uprooting Suresh Raina’s leg stump with an in-dipper, and bouncing MS Dhoni second ball. He took 3 for 16.Fresh from Australian run-gluts, India’s route to defeat was paved with over-ambition. Even after the pitch had proved itself spicy, big shots continued to be attempted. Edges kept being collected. Wickets continued to tumble. The biggest stand of their innings was between R Ashwin and Ashish Nehra, who put on 28 for the eighth wicket. Without Ashwin’s 31 not out, their total might have been closer to 80.Sri Lanka’s innings appeared to be heading in the same direction at 23 for 2 in the fifth over, but Dinesh Chandimal and Chamara Kapugedera combined for 39 tension-relieving runs. Three late wickets fell, but the target was so small, even this scratchy batting performance was more than good enough. The victory puts Sri Lanka back on top of the ICC T20 rankings.It was Rajitha who first put the fire in a young Sri Lanka team. Barely heard of before he took five wickets in a tour match against the Indians in August last year, he delivered an immaculate first international over, seaming the ball sharply away from right-handers, and generating fine pace and carry. His first wicket came second ball. The length delivery stopped a little on Rohit Sharma, who hit aerially down the ground. Chameera moved across from mid-off to help a stick-thin fast-bowling brother out, diving feet off the ground to pouch that catch. Clearly excited by that scalp, Rajitha ended the over with a seaming short ball at Ajinkya Rahane, whose leading edge carried to an advancing cover.He had a catch dropped off Raina’s inside edge in between, but Rajitha soon had a third wicket, in the fifth over. Then Shanaka took over, bowling slower, but just as accurately. The Raina-Dhoni double blow in his first over put India at 51 for 5. It also doubled Shanaka’s wicket-tally in all T20s. He had played in 26 matches before this, and was called upon to bowl in less than a quarter of those games.Chameera troubled the middle order with raw pace until Ashwin picked India off the floor with a sensible approach and excellent timing. He smoked Chameera through the leg side for four first ball, but largely awaited the bad deliveries to play his big shots. In the end, Ashwin just ran out of partners – Nehra succumbing to Chameera’s pace and Jasprit Bumrah running himself out, in the 19th over.Nehra dismissed Sri Lanka’s openers, who were also guilty of attempting too many boundaries while the ball was still zipping around. Chandimal and Kapugedera were streaky but smart, looking for singles and twos, with the required rate always under a run-a-ball. Chandimal top-scored with 35, Kapugedera hit 25.MS Dhoni banked on spin through the middle overs, and the slow bowlers did remove Kapugedara, Chandimal and, later, Shanaka. But Sri Lanka had stacked their side with allrounders again, and batted deep. Milinda Siriwardana was on hand to apply the finish, hitting 21 not out from 14. Ashwin was the best of India’s bowlers as well, picking up 2 for 13 from his three overs.

Rebecca Rolls, one of New Zealand’s longest-serving players, has retired from all forms of women’s cricket. Rolls, the team’s wicketkeeper and a hard-hitting batsman, leaves the game having played 104 ODIs – second only to Debbie Hockley on New Zealand’s all-time list.Since making her debut in 1997, Rolls has missed only one ODI series. She kept up her form until the end, hammering 104 from 87 deliveries against Australia in the opening match of last month’s quadrangular series in India. She was a key member of New Zealand’s World Cup-winning squad in 2000 and took a critical last-over catch in the final.Rolls, 31, was the first wicketkeeper to reach 100 dismissals in women’s limited-overs games and her 133 victims are a world record. She scored 2201 runs at 25.01, making her the third-highest run-scorer in New Zealand’s history. Her decision comes less than a week after women’s cricket also said goodbye to the retiring Australian champion, Cathryn Fitzpatrick.Rolls, who also represented New Zealand at soccer, said she felt the time was right to move on. “I’ve enjoyed my time immensely and I’m very excited for the future of women’s cricket and for the White Ferns, even though I won’t be part of it,” she said.