In a much closer game in Centurion the Titans managed to clinch a tense two-run win over the Eagles with the match going down to the final over, with the Eagles needing 13 runs to win. Having been set a target of 227, the Eagles were well on the way to a win to extend their lead at the top of the table. An opening partnership of 140 between Loots Bosman (63) and Jonathan Beukus (88) was broken with consecutive wickets to Dale Steyn. A mini-collapse followed from which the Eagles simply never recovered from. Earlier, Titans had posted a total of 226 thanks mainly to a 79 off 73 balls from the hard hitting Gerald Dros, this after Pierre de Bruyn has steadied the top of the innings scoring 50.In a low scoring match at Port Elizabeth the Warriors won their firstmatch of the series with a convincing 39-run victory over a depleted CapeCobras. The Cobras could only manage 135 after the Warriors, who won the toss, had scrambled to 176 for 7 in their 45 overs. Man of the match Carl Bradfield batted through the Warriors innings to score 86 valuable runs. Rory Kleinveldt was the mostsuccessful Cobras bowler taking 3 for 38 in his nine overs while MarioOlivier, although expensive in his 5.5 overs, took 5 for 53 for the Warriors.At the Wanderers in Johannesburg the Lions, after scoring a massive 302 for 6 in their innings, outplayed the Dolphins by restricting themto 252 for 7 to win by 50 runs. Sent in to bat first, the Dolphins bowlers took a pounding as first Adam Bacher (66) and Stephen Cook (93) put on 142 for the first wicket for the Lions, and then Neil McKenzie smashed the ball around the Bull Ring scoring 87 from just 64 balls. Hehit seven boundaries and three sixes on a batsman friendly pitch. Withthe Dolphins losing three early wickets they were always against theclock. Ahmed Amla (59), Duncan Brown (53) and Russell Symcox (50 notout) did try to keep the Dolphins in the game but were unable to get intouch with the run rate.

Scorecard

In an absurdly laid-back opening for what promises to be an intense series, staged in a setting more English than sub-continental, the Indians cruised along merrily and racked up 298 for 4 against Pakistan A on the first day in Lahore. Led by half-centuries from the top four and, on a flat pitch on the slightly slow side, the Indians blunted the varied attack.Playing in the idyllic Bagh-e-Jinnah ground, a tranquil patch circumscribed with trees, in front of close to 500 spectators watching from behind pickets, the Indians, expectedly, chose to gain some batting practice ahead of the first Test in six days’ time. Two batsmen for whom the game mattered the most, Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer, ensured that the suspense lasted a bit longer – doing just enough to find their groove, but not enough to seal a Test berth – while two that followed, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, revelled in the relaxed setting, cruising along to composed half-centuries as well.Faced with an opportunity to stake their claim, in abnormally chilly conditions, Gambhir and Jaffer began cautiously but soon overcame any threat posed by the four-pronged pace attack. Umar Gul, staking a claim for a Test recall, was guilty of bowling too short, on a surface not offering too much lift, while Rao Iftikhar Anjum and Yasir Arafat struggled to extract too much seam movement. Mohammad Irshad – similar to Shoaib Akhtar in action and not too far behind in speed – was the most threatening of the lot but Gambhir and Jaffer blunted all without too much fuss.Gambhir was the first to turn aggressor, latching on to anything slightly wide, ripping a couple of fierce cuts, and driving with customary verve. With the axe looming, he backed himself when the ball was there to be hit, cracking nine fours en route to his fifty. He fell soon after reaching the landmark but Jaffer picked up the baton and kept the scoreboard ticking. Unfurling some gorgeous cover-drives, and dissecting the fielders to a nicety, he was on his way to entering the sort of zone that has made him such a mighty force in domestic cricket back home. He was confident enough to attempt some cheeky glides, one ramped over the slip cordon, but fell victim to trying one too many, nicking a good-length cutter from Gul.Unlike the two openers, Dravid didn’t take any time to open out. With a picnic-atmosphere catching on as the game meandered, he unobtrusively motored along, mastering the faster bowlers, dismissing the spinners and racing to his half-century. Irshad was pulled with gusto while the two legspinners, Mansoor Amjad and Imran Farhat, were made to look inadequate. What Dravid began, Tendulkar continued and looked in spanking touch for little over two hours in the middle. There was a certain joy in watching colossal performers entertain a holiday crowd, classical strokeplay adorning a rustic setting. Tendulkar often couldn’t contain his boyish cheek, attempting paddle sweeps, and observing such a figure bask in a relatively obscure stage had a charm of its own.Amjad is definitely a promising bowler possessing the required weapons but had no clue when in one over Tendulkar decided to have some fun – steered through cover, whipped through midwicket and pulled square. Nothing could stop him, or so it seemed, until he under-edged a short and wide one from Arafat, looked back to see Zulqarnain, the wicketkeeper, pull off a beauty and without any hesitation, walked. Tendulkar had had his fun, Arafat, as he was to say later, had got his “dream wicket”, the Indians had got some valuable practice and an already peaceful Bagh-e-Jinnah got a bit quieter. A tour had started in utter calm, and one still had to come to grips with the fact that it’s India in Pakistan.How they were outGautam Gambhir c Rao b Irshad 53 (81 for 1)
Wasim Jaffer c Zulqarnain b Gul 58 (153 for 2)
Rahul Dravid c Raza b Farhat 63 (220 for 3)
Sachin Tendulkar c Zulqarnain b Arafat 74 (279 for 4)

Billy Bowden, the ICC’s elite panel umpire, finds little favour with Australian and South African Test players following some controversial decisions in the recent Test series, according to Mike Coward, noted cricket writer.The fractious nature of the third Test at Sydney only served to emphasise that international cricket had a serious problem, Coward wrote in . “Its [Australia and South Africa’s] elite players are losing confidence in the competence of Test match umpires,” he said. “It is obvious Australian and South African players no longer trust the judgment of New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden and his Pakistani counterpart Aleem Dar. Even the most conscientious and self-disciplined players are finding it increasingly difficult to mask their frustration.”Coward ascribed the reporting of Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee to the level of frustration at the umpiring during the series. Bowden and Dar made some poor decisions in the match and the players’ reactions to them have been heated. On Thursday afternoon, the on-field duo ruled that the Sydney Cricket Ground pitch was unfit for play despite many observers maintaining that play could have started at least an hour earlier.Coward also noted an absence of respect between the players and officials, urging the ICC to act swiftly on the problem. “From afar it has seemed this respect has been absent for much of this match,” he said. “If there is no respect and rapport, there can be no faith and no trust. No sport can withstand a fundamental breakdown in the relationship between the combatants and their adjudicators.”Coward suggested the ICC revisit the system of neutral umpires, saying the best officials were missing out on marquee games because of the policy. “The burning issue in the game is not that of neutrality but of competence and for the sake of the peace of mind of the players and the general welfare of the game, the issue must go back to the table.”Writing in the , Peter Roebuck, the former Somerset captain, said that the essential difference between “unprepared and unprotected umpires” was blurring. He was also critical of Chris Broad , the ICC match referee, for not intervening when tempers flared during the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne. Broad has prevented the umpires from commenting.Ian Healy, now a commentator for Channel Nine, believed umpires should be able to call on video replays, while captains could also ask for a replay for a limited number of occasions. “I would like to see each side have two, maybe three appeals, to an umpire … per match,” he has been quoted as saying by the .

Scorecard
Having failed to get beyond the quarter-final stage of the ICC Under-19 World Cup, Bangladesh are preparing to be the next best in the competition when they took a step towards finishing in fifth place of the competition. On Wednesday they made a spirited fight back, after languishing on 48 for 4, to score 162 for 6 and beat the West Indies by four wickets in the first semi-final of the Super League play-off.Bangladesh were indebted to Shamsur Rahman (44) and Mehrab Hossain (35) who shared a 77-run partnership for the fifth wicket to steer them towards the victory target after West Indies had been dismissed for a paltry 161.The stand enabled Bangladesh to overcome the early losses caused by fast bowler Nelon Pascal – who finished with figures of 4 for 53 – who was supported by Shamarh Brooks whose ten overs cost just 27 runs.Bangladesh came to Sri Lanka with great hopes of at least making it to the semi-finals of the competition, if not the final. Their track record before the tournament gave every indication that they were on course for it, too; of the 23 matches they played in the 12-month lead up to the tournament, they lost just three. In that time they beat Sri Lanka six times and lost to them three times. However, caught on a treacherous track against England in a quarter-final game at the Sara Stadium they were bundled out for 155 and lost the contest by five wickets.West Indies, who won the toss and chose to bat, were reduced to 98 for 8 and would have been in deeper trouble had it not been for their ninth-wicket pair of Sunil Narine and Kemar Roach who indulged in a face-saving stand of 63 which formed the base of their final total.After fast bowler Dollar Mahmud had ripped through the top order with three wickets, it was left to the left-arm spinners to cause further destruction to the West Indies batting. Nabil Samad (3 for 24) and Sakib al Hasan (2 for 32) rang rings around the West Indies batting with the support of Mehrab Hossain and Rezaul Islam. They captured seven wickets among them.Bangladesh meet the winners of the Super League play off semi-final match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at the SSC on Thursday to decide the fifth and sixth placings.

Scorecard
How they were out

England’s bowlers, Simon Jones in particular, cranked up the pace andspectacularly turned an impending draw into a 238-run victory by routingCCI President’s XI in only 26.2 overs on the final day at the BrabourneStadium in Mumbai. Their effort came after Marcus Trescothick and IanBlackwell notched up fifties to boost England’s second-innings score to265.After playing most of the game with a practice-match attitude, Englandwere confident that 36 overs were enough to wrap up a win and bowled withdefinite intent. Jones, who in the first innings bowled with a MarkEalham-esque run up and pace, shared the new ball with Matthew Hoggard,bowled at a much faster clip and extracted appreciable bounce. He struckin his first over, trapping Robin Uthappa on the crease and snared VinitIndulkar with one that rose, to finish with 2 for 9 from five overs.Andrew Flintoff induced an edge off Sahil Kukreja’s half-hearted prod andat one stage bowled with four slips and two gullies. Hiken Shah took threeboundaries off Liam Plunkett before he played down the wrong line and losthis off stump.The President’s XI folded without a fight, losing their lastfive wickets for eight runs. They were no match for Stephen Harmison’ssteep bounce. Both Wilkin Mota and Kshemal Waingankar edged deliveriesthat got big on them from just short off a length to slip to 71 for 8.Monty Panesar and Ian Blackwell chipped in with two wickets apiece asEngland completed a very satisfactory victory after getting all thebatting practice they were looking for.The early-morning atmosphere was relaxed and the intensity was almost zeroas the batsmen approached the game with little more purpose than a netsession. Having missed the first innings due to illness, MarcusTrescothick made his recovery count. He had signed off in style on thesecond day, carting Aniket Redkar for four consecutive fours off the finalover, and he carried on in the same vein on the third day, lookingcompletely at ease against the fast bowlers. He pulled Abid Nabi forconsecutive fours to get going and followed up with crisp back-foot punches off Waingankar.On 44, he had a stroke of luck when Vinayak Samant dropped an edge offWaingankar but Trescothick didn’t let it faze him. He had a couple ofuncertain moments against Hitshu Bachani – surviving a bat-pad appeal andmissing a couple of sweeps – but replied with authority by lofting himover long-on for six and following up with a sweep for the same result.Blackwell followed up his four-wicket haul on the second day with ahalf-century and if he didn’t have a foot in the Test eleven before, hecertainly has one now. Blackwell treated Swapnil Hazare with disdain,slapping him to the point and midwicket fence and not bothering withanything wide. Hazare had a lot of aggression in his body language but waswoefully short of it in his bowling and was soon taken off. Blackwellswept the spinners powerfully to and over the midwicket boundary andshowed that he could hit straight as well with three hoicks that cleared theropes comfortably. But he tried one too many and holed out to long-on offHitshu Bachani on 59.Apart from Trescothick, Blackwell and Geraint Jones, who scored 30, none of the others got going. Kevin Pietersen, Michael Vaughan and Flintoff were all out to soft dismissals. Jones was stumped trying to charge down the track to Redkar in the first over after lunch and Trescothick holed out soon after. Blackwell and Plunkett, who made 26, posted 65 runs forthe ninth wicket and pushed the score to 265.How they were outCCI President’s XI
Robin Uthappa lbw Simon Jones 4 (6 for 1)
Vinit Indulkar c Andrew Flintoff b Simon Jones 0 (6 for 2)Sahil Kukreja c Geraint Jones b Andrew Flintoff 12 (35 for3)
Hiken Shah b Liam Plunkett 21 (38 for 4)Hrishikesh Shende c Marcus Trescothick b Monty Panesar 8 (59 for5)
Wilkin Mota c Geraint Jones b Stephen Harmison 17 (67 for 6)
Vinayak Samanth c Shaun Udal b Monty Panesar 6 (71 for 7)
Kshemal Waingankar c Geraint Jones b Stephen Harmison 0 (71 for8)
Abid Nabi c Marcus Trescothick b Ian Blackwell 0 (75 for 9)
Swapnil Hazare c Shaun Udal b Ian Blackwell 0 (75)
England
Kevin Pietersen run out Munish Ansari 10 (36 for 2)
Michael Vaughan c Vinit Indulkar b Kshemal Waingankar 13 (67 for3)
Andrew Flintoff c Samant b Munish Ansari 5 (79 for 4)
Geraint Jones st Vinayak Samant b Aniket Redkar 30 (147 for 5)
Marcus Trescothick c Hitshu Bachani b Aniket Redkar 88 (162 for 6)
Ian Bell c Robin Uthappa b Nilesh Kulkarni 15 (194 for 7)
Shaun Udal lbw Aniket Redkar 0 (199 for 8)
Ian Blackwell c Wilkin Mota b Hitshu Bachani 59 (264 for 9)
Liam Plunkett c Wilkin Mota b Hitshu Bachani 26 (265)

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.”

Bennett King, the West Indian coach, has hit out at reports claiming that he called former players “dinosaurs”.”This is completely and totally inaccurate, it’s an outright lie,” King said in a statement released by media liaison Imran Khan. “I’ve worked with former players here in the West Indies and all over the world and I have the utmost respect for their outstanding contributions to the game as players and what they can provide to players now.”King was reacting to comments made by Rudi Webster, the sports psychologist who had recommended King to the West Indies board, and who, according to reports, was regretting that decision.”I’m seeing a side of him now that I didn’t recognise,” Webster had said during a conference for senior Caribbean sports journalists. “I’m sorry to say that I’m the person who recommended him to the WICB. Having achieved his goal, and having been given the enormous power he has, and being an academic coach who describes people like some of our great players, and some of the great Australian players as dinosaurs. I think that is the greatest insult from someone who has not had any achievement in international cricket, just two or three titles with Queensland.”King, however, hit back strongly at these allegations, saying that he had regularly enlisted the help of former cricketers. “Currently my staff and I work with the ultimate legend Sir Garry Sobers, and other former player as well, and I personally endorse a greater involvement of former players in order to contribute to the improvement of the contemporary players,” King said. “Only a few months ago in Australia I invited Courtney Walsh to offer his advice and he did so most willingly and most graciously.”It was not the first time that I had done this, it is well documented how we facilitated and encouraged Ian Healy to give his expert opinion in the area of wicketkeeping both when we were in Sri Lanka last and then again in Australia. They have a wealth of information and we cannot afford to let that slip away, and what makes this report even more farcical is that I am currently actively involved in urging the greater involvement of former players.”

Nathan Hauritz, the Queensland offspinner, has decided to leave Queensland and move to New South Wales (NSW) to try and revive his fledgling Test career.Hauritz, 24, who made a solitary Test appearance against India in November 2004, on a dustbowl at Mumbai where he took five wickets, was moving to NSW without any club or state contract. “I still want to play for Australia and I see this as my best chance,” Hauritz told AAP. “I’ll head down there, get a job, play grade cricket and see what happens.”Hauritz debuted for Queensland in 2000-01, taking a total of 59 first-class wickets at 47.8 with a best of 4 for 95. In 73 one-day games for the state, he has taken 90 wickets at 29.95. However, since his Test debut he has played just seven games for Queensland, going wicketless in his only first-class match last season. In February 2005, he was dropped from the squad to make way for Mitchell Johnson, the left-arm fast bowler. “Queensland has a fast bowling culture and I see this as a fantastic opportunity to go down there [NSW] and work within a spin bowling culture,” said Hauritz of bowling in the Sydney Cricket Ground, traditionally Australia’s most spin-friendly venue. “I want to move to the next level and the opportunity to work with guys like Greg Matthews and Stuart McGill is too good to pass up.”His domestic one-day record this season in the ING Cup shows better figures with seven wickets in 10 matches at an average of 61.42. “I could have stayed here and probably been a good one-day spinner for Queensland for the next 10 years but I want to play both forms of the game – one-day and four-day cricket – and I want to give myself a chance to play Test cricket again.”It’s exciting but at the same time it was also a really hard decision to leave all the guys I’ve played junior cricket with,” says Hauritz of his plan to move. “I’ve got to back myself and do what I think is best for me right now. I can’t wait to get down there and get into it.”Terry Oliver, the Queensland coach, said that the door was always open for Hauritz to come back. “It’s a gutsy move and if he’s going to do it then now is the right time,” he said. “Horrie has been a tremendous asset to Queensland Cricket and has been one of our form one- day players over the last couple of years.”

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.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

“India ain’t ever gonna win with the rain comin’ down like that,” could easily be the refrain from the more boisterous sections of the stands at the Beausejour Stadium in Gros Islet, St. Lucia, for the rain bucketed down for the best part of the fourth day. There was no chance of play, and with West Indies on 43 for 1, still 330 runs behind India, the locals were happy for the weather to help them out. India were hoping that they can get a good chunk of play in tomorrow, although that seems ambitious given the weather conditions, to try and force a result.The first three days of the Test were dogged by gloominess and some light showers as well, but a strong breeze resulted in the clouds clearing up. Today, though, was characterised by unrelieved gloom, what with the leaden skies and no hint of a breeze. The sun was not able to even get a peek – light would have definitely been a concern – and India will be concerned about a similar forecast for tomorrow.”If the [rain] god was a West Indian today, I hope it is an Indian tomorrow,” said Greg Chappell at the end of a muggy day. “We have no control over the weather but we got them out in 80 overs in the first innings and hopefully a full day tomorrow would enable us to take nine remaining wickets.”