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Australia suffered an injury scare on the last day of their warm-up matchagainst a Sri Lanka President’s XI as Brett Lee was taken to hospital with a sore left ankle.Scans revealed no structural damage and Australia are hopeful that he mayrecover in time for the first Test which starts on Monday in Galle, but RickyPonting admitted that the injury was a big concern.”It is a big concern, especially the way he bowled in the first inningshere,” Ponting told reporters afterwards. “He bowled quick and swung theball a lot and we had hoped he could do that in the first Test.””He feared the worst straight away but the scans have come up pretty cleartoday. He has a couple of days for rest and treatment over the weekend andwe will hope that everything comes up ok for Monday.”Lee had been a major handful in the first innings, ripping out four toporder wickets during an eight-over burst with the new ball. He also pickedup a wicket in the second innings before hobbling off mid-way through hisfourth over.

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Greg Thompson, the Ireland captain, took 5 for 26 from his ten overs as his team completed a 69-run win over Bermuda in Johor to head into the 13th place playoff final against Zimbabwe on Saturday.Set a target of 237, Bermuda lost their openers – Regino Smith and Pierre Smith – for just six runs on the board. Runs came at a slow trickle, and when Deunte Darrell fell for a 49-ball 7, Bermuda were slagging behind the required-rate at 59 from 23 overs.Bermuda captain Rodney Trott and Malachi Jones, their opening bowler, made a recovery with a 65-run stand for the fourth wicket. They took their side to 122 in the 32nd over, before the legspinner Thompson struck. Trott was dismissed for 53, which came off 73 deliveries, while Jones made a brisk 49 off 40.Thompson ended any hopes of a Bermuda win with three more wickets, which left them at 144 for 8, needing 93 more at nearly nine an over. Bermuda’s innings folded up for 167, Thompson the wrecker-in-chief with figures of 10-1-26-5.Trott was also the pick of the bowlers for Bermuda, taking 4 for 37 as Ireland made 236. James Hall scored an attacking 75 and added 137 runs for the third wicket with Paul Stirling, who made 59.Ireland batsman Christopher Dougherty was given an official reprimand by match referee Mike Procter, after being found guilty under Level 1 of the ICC’s Code of Conduct. Bowled by Trott for 25, a disappointed Dougherty knocked the stumps with his bat before heading to the dressing room.

The Rajasthan Royals have drafted in Darren Lehmann, the former Australian batsman, to fill in for Graeme Smith, who has been called up by the Cape Cobras for the business end of the Standard Bank Pro20 Series, South Africa’s domestic Twenty20 tournament.Smith, the South Africa captain, is out of the Royals’ first two matches – against the Delhi Daredevils on April 19 and Kings XI Punjab on the 21st – and will miss the third on April 24th if the Cobras qualify for the final. That will also put him in doubt for the match against the Bangalore Royal Challengers on the 26th.Lehmann, 38, has been confirmed for the first two games, but it’s likely he will stay on if Smith’s return is delayed. Lehmann, who was not involved in any of the IPL’s player auctions, made his farewell appearance for South Australia during the 2007-08 season, marking the end of a prolific first-class career in which he scored more than 25,000 runs at an average of 57.83.He will be coached and captained by Shane Warne, his former Australia team-mate, who offered the invitation. “It’s all happened so quickly,” Lehmann told the Advertiser. “They needed someone as cover for Graeme Smith so I didn’t hesitate to put my hand up. It will be good playing in the same side as Warney.”

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Queensland’s bowlers have made the most of a wearing MCG pitch to claim victory in their Pura Cup match against Victoria, despite some valiant resistance by the Bushrangers’ lower order led by Adam Crosthwaite. Chasing a very difficult target of 313 Victoria were bowled out for 222 mid-way through the final session.The Bulls shared the wickets between them, with Daniel Doran (3 for 51) finishing with the best figures after he had Gerard Denton trapped lbw for 3 to give Queensland the win. Andy Bichel, Mitchell Johnson and Ashley Noffke picked up two scalps each. The Bushrangers were already staring down the barrel going to lunch at 4 for 95 and when Cameron White (16) and Andrew McDonald (14) both nicked regulation catches to Chris Hartley the situation was desperate at 6 for 134.But Crosthwaite and Jon Moss put up a good fight for 20 overs, adding 58 for the seventh wicket before Crosthwaite was out for 43, lbw to a terrific inswinger from Noffke. Moss (24) gave Noffke his second wicket when he was lbw to a short-pitched ball that failed to bounce above his knee-roll, the best example of the variable bounce that troubled batsmen throughout the match. Shane Harwood batted defiantly for over an hour for his 11 not out but ran out of partners when Clinton McKay (10) was spectacularly caught and bowled by Bichel and the injured Denton was trapped in front.The day started atrociously for Victoria when both openers were out in the first six overs of play. Lloyd Mash played on to a short ball from Bichel for 6 and when Nick Jewell also fell for 6 the Bushrangers were in trouble at 2 for 21. Jewell, who edged a simple catch to Hartley, gave Johnson his first wicket of the game.Victoria got back on track through Brad Hodge and David Hussey before a Clinton Perren run-out once again turned the match in Queensland’s favour. Hodge and Hussey had put on 41 and pushed the Bushrangers to 2 for 62 when a direct hit from Perren at deep midwicket, barely ten metres from the boundary, had Hussey (12) caught short at the bowler’s end attempting a second run.It was an even more incredible throw than in the first innings when Perren ran from the slips cordon to third-man, turned and threw down the stumps at the wicketkeeper’s end to run out McKay. Hodge made 54 and was the best of the Victoria batsmen but his day ended in the last over before lunch when he tried to drive a conventional legbreak from Doran and guided a thin edge into the waiting hands of Martin Love at first slip.Victoria’s day did not improve with the news that Denton, who left the field on Sunday with a leg injury, was likely to miss up to six weeks with shin splints in his left leg. With Mick Lewis and a host of second-string fast bowlers already out injured, the Bushrangers face an uphill battle to get themselves back in the race for the Pura Cup with just one win from four games. Queensland now have two wins from their opening four matches.

Matthew Hoggard has set his sights on an England recall for the third Test against South Africa, which begins at Trent Bridge on August 14.Hoggard, who suffered a torn knee cartilage at the end of May, has missed six weeks of cricket so far this season. But he has been given the all-clear to play for Yorkshire in the next fortnight, and as he told Channel 4, he can’t wait to get back into the England frame.”I’ve been pencilled in for my first game in the next couple of weeks," said Hoggard, "and I’ve already been bowling off a shortened run in the nets. I have had to go back and realign my feet again to stop them crossing over and stop it happening again, but I’m hopeful of playing again soon and I hope to jog the selectors’ minds in the next two or three weeks.”Hoggard was England’s bowler of the season in 2002, when he took 28 wickets in seven Tests against Sri Lanka and India. But his stock fell during a difficult Ashes series, and he was a spectator throughout the subsequent World Cup. Given the start England’s bowlers have made to the current Test, however, Hoggard will fancy his chances of a recall.

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Manjrekar: India should have eyed 350-400 on this pitch

Considering they were effectively operating with a three-man attack, South Africa did incredibly well to take seven wickets on a pitch that was better for batting than the one in Nagpur. However, the surface was not docile enough to afford India the luxury of facing an inept fourth bowler, and the lack of support for South Africa’s frontline meant the batsmen could score freely when the first-choice bowlers were taken off or were tiring.India ended the day on 231 for 7, the highest total of the series, but they might have struggled to make 200 had Imran Tahir not been in awful form. The two new bowlers in South Africa’s XI, offspinner Dane Piedt and seamer Kyle Abbott, were incisive and displayed impressive stamina, taking four and three wickets apiece, and though Morne Morkel did not strike he offered control. Tahir, however, was bowled for only seven overs on the first day because he conceded 36 runs, serving up a buffet of full tosses and long-hops. The real damage to South Africa was in the overs Tahir could not bowl, because the rest were less threatening to face and easier to score off as they tired: Piedt bowled 34 overs, Morkel 17, and Abbott 17 for only 23 runs.The only Indian batsman good enough to battle through the hard periods and cash in on the good times was Ajinkya Rahane, who achieved his maiden half-century in India in his seventh innings and was approaching a fifth Test hundred, when bad light ended play six overs before stumps. His brisk partnership of 70 with Virat Kohli steadied India after a top-order wobble, and his rear-guard stands with Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin ensured India survived the day. A first-innings total of 250 will prove challenging on this surface, especially if a team has four reliable bowlers to defend it.Batting was difficult in the morning, when the ball was new and there was some moisture in the pitch, but Shikhar Dhawan managed to anchor India through the first session for the loss of only one wicket. He took 18 balls to score his first run. India scored only 6 in the first 30 minutes, and 16 in the first hour.Abbott had figures of 8-3-11-0 in his first spell; the variable bounce made facing him trickier. One good-length ball to Dhawan passed the off stump a little above the knee. Another short-of-a-length delivery climbed on M Vijay and was collected by wicketkeeper Dane Vilas at head height, but the ball immediately after kept low, forcing a crouching defence from the batsman. Vijay was later smashed on the right elbow by one that rose from a length, and wrung his hand in pain.Abbott had Vijay caught at slip in the 12th over but he had over-stepped, his foot erring by the smallest of margins. Vijay scored only two more runs, though, before he nicked a delivery from Piedt that drifted away from him but did not spin, to Hashim Amla at first slip.In the third over after lunch, Piedt broke Dhawan’s resistance with a classic one-two combo. The first ball drew Dhawan forward and spun away from the left-hander from around the wicket, passing the outside edge. The next delivery slid on with the arm, beating Dhawan’s inside edge as he played for the turn, trapping him lbw. Abbott then found the gap between Pujara’s bat and pad, the delivery angling in to uproot off stump after grazing the inside edge. India had gone from 60 for 1 to 66 for 3.In the middle period of the second session, however, Rahane and Kohli batted superbly, putting away loose deliveries and taking frequent singles to ensure pressure did not build. Their 50-run partnership came off 67 deliveries and they looked set to cash in on South Africa’s weak support bowlers, when Kohli suffered a freak dismissal.Kohli slog-swept Piedt, making clean contact. Instead of racing to the boundary, though, the ball thudded into the thigh of the fielder at short leg and lobbed back up towards the pitch. The wicketkeeper Dane Vilas reacted quickly and dived forward, taking the catch at full length and ensuring that Temba Bavuma, who was hopping about in pain, had something to celebrate.That wicket resulted in two more in quick time. Rohit Sharma was dropped at slip by Amla off Abbott on 0, but two balls later he tried to slog Piedt over deep midwicket, and got a leading edge to Tahir at long-on. Abbott then bowled Saha off the inside edge in the final over before tea, reducing India to 139 for 6. Rahane went into the break on 31 off 62 balls, having scored only one run off the 20 balls he faced since Kohli’s dismissal.India’s best session was the one after tea, during which they scored 92 runs for the loss of Ravindra Jadeja. Rahane and Jadeja added 59 for the seventh wicket, and scored freely against a tiring Piedt. Rahane slog-swept and pulled the offspinner for a six and a four in one over to pass 50, while Jadeja punished loose deliveries from Tahir and Duminy.South Africa had two moments of misfortune, too, after Jadeja was caught deftly by Dean Elgar at midwicket for 24. Ashwin was given not out when Piedt appealed for a bat-pad catch though the ball had brushed his glove, and then Rahane, on 78, was dropped by Amla at slip, capping a frustrating day in the field for the South African captain. Both those moments deprived Piedt of a fifth wicket, and allowed India to end the day in a far better position than they should have been.

An unbroken 56 run ninth wicket stand between Vijay Prajapati andRajiv Dutta lifted Tripura to 213/8 on the first day of their EastZone Ranji Trophy clash with Bihar at the Keenan Stadium inJamshedpur. Play was called off five overs before the scheduled closebecause of bad light.Bihar won the toss, put the visitors in and quickly took control,Dheeraj Kumar bowling Pranab Debnath with the fourth ball of the day.The wickets which fell regularly were shared among five bowlers. Thestoutest resistance was provided by Mridule Gupta who swiftly moved to61 (84 balls, 9 fours) before having his stumps rattled by seamerMihir Diwakar. The end of the innings appeared near when the eighthwicket fell in the 58th over but Prajapati (37) and Dutta (23) heldout for the last hour and a half.

It’s all been happening rather quickly for Ian Butler over the last 24 hours but he was pleased to get his first training run behind him and to meet most of his new team-mates in the CLEAR Black Caps in Christchurch today.Butler, 20, of Northern Districts will make his international debut at Jade Stadium tomorrow, weather permitting, as New Zealand take on England in the first One-Day International of the National Bank Series.Even if only half the ground capacity is taken up for tomorrow’s game, the crowd of 14,000 will be far greater than anything else Butler has ever played before.And even the prospect of finding out how fast he bowls will be a new experience.Questioned at a press conference today about how fast he bowls, he replied: “I don’t know, I’ve never been on the radar.”Butler, who only made his first-class debut this summer, said his goal for the summer had been to perform well for ND and to maintain a spot in that side.”This came completely out of the blue, but I will give it my best shot,” he said.At least he knows what it is like to have bowled at the English batsmen. He played in both ND’s one-day games against the tourists on Friday and Sunday.”What those games showed me was they can be beaten, and it was good to play against them before I have to step up to this level to play them,” he said.The Pukekohe-raised bowler has played all his youth cricket in ND, and for New Zealand Under-19.He said that new ND coach Bruce Blair had been a big help to him.”He’s helped me a lot and given me a lot of confidence to go out there and bowl fast and straight. That’s all he says to me, ‘don’t complicate things’ so that’s all I do, go out there and bowl fast and straight.Having been rushed from obscurity into the limelight he was pleased to have that first practice behind him. While there he had a chat with Chris Cairns which had been a boost.”It was good to get a training out of the way and talk to all the lads and get the nerves out of the way,” he said.”I’ll just have to brush that aside and let it help me,” he said of the moment when he first grasps the ball and runs in to bowl.Most encouragingly of all was the fact that so far in his career he has never suffered any significant injuries.”Touch wood, I’ve had none so far,” he said.

Australia have named an unchanged 12-man squad for the second Test against Pakistan, beginning on Boxing Day. The playing XI was not finalised, but in Australia are likley to stick with the same combination after steam-rolling Pakistan by a massive margin.Australia had little problem in crushing Pakistan by 491 runs in the first Test at Perth and Michael Kasprowicz justified his inclusion with a fantastic performance in the first innings. Brett Lee will mostly be the drinks carrier in the second game as well.The squad is scheduled to travel from Perth to Melbourne on December 21. Australia will be in line for their 300th Test victory in a Boxing Day Test match and considering Pakistan’s spineless batting display at Perth, they should have lots to cheer after Christmas.

Manicaland enjoyed a good day against Mashonaland at Harare Sports Club,amassing a total of 397, although only three batsmen made significantcontributions. There was no time for the Mashonaland reply before theclose.Gus Mackay captained the Mashonaland team after the withdrawal of BrianMurphy, still not match-fit. With so many absentees, especially with thenational side in Sharjah, there were many changes and a long tail. Mackaywon the toss and put Manicaland in to bat on a pitch he expected to help theseamers a great deal, which did not prove to be the case.There was a little early movement and Mashonaland took two quick wickets.Manicaland lost debutant Dion de Beer (8) and Richie Sims (0) with only nineon the board, but as usual in Logan Cup cricket Neil Ferreira hung in withhis dogged style. He found an able partner in Guy Croxford, and the pairadded 135 together for the third wicket, with Croxford (80) the mainaggressor. He looked less confident against spin, though, and it wasoff-spinner Trevor Gripper who took his wicket for 80.Gary Brent proved an able replacement, though, and finally his real battingtalent came to life. He and Ferreira added 158 for the fourth wicket beforeFerreira finally fell for 120. This began a minor collapse, Manicalandsliding from the heights of 302 for three to 316 for seven. Alex Taylorsupported Brent while the latter reached his maiden first-class century,punishing the wayward bowling with due discretion, but the second new ballaccounted for both of them.The innings closed for 397, with Mackay taking three for 57. He did notbowl particularly well, especially in his opening spell, but took threevital wickets in the middle order. Amos Maungwa took two for 33 in 14overs, the most economical of the Mashonaland bowlers thanks to hisconsistent line and length. Gripper took three for 83 in 24 overs, the mostused of the bowlers.