Scorecard

Matthew Hayden smashed a 69-ball 83 while Clinton Perren made a controlled 96 as Queensland pulled off a superb win against New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Needing 276 to win, Queensland coasted home with 16 balls to spare.The result meant that a superb unbeaten 152 by Phil Jaques, the New South Wales opener, came to nothing. Jaques hit 13 fours and two sixes en route to registering his highest score in one-day matches. Simon Katich, the captain, reached 51 as the two added 89 for the first wicket, but apart from 36 from Aaron O’Brien none of the other batsmen made significant contributions.The target was a stiff one, especially given the Blues’ attack included Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Stuart MacGill, but Hayden set the tone with a brutal assault on all bowlers, especially McGrath, whom he thrashed for 17 runs from nine balls, including two fours and a six. After Hayden was dismissed, Perren was around to guide them with a well-paced display.Lee was easily the best bowler for New South Wales, taking 3 for 30, but McGrath struggled, going for 66 off his ten overs. When Perren was dismissed, Queensland needed only 33 for victory, and though they lost four quick wickets, the win was achieved with plenty to spare.

Livescorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Harbhajan Singh racked the Sri Lankan top order, taking 4 for 24 asSri Lanka limped to 131 for 5 in reply to India’s 398. It was afrustrating day for them: first, their bowlers failed to skittle outthe remaining Indian batsmen, who added 151 to the overnight score of247 for 6, with VVS Laxman making 104 and Irfan Pathan making 82; andthen their batsmen handled Harbhajan’s offspin inadequately.Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara had shown signs of defiance,adding 60 after Upul Tharanga was out with the score on 14. ButHarbhajan changed all that. First, he induced a mistake from Atapattu,on 40, who top-edged a sweep to Virender Sehwag (74 for 2). The verynext ball, Mahela Jayawardene was defeated by spin and bounce, glovinga ball that turned into him to Mohammad Kaif at forward short leg. Notlong afterwards, Thilan Samaraweera, on the back foot, tapped asimilar delivery to Kaif (82 for 4.)Sangakkara was the next to go, for 41, bowled around his legs as hebent down to sweep (105 for 5). Tillakaratne Dilshan and Jehan Mubarak kept theinnings together till the close of play, but it was all so ironic:just a day after they had reduced India to 97 for 5, they were indanger of being made to follow on. The credit for that had to go asmuch to India’s batsmen as to Harbhajan.The story of India’s innings lies in these numbers: 86, 125, 37, 39,14. These are the partnerships, totalling to 301, that their batsmenput together after they lost those five early wickets. VVS Laxman andMahendra Singh Dhoni had added 86 yesterday, and Laxman and IrfanPathan extended their overnight partnership of 64 to 125 today. Andafter these men were out, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan allchipped in to take India close to 400. Through all this, Sri Lankabowled with fire, fielded with vigour, but were simply outbattled.They began the day with some sharp bowling, but the batsmen were up toit. Lasith Malinga was more accurate than on the first day, notoverdoing the short-pitched stuff, troubling the batsmen with a fullerlength than yesterday. He induced a couple of edges and false shotsfrom Laxman, who was otherwise unflappable. Compact and assured,Laxman played the ball late and eschewed strokeplay.Muttiah Muralitatharan, no stranger to wrapping up innings, gave theball a lot of rip and extracted prodigious turn, but the Indians wereunruffled. Pathan was watchful when the length of the ball was good,but quick to step up to the pitch of the ball when he got a chance,and unfraid to loft.It was Farveez Maharoof who eventually struck, as Laxman was beatenand bowled by an incoming ball (308 for 7). His 104 was his ninth Testcentury, in a career that has featured many exceptional innings but isinvoked for just one.At such times, seven wickets down, all their specialist batsmen out,India tend to panic. But Pathan and Agarkar, once touted as anallrounder, batted sensibly. Pathan mixed solid defence with somelusty strokeplay, seeing off testing spells from both Malinga andMuralitharan. It was Maharoof who finally trapped him lbw,as he stepped a bit too across to a ball, bowled from over the wicket,that pitched on leg and would have hit off stump (345 for 8).Agarkar and Kumble, playing his 100th Test, then had a partnershipthat spanned 73 balls, as Sri Lanka’s early advantage became just amemory. They were out in quick succession, but India’s bowlers, bythen, had plenty runs on the board to defend. And they got to work.How they were outIndiaVVS Laxman b Maharoof 104 (308 for 7)
Irfan Pathan lbw Maharoof 82 (345 for 8)
Ajit Agarkar b Malinga 26 (384 for 9)
Anil Kumble v Jayawardene b Bandara 21 (398)
Sri LankaUpul Tharanga c Dhoni b Pathan 2 (14 for 1)
Marvan Atapattu c Sehwag b Harbhajan 40 (74 for 2)
Mahela Jayawardene c Kaif b Harbhajan 0 (74 for 3)
Thilan Samaraweera c Kaif b Harbhajan 1 (82 for 3)
Kumar Sangakkara b Harbhajan 41 (105 for 5)

The final of the inaugural Twenty20 competition between New South Wales and Victoria will be played at the North Sydney Oval on Saturday January 21. Tickets for the clash, which are expected to be snapped up fairly quickly, go on sale today.”More than 115,000 people have attended domestic and international Twenty20 matches in the past week, and we expect the final of the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash to be just as popular,” James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s CEO, told reporters. “Australians have responded incredibly to the Twenty20 Big Bash and the excitement that comes with this new format of the sport.”Matthew Nicholson, the NSW captain, welcomed the announcement. “The atmosphere at our last game at North Sydney Oval was awesome. The players are really enjoying playing this form of cricket and that comes back to the atmosphere at the game and the noise and interaction between the players and the crowd. That has got the players pretty pumped.”Cameron White, his opposite number, was equally bullish. “The players enjoy Twenty20 cricket just as much as the fans and we can’t wait to put on a great show.”Tickets available through ticketek on 132 849 or via www.tickettek.com.au

The Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka was officially opened on Sunday and was hailed by the ICC chief executive, Malcolm Speed, as an event which has “truly come of age”.The tournament, which comprises 16 teams from around the world, will stage 44 matches in 15 days at five different venues. The final, at the R.Premadasa Stadium, will be played under lights on February 19.”From humble beginnings in 1988 when it took place, for the most part, in country areas of Australia and involved just eight teams, through a ten year hiatus before the concept was revived in South Africa in 1998, this tournament has come a long way,” Speed said at the opening ceremony.”This tournament will see the Super League semi-finals and final broadcast on television with a possible global audience of hundreds of millions of people,” he said. “Supporters will be following the matches in any way they can, through television, radio, newspapers and the internet and as an event there is no doubt it has truly come of age.”Speed added that the tournament’s key attraction was to witness the future stars of cricket; many players use the Under-19 tournament as a stepping stone to success at a senior level.”When it was last held in Sri Lanka, in 2000, two of the stars of the tournament were Yuvraj Singh of India and South Africa’s Graeme Smith,” he said. Six years on and this week Yuvraj scored a hundred in the white-hot atmosphere of a Pakistan-India Test match while Graeme has been captaining his country in Australia.”There are plenty more examples of players who have done well in the ICC U/19 CWC before going on to success at Test and ODI level and that illustrates how important this tournament is to the future of the game.”While the tournament features the usual ICC members – countries such as England, West Indies and India – it also enables smaller countries, and associate members, to showcase their skills on the world stage; a youth tournament for countries such as Nepal, Namibia, Scotland, Ireland and the United States will jostle for space among the more familiar nations.Speed doesn’t doubt the talent which lies in the less prominent cricketing nations, and is quietly confident that one or two sides might receive a shock in the next two weeks:”Given the way many of the warm-up matches have gone ahead of the tournament it would be a brave person to suggest we will not have an Associate side beating a Full Member over the next 15 days.”This ICC U/19 CWC allows those Associates to advance their cricket by exposing their young players to intense competition at a point where their games are still being moulded,” he said. That exposure is gradually reaping rewards at all levels. Two years ago Ireland and Scotland reached the semi-finals of the Plate competition while Nepal beat South Africa.”

Great news for Nottinghamshire fans – Chris Cairns is back, albeit temporarily. The allrounder Cairns will stand in as captain for Stephen Fleming next season, when he will lead the side for three matches of the C&G Trophy.Fleming will be on tour with New Zealand in South Africa at the start of the season, and his fellow international, Cairns, is only too pleased to step into the breach. “Everyone knows that Trent Bridge is my second home,” he said, “and I’m delighted to have another opportunity to return to Nottingham.”Notts’ director of cricket, Mick Newell, was understandably delighted to have secured his services: “Chris ticks all the boxes and is going to be in the UK anyway, playing league cricket. I’m pleased he’s coming back.”But what he won’t be doing is playing any Championship cricket. Newell is keen for upcoming players to take their chance, saying: “Unless we have a real problem with injuries, I don’t see Chris being involved in the competition.”

Haidee Tiffen, captain of the New Zealand women’s team, expressed confidence ahead of the five-match ODI series against India after the team ended a week’s productive training at New Zealand Cricket’s High Performance Centre in Lincoln.The team trained with Steve Jenkin, the World Cup winning coach from Australia, and comprehensively won two practice games against New Zealand A held during the camp. Tiffen praised the work of Jenkin, saying that he has had a positive impact on the squad. “He played against us for years. He’s really positive, he brings some of that Australian confidence, and it’s soaking into the players. It’s an exciting time. It’s great to have some fresh ideas and a new approach. All the girls are really positive.”Tiffen was hopeful that the intense competition in the recently concluded State League would benefit them at the international level.”We want competition in New Zealand,” she said. “We want players to be under pressure all the time. It’s really good for New Zealand women’s cricket that there’s no one team that is easy beat.”The first ODI against India begins at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln on Saturday.Squad Haidee Tiffen (capt), Suzie Bates, Nicola Browne Sarah Burke, Anna Dodd, Emily Drumm, Maria Fahey, Sara McGlashan, Aimee Mason, Louise Milliken, Rebecca Rolls, Sarah Tsukigawa, Helen Watson.

The Indian board has said that its policy on television coverage of matches will not change. The current policy is that TV coverage will start ten minutes before the game and end after the post-match presentation.Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, said “The BCCI has no plan to allow TV coverage from the point when the players get into the bus or inside the dressing-room area which is under total control of the ICC. It is emphasised by the BCCI that such coverage could only distract the mind, attention and concentration of the players and such distraction could neither be in the interest of the players nor in the interest of the game.”The board’s statement is in response to reports that Nimbus, who won the TV rights for the next four years, was planning to take television cameras into the team bus and dressing-room.”The BCCI currently wants us to start 10 minutes before the match and finish after the post-match presentation but they’ve agreed to our proposal and, from the next series, we can start two hours before”, Harish Thawani, the head of Nimbus, told on Tuesday. “And so the cameras will enter the team bus and begin coverage from the point when they get into the bus. We won’t invade the privacy of the players but would want to give our viewers a feel of team atmosphere and how they prepare for a match.”

Lakshmipathy Balaji, the Indian fast bowler, says he is ready to take a fitness test this week to be in contention for the tour to West Indies. Balaji has not played international cricket since August 2005 due to a stress fracture of the back, but hopes to be in the Test side that will be announced after the third one-day international at St. Kitt’s on May 23.”It is a challenge. You have to face up to it. I am to be tested for match fitness by Indian team trainer John Gloster in Mumbai next week. If everything goes well, I will be in contention for a place [for the West Indies tour],” Balaji said while at the MRF Pace Academy in Chennai. “Everything is going as per plan. Doctors in Melbourne told me that I should be bowling again in May second week. I am now to prove my match fitness to Gloster.”Balaji’s injury woes began in India’s tour to England in 2004, following which he was out of action for almost a year. Nine wickets in three Tests against Pakistan at home in early 2005, a comeback series in which he displayed appreciable control and swing, were followed by an indifferent ODI series in Sri Lanka after which he was dropped and faced a recurrence of the injury.Choosing not to comment on his axing from the side, Balaji said the injury had played a bigger role in his being sidelined. “It was stress fracture of the lower back, which surfaced last November. It could not be properly diagnosed here,” Balaji said. “But Dr John Graham of Melbourne, where I spent 20 days, advised me against surgery.”Having rehabilitated himself over the months since his last appearance for India, Balaji believed he had come a full circle and was confident of a spot in the West Indies, where India will play four Tests.

Cameron White, the Australian allrounder, has been named as the Somerset captain in place of the injured Ian Blackwell, who has been ruled out for at least three months with a shoulder injury.White, 22, has led Victoria and Australia Under-19s during his short career and was handed the role ahead of Matthew Wood, the opening batsman. White told the club’s website: “I am very honoured to be asked to take on this job with Somerset. Obviously I’m sorry for Ian, who is a great guy, and I hope he gets himself fixed and back out on the park.”Blackwell picked up his injury during the Championship match against Leicestershire and needs surgery. He had only just returned to action after a back problem limited his early season action. The time frame for Blackwell’s injury means he’ll miss out on the Natwest Series against Sri Lanka and probably also the Pakistan series towards the end of the summer.With Ashley Giles still some way off making a return to international cricket, Blackwell was beginning to cement a spot as England’s leading one-day slow bowler with his nagging left-arm spin.

To nobody’s great surprise, confusion reigns supreme over the exact status of Shoaib Akhtar’s ankle injury, and whether or not it will allow him to participate in this summer’s tour to England.Reuters reported earlier, quoting Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, that the injury is a hairline fracture which might cause him to miss the first half of the tour. Inzamam said, “Right now, he has been advised one week’s rest as scans have shown a slight fracture in his ankle which is also swollen. However, the chance of him joining us late cannot be ruled out. The reports about him are a bit uncomfortable for us,” Inzamam admitted. “But he has done light training, so the fracture might not be a serious one. We will go by the doctor’s report and advice.”But Bob Woolmer, Pakistan coach, has told Cricinfo that there is “mixed opinion within the medical commission as to whether it is a hairline fracture or not.” He continued: “We have now sent the scan results to South Africa to a specialist and it will take us a week to get a second opinion from them. If it is a fracture, it seems a very minor one but if it is a case of his older ankle injury (a stress fracture) having not cleared up, then he will need at least four weeks to begin bowling properly and that will leave it very tight for the England tour. But, right now we have to wait and see before any decision is made.”Despite Inzamam’s apparently pessimistic diagnosis, sources close to Shoaib deny that the injury is a serious one and that he is still almost certain to travel to England with the squad. “As far as I know, that’s not true at all and he will be ok for the England tour,” said one, when asked to comment on Inzamam’s statement.The PCB is also unsure just now whether it is a hairline fracture and how it affects Shoaib’s chances of touring. Saleem Altaf, director PCB, told Cricinfo that the results of the scan have yet to be confirmed. “The medical commission has carried out a series of tests on him but nobody has confirmed a fracture yet.”In any event, Shoaib has been training in the camp for the last few days, suggesting perhaps that the nature of the injury might not be that serious. Woolmer said, “He hass been running and training with us. Yesterday he ran 12 100m sprints and though there is some stiffness, he wouldn’t be able to do that I would think, with a fracture.”And if you weren’t confused enough already, Inzamam later retracted his statement, telling PTI, “The doctors have not yet submitted any reports on Shoaib Akhtar’s injury. I think there has been some confusion that has led to me being misquoted. Until the doctors submit their reports, I am in no position to comment on Shoaib’s injury or his England tour chances. What I actually said was that the same ankle is swollen that suffered a hairline fracture late last year.”Earlier in the week, it was announced that Shoaib had merely twisted his ankle and needed a week’s rest, but despite all the confusion, it is now clear that the injury is more serious than initially thought.And time too is running out; the scan results will take a week and the national selectors are due to announce the squad around June 9, though that date may now be pushed back. Additionally, if he does make the tour, Shoaib will go with limited match practice and uncertain fitness levels. Wasim Bari, chief selector, has told that Shoaib will likely be taken to England even if he isn’t fully fit as a 17th member of the squad. Even then, as it is Shoaib, nothing will be certain until he turns up on July 13 at Lord’s, whites on and red ball in hand.