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ScorecardRohit G Sharma and Pankaj Singh steered Rajasthan to the finals of the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament with a seven-wicket win over Punjab at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Chasing 262, Sharma laid the foundation with 62 while Singh polished off the target with a breezy 36 off 22 balls.Punjab won the toss and elected to bat first and the innings was anchored by opener Karan Goel, who scored 72. Ravneet Ricky chipped in with 48 and added 112 with Goel. Pankaj Dharmani and Reetinder Sodhi added the finishing touches to push the score to 261. Rajasthan began their reply in a steady manner with Sharma and Anshu Jain adding 89 for the second wicket. However a steady fall of wickets followed and Punjab clawed back, reducing the home side to 203 for 7. Rajesh Bishnoi and Singh ensured no further fall of wickets and took their side home with an over to spare.Rajasthan will meet Mumbai in the finals at the same venue on Wednesday.

R Sridhar has been appointed Sri Lanka men’s fielding coach until the conclusion of the T20 World Cup, which runs from February 7 to March 8. Sridhar had been the senior India men’s team’s fielding coach from 2014 to 2021.A Level 3 certified BCCI coach, Sridhar had also conducted a 10-day fielding programme for Sri Lanka’s top teams, in Colombo, in May last year.”Sri Lankan players have always stood for instinctive brilliance, resilience, and collective spirit,” Sridhar said, having been appointed to the new job on Wednesday. “My role is not to impose a system, but to nurture an environment where athleticism, awareness, and pride in the field can grow naturally.”Sri Lanka’s traditional strengths–quick hands, sharp reflexes, and fearless intent, can be further enhanced by creating realistic, game-like learning environments.”Sridhar’s appointment is the latest in a minor coaching shake-up for the men’s team, with the likes of Julian Wood and Rene Ferdinands having joined as batting coach and spin bowling coach respectively, in October. It also comes after a disappointing Asia Cup and tour of Pakistan, in which Sri Lanka’s fielding errors were among the problems in focus.SLC’s release said Sridhar would work with the men’s team ahead of the series against Pakistan and England leading into the World Cup, and that this appointment is already in effect.

An unwelcome visitor
The two days preceding the match were warm and dry but Hyderabad awoke to the sound of rain on Friday morning. The shower didn’t last long but it was enough for the groundstaff to bring out the covers to protect the square. An early-bird crowd cheered massively as each plastic sheet was removed and when the Indians jogged out to warm up the decibel level went up a notch. The loudest shouts were reserved for the Twenty20 stars – MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh – until, that is, Sachin Tendulkar strode out.A bit too straight
The stumps got hit twice in the first ten overs of the day, and all three times it was by the Australian openers. After facing a wide first up, Matthew Hayden began in style, flicking his first ball through square leg for four and following up with a powerful straight drive for the same result. He nearly had a hat-trick of fours but the booming drive cannoned into the stumps at the bowler’s end, uprooting one and pegging the middle back. In the fourth over, it was Gilchrist’s turn to drive too straight and umpire Shastri began to take cover before the ball hit the stumps.Going from superb to sloppy in a flash
Ricky Ponting drove the ball towards point and Yuvraj moved nimbly, diving full stretch to his right, to pull off a spectacular save. He leapt up in time to see Hayden stranded after Ponting declined a single. Yuvraj threw to the bowler’s end and Hayden wasn’t in the frame when the ball reached Zaheer Khan who broke the stumps. Replays showed that Zaheer didn’t collect the ball and broke the stumps with his hand. An easy run out through a superb throw had been ruined through sloppy finishing.An exercise in self-control
Sreesanth’s antics in Kochi attracted so much attention that he was restrained today. He began tidily, conceding eight off his first two overs before Hayden got stuck into him. In his fourth over, he bowled three wides outside off stump and got smacked for four of the ninth ball of the over. His day got worse in the final over of the game when he dropped a simple return catch off James Hopes. In frustration he shied at the bowler’s end where Hopes was safe and needlessly conceded an overthrow. Two balls remained and just as nothing seemed to be going his way, Sreesanth dismissed Symonds and Hopes off consecutive deliveries.

Watch out for falling objects
During the ICC World Twenty20, spectators often wore hard hats as it was raining sixes. There were no sixes for 39.5 overs today but when Symonds launched Irfan Pathan over midwicket hard hats were the need of the moment. The ball cleared the boundary and fell into the stands, hitting a spectator on the head. Symonds went on to clout four more sixes but the crowd had begun to watch carefully.Free hit anti-climax
The bowlers hadn’t over-stepped for 58.4 overs and then Brett Lee committed the first front-foot offence. Sachin Tendulkar was on strike for the no-ball and Yuvraj Singh reminded him that the next one was a free hit. The crowd realised what was in the offing once umpire Shastri twirled his hand above his head. The roar soon became deafening as they urged Tendulkar to cash in. Lee charged in amid the din, Tendulkar charged down the pitch, Lee fired it fast and outside off stump and Tendulkar was beaten. Terrific noise one moment, silence the next.

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Opener Dale Richards blasted 80 off 93 balls with 11 fours to lead Barbados to a thumping nine-wicket win over Windward Islands in Kingston. Richards, who capitalised on some wayward bowling to bring up his half-century off 55 balls, added 111 runs for the first wicket with Jason Haynes, before Haynes and Dwayne Smith finished off the job. Earlier, Windward, who resumed on 58 for 3, with a lead of only two runs, lost overnight batsmen Andre Fletcher and Liam Sebastian for 14 and 18 respectively as they slumped to 87 for 5. Donwell Hector looked assured before he was run out for 14, the second time that he was dismissed in such a manner in his debut match. Lindon James, the wicketkeeper-batsman, took Windward from 104 for 6 to 190 with an unbeaten 56. Smith then took the last two wickets to finish with 3 for 41. Ryan Hinds was named Man of the Match for scoring 95 in Barbados’ first innings as well as claiming three wickets with his left-arm spin.
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Guyana slumped 128 for 4 against Trinidad to gain an effective lead of only 61 runs at the end of the third day’s play in Port of Spain. Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, with an unbeaten 35, was at the crease when stumps were drawn after Guyana began their second innings 67 runs in arrears. Richard Kelly gave Trinidad the early breakthrough by getting rid of Shivnarine Chattergoon, the first innings century-maker, for four. Seamer Rayad Emrit, playing his first match as Trinidad captain, then dismissed opener Travis Dowlin and Leon Johnson for 10 to leave Guyana at 48 for 3. Narsingh Deonarine, who scored 46 of 51 balls with seven fours and a six, set about doing the repair job with Sarwan, adding 74 runs for the fourth wicket, before he was dismissed by offspinner Amit Jaggernauth. Earlier, Trinidad, who resumed on 273 for 3, lost Lara in the morning session when he gave left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul a return catch after only adding eight runs to his overnight score of 115. Trinidad lost wickets at regular intervals, but Kieron Pollord, who had resumed on 41, kept up the attack by scoring 85 off 103 balls before edging to the wicketkeeper. There was an hour-long stoppage after lunch due to rain, subsequent to which, Richard Kelly, with an unbeaten 30, took Trinidad to 401. Offspinner Zaheer Mohammed claimed the bowling honours with figures of 4 for 78.
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Jamaica, after overcoming a nervy start, were led by an aggressive half-century from Wavell Hinds, who scored 62 off 82 balls, to take them to a five-wicket win over Leeward Islands at Sabina Park. Leeward’s seamer Gavin Tonge took three wickets to have Jamaica stuttering at 20 for 4, but they could not capitalise on that opening, with Hinds and David Bernard adding 82 runs for the fifth wicket. Earlier, Leewards could only add 96 runs to their overnight 87 for 2, with legspinner Odeon Brown taking 5 for 31 to finish with a match haul of 10 for 103, his maiden ten-wicket haul at the first-class level. Brown, who was named Man of the Match, was aided by left-arm spinner Nikita Miller, who claimed figures of 4 for 43 to end with overall figures of 7 for 85. Montcin Hodge provided resistance from Leeward, taking his score from 38 to 64, consuming 267 deliveries in a knock that stretched five hours.

Worcestershire are lining up Cameron White, the Victoria allrounder, as their overseas player for the Twenty20 Cup. According to the he is one of “three or four” options being considered along with South African pair Shaun Pollock and Herschelle Gibbs.White has a strong Twenty20 pedigree with 878 runs in 26 matches and a top score of 141 not out made for Somerset. In his one international Twenty20 he plundered England for a 20-ball 40 in Sydney but missed out on a place in the World Twenty20 last September.Pollock, who retired from international cricket in January, has said he would like another spell of county cricket and has gained the interest of a number of counties. Pollock, Gibbs and White are all part of the forthcoming Indian Premier League.Worcestershire already have two overseas fast bowlers on their books, Steve Magoffin from Western Australia and West Indies quick Fidel Edwards. Magoffin could be retained for the Twenty20 but the county are keen for someone were more experience in that format. Edwards then arrives for his stint in July.

Australia will treat Friday’s dead-rubber against Sri Lanka as their first final ahead of the best-of-three CB Series deciders with India starting on Sunday. Sri Lanka have only pride to play for but Australia know they cannot afford to lose momentum after winning their past four games of the tournament.”We’ve certainly taken the approach that our finals campaign starts now,” Gilchrist said in the lead-up to the Sri Lanka match at the MCG. “You could say it would be better not playing the game and have a clear run into the finals and preparation. But we’ve got this game to use how we want to use it, and it’s not as a practice game. If we get lethargic we lose momentum.”I’m sure every individual is looking to have their own specific things. I’m sure Ricky [Ponting] will want to back up now, the runs that he’s scored, and Symmo. I’ve had a few teens, twenties scores since my hundred in Perth, so it would be nice to get a bit of momentum back up.”Australia lost last year’s tri-series finals to England and Gilchrist said with he and Brad Hogg farewelling international cricket during the deciders – and with the CB Series itself on the way out – it was important the hosts were in form to face India on Sunday. “We don’t have that trophy in the cabinet and it’s the last tri-series that there will probably ever be,” he said.”It’s been an integral part in the success of Australian cricket and the Australian cricket calendar, and indeed the world cricket calendar. Although it’s become tired and everyone’s ready to move ont o a different format this triangular series, when it used to be called the World Series Cup, countries used to covet this trophy and loved to be here.”Mahela Jayawardene’s men cannot make the finals following their disappointing run since their win over India in Canberra more than two weeks ago. They have suffered four defeats from that moment on and Jayawardene said their pride was definitely on the line in Melbourne.”No team wants to lose four-five games in a tournament and not have a successful run,” Jayawardene said. “Every game we play, we play to win and give everything. Things haven’t gone our way, we have one more chance to rectify those things.”They are unlikely to risk Farveez Maharoof, who has a side strain, while Australia will regain Mitchell Johnson after he was rested for their match in Sydney earlier this week. It will be the last match Gilchrist plays at the MCG and he said as the CB Series had continued the reality of retirement had really hit home. However, he remains at ease with his call.”There’s not a decision I’ve made in my life – and this is all due respect to my wife about marriage because I’m pretty certain that was the right decision – but I’ve never been surer every single day that I wake up, that this is the right thing to do,” Gilchrist said. “I’m getting more and more reflective and it’s natural to do that. The way people are expressing their emotions and thoughts and opinions of me, and to me, that’s making it even more of an emotional time.”Australia (likely) 1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 James Hopes, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Brad Hogg, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Nathan Bracken.Sri Lanka (likely) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Dilruwan Perera, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Chamara Silva, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Ishara Amerasinghe.

The Indian cricket board has decided to serve a show-cause notice to Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors for defying an official gag by continuing to write his weekly column and giving an interview to , a Mumbai-based newspaper.Rajiv Shukla, vice-president of the Board for Control of Cricket in India told PTI that the decision to serve the notice was taken by Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president. “An explanation will be sought from Vengsarkar for the columns which have appeared in Hindi and Marathi dailies,” he said. His column appeared in a Marathi paper, , and Hindi daily, .”The BCCI is of the view that if he wants to continue as a columnist, he can give up the post of the chief selector,” Shukla said. However, the board secretary Niranjan Shah said that the notice hadn’t yet been served. “It will be done some time by today,” he told Cricinfo. “We have decided to issue it, maybe by evening.”The BCCI had earlier imposed a seven-point diktat to the national selectors, and one of the main points of the directive was to restrict them from airing their views by writing newspaper columns or even interacting with the media.Vengsarkar had earlier flouted an oral directive by the BCCI after a piece carrying his byline appeared in , a Marathi daily run by the brother of Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president. That prompted the board to seek an explanation from Vengsarkar as well as impose further restrictions on all the national selectors by banning them from accompanying the team on foreign tours.Vengsarkar has been writing his columns ever since he took over as chairman. There is a view, especially with selectors enjoying only a honorary post, that Vengsarkar shouldn’t be asked to sacrifice what is effectively a regular salary.In his latest interview, Vengsarkar spoke of India’s Test captaincy issue, following Rahul Dravid’s resignation after the England tour. He hinted that Dravid’s batting form may have contributed to his decision and the selectors felt it was best to give him a break by dropping him from the one-day squad.”I feel he [Dravid] is a very sensitive person and I guess too much media pressure affected his batting,” Vengsarkar told the paper. “Dravid looked mentally down when we gave him a break. At such a time, it is always better for a player to play domestic or even club cricket to get his confidence and rhythm back. Dravid has done that and I’m sure he will score loads of runs in the future.”On the appointment of separate captains for Test and one-dayers, Vengsarkar said the selectors were in favour of an experienced candidate for for the Tests keeping in mind India’s challenging tour of Australia next month. He added that Mahandra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh were close contenders for the one-day post.”It is really difficult to differentiate between the two because both have some great qualities to take Indian cricket to the top,” he said. “I guess Dhoni’s cool demeanor in a crisis tipped the scale in his favour.”Kumble is highly respected by his team-mates but also by the opposition. Most importantly he knows how to handle the Aussies in their own backyard.”

John Buchanan believes Adam Gilchrist’s use of a squash ball in his batting glove during the World Cup final is “a non-issue” and wants suggestions the move was unethical to be dealt with harshly. The MCC, who are the guardians of the Laws, said the squash ball was legal, a sentiment echoed by Buchanan.”If you want to go down this road, where do you draw the line?” Buchanan told . “Should it be illegal for players to receive strapping to injuries, or for batsmen to use extra grips on their bats?”There is an argument that there is some benefit there. I hope that over time, people will ignore something like this and remember the innings for how good it was.”Gilchrist revealed his secret weapon after belting 149 in the final against Sri Lanka, which led Sri Lanka Cricket’s secretary, Kangadaran Mathivanan, to call the move “unethical” and consider taking the matter up at the ICC annual general meeting in June. Buchanan said such comments undermined one of the most memorable innings in World Cup history.”Everybody will be disappointed about this,” Buchanan said. “The final should be a celebration of cricket and Adam’s innings was outstanding. Comments like these should be ignored by the public, and be dealt with harshly as quickly as possible.”Ian Healy, Gilchrist’s wicketkeeping predecessor, said he “had a giggle” about the furore. “Let them all put squash balls in their glove and see how they go,” Healy said in . “Maybe a tennis ball is better, they could try that. All protective equipment and strappings which sportsmen wear are performance-enhancing. I’m not too sure a squash ball would enhance the performance of too many people.”

The PCB is unlikely to accede to Gill Woolmer’s request to play a Twenty20 match against India, to raise funds for a cricket academy Bob Woolmer had planned to set up in South Africa, due to a congested fixture list.”We got a letter asking us to play a Twenty20 match with India for the academy. But this seems unlikely in the near future,” Ehsan Malik, PCB spokesman, told Reuters.Malik said a packed international schedule for both teams was the reason behind the decision and that the PCB was looking at other means of helping establish the academy. The PCB has dedicated the practice area of its National Cricket Academy in Lahore to Woolmer and named it after him.A proposal to play a Twenty20 match against England in August was earlier rejected as the England team had prior commitments.Woolmer died in Jamaica on March 18, a day after Pakistan suffered a shock defeat against Ireland and were knocked out in the first round of the World Cup. His death was investigated as murder until after the tournament when Jamaican authorities u-turned and announced he had died of natural causes.

Given the number of nerve-wracking, frequently doomed last days that West Indies have endured in recent times, Monday’s wet weather that restricted play to 20 overs and settled the first Test as a draw came as welcome relief. Yet, as Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga competently compiled their unbroken opening stand of 89, there was the growing sense that, even on a fine day, the script would have been different to what it has so often been over the past year or so.At Auckland against New Zealand, in Antigua against India and at Lahore and Karachi against Pakistan last year, nervous second-innings batting led to defeat or, in the case of Antigua, to Fidel Edwards and Corey Collymore grimly hanging on for the last 19 balls for a draw. At Lord’s, there was an unmistakable hint that old uncertainty had been replaced by new resolve.Even after a reduced opening day on which England compiled 200 for 3 after they were put in by Ramnaresh Sarwan in grey, damp conditions, supposedly ideal for bowling, the headline over the former England captain Nasser Hussain’s newspaper report read: “They’re not good enough but at least they’re fighting”.Midway through the third day, when they were 187 for 5 following the four individual hundreds that pushed England to 553 for 5 declared, whatever fight Hussain and others had detected was severely tested. Now, surely, a team under brand new leadership, without its one great batsman, just out of a disastrous World Cup tournament at home and with no pre-Test preparation would stagger.The response of the last half of the order, from the ever-reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul at No.6 to Jerome Taylor at No.10, defied expectations. To each his own: Chanderpaul provided the solidity at one end while Dwayne Bravo and Denesh Ramdin free-wheeled at the other as they did in their partnership of 182 against Australia at Hobart in 2005. Most noticeably, Ramdin’s favoured, suicidal sweep shot, so often his downfall, was not in evidence in his sparkling 60. So emboldened, Daren Powell and Taylor similarly took to the bowlers the following day.It was a boon to West Indian spirits so crushed after the World Cup. As Bravo and Sarwan both noted, it was a team effort. It is not a phrase usually associated with the West Indies in recent times. Without Lara’s runs, on whom they so heavily relied, even if unconsciously, the need for shared responsibility has quickly sunk in.There was, too, a refreshing camaraderie on the field and in the dressing-room as well. It was similar to the attitude of the second-string side in Sri Lanka two years ago that was decimated by the withdrawals of the leading players over a contract row with the board. They were clearly outclassed but they never gave up. It is often the consequence of adversity.A friend of mine, an MCC member whose seat in the pavilion was directly beneath the West Indies’ dressing-room balcony, said he had seldom heard such constant and enthusiastic encouragement for their teammates on the field.Not everything was pleasing, of course, and England’s bowling problems need to be factored into the optimism. The one-dimensional attack lacked control and penetration, crucial catches were dropped and Ramdin’s keeping was scrappy. Each deficiency might have been a result of the lack of practice, match and otherwise, but there are only three days before the second Test at Headingley to get them right. Even then, it is difficult to imagine England being bowled out twice on good pitches.

The absence of Andrew Flintoff, the muscle strain that restricted Matthew Hoggard to 10.5 overs, and the wild offerings of Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett on a slow pitch were unforeseen benefits for West Indies. Hoggard is unlikely to return for the series and Flintoff’s chronic ankle injury is a limitation, even if he is passed for Friday.More significantly, Harmison was a shadow of the menace he was in the back-to-back series in the Caribbean and here in 2004 when he, Flintoff, Hoggard and Simon Jones (now also missing with injury) bowled West Indies to defeat in seven of the eight Tests.England sprung a surprise by replacing Hoggard with Ryan Sidebottom for the second Test. Sidebottom is 29 and played his only Test six years ago. The point is that he is a left-arm swing bowler who will bring variety to the attack, a point overlooked by the West Indies selectors in the omission of Pedro Collins from their squad. But their reasons, apparently, were more than simply cricketing.Michael Vaughan, the captain who missed the first Test with a broken finger and has not played a Test for a year and a half because of one injury or another, and Flintoff are both in the 13. But they need to prove they are fit enough by Friday.In the meantime, the West Indies team travelled to Leeds yesterday, happier and more confident than they were when they entered the series last Thursday. The challenge is to maintain the self-belief and the team spirit over the three Tests, two Twenty20 Internationals and three ODIs that lay ahead. The early signs are hopeful.