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Nepal’s effort in reaching the final of the Plate Championship of the ICC Under-19 World Cup at Lincoln University has been one of the highlights of the tournament.Nepal were only a fraction away from qualifying from the Super League stage of the World Cup, and they had victories over Test nations Pakistan and Bangladesh.But in terms of their own development they were probably best suited to learning in a less harsh environment in the Plate.The real test for Nepal lies in maximising the benefits to its players from the tournament.Whether coach Roy Dias is part of that may be decided by the Asian Cricket Council. Dias was appointed to the side by them, but he has been approached by United Arab Emirates and it could be the ACC that decides what he does.”My personal preference is Nepal – I know these guys so well,” he said.Dias believes Nepal could play at the top level in 10 years.”This has been a good tournament for them. They have had facilities to work in they have not had before.”But we find it difficult to get the kids interested back in Nepal. Soccer is their main game. And there is no schools set-up for cricket. Rumesh Ratnayake has been going around Nepal encouraging kids and trying to get them playing.”They have the talent but it is a long road ahead. There is some club cricket but it is all one-day cricket and mainly only 40 overs, so they haven’t been used to playing 50 overs.”But watching these guys the last three months I thought they could cause some surprises here, especially the spin bowlers. I knew the strength of my players,” Dias said.

Bloomfield C&AC recorded their first win in their second match of the Premier Limited Over Tournament 2000 by beating Moors SC by 50 runs in Colombo today.The match was reduced to 36 overs after the start of play was delayed due to heavy overnight rain. Moors won the toss and, unsurprisingly, decided to bowl first, in an effort to exploit the moist conditions.Sanath Jayasuriya gave a boost to Bloomfield SC with his return to the side after his exploits in Sharjah but disappointed when Rangana Herath caught him in the covers off the bowling of Rasika Priyadharshana for just 8 runs.Pubudu Dassanayake followed soon after to leave Bloomfield in trouble on 24/2. Bloomfield skipper, Kumar Dharmasena, and T.M. Dilshan then batted cautiously to start with before taking the attack to the Moors bowlers. Until the 26th over the pair were content to work the ball into the gaps for singles and twos. However, Dilshan then took control to unleash his full array of strokes.The pair added 152 runs off just 161 balls for the third wicket before Dilshan was stumped for 88 off 77 balls. His knock included 11 fours and 2 huge sixes. Dharmasena scored 60 off 82 deliveries before Rangana Herath caught him on the boundary.Bloomfield finished with 222/4 in their allotted 36 overs. The only economical bowler was R. Priyadharshana who took one wicket for 20 in his six overs.In reply, Moors SC made just 172 for the loss of 9 wickets in 36 overs. Heshan Thilakarathna (38) and Rasika Priyadharshana were the only pair who managed to put on a decent partnership. They compiled 64 for the second wicket. When they were dismissed Moors SC’s hopes quickly evaporated as Sanath Jayasuriya picked up three wickets.

Aston Villa correspondent Ashley Preece believed that Leon Bailey wasn’t strong enough for his involvement in West Ham’s second goal in his team’s 2-1 defeat on Sunday afternoon.

The Lowdown: Bailey’s performance

Steven Gerrard brought on the winger shortly before the hosts went 1-0 up with 20 minutes to go through Andriy Yarmolenko. The Jamaican is yet to start a game this year due to injury but looked bright in the closing stages in east London. 

As per SofaScore, the 24-year-old ended with a match rating of 7.3/10, creating one big chance, completing 100% of his dribbles and recording seven accurate passes.

However, with Villa looking to get back into the game, Bailey lost out to Declan Rice following John McGinn’s attempted pass, with Pablo Fornals doubling the hosts’ lead.

The Latest: Preece’s post on Bailey

Preece relayed the key moments from the London Stadium via Twitter on Sunday afternoon and believed that Bailey was ‘not strong enough’ in the build-up to the second West Ham goal.

He tweeted: “Goal, West Ham, Fornals! Leon Bailey not strong enough to receive McGinn’s pass as Rice nicks in, drives forward, plays Benrahma who checks it back to Fonals who fires home. Villa done on the break. Clinical from the hosts.”

The Verdict: Hard done by?

Villa came into Sunday’s clash in fine form, winning their previous three games without conceding, and Gerrard may feel that his side should have taken something from the capital today.

The visitors had more efforts on goal, a greater share of possession and also hit the woodwork, as per SofaScore, with Bailey helping towards those stats with his all-action display upon coming off the bench.

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Unfortunately, Gerrard’s side have nothing to show for it, and they’ll be looking to put that right next time out against Arsenal, where we may see another cameo from the bench from Bailey – or possibly even from the start.

In other news: Big Villa update emerges; NSWE may not need to find £33m to sign Coutinho

A second warning by the BCCI didn’t deter Dilip Vengsarkar from speaking to the press © AFP

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.”

Duncan Fletcher says he is still enjoying the job as England coach © Getty Images

Duncan Fletcher claims to have the confidence of the England players and will continue to review his position on a six-monthly basis despite the crushing Ashes loss in Perth. England’s playing defence of the prize they won in 2005 lasted only 15 days and Fletcher has been seen as a crucial figure behind the loss.However, he said he would not rush a decision on his future and believed he was capable of improving the side. “I still have the players’ confidence, they still come to me on numerous occasions and still talk to me about tactics,” he said. “I have the respect ofthe players and that’s very important.”Fletcher will speak to David Collier, the ECB chief executive, when he arrives in Melbourne next week and will continue to judge his suitability for the position every six months. The only problem is that he’s not sure when the period starts or ends. Fletcher usually considers his role at the conclusion of the English domestic season and the beginning of the next campaign, but today he spoke of a “moving sixmonths”.”I’ll look at it when I feel like I’m enjoying the job or not enjoying the job, as simple as that,” he said. “I am enjoying it. You have your ups and your downs and as long as there are more ups than downs you enjoy the job.”England suffered a severe trough on Tuesday when they lost by 206 runs at the WACA to hand over the urn and Fletcher did not take individual responsibility for the series defeat. “There is blame on all of us,” he said. “Everyone has to be blamed. How we performed, how we selected it, if they feel they want to blame us in those areas we have to take thoseresponsibilities.”Despite the speed at which England handed over the Ashes, Fletcher said he was happy with the squad’s preparation for the series and would not have changed the teams for the first two matches. The selections of Ashley Giles, James Anderson and Geraint Jones were scrutinised as they underperformed while Monty Panesar, who came in for the Perth Test, made an instant impact with eight wickets.”The decisions aren’t easy and to select is very, very difficult,” Fletcher said. “From our point of view the people criticising now are the ones who run with the foxes and hunt with the hounds. All we can do is run with the fox. At the end of the day all we can do is make these very difficult decisions.”

ScorecardSourav Ganguly tore into the top order while Ranadeb Bose took care of the tail as Bengal, opting to bowl first on a green top, bowled out Tamil Nadu for 218 before struggling against the medium pace of Rajamani Jesuraj to reach 32 for 3 by the end of the opening day’s play at the Eden Gardens. “I’ve never seen such a wicket while playing in India”, Dinesh Kartik, TN’s wicketkeeper, had said on the eve of the game and nearly all the batsmen struggled on it. Only Hemang Badani who stepped down from the captaincy, giving way to Subramaniam Badrinath, to concentrate on his batting, offered the lone resistance with a fighting 67 to lift TN to a competitive total. Ganguly, who was ordered by BCCI to play in this tie, trapped all his three victims in front before being suspended from bowling in the rest of the innings for straying on to the danger area too often. Bengal, with nine points from five games, will be hoping to grab as many points as they can and secure a semi-final spot while Tamil Nadu, will try to get at least two points to avoid being relegated to Plate. For Tamil Nadu Yo Mahesh, the India under-19 player, made his debut.
ScorecardA 97-run partnership between Barrington Rowland and Balachandra Akhil lifted Karnataka from dire straits at 134 for 5 to 231 for 6 by the end of opening day’s play against Delhi at Bangalore. Virender Sehwag, ordered by BCCI to play in this game, struck twice to push the hosts on the back foot before Rowland came to the rescue with a patient 81. However, he fell late in the day to bring back Delhi into the frame; Sehwag will be hoping to bowl out the tail quickly on the second day while Karnataka’s hopes of a big first-innings score rested on Akhil. It’s a crucial tie for Delhi as they have only 6 points in five games and need at least 2 points from this tie to avoid the relegation.
ScorecardLed by Ramesh Powar’s four-wicket haul and assisted by twin blows from Aavishkar Salvi and Swapnil Hazare, Mumbai reduced Gujarat to 190 for 9 by close of the opening day at Ahmedabad. Parthiv Patel, who was picked for the India tour of Pakistan, shored up the Gujarat innings with a valiant 47 before Hemal Watekar’s unbeaten 46 lifted Gujarat to a fighting total. Salvi and Hazare picked up the four of the top six in the order before Powar, who had removed Parthiv, came back to rip the tail apart.
ScorecardShalabh Srivastava and Ashish Zaidi rocked the top order while Piyush Chawla blew the tail away as Uttar Pradesh shot out Hyderabad for 142 before riding on Shukla’s unbeaten half-century to reach a position of relative strength at 101 for 1 by stumps on the opening day at Lucknow. A stunning scoreline considering Hyderabad, with 9 points from four games, are placed second in the Group B table while UP are wallowing near the bottom of the table. Shashank Nag, the left-hand opener, took Hyderabad to 70 before becoming the fourth wicket to fall, triggering a collapse.
ScorecardOff the 32 overs that were possible due to a delayed start owing to rain Maharashtra reached 55 for the loss of Abhijit Kale, the opener, in the crucial tie against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Railways, with only 4 points in five games, lie at the bottom of the table along with Maharashtra and face the threat of relegation. Maharashtra have an overseas coach in Darren Holder, the Australian, but the results have been pretty disappointing so far.
Scorecard</aOnly 26.2 overs were possible on a rain-affected day as Pinal Shah steered Baroda to 82 for 1 against Services by close at Palam A Stadium in New Delhi. Baroda are perched on top of the Group B table with 13 points from four games while Services are at the bottom of the pool, yet to earn a point.
ScorecardPunjab, competing for the second semi-final spot, plodded their way to 190 for 4 by the end of the opening day against Andhra at Visakhapatnam. Pankaj Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia, the captain, put up a 91-run stand for the third wicket to lift Punjab from a shaky 99 for 3 to a position of relative strength. “We need to go all out and we are confident of doing it. Our team is well balanced. However, we don’t underestimate Andhra, which is doing well”, Inthikab Alam, the Punjab coach and former Pakistan captain, had said on the eve of the match. If their tedious progress today is any indication, they have a battle on their hands.

The careers of Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh have run almost parallel since they were together in the team that won the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. For a long time they seemed to be vying for the same spot, but since Sourav Ganguly decided to pack the side with batsmen they co-exist happily. When the first ball of the one-day series is bowled, they will need to hit the ground running after a spell on the bench. They spoke to us on the eve of the match in Dhaka:

Kaif: ‘I try to keep it simple’© Getty Images

Mohammad Kaif
How hard is it to keep yourself motivated when you are not in the side?
One should understand the kind of players we have at the present time, especially in the Test team. Obviously I got a chance to play, after three years, against Australia, and did quite OK. I was quite satisfied with the way that I played and the way things went against them. But I understand I have to wait for the right time.How hard is it to just come into the side and perform?
As a professional cricketer you have to perform, deliver your best, because that’s what people expect back home. Playing for your country, that is your job. The adjustment is probably more mental than anything. But when you are out, you’ve got to enjoy whatever you do – that can be training in the gym for 50-60 days, or batting in the nets, early nights and early mornings. I understand that’s part of the job. It can be tough, but you have to keep yourself going.How important has the team’s support been?
I’ve been quite lucky. John [Wright] really helped me out, and obviously I must mention [Sourav] Ganguly. The whole team was very supportive. That’s what you need if you want to be a successful team. We have had our ups and downs in the last couple of years, but we’ve been together through it. It’s important that we always stick together. So we play better and improve all the time.But sometimes it’s hard to gauge how well or otherwise you’re doing at No. 7
It is quite sad, the kind of support you get back home, from the fans and from the media and on TV. In that position [No. 7], you come in with very few overs left and sometimes you don’t score much. Then suddenly one day you come in with five wickets down, and 35 overs to bat. You might get a good ball and get out. Then in eight innings you have hardly scored. The fans and media may think something, but what matters is when I come back to the dressing-room after scoring 15, and the team and coach appreciate this and say I’ve done a good job for the team. That’s what kept me going when I had a bad time. The team have all been there for a long time and understand that batting at 6 or 7 is not an easy job. When people back home only look at how many innings you have played, and judge players thinking only of records, I don’t think that’s right. Sometimes you come through a patch when you go in with just four overs to go and have to go bang-bang. Then if you get out after hitting a few boundaries, people count it as a bad performance because you haven’t scored a fifty in the last eight or ten games. But it doesn’t really matter to me – what matters is my team-mates.What do you need to do to change gears quickly?
It’s not just technique, you have to be mentally aggressive. You have to be able to shift your game and your approach quickly. You have to know your own game very well. I try to keep it simple – the bad balls you try to score runs, the good ones you block or try to take singles.

Yuvraj: ‘One-day cricket and Test cricket are not too different’© Getty Images

Yuvraj Singh
What was it like missing out on the Tests?
Obviously it was disappointing, because every cricketer wants to play Test cricket. But that’s a part of life. Ups and downs will be there. I just have to carry on. Whether it’s a one-day international, a Test match or a Ranji match, I just have to perform.But you were not resting, you were playing first-class cricket …
I was playing first-class, and got a few starts, but somehow was not getting a hundred. I was getting fifties and sixties, so now, when I’m playing one-day cricket, I need to play a big innings soon.What adjustments do you have to make?
The way I look at it, one-day cricket and Test cricket are not too different – in the sense that I don’t have to make too many changes to the way I approach batting. I’m the sort of person who likes to play shots. I remember doing well in the last one-dayer I played, against Pakistan, and I just want to carry on and do well here.Are these three one-dayers against Bangladesh a good chance to get a big one, considering they’re not the strongest opposition around?
I know it’s not the toughest opponent, but you and I know that anything can happen in one-day cricket. It’s only a matter of 50 overs, and someone can easily come up with a performance. If Bangladesh do well they can put us under pressure. If I get a chance up the order I will certainly look to bat throughout the innings.How has your game changed from the time you started?
When I started I was just playing too many shots, and after the first few one-day internationals I played, I realised I had to change my game. Now what I do is take more time when I first come in, and try to play till the 50th over.It’s tricky batting down the order, isn’t it?
At the moment my team requires me to bat at No. 5 or No. 6, so I give that my best shot. But obviously every batsman would like to bat up the order. Given a chance I would love to.

It’s taken two decades to achieve but Victoria has broken through for its first four-day win at the Gabba since 1983 with a five-wicket Pura Cup victory over Queensland today.Despite some last-day heroics from Bulls all-rounder James Hopes, the Bushrangers overcame some anxious moments to make 5-160 to post an outright victory and erase 20 years of disappointment at the Gabba.Stand-in skipper Cameron White, who was only four months old when Victoria last won at the ground, said the hoodoo was now broken.”Hopefully next year we come up here with more confidence and look forward to having another win,” said White, who was also named man of the match.”It’s a good start (to the season) and I guess it’s not a hoodoo anymore.”But there were concerns the young Victorians would crash to another ignominious defeat when Hopes captured 4-2 in 16 balls to have the Bushrangers teetering at 4-54 just after lunch.They recovered somewhat on an uneven pitch before Joe Dawes dismissed Jonathan Moss for 22 to leave Victoria at 5-93 an hour before tea.It took an unbeaten 67-run partnership between White (38) and Andrew McDonald (45no) to secure the landmark win.The victory was Victoria’s first at the ground in a four-day game since December, 1983, when Ray Bright led the team.Before that match, the previous Victorian win at the home of Queensland cricket was in 1965.The victory had looked a formality just before lunch with the Bushrangers reaching 0-50.But Hopes, whose bowling in the match had previously failed to live up to his promise, hit a purple patch.The 25-year-old had opener Matthew Elliott lbw for 23 just before lunch and after the break caught Jason Arnberger in front without offering a shot for 27.In his next over, he had Brad Hodge caught at gully for two with a searing bouncer and then caught and bowled first innings century-maker David Hussey for a duck.Regular captain Darren Berry, who missed the game because of injury, flew to Brisbane to enjoy the celebrations.But after hearing of the collapse he said he almost got back on the plane.”When I got on the plane it was 0-50 and I thought you beauty,” Berry said.”When I arrived Hookesy (Victorian coach David Hookes) told me we had lost 4-4 and I thought I should just get back on the plane and go home.”Hopes finished with 4-63 and Dawes 1-54.Bulls paceman Mitchell Johnson was unable to bowl because of a side strain and is in doubt for the match against Victoria at Junction oval next week.Queensland started the day on 7-233 aiming to soak up as much time at the crease as possible.But with the aid of the new ball, the Queensland made 256 after Moss captured 3-12 off four overs.Moss ended up with 3-61 while Mathew Inness had 3-42.

Michael Slater’s disastrous season took another turn for the worse today when selectors axed him from the New South Wales team to play Victoria in a Pura Cup match starting in Sydney on Friday.The former Test opener has surrendered his place in the Blues’ line-up after a lean patch with the bat that has seen him score just 257 first-class runs this summer at an average of 25.70 from his 11 Pura Cup innings. It follows his exclusion from the Australian team late last year.”It’s always distressing to leave out a talented player, especially one with a career record like Michael’s,” said John Benaud, chairman of the New South Wales selection panel, in a short statement.”He’s sadly out of touch at the moment.”Hopefully, some time in the middle away from the pressure cooker of first-class cricket might help him get back to his very best form.”Slater, an aggressive right handed batsman, has played 74 Tests and 42 one-day international matches for Australia but lost his place in the national side when Justin Langer was preferred to him for the fifth and final Test of the 2001 Ashes series in England. Langer has subsequently enjoyed a record-breaking season with Matthew Hayden at the top of the Australian order in an association that has already produced four double century partnerships in the space of seven matches.Slater, 31, enjoyed a meteoric rise at the start of his career, winning a call-up to the Australian side in the same season as he made his first-class debut for New South Wales. He was omitted from his country’s team for a period of 18 months between late 1996 and early 1998 but otherwise remained a fixture in the side for the eight years that led up to his axing in England.His omission today from his state team – which comes only five months after the loss of his Australian position – was part of two changes made to the squad which suffered a 67-run defeat at the hands of South Australia in Adelaide last weekend.The Blues, who chose batsmen Graeme Rummans and Matthew Phelps over Slater and twelfth man Anthony Clark, have now dropped to fourth on the Pura Cup table with four rounds remaining.The full New South Wales team to play Victoria is: Stuart MacGill (c), Greg Mail, Brett van Deinsen, Matthew Phelps, Corey Richards, Graeme Rummans, Michael Clarke, Mark Higgs, Brad Haddin, Nathan Bracken, Don Nash, Stuart Clark (12th man to be named).

PRETORIA (October 6) – Rudolf Steyn steered the Northerns Titans to a dramatic three-wicket victory over Western Province in their Standard BankCup game at Supersport Park on Friday. The Titans’ opening batsman scored 111 runs off 122 balls with 10 fours to lay the platform for victory and claim the man of the match award.The honour of clinching the game went to the diminutive Kruger van Wyk. Van Wyk, making his provincial debut, showed character and courage intaking on the acting Western Province captain, Alan Dawson. He first hooked Dawson for a six and then unleashed a cover drive for a four off successive deliveries to clinch the issue with an over to spare.HD Ackerman, the province captain, pulled a hamstring during his innings of 92. With Herschelle Gibbs acting as a runner and with the Western Province innings in trouble at 62 for the loss of four in the 20th over, the visitors rescued the situation through a fifth wicket partnership of 134 off 132 balls.After a slow start to the innings, Western Province picked up their run rate during the last 10 overs of their innings to score 229 for six. But all it did was raise the stakes slightly to set the Titans a more challenging yet still very makeable total of 230 in their 45 overs.The Titans’ Steve Elworthy ended with figures of three for 34 and Pierre Joubert, who also had a hand in the frantic run chase in the final overs of the innings, picked up three wickets for 51 runs.