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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Tasmania have kept their hopes of making the finals alive with a comfortable 28-run win over New South Wales in the Twenty20 Big Bash clash at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The Tigers dominated from start to finish after being sent in by the Blues captain Simon Katich. The openers Rhett Lockyear and Michael Dighton exploited the small dimensions of the Olympic Stadium with a powerful opening stand of 73 from 47 balls.Lockyear was particularly brutal with 51 from 29, including four towering sixes. Travis Birt picked up where Lockyear left off, clubbing five sixes of his own in a blistering 17-ball 44 to guide the visitors to 1 for 139 after 12 overs.But the Blues stopped the bleeding momentarily with Doug Bollinger and Mark Cameron claiming four wickets in ten deliveries. And when Dominic Thornely conceded only two runs from his fourth over, the 16th of the innings, the Tigers had lost 4 for 21 in four overs. Late hitting from Jason Krejza took the total to a very competitive 7 for 194. Katich may well have missed a trick only giving one over to his left-arm orthodox spinner Steve O’Keefe.This proved the case when Daniel Marsh manoeuvred his bowlers brilliantly to restrict the Blues to 8 for 166 in reply. Spin was the key to the Tigers’ performance, with Xavier Doherty opening and finishing with 2 for 26. Krejza bowled beautifully to add 3 for 23 to his 33 not out in a Man-of-the-Match performance.Marsh himself chipped in as the spinners mixed their pace cleverly to leave the Blues reeling. Moises Henriques was the only player to escape the web, smashing 42 from 25 at the top of the order. Both sides have one match remaining in which to qualify for a spot in the preliminary final.

Match facts

January 3-7, 2009
Start time 09.30am (03.30 GMT)

Big Picture

Bangladesh’s brave attempt at pulling off a record-breaking chase of 521 in Mirpur rounded off one of the most memorable months of Test cricket in recent memory. It also dispelled the notion that anything over 450 is unattainable in the fourth innings, even if it involves the weakest Test nation. Though the result didn’t go their way, Bangladesh’s effort has sparked some life and anticipation into the short series, which Sri Lanka were overwhelming favourites to sweep.Now, though, Bangladesh find the bar raised much higher. The talking point in Chittagong has been the return of Ajantha Mendis to the Sri Lankan squad from an ankle injury. Should he play, the home side will find it that much harder to square the series. Mendis left the Indians clueless in the home series last year and, if he has his way on a slow turner here, Bangladesh could suffer equally. The two-day gap between Tests wouldn’t have given Bangladesh enough time to prepare for Mendis. They may have handled Muttiah Muralitharan creditably on a fifth day pitch in Mirpur but Mendis, as recent history will tell you, is a different proposition.Bangladesh’s failure in the first innings in Mirpur – falling for 178 – proved decisive to the result and Mohammad Ashraful wasn’t afraid to point that out. “We need to bat at least four sessions in the first innings,” Ashraful said. “If we do that then we’ll have a decent score on the board. That’s the prerequisite for us getting a positive result in Test matches.”The Chittagong Test marks a personal milestone for Sri Lanka’s captain Mahela Jayawardene who plays his 100th Test. Since his debut in 1997, Jayawardene has scored 7926 runs at 52.84 and is Sri Lanka’s leading run-scorer in Tests. He is also 74 away from the 8000-run mark.”I can’t say that I’m not emotional,” Jayawardene said. “I’m not thinking about the personal milestone. It has been an honour to play for Sri lanka and I have said this before that I never expected to play 100 Test matches when I started off.”

Form guide (last five Tests, most recent first)

Sri Lanka WWLWL
Bangladesh LLLDL

Watch out for

Mohammad Ashraful:
Bangladesh’s captain was in dire need of runs in Mirpur to lift not only his sagging form but the hopes of his team and he didn’t disappoint. He scored a face-saving century but his dismissal, for 101, was one of the most important breakthroughs of the Test. He shed extravagance for patience, negated the effect of Murali and, for a change, seemed intent on building an innings. Five hundreds in 47 Tests highlights his inconsistent career but having made a start, he’ll be looking to carry on. What remains to be seen is how much inspiration he – let alone the rest of the team – takes from his own effort.The carrom ball from Ajantha Mendis, which he releases with an unusual snap of his fingers. His variations have flummoxed even the most experienced players of spin. India’s Gautam Gambhir said recently that the trick is to read the spin off his hand rather than wait for it to pitch. Bangladesh haven’t been afraid to charge the spinners so the battle with Mendis should make for compelling viewing.

Team news

With Mendis in the frame, the axe will most certainly fall on Rangana Herath, who managed just one wicket in 38 overs in Mirpur. Jayawardene said a final decision would be taken after the practice session.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Michael Vandort, 2 Malinda Warnapura, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Tillakaratne Dishan, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Dammika Prasad, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Muttiah MuraliatharanBangladesh have retained the same twelve from the first game, though Ashraful hinted at bringing in an extra spinner for a seamer. He felt Enamul Haque jnr, the left-armer, could come in to the equation at the expense of Mahbubul Alam, who picked up only one wicket in Mirpur.Bangladesh (probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Junaid Siddique, 4 Mohammad Ashraful (capt), 5 Raqibul Hasan, 6 Mehrab Hossain jnr, 7 Shakib Al Hasan, 8 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk) ,9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Enamul Haque jnr/Mahbubul Alam, 11 Shahadat Hossain

Pitch and conditions

The surface at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium is similar to the one used for the Test against New Zealand, dry and devoid of grass. The Mirpur track held firm for all five days and gave some assistance to the seamers. However, the spinners from both sides are likely to do the bulk of the bowling here. This venue was where Shakib Al Hasan picked up 7 for 36 against New Zealand, the best innings figures by a Bangladesh bowler in Tests.

Stats and Trivia

• Ashraful has never managed to score back-to-back centuries or half-centuries. In fact, the highest he has ever scored after scoring a hundred or a fifty, is 26.
• Having scored four of his five hundreds against Sri Lanka, his average against them stands at 42.42 as opposed to his career average of 23.82.
• Since scoring an exact 400 in their debut Test in 2000, Bangladesh have passed the 400-mark on just three occasions since then in the first innings. The previous instance was in 2005.

Quotes

“We have seen him bowling against India on television. We also have footages but it is important not to think of him or Muralitharan too much and just try to play ball by ball. He has done very well in recent times and has taken heaps of wickets but our focus will be on playing each ball on its merit because this is a Test match.”
.”Last year we beat India in a Test series, drew England and beat the West Indies in the West Indies for the first time in our history. This is a new year and we have a lot of cricket in front of us.”

Cricket South Africa has announced a 23-member women’s squad for a three-day camp from December 28 to 30 as part of the preparations for the World Cup in March next year.Former captain Alison Hodgkinson returned to national reckoning after three years while Moseline Daniels, Melissa Smook, Dane van Niekerk, Kirsty Thompson, and Yolandi van der Westhuizen received their first call-ups.The players were divided into two teams of 11 each while 20-year old Shabnin Ismail, who played eight ODIs and a Test for South Africa, was not assigned to a side.Hodgkinson, 31, led South Africa in the previous World Cup. Denise Reid, the convenor of the women’s selection panel, said the training camp was an opportunity for the players to compete against the best. The two sides will play a 50-over game on the second day of the camp.”The World Cup in Australia is the biggest event on our calendar and we have been working hard for the last four years to prepare for this prestigious event,” Reid said. “We are looking to get our best possible team ready for this event and have been blessed with good performances in our provincial league. I expect a good challenge between the players to be in the final squad.”Proposed A team: Susan Benade, Trisha Chetty, Alison Hodgkinson, Ashlyn Kilowan, Marcia Letsoalo, Sunette Loubser, Annelie Minny, Alicia Smith, Claire Terblanche, Kirsty Thompson and Dane van Niekerk.Proposed B team: Olivia Anderson, Cri-Zelda Brits, Moseline Daniels, Dinesha Devnarain, Mignon du Preez, Shandré Fritz, Marizanne Kapp, Melissa Smook, Daleen Terblanche, Charlize van der Westhuizen and Yolandi van der Westhuizen.

Sri Lanka will play two Tests against Bangladesh in December followed by a triangular ODI tournament also involving Zimbabwe, who will then play the hosts in a separate three-match one-day series.Sri Lanka arrive in Dhaka on December 19 and the first Test starts on Boxing Day. The venue for the second Test, starting on January 3, is still to be confirmed between Bogra and Chittagong due to domestic matches taking place.The triangular tournament begins on January 10 with the final seven days later in Dhaka. Zimbabwe then remain in the country for three further ODIs beginning on January 19.

Half of county captains believe there are too many first-class counties in the English game, according to an end-of-season survey of all 18 domestic leaders by The Wisden Cricketer magazine.Opinions were evenly split. Kent’s Robert Key suggested a maximum of ten teams to ensure the best players played against each other, week-in-week-out. The recently retired Yorkshire captain Darren Gough agreed, but added that “nobody is ever going to do anything about it”.Defending the status quo was Warwickshire’s Darren Maddy, who said: “I am a traditionalist and I respect the traditions of all the counties.”There was no such division of opinion when it came to the amount of cricket and time to prepare. Fifteen captains said there was too much domestic cricket, and 16 also believed there was too little time for preparation throughout the season. Sussex’s Chris Adams said: “There is precious little time for recovery and time away from the game, which is fundamentally important.” Those views were echoed by Maddy. “It’s unfair not just on the players but on spectators who turn up to see players performing at 75-80% effort.”Another area of almost universal agreement is the belief that two divisions have improved the Championship. Seventeen of the 18 captains backed this view. “Young players who do well in the top division are ready to play international cricket,” Justin Langer, Somerset’s captain, explained. “You couldn’t have said that before.”Despite the hype and glamour of Twenty20 cricket, 15 captains said the Championship remained the most important domestic competition to win. But looking ahead, one anonymous respondent said:” The English Premier League will become the most important.”Stuart Law, who was yesterday released by Lancashire, said: “It will be beneficial to counties for financial reasons, rather than cricket reasons.”In other findings revealed by the survey, Kolpak players were seen to have raised the standard of the domestic game by 10 captains, with one making the valid point that, “they mentor our young players at a time when the top English players are rarely available due to central contracts.”Twelve captains opposed the idea of a football-style transfer fee system for players, with one saying the balance of wealth is already too extreme, potentially leading to “a Premiership-style top four and that can get boring.”One captain who did back the idea suggested that , “a transfer system would be a fantastic way of giving money back invested in the best young players, who in time are bought by larger counties, to the clubs who developed them.”

The West Indies women’s tour of Pakistan next month won’t go ahead until the players’ safety is guaranteed, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has said.The WICB had announced the team’s tour of Asia last week, but the recent bombing in Islamabad puts the Pakistan leg in doubt. “We are very concerned that the female players will be at risk especially in light of the Marriott bombing and as such, the Pakistan leg of the tour has been put on hold until the safety of the team is determined,” Donald Peters, the WICB chief executive, told the . “The Sri Lanka and Bangladesh legs, however, are still on.”West Indies will play five one-dayers and three Twenty20 internationals against Pakistan. They are not scheduled to visit Rawalpindi (about 36km from Islamabad), and except one ODI in Hyderabad, will play all their games in Karachi. The team is slated to arrive in Karachi on October 14. The ODIs are between October 18 and 26, before the Twenty20 games on October 28, 29 and 31.”Of course the violence in Pakistan is an issue but while I am concerned, especially after the Marriott bombing, I am not fearful,” team manager Carol Wilby-Maxwell said “I am not saying that the team should go, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what part of the world you are in, there will be potential danger.”The PCB’s media director Mansoor Suhail tried to allay the WICB’s fears and said all necessary arrangements were being made to ensure the safety of the West Indies women’s team. “The West Indies cricket board has not made any contact with us officially in this regard but we are hopeful that their stay in Pakistan will be quite safe.”The PCB had also invited the West Indies men’s team to Pakistan for a two-Test series, immediately after the countries play a one-day series in Abu Dhabi in November. However, the WICB is yet to make a final decision. Senior players have expressed their reluctance to visit Pakistan, and Peters had said a young squad might be sent.Seven months ago, the ICC had switched the women’s World Cup qualifiers from Pakistan to South Africa. Pakistan haven’t hosted a women’s ODI since the Asia Cup in 2005-06.

Hampshire have signed Dominic Cork, the former England fast bowler who left Lancashire in August, on a two-year contract.Cork joined Lancashire in 2003 but the club didn’t offer him a new contract after this season, as they aimed to promote younger players. However, the decision was criticised by two of Lancashire’s biggest names – their captain, Stuart Law, and Andrew Flintoff. “The best thing that could happen is for someone to turn around and tell him we’ve made a mistake and keep him at Lancashire,” Flintoff said, while a disappointed Law noted that “very few players can do what he does on a cricket field”.Cork, irrepressible as ever, refused to slink quietly into retirement – even vowing to “haunt” Lancashire – and now he has his chance at The Rose Bowl.”I am delighted to be joining a club with so much ambition for its team and its stadium and will be doing everything in my power to help them achieve major honours in all forms of the game,” Cork said. “I’d like to thank Hampshire for giving me this great new opportunity and I can’t wait to get started.”Hampshire’s chairman, Rod Bransgrove, labelled their new signing as “fantastic news.””We finished this season very strongly but it is important that we hit the ground running next season if we want to realise our ambition of winning multiple silverware,” he said. “‘Corky’ will help us to do that by adding a wealth of experience, passion and not a little skill with both bat and ball.”His boundless energy and enthusiasm mean that the dressing room will never be the same again and we are all looking forward to welcoming Dominic and his family to The Rose Bowl next year.”Hampshire become Cork’s third club since he made his debut for Derbyshire in 1990. In 37 Tests he took 131 wickets at 29.81.

ScorecardKhurram Manzoor, the Pakistan Cricket Academy captain, scored 123 but there was not much support from the other batsmen as the visitors conceded a first-innings lead of 95 against Kenya in Nairobi. The second day of the four-day contest was also dominated by the captains. Manzoor’s hundred followed the 170 on Saturday from his Kenyan counterpart Tikolo, who took three wickets as Pakistan succumbed against spin.The day began on a bright note for Pakistan. Kenya, resuming on 344 for 7, were all out for 372. Anwar Ali added one more wicket to his six on the first day to end with figures of 7 for 97, and Mohammad Talha bagged the final two wickets.Peter Ongondo struck early in Pakistan’s reply, removing Umar Amin and Asad Shafiq with the score on 22. Manzoor and Fawad Alam added 67 for the third wicket before Alam became the first of four wickets for left-arm spinner Hiren Varaiya. Raheel Majeed scored 33 off 43 balls in a stand of 52, but his innings was cut short by Ongondo.Tikolo and Varaiya shared the remaining wickets to fall in the innings. Wicketkeeper Naeem Anjum and Talha got starts, but failed to build a big partnership with Manzoor, who was the ninth batsman out. Varaiya took 4 for 66 off 13.5 overs while Ongondo bowled economically, taking three wickets and conceding just 29 off 12 overs.Kennedy Otieno fell for the second time to Anwar as Kenya began their second innings. The hosts closed the day at 15 for 1, leading by 110 runs.

Chris Gayle has sent a letter of resignation to the West Indies board chief executive Donald Peters, according to reports in the Caribbean media. The quoted Peters confirming the fact but not revealing the reasons behind it.Last week the quoted Peters saying that he was aware that Gayle was considering quitting the post.Gayle’s relationship with the WICB has been strained at times and earlier this month he had expressed dissatisfaction with the selection policy, saying there were a lot of things happening in the selection process he didn’t know about.In June last year Gayle criticised the board over its arrangements for the one-day series in England and its initial decision to veto his appointment as one-day captain. Even after the board condemned him for refusing to back down from his criticisms, Gayle vowed to fight his bosses every inch of the way and said there was “no love lost” between him and the WICB.Gayle has had mixed results as captain, winning two Tests out of five and seven ODIs out of 17. He led West Indies to two series wins in one-dayers, including an away victory against England last year, and against the touring Sri Lankans recently.He presided over a surprise win in the first Test against South Africa in Johannesburg but his side went on to lose the next two games and the series. His other Test win came against Sri Lanka in Port-of-Spain to level the two-match series. However, injuries have interrupted his tenure and he has struggled to stay fit for an entire tour.

The ICC has announced a revised schedule for the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Belfast next month.The tournament, involving the six leading Associate teams – Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands and Scotland – will now take place from August 2 to 5, with a fourth day included to allow room for a third and fourth-place play-off.That additional fixture has become necessary because a third team will join the two finalists in next year’s tournament, providing Zimbabwe Cricket’s board ratifies Zimbabwe’s decision, taken during the ICC’s annual conference week, to step down from the ICC World Twenty20 2009.If that is confirmed then the winner of the Belfast event will take the place of Zimbabwe in the main draw, in Group A, alongside India and Bangladesh. The losing finalist will take its place in Group B, alongside Pakistan and England and has the prospect of playing the opening match of the tournament, against the host team at Lord’s, London. The winner of the third and fourth place play-off slots into Group D, with South Africa and New Zealand.The format for the WT20 Qualifier takes in 11 matches over four days, with the six teams split into two groups based on the sides’ ODI rankings. Group A is made up of Ireland, Scotland and Bermuda while Group B features Kenya, Netherlands and Canada.The first two days of the tournament, August 2 and 3, features round-robin action with the top two sides from each group going forward to the semi-finals. Those semi-finals will take place on day three, followed by the all-important third and fourth place play-off. A fifth and sixth place play-off – a second additional fixture to the original schedule – will get the fourth day off and running before being followed by the final.