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The Standard Bank Cup produced more surprises as the smaller unions came out on top after the completion of the matches played on Sunday 10 November.In Kimberley, a depleted Northerns Titans team got off to a fast start with a first wicket, 13 over, partnership of 82 runs between Jacques Rudolph (33) and Johan Myburg (67). Once the two openers departed Johann Louw (4/25) and Alan Kruger (3/22) had a field day reducing Northerns to 174 in 43.2 overs.Apart from Gerald Dros, scoring 29, no other batsmen could get into double figures. Extras being the next highest with 17.Pieter Koortzen with an undefeated 82 and Martyn Gidley scoring 34, took Griqualand West to an unexpected but well deserved win with nine balls to spare.St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth saw Boland come back from 20/4 to win and take a bonus point off Eastern Province.A 87 run, fifth wicket, partnership between Vinod Kambli (39) and man of the match Con de Lange (66) saved Boland from embarrassment but not out of deep trouble, ending the 45 overs on 166/8.Eastern Province, with what appeared to be an easy target, were in trouble from the start and never recovered from 30/5 after 16 overs, being bowled out for 122 in 39.3. The Eastern Province wickets being shared amongst the Boland bowlers.

Sri Lanka’s bowlers, no doubt wary of another ear bashing from Sanath Jayasuriya, who has become increasingly agitated by their ill-discipline in recent weeks, reasserted the home team’s dominance in this ACL Cables Test series on Monday.The absence of Muttiah Muralitharan proved less of a handicap than had been expected, as the inexperienced attack cut through Bangladesh’s equally youthful batting. Bowling out the tourists for 164, Jayasuriya then declined to enforce the follow on, rewarding his bowlers instead with some well-earned rest.For Sri Lanka, the most encouraging aspect of the bowlers’ performance was Chamila Gamage, a 23-year-old pace bowler making his debut. Gamage (also known as Lakshitha), who plays for the Air Force, was the highest domestic wicket-taker last year, claiming 64 victims at 11.64.And today he was the pick of the seamers, grabbing his chance to impress the national selectors. He announced his presence in emphatic fashion, clipping the top of Mohammad Ashraful’s off-stump with his first ball in Test cricket, the 13th player in Test history to achieve such a feat and the first Sri Lankan.Also the quickest bowler on show, he then trapped Tushar Imran lbw with an inswinger, his stock delivery, finishing the day with two for 33 from 12 vigorous overs.Coach Dav Whatmore was impressed: “I can see why he has been picking up wickets in domestic cricket: he’s got a big heart, natural pace and his effort cannot be questioned. If he keeps directing it in the right areas, he could be a bit of a handful for batsmen in the future.”Speaking afterwards, Gamage was estatic: "I can not express in words how I felt inside me when I got a wicket of the first ball. It’s something I will treasure throughout my life time."Gamage also contributed with the bat. Coming to the crease at the fall of the ninth wicket he contributed 40 runs to a 64 run last wicket partnership with Buddika Fernando (29*). Striking the ball cleanly he capitalised on Bangladesh’s strange reluctance to take the second new ball until it was well overdue.The partnership transformed a moderate total into a good one, frustrating the tourists, who would have been only too mindful of the fact that they had not passed 200 in the last nine innings.And although Fernando and Sajeewa de Silva started waywardly, Sri Lanka quickly tightened their grip on the game, as they grabbed two wickets during a short 39 minute session before the interval: Fernando trapped Hannan Sarkar (5) with a full-length outswinger and Jayasuriya won a dubious appeal for a catch behind against Al Sahariar (12).After the break, Bangladesh slipped further into the mire, as Gamage and Fernando reduced them to 51 for five. The situation deteriorated when captain Khaled Mashud (15) edged an off-break from Thilan Samaraweera into the hands of Hashan Tillakaratne at slip. Fahim Muntasir offered up a simple return catch to the same bowler 14 minutes later.Suddenly, on 86 for seven, a three figure score appeared unlikely, but Bangladesh did manage to fight back. Debutante Kapali scored 39 from 72 balls and Tapash Baisya cobbled together an unbeaten 52 from 103 balls, his first first-class fifty.Progress was painfully slow, but gradually Bangladesh crawled to within touching distance of the 173 run follow on target. However, they fell just short as Jayasuriya, who picked up three for 17 with his orthodox slow left-arm, finally ended a fine stonewalling effort from Monjural Islam; the left-hander recording a 72-minute duck before being caught behind.Five minutes later leg-spinner Upul Chandana finished of the innings as last man Talha Jubair slashed to slip, but Bangladesh had at least done enough to persuade Jayasuriya not to enforce the follow on.Openers Michael Vandort (18*) and Jehan Mubarak (2*) survived till the close, finishing on 25 without loss, which leaves them with a 234 run lead.

The race for the Norwich Union title is hotting up after the defeat of leaders Worcestershire Royals. It means they now lead by just four points from Warwickshire Bears who have played a game more, and their conquerors at New Road, Glamorgan Dragons, who have played a game less.Dominic Ostler scored an unbeaten 103 to help Warwickshire Bears record a seven-wicket win over Leicestershire Foxes at Edgbaston. Earlier Iain Sutcliffe had fallen narrowly short of a well-deserved century as he put on 107 for the third wicket with Michael Bevan (32). The stand came to an end when Sutcliffe was caught short attempting a tricky run, but Phil DeFreitas (44*) batted until the end as his side made 250 for seven five off their 45 overs. Warwickshire got off to a miserable start in reply. Nick Knight was dismissed early by DeFreitas (two for 36) who then claimed his second wicket when Ian Bell edged to wicket-keeper Neil Burns. Ostler and Jamie Traughton (66) then ploughed into the bowling as they put on 139 to reach their revised target of 203. The home side finished on 206 for three to move into second place in Division One, trailing Worcestershire by four points.Glamorgan Dragons recorded an unlikely win after rain brought an early end to their clash with Worcestershire Royals. The Welsh side were 108 for three when play was interrupted. Earlier Australian Shane Lee, making his debut for the home side, top scored with 41 on a bowler-friendly pitch. Stephen Peters (29) and Ben Smith (25) were the other main contributors as their side made 202 for nine. Adrian Dale (three for 32) was the main wicket taker. Robert Croft (15) again began brightly in reply but was bowled by Australian-born Matthew Mason (two for 27). Mason took his second wicket when Michael Powell (4) was caught by Lee. Matthew Maynard (32*) and Steve James (41*) led the recovery but then the heavens opened with Glamorgan requiring 95 for victory. When play was called off after persistent rain the Duckworth/Lewis method denied Royals their eighth Norwich Union win, as Glamorgan were crowned victors by seven wickets.In Division Two, 22-year-old opener William Jefferson scored an unbeaten 111 as Essex Eagles’ batsmen were unable to overcome Middlesex Crusaders’ bowling at Lord’s. Abdur Razzaq (two for 51) and Chad Keegan (two 42) both made early breakthroughs as Essex collapsed to 131 for seven. Essex were 194 for eight when the rain came down. After the interruption, the home side needed 74 off ten overs for victory. Then came pure nail-biting cricket. Ashley Cowan (two for nine) bowled Razzaq for four. Graham Napier took three wickets in his first over to remove dangerman Shah (25), Aaron Laraman (11) and Simon Cook (0). Jamie Middlebrook (two for five) then dismissed Ed Joyce (8) with his first delivery and bowled Jamie Dalrymple (16) with his fourth. Andrew Strauss (5) had his stump uprooted by Cowan in the final over as did Sven Koenig (0) who was run out. Paul Weekes (5*) hit the winning boundary with a ball to spare.Darren Cousins (three for 36) and Graeme Swann (two for 14) helped Northamptonshire Steelbacks dismiss Hampshire Hawks for 133 at the County Ground as they recorded a ten-wicket win under the Duckworth/Lewis method in yet another rain-affected match. Earlier wicket-keeper Nic Pothas (34*) and John Crawley (33) had been the main run-makers as the visitors put on a poor batting display. Rain intervened with the home side on 54 without loss, well ahead of their required 37 for victory. The Steelbacks lie in second place after their second win in two days and their third in succession.

Sri Lanka’s cricketers arrived at London Heathrow this morning for theirfirst ever Test series in England hopeful that they can quickly forget ameek performance in Sharjah and overcome the loss of star bowler MuttiahMuralitharan for the early part of the tour.Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s captain for nearly three years now, who hasmarshalled his side to their nine consecutive Tests, admitted that the lossof Muralitharan for the first Test, and possibly the second, was a majorblow, but was hopeful that the team would respond well to the challenge.”I am very worried about Murali missing him on the early part of Englandtour,” he said. “It’s going to be very tough tour and to not have Murali andDilhara Fernando (back injury) is a major blow. There is now a lot ofresponsibility on the other fast bowlers to perform well in their absence.”England will perform well in their own conditions and we have a fight inour hands against them, but we do have some experienced players such asAravinda (De Silva) and Hashan (Tillakartne) and now have a very good sidethat includes some excellent fast bowlers.Nevertheless, with Sri Lanka having not won a Test match in the last tenyears without the services of Muralitharan, Jayasuriya is hopeful that hisspin magician is back for the second Test at Edgbaston: “According to Alex(Kontouri) he should be able to play in the third Test at Old Trafford andhas a slim chance of playing in the second Test.”Sri Lanka’s coach Dav Whatmore maintains that the team has the potential towin overseas and cast off their reputation for playing poorly abroad.”The team has moved on from the last England series,” said Whatmore. “Wehave had new players come into the side make an impression, some of theexisting players have progressed, confidence has grown and the players havebecome tougher mentally.””We want to emerge as a world force in Test cricket – a team that cannot betaken lightly in any conditions, against any opposition. To win in Englandwould be a fantastic moment for Sri Lankan cricket.””The key to being successful there will be how quickly we can adapt to theconditions. We can expect time to be lost for poor weather and each playermust make full use of their opportunities in the practice games.”Jayasuriya brushed aside the team’s 217 run humiliation against Pakistan inSharjah Cup 2002 final, claiming that it was now history, but some concernednavel gazing is inevitable. Sri Lanka can ill-afford to repeat the selectionblunders made there in England.”Our overall performance in Sharjah was good – we won three games – but wewere outplayed in every department in the final where everything wentagainst us,” Jayasuriya said. “But I don’t think that’s a worrying factor.What we have to consider it all history and move on.”He admitted the decision to play five batsmen was a mistake. “We had triedboth Kalu (Romesh Kaluwitharana) and Tillakaratne Dilshan in the middleorder without great success and in the final we opted for Kumar Dharmasenawhom we believed could handle the pressure.”Sri Lanka play their first game against Kent at Canterbury next Friday, thefirst of four first class practice games before the first Test at Lordsstarting May 16. They will play three Tests and a triangular one-day seriesalso involving India.

The first new community cricket ground in London is to open in Lambeth on June 8 as part of a major initiative to give local people the chance to play the game.The Kennington Community Cricket Ground is a unique public private collaboration – between Lambeth Council, Channel 4, Surrey County Cricket Club, The Lord’s Taverners and the United Cricket Association – to bring cricket to inner city areas. It is hoped to be the first of many such ventures across the country.The new ground is the only cricket pitch in the borough apart from the AMP Oval. Until now local residents have had to travel outside the area to play. The development is the result of 18 months of work and will see junior cricket played this summer, with senior games starting next year.The opening weekend of June 8 and 9 will feature a celebrity match between a Channel 4 Lambeth XI and The Lord’s Taverners Lambeth XI on the Saturday, with local school children participating in the day. Channel 4’s Cricket Roadshow, the weekly cricket programme, will be broadcasting live from the ground.Sunday will be a chance for games and coaching for all local residents who wish to become involved with the newly formed Lambeth United Cricket Club. It will also offer the opportunity to meet members of the Surrey cricket team.COUNCILLOR CLARE WHELAN, Lambeth: “This a great new resource for young people and the whole community in Lambeth. Cricket really can bring people together, and everyone involved should be congratulated for the way they have worked in partnership with the council to make this project a reality.”David Brook, Channel 4: “The new ground is part of Channel 4’s major commitment to inner-city and grassroots development as part of our overall strategy to rejuvenate the domestic game. Kennington Park is the first part of the Brown Sites To Green scheme which aims to create new inner city cricket grounds across the country to encourage and build the game from grass-roots level.”PAUL SHELDON, Surrey CCC: “Surrey CCC are delighted that we are yet again in the position to support and participate in such a worthwhile and exciting community project. It will strengthen our links with the local community as well as furthering our development of cricket in London.”VINCE MCBEAN, United Cricket Association (UCA) “This is the first major step in providing a clear pathway into cricket for our community. We still need the financial and human resources to build a facility that will enable local cricketers to progress into the cricket pyramid system. The UCA is here to provide the umbrella organisation needed to sustain and develop cricket for local people by local people. The new cricket facility will cost £1.4m to build, the fund-raising now begins.”MARK WILLIAMS, The Lord’s Taverners: “We are delighted to have given £25,000 towards the Kennington ground. Increasing the opportunities for young people to play cricket is at the heart of our mission to give young people a sporting chance”.

The Indoor Cricket Association of Sri Lanka played their inauguraleight-a-side match on Saturday at Thalawathugoda, Colombo. Sanath Jayasuriya’s ‘Dream’ team, which was stacked full of players from the national side,defeated a Romesh Kaluwitharana XI that included Arjuna Ranatunga and HashanTillakaratne.Kaluwitharana – Director of Austasia Sports, an Australian backed companywho are constructing the sports complex and promoting the game in SriLanka – expects the fast indoor game to catch on in Sri Lanka. He said that30 teams have already confirmed their participation in a corporate indoorcricket tournament.The game itself is fast, frantic and very hot in the small netted playingarea. Each side has eight players, all of whom have to bat and bowl. Batsmenplay in pairs and each pair is given four overs. They cannot be dismissed,but five runs are deducted from the total when a wicket falls.The five run penalty rule makes for an exciting climax, but nearly costJayasuriya’s team dear as Russel Arnold and Mahela Jayawardene were run outfrequently having needed just a handful of runs to overhaul the 66 runtarget when the last quarter of the innings began.

Nottinghamshire cricket chief Clive Rice is hoping that South African all-rounder Nicky Boje will be confirmed as the county’s overseas player in the next 48 hours.Boje, 28, is the likely replacement for New Zealand’s Chris Cairns, who is now unavailable after sustaining a serious knee injury that is expected to keep him out of cricket for the rest of the year.Rice said: “In Boje we have a player who is really keen to develop his game by coming to England to play county cricket.”He is an excellent spin bowler who has made Test 50s and is also a very fineone-day player.”He will therefore be able to fill a lot of roles and bring considerableexperience and depth to our spin department.”Notts are still hoping that Cairns will play in the second season of his two-year contract at Trent Bridge next year.

Taking into account their batting failure in the first innings UttarPradesh made commendable amends the second time round to end the thirdday at 296/6 against Madhya Pradesh in the Central Zone Ranji Trophytie at the Green Park in Kanpur on Saturday.Having conceded a first innings lead of 140, UP resumed their secondknock at 12 for no loss this morning. Opener N Ali (5) fell leg beforeto Jai P Yadav in the third over of the day. Mohd Kaif, hisreplacement at the crease, did not last long either. With thescoreboard reading 39, Kaif departed, caught by Golwalkar off DevendraBundela. This brought in Rizwan Shamshad to the crease and heresponded well with a timely unbeaten 117.Both Jyoti Yadav (35) and the UP skipper Gyanendra Pandey (24)accompanied Shamshad along the way. But with the score at 115, adouble blow by Bundela left them in a spot of bother. Bundela firsthad Pandey caught by Srivastava in the 44th over and two balls laterMohd Saif was trapped leg before.UP stumper Manoj Mudgal joined Shamshad to forge a 143 run sixthwicket stand. In the meantime Shamshad reached his century from 186balls. The fag end of the day saw Bundela strike for the fifth time inthe innings to remove Mudgal for 55. Mrityunjay Tripathi accompaniedShamshad through to stumps. Bundela was the most successful bowler forMP with figures of 5 for 81.

An attritional day of cricket at Lord’s on the third day of the rain affected CricInfo Championship match took Middlesex, with five wickets standing, into a one run lead over Worcestershire.Middlesex’s left-handed opener, Andy Strauss scored 125, his highest first-class score and was the common factor in two substantial partnerships, the first of them being an opening stand of 129 with Mick Roseberry, who made 63.Theirs was Middlesex’s first three-figure opening stand since Strauss and Mark Ramprakash put on 102 against Northamptonshire in the opening match of last season.After Roseberry departed, dollying a catch with a mistimed pull at Matthew Liptrot, Strauss and Owais Shah added 97. Again Worcestershire could manage to capture only one wicket in the session.Half way through it, Strauss, who had been in for 281 minutes and faced 253 balls, was caught behind cutting at Graeme Hick, bowling off-breaks. Shah, 30 at the time of his dismissal, got hopelessly bogged down and could scrape together only nine more runs in 17 overs before tea.Middlesex’s overseas player, Stephen Fleming, New Zealand’s captain, scored twenty of the 36 runs added in this time.He eventually fell for 42, providing the first wicket of overseas player Andy Bichel’s season as Middlesex stuttered in the final session. Shah fell just short of a painstaking half-century and Hutton, who hit the first first-class century of the season last week, found the going harder in the Championship, succumbing to Rawnsley for four.

Mountaineers pulled off a tight win over Matabeleland Tuskers at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, beating them by five runs and seal victory off the penultimate ball of the game. After being put in to bat, Hamilton Masakadza led the way, smashing 84 in 66 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes. Mountaineers lost an early wicket but Masakadza and Tino Mawoyo (54) added 107 for the second wicket. Masakadza remained unbeaten and stretched the score to 167.The Tuskers put up a good fight and were well placed at 103 for 2 in the 15th over. Craig Ervine top-scored with 71 at No.3, adding 50 with Charles Coventry for the second wicket and 53 Brian Chari for the third. Together with Keegan Meth, Ervine helped take the score to 149 for 3 in 18 overs. But, 19 needed to win off the last two, a collapse ensued. Shingirai Masakadza picked up three wickets in the 19th over, dismissing both Meth and Ervine, and the rest of the batting crumbled soon. Seven wickets were lost for 13 runs in 11 balls, and Tuskers folded for 162.Mashonaland Eagles beat Southern Rocks comfortably at the Harare Sports Club. After choosing to field, the Eagles bowlers bowled economically and restricted Rocks to 120 for 8. Ben Slater made 39 in 34 balls and Alester Maregwede chipped in with 30 off 25. But barring the pair, there was no significant contribution from the rest. The Eagles response began well, with the openers Cephas Zhuwao (49) and Chamu Chibhabha (46*) adding 89 for the first wicket. They scored quickly, too, in 12.1 overs, and those who followed just had to consolidate. Chibhabha stayed through to the finish, helping his team win with four overs to spare.