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ScorecardSri Lanka A are well on course for a convincing win against MCC at Arundel after their middle order feasted on a friendly attack. Wicketkeeper Kaushal Silva struck an unbeaten 118 while Test batsman Jehan Mubarak and allrounder Gayan Wijekoon contributed useful innings.Ishara Amerasinghe, the seam bowler, then took out three of MCC’s top order as they again struggled with the bat. Craig McMillan completed his second failure of the match when he was caught for a four-ball duck and it was left to former India opener Aakash Chopra to provide the main resistance.MCC were boosted early in the day when they trapped Thilan Samaraweera lbw for 21, but they didn’t have much more to celebrate. Silva and Mubarak added 96, then Silva added another 102 with Wijekoon, as the Sri Lankans built a handsome lead of 248 before declaring.

Matthew Hayden, who broke his finger last week, suffered further, if bizarre, misfortune when he was attacked by a dog while out jogging.As a result he now has a gashed ankle though tests have revealed no tendon or ligament damage. Hayden said the wound, about five centimetres long, would remain open for several days to minimise the risk of infection before being stitched.”It was a vicious attack,” Hayden told Brisbane’s . “I was was out for a leisurely run. You are always a bit shocked by that sort of thing but I was more disappointed than anything. It just hasn’t been my week.”Hayden was already out of cricket for a couple of weeks after breaking a finger taking a catch in last weekend’s Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania in Brisbane.”The hand injury would have kept me out for longer than this one (gashed ankle) anyway,” said Hayden, who added there was no doubt surrounding his fitness for the first Test against England at the Gabba on November 23.

Malcolm Speed, the former Australian Cricket Board chief executive, asked the opinions of two influential legal entities prior to threatening to drop Mark Waugh from the national side. Speed, who is now the ICC chief executive, said yesterday that he requested the ACB to deny Waugh a place in the side after the latter refused to speak to anti-corruption officials in 2001.”I did not want the lead story the following day to be that the player – who was advised by a leading QC [Queen’s Counsel] – had obtained an injunction against us,” Speed said in . “Not surprisingly, we decided to obtain a second and very favourable opinion from Melbourne’s leading Queen’s Counsel.”Leo Karis, Waugh’s manager, said that when the incident occurred Waugh did seek legal advice from his lawyers in regards to the nature of the inquiry and the intent of Speed’s comments. “It was not that he did not want to participate – he wanted more information,” Karis said in . “I must say I thought it was a disgusting tactic by the ACB because he was a player who was taking his legal rights but was being judged – what happened to being innocent before being found guilty?”Waugh was found guilty of supplying weather and pitch information to Mukesh Gupta, an Indian bookmaker, in 1993 and was fined US$10,000 in 1995 by the ACB. The ACB threatened to drop Waugh from the team when he initially refused to speak to anti-corruption officials in 2001, but Waugh agreed to cooperate.Speaking on the challenge of fighting corruption, Speed said cricket was on top of its fight. “We take great heart from our battle against corruption. Five years ago, cricket was on its knees as a result of corruption scandals. If we had a share price, it would have hit rock bottom.” Speed was speaking at the annual conference of the Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association in Sydney.

Pakistan have included youngsters Shoaib Khan and Mansoor Amjad in the 15-member squad for the one-off Twenty20 international against Bangladesh in Karachi, the first Twenty20 international in the country.Shoaib is an opening batsman, while Amjad is a legspinner. However, it’s unlikely they will feature in the match, as the squad has all of Pakistan’s ODI regulars, except Mohammad Yousuf, who had been dropped for last year’s World Twenty20 as well. Nasir Jamshed comes in his place.Younis Khan, who had opted out of the ODI series before making himself available for the fifth one in Karachi, has been included as well.Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, both of whom who made comebacks during the ODIs following injury layoffs, have been included in the squad, along with Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz and Rao Iftikhar Anjum.Pakistan Twenty20 squad: Shoaib Malik (capt), Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Nasir Jamshed, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Fawad Alam, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Khan, Mansoor Amjad.

The Dolphins were made to pay for their decision to bowl first at Durban, after 48 from Blake Snijman at the top of the order and half-centuries from Justin Ontong (59 not out) and Neil McKenzie (65 not out). The only success for the Dolphins was two wickets from Jon Kent as the Lions went to 207 for 2 when bad light stopped play with nearly 30 overs remaining.South Africa’s selectors will be thanked for releasing AB de Villiers from national squad duties to play for the Titans in their season opener against the Eagles at Benoni. Coming to the crease at 54 for 3, de Villiers recovered the innings with Andre Seymore (52) and then was run out on 98 with the Titans having consolidated at 257 for 6. Pierre de Bruyn then took over the reins, steering them to 315 for 6 with a solid 59 not out at the close.The Warriors made slow but steady progress against a disciplined Cobras attack at Port Elizabeth. Having been sent in under cloudy skies, the Warriors lost two quick wickets but recovered well with Carl Bradfield and Arno Jacobs putting together a 165-run partnership. Jacobs eventually went for 87, bowled by Ian Harvey to give him his first wicket. At the close the Warriors had moved to 245 for 5 with Bradfield unbeaten on 118. A feature of the play was that 107 overs were bowled, that is 11 more than the limit for the day.

1st one-dayer
A Standard Bank National Academy side completed a 2-0 limited-overs series win over Australia’s Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre. In the first match, the South Africans chased down 275 with two wickets to spare while in the second they trumped the tourists by 111 runs.On Sunday, the Australians won the toss and thanks to impressive fifties from Adam Voges (66) and Cullen Bailey (63), finished on 274 for 8 in 50 overs. Voges and Bailey put on 121 for the fourth wicket but following their dismissals the lower order failed to build on the momentum. For the home side, Pepler Sandri was the most successful bowler with 3 for 61. Robert Frylinck and Keegan Africa, both KwaZulu Natal bowlers, finished with two wickets each.In response, the South Africans lost Riel de Kock (7) and Heino Kuhn (4) before Gauteng’s Blake Sniman smashed 60 from 65 balls to wrest the initiative. Farhann Behardien (62) and Corne Linde (54) chipped in to help the hosts over the finish line. For Australia, George Bailey and Ben Edmondson took three wickets a piece.2nd one-dayer
The South Africans chose to bat this time but lost the openers cheaply again to Brett Dorey and Edmondson. Dean Elgar, the East State left-handed batsman, came to the rescue with 77 from 100 balls while Behardien continued his good form with a powerful 112, comprising ten fours and three sixes. South Africa finished on 268 for 8 with Edmondson returning a fine 6 for 32 from his ten overs.In response, Australia could only limp to 157 after Hillroy Paulse’s superb 5 for 28 kept the batsmen in check. Voges (57) was Australia’s top scorer but not even his batting could prevent South Africa from winning the match.The Australians’ next fixture is a four-day match starting on Thursday.

ScorecardMichael Yardy demonstrated his allround credentials to complete a memorable personal double, as Sussex overwhelmed a demoralised Bangladeshi side by an innings and 226 runs. Following hot on the heels of his career-best 257, Yardy took 5 for 83 with his left-arm spin to hasten Bangladesh to a thumping defeat.Deprived of the services of their captain, Habibul Bashar, who was forced to retire hurt on the second day after being felled by a bouncer from Jason Lewry, the Bangladeshi middle-order was rudderless. After a composed start from Nafees Iqbal and Aftab Ahmed, they slumped from 88 for 1 to 132 for 7, and it was left to the rookie wicketkeeper, Mushfiqur Rahim, to salvage some pride with his first fifty of the tour.After their second-day debacle, in which they had folded for 127 in reply to Sussex’s substantial 549 for 7 declared, Bangladesh were only ever fighting for respectability when play resumed this morning. For a time they appeared to have learned their lessons, and while Nafees and Aftab were negotiating the moving ball with some comfort during a 58-run stand for the second wicket, a morale-boosting draw was not entirely out of the question.But where it had been the seamers doing the damage in the first innings, now it was the turn of the spinners – or more accurately, Yardy’s part-time left-armers. He had bowled just two overs in the first innings, and taken just five wickets at 131 in his career, but with a record-breaking batting performance under his belt, he was the player the Bangladeshis most feared, and it showed as he ripped through the innings with 5 for 83 in 22.3 overs.Nafees was the first to go, bowled by Yardy for 33 as he offered no stroke, to trigger another dramatic subsidence. Aftab Ahmed fenced a Luke Wright short ball to slip for 33, and when Mohammad Ashraful heaved Yardy down the throat of long on for 7, Bangladesh were 110 for 4 and deep in the mire. Johannes van der Wath, Sussex’s South African signing, then steamed in off his long run to take a second three-wicket haul for the match, including Mashrafee Mortaza and Enamul Haque jr for ducks.Had it not been for the sterling resistance from Rahim, who belied his 16 years and five-foot-nothing stance to score 63 from 98 balls, including 10 fours and a six, Bangladesh would have been looking at a total capitulation. Rahim added 45 for the ninth and final wicket with Shadahat Hossain, who finished 12 not out, before Yardy dragged him out of his crease to complete his five-wicket haul courtesy of a neating stumping from Tim Ambrose.There is little prospect of Rahim being seen at Lord’s next week. Khaled Mashud’s nuggetty skills were sorely missed by the Bangladeshis in this game, and Rahim’s own glovework left much to be desired in Sussex’s lengthy innings, in which he missed two costly stumpings. Nevertheless, as a member of the Under-19 squad who toured England in August 2004, Rahim was able to call on every ounce of experience from that trip. In that respect, he is actually more familiar with English pitches than many of his supposed seniors.

The ICC’s Chief Executives’ Committee has approved the recommendation that a Test match be called off on the final afternoon if there is no chance of a result. The new regulation, which will come into effect immediately, allows the game to be called off once a minimum of 75 overs have been completed in the day’s play.This effectively means that the captains can forego the last hour of play, instead of the 30 minutes the old regulation allowed.Percy Sonn, the new ICC president, unveiled the second edition of the Strategic Plan at the annual conference at Lord’s. The Plan will run for five years, ending 2010, and will chart the ICC’s priorities and areas of functioning.”It has been put together following an extensive consultation process between an ICC project team, our members and stakeholders”, Sonn said. “It is the organisation’s roadmap for the next five years – years that should be great for cricket.”The CEC also adopted the ICC Gender Recognition Policy, enabling cricketers who have undergone gender reassignment surgery to play women’s cricket at international level provided they meet the required criteria. This policy is being followed by other leading sporting organisations.

Holders Karnataka State Cricket Association XI could not have beenvery happy at stumps on the first day of their Buchi Babu All Indiainvitation tournament quarterfinal against National Cricket Academy atthe CPT-IP ground in Chennai on Thursday. They struggled during theday to score at two runs an over and when play was called off with 4.5overs still left to be bowled because of bad light, they were 182 forfive wickets.After KSCA won the toss, Mithun Beerala was off to a confident start.He hit four boundaries and out of the first wicket stand of 22 runsoff 10.5 overs with Roland Barrington, he scored all but one beforebeing caught by Sharandeep Singh off medium pacer RB Patel.Joined by Amit Kumar, Barrington continued to struggle and by the timehe was second out, leg before to skipper RS Sodhi, at 56 in the 21stover, he had batted 104 minutes and faced 61 balls for his 18.Vijay Bharadwaj did not last long. He was bowled by Sriram for sixruns for which he took his time – 48 balls. Amit Kumar who haddominated the scoring till then was fourth out at 86. For his 34, hebatted two hours, faced 67 balls and hit six fours.AR Mahesh and RC Shanbal then brought about a recovery of sorts byadding 40 runs for the fifth wicket but the runs continued to bescored at a tardy rate. The association lasted all of 25.4 oversbefore Shanbal was caught by Gambhir off Kaif. During his stay of anhour and a half, Shanbal faced 74 balls and hit two fours.The recovery process continued with Mahesh and SN Shiraguppi adding 56runs for the unbroken sixth wicket partnership which has so far lasted29 overs. When stumps were drawn prematurely, Mahesh had come throughunbeaten with 40 for which he had faced 180 balls. He had only threeboundary hits. Shirugappi was not much more enterprising scoring 25off 93 balls with just one four.Sodhi tried eight bowlers in all including himself and five of themcame through with one wicket each. At the end of the day’s play, theyoungsters from the Bangalore based academy would have no doubt lookedback at a job well done.

After months of intense preparation, the eighth women’s World Cup kicks off today in South Africa and, as Australia’s captain Belinda Clark told Cricinfo: “It should be a great competition.”Well, yes it should – but just who will be watching? In 1997, crowds of 80,000 flocked to Eden Gardens to see Australia defeat New Zealand, while Cricinfo live-streamed the next event, in 2000, from New Zealand.But this World Cup, based in and around Pretoria, could struggle to attract decent crowds – the women’s game is still very much in its infancy in South Africa – so much so that free tickets are being offered for all matches. The exception is the final, at Centurion, where a ringside seat to watch the world’s finest compete for ultimate supremacy will set punters back just R20 (£1.80).Yet on display in the tournament will be a former Wisden Cricketer of the Year, Clark, among others. Clark’s Australia are in dominant mood, with an ominous will. “Our motivation is that we don’t hold the World Cup,” Clark adds. They’re certainly going about reclaiming it in the best possible fashion: they beat India recently 4-3 and last week won all three matches against New Zealand to claim the Rose Bowl.It was not the only defeat suffered by the current World Cup holders, New Zealand, in the build-up: they also lost 3-2 in England last summer. England rose to second in the world on the back of that series: have they peaked at the right moment? The signs are good. They rolled over the hosts South Africa in their two-match warm-up, and butchered two Gauteng representative sides, one by 368 runs and the other by ten wickets with a whopping 44 overs to spare. But England know there are significant tests ahead – starting with Australia in their first warm-up match.”Everyone is a threat,” England’s allrounder Clare Taylor told Cricinfo. And she should know – this is her fifth World Cup. “Anyone can win in a one-off game. It all depends what happens on the day.” “It’s going to be a tough schedule,” says Ireland’s manager and former player, Sandra Dawson. She isn’t wrong: each of the eight teams faces a gruelling seven matches in 13 days – and that’s just for starters.

The teams play each other on a round-robin basis, with the top four qualifying for the semi-finals. Ireland would love to reach the last four: but their goal is a more realistic top-six finish, which will guarantee them automatic qualification for the next tournament. They haven’t played a one-day international since New Zealand hammered them 3-0 last summer and they know that they are far from finalist material.The final itself will be held at SuperSport Park, Centurion, on April 10, but the preliminary matches provide some less attractive venues: some grounds are even situated on a roundabout. But after the merry-go-round that was West Indies’ preparations, the Caribbean side are just grateful to be taking part at all.Since pre-qualifying in Holland in 2003 they have faced an uphill struggle to secure the sponsorship. On paper, they are the weakest side: they have only one centurion in their number – Nadine George. But their financial difficulties could have a galvanic effect, although the semi-finals would be a more realistic ambition.The likely last four are Australia, New Zealand, England and India, with hosts South Africa the other team in the frame. Whether anyone will be there to see it is a different matter.