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Friday’s clash between West Indies and Ireland at Sabina Park will be a rematch of sorts for two star players of either side, Niall O’Brien, the Ireland wicketkeeper and Brian Lara, the West Indies captain. The pair crossed paths three years ago in a one-day match at Belfast during an incident involving a disputed catch.In June 2004, West Indies stopped over in Ireland to play two one-dayers en route to England for their Test tour. During the second match, O’Brien was upset that Lara refused to walk after edging the ball to him, leading to a stand-off between the two. However, Lara didn’t last long, making just 1 as West Indies suffered an upset defeat despite posting 292. The two have apparently made peace since that incident, and O’Brien said he was looking forward to another challenge with Lara.”Lara was funny,” O’Brien told AFP. “We had that disagreement at Stormont and then two days later I turned up to play against him for Kent. I don’t think he could believe his eyes. I think he’d seen enough of me. I talked to Dwayne Bravo recently and he said ‘Brian said to say hello’. I’m looking forward to seeing him in Jamaica.”O’Brien added that his reaction against Lara had much to do with his aggressive instincts. He shot to fame when he starred in his side’s surprise victory over Pakistan last Saturday, scoring 72 in a tense three-wicket win which toppled Pakistan out of the World Cup.”I’m a fiery character,” he said. “I play aggressive cricket. That’s part of my game. If I wasn’t you’d be taking away 50% of the player I am.”With Ireland making a surprise entry into the Super Eights, captain Trent Johnston was hopeful that their new-found confidence would rub off against West Indies for their final league match.”We’ll take on the West Indies with confidence and give a good performance,” said Johnston. “We will give it 100% and be very competitive.”

In the euphoria of Australia’s magnificent victory Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne agreed the performance was the best they had seen. It is high and justified praise as the match was unbelievable and the pair has been involved in some spectacular wins over the past 15 years.”To turn a Test around like that, it doesn’t happen,” Ponting, the Man of the Match, said. “You have to do something exceptionally well to turn a game around like that and our cricket over the last three days has been as good as you’ll ever see from any team.”Early on day three Australia were 3 for 65 chasing England’s first innings of 551 and staring at a defeat that would have levelled the series. Rather than falling in a heap, Ponting recorded 142 and Michael Clarke produced an outstanding 124 before Warne toppled England with 4 for 49. The chase of 168 was dusted off without too much discomfort and the Australians celebrated like a team that has the Ashes within their grasp.”England would have turned up today and wouldn’t have even thought they could lose,” Ponting said. “They probably wanted to get into a position to chuck us in late today and put us under a bit of pressure. We started so well and had them under pressure, then the game was there for the taking.”Warne’s previous best Test was in Sri Lanka in 1992, when he picked up 3 for 11 in only his third game, bowling Australia to victory after they gave up a 291-run advantage on the first innings. “In 140 Tests this was the greatest I have played in,” Warne said. “[In the first innings] if we got rissoled the game was over. Everyone played their part through the Test. Today we wanted to win and to go 2-0 up with three to play is a big advantage for us.”Neither player would call the Ashes for Australia but England face an almost impossible task. “I said to Shane after the game,” Ponting said, “that he’s changed the course of the Test and it could be the series.”

Pakistan have indefinitely postponed a three-match ODI series with Zimbabwe originally scheduled for September this year because the tour is unlikely to be an economically viable one.The Pakistan Cricket Board had been thinking about the move for some time, though it was reluctant to make it official. It was reported in Pakistan recently that Shaharyar Khan, chairman PCB, had written to Zimbabwe cricket authorities, suggesting they play a Pakistan A team in a series of ODIs and four-day matches.A senior official in the Pakistan board confirmed to Cricinfo that the series had been “postponed, possibly till 2008, though that is not final.” Another cited the reason as the relative unattractiveness of Zimbabwe to broadcasters and sponsors alike.”Our thinking was basically that organising a tour of three ODIs will not be particularly feasible in an economic sense especially given that Zimbabwe are not attractive tourists,” explained the official. “Broadcasters I doubt will come for only three ODIs against Zimbabwe, though if it was linked with another tour then maybe they would be interested,” he added.There may still be a chance that Zimbabwe do come in that period, though only to play the A team. Reports suggest that Zimbabwe, who are under growing international pressure after a string of dismal performances, do not intend to dispute the PCB’s decision to postpone the series. Instead, they now want Zimbabwe to play a series of matches against Pakistan A in Pakistan during that time period.Meanwhile, reported that Zimbabwe are trying to attract clubs from Pakistan and elsewhere in Asia to provide a boost to its faltering first-class cricket structure.Drawing from media reports in Zimbabwe, a week after dissolving traditional provincial structures, Zimbabwe cricket is trying to import at least two top club sides from Asia to help revive a first-class competition struggling to survive after over 30 experienced players either retired or left the country.”ZC is in discussion with a number of cricket institutions with the willingness to send clubs to participate in first-class cricket in the country,” the quoted a source as saying. The source believes the clubs might come from Pakistan or India.

ScorecardMohammad Kaif hit a furious 131-ball 151 to help Uttar Pradesh amass 365 before Shalab Srivastava and Praveen Kumar shared seven wickets between them to bowl UP to a crushing 197-run victory over Rajasthan. Kaif launched a ferocious assault on the bowlers, smashing 10 fours and five sixes in his 184-minute stay in the middle. Anshul Kapoor, playing in his sixth game, gave Kaif able support with a career-best 87 and Suresh Raina too joined in the carnage with a 39-ball 50. For Rajasthan, Anshu Jain hit a career-high 95 but he was the only batsman to cross 25 as the seamers wreaked havoc.
ScorecardIn a low-scoring encounter the Delhi bowlers shared the spoils equally to bowl out Himachal Pradesh for 68 to secure a win. Earlier, Virender Sehwag, batting in the middle order, hit 54 and Abhishek Sharma contributed an unbeaten 34 in the lower order to take Delhi to a fighting 170. Amit Bhandari rocked the HP chase with three early wickets after Ashish Nehra got a wicket in the first over. Pradeep Sangwan joined in the fun as HP slid further towards defeat.
ScorecardKaran Goel and Dinesh Mongia came to the party again as Punjab posted 269 and coasted to victory as Rajesh Sharma grabbed a four-wicket haul to polish off Jammu & Kashmir for 185. Goel was involved in two century stands – 106 for the opening wicket with Ravneet Ricky and 141 with Mongia – to lift Punjab to a healthy total. J&K lost wickets at regular intervals, with their chief tormentor Sharma, the offspinner, ending up with figures of 4 for 25.
ScorecardHaryana rode on an allround effort from Amit Mishra, 45 runs and 4 for 29, to beat Services by 112 runs at Ludhiana. Mishra put on 114 runs for the opening wicket with Sumit Sharma before Mahesh Rawat, the wicketkeeper-batsman, and Dhruv Singh added an unbroken 92-run stand to lift Punjab to a huge 294. Services started off confidently courtesy, a 72-ball 73 from Yashpal Singh, and reached 110 for 1 when Mishra got into the act. He struck twice is quick succession, including the wicket of Yashpal, to reduce Services to 115 for 3. Vinay Singh, the other spinner, got two wickets in two balls to push Services to 128 for 5, a position from which never recovered.
ScorecardSunil Dholpure grabbed a career-best five for 44 to spun Madhya Pradesh to a 72-run victory at Indore. Put into bat, MP rallied through fifties from Syed Abbas Ali and Shadab Khan to reach 246. The Railways chase seemed to going smoothly at 86 for 2 when Dholpure, the offspinner, derailed them, ripping through the middle and lower middle-order. Railways collapsed to 124 for 8 and only a dash from the tail helped them reach a decent 174.

South Africa have released Jacques Rudolph and Paul Adams to play for their franchises as they whittled the squad down to 12 for the opening Test which starts at the Wanderers on Friday. Ahead of an afternoon training session on Wednesday, Mickey Arthur, the coach, spoke of how his team would attack India with pace, on pitches that would aid a five-man fast-bowling line-up.None of the first team played in the last round of domestic games, and Arthur said that they had been rested ahead of what will be an arduous season, with three Tests against India and three Tests and five ODIs against Pakistan ahead of their departure for the World Cup. “We’ve had astiff training programme,” he said. “The players needed some time away from the game. But they did work on some batting and bowling.”The South Africans warmed up with a game of Frisbee, and then some catching practice before heading across to the nets. As for the Indians, it was an off day, with only Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir opting for a net session outdoors.South Africa were emphatic winners of the one-day series, and Arthur was confident that they could carry their dominant form into the Tests. “We want to continue the pattern that developed in the ODIs into the Tests,” he said. “We didn’t allow them to settle. We played well. It wasn’t justthat they played badly.”Nicky Boje’s retirement, announced on Tuesday morning, was a slight setback, though it was unlikely that he would have played any part at the Wanderers, or at Kingsmead in Durban. “He’s been a great servant of South African cricket,” said Arthur by way of tribute. “We’re likely to play aspinner in Cape Town.”Arthur admitted that the team management had already been in touch with the groundsmen, and intimated what sort of surfaces they were looking for in the Test series. “We want pitches with pace and bounce, and not too much grass,” he said.The recall of Paul Adams, barely a factor in domestic cricket over the past couple of seasons, was also addressed. “It’s a long-term selection,” said Arthur. “We need to know what he can offer. He has been very successful in Test cricket, and he offers something different. We need tosee if there’s any chance of reviving what has been a successful career.”Boje once won helped win a Test match against India at Bangalore (2000), while Adams, barring his six-wicket haul at Kanpur, hasn’t enjoyed a great time against them. There’s little doubt which man the Indians would rather face.

With all tickets available through the public ticketing system for next year’s World Cup final sold out, fans hoping to acquire the remainder of the tickets will have to purchase the hospitality and travel packages, the organisers informed yesterday.In an article posted on the official website of the World Cup, the organisers said that the demand for the final in Barbados was great during the first phase of public ticketing, and that every category – including the best seats at US$300 apiece and the US$200-per-person Party Stand – was oversubscribed.However, Cricket Logistics 2007 claimed that travel and hospitality packages are still available – including match tickets for the final, albeit in limited numbers. Tom Roche , the general manager of Cricket Hospitality 2007, urged fans not to delay buying the remaining tickets, including those for the semi-finals in Jamaica and St. Lucia.”Fans need to be buying their packages now because if they wait too long there will be nothing left”, Roach was quoted in cricketworldcup.com. “This not only applies to the finals but, to both semi-finals as well, because they are proving very popular. In fact, because of how the match schedule is structured, people are buying combinations of Hospitality packages to watch Super Eight matches in Barbados, then go to St. Lucia or even Jamaica for a semi-final, and come back to Barbados for the finals.”Stephen Price, the commercial manager of the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007, warned that the tickets for the Super Eight matches are also on the verge of being sold out during the first phase of the public ticketing system.The second phase of public ticketing will start on September 1, and will operate on a “first come, first serve” basis which runs until November 30, with the remaining tickets being sold online and at the Official Ticket Centres in the nine venues across the West Indies.

Scorecard

The third, soporific day at Hove inched the match inexorably closer to a batsman’s draw, with Sussex’s last five batsman adding 157 in 45 overs, only occasionally breaking into a trot. Scott Newman and Mark Ramprakash made the most of perfect May conditions for Surrey, but the only people breaking into a sweat were those in the bars searching for another Pimms.For periods of the day’s play, it almost felt as though the clock had been wound back to the 1980s. As Robin Marlar, the Sussex president, grumpily pointed out once Surrey had eased past 100 for the loss of just one wicket, “rain doesn’t suit this game”. The slips lounged with hands in their pockets; the fast bowlers ambled casually back to their marks, and not even Matt Prior could be stirred into verbal jousting behind the stumps.Prior had a more important role earlier in the day, however directionless the match had become. He played beautifully for his fifty – his fourth in succession in the Championship – and was particularly strong driving through the off-side but equally aware of the tuck to leg. Two spanking drives – one zipped through extra cover, the other down the ground – could not have been timed any more sweetly, so it was a disappointment for him and his home crowd that he gifted his wicket on 51.Chris Jordan, from the Cromwell Road End, slipped in a bouncer and Prior couldn’t resist a pull, chipping a skier straight to gully. Only when he reached the boundary edge did his anger become apparent to the rest of us, angrily bashing the boards with his bat and it soon became obvious why: Geoff Miller, the England selector, had been spotted.Nevertheless, he had urged Sussex past 350, and they had at least 400 in their sights. James Kirtley, the nightwatchman, had a spread-out field into which to nudge singles, but on 19 he swept Saqlain Mushtaq – for the second unsuccessful time in succession – and was trapped lbw. Luke Wright rarely looked comfortable at the crease, unlike Robin Martin-Jenkins who used his height to good effect in a slick 75-ball fifty. Martin-Jenkins dominated the pair’s eighth-wicket stand of 55 – 32 to Wright’s 20 at the landmark – and he was particularly adept against Mushtaq, punching him commandingly off the back foot. A deft back-cut down to third man brought up the 400.Martin-Jenkins was at it with the ball, too, but not before Jason Lewry produced a fine opening spell from the Sea End, testing Newman with several near-misses outside his off stump. Jonathan Batty cracked four fours and looked in fine touch before Martin-Jenkins finally won an lbw appeal, but thereafter Newman and Ramprakash took control. Newman was strong off his pads, sharing the same nuggety compact technique of Mark Butcher, and was quick to pounce on anything short.Ramprakash spent 20 balls on nought, but once settled he quickly dominated with trademark deflections down to third man and authoritative cover drives. He and Newman’s hundred stand came from 176 balls, and – as was the case for Surrey’s bowlers – there was little to encourage Sussex’s seamers. However, Martin-Jenkins returned for a second spell from the Cromwell Road End and immediately trapped Newman leg-before to complete his own fine day’s work.Ramprakash completed his second fifty of the season and his 99th hundred appears tantalisingly on the horizon. With perfect batting conditions set for tomorrow, Surrey members can begin to plan their pilgrimage to Southampton for their next Championship match against Hampshire on May 14.

Points table
Scorecard
Debutant offspinner Mohnish Parmar took five second-innings wickets to help Gujarat to a thumping 248-run victory over Assam. Resuming on 15 for 2, Nishanta Bordoloi and wicketkeeper Rajdeep Das defied the Gujarat bowling for nearly 20 over but once Das was caught behind off Timil Patel, Assam’s resistance was broken. There were not too many meaningful contributions and Assam could manage only two more double-digit partnerships. Sridharan Sharath, the captain, hung around for his 27 and was last man out, falling to medium-pacer Siddharth Trivedi. Gujarat got five points for their efforts while Assam took home none.
ScorecardHaving skittled out Jharkhand for 139 on day three, Madhya Pradesh went one up on day four, bowling them out for 117 to win by 170 runs at Jamshedpur. Rahul Bakshi followed his first-innings 56 with an unbeaten 66 in MP’s 203 for 5 declared before the bowlers turned it on. Jatin Saxena, who scored 125 in MP’s first innings, and Asif Ali spun out 4 for 54 and 4 for 35 respectively, with their brand of legbreaks. No batsman got going and MP needed just 49.4 overs to bowl Jharkhand out. MP took a full five points from their outright win, placing them equal with Goa in the Group P table.
ScorecardHaving conceded a first-innings lead to Goa, Haryana failed in their bid to chase down 241 with nine wickets on day four at Margao. Instead, the hosts dismissed Haryana for 220, 26 runs short of their target, and took five points from an outright win. Slow left-arm spinner Shabab Jakati backed his first-innings 6 for 52 with 4 for 94 and Robin D’Souza fetched 4 for 59 with his medium-pace. Goa began the day 30 for 3 but made it to 221 courtesy opener Sagun Kamat’s 92-ball 60 and wicketkeeper-batsman Ajay Ratra’s 86 from 117 balls. Only Sachin Rana (67) crossed fifty in Haryana’s attempted chase.
ScorecardTripura escaped with a battling last-wicket draw against Services at Agartala, finishing on 202 for 9 in their attempt to chase down 226. Hari Prasad, Services’ opening bowler, took 4 for 50 and the other bowlers chipped in with wickets but Services failed to take that last wicket. Vineet Jain, with an unbeaten 3 from 36 balls, and Jayanta Debnath, with 13 from 37, added 25 valuable runs in 11.2 overs for the final wicket to stave off defeat. From an overnight 308 for 7, Services managed 321 with Yashpal Singh getting to his tenth first-class hundred. Tushar Saha picked finished with 4 for 89 with his slow left-arm spin. Tripura got with three points and Services one.

Offspinner Mark Craig has been called into New Zealand’s squad for the opening Test against Australia in Wellington, which begins on Friday. New Zealand Cricket selectors named Craig as a replacement for Mitchell Santner, was ruled out with a foot injury.Santner experienced soreness in his right foot following the second ODI against Australia. A subsequent scan revealed a bone bruise and the decision was made to have Santner sit out. A decision about Santner’s availability for the second Test will be made later.”It’s unfortunate for Mitch as he has been a key player for us so far this summer,” New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said. “The positive news is that we picked it up early and hopefully Mitch can make a quick recovery.”Craig was part of the New Zealand squad for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka in December but was not selected to play. His last Test match came against Australia in the inaugural day-night Test, in Adelaide, where he finished with match figures of 2 for 75 in a three-wicket defeat.Squad for the Wellington Test: Brendon McCullum (capt), Corey Anderson, Doug Bracewell, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Mark Craig, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling (wk)*, Kane Williamson*

Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, has been recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India’s highest award for sports. Dravid was recommended for the award last year as well but lost out to Pankaj Advani, the billiards player.Yuvraj Singh, the middle-order batsman, and Anjum Chopra, the former women’s team captain, were recommended for Arjuna awards. Incidentally, Yuvraj was also recommended for the same award last year.Sachin Tendulkar is the only cricketer to have received the Khel Ratna to date. It is awarded for spectacular and outstanding performance in sport and carries a cash award of Rs 5 lakh. The Arjuna award is given for consistent performances in the last three years and has a cash award of Rs 3 lakh.