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Tickets for the 3rd Test match of the West Indies Tour of Sri Lanka will go on sale at the BCCSL Headquarters at 35, Maitland Place, Colombo 7, from Tuesday, the 27th of November. The match is being played at the Singhalese Sports Club from the 29th of November to the 3rd of December.The BCCSL has reduced the prices of tickets to allow the cricket-loving public every opportunity to witness this thrilling series.Tickets are priced as follows:

SSC Pavilion Upstairs Rs. 100/= per daySSC Pavilion Downstairs Rs. 50/= per daySeylan Pavilion Rs. 50/= per dayPhilips Enclosure air conditioned Rs. 200/= per dayPhilips Enclosure non air conditioned Rs. 100/= per dayBCCSL Grandstand Upstairs Rs. 150/= per dayPublic Stands Western Hill Rs. 20/=Public Stands Eastern Hill Free Entrance

Tickets will also shortly go on sale for the Triangular One-Day-International Tournament which will be played at the SSC, R. Premadasa International Stadium and the Asgiriya International Stadium, commencing on the 8th of December,.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee is considering beginning the upcoming Test series against West Indies in Colombo instead of Galle, which has been the customary venue for a tour opener, because of the cost factor. West Indies, who last played a series in Sri Lanka in 2011, are set to tour again around mid-October.With the West Indies tour not generating big revenue for the SLC, chances are the interim committee would prefer playing the two Tests at the P Sara Oval and the SSC or R Premadasa Stadium to cut costs.”In terms of TV broadcasting rights, we will receive [Sri Lankan] Rs 45 million for the West Indies tour, whereas for the tour by Pakistan we received Rs 55 million and the tour by India Rs 300 million,” vice-president of the SLC interim committee, Kushil Gunasekera, said.Gunasekera said that although SLC owns the ground at Galle, it still has to pay the Galle Municipality taxes when a Test match is staged there. “We have to pay the municipality Rs 125,000 per day in addition to other overhead costs. We’ll need to seriously consider the cost factor especially for this tour,” he said.Gunasekera said a final decision on Galle as a Test venue for the West Indies series will be taken at the interim committee meeting on August 31, after consultation with team members and officials.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Amir starred in the BPL for the second day running•BCB

Drama at the start and drama right at the end. Chittagong Vikings won the game by one run as Sylhet Superstars captain Mushfiqur Rahim failed to take three off Mohammad Amir’s last ball.In the last over, with Sylhet requiring nine runs to win, Mushfiqur tried a scoop off the first ball but didn’t connect well and could only take a single. Ajantha Mendis missed the next two balls, before the batsmen ran a bye to the wicketkeeper – although Chittagong appealed unsuccessfully for obstructing the field.Needing seven off two, Mushfiqur blasted the fifth ball to the cover boundary, but couldn’t do so again, as Chittagong captain Tamim Iqbal fielded in the covers. The game ended on a high after it had started with an embarrassing controversy for the tournament.The match started an hour and ten minutes late after Sylhet tried to field two foreign players, Ravi Bopara and Josh Cobb, who did not have the required No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) at the time of the toss. Although the NOCs were subsequently provided, and Sylhet tried to include both English players, Chittagong refused to take the field because Bopara and Cobb weren’t named in the original XI.The game, once it had begun, was another cracker. After Chittagong had posted 180 for 5, with half-centuries for Tamim and Yasir Ali, Sylhet were quickly out of the blocks in their reply.Dilshan Munaweera took revenge for the pasting he took with the ball by laying into Tillakaratne Dilshan’s first over, striking six consecutive fours. The first was flicked over square leg; the next over fine leg; then driving uppishly over long-off, and slog-sweeping over midwicket, which was dropped by Jeevan Mendis; then sweeping and driving through mid-off the next two balls.He reached 50 off just 22 balls but there was nothing at the other end. Junaid Siddique was bowled by Shafiul Islam in the seventh over and his contribution to the 66-run stand was just five runs. Munaweera fell for 64 by giving midwicket an easy catch. He had struck 13 fours and a six in his 30-ball knock.Mominul Haque was out a ball later, leg-before to Saeed Ajmal in his attempt to play the reverse-hit. From 76 for 3 in the eighth over, Mushfiqur and Nurul Hasan played out four overs quietly before the latter launched into Taskin Ahmed in the 13th – slapping him over long-off for a six, smashing him over cover and swinging one that ended up in the third-man boundary where Ziaur Rahman made a hash of it.Nurul and Mushfiqur added 55 together and get Sylhet within striking distance. But Nurul, Nazmul Hossain Milon and Mohammad Shahid got out within a short time, leaving 21 needed off the last two overs.After his defiant stance when Sylhet tried to sneak in two unauthorised players, Tamim then launched into their bowlers. He blasted six fours and four sixes in his 45-ball 69 despite the loss of Dilshan, in the second over of the game, for a golden duck.Tamim started with a six over square leg off Subashis Roy before hitting four fours in a Munaweera over that went for 20 runs. In the ninth and tenth overs, Tamim struck a four and three sixes, two over long-on and one over cover.Tamim and Yasir added 79 runs for the second wicket with the captain completely dominating their time together. It seemed that Tamim’s dismissal in the 13th over was due to Yasir’s struggle to rotate the strike at that stage.But Yasir made up for his early slowness by hitting four sixes and a boundary in his 52-ball 63, and more crucially he added 30 for the fourth wicket with Jeevan Mendis and another 42 runs for the fifth wicket with Ziaur – in less than three overs – before being run out from the last ball of the Chittagong innings.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene heaped praise on his bowlers, especially Dilhara Fernando, after his team had completed a comprehensive 70-runs victory over Bangladesh in the first ODI at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium on Friday.Sri Lanka defended their moderate total of 234 for 6 exceptionally well by bowling Bangladesh out for 164 in the 41st over. Fernando rocked the Bangladesh top order after openers Tamim Iqbal and Shahriar Nafees had put on 45 for the first wicket by taking four wickets for 24 runs off nine overs to take the Man-of-the-Match award.”There wasn’t much juice left on it when Bangladesh batted, but there was a bit of bounce in it. Dilhara, Lasith (Malinga) and (Farveez) Maharoof bowled their hearts out. They bowled in really good areas and kept asking questions. All credit should go to Dilhara and the bowlers. They kept it tight and put pressure on the Bangladeshis. Hats off to them, they single-handedly won the game for us,” said Jayawardene.Heaping further praise on Fernando, Jayawardene said: “Dilhara’s been doing well for the last 2 ½ to 3 years. It is just that he has on and off days. There was a lot of criticism thrown at him that he is not consistent. As a captain and as a team we always knew the potential this guy has. We gave him a lot of confidence and he is thriving on that now. It’s good to see the way he is bowling. He’s giving everything he’s got and looking good.”Jayewardene also praised the batting of Upul Tharanga and Chamara Silva who each made half-centuries and figured in an 83-run stand.”The wicket had a bit in the morning. We would have bowled as well if we won the toss. It is just that it was tough. They bowled pretty well. We lost three key wickets and it was very tough for Upul and Chamara to consolidate which they did brilliantly and helped us get a competitive score. I thought we planned it nicely afterwards. 235 was a very competitive score, but it was not a winning score,” Jayewardene said.Fernando lamented the chance of missing out on getting his first five-for in an ODI. After taking 4 for 23 in his first spell of seven overs, he came back to bowl a further two overs without success.”I was a bit unlucky not to get five wickets although I tried hard. Anyway I am happy I bowled my team to victory. It was a good hard wicket, very flat so I tried hitting the deck hard,” he said.Bangladesh’s captain Mohammad Ashraful blamed his middle order batting for letting his side down after his bowlers had done an excellent job in restricting the strong Lankan batting. “We didn’t bat well in the second Powerplay. By the time we went to 50 we had lost too many wickets. The foundation was laid for us by the openers but the middle order disappointed. Fernando bowled well to put us in a spot. It was a good enough score for us to chase on a wicket which had eased up. It was a gettable score on that pitch,” Ashraful said.”The series is still open. We will remain positive and go out for a win in the second one-dayer,” he added.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out – Pakistan
How they were out – England

Sajid Mahmood followed his most impressive one-day international bowling performance with a calm, matchwinning innings as England levelled the series by three wickets at Edgbaston. He’d been instrumental in keeping Pakistan down to 154, but a middle order collapse against Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq meant his work wasn’t done. When he joined Michael Yardy 37 were still needed but the pair completed the job and a fine series fightback by England.This wasn’t a match for high quality batsmenship so Mahmood’s innings deserves much praise after he arrived in an intense atmosphere following a collapse of 4 for 16 in 19 balls. In the recent domestic C&G final he’d swiped across the line with Lancashire nearing their target and here was confronted with a baying crowd containing a large proportion of support for Pakistan. While in the field he’d again been subjected to taunts, as happened in the Test series, but he managed to shut everything out to play a mature innings.He clipped Afridi through square leg to ease the tension but the killer over as far as Pakistan were concerned was the return of Rana Naved, who struggled throughout the series. Inzamam-ul-Haq had only entrusted him with one over with the new ball and bringing him back was a gamble that proved very costly. Three fours came off the over and the target was down to single figures. A word, too, for Yardy who showed the cool head that has made him a key finisher at Sussex. He didn’t hit a boundary but worked the singles and had the satisfaction of stroking the winning runs.Pakistan staged a commendable fightback to haul themselves back into contention. Mohammad Asif and Iftikhar Anjum struck with the new ball as England stumbled to 49 for 3, but Kevin Pietersen tore into the Pakistan bowlers as the target raced into view. He rode his luck to reach 34, while also playing some vintage Pietersen shots, before trying to swing Afridi away over midwicket and being castled by a googly. It was a fine piece of bowling, but another example of Pietersen not quite being able to control his emotions.Another five overs of Pietersen and the match would have been as good as over, but with a sniff of an opening – and nothing to lose – Pakistan went for broke. Inzamam crowded the batsmen and Jamie Dalrymple was trapped plumb by a quick legbreak. In the next over Paul Collingwood, in his 100th ODI, was trapped by Razzaq, who then lured Chris Read into an ill-advised hook shot. The rush of wickets enlivened the crowd and the noise level reached levels where even the umpires were saying they were struggling to hear.

Throughout the day, Pakistan’s fans hadn’t had much to cheer as their batsmen struggled to make any impression. Conditions were not easy and Pakistan only managed eight fours and a six, but part of that was down to the accuracy of the bowling and sharp fielding. Apart from an early spate of wides, the England attack plugged away on the ideal line and length and didn’t allow the batsmen width to attack.Pakistan tried to assert some authority by sending Afridi in at No.3 who attempted to blast the ball out of the park before swinging across the line at Lewis. Mohammad Hafeez’s battle ended when he dragged an attempted pull off Mahmood into his stumps and Pakistan had lost three wickets for eight runs.Mahmood has had a tough summer in the limited overs game, but retains the basic attributes of pace and swing which make him dangerous. Although still prone to throwing in wayward deliveries he kept the batsmen on their toes. Mohammad Yousuf had again been unconvincing and he could do little against the snorter from Mahmood that squared him up and was edged low to slip.Collingwood’s medium-pace then proved ideal for the conditions and he trapped Inzamam lbw and bowled Abdul Razzaq before he could repeat his barrage from Trent Bridge. Kamran Akmal’s miserable tour with the bat ended with an edge off Yardy, which Read grabbed after a bobble via his pad, and Younis Khan was left to salvage what he could.However, despite a spirited fightback Pakistan ended their long tour on a poor note while England have continued to show a welcome return to winning ways in one-day cricket – although not without the odd nervous twitch along the way.

Chandrakant Pandit, the former Indian wicketkeeper and Ranji Trophy-winning Mumbai coach, has been appointed as the Maharashtra coach. Pandit, 43, played five Tests for India, and more recently led Mumbai to two consecutive Ranji Trophy triumphs in 2003 and 2004.Pandit’s appointment is part of Maharashtra’s revamp process as they gear up for the new season. Darren Holder, an Australian coach, was recently appointed as the Maharashtra Cricket Association’s (MCA) cricket director while speculation persits over several players, like Sairaj Bahutule and Nilesh Kulkarni, transfering to Maharashtra this season.According to Ajay Shirke, the president of the MCA, Pandit, along with Holder, would be responsible for the coaching of the senior and other teams of all age-groups of the region. Shirke also announced the appointment of Col PRV Nair as the administrative manager of the side.

About a dozen representatives of the ICC will visit Florida this week to assess Lauderhill’s bid to host matches during the 2007 World Cup.At the moment local officials have little to show but a dream. But the ICC delegation will be given a tour of the area, and will meet with local hoteliers, businessmen, and the organising committee who are keen to host as many as six of the first-round games.A draft document outlining the bid was submitted to the ICC last month, and the decision will be announced early in July.Should the bid be accepted, then the idea is that a 5,000-seater stadium would be built on parkland in Lauderhill, and with temporary seating the capacity could be as high as 20,000. The cricket ground will be part of a larger development which is expected to cost around US$60 million.If they do give the plan the green light, then the ICC will be taking a gamble as the stadium will not be completed until December 2006, only three months before the first match.

Frizzell County Championship Division OneKent 362 and 418 for 3 dec v Nottinghamshire 156 and 29 for 2 at Maidstone
Scorecard
Kent took complete charge of their match at Mote Park, setting Notts an unlikely victory target of 625 and removing two batsmen by the close. As on the first day, Kent’s heroes were Ed Smith and Mohammad Sami. Smith hit 113, his third century in successive innings and his fourth in five knocks (the one in the middle was a duck, as were his three innings before the first hundred), and put on 233 with Rob Key, who put England rejection behind him to slap 140. Andrew Symonds rounded it off with an 81-ball century, with 15 fours and a six, before Kent declared. The Mohammad Sami, who had polished off Nottinghamshire’s first innings by taking the last fiive wickets to finish with 8 for 64, the best figures of the season so far, chimed in again by trapping Guy Welton lbw and bowling Darren Bicknell.

Middlesex 620 for 7 dec v Leicestershire 221 for 3 at Southgate
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An exciting innings from Virender Sehwag, who cracked 130 from 111 balls, with 20 fours and four sixes, brought Leicestershire back into the match after they had conceded a huge total at the Walker Ground. Sehwag piled on 197 for the first wicket with ex-Middlesex man John Maunders, who made 55, but then three quick wickets from Chad Keegan, including Sehwag caught by Sven Koenig, restored Middlesex’s advantage. Earlier Ed Joyce and David Nash had joined Andy Strauss in the ton-up club before Middlesex declared at an imposing 620 for 7.Essex 340 v Sussex 282 for 8 at Arundel
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On a slow pitch at picturesque Arundel Park Sussex crept towards parity with Essex, who were all out early in the morning for 340. Tony Cottey then scored 107 in four-and-a-half hours for Sussex, adding 178 bfor the fourth wicket with Tim Ambrose (88). But three late wickets for Paul Grayson, to make up for his first-over duck yesterday, gave Essex late hope.Surrey 355 and 282 for 3 v Warwickshire 245 at Edgbaston
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Surrey, with a nap hand of 11 Test players in their side, unsurprisingly hold the upper hand after two days in Birmingham, leading by 392 already. Today Azhar Mahmood led the way with four wickets as Warwickshire were shot out for 245, 110 behind, then the Marks Butcher and Ramprakash both scored centuries to put Surrey firmly in charge. Butcher’s 118 came from only 116 ball,s with 20 fours and two sixes, while Ramps was almost as attacking – he cracked 18 fours and a six as well. Surrey have so far scored at more than six an over throughout their second innings.Frizzell County Championship Division TwoDerbyshire 89 and 226 for 4 v Gloucestershire 277 at Derby
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Michael Di Venuto’s third century of the season hauled Derbyshire back into the game after Gloucestershire had claimed a lead of 188. But Di Venuto was twice pardoned by Stephen Pope, Gloucester’s wicketkeeper, who put him down at 35 and 39. He survived to put on 106 with Dominic Hewson (39) and an unbeaten 81 with Luke Sutton (38*) before bad light brought an early close. At the start of the day Dominic Cork took two quick wickets to finish with 4 for 75 as Gloucester’s tail addded 63 runs.Durham 327 v Northamptonshire 320 for 8 at Chester-le-Street
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It’s all square and all to play for at the Riverside, where Northants finished up seven runs behind Durham with just two wickets standing. Durham added only two runs in the morning, then Phil Jaques cracked another cetury for Northants. His 109 included 14 juicy fours, and he put on 92 for the second wicket with Mike Hussey (43). Solid contributions down the order took Northants to within sight of Durham’s total.Glamorgan 349 and 113 for 3 v Somerset 233 at Cardiff
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Glamorgan grabbed the upper hand at Sophia Gardens, bowling Somerset out for 233 to claim a lead of 116 – Mike Kasprowicz finished with 4 for 53 – then increasing that by 113. Jimmy Maher is still there with 42 not out, while Matthew Maynard spanked a brisk 32 not out towards the close. The main Somerset resistance came from their captain Mike Burns , who made 50, and England’s forgotten one-day man, Ian Blackwell, who smacked 82 from 96 balls, with ten fours and a six. They put on 61, but the next-highest score was Jamie Cox’s 24.

The fiasco of India’s three-day tour game against a President’s XI in Chatsworth took a new twist on Tuesday when a statement from the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union officially abandoning the game was contradicted. It now appears that an inspection of the water-logged outfield will take place on Wednesday to see whether some play might be possible after the first two days of the game were abandoned.No one, however, believes this is likely, and officials from the KZNCU claimed that equipment borrowed by the Chatsworth organisers had already been returned to Kingsmead.The affair has been a debacle from start to finish and might have been comical had it not so disrupted India’s preparations for the first Test match which starts in Bloemfontein on Saturday.Although the sun has shone in Durban for the last three days and club cricket was played in and around the city on Sunday, the Chatsworth outfield has defied what attempts have been made to dry it out. There are drainage problems at the ground, but, as umpire Wilf Diedricks pointed out, it might have helped had the grass in the outfield been cut now and again.The fixture was allocated to Chatsworth, which is not a first-class ground, after community leaders formed action committees and threatened protest marches when it was learned that no World Cup matches would be played at the venue.As a sop, the Indians (who will be based in Durban ahead of the World Cup) were sent to Chatsworth to warm up for the Test series, but the folly of bowing to a form of emotional and political blackmail has now become all too apparent.This is not the first time that a team touring South Africa has been subjected to inadequate organisation and sub-standard facilities. Last year New Zealand were required to play a one-day game in Alice on a pitch that would not have passed muster in a schools’ match. In the event, the captains agreed not to use their quicker bowlers for fear of injury, but no lessons from this seem to have been learned.In the meantime, India practised at Kingsmead on Tuesday afternoon, but their real problem lies in the fact that those members of the party who flew in at the weekend will almost certainly have to go into the first Test without having had a bat or bowl in South African conditions.Would this be a problem for players such as Connor Williams, Indian coach John Wright was asked. "Well," he said wryly, "they’re all in the same boat aren’t they."

Scorecard and ball-by-ball-details Kaushal Silva’s partnerships with Upul Tharanga and Sachith Pathirana gave the SL Board President’s XI innings the much-needed stability•AFP

Kaushal Silva played himself into some form ahead of the first Test, but another failure for Lahiru Thirimanne weakened his grip on the Sri Lanka No. 4 position, as the tour match wound to a draw at the Premadasa Stadium. Silva’s 83 not out was compiled with characteristic measure, as he gritted through the testing new-ball spells, before settling down in the late afternoon.Thirimanne’s cagey 18, however, may see him leave the Sri Lanka XI, particularly as Upul Tharanga stroked a brisk fifty following Thirimanne’s departure. Tharanga, Thirimanne and Jehan Mubarak are effectively playing for two places in the batting order. Mubarak’s absence from this practice match suggests his place is safe, and Tharanga’s superior output against the Indians may see him move to No. 4, as Kumar Sangakkara returns to his familiar No. 3 position.On a pitch that had now begun to take turn, R Ashwin dismissed three middle-order left-handed batsmen, each intent on attack. Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, and Umesh Yadav all claimed a wicket apiece as well, as the Board President’s XI scored 200 for 6 in 54 overs.The Indians’ bowlers also had a workout with the bat early in the day, after KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara were retired out overnight. Only Bhuvneshwar Kumar made use of the opportunity, hitting 37 from 56 balls. Ashwin, Harbhajan and Varun Aaron all made single-figure scores, but Umesh clung on for some time with Bhuvneshwar, making 17 out of their last-wicket partnership of 37.Kaushal survived a close lbw shout off the bowling of Umesh early in his innings, but was chanceless after that, leaving plenty of deliveries from the seamers, as he inched to 9 from his first 28 deliveries. His opening partner Dhananjaya de Silva edged Umesh to third slip for 6, and though Thirimanne stayed with him for 19.2 overs, neither scored many runs. Thirimanne had just begun to loosen up against the spinners, even coming down the track to launch Mishra over the infield, before he pushed at a turning Harbhajan delivery and edged it to slip.Tharanga was in rhythm from very early in his innings, finding the off-side boundary often enough to stay at close to a run-a-ball for the duration of his knock. He was particularly severe on Ashwin, off whom he struck 14 runs in three balls, including a straight six. He flew to fifty off as many balls having hit nine boundaries in all, but was out trying to lift Ashwin over the infield again. An inside edge off his bat looped to Pujara at square leg.Ashwin dismissed Milinda Siriwardene and Kusal Perera in quick succession, in almost identical fashion. Both batsmen made room to attempt a stroke through the off side, but were bowled by quicker deliveries. Kusal has a place in the Test squad, but is unlikely to push a batsman out of the existing batting order, after finishing this match with scores of 0 and 1.Shehan Jayasuriya holed out trying to hit Mishra over cover, and though Sachith Pathirana was no less aggressive in his 31-ball stay, he managed to avoid the fielders with his occasional mis-hits. Play was called off with the Indians still 210 runs ahead.