Surindra Shinde’s sedate 97 helped the Karnataka Under-25 team toscore a 4 wicket win on the third and final day’s play over Andhra inthe KSCA Coca Cola Under-25 Tournament at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium inBangalore on Saturday.Set to score 238 for a win, Karnataka lost opener Shyam Ponnappa (6)in the fourth over of the innings when he was caught behind by TSPrasad off Anil Kumar. Then the new batsman AR Mahesh (12) in thecompany of the other opener V Pramod (23) took the score onto 39 whenMahesh found himself struggling to reach his crease in the ninth over.Then nine balls later Pramod departed, giving a catch to BB Krishnaoff the bowling of Anil Kumar.Surindra Shinde (97) and S Rajashekar (40) put the Karnataka inningsback in the right track with a 95-run fourth wicket stand in 24.5overs. Rajashekar departed after offering a catch to Arjun Kumar offVVB Reddy. Amith Kumar (51) now joined Shinde to forge a 82-run fifthwicket partnership to ensure Karnataka of sealing a well deserved win.Shinde lost his defences to K Laxman and the very next ball M Vinod(0) was caught behind. But Amith Kumar and Sunil Kumar (5) sawKarnataka through.Earlier, play started late due to rain and resuming at the overnightscore of 169 for 9, Andhra added just 15 runs before their secondinnings folded up. Top scorer S Arun Kumar (65) was the last man to bedismissed when he offered a catch to S Rajashekar off Sunil Kumar.

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Twenty-four hours after Scotland defeated Ireland on the last ball – Jersey scraped through by one run, again off the last ball, against the Netherlands. Needing five to win from the last over with one wicket left, Paul van Meekeren had seemingly guaranteed a tie for the Dutch by driving Charles Perchard through the covers, but a brilliant diving stop from Andrew Rabet at long-off kept the batsmen to a couple.Three dot balls followed before van Meekeren took a single to leave last man Werner Erkelens needing two from one. Perchard bowled it full and straight and though Erkelens did get bat on it it was only enough to return the ball to the bowler, who comfortably won the footrace to the non-strikers’ stumps, sending Jersey into raptures.Earlier in the day, Jersey were reduced to 58 for 6 by some impressive Dutch seam bowling. Skipper Sebastian Braat led from the front, picking up 3 for 28 in his ten, while Philip van den Brandeler continued his good firm by taking 3 for 26. The most economical spell, however, belonged to left-armer Zacahary van Baren, who got through his ten for only 14.From here, though, Alex Noel (30) and Alex Cooke (31) staged a recovery, and their dogged seventh-wicket partnership of 64 hoisted the Jersey total into the realms of competitiveness: 140 for 8.In reply, the Dutch started equally poorly, losing wickets to the seam of Perchard, Cooke, and Noel before Stevens and James Faudemer took over. The left-arm spinners bowled beautifully together, conceding only 29 runs from their combined overs. The seamers returned and when Aiden McGuire ran out van Baren to leave the Dutch 102 for 8, the Islanders had become favourites.Nevertheless, a ninth-wicket stand of 33 between van Meekeren and the tenacious James Gruijters swung the match back towards the Netherlands before Gruijters – whose mature 42 was undoubtedly the innings of the day – was caught at point with the score on 135. By this stage, a number of Derriaghy locals had made their way to the ground and so a sizeable crowd was present to witness another remarkable climax in this absorbing week of cricket.
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At Belmont, Scotland had a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Denmark. Winning the toss, Scotland had no hesitation in asking their opponents to bat first and Denmark were soon in trouble on a soft, damp pitch.Scotland captain Paddy Sadler bowled his ten overs on the trot, taking four wickets for just 10 runs as the top order collapsed. Bashit Javed at No. 6 was the only batsman to get to grips with the bowling and pitch, making 32 of the 55 runs scored. Denmark fell to a final total of 100 in the 45th over. Freddie Coleman grabbed the last three wickets at a cost of four runs in four overs.Scotland began slowly, losing TomMcBride with just 11 on the board. Coleman and Luthra then took the score to 38 before Coleman was run out following a fine piece of work. However, Luthra was joined by Bailwal and they took control and saw Scotland to within sight of victory before Luthra was caught on the deep midwicket boundary by Raja.Scotland reached their target in the 28th over, Bailwal finishing the match with the only six of the day. This victory leaves Scotland with two victories after two rounds of matches.
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Ireland put the disappointment of their reversal against Scotland firmly behind them when they comprehensively defeated Guernsey by seven wickets at Stormont.Adam Martel had put Guernsey in a strong position with his 46 from 80 balls, which included five fours and a six. At 94 for 1, Guernsey were well set, but the dismissal of Martel by Irish captain George Dockrell proved a pivotal moment in the game, and Guernsey contrived to lose their last 9 wickets for just 44 runs to finish on 135 all out in just over 44 overs.Andy McBrine (3 for 25), George Dockrell (2 for 13), Shane Getkate (2 for 23) and Barry McCarthy (2 for 25) were the successful wicket takers. Any thoughts that Guernsey could make Ireland struggle were quickly dispelled as Jason van der Merwe and Ryan Hunter launched a blistering attack on the opening bowlers. The pair added 61 in just 4.3 overs, with Van der Merwe striking 4 fours and a six in his 28 from just 14 balls.Hunter went on to score a deserved half century making 55 from just 49 balls. Andy McBrine (20*), and George Dockrell (13*) saw Ireland over the finishing line with more than 30 overs to spare.

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.

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.

New Bangladesh Premier League franchise Comilla Victorians have appointed Mohammad Salahuddin as their head coach and became the first team from this year’s competition to appoint a team official.Salahuddin is a former assistant coach of the Bangladesh national team and was also the head coach of Sylhet Royals in the 2013 BPL when they made it to the to Race to the Final stage.”I feel energetic to team up with Comilla Victorians,” Salahuddin said. “It came to me as an honour as I’ll get the privilege to serve the team that is representing Comilla, my home district. I have experience of working with [Comilla Victorians chairman] Nafeesa Kamal during the last episode of BPL. Hope this understanding will help us manage the team more fluently this season.”Meanwhile, the BPL governing council on Monday proposed a ceiling of USD 70,000 and minimum amount of USD 30,000 for foreign players. For Bangladeshi players, the payment range would be BDT 500,000 (approx USD 6,400) to BDT 3,500,000 (approx USD 44,800).Once these proposals are approved by the BCB in their October 7 meeting, the players-by-choice programme is likely to be held on October 31, where the six franchises will get to choose their players through a draft.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsWellington Masakadza picked up 4 for 21 and was adjudged the Man of the Match•AFP

Wellington Masakadza’s best ODI figures of 4 for 21, and three-fors from debutant Tendai Chisoro and Luke Jongwe helped Zimbabwe crush Afghanistan by eight wickets in the first ODI in Bulawayo. Afghanistan were bundled out for 122 and the hosts chased it down with rather ease within 24 overs with a fifty from Chamu Chibhabha.Afghanistan elected to bat on a typically flat Queens Sports Club pitch and were rocked by Jongwe’s double-wicket maiden in the sixth over. He had Noor Ali Zadran sky a catch to midwicket and Nawroz Mangal edge one to Craig Ervine in the slips, leaving them on 15 for 2. No. 3 Mohammad Shahzad counterattacked by smashing three consecutive fours off Tinashe Panyangara in the next over and got a reprieve when he was dropped by John Nyumbu in the slips in the same over.However, Jongwe struck again, in the tenth over, when captain Asghar Stanikzai also edged one to Ervine in the slips to finish his first spell with 6-2-10-3. Shahzad buckled down for a few overs and broke free with a six off left-arm spinner Masakadza but was trapped lbw on the very next ball and to deepen Afghanistan’s problems, Mohammad Nabi edged his first ball to the slips, Ervine taking his third catch, to leave Masakadza on a hat-trick.Najibullah Zadran survived the hat-trick ball and nearly fell in Masakadza’s next over when he drove the ball at a catchable height to Chisoro at mid-off, but the chance was spilled. Masakadza didn’t have to wait long for his third wicket – Samiullah Shenwari also offered a catch to Chisoro at mid-off and this time the debutant held on to it.Afghanistan were 71 for 6 now and Najibullah unleashed a four and a six off Nyumbu’s consecutive overs to give them some hope of a revival. But Chisoro dashed those aspirations by dismissing Amir Hamza and Najibullah in consecutive overs before they could reach 100. Tailenders Dawlat Zadran and Aftab Alam did rescue the innings a little bit. They combined for the innings’ biggest partnership of 27 runs which featured three fours and a six from Dawlat. Chisoro came back to break the stand and Masakadza finished things off in his seventh over to wrap the innings in the 35th over.Zimbabwe came out to bat an hour before lunch, and Chibhabha got going with a whip off his pads for four in the second over. The opening pair of Chibhabha and Richmond Mutumbami had the chase in a cruise with a fifty stand which saw frequent fours from both batsmen. The partnership of 53 was broken by medium-pacer Aftab Alam as Mutumbami edged him behind for 30.Chibhabha then reached his 15th ODI fifty in style with a six off Amir Hamza in the 19th over and followed it with a four in the next over, but fell in the over after that for a brisk 58.Tinotenda Mutombodzi finished things off three overs later with a four and a six to hand his team a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCullum believes a fighting draw in Perth has provided his side a platform from which to beat Australia – not just in the third Test in Adelaide, but the return series across the Tasman next year.As McCullum noted, many a team have squandered the comforts of a flat pitch when asked to reply to a mammoth total in the region of 550, made over two days of high temperatures. That New Zealand did not was a major tick for their resilience as cricketers, and a vindication of McCullum’s view before the match that Brisbane’s lopsided result did not reflect the gap in quality between the teams as much as it did his side’s underdone state.”It’s satisfying when you fight your way back to come out with not just a draw but encouraging signs of the steel and resolve and backbone in this line-up,” he said. “It would have been easy to fall over in the first innings, we’ve seen it time and time again but two leaders stood up in the group and played incredibly important innings.”For a while they gave us the ability to believe we could pull off an against-the-odds Test win. We came over here with ambitions and expectations of winning a series but if we can’t win, the next best thing is to draw so that’s firmly on our minds. We head to Adelaide chasing a result and if we play better, tidying up certain areas, we’ll give ourselves an opportunity.”New Zealand have shown a tendency to begin series slowly before improving as they go on, particularly on the road. McCullum said he was no closer to working out why this was so, but felt sure that Australian respect for his side had grown over the past four days.”Still can’t put finger on that,” he said. “We’re a pretty young side, sometimes there’s so much anticipation and excitement in series that until you get your feet under the desk in the series that’s when you start to feel completely comfortable, without inhibitions.”Australia respect us as a cricket team and what we’ve achieved over a period. The margin in the first Test was reflective of that match but not the gulf between the teams. Perth has shown the teams are a lot closer. It’s important for us to win respect for how we play and the skill and tenacity we have.”We still want Ws in our column, or at least drawing series, but if we continue playing with as much resilience with the bat and periods [like today] with ball we will earn that respect.”McCullum’s team dictated terms on the final day by offering nothing for Steven Smith and Adam Voges to latch onto and get themselves into a strong position to declare. Many will wonder how the match might have panned out had they bowled that precisely on the first morning.”We started impeccably with the ball,” he said. “When you bowl as well as we did this morning, I kept thinking if we’d bowled that well on day one how things could be different. We had hopes of winning, I wouldn’t say they were high hopes, because it was always going to take something miraculous to come on top, but a draw is a fair result.”Now New Zealand turn towards preparing for the pink ball of Adelaide and the day/night Test. They are playing a warm-up match under lights this week against a Western Australia XI, also at the WACA Ground.”Obviously there was hesitancy from both sides heading into the announcement of the pink ball, but now we’re going to embrace the challenge,” he said. “It’s going to go ahead, a couple of days to prepare under lights. Hopefully it goes brilliantly in front of a big crowd, broadcast around the world. The reluctance going in has disappeared.”Finally, McCullum offered his view of Mitchell Johnson, who retired at game’s end. “Every cricketer comes to a stage where enough is enough, it’s important to focus on what an incredible difference he made to the game,” he said. “Brett Lee’s record is phenomenal but look at him [Johnson], he has gone better. He has taken a bit of criticism, so to withstand that and stay strong to his values and go out and take wickets is a testament to the bloke.”A lot is made of how nasty he can be on the field. I’ve played against him a number of years and it’s healthy competition. Ultimately he’s a great bloke. From our point of view hopefully we were able to add a touch of class being able to give him that welcome to the crease. I wish him the best, but I’m pleased he’s not playing in Adelaide.”

With wet conditions continuing to prevail in this series, the playing hourswere slightly restricted on the first day. It provided the opportunity forCricInfo to talk to Clive Rice, Nottinghamshire’s Cricket Manager.While his team is making good progress this season, Rice is particularlyhappy with the long-awaited arrival of Pakistan’s fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.”You can see what Shoaib has done with coming into the club, the membershiphas increased by 20% already, before the season has properly started. Sothat’s the interest shown by the people. He is probably the most excitingyoung player in world cricker today and the fastest bowler. When you getsomeone bowling at that sort of pace it is really exciting and mostspectacular.”The anticipation of what he might do this season is certainly evident interms of enquiries as to when he will start playing and also when you seewithin the side the excitement about the fact that a missile is about to bedelivered, there is a lot of confidence created in the team.He said: “He is such a positive person, just his presence has generated somuch confidence. If he can win you between eight and ten games, that canbring you a trophy. The prospects are just so exciting. You will also findthat other bowlers in the side will feed off his presence that he might becoming on to bowl or he is bowling and the batsmen can’t get him away so theytake chances at the other end and you get dismissals as a result of that.”Pakistan were a bit silly to make him bowl when he wasn’t fully recoveredfrom a pulled muscle that is why it has taken him longer to get fit. We arehoping that he will be fit in a week to play against Worcestershire. “Rice added, “Shoaib is popular, he is easy to get on with and has endearedhimself to the guys already.”He then went on to say that at Trent Bridge they have a programme going forpromoting the game in the area and the developement of young players. ” Wewill be sifting through and letting the promising ones come through to anelite group.”Finally, Clive Rice talked about CricInfo: ” When I see the kind ofcoverage that is taking place on the internet through Cricinfo, it isabsolutely brilliant. The information and updates given on the games isexcellent. You can follow it without being there and I think the fact thatthey are sponsoring the Nottinghanshire team is really great.”As far as the cricket was concerened today, it can only be said that not muchhas been going right for Zimbabwe on this tour as they struggle withinjuries, poor form, weather conditions and not least with a little worry ofthe political unrest back home. But while that was beginning to giveindications of scaling down to an extent, it raised its ugly head yesterdaywith the murder of another white farmer whose son Jason Oates is afirst-class cricketer there and as a mark of respect the Zimbabweans woreblack arm bands on the field.Andy Flower, the tourists’ beleaguered captain must have thought that thingsmight begin to go their way when he won a toss which seemed important underthe heavy sky. The conditions were similar to Lord’s in the previous Test andhis thoughts must have gone back to that morning when England put them in andsaw a most humiliating batting performance.But any hope that Zimbabwe might have held of getting England off to asimilar start was dispelled rapidly. After a tentative start, during whichboth England openers played and missed against the swinging ball,particularly from Heath Streak, both batsmen settled in and once againZimbabwe suffered. The brilliant opening stand and the prospects of what maywell follow must already be agonising for Zimbabwe.

Bihar Under-19 scored a comfortable innings and 29 runs victory overAssam in their East Zone Cooch Behar Trophy Under-19 tie at the NFRSAStadium in Maligaon, Assam on Sunday.Resuming at the overnight score of 136 for 8, Assam lost their lasttwo wickets for the addtion of just 13 runs. The first to be dismissedwas B Baruah (0) bowled by Mihir Diwakar. Three overs later the finalAssam wicket fell, that of M Barman (15) when he ran himself out. Byvirtue of this outright win, Bihar earned eight points.

The Cooch Behar Under-19 Trophy tournament match between Tripura andBihar at the PIG ground in Agartala was declared a draw afteruninterrupted rain forced the suspension of play at 9.15 am on the thirdand final day on Sunday.In all, only three overs were possible in the match on the opening dayon Friday before the rain gods took over to wash away any hope ofplay for the rest of the match. Electing to bat, Bihar scored only fiveruns without loss in the three overs. Both teams got three points each.