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Danish Kaneria was delighted with his comeback Test performance andpromised to maintain the standard he has now set for himself.”I can’t be more delighted and satisfied with my performance. It wasmy comeback Test and I required to do something special to reclaim myplace in the squad,” the 20-year-old told reporters after the draw ofstumps on the first day.Danish was dropped after two Tests against England before he earnedthe selectors’ nod following a good performance on the tour to SriLanka with Pakistan ‘A’.”It is flattering to play in company like this and then steal thelimelight when champions like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis are sharingthe new ball. You don’t get this opportunity everyday,” the Karachiitesaid.He termed his success to his training at the National Cricket Academyin Lahore and then the tour to Sri Lanka. “These were immense learningexperiences. But the senior players also assisted me during the camp.Overall, it has been a pleasing performance and I am looking forwardto maintain the standards I have set. But not everyday will I be ableto pick six wickets though I will persist hard to be among the wickettakers,” Danish said.Saeed Anwar, who perhaps got the right opponents to slam a crackingcentury, said he was keen to get the three figures for which heconcentrated very hard.”Although the bowling was relatively moderate, but one still needed tostay in the centre and concentrate. It has been a good innings underhot conditions which confirms how much I am keen to perform andcontinue to play for the country,” Saeed said.Saeed said his knees did bother him while emphasizing that he had beenstruggling in the past to play innings because of injuries to both theknees.He said completing 4,000 runs and joining the company of JavedMiandad, Salim Malik, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Zaheer Abbas and Mudassar Nazarwas a great honour. But added that he had not set any goals forhimself.”My priority is to play for Pakistan with distinction. My job is torun and I am keen to score as many runs as I can. I know myresponsibilities at top of the order and am looking forward tofulfilling the job to the best of my abilities.”

If Australia and New Zealand are the big brother and little brother across the ditch, they have certainly mastered the art of the sibling insults. You’re immature. No, you are. I know you are but what am I? Such is the niggle that has crept in between the teams this year, a year in which they not only faced off in a World Cup final, but have clearly approached their cricket in different ways.New Zealand under Brendon McCullum are all about the spirit of cricket. No sledging and send-offs for them. By comparison, Australia have been widely viewed as the villains of the rivalry, the masters of the on-field verbals, the send-offs, of playing to win at all costs. They say they try not to cross the line, but in the words of David Warner: “We’ve head-butted it a couple of times”.A key case of carping this year was McCullum’s column in September, when he said that Australia’s captain Steven Smith had “showed his immaturity” by not withdrawing an obstructing the field appeal against England’s Ben Stokes in an ODI. McCullum argued that it was a chance for Smith to make a statement about the way he wanted his side to play.It was a comment that was not well received by the Australians, who in the lead-up to this week’s first Test in Brisbane have clearly not forgotten McCullum’s words. Smith told this week that he was “a little bit disappointed” and that he felt it was none of McCullum’s business; his vice-captain was less polite in his words when asked about the incident on Tuesday.”In my opinion it was something that was quite poor and immature on his behalf, to actually make the comment about Steve,” Warner said. “For one, as an international cricketer I don’t see the need or the right for a current cricket captain to write columns on another series. After I read the first one I didn’t really pay attention to what he was saying.”His opinion is going to be heard worldwide but you can’t be talking about the players the way he did. At the end of the day he’s the captain and you’ve got to respect Brendon, he’s done a great job with the Kiwis and he’s trying to make them the world’s politest team, and well done to him.”Warner was critical of what he considered to be the hypocrisy of McCullum by having his team play as the “Mr Nice Guys” of world cricket on the field, yet criticise Australia’s captain off it. New Zealand have been regular winners of the ICC’s Spirit of Cricket Award, but that is not something that interests Warner.McCullum had written that Smith had shown his immaturity by not withdrawing an obstructing-the-field appeal against England at Lord’s•Getty Images

“At the end of the day you’re not playing for the Spirit of Cricket Award are you, you’re playing for a series and for us that’s what our goal is, is to win the series,” he said. “Our goal is to be No.1 in all formats and we’re always going to fight for that. At the end of the day we try not to cross that line. A couple of times we’ve head-butted it.”Smith, for his part, said this week that if he had his time over again he would do nothing differently in following through with the obstructing the field appeal against Stokes. McCullum wondered in his newspaper column at the time whether Smith might live to regret the appeal, but Australia’s captain dismissed that suggestion this week.”I actually wouldn’t change a thing,” Smith said. “I think what happened, Starcy threw the ball and Stokes willingly put his hand out when the ball was going to hit the stumps, so for me it was just out. If I faced the same situation again you’d get the same result.”It was a nice little experience. Obviously the crowds can be quite vocal over in England, at Lord’s that day they were getting into you. That doesn’t happen too often but I think it was nice to look back and be able to say if that happened again I’d do the same thing. No regrets.”The New Zealanders can no doubt expect some choice words from the Australians when the Test series begins on Thursday, as was the case during the World Cup; after the final, Brad Haddin said he had wanted to get stuck into New Zealand because they had been so nice it made him feel uncomfortable. Fast bowler Trent Boult said sledging was not in the New Zealand make-up.”In terms of sledging, the Australians are known for that but I can’t see us wasting too much energy there and getting caught up in too much of that stuff,” Boult said. “We haven’t spoken about don’t sledge anyone or anything like that. It’s 38 degrees out there at the moment so we aren’t going to waste our energy trying to spray the Australians.”

Lee-thal
The first 10am start of the tournament at Cape Town always meant the toss would be crucialand after the coin fell in Australia’s favour, Brett Lee was on thespot straight away. His second ball swung back into Sanath Jayasuriya,cutting him in half, the next delivery was a touch fuller and didexactly the same. This time Asad Rauf raised his finger and Sri Lankawere immediately on the back foot. Meanwhile, Jayasuriya’stournament continued to nosedive with his last three scores reading 5,0 and 0.Catching on
Lee was at the centre of most of the early action. After removingJayasuriya he held onto Upul Tharanga’s top edge at third man beforehaving Mahela Jayawardene caught at mid-on from a ball which stoppedon the surface. Jayawardene could hardly tear himself away from thecrease, realising his side’s chances were slipping away. The problemsgrew when Lee, again at third man, but this time to aright-hander, made Chamara Silva’s outside edge appear a comfortablecatch. It used to be that fast bowlers didn’t make the best fieldersbut Lee is a supreme athlete – and confirmed it with a third catch, awell-judged running effort, to remove Chaminda Vaas.Clark and Clarke
Early on in the tournament the scoreboard at Newlands had a few issuesdeciding whether it wanted to show Michael Clarke or Stuart Clark.It’s a good job it was in full working order today as both combinedtwice to plunge Sri Lanka into deeper trouble. Kumar Sangakkara,trying his best to hold the innings together, slashed to backwardpoint where Clarke took a smart low catch, but his next effort was onanother level. Farveez Maharoof tried to drive through the covers,only to get an outside edge which flew in the direction of Clarke. Itwas skimming inches above the turf; Clarke flung himself to hisright and managed to get a hand underneath the ball for one of thecatches of the tournament.Six and ouch
The control Australia had throughout the innings was emphasised whenthe first six didn’t come until the 19th over – a meaty blow by LasithMalinga – but that wasn’t the real drama. Shane Watson, in his firstmatch back after recovering from a hamstring injury, followed throughand immediately clutched his left hamstring. Once again he left thefield distraught and more time on the sidelines beckons. It isbecoming a depressing pattern and creates further questions aboutWatson’s long-term future.Bullying batting
Australia barely had to break sweat during their run chase, but therewas still time for Matthew Hayden to show his brute force. Hisunforgiving strokeplay stamped Australia’s complete superiority onthe match, but it is no different to the way he goes about his inningsin ODIs and sometimes even in Tests. There isn’t anything gracefulabout how he plays, wielding his huge bat like a sledge hammer, but ithas served him well and lifted him top of the run-scoring table forthe time being.

Dennis Lillee believes England’s fast bowlers will be licking their lips at the prospect of rattling an ageing Australian top order. Lillee, who enjoyed playing against England’s “Dad’s Army” team of 1974-75, said Australia’s senior batsmen could be the side’s undoing during the Ashes series.Justin Langer will be 36 when the first Test starts at the Gabba on November 23, while Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist will all be 35. Writing in his column in the , Lillee said he welcomed the chance to bowl against ageing England batsmen such as Colin Cowdrey, who played in 1974-75 at the age of 42.”Over a period of time, as a fast bowler, you get to learn that a batsman’s reflexes definitely get slower as he gets older,” Lillee wrote. “Mark my word, the England pace attack, mentally buoyed and on faster Australian wickets, will this summer be at their absolute peak age-wise.”Lillee said batsmen found it harder to hide problems as they got older. “I’m not having a go at individuals, it’s just that this is what happens,” he said. “Australia have some great players but even the greatest players get tapped on the shoulder by Father Time at some stage. We’ve got to wonder if that time has arrived for some of them.”Lillee said Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey were at the peak of their powers, but the possible absence of Michael Clarke and Phil Jaques would hurt Australia. Although he expects Gilchrist to perform better than in last year’s Ashes, he said if the visitors could contain his explosive batting it would greatly harm Australia’s cause.He said Langer was another to face a significant challenge, having not played a Test since being hit in the head by a Makhaya Ntini delivery in April. Lillee expressed grave doubts that the home side could live up to expectations. “It’s worrying how Australia, after being outplayed in England, are going to turn things around with a decidedly older team,” he wrote.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer produced Australia’s first century opening stand of the series to give them the ideal base as they pursued England’s first-innings 373 on the second afternoon at The Oval. But their progress was halted after tea when bad light and surrounding thunderstorms took the players off. England’s tail had rallied at the start of the day, but their efforts only proved that this pitch is still full of runs and the Australians are determined to cash in.It was surprising when Australia took the offer of bad light as soon as the teams reappeared after the tea interval. They are the side that has to win the Test to hold the Ashes and England won’t be bothered how much time is taken out of the match. Although the downpours that hit the north and west of London skirted around Kennington, drizzle did arrive and the light never improved. Michael Vaughan would have been delighted to spend some time in the dressing-room to allow him and his attack to come up with some new ideas to tackle a new problem – a productive opening stand from Australia.Langer was by far the more fluent of the openers and, after carefully negotiating the first burst from England’s pace bowlers, he greeted Ashley Giles with two huge sixes, signalling his intent to dominate. Hayden, meanwhile, had to battle away as he strived to find the touch which has eluded him for the entire series. But the longer he stayed there the easier it became, and by the tea interval his footwork was more positive than at any stage this summer.

England did have the opportunity to force a breakthrough, albeit via an unlikely source. After Giles’s first over was dispatched for 14, Vaughan turned to Paul Collingwood, England’s fifth bowler in the absence of Simon Jones. Collingwood is by no means a frontline bowler but he surprised Langer with extra bounce and a flashing edge flew to the right of Marcus Trescothick at a wide slip. But Trescothick moved late and could only get one hand on the ball, parrying it to the boundary. Langer was on 53 at the time and was playing with ominous confidence.The difference in England’s attack from the previous four Tests was stark. It would be stretching the point to say Vaughan was searching for options but he was certainly missing a fifth frontline option – despite Collingwood’s impressive spell. Steve Harmison was not at his best and with just the four main choices Vaughan needed everyone firing.Giles switched ends and brought a modicum of control as well as creating the occasional moment of concern for Langer out of the footmarks, who was lucky to escape a close lbw appeal from an attempted sweep. But those areas will concern England too, with Shane Warne having already performed wonders in the first innings. However, there is a lot of work for England to do before they can consider batting again and they would gladly take a single breakthrough at the moment.The signs at the beginning of the day were that Australia were focused and up for the challenge. Brett Lee struck in his first over to dislodge the dangerous Geraint Jones with a delivery that pitched on the off stump and held its line to clip the woodwork.

With Jones’s demise adding to the late fall of wickets on the opening day, Australia were engineering a promising position and England were in danger of falling short of the 350 that was really a minimum. However, Giles has a useful habit of scoring runs when England need them most – his heroics and Trent Bridge will still have been fresh in his mind – and he began to play his shots once he was joined by the fast bowlers.Matthew Hoggard hung around for 50 minutes of resistance before he was fooled by a Glenn McGrath slower ball and spooned a catch to Damien Martyn at mid off. The Australians then felt rightly aggrieved when Rudi Koertzen missed an edge from Giles as he flashed at a wide ball from McGrath. Ponting was incensed by the decision, and Giles proceed to increase the Australian frustration by hitting out with Harmison.Both batsmen chanced their arm, with Giles giving himself room to hit over the off side and Harmison unleashing his powerful short-arm pull. Harmison them took three consecutive fours off Brett Lee, including a stunning straight drive. Warne, though, brought an end to the fun when he claimed his sixth wicket, but he had Billy Bowden to thank as the ball which struck Giles in front would have spun past the off stump. Australia will have felt it evened up the umpiring decisions after the earlier rough call.The bowlers – or more specifically Warne – had done their job and England’s total was no more than par on an excellent surface. It was then down to the Australia batsmen, who haven’t fired as a unit in this series when it really matters, to play their part by setting the foundations for a huge total. The batting may have spluttered so far but judging by the start made by Langer and Hayden they could well have chosen the most important moment of the summer to make an impact.

EnglandGeriant Jones b Lee 25 (325 for 8)
Matthew Hoggard c Martyn b McGrath 2 (345 for 9)
Ashley Giles lbw b Warne 32 (373 all out)

Muttiah Muralitharan, who has been named in a 16-man squad for Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia, has released a personal statement asserting that his doosra, which has been barred by the ICC, is a fair delivery and will eventually be declared legal.Muralitharan admitted that the weeks since his doosra was reported as being suspect have been traumatic, and added that he will wait patiently for the results of further research into the biomechanics of spin bowling, which is due to be completed by the ICC in September.”I am a patient person and as a spin bowler you learn that trait very quickly,” said Murali. “I am adamant in my belief that I operate within the laws of the game, and that my action when delivering the doosra does not give me an unfair advantage. I am confident that the tests and research by the relevant authorities will conclusively prove that my action when delivering the doosra is legal.”Tests carried out at the University of Western Australia revealed that Muralitharan’s arm, when bowling the doosra, straightened by 14 degrees. This flexing was reduced to 10.2 degrees after remedial action, but that was still twice the permitted level of bending for slow bowlers, which stands at five degrees. The ICC’s tolerance levels are to be reviewed after further research during the Champions Trophy.”My action is unorthodox,” he said, “It is, however, wrong for people to label me as a chucker based solely on what they see with the naked eyes, for what such people perceive as a throw is an optical illusion, a fact proven by the tests carried out on my bowling action over the years.”Muralitharan also hit out at his critics in the release, saying: “I have been defamed, pilloried and severely criticised by the world’s cricket media. Even the prime minister of Australia has called me a chucker and then in the next sentence says I will be welcome to tour his country!”He also took time to thank those who have stood by him during the controversy: “Through this all, the supportive comments of cricketers, cricket experts and the cricket-loving public from all over the world has been greatly appreciated.”

MUTARE SPORTS CLUB v KWEKWE SPORTS CLUBAt Harare Sports Club; 30 March 2003. Mutare Sports Club won by 19 runs.MUTARE*+N R Ferreira c Viljoen b Ervine 84G J Whittall c Viljoen b Friend 4R W Sims c Viljoen b Price 29T K Mawoyo c Ervine b Friend 61K P R Went b Viljoen 4G B Brent not out 37A D Soma run out (?) 3L J Soma not out 0A L TaylorJ M LewisM NayimExtras (b 10 lb 3 w 12 nb 1) 26(6 wkts; 50 overs) 248Friend 10 0 64 2 (6w 1nb)Ervine 10 0 51 1 (1w)Rainsford 8 0 33 0 (2w)Price 10 2 30 1Viljoen 10 1 35 1 (1w)Delport 2 0 22 0 (1w)KWEKWET Duffin lbw b Brent 5V Sibanda c Ferreira b L J Soma 8T J Friend c Went b A D Soma 91S M Ervine c and b Brent 69*D P Viljoen b Lewis 9R W Price st Ferreira b Sims 0C Macmillan c Whittall b L J Soma 12C Delport not out 13+D J R Campbell b A D Soma 2E C Rainsford lbw b Brent 1A Ireland b A D Soma 0Extras (b 6 lb 1 w 7 nb 5) 19(46.3 overs) 229L J Soma 7 0 41 2 (3w 3nb)Brent 9 0 41 3 (2w)Lewis 10 0 62 1 (2w)Taylor 4 0 15 0 (2nb)Sims 10 0 41 1A D Soma 6.3 0 22 3UNIVERSALS v TAKASHINGAAt Universals Sports Club; 30 March 2003. Takashinga won by five wickets.UNIVERSALSH Adam b Matsikenyeri 4K J Taibu c Utseya b Maungwa 7B G Rogers c Kulinga b Matsikenyeri 63D D Ebrahim run out (Mufambisi) 52G M Croxford not out 31N B Mahwire not out 13*I MemanD T HondoS ShahS AdamR ChiradzaExtras (lb 3 w 10 nb 6) 19(4 wkts; 47 overs) 189Maungwa 8 2 32 1 (4w 1nb)Utseya 10 0 23 0 (4w)Matsikenyeri 8 1 38 2 (1nb)Chigumbura 8 0 32 0 (1w 3nb)Kulinga 10 0 47 0Taibu 3 0 14 0TAKASHINGAE Chauluka b Hondo 6T Mufambisi b Mahwire 7S Matsikenyeri lbw b Rogers 39+T Taibu c and b Rogers 6R Manyande c Taibu b Rogers 2J Marumisa not out 49E Chigumbura not out 65P UtseyaA MaungwaK KulingaT GembeseyaExtras (lb 5 w 10 nb 1) 16(5 wkts; 46 overs) 190Hondo 9 2 31 1 (2w 1nb)Shah 1 0 8 0 (3w)Mahwire 9 0 24 1 (3w)Croxford 8 0 37 0 (1w)Rogers 10 0 37 3 (1w)S Adam 8 0 39 0H Adam 1 0 9 0

The Second Xl Trophy final between Somerset 2nd XI and Surrey 2nd XI will beplayed on Monday 10 September (reserve day Tuesday 11 September) at theCounty Ground, Taunton.

Sri Lanka claimed a two-wicket win in the third Under-19 Test at Worcesterand took the series 2-1, having lost the first Test.They began the day needing 52 more runs to win with five wickets in hand andlost the crucial wicket of opener Ian Daniels early on when he had his offstumped removed by Tim Murtagh.But Malintha Gajanayake and skipper Kaushalya Weeraratne took their side tothe brink of victory with an excellent partnership of 37 for the seventhwicket.With only five runs needed for victory, Essex left-armer Justin Bishop, whotook seven for 42 in the first innings, struck twice in two balls to putEngland right back in the hunt.First he had Weeraratne caught behind and then Ranil Dhammika was wellcaught low at first slip by Nicky Peng.New batsman Akalanka Ganegama, who took ten wickets in the match, scrambleda single before Gajanayake drove Bishop through the covers for the winningruns, which sparked a pitch invasion by the entire jubilant Sri Lankan side.It was the first series England had lost at under-19 level since 1996 whenthey were beaten 1-0 by New Zealand.England manager Tim Boon paid tribute to Sri Lanka’s bowlers, saying: “Theirseamers have bowled progressively better during the series and they bowled agreat line and length here.”It was a helter skelter game of cricket on an uneven pitch and I just hopethat our players take this experience on board and learn from it. That iswhat Under-19 cricket is all about.”

Sheldon Jackson smashed a second hundred in two days as Saurashtra romped to a 10-wicket win over Goa in Rajkot. Jackson, who had scored 111 in his side’s tournament opener on Friday, struck an unbeaten 150 off 106 balls, with 22 fours and four sixes, as Saurashtra chased down a target of 200 in 26.3 overs, without losing a wicket. Avi Barot, their other opener, finished unbeaten on 49 off 56 balls.Sent in to bat, Goa were bowled out for a below-par 199, with Sagun Kamat scoring 95 (141b, 8×4) but no one else making a substantial contribution beyond Swapnil Asnodkar’s 30 and Reagan Pinto’s 29. Medium-pacer Saurya Sanandiya was Saurashtra’s most successful bowler with three wickets, while Ravindra Jadeja had figures of two for 31 from his ten overs.