It was a measure of Sri Lanka’s overwhelming superiority in this game that Muttiah Muralitharan could afford to have a mediocre outing. Having suffered a bit of a mauling at Brian Lara’s hands in 2001, Murali ran into another left-hander determined to assert himself.Shivnarine Chanderpaul might have struggled to work Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando off the square, but he pummelled four sixes off Murali while taking him for 38 from just 31 balls. For the near-capacity crowd, it was but consolation, with the asking rate having climbed into double figures as early as the 30th over.In their first Super Eights game, Sri Lanka lost a match that they would have expected to win, against South Africa on a sluggish pitch. But with even the weather gods frowning on them on Sunday morning, they delved deep to produce the sort of dynamic all-round performance that had pushed a feeble Indian side through the tournament’s trap-door.The headlines will undoubtedly be hogged by Sanath Jayasuriya, after 115 scintillating runs and three wickets, but just as critical was a dogged 82 from Mahela Jayawardene. When he arrived at the crease, Sri Lanka were sliding on very thin ice. Lara had won an important toss, and Daren Powell was making use of it with another excellent spell of new-ball bowling.His seven World Cup innings in 2003 had fetched Jayawardene all of 21 runs, and his record over the past few months against decent opposition was nothing to crow about. Had he departed early, as he did against South Africa, a combination of the leaden skies, raucous support and committed work in the field might have induced a collapse.It didn’t happen. The sky stayed grey, and the crowd roared, but West Indies disintegrated once Powell’s spell was over. Chris Gayle started with long hops and wides, and was duly swatted away, while the usually metronomic Ian Bradshaw endured a real savaging from Jayasuriya. The two Dwaynes, Bravo and Smith, are usually effective on these kind of pitches, but once Jayasuriya abandoned circumspection for bristling intent, they were made to look like trundlers with little variety and guile.As Jayasuriya went from handbrake to full throttle in the space of a few deliveries, Jayawardene had the time to play himself in. He needed it too, appearing listless and strokeless in the opening exchanges. Only ten came from the first 25 balls he faced, and after 50 deliveries, he was becalmed on 22, by which time Jayasuriya had thumped to a run-a-ball 53.

When asked what it felt like to break out of his slump finally, Jayawardene laughed and said: “I got runs against Bermuda. You don’t count that?”For him and most others apart from the exceptional Jayasuriya, batting was hard work on this Providence pitch. Of Sri Lanka’s total, only 106 came in boundaries, and the quality of the running between wickets was mitigated only by some abysmal West Indian fielding. Smith’s failure to catch Jayawardene at deep midwicket might not have been costly in terms of runs, but it summed up a third successive West Indian debacle after an encouraging start to the competition.After the defeat to South Africa, Tom Moody had talked of how his batsmen would address the situation. Jayasuriya, who Jayawardene termed a “big-game player”, shone the torch for the others with his 25th century, an innings of two parts that he said he would “never forget”. Having eked out 14 from the first 33 balls he faced, Jayasuriya exploded into life with the third Powerplay being taken. Batting as though he desired an extra zero on his back – his shirt has 07 on it – he raced to his century from 86 balls. There was the odd miscue on a slow pitch, but the patented pick-up shots over the leg side were breathtaking.”He was exceptional today,” Lara, who knows a thing or two about special World Cup knocks, said. “We did not see it coming.” Jayawardene certainly did. “He changed the momentum,” he said. “Sanath took the pressure out. I could play risk-free and straight. I didn’t have to look for runs.”The 183-run partnership effectively settled the game, with Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 22-ball cameo merely making West Indian shoulders droop even more. But even with so much by way of run-insurance, Sri Lanka were exceptional in the field. “The idea was not to give them an explosive start,” Jayawardene said. “They had to take chances.”Few of them came off, though Chanderpaul’s sixes did give Murali ordinary figures for a change. Tremendous wicketkeeping had already killed off admittedly slim West Indian hopes, with both Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan suspended in mid-air as Kumar Sangakkara whipped off the bails faster than you could say Jumpin’ Jack Flash. “He’s a workaholic,” Jayawardene said later. “He bats for hours and hours and keeps for hours too. It pays off.”Almost everything Sri Lanka tried today paid off too. “They played good cricket,” Lara said. “We didn’t play to the best of our ability but were totally outclassed. They ticked all the boxes.” Jayawardene admitted that it would be “brilliant to dream of winning the World Cup”, but didn’t dare look as far ahead as April 28. If they can play like this though, the chance of that dream becoming reality can’t be discounted.

Interest in the Twenty20 Championships were piqued when Gujarat pulled off an upset of sorts, beating Punjab by 11 runs on a still, warm humid evening at the Brabourne Stadium. Powered by a sensible knock from Niraj Patel, who was unlucky not to becoming the second batsman to score a century in this tournament, falling short by seven runs, Gujarat posted a decent score and then bowled well enough to defend it.When they finished on 153 for 8 Gujarat probably had just enough on the board to make a fight of it. Punjab’s bowling attack had done well early on, but both the spinners and the medium-pacers failed to prise out Patel, who concentrated on running hard between the wickets, only going for the big shots when he had the room to free his arms and time the ball.Patel, who has been on the domestic scene for a while now, has always been an industrious sort of player. Small and not especially powerfully built, he has relied on working the ball into the gaps and picking up the ones and twos to keep the score ticking over. He did that especially well on the day, and perhaps the Punjab bowlers did not see him as a major threat because he doesn’t possess the really big shots.He was still good enough to his 12 fours and two sixes in his 65-ball 93. And when he was dismissed, in the first ball of the last over, it was through a bit of bad luck. Mohnish Parmar hit a return catch to Dinesh Mongia, who cleverly realised that Patel was backing up too much. Mongia made to drop the ball and effected the run out at the non-striker’s end. With no player appealing for the catch the umpires had no choice but to rule Patel out.There was a bit of confusion over who was dismissed – as per the laws of the game if a catch is taken cleanly the ball is then dead and there’s strictly no need for an appeal from the bowling side. However, the umpires reckoned that Mongia was not fully in control with of the ball soon after taking the catch, and that he had not held the catch, but in fact effected the run out. At any rate, it only dented Patel’s personal score, not Gujarat, who mustered 153.With a strong batting line-up and more than one international with some Twenty20 experience in the mix, Punjab should have had no difficulty chasing down the target. However, they did not, at any point, really get going, and with the highest partnership of the Punjab innings only amounting to 37, unbroken for the last wicket, there was never a time when they were ahead of the required rate.Parthiv Patel pulled off a terrific stumping off the medium pace of Hitesh Majmudar to account for Yuvraj Singh. Dinesh Mongia, who made 32, was bowled by Ashraf Makda. Harbhajan Singh tonked three sixes, but that only got the sparse crowd excited in vain as Punjab fell well short.

Maninder Singh, the former Indian left-arm spinner, was granted bail on Wednesday by a Delhi court for allegedly being in possession of 1.5 grammes of cocaine, an offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.On Tuesday, the narcotics branch of the Delhi police brought in Maninder for questioning after raiding his residence. “Maninder has confessed that he was a drug addict and consumed drugs to deal with family problems. He first took drugs 10 years ago in Holland,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Narcotics) AS Cheema told Indo-Asian News Service. The bail was granted on a personal surety of Rs.50,000 (approximately $ 1160).An Associated Press report quoted police spokesman Rajan Bhagat as saying that local club cricketer Sayyam Siddique, who was with Maninder when police raided his apartment, was arrested for carrying 100 grams of contraband “charas” [hashish]. “They were arrested while exchanging the drugs. Maninder told us that he used to procure drugs from Siddiqui, who purchased them from a south Delhi based drug peddler,” Cheema said.The amount allegedly found in Singh’s residence is less than a “commercial quantity” and puts the case in the category of possession of a banned substance for personal use, thereby increasing his chances of being granted bail. However, Bhagat said police were investigating whether Maninder kept the cocaine for his personal use or was involved in the drug trade.Maninder, who played 35 Tests for India between 1982 and 1993, surged intoprominence when only 17 years old. His prodigious talent promptedcomparisons to Bishan Bedi, but consistency was to elude Maninder. Heenjoyed tremendous success on India’s tour of England in 1986, and thenpicked up a bagful of wickets against Pakistan and Sri Lanka at home, butsoon after the wheels came off. Maninder had problems with discipline,lost the loop and control that were his strengths and was dropped from theteam. He attempted more than one comeback but met with limited success.Since retiring from cricket Maninder has been involved with the game as acoach in Delhi, where he lives, and as a television commentator. WhileManinder is often remembered as a cricketer who promised much and lost hisway, the one thing that he is most famous for was being the last Indianvictim – given out lbw to Greg Matthews by umpire Vikram Raju – in thetied Test against Australia at Chennai in 1986-87.Chetan Chauhan, the former India opener and Maninder’s Delhi team-mate, told Indian news channel : “I am completely surprised. I have played with him for Delhi, for two or three seasons. I had no inkling of any previous instances involving him. I can’t believe this. “

Peter Chingoka may have eased his way past the potential problems posed by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union’s AGM, where the board’s hardline majority retained control, but according to a report in a local paper, his troubles are far from over.An article in The Zimbabwe Independent claims that while Chingoka retains control, he stands accused of intimidation and manipulation in his attempts to stay in charge.Chingoka blithely dismissed the claims – little else could really be expected from a man who described the last year in Zimbabwe cricket as “exciting and challenging” – and claimed that there was a “third force working to destroy Zimbabwe’s cricket, which has an external element”.Ray Gripper, until recently a leading administrator in the game, accused Chingoka of manipulating the system to safeguard not only his own position but also those of his associates. He added that Chingoka had used intimidation and manipulation to block constitutional amendments from the provinces.”I feel it is now time for this to come out,” Gripper told The Independent. “I have been keeping quiet all along because I feared it could affect the career of my son, Trevor. We, as a group calling itself Concerned Cricket Lovers, had challenged the board on the constitution. However, a man who claimed to have been sent from the president’s office came to us and said that he had come to deliver President Mugabe’s message that Chingoka had to remain in power and that we had to stop our actions. It however later emerged that the person didn’t work for the president’s office but had been hired to perform this duty.”Gripper’s allegation was supported by Wellington Marowa, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Cricket Pioneers Association. “We met this guy and Chingoka was also in attendance. The guy claimed that he was coming from the president’s office but failed to produce his credentials. We later tried to check with the president’s office but it later emerged that he wasn’t a genuine government official.”The guy said to us that he was strictly instructed by President Mugabe that Chingoka had to remain in office. He said that we had to stop our calls for leadership renewal as well as challenges to the constitution.”Chingoka denied the accusations, claiming that the police had investigated the incident and that it was not “worth commenting about now”.Further criticism came from Charley Robertson, the chairman of Mashonaland Country Districts, who said that Chingoka and his board made an amendment to a clause in the ZCU constitution that effectively ensured the existing board could not be challenged. “Clause 18 of the constitution used to give powers to provincial chairmen to change the board,” he told the newspaper. “But it was changed two years ago to give the powers to the board only. Some of us only learnt about the change recently. This means that the current board has entrenched itself such that no one can challenge it. The system has been manipulated to retain the same people on the board but nobody on the current board has first-class cricket experience.”Again, Chingoka dismissed the charges. “There is no manipulating the whole system,” he said. “You have to understand the whole process from provincial structures. The seven provincial structures all asked me to stand. How can you have seven provinces nominating you when there is an intention to pass a vote of no-confidence in you?”But despite Chingoka’s insistence that he has the full backing of the provinces, the article reports that three of them – Mashonaland Country Districts, Midlands and Matebeleland – have discussed tabling a formal challenge to the constitution.

Canada 65 for 2 trail Netherlands 297 (Kervezee 98, Bukhari 66*, Osinde 4-47) by 232 runs
Scorecard

A fine 98 from Alexei Kervezee and a crucial all-round performance from Mudassar Bukhari gave the Netherlands a positive start on the first day of the Intercontinental Cup match against Canada at Toronto. Canda closed on 65 for 2 in reply to Netherlands’ 297.Canada won the toss and stuck Netherlands in, a decision that they will have rued as Kervezee and Tom de Grooth put on 96 for the first wicket. Canada finally broke through just before lunch when de Grooth fell for 38.In the afternoon Canada fought back, and only 17-year-old Kervezee prevented Netherlands from falling apart. When he was caught two runs short of his maiden hundred, Canada appeared to be vindicating their captain’s decision. But Bukhari launched a belligerent counterattack, and Canada’s frustration grew as he added 63 for the tenth wicket with Mark JonkmanNo sooner had Bukhari taken off his pads than he was back in the action, removing Geoff Barnett and Trevin Bastiampillai in his first over to leave Canada 5 for 2.Ashish Bagai and Shezhad Khan ensured there were no more mishaps before the close, but Canada have some hard work ahead of them on a pitch which is expected to deteriorate from the third day.

The Vanuatu Cricket Association (VCA) has been given an excellent report card for its ICC East Asia Pacific Under-19 World Cup qualifying tournament preparations, following an inspection by the ICC. The tournament will be hosted in Port Vila from July 17 to 24.Competing countries include Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Japan and Vanuatu. The winner will earn direct entry to the 2008 U-19 World Cup which will be held in Malaysia.”Vanuatu Cricket Association’s logistical preparations are already well underway,” said Bron Madigan, the ICC EAP regional project officer. “I have inspected the grounds which will be used for the tournament and am very impressed with the quality of the facilities. Having staged the successful 2005 EAP Cricket Cup tournament, the VCA staff have used their experience to their advantage. They have also been working very hard at getting corporate sponsorship from the local Port Vila community.”The tournament has the backing of the Vanuatu government and local businesses have also been quick to get involved.

Errol Stewart’s chances of being understudy to Mark Boucher at next month’s World Cup are all but dead after he turned down an invitation to lead the South Africa A side on a three-match tour of Zimbabwe.”My conscience will not allow me to live in a luxury hotel in a country where people are dying of starvation,” Stewart told reporters. “As someone in the legal profession, I am very sensitive about the abuse of human rights and the fact that the Zimbabwean judiciary is put under so much duress.”I also don’t agree at all with the way land is taken away from farmers. Ordinary Zimbabweans are being persecuted and there is no equal distribution of food in that country. Mugabe pays no heed whatsoever to democracy. There is starvation and I would never be able to forgive myself if I support a tyrant like Mugabe by going there to play cricket and give credibility to what he is doing to his people.”I cannot think how any country could declare themselves willing to go and play there during the World Cup. They don’t even have food for their own people. How are they going to provide quality health care in the event of a player or a supporter getting injured?”Coming on the eve of the World Cup, where Zimbabwe will host matches, and with England a possible no-show for their match in Harare, Stewart’s comments will not only embarrass the Zimbabwe authorities but will also anger the South African board.It is understood Stewart told Omar Henry, the head of the selectors, and Pat Symcox, another selector, that he was not available.Asked if any other players were likely to follow his lead, Stewart said that he had not heard of any but that he believed others might. He added that doubted his stand would count against me in terms of his future selection for the South African team. “It would be petty if itdid,” he added.

Lancashire have escaped punishment over the state of the pitch at Blackpool for their Championship Division One match against Durham.The game was over inside two days, and ECB pitch inspectors were summoned on day one when 18 wickets fell. The panel – Tony Pigott, Philip Sharp and Chris Wood – ruled that it was satisfactory.Peter Marron, Lancashire’s groundman, told the Press Association, that he had no worries about the pitch. “It looks as good a wicket as we have ever had here. It’s rock hard, it has a good grass covering on it and it’s probably the cracks at the [South End] getting a little bit bigger than in previous years that is causing bother.”The pitch was relayed after everybody fell asleep during the Kent game [in 2003] and we have had two games against Worcestershire and Warwickshire on it since with no problems. The groundsmen here have done a fine job and we couldn’t have asked for more from them.”a

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.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jaywardene has said that his side will look to capitalise on Andrew Flintoff’s absence when they take on England in the five-match one-day series starting at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium on October 1.Flintoff was forced to pull-out of the series due to a troublesome left ankle. He also missed the last bilateral one-day series between the two teams in 2006 where England were walloped 5-0 at home.”Andrew is a top-class allrounder,” Jayawardene told , a Colombo-based daily. “England have a more balanced attack with him in their side because he is a batting allrounder who bowls really well. He is a matchwinner and his absence is obviously an advantage for us.”Jayawardene indicated that the England one-day side was stronger than the one they faced last year. “They have got some really good allrounders coming through,” he said. “We met them in the World Cup and it was a very close game. England will be a good challenge for us. It’s a big season ahead and we need to make sure we start on a very good note.”They also have some quality batsmen who play different roles, some we haven’t seen. We need to understand what those are and try to counter-attack them.”Commenting on the Sri Lankan squad, Jayawardene said it was a tough call for the selectors to pick allrounder Kaushal Lokuarachchi ahead of fellow legspinner Malinga Bandara.”Loku’s been performing really well in one-day internationals. We know what Bandara is capable of doing. Thinking of the future, you never know how long Sanath [Jayasuriya] is going to continue playing. We might have to fit in a spinning allrounder in the middle of our batting line-up. It’s good for us to try a few things right now, see what Loku has to offer and how we can have different combinations going forward.”On Muttiah Muralitharan, Jayawardene doubted whether he would be fit for the series. Muralitharan is recovering from a strained right bicep which he sustained while bowling long spells during his county stint with Lancashire.”It’s good to have Murali around but the reality is that he won’t be around for a long time. He won’t be playing all the matches. We need to give him adequate rest. Even the workload on [Chaminda] Vaas must be limited. When opportunities arise we have to try out new blood. There are a few guys we have earmarked. We will them bring slowly into the system.”Chanaka Welagedera, Mahela Udawatte and Dilruwan Perera are some of the players in the short list.