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Caught between the legs
This one will surely be one of the top contenders for the bizarredismissal of the tournament. Upul Tharanga bottom-edged an intended pull,but Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh wicketkeeper, ingeniously knew exactlywhen to bring his legs together so that the ball would nestle in nicelybetween his thighs. Tharanga was aghast, but Bangladesh weren’tcomplaining.No-ball him, ump
Off the sixth ball of the ninth over, Kumar Sangakkara tried an ungainlyreverse-sweep and missed. That should have been the end of the over, butthe eagle-eyed Sangakkara had spotted only three fielders in the ringinstead of four, and promptly brought it to the notice of the umpires anddemanded a no-ball, which he promptly got. Someone pointed out in themedia centre that it’s a good thing that the free-hit rule is only inplace for front-foot no-balls. Otherwise, with the field not allowed tochange for the free-hit delivery, we might have seen an endless loop ofdeliveries with three fielders in the ring, all of which would have beencalled no-balls as well. Now that wouldn’t have been very interesting towatch, would it?Sweet, but far too short
Aftab Ahmed strode to the crease, and immediately the tempo of the gamechanged. The first ball he faced, from Chaminda Vaas, was clouted over thebowler’s head for three. More frenetic hitting followed in the next over,as he clipped Dilhara Fernando twice through midwicket and then chargeddown and blasted him through the covers. Seventeen runs in six balls wasexciting stuff, but unfortunately it was too exciting to last long.

Brian Lara, the West Indies captain, felt that Sachin Tendulkar’s absence from the Indian team for the one-day series in the West Indies would deprive the youngsters in his side and the spectators the opportunity of watching a superior player in action.Tendulkar is recuperating from shoulder surgery and his availability for the four Tests against West Indies starting June 2 is still uncertain. The Test team will be announced on May 24.”I think it is unfortunate because we are all entertainers. The public would have loved to see Sachin,” Lara told after a practice session at the Queen’s Park Oval before his team’s sixth ODI against Zimbabwe. “He’s going to be here for the World Cup hopefully, but any opportunity to see him would have been great for the public.”Lara was upbeat about his own team’s chances and how Tendulkar’s presence would have lifted the opposition’s game. “It doesn’t mean that India, with a player like Sachin Tendulkar in the team, is actually going to beat the West Indies”, he said. “Yes, they would have a player of high class but we would have loved to have him here playing against us. As team members, we can only learn from a player like that.”

After the one-day series defeat against West Indies, England’s attentions turn back to Test cricket with India the second visitors of the season. It promises to be a fascinating contest with Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble going head-to-head with Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen and Monty Panesar.And the even better news is that it’s time for another Cricinfo competition and there are some terrific prizes on offer. To mark the release of , featuring Pietersen on the box, there is a Citizen Eco-Drive watch and a host of Woodworm goodies to give away thanks to our friends at Empire Interactive.All you have to do is answer this question:Which England player is featured on the box of International Cricket Captain III and how many runs did he score in the recent Test series against West Indies?The winner will receive the Citizen watch and four runners-up will get the Woodworm gear consisting of a cap, backpack and training shirt.THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED

Record crowds have packed the Gabba for the first three days of the opening Ashes Test, beating the previous record set during the Bodyline series. reported Saturday’s crowd of 39,000 took the overall attendance to 117,603, well above the the 93,143 that flooded into the Gabba in 1932-33 for a six-day match.The Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland told the paper he was not concerned that the one-sided nature of the first Test would affect the “phenomenal” tally. “There is nothing we can really do about what happens on the field,” Sutherland said. “There are lot of things to enjoy about Test cricket, even if there is not a great contest.”He said the keen interest in this year’s series was no doubt sparked by Australia losing the Ashes in England in 2005. “Two or three matches were decided during prime-time television here in the 2005 series, so the whole country was captivated,” he said.Sutherland said Cricket Australia expected all five Test venues to break attendance records this season. Each of the first three days of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG are likely to break the single-day high of 90,800 spectators at Melbourne in 1961. He said gate revenue was also expected to be at record levels, with takings set to top $28 million for the season.

Virender Sehwag, who injured his ankle during India Blue’s match against India Red in the Challenger Series on Sunday, is certain to be fit for the Champions Trophy. Dilip Vengsarkar, the Indian chairman of selectors, said that the injury was not a cause for worry, and that a final assessment on his fitness would be made on Tuesday evening.”We have another two weeks to go for our first match in the Champions Trophy and it is not a worry,” Vengsarkar told Press Trust of India. “Sehwag’s fitness condition will known by tomorrow evening.”Opening the innings, Sehwag twisted his ankle while turning around for a second run. He had on-field medical attention but was run out shortly after, for 28. His injury has ruled him out of the final, should India Blue qualify. India play their first match of Champions Trophy on October 15 against England.

Michael Bevan has responded to another excellent Mark Ramprakash hundred byfiring a sweet half century of his own to afford Sussex a slight edge overMiddlesex after three days of the teams’ absorbing County Championshipfixture at Southgate.Bevan (57*) reached his milestone in smart time to lead the visitors to asecond innings mark of 118/3 by stumps, one which leaves them precisely 150runs short of victory in a contest in which they have always appeared tohave their noses slightly in front. Typically, it was the Australian’s eyefor spotting gaps in the field, and placing his shots into them with aminimum of fuss, which lay at the core of his innings. Although aninjudicious attempt from Toby Pierce (25) to loft a Phil Tufnell (2/39)delivery over mid wicket and a similarly ill-timed lapse in concentrationfrom Chris Adams (20) in pushing out an arm ball from the same bowler didnot help the cause, his efforts largely ensured that Sussex was back ontrack for success by the time that stumps were finally drawn.Just in case no-one had noticed the events of two days ago, it had earlierbeen Ramprakash (112) who had dominated the opening two sessions of theday’s play with a brilliantly crafted fiftieth first-class century. Rightnow – with another Test axing hanging over his head and his Middlesexbatting teammates seemingly doing precious little on the field to help easethe pain – he could have been forgiven for cutting a tragic figure. But,in again summoning the mental and physical resources to prove himself a cutabove his colleagues, he proved the very antithesis. It was a courageousdisplay and was full of character, no mean feat considering that he spentthe first half of it watching another succession of batsmen come and go atthe other end. It wasn’t until Richard Johnson (52) followed his lead, andbatted with unstinting application to contribute half of a priceless 104run stand for the eighth wicket, that the formidable right hander finallyattained the support that he deserved.

Troy Cooley, the coach who engineered the remodelling of England’s series-winning actions last year, says Australia have the better bowling line-up for the Ashes. Since arriving at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane in May, Cooley has worked with all the local fast men apart from Jason Gillespie, who is in Yorkshire, and yesterday he spent time with Brett Lee in Sydney.Despite Cooley’s praise of the Australians, he said England’s bowling unit was “formidable” and the summer would be “a good shootout”. “I’m sure they’ll be getting themselves organised,” Cooley said in : “I think we have.”Cooley said reverse-swing would not be such a big factor in the series because of the Kookaburra balls and the lush grounds, but he wanted his bowlers to know how to use it. “You want to try and have all the deliveries underneath your belt,” he said. “Reverse-swing is one of them and you really want the bowler to be able to use that ball. If conditions suit, we’ll definitely try to take advantage of it.”Lee was watched by Cooley in the nets in Sydney yesterday and was impressed. “He’s a machine,” Cooley said. “It’s a unique style and it’s uncomplicated, and if we can keep it that way it will stand him in good stead. He moves very well and he’s very fit. But it’s all underpinned by being able to be explosive and roll that arm over quickly.”Cooley said in his role it was important to build a rapport with the bowlers before the season, which begins next month with a warm-up series for the Champions Trophy. “I just need to get them to understand what makes them work well and get them where they want to go,” he said.

North West completed a hard-earned 70-run win over Gauteng despite a fine 138 from Warren Dugmore. Early in the day it seemed as though North West would have much easier task wrapping up the match as Gauteng slipped to 86 for 5 before lunch. Dumisa Makalima took the long-handled approach and sped to 51 off 39 balls then the lower order gave Dugmore more conventional support. However, the North West attack stuck to their task and shared the wickets around. Vusumuzi Mazibuko finished off the innings and his three wickets included Dugmore for a career-best effort which was, ultimately, futile.Western Province won by 56 runs against Border but that only tells half the story. The win came with the final ball of the match when Siraaj Conrad trapped last-man Rowan Richards lbw to complete a 10-wicket haul. The result was harsh on Bevan Bennett who struck 150, carrying Border to the brink of a draw. But he fell to Conrad with nine overs remaining and Western Province snuck home at the last possible moment. Warren Wyngaard earlier reached his second century of the match to set up the declaration although the real drama was still to follow.Zimbabwe Under-23 failed offer much resistance before slumping to a 10-wicket defeat against Boland as their miserable season in the South African domestic competition continued. Wallace Albertyn took two of the remaining wickets to finish with 4 for 33 while Tinashe Hove was unable to bat. It took five balls for Boland to score the run they need courtesy of four byes.

Elite Group

Ajit Agarkar demonstrated that despite his modest success at international level, he is still a force to be reckoned with on the domestic circuit. His 5 for 96 at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi restricted Railways to 284, giving Mumbai a first-innings lead of 77. At close of play on the third day, Mumbai were 3 for 0.Karnataka faced an uphill run-chase on the final day against Bengal. After conceding a lead of 136, Karnataka pulled things back somewhat, dismissing Bengal for just 206 in the second innings – thanks primarily to Sunil Joshi, who was given the new ball and returned figures of 5 for 62, nailing, among others, Sourav Ganguly for 5 – but that still left them with a daunting target of 343. They closed on 41 for 1, requiring 302 more on the last day to pull off an improbable win.At Chennai, Tamil Nadu moved into an invincible position, taking a first-innings lead of 298 against Hyderabad. Sivaramakrishnan Vidyut and Sridharan Sharath led the charge with hundreds, while Subramaniam Badrinath, Sridharan Sriram and Hemang Badani all chipped in with half-centuries. Batting again to stave off a possible innings defeat, Hyderabad began brightly, closing the third day on 63 for 0.Delhi were on their way to a win in their first match of the season. After closing their first innings on 430 for 8 – a lead of 216 – they reduced Gujarat to 205 for 5 in the second innings, with Ashish Nehra and Sarandeep Singh taking a couple of wickets each. Parthiv Patel was one of Sarandeep’s victims – he scored 30 before being snapped up by Gautam Gambhir. Gujarat were still trailing by 11, and with an entire day’s play left at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, Delhi had an excellent opportunity to wrap up Gujarat’s innings and seal a win.Pankaj Dharmani’s 125 allowed Punjab to wrest a first-innings lead of 39 against Uttar Pradesh at Mohali, but UP made a spirited reply, reaching 206 for 2 at stumps. Jyoti Yadav and R Prakash, their opener, added 114 for the first wicket. UP then lost a couple of quick wickets, including that of Mohammad Kaif for just 12, but Yadav continued the charge with an unbeaten 82.Meanwhile, Venugopal Rao was the star for Andhra Pradesh again, this time with the ball. After scoring 140 in Andhra’s first innings, Rao took 4 for 53 to help dismiss Madhya Pradesh for 287. Batting a second time, Andhra started off impressively, scoring 74 for 0, an overall lead of 148.At Guwahati, Jacob Martin’s 126 was the highlight of the day as Baroda posted 347 in reply to Assam’s 273. Though none of the other Baroda batsmen managed even a half-century, most of them chipped in handily to ensure a lead of 74. Assam wiped off 71 of those runs by close of play on the third day, losing opener Parag Das in the process.

The Indian government plans to issue 10,000 visas to Pakistani fans who wish to travel with their team during Pakistan’s tour of India. According to a Reuters report, there will be special camps set up in Pakistan to facilitate the process.An unnamed Indian official was quoted as saying: “We are expecting a huge demand for visas and plan to have special visa camps in Pakistan to issue up to 10,000 visas. We might even allow Pakistanis to obtain special permits and drive in their cars into India to watch the match in Mohali.” Mohali is a three-hour drive from Wagah, the border crossing in Punjab.During India’s tour of Pakistan last year, the Pakistan government had issued more than 8000 visas, and the Indians fans were treated warmly throughout the series. Whether a similar amount of goodwill is generated during this tour remains to be seen, but the Indian government is certainly doing all it can to enable it.