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Marvan Atapattu, the former Sri Lanka captain, is unlikely to make the team for the tour of Australia after refusing to attend a meeting with the selectors.”I got an email from the CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket inviting me for a discussion at 5pm [on October 3],” Atapattu told . “The email said the selectors were going to be there too and I replied saying that I did not want to waste my time with a selection committee headed by Ashantha de Mel.”Following Atapattu’s snub, de Mel, the chairman of selectors, told there would be no further attempts to speak to him and Sanath Jayasuriya would be chosen insteadPrior to the scheduled meeting, de Mel had indicated that Atapattu would be recalled. “We need his experience in Australia,” de Mel said. “He has the technique and temperament to stay at the crease. It will be very important for the two Tests against Australia. I will talk to him about his availability.”Atapattu did not play a single game in the World Cup in the West Indies, despite being in the squad, and was overlooked for the subsequent one-day series in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan. He then announced his unavailability for the home series against Bangladesh citing personal reasons and asked to be released from his central contract, sparking speculation that he might be linked to the Indian Cricket League (ICL).Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, had also supported Atapattu’s inclusion and called on the selectors to find out whether he would be willing to commit to a tough series.”We love to have him around,” Jayawardene said. “He is a top class performer. For a fact I know that he still wants to continue to play cricket for Sri Lanka. He wanted to be released from his contract purely because he wanted to see other avenues in his career. The best thing would be to have a dialogue with him and find out what he wants to do.”Sri Lanka play two Tests in Australia in November and return for the tri-nation CB Series in February, also featuring India.

The third day’s play of the final Test between India and Pakistan was bland comparedto the excitement on the first two. Therefore, when Sourav Ganguly addressed the media afterPakistan had moved to within 58 runs of avoiding the follow-on, most of thequestions centered around his maiden double-century a day earlier that had enabled him to better his Test-best after a gap of ten years.”I have been trying to get a double hundred,” Ganguly said. “I have been close a fewtimes in the past, but didn’t get it. It is good that I managed to do it in animportant game.”Ganguly began his innings with India in a state of bother at 44 for 2, a situation that quickly worsened to 61for 4. He then provided the steady hand during an overwhelming 300-run stand with Yuvraj Singh and ensured that India drove home the advantage by piling up 626. It was an invaluable contribution considering that India, leading 1-0 inthe series, were in trouble in the first session. Ganguly echoed that view by labelling it one of his more “important innings”.”We were 61 for 4 at one stage and from there we got to 600. So I think from thatpoint of view and in the final Test of the series it was an important innings.”Pakistan batted solidly on the third day, scoring 283 runs for the loss of only fourwickets but Ganguly felt that the morning session on the fourth day could determinewhether or not the Test has a result.”It [the pitch] does a bit early morning and this is the last batting pair. Soif we can get an early breakthrough tomorrow and the way this wicket is behaving, it willnot be easy for the lower-order batsmen. That is why the morning session will becrucial.”The double-century came during the last month of what has been a remarkable year forGanguly. He has scored 932 runs in 16 innings so far in 2007, making it his mostprolific year in Test cricket but he played down claims of it being the “best yearof his career.””I think in the year 2000 I got seven one-day hundreds, so that wasa good year too. My first year in international cricket was asuccessful one. This has been a good year and I hope I can have some more good timein the middle.”Ganguly’s life in the middle has been a fairytale since his comeback against South Africa last year and refused to get drawn into speaking about his forced exile during Greg Chappell’s tenure as India’s coach. According to Ganguly, his return to the team as a player, and not captain, had nothing to dowith his improved form with the bat termed this fairytale a phase he would like to continue for a while.”I don’t think it was a good time, those eight months [out of the team]. It is justthat I have played well [now] and it has kept on getting better. Even when I not wasgetting runs, the efforts have been the same. It is just that I am a bit moresuccessful now.”

Sheffield Collegiate secured their first National title a day after winning the Yorkshire Premier League. The final of the National Club Championship was being played at the Walker Trust Ground, home of Southgate Cricket Club after originally being abandoned at Lord’s.The ground had been swamped by two and half inches of rain on Friday but on winning the toss, Sheffield Collegiate captain Ed McKenna had no hesitation in batting. Collegiate struggled against some accurate bowling by Roger Myall and Paul Hacker. Hacker bowled through for 0 for 11 from his allotted 9 overs and support bowlers Jon Lord, Richard Halsall and Richard Smith kept the pressure on, all bowling tightly.Nick Gaywood scored an uncharacteristic 30 in 84 balls before Tasker brought some impetus to the innings. Myall returned to help mop up the tail, bowling Tasker for 31 (from 38 balls) and then dismissing John Hespe as Collegiate’s last four wickets fell for just five runs and Myall finished with 3 for 25 from his 9 overs.Eastbourne’s innings started disastrously, losing Richard Halsall for 0 in the second over. The first four batsmen were dismissed for just 13 runs with two wickets a piece from Richard Kettleborough (former Middlesex and Yorkshire) and Andy Wylie.They never really recovered and spinners John Hespe (2 for 19) and Mark Boocock (1 for 25) maintained the stranglehold as wickets continued to fall regularly. Wylie returned to trap last man hacker lbw and Eastbourne were bowled out for just 75 in 34.3 overs.John Carr, ECB’s Director of Cricket Operations presented the trophy and a cheque for £3,000 to wining Captain Ed McKenna with Paul Stevens picking up a cheque for £1,000 as runners-up. Andy Wylie was named Man of the Match for his bowling performance of 3 for 9 in 8.3 overs.

Windward Islands held off a determined effort from West Indies Under-19s on the opening day of Group A matches to win by 21 runs in North Sound. Sunil Ambris added 70 for the fourth wicket with captain Liam Sebastien and top-scored with 54 off 84 balls in Windwards’ total of 221. Keemo Paul burrowed through the middle order before wrapping up the tail, taking the last wicket two balls into the 47th over to finish with figures of 4 for 31 for West Indies Under-19s.In reply, Bhaskar Yadram scored 52 at No. 3 for the junior side but got little support as West Indies Under-19s struggled to string a decent partnership together. There were only two 40-plus partnerships in the innings: 45 runs between Yadram and Shamar Springer for the fourth wicket, and 40 runs between Paul and Kirstan Kallicharan for the sixth wicket. Paul and Kallicharan were part of six batsmen down the order who reached double-figures but couldn’t make it past 25 as extras wound up the next best contributor behind Yadram with 32 runs. Mervin Matthew dismantled the lower order to finish with 4 for 38, claiming Man-of-the-Match honours as West Indies Under-19s finished on 200 for 9.In the late game at Coolidge, Leeward Islands defeated Kent by seven wickets, chasing a target of 229 with 6.3 overs to spare. Nkrumah Bonner steered the successful chase by scoring an unbeaten 78. Fast bowler Gavin Tonge had been the biggest obstacle in the Kent innings, taking 4 for 39 to restrict the English county side to 233, with their top score coming from Calum Haggett, who scored 45 off 59 balls at No. 7. Kent’s score was revised to 228 after umpires imposed a five-run penalty.

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, has assured Malinda Warnapura and Thilan Thusara that they can expect an extended run in the national team. Warnapura starred with scores of 120 and 62 in Sri Lanka’s opening Test win by 121 runs against West Indies last week in Guyana, and Thushara offered steady support to the elite bowling duo of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan with match figures of 5 for 129 runs from 37.5 overs.”These two guys have played good first-class cricket back home and play a little bit of league cricket in England so know their way around the park,” Jayawardene said. “We can always call them up and say this is your opportunity.”They have waited a long time for this opportunity, and now they will get an extended run – whether they make runs or not, or whether they take wickets or not. So we have not put them under any pressure on this tour, and told them that if they fail that they will lose their place. They will get an extended run, and this is probably why they have responded to the challenge in this way.”The retirements of former captains Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu have left vacancies at the top of the Sri Lanka batting line-up that have yet to be convincingly filled. As a result, the selectors promoted Warnapura, 28, from the middle order to an opening slot on the basis of his consistency at domestic level.He has been a regular member of the Sri Lanka A team and visited the Caribbean two years ago, when illness restricted him to three innings of 2, 8 and 11. But almost a decade after making his first-class debut, he had to wait to make his Test debut against Bangladesh at home last June. His entry into Test cricket was hardly auspicious, as he was dismissed off his first ball, and scored 82 in the second Test.With Vaas admitting he is nearing the end of his career, the national selectors have eyed Thushara as a possible left-arm replacement. He made his Test debut on Sri Lanka’s previous trip to the Caribbean five years ago, but he subsequently faded, and others have overtaken him in the pecking order. This trip provides him with a second crack at international cricket, following strong performances in domestic competitions.Sri Lanka, eyeing a Test series victory for the first time in the Caribbean, lead the two-Test series 1-0, after the Guyana victory handed them their first Test win on Caribbean soil in five matches. The second Test from April 3 in Trinidad will be followed by a three-match ODI series with two games at the same venue, and a day-night affair on April 15 at St Lucia’s Beausejour Stadium.

Shane Bond has signed up with the Indian Cricket League (ICL), according to one of the league’s senior officials. New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive Justin Vaughan will meet with Bond on Tuesday as NZC make a last-ditch attempt to rescue Bond’s international career.Ashish Kaul, the executive vice-president of the Essel Group, the company behind the ICL, confirmed the rumours that the league had secured New Zealand’s strike bowler. “Shane Bond has signed up,” Kaul told . “It’s a three-year contract that he has with the Indian Cricket League.”The reported Bond’s ICL deal was worth US$800,000 a season, regardless of whether he is fit to play. That would equate to more than NZ$3 million over the length of the contract – an extremely attractive proposition for the injury-prone Bond, who turns 33 this year. While NZC would prefer Bond to sign with the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has the backing of India’s board, their offer is reportedly a much lower US$250,000 a season, provided Bond is fit to play.An abdominal strain has kept Bond out of the current Test series against Bangladesh but Bond said he would make his comeback through club cricket next weekend. He would not confirm the reports he had signed with the ICL. “There’s a few agreements in place that mean I can’t really talk at the moment,” Bond told the paper. “I’d rather work through those before saying too much.”The deal would likely mean the end of Bond’s Test and ODI career, as NZC has already told its selectors to consider other players ahead of any who join the ICL. NZC has also made an agreement with the other Test nations that any players who take part in the non-officially-sanctioned ICL should not be selected for international duties.Heath Mills, the New Zealand Cricket Players Association manager, said the rights of the players needed to be kept in mind. “We just need to make sure we don’t do anything that breaches the rights of the individual contractor in any way, shape or form, and effectively bring on a situation that results in NZC being in dispute with its players,” Mills told the .”It’s not necessary. We need to continue working hard to find a solution that is good for both parties. It’s not staring us in the face right now, I’m the first to admit. But we’re not going to give up on finding a solution that’s good for both NZC and for the players.”

Scorecard

Ashley Noffke and Queensland’s inexperienced openers unveiled a new era as they demoralised Tasmania, almost claiming first-innings points on day one of the Tigers’ title defence. Noffke showed there will be life after Michael Kasprowicz and Andy Bichel, who are both injured, stepping up with 5 for 33 as Tasmania fell for 158.Greg Moller and Ryan Broad then immediately justified Jimmy Maher’s decision to drop himself to No. 4 and expose younger Bulls to the new ball, carrying the score to 0 for 136 at stumps. Moller, who debuted last summer and was in his fourth game, was the dominant partner with 75 while Broad, playing his eighth match, reached 57.Queensland fielded a wildly inexperienced side with Kasprowicz (calf), Bichel (shoulder) and Chris Hartley (wrist) ruled out. Noffke led the green attack – Maher was the side’s next most prolific bowler with ten first-class wickets – on a surface with similar-coloured tinges. Chris Swan, the Gold Coast swing bowler in his second match, collected Michael Di Venuto in the second over before Noffke captured the next five wickets.Giving up only 15 runs in 12 overs before lunch, Noffke had Michael Dighton lbw before picking up a wicket in each of his next three overs. Tim Paine was bowled, George Bailey was caught at third slip by Aaron Nye and Dan Marsh edged a short ball to the debutant wicketkeeper Murray Bragg.After lunch Noffke took care of Birt for 36 and Swan and Ben Cutting, who is playing his first game, chipped in to finish off the Tigers and collect two wickets each. In contrast the more experienced Tasmania attack had no impact, although it was led by the same men who rattled Queensland in Wednesday’s FR Cup game, and the Bulls came within 23 runs of a first-innings lead at the close.

To underline the confusion inside Zimbabwe Cricket, the Logan Cup, the country’s first-class competition which was scheduled to start on Wednesday, has been postponed.The ZC operations office, which had already postponed the country’s Twenty20 and one-day competitions, released Logan Cup fixtures last Wednesday, only to be forced into an embarrassing about turn after consultations at the weekend with Robin Brown, the national coach.As a result, the inter-provincial Twenty20 event will now be staged first as Zimbabwe prepare to take part in the South African Standard Bank Twenty20 tournament. The domestic competition will take place in Harare next week. Brown argued that there were no specialised Twenty20 players and such a tournament would allow the selectors to assess the talent available.It does again raise issues about the lack of communication within the board, and why the cricket operations department scheduled the Logan Cup at short notice without consulting with anyone on the coaching or selection side.The inter-provincial Twenty20 tournament was initially due to be held at the beginning of February, only to be cancelled at the last minute.The Logan Cup will now run from April 17 to May 20 and will be followed by the Faithwear Cup from May 27 to June 2. The postponement of these tournaments will impact on those players who had been hoping to play club cricket in Europe.

North Zone
Unbeaten centuries from Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan gave Delhi a massive ten-wicket win over Punjab at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. Ravi Inder, Uday Kaul and Ankur Kakkar scored half-centuries to take Punjab to a competitive 274. But Chopra and Dhawan scored at more than six an over to chase the total with 39 balls to spare. Punjab used six bowlers and none of them conceded less than five an over, with Manpreet Gony and Kakkar going for more than seven each.Vishal Bhatia took 4 for 32 with his left-arm spin as Himachal bowled out Haryana for 193 and chased the target with six overs to spare at the Harbax Singh Stadium in Delhi.Jammu & Kashmir collapsed to a 96-run defeat against Services in Delhi’s Palam A Ground. After Jasvir Singh (73) and Soomik Chatarjee (71*) steered Services to 281 for 6 in 50 overs, Rakesh Kumar removed the openers in the first over. Ian Dev Singh and Huwaid Ronga led a brief recovery of 59 runs but after Ronga was run out for 21, J&K kept losing wickets at regular intervals. A Kush, playing in only his second List A match, took 3 for 37.East Zone
Bengal needed only 29 overs to wrap up a nine-wicket win against Assam at the North-East Frontier Railway Stadium in Guwahati. S Sharath scored an unbeaten 80 from 148 balls but with absolutely no support from the rest of the batsmen – the next highest score being 14 – he could only push Assam’s total to 147. Arindam Das and Anustup Majumdar added 89 runs in 19 overs but after Majumdar’s dismissal, Das and Wriddhiman Saha knocked off the remaining 59 required from 60 balls to gain a bonus point for Bengal.Sourav Dubey’s 106-ball 93 wasn’t enough for Tripura to get their second win in a row as Orissa chased Tripura’s 260 with four wickets spare at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati. Pinninti Jayachandra and Preetamjit Das took three wickets each as no other Tripura batsman scored more than 39. Three half-centuries from top-order batsmen – Bikas Pati, Payas Ranjan Sinha and Halhadar Das – gave Orissa their second win of the tournament.West Zone
After chasing 358 against Baroda at the same venue just a day before, Mumbai fell 46 runs short of Gujarat’s 307 at the Deccan Gymkhana Ground in Pune. Mumbai bowlers Ajit Agarkar, Rohan Raje and Murtuza Hussain went for more than six and a half an over as four Gujarat batsmen helped themselves to half-centuries. Medium-pace bowler Abhishek Nayar was taken for 19 runs in his two overs. Mumbai were in trouble when they lost four wickets for 94 runs. Anup Revendkar and Aditya Tare got fifties but having lost those early wickets Mumbai couldn’t pick themselves up for a fightback.Kedar Jadhav ensured Maharashtra successfully chased Saurashtra’s 327 by hammering a 97-ball 124 at the PYC Gymkhana Ground in Pune. Cheteshwar Pujara added 68 with Sagar Jogiyani and 107 with Shitanshu Kotak to take Saurashtra to a big total in their opening game of the tournament. Maharashtra scored at 6.8 runs an over and lost only five wickets in getting to the target.

Shoaib Akhtar has been cleared to play in the IPL after the Appellate Tribunal decided to suspend his five-year ban for one month, until they reconvene on June 4. The PCB has, in turn, granted Shoaib a No Objection Certificate to feature in the IPL, where he will play for the Kolkata Knight Riders.Lalit Modi, the chairman and commissioner of the IPL, confirmed that Shoaib will play the tournament. “We look forward to Shoaib playing for us,” Modi said. “I am going to call him immediately and invite him to come to Kolkata tonight or tomorrow morning.”Farrukh Aftab, the head of the three-man tribunal, announced the decision. “We have suspended the ban for one month and the next hearing will be held on June 4,” Aftab told reporters in Lahore. “Had we not suspended the ban, he could not have been played the in IPL, which we thought was injustice to Akhtar.”Meanwhile, Shoaib expressed relief after his clearance. “This is a great relief for me as I am keen to play in the IPL,” Shoaib said. “But this is just one battle won and we still have to win the final case.”The tribunal’s decision to grant Shoaib a temporary reprieve comes after his lawyers pressed for the suspension of his ban.Earlier, the tribunal, on April 30, had decided to uphold the PCB’s ban on an interim-basis. Shoaib was banned for comments he made after not being offered a contract by the PCB, in which he lashed out at domestic tournaments, pitches and the administration in general. He made the comments while on a two-year probation after hitting team-mate Mohammad Asif with a bat before the World Twenty20 last year. Shoaib has the additional burden of dealing with a Rs 22 crore (approx US$3.37 million) defamation suit filed against him by PCB chief Nasim Ashraf.The Knight Riders franchise, which signed him for US$425,000 in the player auctions, would welcome his arrival and hope for a turnaround in their fortunes. The team has suffered four consecutive losses after winning their first two games. Shoaib returns to one of his memorable hunting grounds, the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where the team has five remaining home games. His was a revelation in his first Test at the venue, picking up eight wickets in a match-winning effort.