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

Anil Kumble continued his romantic affair with the Feroz Shah Kotla, stretching his tally to a stunning 48 from five games, as India wrapped up an emphatic 188-run win to take a 1-0 lead in the series. A pugnacious partnership between Sri Lanka’s last two specialist batsmen, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan, delayed the inevitable but Kumble broke through just before the lunch break and sealed the issue.A thumping win was always on the cards once India had taken such an imposing lead and handling Kumble and Co. on a wearing pitch was fraught with uncertainty. Throughout this game, the fall of one wicket often triggered a collapse and Dilshan’s dismissal left one end exposed. Harbhajan Singh joined in with two wickets at the end – one of which was a classical offbreak to fox Jayawardene – as Sri Lanka’s faint hopes of saving the game went up in smoke.The 68-run stand between Jayawardene and Dilshan, though, raised visions of an unlikely result. The pair had come together early in the day, after Ajit Agarkar nailed Jehan Mubarak in the fifth over of the morning – Mubarak playing back to one that cut in. India, though, had to wait for nearly 21 more overs as both the batsmen, with a fine mix of attack and defence, thwarted their bid for an early finish.Both didn’t just concentrate on protecting their wickets and even began attacking the bowling once they overcame the early jitters. Dilshan refused to curb his natural instincts and flayed away at the wide ones, producing some joyous boundaries in his 65-ball 32. However, his tendency to attack resulted in his downfall when he charged down the track to a straighter one from Kumble, left a big gap between bat and pad and had no chance when the ball kept low and rattled the stumps.Jayawardene was the more circumspect partner, keeping out the good balls and trying to rotate the strike. He handled the spinners with assurance, getting right behind the line of the ball to account for the low bounce on the fifth-day track, and grafted to his third successive half-century in the series. However, unlike in the first innings when he fell to a casual stroke, he was comprehensively beaten this time, having no answer when faced with a loopy offspinner from Harbhajan, drifting away slightly and turning back in.Chaminda Vaas hung around for 36 balls, rattling three fours, but it was always going to be a futile effort. Marvan Atapattu felt their collapse on the second afternoon, when four wickets fell for 23 runs, had been the turning point, after which Sri Lanka were always playing catch-up. Sri Lanka, though, will do well to dwell on the positives and come back strongly in the final Test at Ahmedabad in four day’s time. That game will be Kumble’s 100th Test and Sri Lanka’s hopes of winning their first Test in India, and squaring this series, will rest largely on how they counter his wiles at the Motera.How they were outJehan Mubarak lbw b Agarkar 3 (131 for 6)
Tillakaratne Dilshan b Kumble 32 (199 for 7)
Mahela Jayawardene c Gambhir b Harbhajan 67 (243 for 8)
Chaminda Vaas c Harbhajan b Kumble 17 (243 for 9)
Muttiah Muralitharan c Dhoni b Harbhajan 2 (247 all out)

Usman Afzaal, the Northamptonshire batsman, believes he has a shot at making a return to the England side following two strong county seasons.Four years after his last Test appearance, Afzaal told BBC Sport that he had made sufficient improvements to his game that will merit his selection. “I had a good county season last year, again, and the England selectors have told me clearly what I need to do to get back into the team,” he said. “It won’t be long before I get back now.”Afzaal, 28, has scored 2,552 first-class runs since making the move from Nottinghamshire to Northamptonshire, and as one of a small number of British Asians playing county cricket, is seen as a role model for a whole community.Earlier, after making a good impression in the middle of an England injury crisis, he was dropped following a difficult winter and criticism over his weight and attitude. “I was left [out] for little reasons. One was fitness and the others were [pause] the right reasons,” he explained. “I went away from Nottinghamshire to Northamptonshire and worked hard with Kepler Wessells and made a fresh start. I worked damned hard and I’m glad the last two seasons for Northamptonshire have been good, not just on the field but off the field as well.”Commenting on the current crop of young English talent that are likely to be part of the England A side that tours the West Indies next month, Afzaal said that England are well set for the future. “It’s an exciting time for English cricket because there’s a lot of talented players in the team and a lot of talented players sitting outside,” he said. “When England tour India it will be an exciting series because they will be more used to the climate and the pitches. Pakistan played well in their back garden but I think it will be a different series when Pakistan tour England.”However, with batsmen like Alistair Cook, the Essex opener, and Ed Joyce, Ireland’s and Middlesex’s highly-rated left-hander, likely to get a look-in ahead of him, Afzaal may have to get reconciled to a long wait.For now, Afzaal will keep himself busy with his Cricketing Elite, a program for scouting players of all ages, races and levels around England. The next two months will see this programme running academy weekends around the country, followed by longer coaching courses. Afzaal will be joined by the likes of Mark Butcher, Mark Ramprakash, Owais Shah, Andrew Caddick and Alex Tudor in this course.This year, the first course takes place on the weekend of January 7 at The Oval, the ground where Afzaal scored a half century against Australia during the 2001 Ashes series.

Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson have been cleared by the Australian selectors to play for Queensland as they battle to avoid the ING Cup wooden spoon at the Gabba on Friday. Both players were expected to miss the final match of the regular season as they prepared to leave for the one-day tour of South Africa on Monday, but they were granted permission to play against the Redbacks, who are pushing for a berth in the final on February 26.Ray Phillips, the chairman of selectors, said Nathan Rimmington, who was due to make his debut, and Steven Paulsen had been dropped from the original squad that was named on Wednesday. “Shane and Mitch haven’t had a lot of cricket lately and because they wanted to play we were more than happy to make the changes,” he said. “Apart from Andrew Symonds, this is virtually a full-strength line-up and we’re confident it will give us a chance to finish the one-day season on a high.”Queensland have never finished last in a domestic one-day competition and they face a tough challenge from South Australia, who boast Darren Lehmann, Jason Gillespie and Shaun Tait. New South Wales hold a five-point lead at the top of the table.Queensland Jimmy Maher (capt), Matthew Hayden, James Hopes, Clinton Perren, Shane Watson, Brendan Nash, Chris Hartley (wk), Andy Bichel, Nathan Hauritz, Michael Kasprowicz, Ashley Noffke, Mitchell Johnson.South Australia Greg Blewett, Cameron Borgas, Mark Cosgrove, Callum Ferguson, Darren Lehmann (capt), Daniel Harris, Ken Skewes, Ryan Harris, Graham Manou (wk), Mark Cleary, Jason Gillespie, Cullen Bailey, Shaun Tait.

Ashes tickets for next summer’s five-Test series will go on sale to the Australian “Cricket Family” on June 1, but fans not registered with the country’s board will have to wait more than two weeks to secure seats. The plan announced today encourages local fans to get in ahead of England threats such as the Barmy Army by expressing interest on Cricket Australia’s website.With estimates of 40,000 overseas supporters arriving for the series starting in November, local cricket authorities and the players are concerned England followers could dominate the Test venues. The WACA has already capped its membership after receiving numerous requests from supporters based in the United Kingdom. A board spokesman said tickets would be available to the general public and overseas customers from June 19.”In establishing this offer we will be aiming to reward Australian fans who register as members of the Cricket Family while also ensuring as many Australians as possible have access to next summer’s matches,” James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said. “If you’re an Australian and want to support the team in the forthcoming Test Series, register online now and give yourself the best chance of being there.”Sutherland said hotel bookings in Melbourne for the December 26 Test were “already significant” and he expected the previous MCG Test match crowd attendance record of 90,800 to be broken. “We’ve announced the tour program six months ahead of what we normally would and that’s just [because of] the sheer demand and public interest that’s out there right now,” he said.Pricing details will be released when the tickets go on sale. The first Test starts in Brisbane on November 23.

East Zone
Points table
Assam sneaked to a two-wicket win over Bengal in a low-scoring encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Dhanbad. Mark Ingty (3 for 28) removed Sourav Ganguly, who opened the innings, for 12 enroute to a three-wicket haul. No batsman crossed 25 as Bengal faltered against a disciplined bowling performance to be dismissed for 151. The trend continued in the Assam reply – only one batsman crossed the 25 mark- as they reached a wobbly 73 for 5 before a 60-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Vasanth Saravanan (34) and G Sharma (21) propelled them close to the target. The tail eked out contributions to take Assam home. With this win Assam have 8 points from three games while Bengal, with 9 points from three games, are perched on top of the East Zone table.Powered by a four-wicket haul from Preetamjit Das Orissa restricted Tripura to 188 to register a 16-run win at the Tata Digwadih Stadium in Dhanbad. Das (4 for 27) rocked the top order to leave Tripura struggling at 93 for 6, and despite some contributions down the order Tripura fell short in the end. Orissa were propped up by three 30 plus scores – Biswa Mohapatra (47), Subit Biswal (47) , Rashmi Das (36) – as they reached a fighting total.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA frustrating day for both teams in Durban as light allowed only 25 overs tobe bowled on the third day of the SuperSport Series Final between theDolphins and the Titans.The first interruption occurred before a ball was even bowled, when the Dolphinsopening batsmen accepted the offer of the light. Play did get under wayafter nearly fours hours but was eventually called off just before 15:00with the Dolphins progressing to 176 for 1 with the loss of Imraan Khan for71. Together with Doug Watson (88*) they had set a new Dolphins opening partnership record of 176. The irony was that the two batsmen had declined the umpires’ offer to take the light the ballbefore Khan was dismissed. With the new batsman arriving at the crease the offer was once again made, one that they couldn’t turn down. As the players left the field a slight drizzle started to fall.The Titans will not be pleased with their bowling performance after wastingthe new ball and the conditions by bowling far too wide outside of the offstump allowing the Dolphins to leave in excess of 75% of balls bowled.With much of the same weather expected tomorrow, play will hopefully start30 minutes earlier on day four with the Dolphins leading by 83.

Lou Vincent, the New Zealand batsman, will replace Phil Jaques at Worcestershire for five weeks when Jaques returns to Australia for the Top End Series which starts at the end of June.Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’s Director of Cricket, said: “I am delighted that Lou has agreed to play with us. He is the ideal person to substitute for Phil particularly for the Twenty20 Cup competition. He will bring a dynamic style of play and is the type of character we want in the dressing room.”Vincent added: “It didn’t take me long to decide to accept Worcestershire’s offer and I am really looking forward to joining the squad later in June. I hope I can make a substantial contribution during my five weeks with the team, particularly in the Twenty20 Cup which I know has been a huge success in England.”Vincent will arrive on June 21 and play his first game in the C & G Trophy against Yorkshire, at New Road, four days later. He has played 22 Tests and 83 ODI’s for New Zealand.

Amit Varma and S Rajesh discuss the fourth day of the Antigua Test
Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMAThe Antigua Test is now open to all four results: West Indies, set 392 to win, reached 13 for no loss at the end of the fourth day. Amit Varma and S Rajesh, who wrote the bulletin for the match, discuss the day’s play: the indecisive umpiring of Asad Rauf, the big-innings temperament of Wasim Jaffer and India’s tactics in the second half of the day. They also look ahead to the fifth day, and while Amit picks Chris Gayle and Anil Kumble as the two men who could make decisive contributions, Rajesh thinks West Indies should punt with sending Dwayne Bravo up the order.Listen in.Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA

Robin Singh, coach of the India A team, felt that the team’s upcoming tour of Australia for the Top End series next month would serve as an ideal opportunity to build reliable bench strength for the national side. India A will play a series of four-day and limited-overs matches against the A sides of Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia in Darwin and Cairns.”It is basically an extension of what most of the cricketers had already proved”, Robin told before a week-long preparatory camp for the squad in Hyderabad. “India A tours are essentially feeder exercises which should help the country build a very strong senior team.”Robin indicated that recent tours such as the Eurasia Cup in Abu Dhabi have been instrumental in identifying fringe players and fast-tracking potential players into the big league when the need arises. For the upcoming tour, as many as seven out of the 15 players have already represented India. He said, “After the recent Abu Dhabi tournament, I had an useful interaction with India coach Greg Chappell and gave him important inputs on the players. And I am happy that three from that tour went on to play for India almost immediately.”I have an eye on everyone. It is important that everyone in this team is ready to grab the opportunity. There is every possibility of slots coming up for grabs at any given point of time.”Robin also revealed that Venkatapathy Raju, former India left-arm spinner and Kanwaljit Singh, former Hyderabad offspinner, have been roped in to train the squad during the camp. “I had a word with Raju and having played with him, I know his worth. It should be a good experience for the boys too.”

Tawanda Mupariwa, who twisted his ankle as he and Brendan Taylor guided Zimbabwe to dramatic victory in the third ODI on Wednesday, will now miss the remaining matches on Friday and Sunday.Mupariwa fell and was run-out as he turned after being sent back by Brendan Taylor while going for a run in the thrilling last over of the match. He was yaken to hospital and it is reported that he fractured his foot.Waddington Mwayenga, who trained with the squad in the Harare Sports Club nets on Thursday afternoon, may now be given a chance even though he was not expected to play any part in the series.Zimbabwe did receive a boost with news that Ed Rainsford, who with Mupariwa began the five-match series as Zimbabwe’s opening attack, was passed fit to play in the remaining matches after missing Wednesday’s game.