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Sri Lanka’s newly appointed captain Tillakaratne Dilshan has said he doesn’t mind leaving the IPL early in order to prepare for the upcoming tour of England. Dilshan is among the 11 Sri Lankan players who have been asked by Sri Lanka Cricket to return by May 5, in order to attend a training camp before leaving for England on May 11.”Personally, I am not unhappy to return early,” said Dilshan, who is on a brief visit to Colombo amid his IPL commitments with Royal Challengers Bangalore. “Playing for my country is more important than playing the IPL. I think everybody selected for the England tour will be happy to come early. We have a new interim coach [Stuart Law] and a new batting coach [Marvan Atapattu]. I am also new as captain. We need to prepare together to build up for the big England tour.”The Indian board, however, said it would ask its Sri Lankan counterpart to reconsider. “According to us, the Sri Lankan players were to stay here till May 21, as they had promised, and the franchises are also under the same impression,” BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said. “But now they want to go back early and it is not appropriate.”Apart from reaffirming his commitment to the national side, Dilshan has also toned down the flashier aspects of his image as he gets ready for captaincy. “Times have changed. I pierced my ear when my daughter cried when her ears were being pierced,” he said. “Now I don’t see a need to wear the earring. It’s the same with my hair. [Streaking it] was fashionable then for me, it is not so now.”Dilshan, however, said he was not planning to tone down his attacking brand of cricket. “I have come this far today because of the way I play my cricket. I don’t see any reason why I should change it. I am an aggressive player and I may apply that aggression to my captaincy as well, depending on the circumstances.”Captaincy is a challenging role for me. It’s a dream come true. I never expected it. I want to give it my best shot. I have played for nearly 12 years. It’s been a very long journey to the top.”Dilshan said he was “lucky” to have two past captains – Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene – in the side and was looking forward to playing “good cricket” on the England tour. “We know they [England] are a strong side in their own conditions but we are capable of giving them a good run.”We have an experienced batting line up and the first thing we need to do is to get used to the conditions there. We need to get acclimatised as quick as possible if we are to put up a good contest against England,” he said.The England tour will be Sri Lanka’s first full series after the retirement of offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan, but Dilshan was confident his spinners – Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath and Suraj Randiv – would deliver. “We have to look forward to the new bowlers like Suraj Randiv,” he said. “We are giving the opportunity to Suraj to do the job for us.”In the absence of Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka’s pace attack will be led by Dilhara Fernando, who has played 35 Tests. Chanaka Welegedara and Suranga Lakmal have played eight Tests between them, while fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep and bowling allrounder Thisara Perera are yet to make their Test debuts.”I have the fullest confidence in my fast bowlers. Nuwan Pradeep is playing with me in the same team for Royal Challengers in the IPL and he is the best bowler in the squad.” Dilshan said. “We want to give young fast bowlers a chance if we don’t they’ll never get the experience. We have given the opportunity to the young fast bowlers and I hope they will make use of it.”SLC had initially signed a No Objection Certificate (NOC) with its players allowing them to participate in the IPL until May 20. The tournament carries on until May 28, while the England tour kicks off with a warm-up game on May 14. The BCCI has been in talks with SLC, to convince them to allow their players to extend their IPL participation, but Sri Lanka is unlikely to relent.”The BCCI has asked us to reconsider our decision, but we have not changed our stand,” SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said. “We did sign a no-objection agreement with the players to play in the IPL. But there was no date to return. I am sure the BCCI will understand country must come first before IPL.”

A century from England Lions captain James Hildreth and cameos from the lower order steered the visitors to 280 for 8 against Windward Islands at Windsor Park in Roseau.Choosing to bat, England Lions were in trouble at 78 for 4, before a steadying 90-run stand between Hildreth and Jonathan Bairstow. After left-arm spinner Gary Mathurin, the pick of the Windward bowlers with 3 for 66, had Bairstow caught on 40, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes and James Harris hung around to frustrate the hosts. Mathurin also picked up the wicket of Hildreth, lbw for 100. Woakes and Danny Briggs were at the crease at stumps.

Muttiah Muralitharan has signed a two-year deal with Gloucestershire exclusively for Twenty20 cricket. Muralitharan will be free of international commitments for the period, since he is set to call time on his international career at the World Cup. He retired from Test cricket last year with an unprecedented 800 wickets, and is the leading wicket-taker in one-dayers as well, with 517 dismissals. Following his international retirement, his time is likely to be divided between Twenty20 leagues, including the IPL, a potential guest spin-coach role in Australia, and the Gloucestershire assignment.”I am really looking forward to playing for Gloucestershire,” Muralitharan said. “It is a young exciting team and I hope I can add some experience to the mix. The last time I played at Bristol I took five wickets and I look forward to an exciting t20 competition with the Gladiators.”Announcing the news on the GCCC website, Gloucestershire chief Tom Richardson said: “Signing Muttiah Muralitharan has given everybody in the club a great boost and there is a real buzz about the place. He is someone who can add huge value and we are all very much looking forward to working with him.”The club’s director of cricket, John Bracewell, and team captain Alex Gidman echoed Richardson’s views. “This is an exciting, and once in a lifetime opportunity to work and play with one of the greatest cricketers in the history of the game,” Bracewell said. “Whenever I have watched and observed Murali he has always had and shown an infectious love for the game of cricket. This is something that I personally am looking forward to working with.”I can’t wait to meet and to play with Muttiah Muralitharan. From the players’ point of view, it will be a great experience and I am sure we will learn a huge amount from him. This has given us a huge boost going into the 2011 season.”In addition to Muralitharan, Gloucerstershire are actively pursuing an overseas player to stay for the whole season.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Suresh Raina’s late charge ensured India built on their quick start•Associated Press

Morne Van Wyk defined irony on a lovely Durban night at the marvellous Moses Mabhida Stadium. On the day where he went unpicked by the IPL franchises, van Wyk hit a cultured 39-ball 67 to threaten to overhaul India’s strong 168, but he fell in the 11th over to trigger a collapse and India closed in quickly. South Africa had deployed three spinners on a slow, low surface, but Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina propelled India to a match-winning total.Van Wyk had the crowd in screaming in delight with his strokeplay: He looted 25 runs from six deliveries, spread over two overs, from Munaf Patel: There was a stunning pick-up shot over midwicket boundary, a pulled six and a cut boundary but the best shot was a scorching square drive to a ball that landed just short of the blockhole. And when he crashed R Ashwin for a four and a slog-swept six in the final over of the Powerplay, South Africa had reached 59 for 2.It took an unlikely run out to switch the momentum India’s way. Aashish Nehra relayed a throw from the deep to Suresh Raina, who fired a direct hit from midwicket to catch AB de Villiers short of his crease in the 10th over. JP Duminy fell three balls later, trapped by Yuvraj Singh, and things got worse for the hosts in 11th over, when van Wyk flicked Praveen Kumar straight to Nehra at deep square-leg. It was the beginning of the end, as no one barring Johan Botha, to an extent, could adapt to the slow track.The football stadium hosted its first cricket international and Makhaya Ntini’s last. It wasn’t quite a perfect night for Ntini, but he had his moments to savour: He caught Rohit at the long-on boundary and faced the penultimate delivery of the game before he was cheered off by the Indians.The slow pitch and the design of the stadium, with its short square-boundaries, dictated the style of play. The new ball and seamers leaked runs, the spinners pegged back the run-rate, and the batsmen heaved square to collect boundaries. India raced to 57 in six Powerplay overs, another 57 came in the next eight overs, bowled by the spinners, for the loss of three wickets before Suresh Raina pushed India ahead.The openers, M Vijay and Virat Kohli, set the ball rolling with a few trademark hits: M Vijay unfurled a flamboyant lofted hit to long-on off Ntini and Kohli put his signature swat-flicks to great use, but it was Rohit who gave a solid foundation to the innings. He started with an edgy drive through the slips but almost immediately played a stylish pick-up shot for a six over midwicket off Ntini. He was dropped by de Villiers, the keeper, after being beaten in flight by Botha, and celebrated that reprieve by looting 16 runs in the 12th over, also bowled by Botha. He heaved a couple of boundaries to midwicket and hit a scorching inside-out cover drive. Rohit provided the crowd a moment to celebrate when he holed out to long-on, where Ntini caught the ball just inside the boundary to trigger huge cheers.India slipped from 109 for 3 to 136 for 5 after Yuvraj Singh was run out and Yusuf Pathan edged an intended big hit on to his stumps but Raina ensured India reached a competitive score. He kept going for his slog-sweeps and swung Ntini and Rusty Theron for sixes and though the run-rate dipped a notch in the end overs, 168 was always going to be a strong total on this surface.

World Cup preparations at several stadiums are still running behind schedule, but the ICC chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, remains confident there will be no Commonwealth Games-style last-minute dash to complete the work. The opening World Cup game is five weeks away, but several venues, including Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, which will host the final, are not yet ready.Last month, an ICC inspection team confirmed that Wankhede Stadium and Eden Gardens in Kolkata, had failed to meet the November 30 construction deadline, and if they weren’t ready by January 15, there could be no guarantees they would be handed over for the ICC event. That date has now arrived, but Lorgat played down concerns about the state of the grounds.”You’re probably referring to Kolkata or Wankhede,” Lorgat said in Melbourne, when asked about the readiness of the venues. “There are certain stadia that are behind our schedule; we would have liked them to have been completed [by now]. I certainly do not envisage, and all of our reports do not indicate, anything like what transpired during the Commonwealth Games.”The stadiums are slightly behind – there’s four in particular, I think – but we’ll be done before the start of the World Cup. Most of the stadiums are complete and ready. There are no alarm bells ringing. I’m sure that we’ll be ready well before the start of the World Cup.”The lead-up to last year’s Delhi Commonwealth Games was dominated by eleventh-hour efforts to get all the venues up and running, despite the city having had seven years to prepare. The World Cup is arguably more complicated in that it is being held at 13 grounds across three countries, and construction work is just one issue.Ensuring security at all the stadiums has been another major task for the ICC, but Lorgat said he was happy with the measures in place. He said the organisation had matured in terms of infrastructure and management of security issues, and a more robust process was in place than might have been the case in the past.”All full-members have now got a security manager and the ICC has got a security manager, unlike in the past where we might have been relying entirely on independent experts or police agencies to provide the security,” he said. “We’ve got quite a co-ordinated approach which has matured very well. I’m quite confident with the measures that we’ve got in place … that it will be well done.”

Nabeel Ahmed, who last month resigned as first vice-president of the USA Cricket Association, has confirmed to ESPNcricinfo he will challenge for the post of board president at next year’s elections.Ahmed, who was born in Pakistan but moved to the USA in 1980 and has been actively involved in the game as a player and administrator ever since, said USACA needed new leadership”Gladstone Dainty [the current USACA president] has been involved with US cricket for a long time and he has done a lot for it … it went through lots of ups and downs but in the end it was not enough to take USA cricket to greater heights. I think the leadership approach was very casual bearing in mind this is the national organisation and whole cricket community is looking up to it.. The leader’s quality is to keep the board together and move it forward, but this has been clearly lacking … there was a division in the board at the highest level and that was bothering me a lot as a second in command.”I realised things were falling apart and nobody was trying to control them. Some serious allegations were surfacing but nothing was moving, so out of frustration I decided to give up and I resigned under protest.”USACA has no option but to be democratic and accountable from top to bottom. The organisation has to run professionally and according to the constitution.”Ahmed, who runs his own business in Farmington Hills, Michigan believes he has a “fool-proof plan” to take US cricket forward, and that involves making it a far more open affair than it has been.”I want to change USACA from the way it has been run. It needs to be a democratic, accountable, fair and transparent organisation, one which cares about the general membership and has a system which is fair and equal for everyone. Participation will be welcomed from each and every region equally, and no region will be treated different.”It has to be an organisation which cares about every cricketer, cricket administrator in this country and has open door policy and welcome those who are promoting cricket in the country according to USACA constitution.”Ahmed admitted the finances of the game in the US remains a major obstacle, but said he was confident a commercial deal he was actively involved in while on the board would be completed very soon. ” I am sure it will go thru and I will be very happy to see it maturing,” he said. “[The deal] is one of the best thing which is going to happen for cricket for grass root level and promotion of cricket at national and international level in this country. I was approached by all the commercial partners after my resignation I told them I have my differences with the leadership and some other members who had important positions but my full support is with the commercial deal because it was a great thing for US cricket.”Ahmed would not be drawn on the reason behind the sudden dismissal of Don Lockerbie as USACA chief executive last month – “I know why he was let go but I think best thing is to interview Lockerbie, a USACA representative or Dainty … US stakeholders need to know why” – but was critical of him for not focussing enough on the grassroots game.”He should have done more and better for the cricket at that level. He had lots of ideas and a great vision, and in the beginning and we were very happy to have him. As time passed everybody started realising nothing was possible without lots of funds.”Ahmed has no doubts he has the background and skills to take US cricket forward. “I think with my experience in USACA for four years I have done my homework and have put a plan together to take USA cricket to greater heights and regain all the lost respect in the international community.””I have established a track record over the years in the cricket community nationally and internationally. I have been very vocal and conscious member of the USACA board and always fought for what is right for cricket. I tried my best to bring things on track and make members do things according to the constitution.””There has been some improvement in the last two years but USACA should have been more organised with effective leadership. The whole system has to be revisited; the favours have to stop. Everybody has to be selected on merit. I have watched the system very closely and I exactly know what USA cricket community and stake holders need and are looking for.”Change in US cricket is coming and we are going to make it the best cricket market and cricket playing country. The old US cricket politics are over. We don’t have time for negativity, we need to change gear and prosper. We need to start electing right people starting from clubs to leagues to regions and eventually the USACA board.”

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, has said that he made a surprise declaration in the second innings to try and get the psychological advantage over West Indies in the drawn second Test at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.”We had to try and get a couple of wickets back especially we wanted to target [Chris] Gayle to see if we could get him out early,” Sangakkara said. “[Tillakaratne] Dilshan bowled a beautiful spell with the new ball and it was a great wicket in the end for us.”Gayle, who made a massive 333 in the first Test at Galle, was dismissed for 30 and three in this Test. Sri Lanka also grabbed the wicket of the other opener, Adrian Barath, for eight as West Indies struggled to 12-2 before the match was called off with 11 overs remaining.Sangakkara was confident that had the match gone its full distance, his spinners would have made life difficult for the West Indian batsmen. “It would have been great to see our spinners working on it. We hardly played two-and-a-half-days cricket on this wicket and it’s almost turning square.”One of the positives to come out of the Test was the discipline the Sri Lanka bowlers showed in their lines and lengths. “The fast bowlers bowled tighter lines and executed the game plans a lot better in this Test match. It doesn’t matter whether you have the most talented players in the world its finally you’ve got to go out there and stick to those basic lines and lengths.”Any fast bowler in the world for 100 years has concentrated on line and length and any good ball is a good ball to any batsman. Those are things you’ve got to keep working on, not try to bowl magic deliveries, but good old fashioned line and length.”

Scorecard
Openers Tim McIntosh and Peter Ingram led New Zealand A to a comfortable nine-wicket win against Zimbabwe A on the third day of the final unofficial Test in Harare. With this victory, New Zealand took the three-match series 2-0.Given the small target of 168, the only hope for Zimbabwe A was to try and get early wickets, but McIntosh and Ingram had other ideas. The pair shut Zimbabwe out of the game with a busy 122-run opening stand. Ingram, who has not been among the runs recently, finally found some form, hitting seven fours in his brisk 63. By the time he fell to medium-pacer Michael Chinouya, New Zealand needed only 46 more. Martin Guptill came in and smashed a quick 25 as New Zealand raced to the target. McIntosh remained unbeaten on 76, having hit 11 fours and a six.New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin, who took 5 for 72, was named Player of the Match. Wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins was Player of the Series for top scoring with 292 runs in four innings, including one hundred and three half-centuries.

MS Dhoni has asked for Tests to be played at venues that have a history of supporting the format with big attendances, and has appreciated the support received from the Bangalore crowd during the course of India’s victory against Australia. Of India’s 10 Test venues – Hyderabad being the newest – Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Mohali and to an extent Delhi are known for their lukewarm response to Test cricket.”Maybe some of these centres where people come up to see Test matches can be given preference over some other centres where people don’t come in large numbers to watch Test matches,” Dhoni said. “After all, if taken in the right sense, we are the performers in the circus, but you need the circus to be full. It [this comment] should be taken in the right sense.”Dhoni and his men liked what they saw in Bangalore. Three of the days – the weekend and the final day – were almost sold out. “It really helps the players who are on the field,” Dhoni said. “Frankly speaking, in the 45th or 50th over, when the fast bowler comes for his second or third spell, it’s the crowd that gets him going, apart from the fact that he is supposed to do well for the team and the country. You need some kind of a motivation, and especially because we’re used to playing IPL and ODIs in front of 30000 or 40000 or 50000 people, you want that kind of a crowd.”Throughout the last five days, the spectators have been India’s 12th man. They cheered every special effort by the Indians, appealed when the bowler appealed, got off their seats when Sachin Tendulkar and other batsmen played good strokes, and appreciated every good effort by the fielders. Some of them booed the Australians, but many were appreciative.”It was a remarkable crowd,” Dhoni said. “Throughout the five days there were good crowds, and on the final day it was literally house full. You could see as many people in the stands as in a Twenty20 or ODI match. They supported good cricket more than anything else.”They did get their money’s worth. Not only did they watch their home side complete a clean sweep against Australia, they saw Tendulkar go level with Virender Sehwag as the Indian with the most double-centuries; they saw Cheteshwar Pujara, the debutant, play an innings he wouldn’t mind as his epitaph; they saw M Vijay, a stylish batsman, add substance to his game at Test level; they saw Ricky Ponting bat beautifully but fall disappointingly short; they saw Zaheer Khan and Ben Hilfenhaus create wickets on flat pitches. The Indian team thanked the crowd with a deserved lap of the ground.

Scorecard
Legspinner Samiullah Shenwari picked up 3 for 29•AFP

Afghanistan’s bowlers put up another spirited display to dismiss Kenya cheaply in the second ODI in Nairobi. The batsman didn’t let them down, chasing down the target of 140 in quick time. Led by Asghar Stanikzai’s unbeaten half-century, the Afghanistan batsmen recovered from a poor start to level the three-match series with six wickets to spare.Afghanistan were struck a blow in the second over of the chase when opener Noor Ali Zadran had to retire hurt. In the next over, allrounder Thomas Odoyo removed the other opener Karim Sadiq. When Nehemiah Odhiambo bowled Nawroz Mangal soon after, Afghanistan were in danger of collapsing again, like in the first ODI when they had been shot out for 88.However, Stanikzai ensured there would be no repeat of that performance with an aggressive knock. He first steadied the innings with wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad, adding 53 runs for the third wicket. Shahzad dominated that stand with a strokeful 37. He took Odhiambo for three fours in the eighth over, pulling him twice through midwicket and then driving him through cover. The introduction of spin got Kenya the breakthrough, as offspinner James Ngoche got Shahzad to hit one straight to captain Jimmy Kamande at midwicket.Stanikzai, on 20 off 34 deliveries at the time, took charge after Shahzad’s dismissal, getting to his second ODI half-century in 60 balls. Though Mirwais Ashraf fell cheaply to Steve Tikolo, Mohammad Nabi ensured there were no further worries for Afghanistan, smashing four fours in an Odhiambo over to bring up victory with 23 overs remaining.The win had been set up by a disciplined bowling performance, after Kenya had elected to bat. Afghanistan’s decision to open with offspinner Mohammad Nabi worked when he got David Obuya to edge to Stanikzai at first slip in his second over. Izatullah Dawlatzai, the fast bowler making his ODI and List A debut, bowled the other opener Seren Waters, and then removed Collins Obuya, who was looking in good touch.Legspinner Samiullah Shenwari ran through the middle order, flighting the ball and getting it to turn on his way to 3 for 29 in ten overs, including the wickets of top-scorer Tanmay Mishra and Tikolo. Two late run-outs didn’t help Kenya, as they collapsed from 84 for 3 to be bowled out for 139. The last five batsmen could not reach double-figures, leaving former captain Maurice Ouma stranded on 31.