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After drawing comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar for his masterly knockagainst New Zealand, Virender Shewag today disclosed that the battingmaestro had sent him a congratulatory message for his match-winninginnings yesterday.”Sachin has sent a message asking me to ‘keep it up’,” a beamingShewag said.Shewag, who opened the Indian innings with captain Sourav Ganguly inthe absence of Tendulkar, smashed a 69-ball 100, to guide India to acomprehensive seven-wicket victory over New Zealand in the last leaguematch of triangular one-day series for a place in Sunday’s finalagainst Sri Lanka.The innings drew comparisons with Tendulkar for the sheer contemptShewag showed for the bowling while blasting 19 fours and a six, allof which were brilliant shots.The effort however was not enough to earn Shewag a place in the 16-member squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka announcedyesterday. “I have to perform better to get into the Test side,” wasall Shewag had to say about his exclusion.A middle-order batsman, Shewag said he was comfortable opening theinnings too. “I will bat in any position that the team wants me to,”he said.Shewag’s maiden century was the seventh fastest in limited overscricket. However, he said he was not going for the records and was noteven aware of Mohammad Azharuddin’s 62-ball hundred which is thefastest by any Indian. “I just kept playing my shots,” he said.Yuvraj Singh, who produced a similar match-winning knock against SriLanka the day before, said playing one’s natural game was the key tosuccess in one-day matches.”We didn’t put any pressure on ourselves and just played our shots,”Yuvraj said. The left-handed all-rounder, who made a sensational debutagainst Australia in the ICC Knock-out tournament in Nairobi lastyear, has also been left out of the Test squad.Yuvraj said he was not disappointed with the decision and was workingon his bowling too to develop into a genuine all-rounder. He had agood outing in this tournament with the ball too and felt if he wasable to contribute handsomely with the bat and the ball while being anoutstanding fielder, the selectors could not ignore him for the Testsfor long.After winning three successive pressure games, a relieved Indian teamteam took a deserving break today, ahead of the final on Sunday.”From the way we have won the last three matches, I can say we hope towin,” team manager AN Mate said.A group of underpriveleged children from a charitable institution inRatmalana, a suburb of Colombo, visited the Indian team today.

The Central Zone Cooch Behar Under-19 Trophy match between Uttar Pradeshand Railways at the Kamala Club ground in Kanpur ended in a draw on Mondaywith Railways gaining 5 points out of the match since they took the firstinnings lead. Uttar Pradesh had to be satisfied with three.Railways who started their second innings on the final day got to score 152runs in 81 overs, while losing 7 wickets in the bargain. Manoj Srivastava(42) was the top scorer for Railways while the top order chipped in withsome sedate performances.Earlier on the second day Railways managed to take a slender 6 run lead,when the bundled out UP for 179 in their first innings. Apart from theopeners Faizan Khan (42) and A Kapoor (56), who added 86 in 37.5 overs,none of the others stayed long enough to forge significant partnerships.Raza Ali with 3 for 26 was the pick of the Railways’ bowlers.Railways who elected to bat on the opening day, were reduced to 185 after afine 84 run second wicket partnership between Surinder Singh (46) and MSSrivastava (43) which took the score to 101 in 39.2 overs. N Choudhary (3for 46) was the best bowler for UP.

	Sanath Jayasuriya is congratulated on his 300 © WCM

It looked like being one of those sleepy subcontinental Tests, where the side batting first runs up a big score and the other team tries to match their total.And the first two days on a docile pitch at Colombo’s R Premadasa (formerly Khetterama) Stadium followed that template. India made 537 for 8, with centuries from Sidhu (his eighth in Tests), Tendulkar (12th) and Azharuddin (18th). India declared shortly before the end of the second day, and Tendulkar promised his bowlers would “attack for three days”. They claimed a wicket in the last over. It went to Nilesh Kulkarni, 24, a left-arm spinner from Bombay, who became only the 12th bowler to take a wicket with his first ball in Tests. But his dream start was to turn into a nightmare: he sent down 419 more balls without taking another wicket, and conceded 195 runs.Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama, team-mates with Colombo’s Bloomfield club, batted throughout the third day (the 12th instance in Testhistory) and on through the fourth. No pair had survived two full days’ play before, although Garry Sobers and Frank Worrell almost managed it against England at Bridgetown in 1959-60: they also batted through two days, but an hour was lost to rain on the second of them.Jayasuriya had reached 326, Sri Lanka’s first Test triple-century, by the fourth-day close. He was within sight of Brian Lara’s Test-record 375, and in anticipation of a new mark the gates were thrown open on the final day. Over 30,000 crowded in, but many were still trying to find a perch when Jayasuriya, two balls after losing his partner for 225, was surprised by one that bounced from offspinner Chauhan and popped a simple catch to Ganguly at silly point. The Indian fielders all ran to congratulate the batsman, and clapped him off the field. Jayasuriya had made 340, from 578 balls in 799 minutes, with 36 fours and two sixes. He banished once and for all any notion that he is only a one-day hitter. Only three higher scores have been made in Tests – Lara’s 375, Garry Sobers’s 365 not out, and Len Hutton’s 364.Jayasuriya’s first task had been to ensure that Sri Lanka avoided the follow-on. “I was happy to go all that way,” he said. “I wasn’t going after the record – at least not until the end of the fourth day, when someone told me I was only 50 short. I felt a great pressure on me when I came out to bat [on the fifth morning], and obviously I am disappointed now – but at least my country has made a great achievement.”His partnership with Mahanama, who scored his first Test double-century, set several more records. They eventually put on 576 in 753 minutes, the longest stand in Test history and only one run shy of the highest in first-class cricket (577 by Vijay Hazare and Gul Mahomed in India in 1946-47). They cruised past the previous-highest Test partnership, the 467 of Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones at Wellington in 1990-91. This record was taken with some relish, as the suffering bowlers on that occasion were Sri Lanka’s.The record breaking did not stop when the epic partnership was ended. Aravinda de Silva showed little sign that he had been padded up for the best part of 13 hours, compiling a neat 12th Test century of his own, while skipper Ranatunga made 86, becoming the first Sri Lankan to pass 4000 Test runs during his innings. Mahela Jayawardene, 19, also chipped in on his debut.England’s 903 for 7 at The Oval in 1938, the highest Test total, was the next big target: eventually that too was surpassed. A score of 1000 seemed a possibility, but as there was no chance of a result a halt was called with seven of the last 20 overs bowled. Sri Lanka’s 952 for 6 is the third-highest total in all first-class cricket, exceeded only by Victoria’s two four-figure totals in Australia in the 1920s.Ona dead pitch India stuck well enough to their task, at least on the third and fourth days. Not surprisingly, the bowlers and fielders wilted on the final day as Sri Lanka piled on the runs with all prospect of a result long gone. Opening bowler Kuruvilla, who picked up a leg injury, was spared much of the punishment, but Chauhan, on his return to Test cricket after doubts about his bowling action, and Kumble both conceded over 200 runs.Tendulkar said the pitch was “unfit for Test cricket”, adding: “If we had lost the toss and batted second, we could also have played a massive innings. We only lost wickets because we took chances and looked for runs.”

Scorecard
Half-centuries from Lisa Sthalekar and Melissa Bulow steered Australia to a comfortable six-wicket win against England at the IIT Chemplast Ground in Chennai. Sarah Taylor had struck 101 to boost England to 268 for 8 but Australia reached their target with 20 balls to spare.After being asked to bat, Sarah provided the ideal start. England lost Laura Newton for 38 but Sarah added 119 runs for the second wicket with Claire Taylor. Sarah struck her century off 111 balls and hit 15 fours. Claire’s 54 took just 56 balls but her dismissal led to a steady fall of wickets.”My 41 against New Zealand helped me get into a rhythm. I tried to hit fours and take as many singles as possible,” said Sarah after her maiden ODI century. “What I have concentrated on is the mental aspect of batting when practicing at the nets. The wickets in India are different from those in England in the manner that the ball comes on a little more and the pitches are harder.”All of England’s middle-order batsmen got into double figures but no one made it count. Beth Morgan struck 23 off 20 balls at the death to push England to 268 when at one stage they looked set for much more.”We were probably lucky that England didn’t get to 300,” said Karen Rolton, the Australian captain, echoing that sentiment. “On this ground the game can really change any time. It looked like we would go down to the last over but some good hitting by Cathryn Fitzpatrick right at the end meant that we got home with three overs to spare.”Australia started off well, with it’s top-order making nuggety contributions with Bulow and Sthalekar scoring 52 and 77 respectively. The openers, Bulow and Shelley Nitschke, added 80 in quick time before both fell on the same score. Rolton joined Sthalekar for a 71-run stand for the third wicket before Kate Blackwell and Sthalekar added 75 for the fourth.Australia now face India on Saturday in what is effectively a semi-final. The winner of that game will play New Zealand in the final on March 5.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball
3rd day
Bulletin – Clark drives Aussies to seven-wicket success
Verdict – South Africa miss the supporting act
Quotes – Australia’s batting was the crucial difference
Gallery – Australia take first blood with seven-wicket win
2nd day
Bulletin – Lee’s late burst hands Australia the initiative
Verdict – Smith’s brave new philosophy
Gallery – All the action from day two
Quotes – Nel still upbeat but Hayden smells victory1st day
Bulletin – Clark bursts South Africa’s bubble
Verdict – Journeyman Clark papers over the cracks
Gallery – All the action from day one
Preview
Preview – Warne looms large for confident South Africa
News – South Africans unhappy with Newlands pitch
News – Ponting unsure of line-up
News – Wessels targets Australia’s attack
News – South Africa lose fear of failure

Sehwag: ‘When you make runs in such tough conditions, it makes you very happy’© Getty Images

SehwagOn his inningsIt was difficult, because it was very hot and humid in the morning. I just wanted to bat until the 40th over so that we could get a decent total on the board. We were very tired by the 30th over, but determined not to throw our wickets away. The plan was to get to the 35th over and then play some shots.On how he rated his inningsWhen you make runs in such tough conditions, it makes you very happy. It gives you a different kind of confidence.On whether he was in the form of his lifeOf course. I’ve got over 600 runs in just the last three Tests and this ODI.GangulyOn another bad day for him, and a good one for the teamThis Indian team has had many good days over the past three or four years. It’s not like it’s the first.On the turning pointI think it was Inzamam’s wicket. We knew we’d win from there.On his formSomething’s letting me down. But I’ll go out and be positive. I need to play to get back in touch. Sitting at home or taking a break won’t help.On whether the morale had been affected by the Bangalore defeatWe didn’t lose the series, we drew it. We’d dominated the previous game in Kolkata, and also in Mohali. Leaving Australia aside, I don’t think any team can say that they win every match. Our morale was not low, and I think we proved today how confident we were.On whether he would contemplate going back to open the inningsI don’t think batting at number three is very different from opening. We’ve got a guy performing at the top and there’s no question of changing things right now.On playing three seamers as opposed to an extra spinnerIt was the seamers that did the damage early on. And we knew that apart from Harbhajan, we had Sachin, Sehwag and Yuvraj who could bowl spin.On whether he was surprised by Tendulkar’s spellHe has always been a wicket-taking bowler, and he’s taken five wickets once before here in Kochi.On whether he was disappointed by only 41 coming from the final nine oversThey bowled very well. And when you have two set batsmen getting out, it can be difficult, especially in this heat. We knew a total like 282 would be defendable because it’s not easy to chase in these conditions.

Windward Islands 121 for 4 (Smith 51; Perry 2-29) trail Jamaica 338 (Bernard 120; Butler 3-78) by 217 runs
ScorecardJamaica took charge of their Carib Beer Cup semi-final against the Windward Islands at Alpart, thanks to a superb century from David Bernard, and two quick wickets from Nehemiah Perry. At the close of play on the second day, the Windward Islands were 121 for 4, still 217 behind Jamaica’s score of 338.Devon Smith made 51 before becoming one of Perry’s victims, and the Windwards would have to rely on the lower order to have any chance of taking a first innings lead. When Smith, who has four centuries in the series, was at the crease, with Craig Emmanuel (28) also batting well, the Windward Islands appeared to be in with a shout, reaching 85 for 1 before Perry struck.Smith had just got to his half-century when he drove powerfully at Perry, only to see Tamar Lambert take a magnificent diving catch at short extra-cover.Moments later, Kenroy Martin popped back and return catch to Perry, and it became 86 for 4 when Bernard trapped Emmanuel leg before with one that moved back in sharply.Earlier, Jamaica had added 123 to their overnight score of 215 for 6, with Odean Brown (32), Perry (27) and Daren Powell (24) buttressing Bernard’s fine 120. It was Bernard’s second first-class century, after his 109 against Guyana at Albion last year.

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has called for the InternationalCricket Council (ICC) to take firm action against Shane Warne as the worldwaits to hear the outcome to the biggest drugs scandal in cricket history.Ranatunga, famously outspoken during his playing career and now as atelevision commentator and politician, warned the world’s governing body(ICC) that the Asian world would be watching carefully what action would betaken against Warne."What interests me more is how the ICC will treat the case,” Ranatunga isquoted as saying by the Times News Network. “If Warne was an Asian he wouldhave been buried for sure by now. Whenever an Australian or a white guy doesa crime, he is found to be innocent… This one will be tough for the ICCbecause he’s an Aussie."Warne left the World Cup in apparent disgrace after drug samples revealedthat he had consumed a banned diuretic normally used to aid fluid loss or asa masking agent for performance enhancing drugs.The spin legend, who claims he popped a single pill on the advice of hismother Bridgette, apparently to improve his appearance for a pressconference, will discover his fate on Saturday morning when an ACBAnti-Doping committee announce their decision after an eight-hour hearing onFriday.Warne faces a maximum two years ban if found guilty although he could bereprieved under “exceptional circumstances” according to a clause in the ACB’s anti-doping policy. A two-year ban would almost certainly end the careerof the 33-year-old spinner.Ranatunga, a longtime foe of Warne ever since the leg-spinner claimed thatthe game would be better off without him prior to the 1999 World Cup,apparently believes that authorities have protected Warne, suggesting acover-up over his role in the match-fixing scandal."It’s ridiculous to say that a bookie paid Warne thousands of dollars for aweather report or some information on the wicket,” said Ranatunga. “Thenewspapers have the weather report every day and why should a bookie payWarne dollars for pitch information.”The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) warned Warne after it had emerged that hehad accepted cash for pitch and weather information from an Indian bookmakerduring Australia’s 1994 tour of Sri Lanka”In Sri Lanka, he just has to stuff a grand into the curators pocket and hewill tell you what he has done with the wicket in the whole of last week,"added Ranatunga scornfully.

Kent and Lancashire matched each other blow for blow on an eventful opening day of this sun-kissed CricInfo Championship clash in Canterbury.The plaudits went to Kent opening batsman David Fulton, the first batsman in the country to pass 1,000 runs for the first-class season, and to Martin Saggers, who received his Kent county cap during the lunch interval.But the Red Rose county also had good reason to be pleased for limiting the hosts to 301 for eight on a decent St Lawrence pitch and in conditions ideal for batting.Indeed, John Crawley’s early decision to invite the Hop County to bat raised a few eyebrows, but the Lancashire skipper had looked at a green tinted pitch and an even covering of grass and, despite the absence of his premier seamers Glen Chapple and Peter Martin through injury, elected to bowl first.Kent made a decent enough start, adding 25 for the first wicket before Rob Key found an inside edge when driving to give former Durham seamer John Wood the first of his two wickets on Championship debut for the visitors.Ed Smith also went before lunch to a catch at third man by Muthiah Muralitharan, who was the bowler when Fulton swept for four to reach his 1,000-run milestone.Kent’s new overseas player Andrew Symonds (31) helped post 58 for the third wicket before he flailed at Wood to give wicket-keeper Warren Hegg the first of his four catches of the day.Wickets fell regularly thereafter, including that of Fulton for 65 and, at 208 for eight, Kent looked likely to miss out on a second, let alone a third batting bonus point.But then Saggers teamed up with ninth-wicket partner Paul Nixon to post an unbroken 96 to help Kent to respectability and frustrate the visitors for the final hour of the day.

Liverpool have now held talks over a move for a £80m star, who Jurgen Klopp has previously described as “world-class”.

Reds eyeing new forward amid Salah uncertainty

Mohamed Salah hasn’t been frozen out by Arne Slot, despite his outspoken comments about the manager, with the Egyptian assisting Hugo Ekitike’s second goal in the 2-0 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion earlier this month.

However, the forward’s long-term future at Anfield remains up in the air, having reportedly offered himself to three Champions League clubs earlier this month, after falling down the pecking order.

Speaking on The Overlap, Gary Neville insisted the 33-year-old won’t sit around and play second fiddle to players he believes he’s better than, saying: “Salah will not sit down and watch Gakpo play football, these players don’t sit and watch players that are inferior.”

As such, the former Chelsea man, who has been ranked as the greatest Egyptian player of all time, could move on if he isn’t restored to the starting XI after AFCON, which means the Reds may need to start thinking about bringing in a new forward.

According to a report from TEAMtalk, Liverpool have now held talks over a move for Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr, with intermediaries informing them the Brazilian would now be interested in a move to the Premier League.

Vinicius is yet to put pen to paper on a new contract with the Spanish side, but Florentino Perez remains hesitant to sanction a departure, and a move is unlikely in the January transfer window, as per a TEAMtalk source, who said: “Vini and Rodrygo are huge players for this club, and Florentino Perez does not want either to leave.

“Both are different situations, Vini’s is about his contract and Rodrygo about his squad role – but as we get to January, the expectation is that both will be staying.”

Vinicius Jr could be statement signing for Liverpool

With it recently being revealed Madrid could demand £80m for the Brazil international, a deal could be on the expensive side, but it could be worth paying a fee in that ballpark, given that he has established himself as one of the world’s best wingers.

Subscribe to the newsletter for Liverpool transfer depth Get in-depth transfer coverage, subscribe to the newsletter for detailed analysis of Liverpool’s transfer moves, rumours like a potential Vinicius Jr signing, and broader transfer-market context across top clubs. Subscribe Subscribe to the newsletter for Liverpool transfer depth Get in-depth transfer coverage, subscribe to the newsletter for detailed analysis of Liverpool’s transfer moves, rumours like a potential Vinicius Jr signing, and broader transfer-market context across top clubs.

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Klopp has also personally lauded the Madrid star in the past, describing him as “world-class”, and he has been prolific throughout his time with the La Liga heavyweights, amassing 111 goals and 91 assists in 346 outings.

The 25-year-old would not be a like-for-like replacement for Salah, given that he most commonly plays on the left-wing, but the opportunity to sign a forward of his calibre is simply too good to turn down.

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As such, if Real Madrid are unable to agree a new contract with Vinicius Jr, Liverpool should make a move in the summer transfer window.