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.

First-Class debutants Kurt Wilkinson and Corey Glasgow engineered amiddle-order recovery which helped Barbados earn a creditable drawagainst South Africa `A’ as the historic match ended at the WindwardClub, Lucas Street, St. Philip, yesterday.Wilkinson scored an unbeaten 48 and Glasgow a solid 31. The pair cametogether in the 18th of the 42 overs which Barbados had available toscore 224 for victory after South Africa declared.Any possibility of an unlikely Barbados run-hunt totally disappearedin the first over when captain Philo Wallace was bowled by left-armpacer Charl Willough by without a run on the board.Despite the setback for Barbados, hardly anyone could have predictedthe early drama in the final session after Barbados went to tea at 22for one, with Shirley Clarke and Rondell Yearwood together.Immediately on resumption, Clarke drove at Mfuneko Ngam’s firstdelivery and keeper Marc Bruyns pouched the catch.Ryan Hinds, who scored a discipline half-century in the first innings,swung at his first ball, an apparently harmless delivery outside legstump only to see the alert and athletic Bruyns diving to his right tohaul in another catch.All of a sudden a game which seemed destined for a tame draw sprung tolife as Barbados declined to 22 for three with Dale Richards, whobatted impressively in the first innings, unable to bat because of aninjured hand.Wilkinson opened his first-class account following his first inningsduck with a confident cut to the backward point boundary and thendoubled his score with an exquisite cover drive, both off therampaging Ngam.At the other end, Yearwood snicked another catch to Bruyns to leaveBarbados 34 for four.Dale Mason added 33 for the fifth wicket with Wilkinson, but with justover 24 overs remaining he appeared to take his eyes off an attemptedhook, which landed in the hands of Ngam at square-leg off CharlLangeveldt at 60 for five.Glasgow played fluently and with Wilkinson put together a valuable 60for the sixth wicket.

Play abandoned
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Cyclone Komen ruined another day of Test cricket•AFP

There has now been as much play in this Test series as there has been waiting for clearer skies; the second successive abandoned day in Mirpur because of cyclone Komen taking the total number of washouts to four.With the forecast improving, prospects for play appear brighter on the remaining two days of the second Test, though that may not be enough to force any result other than a draw.Things could have been different had there been some action on the third day. The rain abated for a brief period in the afternoon and the ground staff was able to dry the surface. Play was due to start at 2:15 pm local time with 45 overs to be bowled, but the rain returned half-an-hour before the resumption.The amount of time lost in the series made the chance of any result other than a draw unlikely. In that case South Africa, who are currently at the top of the Test rankings on 130 points, will lose five points, while Bangladesh, who sit at No.9, will gain six points.

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu will look to captain Abhinav Mukund to give them a solid start•K Sivaraman

Where they finished last season
Runners-upBig Picture
Tamil Nadu began the last season not having made it to the knockouts for the last two years, without two big players in S Badrinath and KB Arun Karthik, were bottom-placed in their group after five matches and had regular captain R Prasanna ruled out for a few games with an injury. Then, like a switch had been flicked, new captain Abhinav Mukund, who has played five Tests, led a comeback that ended only when champions Karnataka proved too strong for them.”We hadn’t found ideal replacements [for Badrinath and Arun Karthik],” Abhinav said. “A lot of players were in their first seasons, or they were just trying to get their feet in first-class cricket, like [B] Indrajith or Vijay Shankar. But now, there are three of us in India A squad, a couple actually pushing for places [in the senior side].”Indrajith has been given a bigger responsibility as vice-captain, so, I think, with a mixture of Dinesh [Karthik] and Prasanna, and obviously Malolan [Rangarajan, offspinner] doing well with the ball, it’s definitely looking a lot more settled.”As bowling-coach-cum-player, former India bowler L Balaji provides the young and reinforced seam attack experience. Malolan will lead the spin attack, and Tamil Nadu will look to captain Abhinav, brothers Indrajith and Aparajith, and youngster Vijay Shankar to team up with the experienced Kathik and Prasanna for the runs.Players to watch out for
B Indrajith, 21 years old, is only into his third season of first-class cricket, but has already been made the vice-captain of the side. He scored 713 runs at an average of 44.56, including five fifties and a century in last year’s Ranji Trophy to finish third on the list of Tamil Nadu’s run-scorers.Over the last two seasons, Aswin Crist has emerged as one of the most promising pacers from Tamil Nadu. Abhinav called him the “quickest bowler in the team.” Crist finished with 15 wickets at 25.93 in the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy, including four wickets in the semi-final against Maharashtra. At 21, he will be expected to lead the seam attack this time around.Coaching staff
Tamil Nadu have dispensed with WV Raman’s services, and have named M Sanjay, Raman’s assistant last year, coach. They have roped in RI Palani as cricket manager. Palani had played a similar, overarching role during the 2011-12 season, when they were finalists.The big news, however, is that of L Balaji being named bowling coach and player, if conditions suit his bowling.Preparation
Ahead of last season, Tamil Nadu had fitness and skill-training camps in Wayanad and Mumbai, but they have opted to train in Chennai this time. A major reason for that is the amount of cricket they have been playing in the build up to the Ranji Trophy. Apart from the highly competitive TNCA first-division league, most players have been playing in tournaments like the KSCA invitation, Buchi Babu and the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup. Aparajith, Shankar and Abhinav have turned out for India A matches.”I think we never had a problem with the lead-up,” Mukund said. “Chennai is known to have a very strong league structure. They are all playing a lot of games and there is no one short of match practice.”Team news
Left-arm seamer Prasanth Parameswaran has moved to Goa, while left-arm spinner Aushik Srinivas hasn’t found a place in the squad for the first three games.Squad
Abhinav Mukund (capt), B Indrajith (vice-capt), Umashankar Sushil, B Aparajith, L Balaji, Bharath Shankar, DT Chandrasekar, Kaushik Gandhi, J Kousik, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ramaswamy Prasanna, M Mohammed, Malolan Rangarajan, Rahil Shah, Vijay Shankar, Lakshminarayanan Vignesh.In their own words
“It [making the final last year] has changed the way a lot of people are looking at our team. Not only from the outside, but within ourselves we have got the inner belief that we can go on to do better things. The youngsters that have come in want to win, which is good.”

Madhya Pradesh

Aditya Shrivastava was a big positive for Madhya Pradesh last season•MPCA

Where they finished last season
Fourth in Group A with one win and six draws in eight matchesBig Picture
In their second match of the season last year, Madhya Pradesh took a 116-run, first-innings lead on a green top and put themselves in a comfortable place to notch up an early win. All they needed to do in the second innings was post a target to shut UP out of the game. Instead they crumbled for 63. Set a target of 180, UP’s lower order kept their nerve for the six-wicket win.For MP, it was the beginning of a pattern that repeated a few times through the season, against Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and most critically, in their final league match against Bengal, a draw which snuffed out their chances of a knock-out place.It’s a weakness that captain Devendra Bundela says the team will work hard towards this season. “At crucial times when we had to click we fell short by a bit,” Bundela said. “This season, however, we are confident of a good performance.”Like last season, much of the onus, particularly in the run-scoring department will rest on the shoulders of the 37-year-old Bundela, off-spinning allorunder Jalaj Saxena, Naman Ojha, who played India’s last Test, and Mohnish Mishra. The bowling department, led by Ishwar Pandey, has a few youngsters, and Bundela is keen for them to make an impression.The side for the first two matches – against Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu – includes young medium-pacers Puneet Datey and Yogesh Rawat, who were impressive last season, left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma (their second-highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy 2014-15) and 18-year-old medium-pacer Avesh Khan, who made his first-class debut last season after representing India Under-19s in the 2014 World Cup. Udit Birla, who did not play a first-class game for MP last season, has been picked for the first two games. The squad also features uncapped opening batsman Rajat Patidar and wicketkeeper-batsman Ankit Dane as the 16th man.Players to watch out for
In Jalaj Saxena, Bundela and N Ojha, MP can count some of the most established names in domestic cricket among their line-up. The focus this season, however, will be on their youngsters – some of whom made their debuts last season.Twenty-two-year-old Aditya Shrivastava notched up scores of 91, 108*, 0 and 151 in the four first-class innings of his maiden season, including knocks against Karnataka and Bengal. Datey, an allrounder playing his first full Ranji Trophy season after a debut in 2013, was the leading wicket-taker for the side with 31 scalps in 14 innings at an average of 21.83. Rawat, who played five matches, took 15 wickets including a five-for against Bengal that allowed MP to enforce a follow-on in a crucial game. Another impressive performer was Avesh, who also finished with 15 wickets in five matches. Shrivastava, along with Datey and Rawat, were the positives of last season for MP, according to Bundela. With some experience behind them, the bowlers will be crucial in helping MP shut out matches.Coaching staff
Harvinder Singh Sodhi (coach), Mayank Agarwal (trainer), Balasaheb Tate (physio)Preparation
The preparation for MP’s main squad and reserve pool has included matches in the Nimbalkar Trophy in Pune, a tournament organised by the Vidarbha Cricket Association and a pre-season camp of 20 players.Squad
Devendra Bundela (capt), Naman Ojha, Avesh Khan, Ankit Sharma, Udit Birla, Ankit Dane, Puneet Datey, Harpreet Singh, Mihir Hirwani, Mohnish Mishra, Ishwar Pandey, Rajat Patidar, Rameez Khan, Yogesh Rawat, Jalaj Saxena, Aditya Shrivastava.In their own words
“We have wicketkeeping back-ups for Naman Ojha in Ankit Dane and Zafar Ali. The season is also quite long now so we have developed a good bench strength of fast bowlers.”

Uttar Pradesh

Praveen Kumar takes charge of Uttar Pradesh•Getty Images

Where they finished last season
After starting the Ranji Trophy with a win over Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh went on to lose three of their remaining seven matches to finish seventh in Group A, just ahead of Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir.Big Picture
After making it to the quarter-finals in 2013-14, UP managed only two wins last season, just avoiding relegation. To add to that, none of their batsmen featured among the top 50 run-scorers and their leading wicket-taker, Praveen Kumar, was 45th overall.UP have had a stronger bowling unit in recent times than batting with Praveen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, RP Singh and Piyush Chawla. They will be without Bhuvneshwar for at least the duration of the South Africa ODIs and T20Is, leaving much of the responsibility on new captain Praveen and Chawla, since RP Singh has moved to Gujarat and Imtiaz Ahmed is not in the squad. So the challenge for the younger bowlers such as chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav and medium-pacers Amit Mishra and Ankit Rajpoot will only get steeper.In the batting line-up, UP will bank on opener Tanmay Srivastava and the pressure will not cease for the inexperienced middle order – they relied a lot on Eklavya Dwivedi last time. They will be desperate for the return of Suresh Raina, who didn’t play a single Ranji match last year. This time he might be back in November, unless he gets a surprise call for the South Africa Tests.Players to watch
Sarfaraz Khan made his name in IPL 2015, after making numerous school records in Mumbai. Known for picking the gaps in the shorter formats with unorthodox shots, Sarfaraz’s main challenge will be to adapt to the four-day format. He was a part of the India squad for the 2014 Under-19 World Cup. He was dropped by Mumbai last season, soon after his first-class debut, after scoring only 95 runs from three matches, but followed that with 111 runs at a strike rate of 156.33 in his maiden IPL season. How UP will use the teenager will be interesting to watch.Twenty-year-old chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav also made his first-class debut last season just after being named among the 2015 World Cup probables. With Chawla the lead spinner and Ali Murtaza not in the squad, Kuldeep could move up the ranks this time. He got only five matches last season and is known to bowl good lengths with control and variations under his belt, including the wrong ‘un. He impressed against Bangladesh A in the third one-dayer recently with figures of 6-0-29-2, taking the wickets of Mominul Haque and Liton Das.Coaching staff
UP have a new coach this season in Rizwan Shamshad, replacing Venkatesh Prasad. A former middle-order batsman, Shamshad played most of his 108 first-class matches for UP between 1990 and 2006, scoring over 7000 runs with 19 hundreds at an average of 46.Preparation
In the lead-up to the season, there has been much happening with the UP squad. Seventeen-year-old Sarfaraz Khan switched from Mumbai to UP and the experienced RP Singh left his native state to join Gujarat. And to weaken UP’s middle order further, Parvinder Singh made the switch to Tripura.Team news
UP have named three uncapped players this season – Almas Shaukat, Deependra Pandey and Israr Khan. Shaukat made his name as an opener at the Under-19 and Under-22 levels and Pandey is an offspinner. “We didn’t have an offspinner and other teams have left-hand batsmen so we thought that would pinch us earlier,” Praveen said of Pandey’s selection. Israr is a fast bowler Praveen is confident about. In addition, there are six players in the squad of 16 who have played under ten first-class matches each.Squad
Praveen Kumar (capt), Eklavya Dwivedi (vice-capt), Umang Sharma, Mohammad Saif, Tanmay Srivastava, Himanshu Asnora, Almas Shaukat, Sarfaraz Khan, Akshdeep Nath, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Israr Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Saurabh Kumar, Deependra Pandey, Ankit Rajpoot.In their own words
“The team is good, there are good fast bowlers and we have added some batsmen. There is a good mix of senior players and youth from Under-19 and Under-22 level, so it’s a good team. There was a good preparatory camp in Noida, we focussed on fitness.”

Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed has been ruled out of Bangladesh A’s tour of India because of a side strain he suffered during the first one-dayer in Bangalore. Taskin will return home and be replaced by 23-year old seamer Kamrul Islam Rabbi.Taskin did not bowl after his initial five-over spell, during which he dismissed India A captain Unmukt Chand. The injury was to his left side, which he had injured during an ODI against India in June. He had been ruled out for three weeks at the time before recovering for this Bangladesh A tour.His replacement, Rabbi, is a right-arm pace bowler who played for Bangladesh A last year against Zimbabwe A at home. He took 21 first-class wickets this year at an average of 54.47 and has 15 wickets from 11 List A matches in the 2014-15 season.

Sri Lanka fast bowler Shaminda Eranga has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series against West Indies because of another injury sustained during a period of rehabilitation. He hasn’t played for Sri Lanka since January 2015, and missed the home series against Pakistan because of a back problem and the Tests against India with a groin niggle. The latest setback is also a groin injury.”Eranga unfortunately has been really struggling to recover from a few of his injuries,” said chief selector Kapila Wijegunawardene. “He started off with a back injury in December, and when he was recovering from that towards June-July he developed a groin injury, and since then every time he was rehabilitated and tried to get into the normal routine of bowling he had tightness in his hamstring.””The physio Steve Mount is now really looking at taking him to a more medical solution. Eranga is likely to be ruled out for the upcoming West Indies series. The latest injury is he’s developed a groin injury.”Every time he recovers he develops a new injury which is worrying us a little bit. When you are recovering from an injury your natural tendency is to protect that injury and invariably you end up putting strain on another part and you tend to tear that. That is what is happening. This is about the third time that he is experiencing a recurring injury.”Until his injury Eranga was considered the spearhead of Sri Lanka’s bowling attack, having bowled them to a historic Test series win in England last year. He took 11 wickets in two Tests, including the scalp of last man James Anderson that sealed the 100-run victory at Headingley.In Eranga’s absence Dhammika Prasad has taken over the role of main strike bowler, picking up 29 wickets in the series against Pakistan and India. Until quite recently Prasad too was unable to go through a Test series without injury problems, but he has worked on his fitness since.”It’s about understanding your body, understanding which areas you need to strengthen,” said Wijegunawardene, a fast bowler who played two Tests and 26 ODIs for Sri Lanka. “Today the workloads are far more than what a fast bowler had to endure a few years ago.”It’s all to do with how disciplined you are on the physical fitness side and understanding which parts of your body need to be focused on. These boys really need to be professional and focused, and care for their own well being over and above the routine that you do in a team environment. These boys need to be looking at themselves individually also.”Wijegunwardene said that apart from Eranga the rest of the fast bowlers were fit and available for selection. “They are all looking lean and mean and ready to go. They do understand there is competition now and there are a few young boys yapping at their heels.”Sri Lanka host West Indies for two Tests, three ODIs and two T20Is in October and November. The first Test begins on October 14 in Galle.

Shane Warne has declared Adil Rashid to be a “wonderful” bowler with a leg-break to rival the best he has ever seen in the game, after imparting his wisdom to the young legspinner in an hour-and-a-half nets session in Sharjah.Warne, who had already worked alongside Pakistan’s own legspinner, Yasir Shah, on Thursday, said that he had witnessed glimpses of “magic” from Rashid, most notably during his second-innings haul of 5 for 64 at Abu Dhabi, when he bounced back from delivering the worst figures by a Test debutant in history to give England a genuine shot at an improbable victory.However, Warne has also warned the England management to be patient with Rashid as he gets to grips with the requirements of Test-class legspin, following an eventful introduction in the first two Tests against Pakistan in the UAE.”The over-riding thing is he’s a wonderful bowler,” said Warne. “When anyone starts their Test career, it takes time to see the best of them. What we’ve seen already is some glimpses of magic. We’ve already seen he can do it at this level.”It’s about being consistent, so that’s going to take time. All of us need to be a bit patient with him. And he needs to be patient too. But there’s not too many people going round with a better leg-break than Rashid’s. He’s as good as anyone I’ve seen, ever.”It was a pleasure to work with him. I think he has all the toys and tools, I think he’s a wonderful bowler, a good kid and he thinks about the  game. A lot of spinners don’t really think like he does. We have to make sure he doesn’t over-think. He needs to keep a clear mind, keep his plans and just go out and deliver.”Warne also said there was no need to always compare the two legspinner in this series. Yasir has a smoother action and bowls significantly quicker than Rashid, whose slower style often allows batsmen to play him off the pitch, but Warne said it was not a one-size-fits-all style.”They are completely different bowlers. Rashid can be just as successful. It’s a different style. It doesn’t mean it is not as effective. They can have the best tools in the trade but you have to think right, how big is his heart? Is he up for the fight? Is he patient? Does he want the ball in his hand when it is tough? All those things you don’t know about a spin bowler no matter how good you think they are. Yasir looks like he’s got it. Rashid, we’ve seen him bowl some magic in the first Test. So he’s got it.”Warne’s offer to assist Rashid was a radical departure from his former life as one of English cricket’s most notorious adversaries. However, the gesture was accepted by the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, who has made a habit of utilising specialist overseas coaches in his short time in charge of England’s fortunes.Mahela Jayawardene, the former Sri Lanka batsman, was recruited ahead of the first Test to help England develop their techniques for Asian conditions, while Daniel Vettori, the former New Zealand spinner, will be helping out at the England Performance Programme in the UAE next month.Warne spent 15 minutes talking to Rashid at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium before a half-hour one-on-one session, with England’s bowling coach, Ottis Gibson also in attendance.The trio was then joined by Alastair Cook, England’s captain, a man whose leadership has previously attracted Warne’s criticism in print and in his TV commentary, but whose more innovative approach to tactics and field placings in recent months has been widely acknowledged.Warne has regularly stated in the past that legspinners need careful management by their captains, both in terms of tactics and the timings of their spells, and after greeting Cook with a warm handshake, the four men all gathered together to talk through the challenges of the art.”No one is the best captain when they first start,” said Warne. “About 18 months ago Cooky and I chatted on phone and had it out. It’s not a personal vendetta or going to affect my friendship. But I need to have an opinion. You can’t sit on the fence.”He also gave Cook a positive endorsement over his tactics with Rashid. “Cooky had it exactly right. give him protection at the start, attack as you get into it. And then work together as you go along. But really it’s up to Rashid to come up with those plans and for Cooky to back them.”On the perception that Cook is a better captain now than at the height of Warne’s criticism in 2014, Warne replied: “One hundred percent. We saw that during the Ashes. He captained very well.”At the conclusion of the session, during which Warne sent down about 30 deliveries himself with Jonny Bairstow acting as keeper and said it “fizzed a bit”, he tweeted: “Thanks again to both Pakistan & England for allowing me to have a bowling session with 2 wonderful young leg spinners. Give it a rip boys !!”

Alex Lees has become Yorkshire’s youngest captain since Lord Hawke, the most formidable figure in the county’s history, upon being appointed to lead the side in one-day and Twenty20 cricket.At 22, Lees will become Yorkshire’s youngest-ever official limited-overs captain since the format was introduced in 1963. He is also the youngest-ever professional captain, Lord Hawke having no truck with anything as soiled as remuneration. Lees, as far as we know, will still draw his salary.Although Yorkshire have won the Championship twice in succession under Andrew Gale, and have supplied a steady stream of cricketers to England’s Test side in the process, their limited-overs cricket remains largely unproductive.There is even a suggestion – most regularly heard in the south – that the good folk of Yorkshire remain a little too sober-minded for the high-risk shenanigans of T20 cricket.At least Lees can be confident he takes over one of the most professional sides in English cricket. When Lord Hawke assumed control of Yorkshire in 1882, as their first amateur captain, it was said that he had taken over “a band of rogues and vagabonds”.ESPNcricinfo

Hawke soon put that right. He remains the most successful county captain ever, Yorkshire winning the County Championship a record eight times, and took an instructional view when it came to the lifestyles of those professionals under his command, instilling self-discipline and warning against the evils of alcohol. “Ye Gods, pray no professional should ever captain England,” he once said.Lees is not expected to offer lifestyle advice to his colleagues, especially as most of them are older than he is, although he does take to Twitter with a weekly recipe and to his shock has recently admitted he has become a fan of Justin Bieber. And Yorkshire’s head coach, Jason Gillespie, likes to reflect on the day’s play over a beer so an alcohol ban is unlikely.Yorkshire did reach the semi-finals of the Royal London Cup under Lees’ guidance after he took over from Gale as interim skipper in August, but their T20 cricket again disappointed large crowds at Headingley, leading the county to throw in youngster after youngster in their impatience to change the mould.Lees led Yorkshire eight times last season, but Yorkshire took time for further reflection before offering him the job full time. Gillespie said: “We thought he did a pretty good job. After considering a number of candidates, we feel Alex is the right fit for us as captain. He learnt a lot on the job last season and we think he can develop as a leader further. We are delighted to afford him this opportunity and believe that he will do a fantastic job for our club.”In 50-over cricket I thought we made some good strides last year, I thought we did a lot better than the previous year, but T20 cricket is something we still haven’t cracked. We are either very good or very ordinary.”Lees might have assumed control at a good time with the signing of David Willey, who has broken into England’s limited-overs sides, also expected to provide a catalyst when he is free from international commitments. Spin bowling, though, remains a weakness, especially when Adil Rashid is on England duty and Yorkshire’s signing of Australian batsmen Glen Maxwell and Aaron Finch did not bring the transformation envisaged.But he might regard Lord Hawke’s fate upon accepting the captaincy as a warning. He struggled for form in his first season. “I seemed to have shot my bolt – I just could not play myself in,” he recollected. Not that playing himself in is regarded as one of Lees’ priority to revive Yorkshire in T20. Quite the opposite.Lees said: “I’m really proud and it’s humbling that Yorkshire see me as the best option to take the club forward in one-day cricket irrespective of my age. With myself coming in, there’s a new direction and a new voice which will hopefully revitalise the team.””This is a big county with lots of potential and opportunity. I’m only 22, but I have a lot to offer as captain. I will be very open with my approach and will lean on the experienced players to drive us on and be successful. Everybody’s right to highlight that we have the squad to win one-day trophies now. We should seize that moment.”Yorkshire have not won a limited-overs trophy since 2002. They reached the T20 domestic final in 2012 but have disappointed since. Lord Hawke, a traditionalist to the core, would merely have sniffed and advised them to concentrate on the Championship.Lord Bradshaw, a potential new nickname, based upon the village near Halifax where Lees first took to the field as a four-year-old, may have a few things to say about that.

Sharjah, March 26: When it comes to India-Pakistan matches, it allboils down the ability of a team to psyche themselves up to thechallenge on that day. The two are pretty sentimental sides and henceprone to cracking under pressure.Pakistan made no such mistake on Sunday and applied themselves muchbetter to the task at hand with experienced Inzamam-ul-Haq leadingtheir batting revival with a blistering century just when it matteredmost.They badly needed to win the match to stay in the hunt – and they didin style, beating an indifferent India by 98 runs to record theirfirst victory in three matches in the Sharjah Cup triangular series.Berated for inept batting for a long, Pakistani batsmen came good on awicket sympathetic towards batsmen, scoring a handsome 272 for three,rattling up a brisk 93 in the last 10 overs – certainly one of thehigh-points of their innings.Then their bowlers, spearheaded by Waqar Younis, suffocated India’shopes with lively spells. India needed a flying start to make a matchof it. But it didn’t happen.Waqar, who returned with a haul of five wickets for 31 runs, set thetone of their dreadful start as early as in the fourth over when heremoved Saurav Ganguly for just seven and then Wasim Akram claimed theprized wicket of Sachin Tendulkar (10) with an inswinging deliverythat slipped through the bat and pad on to the stumps in the very nextover.The fall of the openers, on whom India rely heavily, by the fifth overcompletely unsettled them as rest of the batsmen just failed toretrieve India from a desperate position.Sunil Joshi, promoted up the order, too fell quickly to Waqar and adefeat began staring at the Indians.It was all over for India when Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Azharuddin,who began shaping well, fell in quick succession, reducing India to 90for five in 25 overs.Dravid (29) chased a wide delivery from Shoaib Akhtar while Azharsnicked to Moin Khan off Waqar, who is now just one wicket short ofjoining the exclusive 300-club.Rest of the batsmen only tended to delay the inevitable.There is no excuse for India, who surprisingly just didn’t bat well onthis wicket.Earlier Pakistan were not off to a flyer, but paced their inningsquite well, opening up in the last 10 overs when Inzamam and Youhanatoyed with the Indian attack.Given a reasonably good start by Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan afterthe early fall of Imran Nazir, Pakistan consolidated their gainsrather step by step.Afridi and Younis, curbing their instinct to go for full-bloodedshots, took time to have their eyes in.They took the score to 44 by the 13th over when Afridi, going for abig one, missed the line and was stumped by Saba Karim, an untidyeffort though, off Anil Kumble for 28 off 41 balls with four fours.In came Inzamam and Pakistan innings began to gather pace gradually.Inzamam also took time to get into the groove and built his inningswith occasional four and six.Pakistan needed a good stand at this moment and Inzamam, in thecompany of Younis Khan, did just that, putting on good 66 runs whenYounis was brilliantly caught by Azharuddin off Joshi for a well-made44 off 66 balls with three fours and a six.With Pakistan three down for 121 by the 29th over, things looked wellin control for India, but Pakistan were in different mood.Inzamam, in particular, had done his home work well. With YousufYouhana, a solid batsman, Inzamam took the score to 179 for three bythe 40th over when they launched the pyrotechnics.It all began in the 43rd over, bowled by Anil Kumble, when Inzamamsmashed the leg-spinner for two sixes off successive balls to reel of18 runs in that over.Youhana, who was keeping quite for a well, suddenly exploded,executing strokes all-round the wicket almost with the ease ofInzamam.With the ball travelling all over the place, the Indian bowlers simplyhad no clue how to stop the brisk flow of runs. Inzamam duly completedhis century in the 47th over – his seventh and first against India in212 one-day internationals – with seven fours and five sixes in 97balls.At the one end, Youhana also reached his 50 in 60 balls with fourfours and one six. And when Pakistan ended their innings the score hadshot up to 272 and it was primarily thanks to a record unbeaten fourthwicket stand of 151 runs of just 132 balls between Inzamam andYouhana.They beat the previous best of 111 against India set up by Imran Khanand Javed Miandad in Gujranwala in 1992.Indian skipper Ganguly felt: “We are not batting well here. In fact,it was Waqar’s spell that took the match away from.”Moin attributed the victory to ‘team effort.’ He said: “Everyone did agood job, but Waqar and Inzamam were outstanding. The victory haslifted our morale and we will be a different team, not the one whichlost seven straight matches.”

Mother nature served us a gentle reminder at P. Sara Stadium inColombo today – the wet season is coming to Sri Lanka and thisseries is likely to suffer. Critics will question the wisdom ofholding the series during this traditionally wet period, realistswill understand that international calendar is based on money andpower, not meteorological patterns.On a day that started late due to a monsoonal downpour in themorning and ended early when heavy rains and dark cloudsenveloped the ground in the afternoon, Zimbabwe progressed to 105for 4 in their second innings, after the BCCSL XI had declared ontheir overnight score of 284-7.Despite a lead of 61 runs when they started, the Zimbabwean’swere just starting to struggle against this strong BCCSL XI, whenthe rains came down. The Sri Lankan spinners could well have hadthe visitors six down if it were not for some unusually poorfielding. Two relatively simple catches were dropped, one offGavin Rennie (48*) when he had made 42, and one off DanielPeacock (4*) just before nature’s intervention.Nevertheless Zimbabwe didn’t lose the match. Competitivethroughout the match, they would have surprised many people inSri Lanka by the positive manner in which they approached thegame. They batted extremely well in the first innings and thespinners bowled creditably yesterday. Considering that themajority of the squad has little experience of sub-continentalconditions, The Management will have been satisfied with theteam’s performance.Two areas of concern though will be the accuracy of the pacebowlers and how the batsmen are going to play the spinners. Thepace bowlers cannot afford to over pitch as much as they didyesterday and need to adjust their length. The ball is unlikelyto swing a great deal in these conditions but it may well moveoff the wicket, especially if the ball consistently lands on theseam.How the batsmen cope against the spinners may well decide theseries. Whilst this is primarily a learning experience for theplayers, the batsmen must have a clear strategy when they go outbat. One felt today that a couple of the batsmen weren’t quitesure how they were going to play the likes of Bandarathilake andPushpakumara. Even Vermeulen (25) who had played the spinnersexcellently in the first innings will have been disappointed withhis dismissal, swinging across the line when he had the option topick runs playing straight.A big plus point for the visitor’s will undoubtedly be that GavinRennie scored some runs today. A key player for this side he willneed to be at his best.For the Sri Lankan’s this match has been a wake-up call. Thecoach will have been very disappointed with certain aspects oftheir performance, especially the fielding and the carefreebatting. One suspects that the squad had underestimated theZimbabwean’s before the start of this match. One can rest assuredthat they now know they have work a lot harder than theypreviously imagined.