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Farveez Maharoof, the Sri Lankan allrounder, has made a strong case for selection ahead of Dilhara Fernando for Tuesday’s semi-final against New Zealand in Jamaica.Fernando secured his spot in the XI with impressive performances against India and England but suffered an ankle injury against Australia. Maharoof, who replaced him against Ireland, was adjudged Man of the Match for his haul of 4 for 25.”I will give 200 percent in the match and I would back myself to perform,” Maharoof told . “We have played really well so far. It will be a case of continuing to give it our best.”I got injured earlier in the tournament against Bangladesh but I just kept working hard in the nets. This is my first World Cup and it is something I have been looking forward to ever since I became professional three years ago.”All the bowlers have proved their class at the World Cup. We have been talking about getting the basics right and putting the ball in the right areas. We are very happy with the way things are going and we are looking forward to the semi-finals.”Upul Tharanga, the out-of-form opener, looks all set to retain his place in the semi-final line-up amid reports that former captain Marvan Atapattu could replace him. Tharanga has managed only 17 runs in the last three innings but has been assured of his place by Asantha de Mel, the chairman of Sri Lankan selectors.”We must not forget that Tharanga scored two centuries against England last year and also scored two centuries in the Champions Trophy,” de Mel said. “In this World Cup also he was the highest scorer with 65 against India.”Jeetan Patel, the New Zealand offspinner, was not so optimistic about gaining a spot in the semi-final line-up in spite of taking 2 for 48 against Australia. “I’ve heard Jamaica is a dirty, green seamer and Barbados is hard and bouncy, so I’m not sure how much more action I’m going to see,” Patel told the , a New Zealand newspaper. “I wasn’t sure of my place in the squad because I wasn’t sure how the wickets here would play. But so far it has been very good.”Jacob Oram has said New Zealand would use the extra bounce at Sabina Park to target Sri Lanka’s top order but Mahela Jayawardene was unconcerned. “Like any other cricketers in the world, our batsmen love to play on bouncy tracks when the ball is coming on,” Jayawardene said. “And we’ve got a very decent bowling attack to complement those conditions.”

Pakistan legspinner Yasir Shah has been provisionally suspended under the ICC’s anti-doping code for testing positive for a banned substance. A sample taken from Yasir on November 13, when Pakistan played an ODI against England in Abu Dhabi, was found to contain chlortalidone, which is on WADA’s prohibited list of diuretics and masking agents.While he is provisionally suspended, Yasir cannot play – or be involved in any capacity in – international matches, and games organised by any national cricket board or its affiliated members. He can request for his B sample to be tested, and if that test does not confirm a positive result then the entire test will be considered negative and the suspension will be lifted with immediate effect.Yasir can also request for a hearing before an anti-doping tribunal through a written application that must be received by the anti-doping manager within 14 days. Should he want a hearing, Yasir must state in his application how he responds to the charge and his explanation for the same.Yasir, 29, has become a key member of the Pakistan team since debuting in Test cricket in October 2014. Currently ranked No. 4 in the Test bowlers rankings, he has 76 wickets from 12 Tests at 24.17. Forty-nine of those wickets have come in 2015, making him the fourth-highest Test wicket-taker overall this year till date.Pakistan’s next international assignment is a limited-overs tour of New Zealand in January.

With the four places in the World Cup Qualifier already allocated, there was only pride to play for on the final day of the World Cricket League Division Two in Namibia.In the final, openers Arshad Ali and Mohammad Iqbal scored centuries to steer UAE to a comfortable 67-run victory over Oman, the only affiliate in the competition, at the Wanderers Cricket Ground. Former captain Ali scored 133 while Iqbal hammered 111 as UAE posted 347 for 8 after being put into bat. Oman fought gallantly but lost wickets at crucial stages before being bowled out for 280 with more than six overs to spare.Ali and Iqbal laid the foundation for a mammoth total when they put on 200 for the first wicket in 29 overs. Ali, later adjudged Man of the Match, perished in the last over of the innings after scoring 133 off 145 balls, included 10 fours and two sixes. It was Ali’s second century of the week as he finished the tournament with 443 run from five matches. Only Namibia’s Gerrie Snyman, with 588 runs from one more match, as well as ten wickets, scored more.Oman made a valiant effort to protect their unbeaten record in the competition but UAE backed up their impressive batting display with some sharp fielding and accurate bowling. Left-arm spinner Khurram Khan bowled with a lot of variation to grab 3 for 42 while pace duo of Amjad Javed and Javed Ismail shared four wickets between them to keep Oman’s progress in check.In the third/fourth-place play-off at the United Cricket Ground, Namibia ended on a high with a four-wicket win over Denmark. Snyman was once again the star of Namibia’s victory as he scored yet another blistering innings. His 71 came off 68 balls and included eight boundaries and two sixes. However, Dawid Botha won the Man-of-the-Match award for his 58 as Namibia overtook the target of 221 with more than eight overs and four wickets to spare.In the fifth-six play-off between two sides already relegated, Uganda thrashed Argentina by 181 runs at the Centre for Cricket Development. Uganda’s opener Joel Olweny hit a superb century and put on 176 runs for the third wicket with Nand Patel to help Uganda to 335 for 7. Olweny struck 17 boundaries in his 130-ball innings while Patel scored an 82-ball 79 with nine fours and a six. Kenneth Kamyuka hit hard in the closing overs, clobbering six sixes and two fours in his 20-ball 57. The target proved to be too stiff for the Argentinians who were bowled out for 154 despite Donald Forrester hitting 71 from 80 balls with five boundaries. Frank Nsubuga was the pick of Uganda bowlers with 4 for 39 while Kamyuka bagged 3 for 44.By virtue of a top-four finish, UAE, Oman, Namibia and Denmark qualified for the World Cup Qualifier (formerly ICC Trophy) while Uganda and Argentina were relegated to Division Three. However, they will have a second chance to book a place in the Qualifier when the WCL Division 3 is staged in January 2009.

Australia are set to host Bangladesh for a two-Test series in mid-2010, Cricket Australia have confirmed.The decision was taken when representatives from Cricket Australia and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) met during ICC meetings in Kuala Lumpur. It was agreed to hold the two-Test series in July-August 2010 in northern Australia. Bangladesh’s first and only tour of Australia so far was in in July 2003, when they played Tests in Darwin and Cairns in northern Australia.The series was originally scheduled to be played in August this year but was postponed due a clash with the Beijing Olympic Games. “Through the cooperation of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, we have been able to reschedule the Test series between Australia and Bangladesh for the middle of 2010 when both teams have no other obligations under the Future Tours Program,” Michael Brown, CA’s general manager of cricket, said.”The decision to delay this year’s scheduled Tests due to the Beijing Olympics was taken to ensure that the series received its due recognition from the media and cricketing public. We believe the opportunity to play the Test series in mid-2010 will attract higher television audiences and a high level of interest in Australia and Bangladesh.”Cricket Australia also accepted BCB’s proposal for four warm-up one-dayers and a three-day fixture when Bangladesh tour later this year, besides three additional tour games during the trip in 2010.The two teams have played four Tests so far. Australia toured Bangladesh in mid 2006, a series that saw them clinch a thrilling Test in Fatullah. The second Test in Chittagong, which Australia won, is most remembered for Jason Gillespie’s unbeaten 201 in what turned out to be his last Test.

The Indian Premier League’s (IPL) governing council has reacted to the series of recent controversies that has dented their inaugural season by sending a letter to all the team owners, asking them to rein in their players, particularly the captains.The letter was sent last week by Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, and asks the owners, including Bollywood actors and top Indian industrialists, to ensure that their skippers use official channels to lodge their protests during the 44-day tournament, rather than go public about them. Modi’s letter also reminds them to ensure that the IPL code of conduct, which is an adaptation of the ICC’s norms, is strictly adhered to, said sources.Fraser Castellino, the CEO of the Jaipur franchise that owns the Rajasthan Royals, confirmed to Cricinfo that they have received the IPL’s letter. “We understand the IPL’s concerns and I have already had a chat with Shane Warne, our captain and coach, about the letter,” Castellino said.The IPL’s umpires have been separately warned, too, after it emerged that Amiesh Saheba, the on-field official for the tournament’s most controversial game so far, in Mohali on April 25, gave both teams 10/10 in his confidential report to the match referee, the sources said. Saheba later told a Mumbai tabloid that he had repeatedly warned Sreesanth during the heated game after which the Kings XI Punjab fast bowler was slapped by Harbhajan Singh, the rival Mumbai Indians’ skipper.Harbhajan was banned from the rest of this IPL edition, but it was yet another incident seven days later, involving Shane Warne and Sourav Ganguly, rival skippers for a match in Jaipur, which finally prompted the governing council to sound out the team owners officially, said sources.After that encounter between the Rajasthan Royals and the Kolkata Knight Riders, Warne created a stir during the post-match press conference when he accused Ganguly of flouting the spirit of the game by forcing an on-field umpire to refer a disputed catch to the third umpire. Minutes later, Warne also criticised Ganguly of turning up late for the start.Later, GA Pratap Kumar, the on-field umpire for that Jaipur match, was suspended for succumbing to pressure from Ganguly. Two days later, Ishant Sharma, Kolkata’s fast bowler, was fined for kicking down the stumps in a fit of anger during another match against Kings XI Punjab.However, IS Bindra, a member of the IPL council, has dismissed the series of controversial incidents as “aberrations”. He said that they merely reflected the “passion and intensity” with which players have approached the tournament.”Such incidents show the passion and intensity with which players play in the tournament,” Bindra told Cricinfo. “Players have developed intense loyalties to their teams and we are surprised. We thought this would take two years, but it has happened in just two weeks. Of course, we can’t let players cross the line of acceptable behaviour. But we also have to understand the passion to win that leads to such incidents.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGeorge Munsey struck 11 fours during his 36-ball 62•ICC/Donald MacLeod

Offspinner Michael Leask and left-arm spinner Mark Watt claimed three wickets apiece, as Scotland opened the World T20 Qualifier with a resounding nine-wicket win over Scotland in Edinburgh. The spinners rolled over UAE for 109 inside 19 overs, before George Munsey’s boundary-laden 62 off 36 balls helped the co-hosts ace the chase with ten overs to spare.After being inserted on a tacky wicket, UAE had a quick start, reaching 21 in two overs. Faizan Asif, who was reprieved on 12 by Josh Davey at mid-on, added five more before Alasdair Evans struck. Davey would then drop Shaiman Anwar in the seventh over, palming it over the deep-midwicket boundary but redeemed himself three balls later, having Shaiman caught at deep cover off Leask.The dismissal of Shaiman sparked a collapse; UAE lost six wickets in as many overs before folding for 109. Leask and Watt dismantled the middle and lower order with combined figures of 8-0-48-6. Besides the top three, only Umair Ali and No.10 Mohammad Naveed managed to move into double-digit scores.The stage was later ceded to Munsey and Kyle Coetzer, who began the small chase with a gallery of boundaries as Scotland shaved 76 runs off the target in six overs. Coetzer, who had been drafted into the squad following batsman Freddie Coleman’s withdrawal due to personal circumstances, laid down the marker for the chase, taking five fours off Manujula Guruge’s second over. Munsey soon took charge and reeled off six fours and a six in the next two overs. He raised his fifty off 29 balls and stayed there till the end alongside Callum McLeod even as Coetzer was bowled for 39. MacLeod put the seal on the chase with a muscled pull and a carve through backward point. With the exception of Naveed, all the UAE bowlers were left nursing economy rates of over 11 an over.Eventually, UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir was left ruing his side’s reckless strokeplay, calling for more responsibility.”This was a 150-plus wicket and we need to be more responsible, especially in the batting department. We had a bad day and we need to move on,” Tauqir said.

On a day in which the weather played a major role, both rival captains credited the momentum handed to Sri Lanka’s run chase by their openers as key to a first win in the CB Series.Mahela Jayawardene felt the biggest positive was the way his batsmen played and showed character in contrast to their insipid display last week in Sydney against Australia, something the side was still trying to forget. “We couldn’t get the start in Sydney,” he said after Sri Lanka’s eight-wicket win in Canberra. “It’s good we got a good start and we are getting back into the rhythm.”The reason behind Jayawardene’s confidence lay in his team’s well-planned approach. “We calculated as well, kept wickets and Sanath [Jayasuriya] gave us a good beginning”, he said. In a brief but brutal attack Jayasuriya took Sreesanth to the cleaners, clouting 34 runs in the fast bowler’s first two overs. India may have had reason to feel robbed by Messrs Duckworth & Lewis, whose ruling set Sri Lanka a revised target of 154 from 21 overs.Jayawardene had plenty of praise for Tillakaratne Dilshan who, in some doubt going into this game as he was coming off a bout of infection, scored an unbeaten 62 from 59 balls to seal victory. Dilshan had never opened the innings at this level but Jayawardene said the decision had a lot to do with his experience as an opener in Sri Lankan domestic cricket. “When we realised it was a shortened game and the track was good we wanted an extra bowler and Dilshan has batted in domestic cricket and they way he carried his innings made it a good choice.”As for the role the weather played, Jayawardene didn’t look much into it. “You can’t control what happened. If we would’ve got a full game things would have been different”, he said, pointing out that Sri Lanka might even have got the original target of 195 set in 29 overs.Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s captain, gave full credit to Sri Lanka’s batsmen for taking the game away from India but did blame the changed circumstances for his team’s misfortunes. “The approach changes a lot when all of a sudden it became an almost 20-over game. So a total of 154 became nothing special then,” Dhoni said.Dhoni agreed that the first part of Sri Lanka’s innings was the turning point and for which his side could hardly find any answers. “The kind of start they got it was really amazing. We couldn’t’ do anything.” Dhoni said, refraining from blaming his fast bowlers. “Sreesanth was bowling in the right areas. Sanath and Dilshan batted really well. Yes, he [Sreesanth] was bit down the way Sanath had hit him.”Adding to India’s woes was the abysmal extras count, which read 19 including 10 wides and three no-balls. Without putting his finger on where his bowlers failed Dhoni admitted it could be a concern if not checked in time. “Every extra run hurts. It’s always better not to give any extras,” he said. “That’s a concern but it doesn’t usually happen. It might have been an off day for them, perhaps.”After an abandoned game and a loss, Sri Lanka’s victory puts them back in the fray with seven points, one behind Australia and two behind India. But both captains agreed that the with amount of matches each team plays in the CB Series everyone has a chance to recover from a setback.

A move to bring the Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers (ACUS) under the control of the ECB has been delayed after the ballot on the proposed formation of a new Association of Cricket Officials was deferred by General Council.The ECB has expressed its frustration at the delay and any decision on the ballot won’t now take place until the next meeting of General Council on October 27.A statement said: “The ECB believes that the recommendations of the working party are the best way to establish a single organisation to represent the interests of all officials, working closely with the ECB county boards, regions and the European Cricket Council (ECC), and with close links to the MCC.”The aim had been to conduct the ballot before November 1, which is when ACUS members are due to renew their subscriptions.

Barring freak results in the last round of the SuperSport Series matches nextweek, the Diamond Eagles won the four-day title over the weekend when they beat the KZN Dolphins by 83 runs in Bloemfontein.With 111.80 points, the Eagles are well clear of the second-placed Eastern CapeWarriors (89.88) and the Western Cape Cobras (84.98). The Dolphins, who had beenoccupying second place for a number of weeks, slipped to fourth with 79.04points.Electing to bat first, the Eagles, riding on an 81 by Ryan Bailey and 64 by Adrian McLaren, piled up 310 before making use of helpful bowling conditions to restrict the Dolphins for 158. With Ryan McLaren taking 3 for 19, the Eagles looked all set for another decent performance with the bat. However, Johann Louw, the Middlessex seamer, wrecked the Eagles’s top-order by taking 6 for 43 to dismiss them for only 88.With 241 to get and plenty of time on their hands, the Dolphins lost their first two wickets with only 14 on the board before McLaren played wrecker-in-chief again with a six-for to dismiss the visiting side for 158 second time round as well and help his side take 18.2 points from the match.The two Cape teams, the Warriors and the Cobras, will be battling it out for secondplace next week after posting impressive wins.Vernon Philander will be pushing for a return to the South African team after takingnine wickets in the Cobras’ six-wicket victory over the Easterns Titans in Paarl. The Titans, who will not be able to defend their title, were left ruing a horrible performance with the bat after allowing Philander (5 for 13) to skittle them out for only 148 after having only conceded a 50-run lead. Justin Kemp was the sturdy oak of the Cobras first-innings of 348 with his 63, while opener Andrew Puttick made 66.The Highveld Lions can also blame a second-innings batting collapse for theirdefeat by nine wickets at the hands of the Warriors in East London. Stephen Cook scored an impressive 152 and Jimmy Kgamadi chipped in with a useful 60 on debut to take their side to 36 despite a five-wicket haul by Juan Theron.The Warriors batted solidly in reply, declaring at 392 for nine. Zander de Bruyn, the Warriors’ captain, batted for over six and a half hours to score his 90, shared useful partnerships along the way to set his team up with a 50-run lead. The Lions then collapsed to 143 allout in their second thanks to the inspired pace and spin combination of Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Robin Peterson. The duo shared eight wickets between them and left their side needing only 113 for a win. De Bruyn scored a fluent unbeaten half-century and together with Michael Smith, who scored49*, took their side past the target with an unbroken 102-run second wicket partnership.Player of the Week
There may still be doubts over all-rounder Vernon Philander at international level,but the 22-year-old has been in cracking form with the ball of late.He decimated the Easterns Titans batting with his astonishing figures of five for 13 off 15 overs, which followed his seven for 64 that set up an amazing win for the Cobras over the Highveld Lions last week. Of strong built, the former South Africa Under-19 star is not particularly fast but he hits the bat hard and can have devastating effect on bowlers with his powerful hitting in the lower middle-order. He did seem to freeze on occasions in the ICC World Twenty20, but his talent is undeniable and could flourish now that he has some confidence.

Chris Dougherty struck a blistering hundred for Ireland, and Calum MacLeod took four wickets for Scotland, as the arch-rivals set up a must-win match in the European Under-19 World Cup qualifier in Belfast yesterday.Dougherty hit a fine 131 to help Ireland beat Denmark by 174 runs at Osborne Park while MacLeod picked up 4 for 36 at a crucial stage to bowl Scotland to a tense 26-run victory over Netherlands at Stormont.The results mean that Ireland and Scotland, with two wins each from as many games, will now meet on Thursday with the winner qualifying for the Under-19 World Cup next year.Dougherty stroked 16 fours in his 137-ball knock to steer Ireland to 301 for 8 after they had won the toss. Dougherty, who came into this tournament after scoring more than 600 runs in senior club cricket, featured in two big partnerships. Opening the innings with Paul Stirling (42 off 48 balls with five fours), he put on 94 runs, and 113 for the second wicket with Graham McDonnell.Ireland then reduced Denmark to 34 for 4, a position from which they couldn’t recover with James Hall picking up 4 for 22 as they were bowled out for 127.The tricky batting conditions at Osborne Park were matched at Stormont where Scotland held their nerve to beat Netherlands by 26 runs. Scotland’s 208 for 4 was compiled thanks to Ryan Flannigan’s dogged 56 and a late-order burst from MacLeod (21 off 12).Netherlands looked dead and buried when they slumped to 69 for 6 but Stijn Aleema and Tim Gruijters lifted the spirits with a seventh-wicket partnership of 69. MacLeod then returned for his second spell and took three quick wickets to end Netherlands’ innings for 182 in 48.4 overs. MacLeod finished as the pick of Scotland bowlers with 4 for 36 while Charles Legget took 2 for 39.