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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.”

On the day’s play
It was an interesting day’s cricket … We did not start well with the ball but then made a brilliant comeback. We bowled in good areas and were rewarded for that. But when we batted again in the second innings they came really hard at us. They knew they had to strike early. There was something in the wicket and they bowled really well.On whether Sri Lanka batted badly
I would not just say we batted badly – they bowled really well and there was something in the wicket. Some of the batters got really good balls. Mohammad Asif bowled particularly well – his delivery to get rid of Thilan Samaraweera was a peach. Obviously, though, it would have been nice to have still had a specialist batsman at the crease overnight. On the whole, though, we have played five good sessions of cricket but made a couple of mistakes in the final sessions.On whether a target of around 200 will be enough
Whatever the score is we will have to defend that – that is the bottom line. We have to make sure we bowl in the same areas we bowled earlier today and make sure we get a result in our favour. We have played six sessions and everything is in the balance. I think we are in a good situation because there are chasing. When I lost the toss I thought they had grabbed an early advantage, but then they now have the disadvantage of chasing late in the game which will be hard. The fast bowlers need to bowl really tight and support [Muttiah] Muralitharan who be lethal out thereOn Sanath’s injury
It’s very unfortunate what happened to Sanath [Jayasuriya] – would have been really nice to see him opening the batting in his farewell performance. Unfortunately, that is cricket – especially in Kandy. But you never know with Sanath. He may turn up tomorrow and bat for us – he is that kind of person. But I have not yet heard an exact assessment.

Scorecard
Nottinghamshire are closing in on victory at The Oval, after reducing Surrey to 220 for 6 on the third day. Surrey will begin the final day on Monday needing 255 runs with just four wickets remaining. Mark Ramprakash is still at the helm after posting 92 by the close, but a draw would be a more realistic ambition for the home side. Stephen Fleming added just 15 to his overnight score, but his dominant 238 has given Notts a very real chance of winning. He was well supported by Mark Ealham who added an unbeaten 57 to sit nicely with his first-innings haul of four wickets.
Scorecard
Scott Styris took 6 for 73 for Middlesex to set up an intriguing final day at The Rose Bowl. Middlesex will start the final day needing an imposing 294 runs for victory, but with all of their wickets intact. Hampshire’s attack was led by John Crawley (40) and Nic Pothas (65) but their progress was checked by Styris’ super six wickets, as his impressive start to the season continued.
Scorecard
Glamorgan are plummeting towards their third consecutive defeat of the season despite posting 345 in their second innings. Gloucestershire will require just 60 more runs with seven wickets in hand when play commences on the final day. Upul Chandana and Ian Fisher shared nine wickets between them, Chandana taking 5 for 117 and Fisher 4 for 89 to ease out Gloucestershire for 345; Chandana finishing with match figures of 8 for 190. Matthew Elliott struck 123 and was assisted by David Hemp, who hit 57, but their efforts are likely to be in vain with Gloucestershire so strongly placed. They had a minor wobble late on the third day, losing three for 27 runs, but they will fancy their chances of completing the victory.

There were lots of Indians who went across to Lahore for Sunday’s match, and The News had plenty to write about the various film stars, industrialists and politicians who were in that mix. Among the personalities present were Nusli Wadia, head of Bombay Dyeing industries and grandson of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan. Ranjan Bhattacharya, the husband of the adopted daughter of Atal Behari Vajpayee, India’s prime minister, was present too, reported the daily. Sunil Shetty, the Indian film star, was thrilled with the hospitality accorded to him in Pakistan: “The cricket board officials have been looking after me very well,” he said. “I don’t think I have ever been so well looked after even in my sasural [in-laws’ place].”Dawn carried more reports about the Indians being touched by the warmth of the people of Lahore. “The welcome is overwhelming and one can feel the bonds of goodwill here,” said one of the visitors, while another hoped that the series would be the precursor to improved ties on the political front: “It is the beginning of good relations between the two countries.”* * *Mohammad Sami has shrugged off the fact that a faulty speed gun might have been the reason for one of his deliveries being recorded at 100mph. The News quoted Sami as saying that he wasn’t too disappointed that his feat wouldn’t be recognised: “I don’t care much for such things. I would rather settle for more wickets than going for speed records. As it is I was not even aware of this feat. I only came to know about it after the match when my team-mates told me about speed readings on television.” Sami was clocked achieving speeds of 100 and 101mph in the 11th and 17th overs of the Indian innings in the third one-day international, at Peshawar.* * *The issue of no-balls and wides is one which has plagued Pakistan’s bowlers throughout this series, and with just the decider to go, they seem no closer to finding a solution. According to Imran Khan, the answer lies in using a bowling coach. “Bear in mind that the manager, the captain and the coach are all batsmen and the problem Pakistan are facing is in the bowling department,” The Nation quoted him as saying. Imran has a possible candidate for the post as well: “And I have recommended the name of Aaqib Javed who has a very good cricketing brain. He is a bowler and understands the bowlers and someone like him could work with the bowlers on it [the extras problem].”* * *The News reported that three Indians were caught trying to enter the Gadaffi Stadium posing to be journalists. Talking to the daily about the incident, Samiul Hasan, general manager (media) of the Pakistan board, said that suspicions were aroused as two of them were wearing the Indian team shirts. “Normally media men do not wear team colors while coming on official duty. When their names were checked with the list of journalists to whom we have issued media accreditation cards their names were not found on the list.” The three were handed over to the police, who have started investigations into the matter.* * *The Times of India caught up with Yasir Hameed, the hero of the Peshawar ODI. Like many others, he named Sachin Tendulkar as his favourite player, while he also spoke about his love for Indian movies: “If Aishwarya Rai or Preity Zinta [Indian actresses] come for the match, ask them to come and meet me.”

Another cornerstone of experience in the New Zealand women’s cricket team, the TelstraClear White Ferns, Nicola Payne has decided to retire from international cricket.Payne made her announcement at her St Albans club prizegiving evening in Christchurch last night.A double-international, having played for the Netherlands for 10 years before qualifying for New Zealand in 2000, she has played 65 One-Day Internationals and in the recent World Series of Women’s Cricket played at New Zealand Cricket’s High Performance Centre (HPC) at Lincoln University she achieved her career highest score of 93 in a memorable performance against India.However, the cost of that innings was a hamstring problem and that was just one of the warnings the 33-year-old had received that the time was right to think about her playing career. She had also had other niggles, including calf muscle problems and they made it harder to try and maintain fitness levels.”I’ve had a good run of 14 years. I had 10 years with the Netherlands after my debut at the 1988 World Cup and then four years with New Zealand.”Why wait until you get dropped?” she asked.Payne said that people tended to forget that the women’s game was still very much amateur and players still worked for 40 hours a week as well as doing their preparation for cricket.”The time contribution is a big thing and cricket is something that you can’t do by halves,” she said.”I felt like the time was right. I’m looking forward to doing some other things instead of training every day.”One of those things will be devoting more time to her coaching of cricket.That will allow her to adopt some of the strategies for herself that she has observed under New Zealand coach Mike Shrimpton.”I’ve always played under Mike and have learnt a lot from him, not only as a player, but as a coach.”It is great the way he can analyse a game and he is always looking at ways to improve performance. He has done a fantastic job,” she said.Payne said New Zealand Cricket’s approach to the women’s game had also been very supportive and the HPC at Lincoln had become something of a home for women’s cricket.”It is a fantastic venue.”As far as women’s cricket is concerned the Bert Sutcliffe Oval at the complex will be a special place because of the winning of the CricInfo Women’s World Cup. Payne wasn’t on the field but was part of the team for the tournament.”I didn’t feel any less involved by not being on the field. It was a really special experience and what we had in that team was special,” she said.Her highest score earlier this year was a personal highlight, even if retirement now meant she could not achieve the goal of scoring a century for New Zealand.The benefit of the World Cup success was still being felt with what could be called a trickle-down effect as players from the New Zealand sides returned to their provinces and clubs to pass on the knowledge they had received. That was important, she said, because it helped give a much better understanding of the game.While New Zealand would always struggle against Australia the quality of players was coming through and she felt support needed to be given to younger batsmen.”It takes longer for batsmen to develop and so long to understand batsmanship, how to build an innings, the need to have patience and determination, even in the one-day game because it was still crucial to a solid performance.”Payne had made her decision because it still offered enough time to get a new opener before the next World Cup in 2005.”There are some great opportunities now for people to put their hands up, but it is important for them to feel they are being backed,” she said.

Like last year, the MRF sponsored Buchi Babu all India invitationtournament to be held in Chennai from August 12 to 30 will have aninternational flavour. And again this will be provided by the presenceof the New Zealand Cricket Academy.The popular annual tournament this year will have 14 teams and thepresence of some strong teams is bound to add spice to the contests.Last year’s winners National Cricket Academy and runners-up Oil andNatural Gas Commission have drawn byes into the quarterfinals.The tournament commences with two matches with Indian Railwwaysmeeting Maharashtra Cricket Association and All India Associate Banksclashing with Tamil Nadu Districts XI. These matches are scheduled tobe played from August 12 to 14.The other four first round matches will be played from August 16 to18. These pit MRF against Hyderabad Cricket Association, MumbaiCricket Association against New Zealand Cricket Academy, IndianAirlines against Jolly Rovers and MAC-TNCA XI against Karnataka StateCricket Association (KSCA).ONGC await the winners of the match between MAC-TNCA XI and KSCA whileNCA meet the winners of the game between Indian Railways andMaharashtra. The four quarter-finals will be played from August 20 to22. The semifinals are slated to be held from August 24 to 26 and thefinal will be played at the MA Chidambaram stadium from August 28 to30.

Since January 2014, Pakistan’s batting average is 43 in Tests, the best among all teams. Pakistan’s batsmen have scored 30 Test hundreds, also more than any other team in this time span. In their last Test before this England series, against Sri Lanka in Pallekele, Pakistan had their highest successful run chase.These have been the features of Pakistan’s batting over the past two years. Pakistan’s defining feature might have been the batting collapse, and it returned with a vengeance in Abu Dhabi, but its frequency has reduced drastically. Their average score between 2012 and 2014 has risen by more than 50%.In Pakistan, coaching is never fully understood and often has been a victim of subjective criticism. The force behind a player is rarely appreciated. But Grant Flower, Pakistan’s batting coach who joined the set-up 18 months ago, has had an evident influence on the batsmen.”At the start I wasn’t sure what to expect and I was quite apprehensive,” Flower said. “But it has become exciting and I get to work with some great players with great records.””So far it’s been a good record. We have made big scores recently and we were lucky to get away with a draw the other day. If there is any rocket science that I have done with that I am not aware of it. So it’s the basics, they practice hard, hitting a lot of balls in the nets which gives them a lot of confidence, and the most important thing is fitness.”Pakistan have made a huge investment in fitness during this period with extensive summer camps, and performance and fitness-based contracts. “When you are fit you make better decision at times when you are under pressure, and that helps mental toughness for batting long periods of time.”It’s all about little sacrifices off the field. It’s not just me, it’s the fitness person Grant Luden, Brad Robinson the physio has done a good job, and then there is Waqar and Mushi [Mushtaq Ahmed]. The good thing is everyone offers something a bit different so it’s not just a boring voice in the dressing room.”Pakistan, during the time of isolation from playing international cricket at home, have seen a generation of batsman growing up without playing at home. They only get a chance for development when they are picked up at national level. Flower hoped the advent of domestic T20 can help bring useful experience for the longer format.”Cricket not being played in Pakistan is not really helping the country,” Flower said. “I hope things are going to be more stable in the coming years and perhaps PSL happening next year will get the players a lot more experience, which can be really a plus for not only players but for the country.”The national player playing for the country is almost technically ready. Most of the things are covered and in place. It’s really uncommon that they are fundamentally wrong but a lot of fine-tuning is required.”Everyone is always learning but a lot of cricket is played in the mind and the mental aspect can take precedence, not always technical. You have to encourage positive thoughts.”Flower said that senior players like Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan being around eased the pressure, though there were some players such as Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal whose potential can also bring challenges.”They have got flair and being a coach I want to enlarge it and explore it. As long as the basics are covered, you never want to take flair out of the players. They are exciting players, they think differently about the game and it would be boring if everyone in the world was the same.”Having Misbah and Younis around takes a lot of pressure away from me. Most importantly they are role models and I respect them a lot. They are not only great players but also great human beings. But everyone has got a different personality.”I think Ahmed and Umar are still finding out about their game but they are willing to learn and willing to listen and have a bright future for Pakistan. It can be challenging working with them, but after all they are very exciting at times and match-winners on a given day so you don’t want to discard them.”If players are scoring runs they know they will stay in the side, but no one has the divine right to play for their country.”

Maria Fahey, who has been included among the New Zealand probables for the 2009 Women’s World Cup, hopes she will overcome the chronic fatigue she was diagnosed with last year and make it to the tournament in Australia.”I know I will be behind the other girls in terms of fitness and preparation, but I really want to give it a go,” Fahey told the , a Christchurch-based daily. After New Zealand’s tour of Australia in July 2007, Fahey contracted flu and was later diagnosed with chronic fatigue, which forced her to miss the tour to England, the home series against the same opposition and the Rose Bowl Series against Australia.Watching from the sidelines was hard for Fahey, who was New Zealand’s regular opener. “But I did go and watch a couple of the games at Lincoln and found it put quite a different perspective on things.”Fahey is cautious not to over-exert herself now that she has been named in the squad. “I’m just starting to get back into doing a little training, but it’s only very light. But I really wanted to have a goal like the World Cup to aim for instead of just rolling over and giving in.”

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.

Twenty-five percent more from his team, and this game might just have gone the other way, suggested Trent Johnston after what might be called Ireland’s impressive loss against England at Guyana’s National Stadium.”I’m very proud but probably disappointed,” he said. “If the way we played against Pakistan, the way we played against Canada or South Africa in the warm-ups we may have got close. It’s just another learning curve for us, we’ve got another five games hopefully we can improve on that and if we do I’ll be very happy. We’ve got to go out there and lift it by another 25%.”At 23 for 2 and again at 113 for 4, the Irish were in with a chance to keep England down to a manageable score. But sloppy fielding and weak bowling at the close, weakened further by the absence of Boyd Rankin because of cramp, made the ultimate difference.”The way we played in the first 40 overs was outstanding,” said Johnston. “On that wicket, the quality of batsmen we were bowling to … they probably got 90-odd in the last ten overs that swung the momentum back in their favour. While batting we got sort of stuck in the middle as we have been recently with spinners. You had Flintoff coming back at the end that was very difficult.”That exceptional last spell from Flintoff, three wickets in 2.1 overs, might have snuffed out any last Irish hopes, but Johnston regarded it a testament to his team’s performance. “It’s a credit to us that Michael Vaughan had to bring Andrew Flintoff back at the tail,” he said. “I don’t know if he’s 100% fit, he certainly doesn’t look to me, but for him to come back and bowl that spell, that’s what won them the game in the end.”Paul Collingwood’s fine innings came in for praise but “he’ll be the first to admit there were a few balls he didn’t hit in the middle but they still went for sixes,” Johnston said. “We discussed Collingwood in our team meeting, he is the quality player in the team, he’s the guy who gets you the run-a-ball hundred. Today we were off by a few inches to him and the result was nine runs an over.”It was another low turnout day at the Super Eights, but still about ten times the crowd Irish cricket team is used to. “We usually play in front of a couple of hundred,” Johnston said. “Look, we can’t complain about support. We had about 1000 Irish fans in Jamaica sounded like 10,000. They were the ones who got us to this stage.”Hopefully they’ll be very proud of what the guys have been doing. We’re probably 25-30% short of our best and we need to lift. All me and [coach] Adrian [Birrell] are telling the boys is to enjoy, these are the best days of your life.”