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The 2007-08 Premier League got off to a sensational start when defending champions Colombo Cricket Club were beaten inside two days by Moors SC in a low-scoring game played at Braybrooke Place. Seventeen wickets fell on the opening day of the match and another 19 on the second as Moors wrapped up the contest to win by four wickets. The low scores might suggest that the pitch was at least partly to blame, but Sumithra Warnakulasuriya, the Colombo coach, disagreed. “I don’t blame the wicket but our batsmen for batting so irresponsibly,” he said. “There was a little grass but the nature of the wicket was not the reason to be bowled out for such low scores.”What was most disappointing was that we were at full strength with national players Michael Vandort, Chamara Kapugedera and Jehan Mubarak and could not make 150 on both occasions.”Colombo were shot out for 149 and 147, falling to the left-arm spin of Rangana Herath who took nine wickets in the match.”There was a lack of temperament from our batsmen,” Warnakulasuriya said, “and I fear that some of them are not so committed when it comes to playing for their club.”Sajith Fernando was Tamil Union’s saviour, scoring an undefeated 142 to stave off certain defeat against Nondescripts CC at the Saravanamuttu Stadium. Set an unlikely 409 for victory, Tamil Union were greatly indebted to Fernando. Batting at No.3, Fernando battled through 114 overs as Tamil Union clung on to deny Nondescripts the win. Fernando’s match-saving innings overshadowed Chanaka Wijesinghe’s knock of 250 – the first double-hundred of the season.Nuwan Kulasekera, the Colts fast bowler, celebrated his recall to the national team for the tour of Australia by bowling his side to victory over Bloomfield on their home ground. Set 187 to win, Bloomfield fell short by 29 runs as Kulasekera grabbed 7 for 27.In another close game Badureliya CC stunned Chilaw Marians, winning by 19 runs at Badureliya Sports Club. Chasing 322, Marians were dismissed for 302 despite a century from Harsha Cooray. Dinusha Fernando took 5 for 69 for Badureliya.Sinhalese Sports Club completed a 240-run win over Ragama CC in the other Tier A match at the SSC, with Sachithra Senanayake, the offspinner, picking up 5 for 50 to prevent Ragama chasing a daunting 482.Player of the Week
It is not often that you find a batsman making a double-century in the opening round of a tournament, but that’s exactly what Chanaka Wijesinghe achieved for Nondescripts. In their first innings of 194, he top-scored with 61 not out and, after Nondescripts had conceded a first-innings lead of 31, he gave them an outside chance of victory by compiling 250 off 307 balls in the second innings. That NCC failed to achieve victory (falling short by one wicket) could not be blamed on him. Wijesinghe, 25 who hails from Kandy has been around for some time representing Kandy Youth CC, Ragama CC and Moors SC before coming to NCC.”What is so striking about Chanaka’s batting is that he has tightened his defence and is prepared to wait for the loose balls to make runs,” Ranjith Fernando, the former Sri Lanka batsman, said. “If Chanaka can show a degree of consistency during the season with his batting and make some really big innings it will be rather difficult for the selectors not to have a closer look at him.” Wijesinghe’s previous highest score in 39 first-class matches was 146.

Scorecard
Khuram Khan and Syed Maqsood took just eight overs to knock off the 41 runs needed as UAE completed a comprehensive seven-wicket win over Hong Kong in the Intercontinental Cup at Sharjah. Resuming at 144 for 3, UAE reached the target without the loss of further wickets with both Khuram and Maqsood managing half-centuries.Khuram, who had made a crucial 56 in the first innings, carried on his fine form with a breezy 55, which contained seven fours and a six. Maqsood was more patient during his 51 but managed to strike six fours and a six.Both teams had fallen for 127 in their first innings before Hong Kong appeared to be seizing the initiative on the second day. But Ali Asad, who ended with four wickets, and Khuram Khan triggered a collapse and Hong Kong mustered only 184, a target that UAE easily surpassed.

The International Cricket Council’s flying squad, the Anti-Corruption Unit, has investigated the floodlight failure on the third day of the first Test between Bangladesh and England at Dhaka last month.The blackout occurred at the end of the third day’s play at a time when Bangladesh had just begun their first innings and were facing a hostile opening spell from Stephen Harmison. The investigation was prompted by questions as to why the power failure only affected the floodlights and not any other electrical supply on the ground. It was that which made the official Bangladesh Cricket Board explanation that there had been “a grid failure somewhere down the line” fodder for the conspiracy theorists.But reports in the newspapers indicate that the ACU enquiries produced little of substance, with the Daily Telegraph quoting an “insider” as saying that “the more questions the ACU asked, the more different answers they got”. The explanation could be far simpler – power supplies in Dhaka are notoriously unreliable and power cuts a far from rare occurrence.While it is extremely unlikely that the ACU will unearth anything concrete, it will be looking closely at the ODI series, where the second and third matches are day-nighters. The local power companies have been contacted and assurances obtained that there will be no repeat of the scenes at Dhaka.

Rahul Dravid on the mighty Australians
They are the number one side and therein lies the opportunity for us. Wehave a chance to show we can compete, there’s no point getting overawed.They are a tough side and if you are going to match them over a courseof four-Test series, then you have got to have belief and confidence andfight through tough times. There would be tough days on the tour.Hopefully, we could keep our chin up and keep fighting right through thetour. I don’t see it as a last frontier. Indeed, we have a lot offrontiers to cross. We have a lot of challenges to meet and we see thistour as one of those challenges. It’s no different than any other tour.()Shane Warne has a go at Ganguly even before the Tests have started
Short-pitched bowling is his major weakness … I’m not surprised he isalready struggling on the tour. He will have to overcome a lot of chinmusic to have a successful series. The first Test will be on a bouncyGabba strip and Tugga (Steve Waugh) will have slips and gullieseverywhere, because all of Ganguly’s shots go through point or behindthe wicket. Ganguly needs to show his team that no matter how hard it isagainst the short ball, you must hang in there and have a plan – eitherduck, hook or sway out of the way.” ()John Wright backs Virender Sehwag to deliver the goods
We back Sehwag and respect his enormous ability. He is very strong andbright. The way he plays his game on fast and true pitches, he couldgive us a rousing start. We still rate him well but he obviously needsto find better form. Opening is a critical part of our success overseas.We hope we can improve in that area. If we can get through the firstperiod, the middle order would have a chance. It is hugely important tous.()Justin Langer wants to demoralise India
I’d really like to see the first over of the World Cup final. ZaheerKhan came out all pumped up and aggressive but within an over themomentum of the game had turned. Good body language and positive cricketis the key to winning any cricket match. Hopefully we’ll get apsychological advantage when India walks in here and sees that grass onthe wicket. It’s something they’re not used to. ()Ian Chappell thinks India have erred in not selecting Murali Kartik
Bowling Australia out cheaply could have been a more achievable ambitionif the selectors had included left-arm orthodox spinner Murali Kartik.Not only is he a talented flight bowler, he also has a big heart andloves to compete. As a competitor he has the makings of another AnilKumble but he suffers because either Sourav Ganguly doesn’t rate leftarm orthodox spinners or he doesn’t understand their worth.()Richard Hadlee tells the Indians not to expect miracles from BruceReid, their new bowling coach
Reid cannot do miracles with the Indian team which does not have a verygood bowling strength. He can only work with whatever talent isavailable at his disposal. The only way the visitors can beat theAussies during their Test series is by slowing down the Australian runrate and then improving upon it. The Australians try to score 350 to 400runs per day so that by the third day of the Test match they will beready for the killer punch. So the important thing for the Indians is toslow them down and make them earn every run. India’s batting line-up ispretty good. So when batting, they should try to score runs quickly toget the psychological advantage over the Aussies. The Indians shouldthink positively from the word go as the Aussies will make things toughfor the visitors and if the Indians fail to take up the challenge thenthey will be beaten. ()Rod Marsh talks up Ricky Ponting
He can go as far as he wants to go because he has got the talent.Sometimes very specially talented cricketers never reach their fullpotential, but what they do is often good enough to make themoutstanding players. At his best, if he did reach his full potential,there is no reason why he couldn’t be like Bradman or Tendulkar andthose sorts of people. ()Allan Border tells India to be positive, really positive
Spinners traditionally don’t play a huge role in Brisbane but as ShaneWarne has shown in the past, you could do your stuff on the fourth andfifth day. For that to happen, the Indians will need to take theAustralians on to the final day, something a lot of visiting sideshaven’t done recently. They could do it if they play near to theirpotential as Australians are not used to being stretched. If thathappens, spin bowlers could be decisive.I think the Indians should look to take their four best bowlers in thegame. If two of their best four are spinners, then so be it. They couldalso show themselves positive and aggressive by having five bowlerssince Australians tend to rattle up a huge score and then put theopposition under pressure.()

In an attempt to globalise the game, the International Cricket Council has announced that it plans to expand the game to 100 countries by the end of 2005. Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, was speaking at the two-day seminar organised by the Asian Cricket Council at Lahore where the issue of expansion was high on the agenda.The ICC has currently enrolled 89 countries, which includes ten full members, 27 associate members and 52 affiliate members. Mani added, “As well as increasing the number of playing countries, the ICC is targeting an improvement in the playing standards of its associate and affiliate members.”Commenting on Bangladesh struggling to put up a fight at the Test level, Mani said, “The ICC has been working very closely with the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the ACC to assist in the high performance development of the game in Bangladesh.”Mani also spoke about how the ICC had helped Kenya with their efforts to improve. “Kenya wants to play more one-day internationals and we have allocated an extra half-a-million dollars to them to further improve the quality of their game.”

A second XI fixture between Warwickshire and Leicestershire was abandoned on compassionate grounds after just 16 overs, when a spectator collapsed and died of a suspected heart attack at Dorridge’s Broadcare ground near Solihull.Warwickshire’s acting captain, Dougie Brown, a qualified first-aider, was called into the crowd to help Colin Harding, 59, from Leicester, but not even the prompt arrival of the paramedics could save him, and he was pronounced dead on arrival at Solihull Hospital."It’s something that you hope that you never have to do and it’s not something I want to repeat," said Brown, who learned his first-aid while qualifying as a teacher in the early-1990s. "I tried my best to get his heart going again while the physio gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."There were a couple of occasions when we thought we had got him breathing again, but we couldn’t keep it going. It does put everything else into perspective but I would hope that, if it was my dad in a similar position, someone would have tried their best to save him."The incident occurred near to where the Warwickshire players were sat, and the umpires John Holder and Keith Little were given permission by the ECB to abandon the game soon afterwards. "It was the only sensible course of action," said Warwickshire’s wicketkeeper, Keith Piper. "I was far too upset to even think about playing cricket. I don’t think any of us could focus after that."

Division One

Sussex and Nottinghamshire squeezed in just seven overs on a heavily rain-affected second day at Arundel, but it was enough time for Chris Harris to dismiss Robin Martin-Jenkins. Jenkins added 12 to his overnight score of 25. Sussex ended the day on 274 for6.Harbhajan Singh ripped through the Hampshire middle-order, taking 6 for 36 as Surrey grabbed thesecond-day honours at The Rose Bowl. Surrey added 35to their overnight score to finish on 361 all out.Dominic Thornely was eventually dismissed for 73, thefourth of Chris Tremlett’s victims. Tremlett returnedfigures of 4 for 106. Harbhajan also chipped in withthe bat, posting a useful 25 before he was bowled bySean Ervine. Then came the bowling onslaught. MartinBicknell struck first, removing Jimmy Adams. MichaelBrown was the next to fall, to Mohammad Akram. ButHarhbajan did the bulk of the damage. And Hampshirewere in dire straits at 146 for 8 by the close.Daniel Cherry struck a sweet double century – thefirst of his career – as Glamorgan strode to animposing 584 for 3 declared. There were centuries toofor David Hemp (103) and Jonathan Hughes, who wasunbeaten on 134. Hughes shared an impressivepartnership of 239 for the third wicket as Glamorgansteered themselves into a very solid position. BenHutton turned to nine bowlers in all in a bid to gainbreakthroughs, but wickets were few and far between.And he failed to cash in on a belter of a pitch,making 16 before falling to Dean Cosker. Middlesexended the day at 96 for 1, with Ed Smith unbeaten on57, but the home side still have much work to do atSouthgate.Kent wrested control at Edgbaston through Robert Key(75) and Martin van Jaarsveld (62). At the end of theday Kent were 270 for 3, a lead of 18 with sevenwickets in hand.

Division Two

Dale Benkenstein and Phil Mustard each struck 80 asDurham added 200 to their overnight score to reach334. Johannes Wright was Northamptonshire’s mostsuccessful bowler, with 4 for 71. Northants’ reply gotoff to a steady start, with Martin Love and BilalShafayat sharing an opening stand of 54. But RobertWhite fell just before the close to leave Northants on98 for 2 and the match in the balance.Lancashire will feel the happier of the two sides,just, as they ended the second day against Derbyshirewith a lead of 51 and one wicket remaining. DominicCork chipped out the last two wickets for Derbyshireearly, to end with 4 for 40. Lancashire’s reply gotoff to a bad start, as they lost Mark Chilton and MalLoye with the score just 12. They were going along nicely, but a further threewickets fell for just eight runs to leave them in somedisarray at 128 for 6. Cork again came to the rescueand was unbeaten on 63 by the close, with some stronglower-order support from Muttiah Muralitharan (24 notout).Zander de Bruyn struck an unbeaten half-century asWorcestershire shaded the day at Grace Road. NadeemMalik took 5 for 71 as Leicestershire wickets fellsteadily – they ended on 225. In reply, Worcestershirewere in some difficulty at 27 for 2 – with SimonDavies and Graeme Hick back in the pavilion courtesyof Ottis Gibson, but Ben Smith (45), Stephen Moore(41) and de Bruyn all batted well to add stability.

Hampshire continued their preparations for the start of the 2004 season with the visit of Warwickshire to the Rose Bowl today.In between the showers, Hampshire batted first in a 50 overs match, played under championship conditions.The heroes of the truncated match the previous day at Hove, Derek Kenway and Michael Brown both made starts, but fell in quick succession. James Hamblin was then bowled without scoring.Will Kendall and Lawrence Prittipaul restored the innings as both achieved half centuries. Kendall finished on 57 not out, hitting 10 fours, and Prittipaul 7 fours in his 59 not out. Hampshire’s innings closed on 158 for 3 after their allotted 50 overs.Alan Mullally dismissed Mark Wagh with the score on 10, but Nick Knight and Ian Bell held on till the close. Knight a patient innings of 29, and Bell a more belligerent 63 not out. At the close Warwickshire were 106 for 1 after 33 overs.The practise continues on Thursday with Warwickshire, with the captains deciding the format of the contest in the morning.

The National Stadium in Karachi suddenly seems a less impregnable fortress. Sri Lanka won the first Test at Faisalabad after starts of 9 for 3 and 0 for 1, to continue their unbeaten series run in Pakistan. It seemed as if Pakistan’s problems needed more than a change of coach, and not even their golden history at Karachi could be relied on.Sri Lanka have lost every Test they’ve played at Karachi – as has nearly every other team – but Pakistan’s record of only one loss in 50 years there is unlikely to bother a team firmly on a roll. Barring Marvan Atapattu and Romesh Kaluwitharana, every player scored runs or showed signs of form. Even Muttiah Muralitharan’s absence didn’t seem to hurt much any more. There was a man for every crisis, and chances were clutched with the desperation of a team hungry for victory.Until Sanath Jayasuriya took charge on the third day of the first Test, the contest was balanced. Thereafter, Pakistan bungled it on the fourth day, and fell away on the fifth. After the match, John Dyson commended his side’s spirit, comparing it to Australia’s, while Inzamam-ul-Haq announced that Moin Khan had been given plenty of chances and was being dropped. To some, it was a knee-jerk reaction. Others believed Kamran Akmal’s inclusion was the right move for a side in transition.Sri Lanka are unlikely to change their side for tomorrow. Pakistan, on the other hand, will have to field an inexperienced new-ball attack after Shoaib Akhtar withdrew with a shoulder injury a few hours after Mohammad Sami pulled out with a groin strain. Inzamam confirmed that Pakistan would go into the game with two fast bowlers new to Test cricket: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who has played a few ODIs, and the uncapped Riaz Afridi.Shoaib should only miss a couple of weeks, but there are longer-term fears for Sami, who is doubtful for the forthcoming trip to Australia. Though Sami did not strike in the second innings at Faisalabad, his four-wicket haul in the first played a large part in limiting Sri Lanka to 243.But Pakistan have more pressing issues to deal with: Jayasuriya, for one. He played with a nonchalance depressing for Pakistan, and, with a large total to defend, the bowlers had their way. The second – and this was pivotal – was that the batsmen lost wickets in clumps after rapid starts, with few inclined to stay at the crease. It was this very thing Bob Woolmer said he would try to stop when he spoke of “skinning the Pakistani cat” as he took over the team. The results showed in one-dayers, but his side was outdone by a more determined team in the last Test, where the attack, led by Shoaib Akhtar, was inspirational and then flat, but the batsmen had no sustained phases of success.When it came, the win seemed easy. By then, Sri Lanka had not only scored more runs and taken wickets for less, but had deflated Pakistan’s spirit. After it, Inzamam spoke of survival and Atapattu spoke of winning abroad. Their words spoke volumes.Pakistan (probable) 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Yasir Hameed, 3 Asim Kamal, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Riaz Afridi, 10 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 11 Danish Kaneria.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Jehan Mubarak, 7 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Dilhara Fernando, 11 Lasith Malinga.

Moin Khan, the former Pakistan captain, has been named the captain of Karachi Harbour in the Silver League of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, which starts later this month. Khan, 34, last played for Pakistan against Sri Lanka almost a year ago.Moin’s task, aside from endeavouring to recapture his place in the Pakistan team, will be to help Karachi Harbour win the Silver League – or the second division in the newly bifurcated Quaid-i-Azam Trophy – so that the city qualifies for promotion to the more lucrative Gold League for the 2006-07 season.Karachi Harbour were known until last season as Karachi Whites, and were led by Faisal Iqbal, ex-Test player and nephew of Javed Miandad. Moin took over during the season and the veteran retains the post this season.Karachi has traditionally fielded two teams in the competition; last season’s Karachi Blues are now to be called Karachi Urban and will be led by Hasan Raza. Last season, the team were led by another Pakistan wicketkeeper, Rashid Latif, but he has been surprisingly left out of the squad this season. The city has won Pakistan’s premier domestic competition a record 17 times, including a run of seven consecutive wins between 1958-59 and 1966-67.This year, seven teams have been placed in the Golden League, including holders Peshawar and last season’s second-placed side Faisalabad. The other outfits are Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Multan, Karachi Urban and Lahore Shalimar.The six teams in the Silver League are Lahore Ravi, Karachi Harbour, Hyderabad, Quetta, Islamabad and Abbottabad.Junaid Zia has been appointed captain of Lahore Shalimar while Imran Tahir, the former Pakistan U-19 legspinner, will lead Lahore Ravi. Quetta have named Faisal Irfan, a fast bowling all-rounder as captain and another fast-medium bowler, Sajid Shah, will captain Abbottabad. Hyderabad, meanwhile, will look to Faisal Athar, a prolific middle-order batsman, to lead them during the tournament.The Quaid-i-Azam Trophy begins on October 16, and the winners of the Gold League can expect to receive Rs1,100,000 (US$18,500).