It was a struggle to get out of St. Johns Wood station this morning, with a frenetic scramble for tickets clogging Wellington Road. Spectators were willing to pay ten times the actual amount and Lord’s was the place to be in London.All the excitement culminated in the most anti-climactic end to a competitive series. The one-sided contest seemed even more flat after the humdinger at The Oval. The freedom and expression that the teams displayed on Wednesday was rarely seen; instead there was attrition, a feature typical of when too much is at stake. Suddenly the teams appeared to have woken up to how big the prize was.Before we get into the nitty-gritty of this forgettable decider, let’s get the big picture out of the way. England were the better side through the series and deserved winners. They were more consistent with the bat, aggressive with the ball, and far more athletic on the field. India played an important part in converting a long series into a cracking one but their weaknesses – especially in the field – were bound to be exploited over seven matches.Now to two issues that were the talking points of the match. Today’s was the sort of toss that’s supposed to be a “good one to lose”. Rahul Dravid won it and batted but soon found out that bowling might have been a better option. In similar conditions at Southampton and Edgbaston he’d chosen to bowl but realised that batting might have been better. The problem may lie with his tendency to win tosses but with seven batsmen you’d expect to counter conditions and put up a decent score.India’s problem might have arisen from a need to change their mindset – and the eventual failure to do so. They needed to switch from the throw-the-kitchen-sink-at-everything approach that was on display at The Oval to a knuckle-down-and-get-a-competitive-score here. Instead Sourav Ganguly, in the most torturous innings all summer, flayed as if in blindfolds and the rest attempted too much too early. A more grafted approach could have got them to 240, a total which could have proved tricky later in the day.The second point of contention needs to be taken more seriously. Sachin Tendulkar, for the third time on this tour, was at the receiving end of a contentious decision. Actually it was quite a howler. It happened at Bristol, when he was sawn off on 99, and it happened here, at a critical juncture of a vital match. He’d just backed away and walloped Andrew Flintoff over cover, not once but twice, and promised more. He’d got his eye in and gauged the pitch. And then Aleem Dar, probably going on sound rather than sight, gave him caught behind when the bat had merely clipped the pad. Of course Dar is human, like the rest of us, but was this the time to reiterate that truism?It was a point from which India never recovered. England gathered momentum and didn’t look back. Chasing 187 was going to be tricky at the most and when Kevin Pietersen, for the first time all series, started reading Piyush Chawla’s legbreaks it was time to draw the curtains. India’s fielding inadequacies came to the fore and their part-timers weren’t effective. If this was the one match you watched in the series, you’d have wondered how India had managed to win three games before today. Credit to India for overcoming their weaknesses to setup a classic finish but the weaknesses were so evident that they ultimately caught up.

Australia’s coach, Tim Nielsen, believes his players need to buck up their ideas and refocus after a lengthy winter break. The side has now headed to India for a series of seven ODIs, followed by a one-off Twenty20 match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai that has suddenly taken on added importance following India’s triumph in Johannesburg on Monday.Nielsen, who took over from John Buchanan at the end of Australia’s victorious World Cup campaign in the Caribbean, conceded that his side had not treated the Twenty20 tournament with enough respect. Following a humiliating loss to Zimbabwe in the opening game, Australia eventually succumbed to India in the semi-finals.”Twenty20 is a showpiece event now,” Nielsen told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Before, there wasn’t really much consequence to losing a one-off Twenty20 game as there was compared to a Test or one-day series. But that all changes when there is a tournament structure in place.”[Complacency] may have been a factor until we got beaten by Zimbabwe, and that straightened us up real quick. We had a bit of bad luck. We were coming off a break, and it would have been better if we had been a little more cricket-fit. We’re more aware of that now, and we’ll be better prepared next time.”The teams reconvene in Australia over Christmas and the New Year for four Tests followed by the Commonwealth Bank Series, which also features Sri Lanka, and Nielsen believes that the forthcoming tour is the perfect opportunity to put one over the Indians before their visit.”This is a great chance for us to get the wood on them a bit,” Nielsen said. “It’s important that we make an impact here. We’ve been pretty disjointed up to now, with our preparation and some injuries, so the challenge is there for us. When we get out there for a one-dayer and are facing three-and-a-half hours in the field, it’s going to feel like a Test match. Everyone will have to adjust their thinking.”

Boyd Rankin, the Ireland quick bowler, has signed a two-year deal with Warwickshire after turning down a contract with Derbyshire.Rankin made his mark at the World Cup but struggled for fitness during the 2007 season and appeared in just three Championship matches. However, Derbyshire had offered him a new deal but said Rankin hadn’t responded so they released him.”We wanted to back his potential and continue to develop his career under the guidance of [head of cricket] John Morris and [bowling coach] Mike Hendrick in particular, who has done so much for him since bringing him to Derbyshire,” said chief executive Tom Sears. “The offer was made a long time ago during the season and, despite telling us some weeks ago he was likely to stay, Boyd has not signed the new deal.”But Rankin explained his side of the story, saying he thinks the move comes at the right time of his career and the chance to work with Allan Donald was too good to miss. “Derbyshire made me a very good offer, and it was a difficult decision to leave, as they have been very good to me. Having examined my options, my agent informed them I wouldn’t be resigning before their deadline passed. I’d like to go on record to thank Mike Hendrick who has been instrumental in my career development.””However once the opportunity arose with Warwickshire, and the chance to work with their bowling coach Allan Donald, it was something I had to go for. I’m looking forward to the next few years, both domestically and internationally. I’ve a contract to play in the Indian League along with Niall O’ Brien, and it looks like I’ll be in Bangladesh with Ireland in March.”

Anil Kumble will lead a 15-member Karnataka squad to take part in the Ranji Trophy Super League.Rahul Dravid’s presence in the squad, along with those of veterans Sunil Joshi and Yere Goud – who joined Karnataka last season after 11 years with Railways, is expected the bolster the squad. All eyes will be on Dravid, who has an opportunity to regain his form after being dropped for the first two ODIs against Pakistan.The selectors decided to stick with experience – C Raghu, B Akhil, Barrington Rowland and Thilak Naidu retaining their places in the squad. The player to watch out for will be KP Appana, the left-arm spinner. He had a successful tour to Sri Lanka with the India Under-19s and has taken 21 wickets at 24.66 in six first-class matches.Vijay Bharadwaj, the former India player, will coach the team after Rajesh Kamat, the original appointee, had joined the Indian Cricket League. The squad were part of 35 probables who had a 13-day conditioning camp at the Infosys campus in Mysore from October 13.Karnataka open their Ranji Trophy campaign by taking on defending champions Mumbai in a four-day match at the Wankhede Stadium starting on November 3.Karnataka squad
Anil Kumble (capt), Rahul Dravid, Yere Goud, C Raghu, Sunil Joshi, Barrington Rowland, NC Aiyappa, B Akhil, KP Appanna, Srinivas Dhananjaya, Thilak Naidu (wk), Devraj Patil, KB Pawan, Sudhindra Shinde, Vinay Kumar
Coach: Vijay Bharadwaj

Samir Inamdar, the Cricket Kenya chairman, has told Cricinfo that the national elite league will proceed despite the ongoing problems affecting the Nairobi province.The original intention was for the league to launch in December when availability is likely to be at its highest because of holidays. But logistically that might not be possible as Kenya host Under-15s and women’s tournaments that month. It now seems likely that the league will be staged in early January.The finances are already in place after the African Cricket Association pledged US$35,000 to the competition. CK is seeking corporate sponsors for each region to help offset travel costs, and also an overall tournament sponsor.CK is planning a stakeholders meeting in early December to discuss how the league will work among other matters affecting the game in the country.The proposals are for a four-side zonal league in which teams will play in three formats – three-day, one-day and Twenty20. The zonal sides are likely to be geographically based, with two probably coming from Nairobi, one from the Coast and one from the other regions.Players in the centrally-contracted national squad will be divided between the four sides to ensure there is balance between the teams and to ensure that the standard of all matches is as high as possible. In practice, that will probably mean that each team has seven local players supplemented with four members of the national side.

England 351 (Muralitharan 5-116) and 250 for 3 drew with Sri Lanka 548 for 9 dec (Jayawardene 195, Vandort 139)
Scorecard
How they were out

England eased to safety on the fifth and final afternoon at Colombo, thanks to a trio of half-centuries from Michael Vaughan, Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, a sensible fourth-wicket stand of 46 between Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood, and a tea-time deluge that wrote off a potentially tricky final session. With grey clouds lurking all day, the draw had always been the odds-on result, but until the rains finally came, England could not rest easy. Their lead at tea was a meagre 53 with seven wickets standing, and when Muttiah Muralitharan is involved, no cause can ever be entirely written off.England’s progress in the first two sessions was serene but Sri Lanka never sensed that the task of victory was beyond them, largely because each of the top three gave their wickets away when well set. Vaughan and Cook resumed with England on 48 for 0 overnight, and duly went on to post their second century stand of the match – the first time it had been done by the same English opening combination since Boycott and Edrich at Adelaide in 1970-71. But as in the first innings, neither man could push on to record a century of his own, and in fact England have now made 10 fifties in the series, but a highest score of 87.Despite the threat of rain, Vaughan and Cook did not bat as if they had one eye on the heavens. Instead they set about eating into their 197-run deficit with calculated aggression, and Vaughan set the tone from the very start of the day, lacing Lasith Malinga for four fours in his first two overs. The first was a touch streaky, as it sped along the ground through the slip cordon, but the next three were shots of the highest class – two clips off the toes followed by a sumptuous and trademark drive through the covers.Vaughan continued to bat with complete fluency and as long as he was at the crease, England’s survival was assured. But, on 61, Dilhara Fernando served up a full-length slower ball, which Vaughan popped straight back into the bowler’s midriff. He was aghast as he trudged off the pitch but his replacement, Bell, started with equal confidence. He cracked two fours in an over from a subdued Chaminda Vaas, and signed off the morning session in style with a lofted drive over mid-on against Muralitharan, just to demonstrate that England were not going to be cowed on this final day.Cook, whose first-innings 81 had been a laborious but essential performance, chugged along to 62 not out at lunch. His morning’s work was interrupted by a 20-minute rain break, but he seemed happy once again to play the anchor role. His most attacking moment came with consecutive driven boundaries in Vaas’s opening over. But, with the first ball after the resumption, Cook reawakened England’s anxieties as he steered a gentle legbreak into the hands of Mahela Jayawardene at slip. The bowler was none other than Chamara Silva, whose only previous international bowling experience had come at the Twenty20 World Championship.

That wasn’t the only surprise that Jayawardene sprung as he strived for the breakthrough. He even dusted off his own offbreaks, after a two-and-a-half year hiatus, presumably as a reaction to Muttiah Muralitharan’s appeal for spin-bowling support. But predictably, it was Murali who made the next breakthrough. Bell had batted with consummate class all throughout this series, but he simply cannot convert his starts at the moment. Since the start of the Ashes last November, he has made 11 fifties in 14 Tests, but converted only one of them to a hundred. Today was a gilt-edged opportunity to notch up a red-inker, but instead he hoisted Murali straight to Michael Vandort at mid-on. The intent was plain, but the execution flawed.England at that stage were effectively 7 for 3 with more than three hours of the match still scheduled, but Pietersen and Collingwood knuckled down for the rearguard. Pietersen as ever was the dominant partner with 45 from 79 balls, including a swatted six over midwicket off Silva, while Collingwood was ever circumspect for his unbeaten 23 from 67. Then the clouds burst on the stroke of the interval, and that was emphatically that.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

South Africa fought back on the opening day in Cape Town as Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini shared six wickets to limit West Indies to 240 for 8. A 106-run stand between Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had taken the sting out of the home side during a wicketless afternoon session before Ntini changed the complexion with a highly-charged spell. Steyn then began an efficient mopping-up job with his explosive mixture of yorkers and bouncers.West Indies, though, are still in contention on a tricky surface which made batting hard work throughout with 20 fours and two sixes in the day. A slow, bumpy outfield also cut down the value of shots as the Newlands playing area again raised questions and 240 is a better total than it appears. There was a period during the afternoon session, as Samuels and Chanderpaul began a repeat of last week’s performance in Port Elizabeth, when South African shoulders started to slump. Trailing in the series it was down to them to force the issue and Graeme Smith spent large parts of the day trying to stir his players into action.Ntini isn’t someone who usually needs much encouragement and when Smith brought him back after tea he lifted spirits. Samuels was providing another example of his new-found diligence at the crease with a 144-ball innings, but was eventually drawn into a push outside off stump and sent an edge through to Mark Boucher. Dwayne Bravo soon followed, another uncertain shot away from the body, this time collected by Jacques Kallis at second slip, as the momentum swayed. Bravo failed twice in Port Elizabeth and his dismissal exposed the lower order, which was unable to cope with Steyn’s new-ball burst.Denesh Ramdin was caught plumb after he was beaten by a full, swinging delivery and a repeat performance made a mess of Rawl Lewis’s stumps first ball. Jerome Taylor survived the hat-trick, but Steyn’s pace was again too much when he tried to defend a short ball and offered the simplest of return catches. The collapse of 5 for 54 highlighted the value of the earlier graft and West Indies were again indebted to Chanderpaul who steadied the innings following three wickets before lunch.They overcame the early loss of Daren Ganga, squared up by a beauty from Steyn, to tick along at a healthy rate. Chris Gayle didn’t need a second invitation to throw the bat and was in typical stand-and-deliver mode. His running wasn’t helped by the hamstring problem which has dogged him since Zimbabwe, but singles were not his main thought as he twice lifted the ball over the boundary.Smith gave his team their first talking-to at the drinks interval, clearly unimpressed by what he felt was a half-hearted effort from the quicks. The words appeared to have the desired effect and the scoring rate slowed while frustration grew for Runako Morton, who gave his wicket away with a lazy drive straight to mid-off as Kallis showed his partnership-breaking skills with another opening-over strike. A tight spell from Andre Nel was rewarded with the key wicket of Gayle, edging low to gully without any footwork where Neil McKenzie, recalled after three-and-half-years to replace Herschelle Gibbs, clung onto an excellent catch to his right.The stand between Samuels and Chanderpaul spanned 42 overs and once the hardness disappeared from the new ball it became a war of attrition as 77 runs came during the afternoon session. Samuels took 28 balls to open his account, although still pulled out a couple of piercing drives when the ball was overpitched, and offered a tough chance, on 2, when he chipped a return catch high to Ntini’s right in his follow through.Chanderpaul, too, didn’t set pulses – or the scoring rate – racing and in his first 101 balls managed one boundary. However, shortly before tea he took consecutive fours off Paul Harris, who bowled a 19-over spell split by tea, as the earlier hard work began to bring rewards. His technique is perfectly suited to conditions that call for grinding with the ball not coming onto the bat. After the middle-order slump his presence became even more important for West Indies as he registered another half century off 184 balls.His job is to eke out as many as he can from the last two wickets before the West Indies bowlers are given a chance. South Africa struggled in both innings on a friendlier surface in Port Elizabeth and only when they have had a turn will their chances of levelling the series become clear.

Scorecard
A third successive defeat, with Friday’s game against Bangladesh Under-19 washed out, resulted in South Africa Under-19 being knocked out of the triangular tournament being held in Pretoria.South Africa needed to beat India Under-19 to have a chance of going through to the final, but the hosts suffered a six-wicket loss. Tanmay Srivastava was once again instrumental in thwarting South Africa; he had scored a century in the previous round-robin encounter between the two teams, and though he scored only 50 in this game, his three wickets had helped his team restrict the hosts to 223 from their alloted 50 overs.Wayne Parnell, the South African captain, opted to bat and his team made a brisk and steady start, with 56 runs being added before the first wicket – of JJ Smuts – fell on the last ball of the tenth over. Opener Pieter Malan top scored for his side with 57; South Africa were looking good at 105 for 2 off 22.3 overs before Srivastava struck to remove Malan.The remaining South African batsmen failed to carry on the momentum, with a few failing to capitalise on starts. A 47-run seventh-wicket stand between Parnell and Sybrand Engelbrecht ensured the team went past the 200-mark, with South Africa completing their 50 overs at 223 for 9. Srivastava finished with 3 for 42 while Iqbal Abdulla, the left-arm spinner, had impressive figures of 3 for 29.Parnell took two quick wickets as India faltered to 16 for 2 in their chase, but the ensuing 111 runs added by Virat Kohli and Srivastava put the reply on track. Srivastava was out hit wicket to Parnell for an even 50, which came off 76 balls. Kohli’s 71 was the game’s highest score, but when he fell with India at 160, South Africa still had a sniff of a chance.Unfortunately for the hosts, an unbroken 66-run stand between Saurav Tiwary (53) and Manish Pandey (26) saw India through with 18 balls to spare.India take on Bangladesh on Sunday, a dress rehearsal for the final, which will be played on Tuesday.

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.

Fast bowler Iain O’Brien has been drafted into the New Zealand squad as cover for Michael Mason ahead of the third ODI against England at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday.Mason injured his right shoulder during the emphatic 10-wicket win atHamilton on Tuesday. He took 2 for 29 as England were restricted to 158 all out.O’Brien, who plays for Wellington, has six Test caps but is yet to make his debut in the shorter versions of the game. He took seven wickets in the two Tests against Bangladesh last month. In his three List A matches this season, he has taken four wickets at 27.75 with an impressive economy rate of 4.26 an over.O’Brien will link up with the squad in Auckland after playing in Wellington’s State Shield game against Otago on Wednesday.With three ODIs remaining, New Zealand enjoy a 2-0 lead after comprehensively outplaying England in the first two games.