Man-of-the-match Muttiah Muralitharan, playing in his 66th Test, who donated his winning cheque to Ashraful after the youngster’s astonishing 114, became the fastest bowler to reach 350 Test wickets when he caught and bowled last man Mohammad Sharif.Earlier this year in South Africa Muralitharan reached 300 Test wicketsafter 58 games, which was two games slower than Australian Dennis Lillee.Since then is has raced to the 350 mark in just eight Tests, beating RichardHadlee’s 69 game record.”I was not thinking about the record this morning, just about takingwickets,” he said afterwards.Bangladesh had started the day on 100 four, still 365 runs arrears, butteenager Mohammad Ashraful delayed the inevitable with a century on debut.”I thought it would be easier than what it was,” he admitted. “The pitch,however, had lost its bounce and Ashraful rode his luck to play a brilliantinnings.”He finished with match figures of 10-111, his second consecutive ten-wickethaul and the seventh time he had completed the feat – only Hadlee has doneso on more occasions (nine in 86 matches).Muralitharan’s assault on the record books didn’t stop there, as he brokethe world record for the most Test wickets in a single venue when he trappedHabibul Bashar leg before wicket on Friday evening.He has now taken 83 wickets in 13 games at the Sinhalese Sports Club,beating Lillee 82 wickets in Melbourne.Muralitharan believes that he has become a better bowler now and expects tocontinue his climb up the all-time Test wicket-taking list.”I have become a more experienced bowler over the last couple of years andthat has helped me take more wickets,” he said.”I can’t be expected to take wickets all the time, but I am still enjoyingthe game and see no reason why I can’t continue playing for at least anotherfive years.””That will depend upon injuries of course, but I have been very lucky withthose so far thanks to the work of physio Alex Kontouri, who has beenworking with us for six years now.”Muralitharan has been playing non-stop since Sri Lanka toured South Africain December and he will now travel back to England to play one last matchfor Lancashire.He admits to be looking forward to a break: “When I come back from the UK Iwill finally put my feet up for a month before Sharjah.”When he says “feet-up,” however, he uses the term loosely because you canbet he will be back in his domestic nets bowling in next to no time.

A cavalier 176 by Naeemuddin and equally fine batting by Atiq-ur-Rahman helped Gujranwala to earn a slimseven-run lead against LahoreWhites on second day of the National Under-19 Grade-I cricketchampionship at LCCA Ground Thursday.Replying to Lahore Whites’s first innings total of 349, Gujranwalaamassed 356 for eight declared in 78 overs after resuming the day on46 without loss.By close of play, Lahore Whites were in some trouble when they reached94 for three in the second innings.Naeemuddin, taking advantage of atrocious catching by Lahore Whites,carried on from his overnight 35 and blasted 24 fours in his 216-ballinnings that lasted 311 minutes while putting on 130 for the secondwicket with Atiq in only 99 minutes.Atiq hammered 10 boundaries in his 90-ball 72.For Lahore Whites, captain Arsalan Arshad captured three for 58.Summarized scores:Lahore Whites 349 in 78.2 overs (Kashif Ijaz 74, Salman Qadir 71,Zulqarnain Hyder 61, Wahab Riaz 48; MuzaffarAslam 3-87, Ali Imran2-62, Nadeem Hussain 2-103) and 94 for three in 22 overs (ArsalanArshad 27, Adnan Raza 27).Gujranwala 356 for eight decl in 78 overs (Naeemuddin 176, Atiq-ur-Rahman 72, Shiraz Shabbir 30, Waqas Rafiq 20; Arsalan Arshad 3-58).

The Jamaican opening batsman, Wavell Hinds, has been cleared to make the tour of Sri Lanka with the West Indies team after all. Hinds, who was a late replacement for the injured middle order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, was himself injured while participating in the Melbourne Cricket Festival.The clearance has been received by the West Indies Cricket Board, and Hinds will now travel to Sri Lanka today – via Miami – and is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Although Hinds has been cleared to join his West Indian counterparts on tour in Sri Lanka, he has been advised not to field too close to the wicket for the next few months.This means that Hinds will be available for selection to take part in the West Indies’ second warm up match ahead of the first Test. The WICB decided against naming a replacement for Hinds, and opted instead to await the doctor’s opinion on whether or not Hinds could in fact join the West Indies on tour following corrective surgery to his broken nose.The West Indies will engage Sri Lanka in three Tests, followed by a triangular one day international series which will also involve Zimbabwe and host country Sri Lanka.

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa – Pressure is mounting on South Africa batsman Jonty Rhodes to end his retirement from Test cricket ahead of his country’s world championship showdown against Australia at the end of the year.”We are trying to convert him back to Test cricket,” national selector Graeme Pollock said in a news conference at St George’s Park today during South Africa’s second Test against India.”His experience could be invaluable to us. He plays the quick bowlers well and he plays [leg spinner Shane] Warne really well which is going to be important, once again,” Pollock said.Rhodes played his last Test 15 months ago and then retired to concentrate his efforts on the one-day game and South Africa’s bid to win the World Cup in 2003, which it is hosting.The cricketer, regarded as the best fielder in the world, has never made a secret of his desire to spend more time with his wife and two-year-old daughter and has so far refused to change his mind.Former team-mate turned commentator Pat Symcox wrote an open letter to Rhodes in the national daily newspaper The Citizen today in which he implored him to reconsider his decision.”All I ask is that you give us some of your valuable time – just one more time,” Symcox wrote after explaining how important the player would be in helping South Africa beat Australia to become world Test champion.”We must do whatever we can to get him to change his mind, whether it means talking to his wife, Kate, or whoever. It would be reassuring to have him back for the tour,” Pollock said.– AAP

Canterbury will field the strongest team possible against Northern Districts in Gisborne for the next round of State Championship play.The return of New Zealand team members from Australia will boster the side considerably, giving two benefits, one for the Canterbury side to build on its second round victory over Otago this week and two, for the CLEAR Black Caps to keep their form from the Australian series in readiness for the two-Test National Bank series against Bangladesh starting in Hamilton on Tuesday, December 18.The team is: Gary Stead (captain), Jarrod Englefield, Michael Papps, Aaron Redmond, Chris Harris, Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Gareth Hopkins, Wade Cornelius, Paul Wiseman, Warren Wisneski, Shane Bond, Chris Martin.

Hemang Badani’s 98 provided vital relief to a crumbling Tamil Nadu batting, taking their first-innings total to 290 in their Ranji Trophy league match against Andhra Pradesh at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.Badani provided much-needed stability to the visitors’ batting. Combining primarily with Ashish Kapoor, Badani put together a mature knock off 235 balls, with 13 fours. His 56-run partnership with Kapoor was vital. After Kapoor fell, Badani put on another 39 runs with MR Srinivas before falling leg-before to Hemal Watekar.Chasing 291 for a first-innings lead, Andhra Pradesh’s openers could only put 30 on for the first wicket before Amit Pathak was caught by Kapoor off the bowling of Srinivas. Then it was the turn of Robin Singh, who had MSK Prasad caught behind. Venugopala Rao was rapped on his pads by Srinivas and then unfortunately given out for a duck.GN Srinivas and Fayaz Ahmed then took Andhra Pradesh through to the close of play without any further losses. Srinivas was on 46 at stumps, while Ahmed had made 10; the hosts ended the day on 101/3.

Welcome to Bermuda, Mark Harper. We have an international cricket tournamenton the horizon, a national squad whose No 1 batsman refuses to train, andthree candidates for the captaincy who are a mistimed tackle away from beingsidelined indefinitely.Bermuda are supposed to be one of the favourites for the Americas Cup, whichwill be staged in Argentina from March 9 to 16, but on present evidence – anemergency meeting was held a fortnight ago to investigate the poor responseto training – a repeat of the disaster that resulted in an early exit fromthe ICC Trophy Tournament last summer is on the cards.Harper, brought in from Guyana after the tenure of Roland Butcher ended inembarrassing fashion, is a frustrated man these days. Is he at the brink?No. But frustrated, yes.”Most of the guys said they could (train) on a Saturday, just a few saidthey could not,” Harper said this week of the meeting. “Since then we’ve hadmaybe a slight improvement, but nothing much to shout about.”The serious issue in the Island right now is whether some of these peopleare interested in playing for the country. It is frustrating but this hasbeen the trend in recent times with the preparation of the team, so I’vebeen told, and I also experienced that leading into the ICC tournament.”With Argentina in the midst of their domestic season and Canada and UnitedStates having outperformed Bermuda in Toronto last July, it is not beyondbelief that Harper’s men could finish in the middle of a six-team pack.”I don’t know if the guys just feel that they can turn up two weeks beforeand think that everything will be all right at the tournament,” Harperadded. “That was the feeling pertaining to the ICC tournament but I believethat if you don’t prepare, be prepared to fail.”It is disappointing but I always try to look on the positive side. We havea month to go and hopefully we’ll have better numbers turning out topractice so we can really prepare properly for this tournament. I think wehave a chance of doing well if we put our heads down and prepare properly.”Central to the problems that Harper is experiencing is the lack ofcommitment from leading players, the most significant being Glenn Blakeney,of St. David’s.After shattering the individual scoring record against Willow Cuts in aleague match on August 19, Blakeney declared that he was committed torepresenting the country for the first time since the ill-fated ICC TrophyTournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1997. “My main goal now is torepresent Bermuda again in the next ICC and hopefully in the World Cup,”Blakeney told The Royal Gazette in the August 20 edition. “I think it’s upto me, I’ve just got to take it more seriously. I’ve had a meeting with ElJames and he told me he wants me to be part of the national team. I waspleased about that because we’ve had our differences in the past, but thecountry is the most important thing and the country should come first.”The left-handed early-order bat was promptly named in the training squad inOctober for the upcoming venture but, according to Harper, has not attendedany of the eight sessions to date and can have no complaints if he gets thechop when the selectors finalise the travelling party for Argentina in thecoming weeks.”Nobody has been axed as yet,” Harper said. “We’re coming into February sosomewhere along the line we would have to cut down the squad. The point isthat people have to understand that there is no sense in having someone whohas a lot of ability but is not committed to the effort.”In anything in life you have rules and regulations and people have tocomply with that. There seems to be a disregard for that on the island here.People seem to think that because `Mark’ is good or `Tom’ is good, that hemust just walk in the door and play.”If Blakeney has a problem and would like to discuss it I would certainly bewilling to sit down and listen to him. But I am not aware of anything and hewas at the meeting (on January 10)! The indication was that he would be outto training soon and even one of the selectors indicated that he would beout to training on Saturday. But I don’t know what happened.”It is not a right to play for your country, it’s a privilege. They have farmore talented players in other places who can’t represent their country. Thesad thing about it is that these guys (in Bermuda) have the ability to muchbetter than they’re doing. The World Cup is so close and they don’t realiseit.”Harper said that the lengthy debate over the captaincy has resulted from alacklustre attitude toward training. Herbie Bascome, Clay Smith, AlbertSteede and Janeiro Tucker are in the running to fill the post left vacantafter Charlie Marshall was omitted from the training [JUMP]squad.But the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control has been at such a loss to decideon the appointment that the four candidates will be interviewed.”The ideal situation would have been for the captain to be named a long timeago,” Harper admitted. “But the situation is that the Board feels that atthis juncture they should interview some players to see what they have andput over how they would expect that person to conduct themselves and lead. Ithink that issue will be addressed as soon as (El James, the BCBC president,and Charlotte Simons, the secretary) return from overseas, but some of theseguys who have been put forward as candidates have been absent from trainingas well.”The emotive issue of cricketers playing football so soon before aninternational commitment has Harper scratching his head also. And, what ismore, Bascome, Smith and Tucker are captaincy candidates, who have helpedtheir football teams to reach the FA Cup semi-finals.To give an impression what Harper has to contend with, Bascome is a leadingplayer for St. George’s but is on 37-year-old legs, Smith was kicked `blackand blue’ as recently as Sunday in North Village’s victory over DevonshireColts and Tucker, who began the season with Dandy Town injured, survived oneof the most physical games of the season against Somerset Trojans last week.”Somewhere along the line, if you’re going to represent your countrynationally, you must show some sort of commitment,” Harper said. “From mypoint of view, I would prefer them not to play football.”I would hope that Janeiro or any one of the cricketers who play footballare not injured, but you have to keep your fingers crossed when these guysplay football because they are very, very important members of the team.”

He’s been fighting bigger battles over the course of the last week, and there are undoubtedly bigger fish to fry over the months ahead. But there was no mistaking Steve Waugh’s pleasure after he guided New South Wales to an important seven wicket victory over Tasmania in an ING Cup match here at Devonport today.In truth, Waugh played a minimalist’s role amid an outstanding team effort, leaving his most telling contribution to be delivered in the form of a late batting cameo that guided the Blues past their victory target of 250 with ten deliveries to spare.Yet his involvement in helping the Blues move to within one point of Queensland and South Australia at the head of a congested table with only one round remaining in this season’s domestic one-day competition still made for a more than satisfactory day.”It was a very good win for us,” said Waugh after the game.”The batting, in particular, was consistent all the way through. It was a very good chase.”A score of 250 always represents a big chase. If you lose early wickets (pursuing a target of that size), you’re always pressure. So I’m very pleased with the way we won the game.”It has been an unusual week for the national captain, what with Australia’s failure to qualify for a home one-day international finals series for only the third time in 22 years having been followed by a hostile exchange with the press. That the run-in later spilled over in a series of articles questioning his longevity and challenging his legitimacy to any extension of his role as the country’s one-day leader only added to the drama.If signs of his mortality are manifest, though, then he found a good way of masking them here as he helped the Blues negate the effect of a good Tasmanian start and register an impressive win. At a moment of potential vulnerability, his leadership was as ruthless as ever.From a national point of view, Waugh was also able to derive pleasure from the play of an opponent.Before today, he had not been formally introduced to Shane Watson, Tasmania’s exciting 20-year-old all-rounder and a member of the Test squad that he will be taking to South Africa later this week. But he gained a pretty good insight into the youngster’s prodigious talents in the space of just seven hours as he watched him compose an excellent 96 and snare the wicket of Mark Waugh (60) amid a tight spell with the ball.Watson is a young man in a hurry, and it seems that he doesn’t mind cutting down a few tall poppies if it quickens the passage to his destination. He was forced into a cautious mindset early in dealing with the furious pace of national fast bowler Brett Lee (1/34), whose deliveries only intensified in velocity with each gust of a southerly breeze howling at his back. But, after overcoming Lee’s fire, he helped himself to his highest limited-overs score at domestic level with a mixture of scorching drives, cuts and pulls.With opener Michael Dighton (52) and fellow all-rounder Scott Kremerskothen (43*), he also made a mess of the leg spin of Stuart MacGill (1/72), and pace bowlers Stuart Clark (0/44) and Nathan Bracken (3/49) were similarly rendered less effective than normal.Though collected on an excellent batting surface, the Tasmanians’ total of 7/249 represented an excellent return in the absence of the injured Ricky Ponting and Jamie Cox, their two most respected batsmen. Also welcome was the touch of stand-in captain Daniel Marsh, who won the toss – under sunny skies and in front of an excellent crowd of 4907 – where Ponting and Cox had been unable to achieve that feat as many as 12 of 15 times between them this season.Missed run outs, and a dropped catch that allowed Dighton to dodge a bullet at 19 helped too.But the favour was rapidly returned when Marsh spilled an early chance at slip as Corey Richards (60) and Mark Waugh embarked on an opening partnership of 116 in a brisk start to the reply. Their association went a long way toward shaping the game’s fate.New South Wales even appeared to have an eye on the extraction of a bonus point by the time that Richards lobbed a catch to mid on to help cap an encouraging return to state ranks for Gerard Denton (1/53) after 14 months away because of a back injury.It zoomed more clearly into focus as Nathan Pilon (28) – playing in his first domestic one-day match in the absence of the injured Brad Haddin – arrived with a licence to throw caution to the howling breezes.But, once Watson (1/43) had lured Richards’ fellow opener into outside edging a leg cutter, the Blues appeared intent merely on moving to within a point of the competition lead.Alas, all that was left was for Michael Bevan (62*) to join with Steve Waugh (32*) in a cool, methodical stand that ended the game.

What better way for Central Districts to turn around their disastrous last visit to the Basin Reserve to play Wellington than by notching a rousing victory in the State Shield today.Last summer in their State Shield match, Wellington took 17.3 overs to dismiss CD for a miserable 58.And while today’s win was not quite as emphatic as CD would have wanted to permanently wipe out that stain, it was still set up with an outstanding batting display from the experienced hand of Craig Spearman and the rising star of Jesse Ryder playing only his second match at this level.Wellington performed poorly with the bat after batting first. They were four wickets down for only 16 runs, including New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming who was rushed into the match in a bid to allow him another chance for all-important batting time.But it was a disappointing result for him as he was out for five runs, caught from Michael Mason’s bowling.Richard Jones threw out an anchor for Wellington with at 70-ball 40 while some solid, if unspectacular batting, from the middle and lower-order at least ensured that Wellington batted out time and gave their bowlers something to defend.Grant Donaldson (22), Matthew Walker (27), Mark Jefferson (15) and a timely 34 off 35 balls by Mayu Pasupati got Wellington up to 185 for nine wickets when it ran out of overs.Mason was again outstanding with three for 22 from his 10 overs and could be a prospect yet for World Cup contention on this sort of form. Andrew Schwass continued his impressive bowling by taking two for 32 from 10.Any qualms that CD might have had about the batting conditions were quelled by their openers. Spearman was outstanding in the way that he can be in scoring 74 off 65 balls with 10 fours and two sixes. His 50 took only 38 balls. He was finally dismissed when caught at mid-off by Matthew Bell when playing a tired shot to a ball from Andrew Penn. But CD were well on the way by that stage at 146 for four wickets.Ryder helped Spearman add 110 for the first wicket in only 14.2 overs when scoring his maiden State Shield half century and being out for 51 off 48 balls. He was bowled by Ash Turner.CD got the speed wobbles, however, and threatened to undo the good work of the openers when Peter Ingram was out for a duck, Glen Sulzberger for five, Ian Sandbrook and Greg Loveridge for 13 each, and Bevan Griggs for one, with three wickets falling for seven runs at one stage. A superb catch by Bell to dismiss Loveridge almost proved inspirational.But, fortunately, Campbell Furlong and Schwass settled things down and just worked the ball around to get their side home by three wickets.Wellington’s bowlers, like their top-order batsmen, were out-gunned and none really came through the opening assault. Of the bowlers used in the innings, Pasupati had 13 runs from his three overs, but the rest suffered. Turner came back well to take three for 51.CD had their win, however, and with the victory achieved after 33.4 overs, they picked up a bonus point to share the lead in the competition with Northern Districts.

PERTH, Dec 21 AAP – Darren Lehmann will open with fellow left-handed batsman Matthew Hayden in Australia’s day-night cricket match against Sri Lanka on Sunday in Perth.Australian one-day captain Ricky Ponting said he had left it up to Damien Martyn and Lehmann to decide who would walk out to the crease with the big Queenslander at the WACA Ground.”He’s done it before for us as had Damien Martyn, but I just left it up to those two guys to see who wanted it the most and Darren was the one,” Ponting said.Lehmann, 32, will also shoulder the vice captaincy in the absence of Adam Gilchrist who is sitting out the match with niggling injuries.It will be just the fourth time the South Australian has opened the innings for Australia in 84 internationals.Ponting said the match against the struggling Sri Lankans would be a good test for the home team without injured spin king Shane Warne and Gilchrist.He said it would be a good opportunity to grab a psychological edge over the tourists before next year’s World Cup in Africa.The last time the two sides met Sri Lanka defeated Australia in the semi-finals at the ICC Champions Trophy in Colombo in September.They meet this time with contrasting form with the men from the subcontinent being thrashed in South Africa and losing their opening two matches of the tri-series in Australia to England.Meanwhile, Australia has been untouchable this summer.”Not having Gilly and Warney around, two of the more senior members, will be a little different for me,” Ponting said.”But saying that, we still have a lot of very experienced guys in the team like McGrath and Bevan and Lehmann – it will be a test for all of us tomorrow,” he said.The tourists have been disappointing in their opening two one-day matches with batsman struggling on bouncy wickets at the WACA and the Gabba, and fieldsmen missing eight regulation catches in two matches.Classy left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas and young right-arm quick Dilhara Fernando were excellent in their side’s 95-run loss to England last night but were badly let down in the field.Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore bemoaned his team’s dropped catches which included a straightforward opportunity to dismiss century maker Paul Collingwood on 11.He said the team’s lack of confidence in the field was spreading like cancer while captain Sanath Jayasuriya looked totally devastated after last night’s loss.”We are just not playing well at the moment, the confidence is down obviously,” Whatmore said.”It is almost like a cancer isn’t it, it just runs through a team and we’ve all experienced it before.”Jayasuriya said his team had no excuses for not adapting to the lively WACA pitch despite being used to the much flatter tracks of their homeland.”We have played well here before, we have won matches here before and I think there are no excuses that we can’t play well here at the moment,” he said.England lead the tri-series competition by a single point but have played two more games than both Australia and Sri Lanka.