The East Zone Cooch Behar Trophy match between Tripura and Orissa atthe Polytechnic Institute Ground in Agartala ended in a draw withTripura taking 5 points due to a massive 130 run lead while Orissa hadto be content with three.It was always a tough asking to score 250 runs for a win on the finalday and Orissa managed to scratch 207 runs while losing nine wicketsin the bargain. S Biswal (85) was the chief contributor, sharing a 220ball, 100 run partnership for the fourth wicket with N Behara (62). JDebnath (3 for 69) and T Saha (3 for 34) were the successful bowlersfor Tripura.In the morning, Tripura who resumed at 101 for 8 in their secondinnings, were all out for 119. Rasudeb Dutta (47), who waged a lonebattle for over 173 minutes, was the top scorer for Tripura. SKJahangir (4 for 45) reaped a rich harvest for Orissa.On the opening day, Tripura who opted to bat put up a fighting 240 onthe board. Tripura were chiefly helped by many small but usefulpartnerships along the way. The topscorer being Sandip Bannerjee witha well compiled 47 off 114 balls. In reply Orissa had to confront themedium pacers of J Debnath (7 for 37) and finding him too hard tohandle were bundled out for just 110 runs.

Karnataka played host to Andhra Pradesh at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore in the P Ramachandra Rao Trophy for the Under-22 and the match came to end as a draw on Saturday.Having won the toss on Thursday, Andhra decided to bat first and were helped on by some useful partnerships that kept the innings going. Andhra were all out for 333 in 91.3 overs as KV Lazarus picked 5/111 for Karnataka. For Andhra ASK Varma made a breezy 83 in 136 balls which included two sixes and nine boundaries. TK Ayappa Swamy made 79 in 121 balls which included 10 hits to the fence. There were useful contributions in the lower order from Shankara Rao (33) and M Faiq (40) hitting seven fours each.Karnataka made a steady start and kept going till they were bowled out for 390 in 121.5 overs. BM Rowland made 84 (10 fours) and Amith Kumar 89 with 12 fours were the main stay of the Karnataka innings. R Shanbal chipped in with 54 (6 fours, 1 six) adding 110 for the sixth wicket with Kumar. Faiq came good with the ball picking up 3/92. Karnataka gained the crucial first innings lead of 57 runs. Batting on the last day Andhra struggled against a determined Karnataka attack. M Aleem 4/53 and G Chaitra 3/42 reduced Andhra to 176/9 in 52 overs at the close of the match. ASK Varma with 31 top scored for Andhra as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Karnataka collected five points to Andhra’s three.

Old Trafford was packed with cricket fans today, and why not? This test match has been a wonderful advertisement for test cricket. It’s been full of drama and free scoring. People love to watch positive cricket and that’s why most people cherish one-day cricket!Inzamam and Youhana were sedate for the first twenty minutes. I liked their approach. Pakistan could ill afford a mini collapse at the start of play, as all three results were possible at that time.

It was not long before Inzamam was in full stride. If Pakistan wins, this test match will certainly be recorded as Inzi’s match in history. He looked a special player when he first started playing for Pakistan but I never realized one day he’d leave behind the likes of Zaheer Abbas and Majid Khan. He is a much better all round player than the former illustrious players. He butchers the spinners and is in a class of his own against pace bowlers. After hitting an all time low during the last tour of Australia he has recovered well and is in the process of rewriting Pakistan cricket history. He is certain to score over 7000 runs in test cricket and even Pakistan’s greatest batsman (Javed Miandad) must be looking over his shoulder as his record might be overhauled too.They say fortune favours the brave. Nick Knight is easily the best all round fielder in the England team. I have seen him take some stunning catches. He dropped three catches in this test match. Maybe Waqar’s luck is changing.Players like Inzamam do not need a second chance. Memories of this game will surely haunt Nick Knight. In the first innings Inzy scored 82% of his runs on leg side but today some of his strokes on the off side were simply regal. At times he just stood tall and delivered. After lunch, he disdainfully dispatched Caddick over square leg for six. But, it was a tired looking shot that brought his downfall. Favouring his right hand he tried to smash Hoggard only to mishit it to Trescothick at mid-wicket.Soon after, unfortunate Youhana was given out caught in the slips when the ball had clearly hit only the tip of his helmet. Nevertheless, it was a gritty innings and perfect for the occasion. He’d made sure Pakistan did not lose early wickets and did not deter him to play second fiddle to Inzamam. Considering his form on the tour it was the best he could do for his team.England is considered the headquarters of cricket. There is an instant recognition by cricket fans all over the world if you have performed well in England. Well, Younis Khan has certainly done well enough in two innings in England to convince cricket pundits that he will be a force to be reckoned with in future. It could have been better. He has been an unfortunate victim of two rank bad decisions in this series. Both times he had gotten an inside edge when he was adjudged lbw and incidentally, these were the only times he’s failed in the two test matches.England was very defensive today. The ball they used for most the day was soft and in tatters which distinctly meant they were trying to restrict Pakistan batsmen scoring quickly rather than bowling them out. Azhar missed a straight ball from Caddick. Instead of hitting it down the ground he played all around it.

Rashid and Wasim were involved in a fruitful partnership. Wasim was belligerent from the start. He was aided by Caddick who had a change of heart and instead of bowling short at him kept presenting him with wide half volleys at a pace which at best was military medium. I must confess, both Caddick and Gough were below par today. Rashid, after a useful knock, was taken at slip. Wasim continued to apply the long handle but Pakistan should have declared once Rashid was out. It was sheer time wasting. Perhaps Pakistan camp conveniently forgot they were trailing in this series?Gough brought one back to clean bowl Wasim and after some more time wastage and savage hitting, Hoggard finally had Saqlain caught by Stewart while trying to slog him out of Old Trafford.Anyone who has read my preview about this test match would recall how much I wanted Shoaib Akhtar to play in this test match. Without him I thought Pakistan would struggle to bowl England out twice in the game.Now, England may very well win this test match. They are without loss with all wickets intact, yet I think Pakistan should have declared as soon as Rashid was out. Why are we so scared of losing a test match? I would rather take a chance of coming home with rubber drawn, rather than a one nil defeat.

Azhar once again, did not bowl in the evening. Why can’t we take hard decision and play specialists in their respective position rather than filling in the void. Players should be accountable and it is only possible if we give them a fair chance. Pakistan can still win or draw the game tomorrow. Atherton and Trescothick have given England a solid base but an early wicket can make all the difference.Remember 1992 and 1996, only problem is people who won those games for Pakistan are now a little long in the tooth.

Ed:Mudassar Nazar is a veteran of 76 tests and 122 ODIs. He is currently the chief coach of Pakistan’s National and Regional Cricket Academies. In view of the overwhelming interest of users in CricInfo’s articles, we have invited him to write for us.

Almost two years to date, in a replay of the ’99 World Cup final, Pakistan takes on Australia on Saturday for the NatWest Trophy. Two years ago the greenshirts had to eat humble pie. Not only were they defeated but disgraced too, for that was the most one-sided of all the World Cup finals. Back home, such was the backlash on that debacle the Pakistan Cricket Board was sent packing!This time round, the Pakistanis seem a whole lot more dedicated to not allow a repeat of that abysmal show. Beating the Aussies, albeit slightly under strength side with McGrath and Ponting having been rested, in one of the two league encounters has sent their confidence soaring.The question, however, is: whether they are equipped to overcome the Aussies, the best team in the world, in a crunch game?Well, for one, the Pakistanis in the last year or so have almost ended up losing every vital encounter. It shows that character flaw which the ’99 World Cup final itself had brought out in such sharp relief: the lack of ‘mental toughness’. The Aussies have loads of it, while the Pakistanis, despite their enormous talent, have lacked that important ingredient which transforms sides to the extent that they can virtually snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat.But during this early England summer, under a new captain, this seems to be improving, for the better. The rubber-levelling victory in the Old Trafford Test, which ensured that they extended their unbeaten run in England since 1987 (though they failed to win a series for the first time in four rubbers), was the turning point. The good work was carried on in the NatWest Series, and four wins from five games seems to be as good a record as any. More so because it matches that of their nemesis, the Aussies.Even the one game they lost, against the Aussies, was remarkable for the fact that after losing six wickets for 85, Yousuf Youhana-Rashid Latif rearguard took the total to a competitive 257. That was never going to be a winning score on a good batting wicket, but that they didn’t totally capitulate after the hara-kiri against Shane Warne, goes to show that they were resolute in not going down with a whimper.So going into the final, we see that despite the upper order a trifle unsettled, generally the combinations are working well. The middle order has mostly delivered, not only individually but tried to develop partnerships with the all-rounders and the tail. Despite getting out cheaply and in a manner that was anything but dignified, Inzamam is in very fine fettle, and so are Youhana and Younis Khan. The availability of four quality all-rounders – Wasim Akram, Abdur Razzaq, Rashid Latif and Azhar Mahmood – has added to the depth in both bowling and batting. Waqar Younis, the skipper, with 13 wickets in two outings is the leading wicket-taker of the competition by a distance and has immensely grown in stature as a captain. And Saqlain Mushtaq is bowling as beautifully as ever, and on occasions seems to be topping it off. The only problem areas are, Saeed Anwar not being in convincing form and the question of who should partner him. Saleem Elahi was included for one encounter, and after an extremely shaky start he made 70-odd. But should he be persisted with instead of recalling Shahid Afridi, whose three-dimensional talents could really come handy?In comparison, the Aussie upper and middle order has been in devastating form, but the bowling seems to be a slight area of concern. They have mostly tried to have Test-match like field placings against England, but that may not work out as the Pakistani strokemakers are wristy and have a habit of working off-side deliveries between square-leg and midwicket. Inzamam had given ample proof of that in his hundred in the Old Trafford Test.Other than their three frontline pacers, McGrath, Gillespie and Lee, the Aussie bowling lacks sting and penetration – something which was fully exploited when Pakistan scored 290 and beat them by 36 runs. It would have been a few more runs had the momentum not been broken when crowd disturbance caused an interruption. Shane Warne is not in the best of forms, and the back-up bowlers are not good enough to stop the flow of runs and get wickets at the same time.The Pakistanis would have to be conscious of not allowing the Aussie upper order, Gilchrist and Ponting in particular, to get a flying start and guard against a collapse much reminiscent of the ’99 World Cup final.So all in all, with the Pakistanis undaunted by the Aussie reputation, a pretty even fight at Lord’s is on the cards.

Mathew Sinclair has carved a name for himself in English club cricket history by becoming the first player to score 1000 runs before the end of June.In two matches at the weekend for his Yorkshire League club Cleethorpes, Sinclair hit his fifth century of the summer and a half century to end the weekend with 1039 runs so far in the summer.He is now a great chance to break David Byas’ league record of 1394 runs. Sinclair’s impetus to achieving the 356 runs he needs to claim the record will only be halted by his requirement to miss three weeks of play while on duty for New Zealand in the tri-series in Sri Lanka next month.In Saturday’s game Cleethorpes went down by four wickets to York in the final over.Cleethorpes batted first and Sinclair and skipper Mike Smith started with a century partnership. Smith was out for 47 when the score was 122.Sinclair was joined by James Stevenson. Sinclair was next man out for 119, an innings which included one six and 12 fours. Stevenson finished on 59 not out as Cleethorpes ended on 261/4.While Cleethorpes made inroads into the batting, York’s No 7 and 8 batsmen Ben Quick and Steve Piercy were able to score the 88 required from the last 16 overs to give York the win.On Sunday, Cleethorpes were at home to Rotherham. Rotherham, batting first, were all out for 187. Sinclair, taking up bowling duties produced his best bowling for the club with four for 65 from 17 overs.While Cleethorpes lost skipper Smith for two, Sinclair was in total command. Twelve was his immediate target as it took him past 1000 runs. Local experts described his feat as “a monumental achievement”.Sinclair was dismissed for 51 and it took Stevenson to carry the side to the brink of victory with 71, and soon after the home side got there with four wickets to spare.Local identity Karl Walton said of Sinclair’s performance: “His total of 1039 league runs is a satisfactory total for a whole season for most professionals in the Yorkshire League but not this outstanding Kiwi talent. David Byas’ league record of 1394 runs in a season is likely to be shattered upon his return from international duty in Sri Lanka.”

In a follow up to the betting and match-fixing scandal, the CBI hasdecided to provide further assistance to the International CricketCouncil to unravel the entire ramifications of the menace.A CBI team, which was recently in London, met the Anti-Corruption headof the world cricket body, Paul Condon, and discussed “certain thingsof mutual interest,” official sources said in New Delhi today. Theysaid the ICC has shown great interest in “picking up the threads” fromthe CBI investigations in the case of nine foreign players named byvarious Indian bookies.The CBI, in its 162-page report had named nine foreign players, whohad either been named or had allegedly accepted money from Indianbookies. The agency had clarified in the report that the probe againstthe foriegn players could not be completed as it was beyond itsjurisdiction.The sources said the ICC had assured the CBI that almost all cricketboards of the countries, whose players have been named in the report,were probing the role of these players at their end and the worldcricket body was constantly monitoring the developments.The CBI also shared some more information about the bookies questionedby it during the six-month long investigations into the case, thesources said.The ICC has sought addresses and telephone numbers of some Mumbaibased bookies which the agency has agreed to provide, the sourcessaid.In particular, the ICC has asked about the addresses of two Mumbaibased bookies, who have allegedly been involved with cricketers ofPakistan and Sri Lanka, the sources added.The ICC has also furnished to the CBI some names, which have come upduring the apex cricket body’s probe into the scandal, for locatingtheir whereabouts and the agency has assured necessary help in thecase, the sources said.They said the probe could be completed only with assistance from theinternational organisations like ICC and other countries. The sourcessaid that sleuths of Special Crime Branch had made some headway intothe investigations into the nexus and preliminary reports indicatedthat some bookies were acting at the behest of underworld mafia infixing cricket matches. They said the accounts and other importantbooks of bookies had been scrutinised but added this was a wide areaand needed a detailed investigation before fixing responsibilities.

Honours were even at the end of the first day of the CricInfo Championship match at Headingley when Yorkshire were 61 for two in reply to Surrey’s 278 after winning the toss on a good batting pitch.Surrey had five players missing on England duty and Yorkshire three, but the large crowd was hugely entertained during an action-packed morning session when runs piled up and wickets fell.Openers Michael Carberry and Jon Batty rattled up 35 from the first nine overs before Gavin Hamilton had Carberry caught at the second attempt by Matthew Wood at second slip and soon afterwards Batty saw his edge off Steven Kirby ricochet from Anthony McGrath at third slip to David Byas at first.Skipper Adam Hollioake then joined Nadeem Shahid and the pair lashed 58 off six overs with Hollioake hitting some rasping boundary shots.He had raced to 33 off 23 balls with seven fours when Kirby found an inside edge on to his pad and the ball flew to Byas who completed another slip catch.There was no end to the drama and Kirby pinned Shahid lbw for 25 to give him three for 52 off 8.2 eventful overs.Gary Fellows took over from Hamilton to remove Brown’s off-stump in his second over and when Ryan Sidebottom returned in place of Kirby his third ball had Gary Butcher caught behind by Richard Blakey.Surrey were 141 for six at lunch but they staged a good recovery in the afternoon after Ben Hollioake had been beaten and bowled by Sidebottom at 152.Martin Bicknell, dropped by Byas on 12, went on to make 32 before becoming Kirby’s fourth victim, but Salisbury and Saqlain defied Yorkshire with the most determined batting of the innings and they had put on 72 in 25 overs when off-spinner Richard Dawson had Salisbury caught behind for a courageous 54 from 90 balls with eight boundaries.Saqlain was last out for an enterprising 38, slicing Hamilton to third man where Sidebottom took the catch cleanly.Yorkshire made an uneasy start to their reply as both Matthew Wood and debutant Chris Taylor fell to slip catches in a demanding opening spell by Bicknell, but Darren Lehmann came in to accompany Anthony McGrath to the close.

It’s four months since Sri Lanka last played a Test match and we arelooking forward to proving that this side can replicate its one-daysuccess in the longer version of the game. We may not have won a Testseries for over a year, but I firmly believe that this side is muchstronger than those statistics suggest.Since beating Pakistan in March last year, we have lost series againstPakistan, South Africa and England, but you need to bear in mind twothings: firstly, international cricket is very competitive nowadaysand that the margins between sides are smaller and, secondly, that wecame so close to winning two of those four series.Against South Africa and England we failed to win the series afternail biting matches in Kandy and in both games we lost despite havingestablished winning positions. Unfortunately, we slipped up at crucialtimes and let the opposition back into the match. We failed tomaintain our intensity and concentration throughout the game and paidthe ultimate penalty. You have to remember though that this is still ayoung side and their inexperience probably told on those twooccasions.Indeed, there is now the basis of a very strong Sri Lankan Test teamand I don’t even believe that the players themselves really understandhow good they can be.The team has a good balance now. There is a talented batting line-upwith a good mix of youth and experience, the strongest pace attackthat we have had for some time, and probably the best spinner in theworld today. With a little more self-belief I have no doubt whatsoeverthat the building blocks for sustained success are there.Hopefully, we will take the confidence gained from three successiveone-day tournament victories (England, ARY Gold Cup and Coca-Cola Cup)into the Test matches. It’s also useful to be playing against a sidethat we so defeated so convincingly in a one-day final. Sure, it’s adifferent game, but psychologically it should give us a boost.India are missing a few key players because of injury (SachinTendulkar, VVS. Laxman, Anil Kumble and Ashish Nehra) and on papertheir side contains young players still learning about the game. Thatdoesn’t mean we can take them lightly though. They too have talent andwhen the game begins we can expect a tough fight.We have therefore focused preparations on our own performance. Oneneeds to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals onthe opposition, but you must then turn your attention to the processesnecessary to achieving success. We work on the basis that if we all doour jobs correctly then it’s going to make life very difficult for anyopposition.This series is going to be a really tough one for all the players. Wewill be playing 15 days of Test cricket in just 20 days, which will bestretching the human mind and body to the limit. Physically it’s goingto be a real challenge and player fitness will be an important factor.The short recovery time between games also heightens the value of agood start. After losing that tension draining Test match againstEngland in Kandy we only had two days to recover before the third Testmatch and I believe that made it really hard for the Sri Lankanplayers to bounce back. The team that loses the first game in thisseries will also have just two days to recover and they will reallyhave their backs to the wall.The contest between Harbhajan Singh and Muttiah Muralitharan is goingto be fascinating. Both are world-class bowlers and they have manysimilarities, especially in their wholesome approach to the game. Bothpossess a strong desire to succeed and to bowl long spells. They arenaturally aggressive and expect a wicket with every delivery. Muralispins the ball more and has more variations, which is understandableconsidering his extra experience, whilst Harbhajan has excellentcontrol and is a canny operator.One key feature of the series is going to be the pace bowling. WithMurali and Harbhajan participating you naturally cannot discount thespinners, but I feel that the side with the better fast bowling attackhas a great chance of winning, especially if it is backed up with finefielding.This will give us confidence because we now have two world-class fastbowlers in Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando and have a lot of depthin our fast bowling reserves, with all three of the other fast bowlersin the 16-man squad being excellent bowlers.

Just 24 hours after seeing his side triumph against Leicester in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Lord’s, Somerset Coach Kevin Shine told me, “This was a dream realised for the team. The atmosphere in the dressing room was electric. We are very proud for the players and very proud of what they have done for the club.”The coach went on, “Everything that we have done with them in training at the club came into play out in the middle. There were tough times out there but they won through which was very pleasing. We hope that we can use this as a launch pad for more success.”When I asked about the celebrations afterwards, the Coach told me, “To be honest the boys were very, very tired. On Friday they were nervous and tense, on Saturday out on the field they played their hearts out, so by the middle of the evening they flagged.”What about the National League game against Warwickshire on Monday I asked. He told me, “It’s going to be tough for them, but our job is to lift them for the tomorrow’s game.”The coach told me that the team for the game at Taunton tomorrow was likely to be the same as that which beat Surrey Lions in the floodlit game a fortnight ago. “There will be no Caddick nor Trescothick,” the coach said, “we wont see them again this season, which is a real shame, but there is nothing that we can do about it. We just have to dig deep, and go hard at the next two weeks.”

If we are to move from our ‘A’ status to Black Caps as the result of this tour, runs and plenty of them are required by the batsmen, and bowling results from the bowlers.So far we have managed to make the semi-finals, after a close first-up game with Mumbai.The pressure is on us now for what has been an interesting tournament.Taking off from New Zealand we took a step down from the usual business class and it was economy class for the guys as we headed for our mid-evening arrival in Chennai from Singapore.Most of us managed a decent amount of sleep with the aid of some videos and sleeping pills. It always amazes me how much your feet swell when flying. My shoes feel two sizes too small when I go to put them back on again!The next day was a rest day as we waited for the other members to join us from England. They arrived at midday and we ended up having a light workout at the gym and a swim in the pool.We couldn’t practice this day as there was a bit of political turmoil resulting in a riot and a few deaths. But it was safe in the hotel which is absolutely magnificent. It is set out away from the centre of the city, which is fine by us, as we don’t plan on venturing out much as we have plenty of cricket ahead of us.The next three days were spent training and acclimatising. The days are very hot and humid, and the practices went well as the team slowly got used to the conditions. We trained on the first day at 10am and then earlier to become accustomed with actual playing hours which begin at 9:30am, meaning departure from the hotel was around 7:30am.Our first game was against Mumbai, who had a young team, with a few experienced players such as current Indian seamer Ajit Agarkar.Fortunately, I won the toss and we batted. Although we had a bad start as Richie (Mark Richardson) was run out in the first over. However, Matt Horne and myself rectified the situation with a healthy second wicket partnership, which saw Matt score 111 and myself 47. We ended up with 329 and I was a little nervous before we finally bowled Mumbai out for 319. A close call first up and we were glad to get through to the quarter-finals.We had a quiz night in between games for which the team has been divided into four groups of four. It is important to have regular social outings to keep everyone active on tour and take our minds away from cricket.After winning the toss for the second game we again batted first. It is so critical to bat first as you get to dictate the pace of the game, and have the opportunity to bat the opposition out of the game. We play well this game and score 474/8 declared. Hamish Marshall and myself score fine hundreds to set up the win.For me batting almost a full day in the heat and facing a fair amount of spin bowling and shining through with a hundred was very rewarding.As a team we decided that if you are a batsman and score in between 0-20, then that’s just bad luck, and you never got started.But, if you score between 21-99 then you are part of the problem as you have made a start and should go on to make a significant contribution to the team, which is 100-plus.As this is a NZ ‘A’ team, we are all trying to force our way into the Black Caps, and we know the only way to do this is by scoring heavily and making big hundreds. Nothing less will do.