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Naved Latif and Sohail Tanvir struck centuries to complement Misbah-ul-Haq’s 175 and propelled Punjab to an imposing 576 for 9 declared on the second day at the National Stadium in Karachi. At stumps, Sind had moved on to 155 for 3, still trailing by 421 runs in the first innings.Punjab began the second day on 346 for 4 with captain Misbah on 157 and Latif on 54. Misbah, on 175, was the first wicket to fall with the score on 377. Latif was joined by Tanvir and together they added 106 for the sixth wicket. Latif was finally caught off Tahir Khan for 114.Tanvir marshaled the tail superbly and added another 93 runs with the last three batsmen. He finished on an unbeaten 124 and boosted Punjab to 576 for 9 before the declaration came. Anwar Ali was Sindh’s best bowler with 6 for 137 in 32 overs.Imran Farhat led Habib Bank Limited’s strong reply after Khan Research Laboratories were dismissed for 374 on the second day at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex. Farhat remained unbeaten on 109 at stumps as HBL finished on 204 for 3 at stumps.KRL were 277 for 5 overnight with Mohammad Wasim and Zulfiqar Jan at the crease. Both batsman got off to starts failed to convert them as Wasim fell for 40 and Jan for 42. Abdur Rauf stuck around for 46 and rallied with the tail to reach 374. Abdur Rehman was HBL’s most successful bowler with 4 for 110.Farhat gave HBL a superb start to their first innings as he formed the mainstay of a first-wicket stand of 94 with Taufeeq Umar. Saeed Amjal gave KRL two quick wickets but Hasan Raza and Farhat added another 68 for the third wicket. Aftab Alam and Farhat steered HBL to 204 for 3, still 170 adrift with seven wickets in hand.

Day 1
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

It swung one way, then the other, then back again only to be further prodded and nudged back and forth on an intriguing first day at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy. Every moment one side sensed an advantage, the other seized it back and as play came to an end, it settled neither here nor there. Mohammad Asif’s first five-wicket haul, backed by Danish Kaneria’s wiles, was cancelled out by another stirring hand from Kumar Sangakkara and some Thilan Samaraweera stodge and meant neither side would be too ecstatic or too despondent at the close with Sri Lanka 267 for 8.It would be cute to suggest that Asif swung the match Pakistan’s way in the morning, but it wasn’t so much swing he relied on as seam. Asif bowled as if on a different pitch, with a different ball to different batsmen than his medium-pace partners, Umar Gul and Rao Iftikhar Anjum. His 12-over spell, unchanged and five minutes short of two hours, was similar to that of a spinner’s in its duration, perseverance and probing. The speed gun betrayed tiredness, possibly from an increased burden, but luckily for him speed guns don’t measure movement and cut, the real currency of his bowling. That remained and by the time he finished, it was too late already for Upul Tharanga, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene.The first innings of Jayasuriya’s last Test promised, with an upper-cut boundary, a pulled six and a dropped catch, all the ingredients for a gargantuan special. Asif disagreed, cleaning him up with one that nipped back subtly but sharply. Tharanga had already fallen by then and when Jayawardene, beaten thoroughly just before, was finally good enough to touch one but only to slip, Sri Lanka were 61 for 3; not in as much trouble as in Colombo, but in strife nonetheless.The first shift in balance came with Sangakkara and compared to much of last week’s century, this innings was luminescent throughout. Rao might have thought, after a maiden debut over, that Test cricket wasn’t such a difficult thing but as Sangakkara took three boundaries off his next over, he understood otherwise. One more arrived in his next over, on one knee, as Sangakkara began numerically on 0 but mentally on the 185 from Colombo.Sangakkara glided through the morning untroubled, picking on Rao and Umar Gul for his many boundaries and smartly leaving Asif alone. With the firm belief that the knee has been given to him to rest on while driving, Sangakkara scored between third man and straight relentlessly. Three overs after lunch, with his 10th boundary, he brought up a stirring 20th fifty. Two overs later, as Pakistan’s medium-pacers toiled to make any impression in the afternoon sun, he hit his first boundaries on the leg side, and that too only marginally, driving an errant Gul just past mid-on.At that stage, Sri Lanka were coasting and Thilan Samaraweera was more than just propping up. He had been lucky not to edge his first ball before lunch, even luckier that it didn’t clip his off-stump but survived with typical adhesiveness. After that, he picked up the pace as both Rao and Abdul Razzaq struggled to emulate Asif. He announced his intentions with a punched boundary off the back foot and soon after, as the fifty partnership with Sangakkara was registered, Sri Lanka were scoring at four an over since the break.Immediately after the drinks break in the afternoon, the balance tipping in favour of the hosts as Samaraweera clipped Rao through midwicket and then drove straight for four, Kaneria finally emerged and, fittingly, another twist. His results were both immediate – Sangakkara fell third ball of the over to end a valuable 81-run stand – and more embedded, as he tied up Sri Lanka’s scoring over the afternoon. Tillakaratne Dilshan survived Asif’s cut and, on 22, soon after tea, was suggesting pugnaciously, another counter thrust to match that in Colombo.But in the third over after tea, Kaneria, who had been scheming away, struck with a ball that many choose to cut for four; short, wide and spinning wider, Dilshan chose to edge it to Kamran Akmal. Farveez Maharoof fell soon after to a Kaneria googly, unlucky and unsure as to whether he was leg-before or caught off his forearm. With Gul finally providing worthy support at the other end, Pakistan tightened their grip. Imran Farhat unfortunately didn’t do likewise around a chance Malinga Bandara offered at gully when he hadn’t scored and considering it was the second chance he had spilled off Gul – the first was Jayasuriya – a soft drink might await the lanky Pathan, courtesy the stocky Lahori.Samaraweera was still jealously guarding one end although having brought up his 13th fifty in over three hours and from 123 balls, he was nudging, rather than yanking the balance away from Pakistan. Bandara, reprieved further in a close run-out call, was providing a comic lower-order cameo until the new ball arrived, bringing the tireless Asif and a final shift in the day’s fortunes. Samaraweera was bowled in the first over and Bandara provided Asif with his first bowling landmark. That Asif and Kaneria shared the wickets won’t have escaped the attentions of Maharoof and Muttiah Muralitharan.How they were outUpul Tharanga c Younis b Asif 10 (18-1)
Sanath Jayasuriya b Asif 14 (27-2)
Mahela Jayawardene c Farhat b Asif 4 (61-3)
Kumar Sangakkara c Iqbal b Asif 4 (142-4)
Tillakaratne Dilshan c Akmal b Kaneria 22 (178-5)
Farvez Maharoof c Younis b Kaneria 7 (195-6)
Thilan Samaraweera b Asif 65 (238-7)
Malinga Bandara c Akmal b Asif 42 (256-8)

Scorecard
Sunny Singh gritted out an unbeaten 62 on a damp opening day in the Ranji Trophy Plate Group semi-final in Chandigarh. Only 51 overs were possible in the day owing to fog in the morning and rain later in the day. Jharkhand, who elected to field, struck in the third over, when Shankar Rao removed Chetan Sharma. But Bagheshwar Bist and Sunny added 108 and revived the innings.
Scorecard
Play was abandoned without even a ball being bowled due to heavy showers at Dharamsala.

Thilanga Sumathipala, the president of Sri Lanka’s cricket board and adirector of the International Cricket Council, was charged under theImmigration and Emigration Act on Friday and remanded in custody until thestart of his trial on Feb 10. Sumathipala pleaded not guilty to the charges.Sumathipala has become embroiled in a complex passport fraud scandalinvolving an underworld gangster called Dammika Amarasinghe, who allegedlytravelled to watch the 1999 World Cup in England as a guest of the cricketboard in 1999. Amarasinghe, the first suspect in the case, was gunned downin a Colombo courthouse on Jan 9 before being charged.Sumathiapala, also the chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom, has been held incustody at the Colombo National Hospital rather than Welikada Prison sincebeing being first remanded. According to his lawyers, he’s suffering fromacute kidney problems and a painful spinal condition that has left himunable to walk. He attended court in a wheelchair.After lengthy submissions from Sumathipala’s legal team, who argued thatthere was insufficient evidence to frame charges, and the prosecution, thejudge fixed a trial for Feb 10, 13, 17, 19 and 20.

Among the various goals that New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming still has in cricket is to spend a couple of years captaining an English county side.The first New Zealand men’s skipper to hold aloft a winner’s trophy in a one-day tournament, the 2000 ICC KnockOut tournament trophy in Kenya, Fleming made the comment when discussing the New Zealand players taking part in English county cricket this year when having injury problems at home.Chris Cairns is to play for Nottinghamshire this year, Shane Bond for Warwickshire and Nathan Astle to Derbyshire.”Everyone is concerned when they are carrying injuries with what they can do and what they can’t. But what we have found is that the counties are very accommodating in terms of the programme that can be put in place.”I’ve found it very beneficial to have our players in their and involved and I’m sure the three players concerned can get benefit out of it. Chris Cairns is a little bit different, he’s played a lot more in the past and he knows his body a bit better.”His is probably going to be more of a batting role than an all-rounding role for Notts but the guidelines laid out by the medical panel have been pretty clear.”There’s always concern when you send players off, but there’s also benefits if they are managed right.”Fleming said he would like to play county cricket but possibly not for a couple of years.He felt he needed time to recharge mentally after three or four seasons on the track but in the future he would like to have a crack at captaining a county.

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.”

Michael Clarke will wait for news from the selectors on whether he is elevated to the vice-captaincy following Adam Gilchrist’s retirement. Clarke was Australia’s captain during the Twenty20 international against New Zealand last month, when he expressed his leadership aspirations, but after posting his sixth Test century he said there was only a light-hearted application being made for the position.”One came from Haydos,” Clarke said. “I said to him: ‘Are you retiring as well?’ He said: ‘Not now, I’m a chance of getting a stripe.’ We had a joke about it but other than that it hasn’t been spoken about.”Clarke and Michael Hussey are the main contenders for the spot and the pair was involved in an on-field exercise on the fourth day when Hussey was operating as Ricky Ponting’s runner. Ponting, who scored 140 and combined for a 210-run stand with Clarke, suffered a lower back injury and did not field as India reached 1 for 45 at stumps. However, he is expected to return to guide the team on the final day.The Clarke-Ponting partnership allowed Australia to dream of a lead, which eventually stopped at 37, and they retain hope of repeating the miracle last-day win against England in 2006. Clarke raised a century in that match as well and his hard-working 118 today was a mixture of attacking bursts and considered play.”The easiest time to score was when the ball was new and hard, so it was our intention to come out and be positive with the new ball,” he said. “Once it got softer and started to go reverse – they also bowled a lot of spin – we knew it was going to be hard to bat. With guys on the boundary it was hard to keep the runs flowing.”Australia were eventually dismissed for 563 and their chase for quick wickets would have been more successful if Clarke had held a regulation chance at second slip when Virender Sehwag was two. It was the fifth attempt Clarke has missed in the past three games and Australia’s reshuffled cordon is having trouble matching the success of its predecessors.Despite the lapses Clarke said there was no major problem behind the fumbles. “Over the last 20 Tests Australia hasn’t dropped too many catches so I don’t think you’ll see too much change,” he said. “We train just as hard as we do when we take all our catches and nothing has changed in our preparation. I apologised to Brett Lee, and I certainly didn’t mean to drop it.”

Michael Clarke is showing growing maturity by taking advantage of the slow and flat Caribbean pitches as he closes on a World Cup average of 100. Clarke, who celebrated his 26th birthday on April 2, hit an unbeaten 55 against England on Sunday – it was his third half-century – to continue a tournament to remember.After five innings at No. 4 Clarke has scored 296 runs with a high of 93 not out and an average of 98.66. “There’s not much seam, not much swing by the time I get out there,” Clarke said, “so if I can’t make runs on wickets like that, I’ll never make them.”Despite his success, Clarke said it was the Australian openers Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist as well as Ricky Ponting who were proving crucial to his efforts. “It has certainly made my life easier,” he said. “And Andrew Symonds will have enjoyed spending a bit of time in the middle. It’s great to see him in a bit of form.”Clarke’s calculated approach on Sunday, on an Antiguan pitch which became slower as the match wore on, drew praise from the England coach Duncan Fletcher, who used him as an example in pacing an innings. Clarke took 42 balls to hit his first boundary and joined in a 112-run partnership with Ponting that lifted Australia from 2 for 89.”If you look at Michael Clarke he showed a lot of patience and that’s the key – show some patience and don’t panic, it’s important to build momentum slowly,” Fletcher said. “Sometimes you go in there and you can find the gaps but other times you have to work out which angles you can hit and which angles you can’t hit. But the longer you stay out there the easier it gets and Clarke showed it. When Ricky Ponting was batting freely Clarke was just occupying one end and slowly got himself into nick.”

Clare Connor, the England women’s captain, has announced her retirement from international cricket after a ten-year career, including six years at the helm. One of her final acts as captain was to help England regain the Ashes after 42 years.Connor played 93 one-day internationals and 16 Tests, the last of which was when England won the Ashes in August. However, she was forced to miss this winter’s tour to Sri Lanka and India due to injury.She took over the captaincy in February 2000 during the series against New Zealand and as captain she won five series. In 2004 she was awarded an MBE for her services to women’s cricket and then in 2005 she was awarded an OBE for her services to sport.Connor took a two-year sabbatical from teaching at Brighton College to focus on her cricket and worked extensively in the cricket media. She will now return to teaching English and PE and will head up Brighton College’s PR department.Reflecting on the decision to bring an end to her international career, Connor said: “After a decade of playing for England and six years leading the side, I have come to the decision to retire from international cricket. I have spent the last six months undergoing an agonising decision-making process and actually penning these words is the hardest moment of it all.”I have fulfilled the dream I had as a young girl: I have played for my country, led my country and we have won the Ashes. I firmly believe that women’s cricket in this country, at every level, is in the healthiest state it has ever been in and I am so proud to have played a part in that success and rise in profile.

“Whilst it has never been my job, playing for my country has been my life. With the Ashes now back in their rightful home at Lord’s, I feel it is the right time for me to turn to pastures new and for my successor to take the team, a wonderful team, to the next level.”Richard Bates, the England coach, said: “This has obviously been a very difficult decision for Clare to make as playing for England has been her life for the past 10 years. She has played a huge part in the progress we have made in recent years and will of course be missed in the England camp both on and off the field. It has been a pleasure to work alongside Clare over the past three years; the highlight of course was her leading us to Ashes victory in the summer.”Charlotte Edwards, the current vice-captain, has been named as England’s new captain, after standing in for Connor on the winter tour. Edwards said she was thrilled by the honour, but that Connor will be missed.”It is a great honour for me to be asked to captain my country and something I will do with great pride. It is something I have always dreamed of and will relish the role. We will all miss Clare as she was such an inspirational leader, but we must now look to the future and take women’s cricket to the next level.”Gill McConway, the executive director for women’s cricket, said: “Clare has been a wonderful ambassador and captain for England. She will be very much missed on and off the field by her colleagues and everyone involved in the game. Clare took over the captaincy when England was at its lowest and through her inspiration, dedication and love for the game she helped build the England side and team ethics to what it is today. I wish her the very best of happiness and success in her new world outside of cricket.”England is most fortunate to have someone of Charlotte’s talent and leadership skills to take over the reigns. I have every confidence that Charlotte will do a wonderful job in leading England to the next World Cup challenge in 2009.”Bates added that he believes England have a natural successor in Edwards: “We are delighted that Charlotte has accepted the captaincy. Charlotte has all the credentials needed to be a successful captain and has proven when she has stepped in to cover for Clare that she has what it takes to get the best out of her team mates. She has a very good understanding of the game and I’m sure she will take us to the next level.”

ScorecardCentral Zone batted Bangladesh Cricket Board XI out of the contest on the third day of the Duleep Trophy match in Delhi. Having gained a mammoth 205-run lead in the first innings, Central assumed complete control thanks to Sanjay Bangar’s gritty unbeaten 91. Bangar was well supported in a 76-run stand by Devendra Bundela, who composed 53, and they took Central to 212 for 6 at the end of the day, with a near-unreachable lead of 417. The events, though, were only of academic interest as Central had already qualified for the final by virtue of gaining the first-innings lead.Aftab Ahmed, the medium pacer, was the most effective bowler for the BCB XI with his 5 for 28 being the only consolation for the battered bowling line-up. Aftab also triggered a mini-collapse and snapped up four wickets in the space of six runs and gave Bangladesh a small opening. But the joy was shortlived as Bangar and Nikhil Doru ground out an 86-run partnership and stabilised the innings.Resuming the day on 117 for 6, the BCB XI offered little resistance and were bundled out for 146. Manjural Islam Rana top-scored with 47 while Shalabh Srivastava was the pick of the Central Zone bowlers and ended with 4 for 33.