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A slew of former ICL players, as well as a few who turned in successful Ranji Trophy seasons, have found themselves picked in the final IPL squads for the third season starting next month. The squads can be tweaked at any time during the season with the inclusion, at 24 hours’ notice, of any players on a franchise’s books – which explains the exclusion of big names such as Shane Watson and Shane Bond.Kings XI Punjab have signed up four domestic players – the medium-pacers Love Ablish and Shalabh Srivastava, batsman Manvinder Bisla and allrounder Reetinder Sodhi. Sodhi, who played 18 ODIs for India, and Srivastava, a left-arm pacer, were recently admitted back into the domestic fold after they severed ties with the unofficial ICL. Ablish, who plays for Punjab on the domestic circuit, was the third highest wicket-taker in this season’s Ranji Super League. Bisla, the Haryana-born wicketkeeper who plays for Jammu & Kashmir, was part of IPL champions Deccan Chargers’ squad in 2009.Commenting on the selection, Punjab coach Tom Moody said: “They not only bring extra zeal to excel but also add fresh talent to the field with their exemplary ability with the ball and bat. Their zest to learn will ensure KXIP reaches newer heights and is ready to face any competition this season.”Kings XI Punjab: Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), Brett Lee, Adrian Barath, Vikramjeet Malik, Bipul Sharma, Manvinder Bisla, Yusuf Abdullah, Karan Goel, Ravi Bopara, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Shalabh Srivastava, Mohammad Kaif, Love Ablish, Amanpreet Singh, James Hopes, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Yash Gandhi, Shaun Marsh, Mahela Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh, Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla.S Sriram, the batsman who played eight ODIs for India as well as in the ICL, has been named in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s squad. The other more notable change in the Bangalore squad was the inclusion of Steven Smith, the Australia legspinner, in place of Jesse Ryder. Ryder, the New Zealand batsman, has been out of action since the ICC Champions League last September with a groin problem that has troubled him for nearly a year. Smith has made a name for himself in Twenty20 cricket having helped New South Wales win the inaugural Champions League title in India last October. He was also New South Wales’ leading wicket-taker during the 2009-10 Big Bash tournament with seven wickets 10.28Royal Challengers Bangalore: Anil Kumble (capt), Jacques Kallis, Shrivats Goswami, Bhuvanesh Kumar, Eoin Morgan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Virat Kohli, Robin Uthappa, Dale Steyn, Cameron White, Kevin Pietersen, Rahul Dravid, S Sriram, Manish Pandey, R Vinay Kumar, KP Appanna, B Akhil, Steven Smith, Praveen Kumar, Mark Boucher, Dillon du Preez, Ross Taylor, Roelof van der Merwe.Chennai Super Kings have signed up C Ganapathy, who was one of the Ranji Trophy’s leading allrounders this season and who also took a five-wicket haul in the Duleep Trophy final, as well as former India batsman Hemang Badani. Badani was also one of the many domestic players who was released from the ICL last year.Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (capt), Muttiah Muralitharan, Manpreet Gony, Shadab Jakati, Arun Karthik, Thissara Perera, L Balaji, Suresh Raina, Michael Hussey, Makhaya Ntini, Thilan Thushara, C Ganapathy, M Vijay, Sudeep Tyagi, R Ashwin, Justin Kemp, Hemang Badani, S Badrinath, Matthew Hayden, Albie Morkel, Jacob Oram, George Bailey, Parthiv Patel.Kolkata Knight Riders have not named New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond, their big buy at the auction, but a spokesman said Bond will play for Kolkata once New Zealand finish their home limited-overs matches against Australia. Players who have been drafted in include the Saurashtra opener, Chirag Pathak, who hit a brisk century in the Duleep final. Also named in the Kolkata squad were Cheteshwar Pujara and Ganapathi Vignesh, the hard-hitting opener from Tamil Nadu. Vignesh was another to have returned to the domestic scene from the ICL.Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Charl Langeveldt, Chirag Pathak, Iqbal Abdulla, G Vignesh, Brendon McCullum, Angelo Mathews, Wriddhiman Saha, Ajit Agarkar, Chris Gayle, Manoj Tiwary, Rohan Gavaskar, Harshad Khadiwale, Varun Aaron, Eklak Ahmed, Owais Shah, Murali Kartik, Brad Hodge, Ajantha Mendis, Laxmi Shukla, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma.Deccan Chargers, the defending champions, also have four new domestic players in their ranks: Bodapati Sumanth, a middle-order batsman, allrounder Ashish Reddy, opener Monish Mishra who is a former ICL player, and 17-year-old Mumbai left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh.Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (capt/wk), Azhar Bilakhia, Andrew Symonds, Arjun Yadav, Bodapati Sumanth, Chaminda Vaas, D Ravi Teja, Dwayne Smith, Harmeet Singh, Ashish Reddy, Herschelle Gibbs, Kemar Roach, VVS Laxman, Mohnish Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Ryan Harris, T Suman, Venugopal Rao, Anirudh Singh, Rahul Sharma, Mitchell Marsh.The former India offspinner Sarandeep Singh, who played three Tests and five ODIs, and the Punjab legspinner Sarabjit Ladda have joined Delhi Daredevils.Delhi Daredevils: Gautam Gambhir (capt), AB de Villiers, Umesh Yadav, Kedar Jadhav, Wayne Parnell, Shashi Ranjan, Ashish Nehra, Mithun Manhas, Andrew McDonald, Farveez Maharoof, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, Joginder Singh, Pradeep Sangwan, Amit Mishra, Moises Henriques, Sarandeep Singh, Sarabjit Ladda, Aavishkar Salvi, David Warner, Dirk Nannes, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rajat Bhatia.The three former ICL players in the Mumbai Indians squad are Ambati Rayudu, once ranked as India material, Syed Sahabuddin, and Ali Murtaza.Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Chandan Madan, Syed Sahabuddin, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shikhar Dhawan, Graham Napier, Dilhara Fernando, Dwayne Bravo, Zaheer Khan, Ali Murtaza, Saurabh Tiwary, R Sathish, Aditya Tare, Ishan Malhotra, Rahul Shukla, Abhishek Nayar, JP Duminy, Sanath Jayasuriya, Harbhajan Singh, Ryan McLaren.Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja has been omitted from Rajasthan Royals’ squad.Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (capt), Damien Martyn, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Abhishek Raut, Faiz Fazal, Amit Paunikar, Amit Singh, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Shaun Tait, Yusuf Pathan, Swapnil Asnodkar, Naman Ojha, Johan Botha, Michael Lumb, Shrikant Wagh, Sumit Narwal, Syed Quadri, Kamran Khan, Graeme Smith, Morne Morkel, Siddharth Trivedi, Mahesh Rawat, Munaf Patel.

Narsingh Deonarine orchestrated a late collapse as Guyana roared back into contention against Trinidad & Tobago at the Vivian Richards Stadium. T&T held the aces, beginning their second innings with a 143-run lead and piling on the runs to reach 131 for 2. Despite losing first-innings centurion Lendl Simmons early, and Justin Guillen a little later, T&T prospered through a 92-run stand between Daren Ganga and Jason Mohammed. That’s when Deonarine intervened to have Jason caught at short-leg, triggering a manic collapse where five wickets fell for eight runs in five overs. Sherwin Ganga joined his brother at the crease, but a misunderstanding left them stranded at the same end, Sherwin sacrificing his wicket. Dave Mohammed was out without troubling the scorers after which Ravi Rampaul spooned one to mid-off to leave the innings in disarray. Deonarine capped the collapse that he had engineered, the way he had begun it, by getting Daren Ganga to nick to short leg. Deonarine’s heroics stole the thunder from T&T left-arm spinner Imran Khan who ran through the Guyana lower order to secure his side the first-innings advantage. His unpredictable mix of left-arm leg breaks and topspinners proved hard to read as overnight batsman Vishaul Singh found out. Rampaul dismissed Denoarine to put Guyana in strife, from which Imran never let them recover. Derwin Christian and Esuan Crandon tried to launch a recovery and survived to add vital 40s, before Imran ran through the tail, as four wickets fell for 18 runs. T&T were smiling then, but the chaos in the closing stages of play wiped the smiles off their faces.Rain proved to be Jamaica’s biggest obstacle on the third day at Warner Park in a match where they have dominated Leeward Islands from the outset. Torrential overnight rain and persistent drizzles through the day prompted Jamaica’s overnight declaration, 191 runs ahead in the first innings. Play eventually began in the evening, and Jamaica pushed forward in their quest for victory in the 21 overs of play that were possible. Daren Powell and David Bernard, wary of the time that their side had lost in the game, bowled with aggressive intent to remove both openers for ducks. Kieran Powell was the first to go, caught spectacularly by a diving Nikita Miller in the slips off Daren. Bernard then did his bit, getting Montcin Hodge to join his opening partner in the hutch, edging one to forward short leg. Bernard kept up the pace, striking Tonito Willett in the box, forcing the batsman to retire on five. Runako Morton struck an unbeaten 42 and, in the company of Steve Liburd, denied Jamaica further success, but the bowlers will push hard for a win on the fourth day.Barbados and Combined Campuses and Colleges were forced to cool their heels indoors all day as rain washed out third day’s play in Charlestown. The heavens had opener even before players reached the ground, and continued unabated beyond the lunch break, at which point the umpires called off play for the day.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Iain O’Brien was accurate and hostile, reaching speeds of 146kmh•Getty Images

Don’t be fooled by the score. It was a flat track in Napier but Iain O’Brien was on a mission to make his last Test memorable and Pakistan’s top order, as ever, was in a self-destructive mood. Imran Farhat lifted Pakistan from the depths of 59 for 5 and resuscitated his career with a fighting century but New Zealand will be more than pleased with their efforts, especially after a dogged batting display from the openers, on the first day of the final Test.Until Farhat produced his hundred it was all O’Brien. At one point his figures read: 4.2-4-3-3. He was hostile throughout his spell, consistently bowling over 140 kmph, and was always accurate but, even so, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that even he would have been slightly surprised by the results.On a flat pitch, Pakistan’s top order contrived to implode yet again by playing poor cricket. Only one batsman, Misbah-ul-Haq, was taken out by a difficult delivery; the rest were simply not good enough. Tim Southee claimed the initial breakthrough when Salman Butt left a gaping gap between bat and pad to lose his middle stump, after which O’Brien took over. And how.O’Brien sussed out quickly that Faisal Iqbal was a sitting target because of his awkward feet movement and aimed one at his throat, forcing an ugly fend to the slip cordon. He tied up Yousuf with his disciplined lines and lengths before hurling one short of a length outside off stump. Yousuf thought it would be the ideal chance to break the shackles but was done in by the extra bounce and edged it to second slip.It was the recurring theme of a bizarre morning. O’Brien tied up edgy batsmen with his discipline before delivering the knock-out blow with some thing extra. Misbah got a gem early in his innings: The ball held its line outside off and Misbah couldn’t help edging it behind.Pakistan’s debacle was exemplified by Umar Akmal’s dismissal. It was a short-of-length delivery that straightened well outside off stump. It could have been left alone or cut to the point boundary but Umar, the best of the Pakistan batsman in this series, just hung his bat out and guided it straight to gully.Fortunately for Pakistan, though, Farhat couldn’t have chosen a better moment to resuscitate his career. It would be churlish to dismiss Farhat’s effort as streaky, though there were several play and misses and a couple of curious slogs which would have raised blood-pressure levels in the dressing room, but that’s how he seems to play. There were spurts where Farhat seemed to lose concentration and went for pressure-reliving big hits and there were phases where he looked to be in control. Or something resembling it at least.The fact that the last century by a Pakistan opener outside the subcontinent was Salman Butt’s effort in Sydney way back in 2005 would make fans overlook Farhat’s iffy patches and remember the good things from the knock. Amid nervous slashes, Farhat played a couple of off drives – the one in the seventh over against Chris Martin being the shot of the day – and a few well-timed cover drives. There was a flamboyant square drive too, on a bent knee for added effect, a crunchy pull shot and he definitely got better in the second session, during which he seemed surer of where his off stump was. He grew increasingly bolder and played big shots against Daniel Vettori to reach his hundred. Farhat found support in Mohammad Aamer in the afternoon and proceeded to lead Pakistan out of shambles.Farhat’s knock, and perhaps more importantly Aamer’s defiance, revealed two truths: The pitch was a true, firm surface that did offer bounce but not much movement, and the other Pakistan batsmen didn’t apply themselves. Luckily for them, Farhat refused to fade away without a fight. He added 69 runs with Aamer and 35 with Umar Gul before Daryl Tuffey hastened the end with a triple strike post tea. Tuffey terminated Gul’s defiance and removed Mohammad Asif for a first-ball duck before he took out the enterprising Danish Kaneria. However, till Farhat did his thing, it was O’Brien who owned the morning and Ian Smith was moved enough to say on air: “Someone offer his wife a job here … we don’t wanna miss this fella!”The icing on the cake for New Zealand was the performance from their openers; McIntosh, who has been lbw a few times in this series, took care not to get the front leg in line and BJ Watling didn’t embarrass himself on debut. Their 47-run opening stand, the best for New Zealand in the series, capped a near-perfect day for the hosts.

The IPL has initiated steps to ensure that all cricketers who have been contracted by its franchises are available to play for the entire season from next year, except those with international commitments. This effectively means that these contracted players, and their national boards, will have to put the IPL ahead of their domestic commitments.A press release issued on Monday said that in case of a default, the IPL will impose penalties on such players, including termination of player contracts and a ban on future participation, although Lalit Modi, the league’s chairman, told Cricinfo that this would only happen in a worst-case scenario.In what can be seen as a two-pronged deterrent, the IPL, which is owned by BCCI, will also ask the governing council of the Champions League Twenty20, comprising senior officials from India, Australia and South Africa, to take “appropriate action” against participating national boards in that tournament if they don’t issue an IPL clearance for their players citing domestic commitments as a reason. While an IPL ban will affect players directly, any sanction on participating in the Champions League will impact the national board, which gets a share of the money from the organisers apart from an appearance fee for its competing domestic team.However, the IPL said that this move does not cover players with international commitments and those who will play in matches scheduled under the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) during the tournament. These decisions were finalised during the league’s workshop in Bangkok last week to ensure that the IPL franchises get their best players, who have been paid huge amounts by the teams, to be part of the league.

Expansion opposed

The IPL has confirmed its previous decision to expand to 10 teams from 2011, but the move was opposed during the recent Bangkok workshop by one franchise, believed to be Chennai Super Kings. “A discussion for the addition of two new franchises in Season 4 was held with the same being adopted with 7 of the 8 franchises being in favour of increasing the number of teams to 10,” an IPL statement said. The Chennai franchise, owned by N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, is apparently concerned that the addition of teams would impact the value of existing franchises, and cut into their share of the central sponsorship pie that includes a billion-dollar TV rights deal. It will also necessitate a fresh auction of all players before the fourth season. But an IPL official said that the addition of more teams would add more money to the pool in terms of franchise purchase fee, which is expected to run into millions of dollars.

“The IPL will work with all the cricket boards to ensure that cricketers contracted with the eight franchises are available for the season,” Modi told Cricinfo. “The IPL 2010 season is in March-April, when a lot of domestic domestic tournaments will still be on. This is a one-off situation. A worst-case scenario could mean penalties on such players (who skip IPL matches citing domestic commitments), including termination of contracts, jeopardising future participation. However, we do not want to walk that path and are hopeful that we can sort this through discussions with the boards.”The next IPL will be held from March 12 to April 25, instead of the usual April-May slot, to avoid a clash with the ICC World Twenty20 that starts soon after. However, this advanced IPL schedule clashes with the Australian domestic season, which ends on March 23, and the South African season that ends on March 28. Players from both these countries are among the most sought-after in the Indian league. The Australian cricketers will then be busy with the New Zealand series that ends on March 31.Apparently, the IPL wants to adopt the model of the Champions League Twenty20, which ensured that the best players from the top domestic teams from the seven participating countries (India, Australia, South Africa, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand) were available for the multi-nation club tournament. “Given that this was also the founding principle of the Champions League Twenty20, it was agreed that in the event any of the member boards not issuing an NOC to their players for participation in the IPL, on the pretext of domestic engagements, IPL could make a representation to the governing council of the Champions League for taking appropriate action against the members boards’ participation in the League,” the IPL release stated.The BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa are founding partners of the Champions League and its governing council comprises Lalit Modi, its chairman, Niranjan Shah, its vice-chairman, N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, James Sutherland, the CA chief executive, Dean Kino, CA’s business and legal affairs head, and Gerald Majola, CSA’s chief executive.The IPL press release added that the measures discussed at the workshop in case of a no-show by the players include “termination of player contracts and barring from future participation in the IPL, of players that have signed contracts, but fail to make themselves available for playing in the IPL.”This will exclude any instances wherein players would have international and FTP commitments and was aimed at ensuring that players make themselves available for the IPL post their FTP commitments, especially, since such players would have already received a player release to play in the IPL from their respective boards.”

Group A

Mohammad Hafeez’s five-for handed Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) a crushing win against Sui Southern Gas Corporation (SSGC) at the Sheikhupura Stadium. The innings-and-115 run victory was enough to ensure top spot temporarily on the points table, though National Bank of Pakistan picked up first-innings points against Habib Bank Limited. Continuing on 418 for 6 from the previous day, the SNGPL innings was brought to a quick end by the pace atrtack of Shakeel-ur-Rehman and Waqar Ahmed. It was a bright display by Shakeel who ended with 6 for 105. Behind by 297, it would take one superb individual display to keep SSGC in the game and Bilal Asad promised with 81. But having taken out opener Asif Zakir, Hafeez accounted for the middle order as the batsmen floundered against the spin. Fittingly, he picked up the last wicket, that of Waqar, as SNGPL completed the win in the 61st over.A clinical display by the seamers, coupled with Imranullah Aslam’s quickfire 85, gave Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) full points against second-from-bottom Lahore Shalimar with a day to spare at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Resuming on 139 for 4, Lahore failed to cope with the pace of the WAPDA fast bowlers, led by Sarfraz Ahmed and Shabbir Ahmed. Sarfraz picked up three wickets to finish with a match haul of seven while Shabbir bagged four. Though the WAPDA openers departed early chasing down 157, Imranullah went in search of quick runs. He blasted 18 fours and a six during his 59-ball knock and that fast-tracked the victory, which came in the 31st over.Captain-wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed and Jannisar Khan put on a 108-run partnership for the fifth-wicket to give Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) a mammoth 240-run lead against Karachi Whites at the National Stadium. Karachi then went on to lose six wickets for 209 in their second essay with PIA looking good for a huge win. While Sarfraz scored an unbeaten 51, Jannisar was run out three short of a well-deserved half-century. Karachi needed a good start to overcome the massive deficit, but the early fall of Behram Khan did not help. Naved Khan scored 49 but the slow bowlers Jamshed Ahmed and Tahir Khan dented the opposition by taking three and two wickets respectively. Atif Ali held on with an unbeaten 42, but with little expected from the tail, avoiding the innings defeat will be his topmost priority.It was slow going for Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) as they reached 182 for 6, starting the day at 5 for no loss against Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) at the Khan Research Laboratories Ground. The first-innings points they had gained may have played a major part in KRL’s approach, after ZTBL fell short by 16 runs replying to 259. But that did not hold back the ZTBL bowlers, led by right-arm paceman Junaid Nadir. While there were a couple of thirties, captain Mohammad Wasim top scored with 44, before becoming Nadir’s second victim. Nadir then had Bazid Khan caught behind for 13 just before stumps, to leave KRL on tenterhooks going into the final day.Even though Taufeeq Umar’s century and Abdur Rehman’s well-compiled 85 failed to give Habib Bank Limited (HBL) first-innings points against National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) at the Gaddafi Stadium, the HBL bowlers put in a disciplined effort to ensure that they held the upper hand at the end of the day, reducing NBP to 121 for 7. Resuming on 207 for 5, Taufeeq brought up his century, but the battle was mainly fought by Rehman, who hit 10 fours during his 104-ball stay. It was legspinner Mansoor Amjad who picked up three crucial wickets to bowl out HBL for 353, 59 behind NBP’s first-innings total. While Shahid Nazir did the early damage during NBP’s second innings, the spin duo of Danish Kaneria and Rehman ran through the middle order, picking up two wickets apiece, to keep HBL’s hopes of a win alive in this top-of-table clash.

Group B

Late-blooming 35-year-old fast bowler Rashid Latif captured seven wickets to hand Rawalpindi a 77-run in their top-of-the-table clash with Karachi Blues at the National Ground. After taking a vital 79-run first-innings lead in a low-scoring encounter, Rawalpindi seemed to have let the advantage slip after being bowled out for 162 and letting Karachi reach 70 for 0. Shahzaib Hasan dominated that opening stand and slammed four sixes on his way to 87, but Karachi folded after his dismissal. No one else in the top eight made it past 20 as Latif tore through the line-up. Yesterday’s hero for Karachi, Tanvir Ahmed, slammed a 27-ball 50 coming in at No. 9 but that only helped them past the 200 mark but well short of the target of 281. The two teams are now locked on 27 points but Rawalpindi have played one match less.In the only other Group B match to finish in the three days, Sialkot won by 136 runs at the Abbottabad Stadium after a frenetic day in which 19 wickets went down. The match followed a similar pattern to the Rawalpindi-Karachi game: Abbottabad fighting back after giving away a significant first-innings lead by bowling out Sialkot for 184 but the home team’s batsmen let the side down chasing 244. Left-arm fast bowler Armaghan Elahi was on fire early in the day to reduce Sialkot from their overnight 49 for 1 to 73 for 6. No. 8 batsman Ahmed Butt (42) and No. 9 Bilawal Bhatti (29) staged a fightback to give their bowlers a target above 200 to defend. Faisal Rasheed was Sialkot’s hero with the ball, taking 5 for 58, as Abbottabad folded for 107 in 37 overs. It all unravelled for Abbottabad when they lost six wickets for 17 runs after being 54 for 2.In the basement battle between Islamabad and Quetta, the stage was set for an engrossing final day at the Diamond Club ground. It is still anybody’s game: Islamabad need 33 runs, Quetta need two wickets. The match swung one way to the other through the day. After bowling out Quetta for 303, Islamabad were well on top when their openers took them to 97 in the chase of 252. It was Quetta’s turn to take charge when they their new-ball pair of Nazar Hussain and Arun Lal took three wickets each in the space of 15 runs. Islamabad clawed their way back from 112 for 6 through the efforts of Ameer Khan (47*), and a pair of twenties from tailenders Fakhar Hussain and Rauf Akbar.Hyderabad remained in control of their match against Peshawar at the Lahore Country Club. Middle-order batsman Shahid Qambrani was the mainstay of the Hyderabad second innings, making 83 to guide them to 281. They would have made an even higher total had it not been for the six wickets bagged by legspinner Mohammad Fayyaz, who polished off the lower order cheaply. Fayyaz’s heroics continued with the bat as Peshawar faced a tough target of 369; opening the innings, he remained unbeaten on a brisk 71. There was virtually no support for him though, as Peshawar finished the day on 128 for 3.A draw loomed as the likeliest outcome at the Iqbal Stadium. Lahore Ravi ended on 269 after their final three wickets consumed more than 32 overs, with Shahbaz Butt staying unbeaten on 67. Faisalabad had a slim 52-run first-innings cushion, and their openers increased the advantage by adding 147 runs. Zeeshan Asif was still batting on a cavalier 101, which included two sixes, but Imran Ali fell for a more patient 56. Faisalabad ended the day on 177 for 3, an overall lead of 229.

Bangladesh fast bowler Dolar Mahmud has been fined 15% of his match fee for bowling two beamers in an over during the second ODI against Zimbabwe in Mirpur on Thursday.Both deliveries were bowled during the 42nd over of Zimbabwe’s innings, with Malcolm Waller and Elton Chigumbura at the crease. The fourth ball, to Waller, was a high full toss down the leg side which beat the wicketkeeper and raced to the boundary. The final ball was another beamer, which hit Chigumbura on the helmet. The umpire penalised the bowler and Mahmud wasn’t allowed to bowl for the rest of the innings. The over was completed by Mahmudullah.Mahmud was found guilty of a Level 1 offence, according to the match referee Ranjan Madugalle. “At the outset, I explained to the bowler that his actions of bowling high full tosses was clearly against the spirit of the game and is considered ‘unfair play’ under the Laws of Cricket,” Madugalle said. “He pleaded guilty and immediately apologised for his actions in both instances to the batsmen and also apologised to the two on-field umpires.”In arriving at my decision, I took into account that it was his first offence under the code. His immediate actions also showed his genuine concern to the batsmen.”

Listen to Ponting’s press conferenceRicky Ponting crosses another landmark•Getty Images

Ricky Ponting has been piling on the runs over the past month, highlighted by his authoritative century against England on Friday that sealed Australia’s berth in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy. He attributed his superb form to the week’s break he took after a draining Ashes campaign.”I’ve felt really good since the break after the end of the Ashes series, since I’ve come back I’ve felt like I’ve been batting really well and felt in control more importantly,” he said. “When you’re out their batting or out there leading the side you always want to feel in control and I’ve certainly felt that in the last couple of weeks.”During his unbeaten 111 in the semi-finals, Ponting became the Champions Trophy’s leading run-getter and also crossed the 12,000-run mark, only the third batsman to reach that milestone. “It is a nice achievement but I had no idea before the game how many runs I had scored,” he said. “I hit runs for my country and when my career is over I can reflect on the successes.”Ponting received a round of applause in Centurion as he pulled Graham Onions for four to deep square leg, and then raised his bat to acknowledge the crowd and his team-mates. He sits behind Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya in the list of all-time ODI run-getters. Ponting is the only Australian with over 10,000 runs and has an enormous buffer over the next of his countrymen on the list – Adam Gilchrist is second with 9619 runs.Ponting also paid tribute to Tendulkar, the leading run-scorer in ODIs and Tests. “The number of innings of his I have been able to sit back and watch, I think he is an amazing player,” he said. “Look at his stats and records and it’s quite incredible for someone to have stayed in the game for 20 years. He has set benchmarks for guys like me to chase him and get as close as we can. If I had to last 20 years, I would probably be batting in a wheelchair.”In Tests, Ponting is also third to Tendulkar’s 12,773 runs with 11,345. Like Tendulkar, Ponting has stepped down from playing Twenty20 internationals for his country.

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, has said the century stand between Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram on the final day gave the home team a few scares and insisted that despite the 2-0 series win, the hosts were yet to reach their peak.Sri Lanka set New Zealand 494 to chase and began day five needing four wickets to win. However Oram and Vettori added 124 – the visitors’ highest partnership of the series – and at end of their stand New Zealand needed another 194 to win. Vettori added 97 more with the tail before they were bowled out. “[At 182 for 6] you expect to go out there and do better than probably we did, but we slacked off a bit in our fielding and maybe we didn’t bowl the right areas,” Sangakkara said. “It was good to walk away with a win but there are lots of areas to improve.”Danny and Jacob batted really well. It was quite possible they could have really got close. We were also bowling our overs very quickly and we had to keep an eye on that and try and slow down that as well. Other than that we put enough pressure on them to get the wickets. Once Jacob got out it was going to be a matter of time but as long as Jacob and Danny were there it was going to be an interesting game.”Sangakkara praised Vettori’s efforts with the bat and ball but said he needed more support from the other bowlers. “Muralitharan had Vaasy [Chaminda Vaas] to support him throughout. Danny needs to find someone like that to keep supporting him on all conditions. The way he’s gone about his business, the way he’s improved his batting over the last 12 months, he’s just a fantastic player.”Sangakkara also praised the injured Mendis’ replacement, Rangana Herath, who took career-best match figures of 8 for 209. “Rangana came as a support bowler for Murali but in the previous Tests [against Pakistan] and in this Test he turned out to be our No. 1 spinner,” Sangakkara said. “We are indebted to Rangana for the responsibilities he took on himself and the way he played a part in our victory.”Sangakkara hoped Murali would recover quickly from the minor groin strain he suffered while bowling during the final day of the New Zealand second innings and be fit for the one-day tri-series which also features India. He also looked ahead to Sri Lanka’s tour of India later this year and said the team was keen to challenge itself and win its first Test in the country.”The Indian tour will test everyone mentally and physically and skill wise. If we do our homework right, be confident, prepare as best as we can and go out there looking to win and if our attitude is positive we will do well.”

Corrie van Zyl, Cricket South Africa’s High Performance coach, has shrugged off the disappointment of South Africa’s surprise defeat in the Emerging Players Tournament final in Brisbane to India, saying his team gained more from the experience. South Africa were the favourites to take the title, having won all their eight matches before choking in the final when faced with a target of 284.”Obviously it would have been nice to have won the final but it was not to be and, if somebody had told me before the tournament that we would win eight out of nine matches I would certainly have taken it,” van Zyl told SAPA.”This tour was an opportunity to grow as a team and to get a taste of international cricket, of touring and all the associated experiences that go with it. In that sense the tour was a huge success and the commitment of every player throughout the tournament was excellent, whether they were in the actual playing XI or not.”Fast bowler CJD de Villiers, with 10 wickets, and batsman Heino Kuhn (286 runs) were the main performers for South Africa. van Zyl also singled out offspinner Thandi Tshabalala, who took four wickets in two games.”CJ was outstanding while Thandi towards the end of last season and again on this tour has shown signs of reaching his true potential,” he said. “But really it was a team effort and there was always a player to put his hand up when it was needed.”

The Indian board has backed its players and rejected the contentious ‘whereabouts’ clause in the amended World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) code, which was implemented by the ICC from January 1, as it was “unreasonable”. This decision was taken at a meeting of the BCCI’s working committee in Mumbai on Sunday and places the ICC in a difficult position.The ICC’s executive board, of which India is a member, will now discuss the issue to find a way forward. A resolution would ideally have to be reached before the start of the next ICC event, the Champions Trophy in September in South Africa, where India is one of the eight participating teams. International players from all countries in the ICC’s anti-dope testing pool have agreed to abide by the code, despite privacy and practicality concerns about the ‘whereabouts’ clause, except the 11 from India. The code prescribes stringent penalties in case of default (see box).MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh, who were present at the BCCI meeting, maintained that security concerns remained if they had to reveal their location in advance for an hour every day for the next three months to facilitate out-of-competition testing, as mandated by the ‘whereabouts’ norm in the amended WADA code.In response to these concerns that were expressed earlier too, the ICC had promised to implement a “reasonable” testing programme that will be conducted around matches, and not on holidays or when players are on vacation. The ICC had also sent its company lawyer to address the BCCI’s concerns on the WADA system during the Sunday meeting. But an Indian board official told Cricinfo that Iain Higgins, the lawyer, was not called upon at all by the BCCI’s working committee.Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, said the board did not have a problem with dope testing but only with the system of keeping checks when the players are not engaged in training camps or playing matches. Manohar said the BCCI would suggest to the ICC that instead of players revealing their whereabouts information in advance, the governing body should consult the Indian board which will ensure that the player will be available within 24 hours at the required location for testing.The suggestion, however, is unlikely to lead to a solution as the WADA, which is an independent anti-doping watchdog set up by the International Olympic Committee, has made it clear in a recent statement that no exemption to the code will be granted to any federation. If the Indian board refuses to budge on the issue, the ICC will have to consider pulling out of the WADA umbrella, which will undermine its fight to ensure a clean sport, its credibility and reputation on the world stage, and rule out cricket from global multi-sport events such as Asian Games and Olympics.”We believe the clause with regard to whereabouts of cricketers is unreasonable for three reasons,” Manohar said. “Firstly, some Indian cricketers have security cover, and when you have a security cover, you cannot disclose your whereabouts to a third person. Secondly, the privacy of individuals cannot be invaded. Third, the constitution of India gives a guarantee to every citizen regarding his privacy which cannot be invaded. We can appreciate players being tested even when they are not playing. But if ICC or WADA want to test the players, they can inform the board which will get the players at the required location within 24 hours. This is our suggestion.”Manohar claimed that though the anti-doping code has been in discussion since 2006, when the ICC became a WADA signatory, and the amended version was approved by the ICC board last year, the testing system, including the whereabouts clause, was never deliberated upon in any of the governing body’s meetings.Asked what the ICC would do next, Manohar, who represents India on the governing body’s board, said, “The implications of this decision would be decided after we write to the ICC. Today, it would be jumping the gun.”Brian Murgatroyd, the ICC spokesperson, said the ICC and BCCI were committed to finding a practical solution. “We are aware of the issues of concerns, and we are confident they can be adhered to everyone’s satisfaction. The matter will now be considered by ICC board,” he said.

The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), of which India is not a member, has warned that if the ICC did not penalise India’s players for failing to submit to the new anti-doping norms in time, it would ensure that players from all other countries would be relieved from similar obligations.Concerns about the ‘whereabouts’ clause in the amended WADA code is not a cricket-specific issue and has been treated as a matter of concern in other sports, particularly team sports such as football. FIFA, football’s governing body, is still not completely WADA-compliant due to similar concerns and has suggested that only players they deem as high-risk be included in the testing pool. Tennis stars such as Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams have also spoken out against revealing whereabouts information in advance. There is a meeting of world player associations, including FICA, in London in early September with WADA to discuss these concerns. The ICC will also raise these concerns with WADA at a review meeting this year-end.Another Indian board official said after Sunday’s meeting that the ICC will have to renegotiate the issue with WADA. “The ICC have to take up a dialogue with WADA,” Rajiv Shukla, a BCCI vice-president, said. “Football players also declined to sign the clause and the FIFA is engaged in negotiation with WADA, so that would be the case of ICC also,” Shukla said.