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ScorecardKamal Passi’s all-round show was one of the highlights of India’s win•ICC/Getty

India’s openers performed far better against Zimbabwe than they did against West Indies, setting up a platform for a match-winning score despite a middle-order slowdown at Tony Ireland Stadium. In a match they had to win to stay in theUnder-19 World Cup, Unmukt Chand and Prashant Chopra delivered a 139-run partnership, and a last-over thrash from medium-pacer Kamal Passi converted an average total into a competitive one.Passi carried the momentum from his five-ball 24 through the lunch break and into his bowling, taking the first four wickets to fall during a six-over spell thatseverely set back the Zimbabwe chase. At 30 for 4 in the 12th over, there was too much lost ground to recover, and although allrounder Malcolm Lake scored a century that gave India a scare, he had no support and Zimbabwe were dismissed 63 runs short. Passi returned to take two important wickets during the final ten overs, finishing with 6 for 23.India made two changes to their XI from after the loss to West Indies. Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh was unwell and medium-pacer Rush Kalaria was left out. Their spots went to Passi and Ravikant Singh, the third seam bowler. Chand lost the toss once again and Zimbabwe chose to bowl on a fresh pitch, the one closest to the grandstand. It meant one square boundary was significantly shorter than the other.Zimbabwe’s new-ball bowlers, Kyle Bowie and Curthbert Musoko, didn’t have the pace to harry the India openers and they pitched too full too often. Chand was able to drive his first ball, from Bowie, to the cover boundary. Chopra began more slowly, getting his eye in before cutting a short ball from Musoko to the point fence.Unlike against Ronsford Beaton and the other West Indians, India’s openers were able to come on to the front foot, and were also given width when the length was short. The powerful drives and cuts began to flow and after ten overs, India were 56 for 0 with 12 fours, 11 on the off side, one on the leg. In the 11th, Chand upper cut Luke Jongwe, as soon as he came on to bowl, over the shorter point boundary. In the 20th, he hoisted Musoko on to the top of the grass banks beyond the wide long-on boundary to take India to 115 for 0.Both openers made half-centuries, Chand off 46 balls and Chopra off 70, and it wasn’t until Zimbabwe brought on their fourth bowler, Lake, that they got a breakthrough. Lake caught a skier off his own bowling after Chopra top-edged a pull against the short ball. Chand fell in the 30th over, lofting the legspinner Peacemore Zimwa to long-off, and India slowed down drastically after that.Lake continued to keep the batsmen in their crease with his length and Campbell Light, who was introduced only in the 40th over, dismissed three more batsmen with short balls. India were only 237 for 5 at the start of the final over, for which Musoko replaced Light, and lost Vijay Zol to its first ball.Passi took guard and then began to swing at everything. He made good contact too. The ball disappeared to the midwicket and fine-leg boundary repeatedly and that flourish brought 24 runs.Forty-five minutes later, Passi was in action again. He got Kevin Kasuza to edge a short ball to the wicketkeeper, bowled Massasire with a full one that swung, had Matthew Bentley caught behind with a bouncer, and Ryan Burl pulling to the man at deep midwicket. His first spell was 7-1-15-4.After Passi left centre stage, Lake occupied it, single-handedly reviving a cause that was almost lost by the 14th over. A left-hand batsman, Lake stayed firm at one end, adding 87 runs for the fifth wicket, with Luke Jongwe, to give Zimbabwe hope. Jongwe was run out in the 32nd over, though, and Lake sat on his haunches in disappointment. He stepped it up after that, hitting four fours and two sixes in the 36th and 37th overs. Sandeep Sharma, however, bounced back from that beating by dismissing Mayavo in a two-run over, leaving Zimbabwe needing 94 in 12 overs with three wickets left.As he began to run out of partners, Lake tried to farm the strike as well, but the task ahead of him was too much for one person. Passi, in the first over of his second spell, trapped Bowie lbw for a first-ball duck, and in his next had Lake caught at cover. The two best performers from each team had the final say in the game.

ScorecardGlen Chapple took three wickets but Lancashire let a good position slip•Getty Images

Worcestershire’s inexperienced pair Neil Pinner and Joe Leach defied relegation rivals Lancashire in their crucial County Championship clash at New Road. The two 21-year-olds, making only their second appearances in the competition, earned their bottom-the-table side a bonus point which seemed unlikely from 108 for 5.No. 6 Pinner had spent nearly 15 months waiting for another opportunity after being dismissed for a duck in his only previous championship innings. This time he seized the moment with a confident and mature performance for an unbeaten 79 from 164 balls as Worcestershire closed 219 for 6.Reaching 50 with successive fours, he took the lead in a partnership 111 with Leach, who was bowled by Ajmal Shahzad for 46 only two balls before the umpires took the players off for bad light.When the game got underway after a first-day wash-out, Glen Chapple and Kyle Hogg led the fight to keep Lancashire in Division One. Chapple, perhaps mindful of his team’s shock two-day defeat on this ground 12 months ago, won the toss and chose to try and heap pressure on a Worcestershire team with only one first innings total above 300 this summer.With Phil Hughes called up to play for Australia A against England Lions, the troubled hosts were on the back foot in Chapple’s second over when skipper Daryl Mitchell popped up a bat-pad catch to Simon Kerrigan. And when Hogg got one to swing into James Cameron’s pads, a familiar story was in the making as Worcestershire lurched to 17 for 2 by the 12th over.Reliability is not a word readily associated with the Pears’ batting but there was a welcome show of resilience as the two left handers, Matt Pardoe, who made 37, and Moeen Ali, 35, eked out a stand of 45 in 20 overs. Pardoe, who made 55 when Worcestershire won at Old Trafford last month, adapted to an opening role and Moeen curbed his stroke-playing instincts in taking 22 balls to get off the mark.Batting was never easy but just as the third pair seemed to be gaining the upper hand, Chapple landed a double blow with the help of two catches by Gareth Cross in the space of eight balls. He leapt to his left to take a fast-moving chance from Pardoe, who had driven the previous ball for his sixth four, and in Chapple’s next over Cross quickly adjusted his position to hold an inside edge from Vikram Solanki. Moeen carried on the struggle for 11 more overs until he drove across a leg-stump delivery from Hogg.

Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has been summoned to appear before the PCB’s integrity committee on July 4. Akmal is yet to be cleared for national selection, according to PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf, and was not picked for the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka.”His hearing before the integrity committee is on Wednesday,” Ashraf told ESPNcricinfo.Iqbal Qasim, Pakistan’s chief selector, had said Akmal needed to clear himself of integrity issues before being eligible for selection. Akmal, however, has taken part in all of Pakistan’s domestic tournaments and recently featured in the Bangladesh Premier League.During the spot-fixing scandal in England in 2010, Akmal came under the scanner when he was sent a notice by the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit after the Nottingham Test, seeking information about events related to the 2010 World Twenty20 held in the Caribbean. Akmal claimed he has an ICC clearance letter that says there is no inquiry pending against him. He also said he was open to any investigation and ready to share his assets and bank details every six months.Akmal has had a controversial time behind the stumps over the course of his career and has been criticised frequently for his shoddy wicketkeeping. He was dropped after the 2011 World Cup semifinal, which Pakistan lost to India. However, none of his replacements have been able to cement their place in the team.

England will consider resting some of their frontline pace attack for the final Test against West Indies having wrapped up the series with victory at Trent Bridge. With an eye to the amount of cricket to come Andrew Strauss did not rule out giving James Anderson or Stuart Broad the match off at Edgbaston next week.It was revealed that Anderson had been carrying a minor thigh niggle during the second Test which could make him favourite for some downtime although Broad, who is Twenty20 captain, plays all three formats so finding a space in the calendar to withdraw him for a short period is difficult. Anderson has bowled 111 overs in the first two Tests, Broad 102 and Tim Bresnan 100.Following the conclusion of the Tests against West Indies there is a three-match one-day series and a Twenty20 before Australia arrive for five further ODIs; a controversial series given that the marquee clash of the summer, the Tests against South Africa, has been cut to three matches. Those three Tests will be high intensity, high pressure, affairs where England will need their main attack available.”We’ll definitely think about changes,” Strauss said. “We’ve always viewed resting and rotating as something you have to do on a case-by-case basis so we’ll speak to the seamers, see how they’re feeling and see how we’re looking for the rest of the summer.”You always have to look quite a long way ahead when it comes to potentially resting someone. It’s always a balance to strike because primarily you want to win every Test you play: that’s the starting point. We’ll have a conversation about it in the coming days.”Resting frontline bowlers who are near the top of the world rankings – Anderson is third and Broad is sixth, having dropped three places after this latest Test – will bring debate about whether it is devaluing Test cricket, but Strauss and Andy Flower will have more than one eye on the schedule over the next 18 months which includes tours to India and New Zealand and back-to-back Ashes series.It is not as though England do not have strong reserves waiting in the wings. Steven Finn has expressed his frustration at remaining on the sidelines after a brief return to the team against Sri Lanka in Colombo. He currently sits on 13 Tests, which have brought him a productive 53 wickets, and his returns in one-day cricket over the winter were hugely impressive.Graham Onions from Durham has been the other pace bowler in the squads for this series. He hasn’t played for England since January 2009 against South Africa in Cape Town – where he survived the final over to secure a draw for the second time in three matches – after which he suffered a career-threatening back injury. Consistent performances for Durham put him back in the frame and he has been around a number of squads over the last six months.”It’s a difficult situation and I certainly wouldn’t want to nail my colours to the mast one way or the other,” Strauss said. “At this stage we have to sit down, think it through rationally and decide what the best course of action is, both for the Test match and for the long-term prospects of the team over the summer.”England have set the precedent for resting key players from series. Strauss himself sat out the tour to Bangladesh in early 2010 along with Anderson while in the return contest a few months later on English soil Broad and Paul Collingwood were left out.

ScorecardNikita Miller took 4 for 63•West Indies Cricket

Barbados’ last-wicket pair inched to what could be a decisive first-innings advantage at Sabina Park on the third day. Jamaica ended the penultimate day 115 runs ahead with seven wickets in hand, needing an outright win to claim the title, but with just a day left, it remains to be seen if they have time to force a result.Barbados began the day in a strong position at 197 for 3, but lost Jonathan Carter early, just one short of his century. The other overnight batsman, Dwayne Smith, played down the wrong line to Andrew Richardson and was trapped lbw and the next ball, Shane Dowrich failed to counter another inswinger and was caught and bowled, leaving Barbados at 217 for 6. Sharmarh Brooks and Carlos Braithwaite then added 32 for the seventh wicket, before Brooks was caught at first slip off Nikita Miller. It came down to the tail to try and edge Barbados to the lead and there was further drama when Brathwaite was bowled round his legs by Miller, still 22 adrift of Jamaica’s score.It was down to the last wicket-pair of Sulieman Benn and Tino Best to take the team to the lead. Benn was caught at short midwicket with the visitors ahead by a slender 18 runs. Miller finished with 4 for 63, and Richardson took 5 for 71.Jamaica began their second innings positively, but lost their openers. Donovan Pagon and Danza Hyatt will take guard again on the final day with 98 overs to play, provided the weather cooperates.”The game is far from over and I think the Barbados team knows that as well,” Jamaica captain Tamar Lambert was quoted in .”Anywhere in the region of 200 heading into the final day on this wicket we think is a really good total, as a lot of teams have struggled in the past to get such a score.”We don’t want to give up this title just like that, we want to go down fighting as at the end of the day we would prefer to lose this game outright than to go down on first innings. We just hope that the weather that has been affecting the game will stay away tomorrow so that we can fight until the end.”Brooks, the Barbados captain, credited Jamaica’s fightback. “We plan to come tomorrow and try and restrict them to a total they can’t defend and whatever total they give us tomorrow we will go in and think how to approach it in an orderly fashion,” Brooks said.

Thousands of England fans who have descended upon Galle without tickets ahead of the first Test have been told they must pay prices that are up to ten times higher than those charged to Australian supporters only seven months ago.England’s more budget-conscious supporters assumed that they would be able to buy tickets casually and take advantage of local rates, but they have been told by Sri Lanka Cricket officials that they will be refused access to the grassy banks that offer cheaper vantage points in the stadium.Representatives of the Barmy Army, the unofficial yet influential England supporters’ group, met with representatives of SLC’s executive committee, and the Southern Province Cricket Association on Saturday, to be told that “foreigners” would have to remain in designated, high-price areas as SLC adopt a controversial two-tier pricing policy.Unless the position is reversed, most England fans face ticket costs at LKR 5,000 ($38) as the debt-ridden board takes advantage of the fact they have turned out in such force by attempting to ease its stricken financial position.Barmy Army Cricket tweeted: “Disappointing meet with the secretary of S province cric ass & SL exec committee member, no access to ‘foreigners’ on the grass bank.”Giles Wellington, a leading Barmy Army member, followed up: “We’re not comfortable with one price for locals and one for foreigners. Feelings are running high in some quarters. We know we are lucky to be here but we don’t want to feel we are being ripped off.”A Sri Lanka Cricket official indicated that they have now responded in part to Barmy Army entreaties by adding a further reduced-price area at LKR 1,000 ($8). Asanga Seneviratne, chairman of the tour organising committee, said: “Tickets are priced at LKR 5000 and LKR 1000 and anyone can purchase them. There are no restrictions.”Sri Lanka Cricket has severe financial problems after running up debts of $32.5 million to finance the building of two international stadiums in Hambantota and Pallekele, and to renovate the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, for the World Cup.Payments owed to players, dating back to the World Cup, were only fully settled less than two weeks ago after the state-owned Bank of Ceylon released 600 million rupees ($5 million) after discussions with the sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage.Presumably SLC has seen the visit of England, with its guaranteed high number of travelling supporters, as a chance to give the bottom line a much-needed boost. Sri Lanka is still seen as a good-value place to follow England overseas despite the struggling UK economy and its impact on the strength of the pound but the decision has shocked those who follow England on a shoestring.Those who have bought tickets in the UK before arriving as part of a package have paid up to Rs8,000 ($62), which still compares favourably to ticket prices for England’s home Tests and other overseas venues such as the previous Ashes tour.Many, though, avoid the high-end tickets that package-holiday companies must buy. What has inflamed the mood of these England fans is that they were given no indication of any change of policy in advance. For the previous Test at this ground, when Australia visited last August, tickets were pegged at LKR500 and even then the stadium was not sold out.A suggestion floated privately by one SLC official that locals could also be expected to pay LKR5000 (US$38) for a single day’s ticket seems to have been abandoned. That would have amounted to a weekly wage for a large proportion of the community.There was a mixed response from the England supporters at Galle as they watched England train. Some shrugged it off as understandable, given SLC’s financial predicament. Others told of personal donations to Sri Lanka cricket after the tsunami that devastated the Galle ground eight years ago and suggested that they now felt exploited.Supporters may now pick and choose to come to just one or two days of the Test, while the ancient Dutch Fort overlooking the ground should prepare to be overtaken by cricket watchers on Monday. At least the ice cream sellers on the ramparts will have a field day.Edited by David Hopps

Four companies have shown interest in the PCB’s initiative to launch an international Twenty20 league in Pakistan. A proposal to launch Pakistan Premier League (PPL) will be presented by the companies to the board next week.”We have invited the companies to present us the plans,” PCB chief operating officer, Subhan Ahmed told ESPNcricinfo. “We are thrilled to see the initial response but we have to sit and look into the modalities and feasibility of having such an event in Pakistan involving foreign players.”Ahmed said that international player participation was necessary for the success of such a competition. However, Pakistan has been unable to host international cricket since March 2009, when Sri Lanka’s team bus was attacked by terrorists.”I can’t say that we are sure whether to play in Pakistan or abroad. But PCB has serious intention to hold the PPL. The situation definitely has improved and that is why the British [Universities] team is here in Pakistan.”Former PCB president, Nasim Ashraf, floated the original idea in 2007. While, the idea was scrapped later scrapped in Pakistan, similar leagues have cropped up in Bangladesh, Australia and South Africa after the success of the IPL.”PPL was held back for several reason in the past, but this time we are very keen and serious on launching our league as an attempt to bring the international cricket back in the country.”

Michael Clarke believes the added responsibility of captaincy has been a factor in his remarkable year as a batsman. Clarke won his third Allan Border Medal in Melbourne on Monday and it was no surprise after a 12-month period in which he topped Australia’s run tally in both Test and one-day international cricket, and took over the captaincy from Ricky Ponting.In contrast, the previous year was much leaner for Clarke, who averaged 31.30 in Test cricket in the 12 months up until last year’s Allan Border Medal. The highlights of Clarke’s 2011-12 were his triple-century against India at the SCG and his double-hundred in the Adelaide Test two games later, but he made a ton in each of Australia’s four Test series and topped the run tally in three of those.”I think the added responsibility of captaining the team has probably made me stand up and lead from the front,” Clarke said. “People see the rewards when you stand up on the big stage, they don’t see the hard work you do off the field. When you have the chance to go and bat for Australia in the middle of the SCG or the Adelaide Oval, that’s the fun part, that’s the part where you just walk out and enjoy yourself because the hard work has been done.”With some young guys coming in to our team this summer it’s been crucial that the senior players have stood up. It’s a great reflection when you look at that leadership board for the Allan Border Medal you’ve got myself, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson – the senior players are on that board and I think that’s played a big part in the success we’ve had over the last 12 months.”And it has been a prosperous year for Clarke’s team as well as for himself. He is yet to lose a series as captain and started his tenure in the Test role with victory over Sri Lanka and over the past two months helped his side whitewash India 4-0. But in among those triumphs there have been lower points: their 47 all out in Cape Town and the loss to New Zealand in Hobart in particular.”I think it could have gone better, definitely,” Clarke said of his first year as captain. “I think over the past 12 months we’ve played some really good cricket but there’s been some patches that we’d like to forget as well. I think we’re heading in the right direction as a team. When you’re the No.1 one-day team in the world it’s really hard to stay on top of your game all the time; you have to keep finding new things, new ways to improve. You have to keep working hard, you can’t take anything for granted. Getting to the top of the tree is very hard but staying there is even harder.”The job we face as a Test team is we have three other teams in front of us. We know we have a lot of work to do. We see that every single day with the ICC rankings, we see very clearly where we sit. We have very clear goals there. I think we’re a long way from the team we want to be but I do believe we’re heading in the right direction.”Clarke won the Allan Border Medal by quite a distance from the second-placed Hussey and Watson, who came in third. Ponting was fourth, followed by the emerging fast man James Pattinson in fifth position and the batsman David Warner, who came sixth.

ScorecardPakistan Under-19s won a tight game against South Africa Under-19s by two wickets in the last over to take the three-match one-day series 2-1. Pakistan needed 22 off the last two overs when they lost their seventh wicket but Ehsan Adil smashed three sixes off 11 deliveries to bring up victory off the third ball of the final over. The chase had unravelled after a solid opening stand had been backed up by a 130-run second-wicket partnership between Babar Azam and Umar Waheed. The duo had lifted the score to 190 after 38 overs, leaving Pakistan with 75 to get off 72 with nine wickets intact. But the fall of Azam to Lizaad Williams led to a clutch of wickets falling. Prenelan Subrayen jolted Pakistan with strikes in successive overs. Waheed’s departure with the score on 231 further dented the chase but Adil’s cameo ensured that when he fell on the last ball of the 49th over, Pakistan needed only six off six.South Africa’s total had earlier been built on the back of Quinton de Kock’s 133 off 135 deliveries. But South Africa were unable to build on an opening partnership of 147 between de Kock and Murray Koetzee. They added only 117 in the 20.4 overs after the openers were separated.