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Scorecard
It took one month and five attempts last season for Middlesex to win a Championship match but after 20 wickets fell in 92.1 overs at Lord’s they will, barring a bizarre occurrence, have victory sealed against Essex in just over two days.Though the scorecard will excite the ECB’s eager pitch inspection team, the problems for Essex lay more overhead than underfoot as heavy skies brought enough swing to deliver 13 of the 20 scalps caught behind the wicket.How Alastair Cook must be longing for the help-yourself ease of Ashes cricket. The cauldron of Division Two has given him a chastening start to the season. His previous Championship outing this season, against Kent, brought just 37 runs, but at least that was spread over three days. Here he fell for 19 in the 13th over of the day and 25 barely a couple of hours later as Middlesex’s bowlers routed Essex for 115 shortly after lunch and again for 215 just before the day was out.Ravi Bopara deserves reward after turning down an IPL fortune for a chance to impress the Test selectors but after 56 runs from four outings his case might have been better served feasting on 20-over attacks. A forlorn Bopara tweeted his explanation: “No heavy rollers & tiflex balls is a recipe for low scores. Crap cricket!” But that might not be enough to convince Andy Flower. Twice Bopara fell to another fringe England player looking to impress: Steven Finn.Finn was the classiest of Middlesex’s seam showing and from his favourite Pavilion End bowled quicker than anyone in the match. His journey to the ground had been delayed by traffic but Tim Murtagh ensured Essex were immediately in trouble with two wickets in his opening spell.Corey Collymore, on his Championship debut for Middlesex after moving from Sussex, proved what a shrewd signing he was from the Nursery End. Open-chested medium-pace from a 33-year-old international reject might not sound the best advert for county cricket but his consistent, snaking swing was nothing short of compelling. Having had Cook dropped in the slips he trapped him playing around his front pad for the third wicket of the day. Matthew Walker was sent back a ball later for a duck and at 57 for 4 a bad day was looming for Essex.Their one hope was Bopara but Finn, admittedly with some fortune, won that battle. Bopara was pinned high enough on the pad to benefit from the doubt but umpire Martin Bodenham, an ex football referee, sent him on his way. Bopara was less than delighted, but you imagine Bodenham has seen worse. Some extra bounce from Finn did in James Foster, and the tail followed suit.Second time round, the sun finally poked through briefly, and while Cook and Jaik Mickleburgh were building a 58-run stand, a fight at least seemed possible. But Finn again intervened to hasten the next collapse. Cook shovelled a length ball down the pitch and Finn, who’d revived his habit of falling over in his follow through earlier in the spell, this time tumbled to good effect, scooping the ball inches from the turf.If there was some doubt about Bopara’s first-innings dismissal the second of the day was more decisive, edging a sharp outswinger to first slip for 4. Finn looked set for more but Gareth Berg instead claimed four wickets in five overs either side of tea as Essex limply gave way. The first, Matt Walker, was brilliantly taken on the rebound by John Simpson after Ollie Rayner parried the chance at slip, the next three offered more routine catching practice.Apparently there’s a wedding reception planned at Lord’s on Saturday. Thankfully, Tom Westley’s 59, the highest score of the match, ensured the happy couple will see some action but with just 54 needed for Middlesex they better arrive early.

A new Zimbabwe Cricket board has been elected following a special general meeting held in Harare on Friday. The elections were held in accordance with the ZC constitution.The following were elected to the board by way of ballot: Peter Chingoka, LV Bhila, E Chagadama, E Kandi, F Kapuya, M Kuchocha, WT Manase, A Maposa, B Matemayi, S Matshaka, CG Maunze, J Mbanda and M Mudukuti.The new board then unanimously re-elected Peter Chingoka as chairman of the board and Wilson T Manase as deputy chairman. Chingoka has been president of Zimbabwe Cricket since 1992, shortly after Zimbabwe got Test status. He became a target of a player strike in 2005, when certain cricketers refused to play till he quit the position.

Sourav Ganguly, who led India to the final of the 2003 World Cup, has called MS Dhoni the greatest Indian captain. Dhoni led India to victory in the 2011 World Cup, with a crucial unbeaten 91 in the final against Sri Lanka and Ganguly said Dhoni’s leadership record in each of the game’s three formats spoke for itself.”There can’t be any doubt about it,” Ganguly told . “Dhoni is the greatest captain of our country. His record is proof of that. Under Dhoni, India have won the Twenty20 World Cup and the Asia Cup. Under him, India have become the No. 1 ranked side in Test cricket. And now, we have won the World Cup. Obviously, he is the greatest ever captain to lead India.”Ganguly’s pronouncement came a day after Sachin Tendulkar rated Dhoni as the best captain he had played under. Dhoni made his international debut under Ganguly, before becoming a key player under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy. Eventually, Dhoni took over the reins of the side and Ganguly even played under him in the closing stages of his international career.Ganguly said he was sure India would win the tournament once they got past their 2003 nemesis, Australia. “When they beat Australia in the quarter-finals, I knew India would win the World Cup,” Ganguly said. “A lot of people thought Sri Lanka would win, but I was confident.”

Match Facts

February 26, Colombo
Start time 14:30 local time (09:00 GMT)
After his performance in Hambantota, Sri Lanka will want to find a place for Thisara Perera in their XI•AFP

Big Picture

When the World Cup comes to colourful Colombo on Saturday, the tournament will begin in earnest for two subcontinent teams. Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka opened with massive wins over Associate nations, but this will be their first real test in the competition. None of the smaller teams in Group A seem capable of challenging the Test nations, so the game will be important in terms of placings for the quarter-finals. And in a tournament whose first week has been loaded with one-sided matches, two teams packed with dynamic players also promise some high-voltage entertainment.Past records might suggest Pakistan have an edge – they have beaten Sri Lanka in each of their six encounters in the World Cups and have won their previous five games at the R Premadasa – but that will count for little. The two sides have not faced each other in cricket’s showpiece tournament since 1992, and the Premadasa has undergone extensive redevelopment. What will help Pakistan, though, is the relative lack of controversy surrounding the current team, a low-profile lead-up and the confidence of a recent series win, in New Zealand, behind them.Sri Lanka’s advantage is that most of their players have had a taste of how the new track will fare during the domestic limited-over tournament held in January. Traditionally, this has been a bat-first venue, especially in day-night games where the team chasing has won only one of the past 13 matches, but it remains to be seen how the re-laid pitch fares .

Form guide

(Most recent first)
Sri Lanka WWWLW
Pakistan WLWWW

Pitch and conditions

The pitch will be the centre of attention since it’s a re-laid track, and Saturday’s game will be the first international game to be played on it. It may not be too high scoring a game, if the domestic matches played since the stadium was re-developed are anything to go by. The highest score batting first in the one-dayers played in January was 225, a total which was easily defended. Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, though, expects the bare surface to be good for batting.

Watch out for…

Thisara Perera was outstanding with the ball against Canada, and picked loads of wickets whenever he got a chance in 2010 as well. He worked up real pace in Hambantota, and has provided the team management with the welcome headache of working out how to accommodate him, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara and Angelo Mathews in the XI. He also adds muscle to Sri Lanka’s lower-middle order.Shoaib Akhtar has weathered stacks of controversies and fitness problems to become one of the few constants in Pakistan’s team. There has not been any talk of injuries for eight months, a minor miracle given his past record. Age hasn’t slowed him down too much either; even at 35 he remains among the quickest bowlers in the world.

Team news

Pakistan have hinted they will stick to the same combination that played Kenya, which means Wahab Riaz and Saeed Ajmal are likely to remain on the bench. Waqar Younis has said Pakistan are pondering how to use Abdul Razzaq better, but for now he will continue to be an impact batsman at No. 8 and opening the bowling.Pakistan (probable): 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Kamran Akmal (wk), 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi (capt), 8 Abdul Razzaq, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Abdur Rehman, 11 Shoaib AkhtarThe main concern for Sri Lanka is the fitness of their pace spearhead, Malinga, who has a back strain. He missed Sri Lanka’s opening game, but he did bowl in the nets on Friday. The physio will take a call on Saturday whether Malinga will play. If he doesn’t, Sri Lanka could stick to the same XI that beat Canada.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

Stats and trivia

• Muttiah Muralitharan needs one more wicket to move past Wasim Akram’s tally of 55 wickets to become the second highest wicket-taker in World Cups.
• Sri Lanka have never beaten Pakistan in six World Cup matches, though the two haven’t met in the competition since 1992.
• One more stumping will take Sangakkara’s tally to eight, moving ahead of Adam Gilchrist and Moin Khan, with whom he current shares the record for most stumpings.
• This is Afridi’s fourth World Cup, but he is yet to make a half-century.

Quotes

“In the past we’ve played really well against him in this country. I don’t think we should worry about him that much; he is not 28 anymore. It is not going to be easy though. We’re prepared not only for him but the entire team.”

“I find it surprising that their name is not bandied about in the mix of potential World Cup winners as they have brilliant match winners with both bat and ball.”

Anand Katti, the left-arm spinner who played a key role in Karnataka’s dominance in the late nineties, has announced his retirement from first-class cricket. He played 46 first-class matches since his debut in 1996-97, taking 141 wickets at 25.85.Katti, 38, said his decision to quit was hastened by knee surgery he underwent last year. He played for Karnataka till the 2001-02 season, subsequently turning out for Assam.”Though I have been part of many Karnataka victories, the most memorable point of my career is my debut,” he said. “I made my debut in the Irani Cup and we won that match with a side sans stars.”I am fortunate enough to be a part of the Karnataka side that twice won the Ranji Trophy and the Irani Cup twice. I was also a part of the State side that played against South Africa, making my tenure a memorable one.”Katti said he would continue playing league cricket for State Bank of Mysore.

Scorecard
Abhinav Mukund is on 30 not out and will be the key to Tamil Nadu progressing to the semi-finals•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rajasthan took a huge step towards upsetting defending champions Mumbai, and earning a place in the semi-finals, by piling up 484 for 7 to lead by 232 with three wickets in hand at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Overnight batsmen Vineet Saxena and Hrishikesh Kanitkar extended their partnership to 240 to take Rajasthan past Mumbai’s first-innings total of 252, the first time in 50 years that Rajasthan had taken the first-innings lead against Mumbai, before Abhishek Nayar finally broke through, trapping Kanitkar lbw for 113.Nayar had Robin Bist caught behind soon afterwards and when Saxena departed for 143, having batted for eight-and-a-half hours, Mumbai might have harboured thoughts of restricting their deficit to manageable proportions. Rashmi Parida and Ashok Menaria had other ideas though, with the former making 53 and the latter still unbeaten on 71, to push Rajasthan past the 400-run mark. Vivek Yadav chipped in with 38 as well, adding 83 for the sixth wicket with Menaria, to leave Mumbai needing a miracle to hang on to their crown.

Scorecard
Railways fought back on the third day in Vadodara, but Baroda are still in the box seat to reach the semi-finals. Baroda had already got the crucial first-innings lead on Saturday, and extended it to 168 on Sunday. Railways, knowing they had to go for the win, scored at 5.23 an over in their second innings, reaching 220 for 4 by stumps. They will now need to continue that run-rate on the last day and hope they can bowl Baroda out in two sessions.Railways had the perfect start to the day when seamer Jai P Yadav dismissed centurion Kedar Devdhar in the third over of the morning, and then got Baroda captain Pinal Shah out for a duck. When seamer Anureet Singh had Rakesh Solanki caught behind for 23, Baroda had lost three wickets for five runs. Sankalp Vohra played a valuable innings for Baroda. He only managed 34 runs, but batted for a long time, which helped delay the start of Railways’ innings. He and Munaf Patel were involved in a 70-run last-wicket stand, with Munaf racing to 36 off 49 with four boundaries and a six. By the time Munaf was out, Baroda had added 113 runs on the third day and also crucially, taken up another 45.5 overs.Railways had to get quick runs in order to give themselves a chance in the match and Murali Kartik followed up his half-century in the first innings with a quick 28. His opening partner Shreyas Khanolkar went on to make 56 off 81. Prashant Awasthi gave the innings the impetus it needed with his 85 off 94 and was unbeaten at the end of the day.

Scorecard
Karnataka still hold the upper hand but Madhya Pradesh have batted themselves back into the match, reaching 312 for 7 in their second innings to lead by 153 runs with one day remaining at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. MP’s inning was built around two contrasting half-centuries: Naman Ojha made a patient 68 at the top of the order, taking 122 deliveries and batting for a shade under three hours, while Abbas Ali took the more adventurous route, needing just 60 balls for his 64, which included eight fours. Both batsmen fell victim to India seamer Abhimanyu Mithun, who returned the day’s best figures of 2 for 49. MP also lost two set batsmen to run-outs – KB Pawan catching Mohnish Mishra short of his crease for 45, and Stuart Binny doing likewise to dismiss Murtaza Ali for 38. Ankit Sharma on 24 and TP Sudhindra on 11 were the men at the crease when play ended.Resuming on an overnight score of 306 for 8, Muralidharen Gautam and Mithun pushed Karnataka to 351, before Mithun fell for 28, while Gautam departed soon after reaching his half-century, trapped in front by offspinner Jalaj Saxena, who ended with figures of 4 for 42. MP will need to bowl Karnataka out to progress, since the latter took the first-innings lead.

Scorecard
Another late start on the third day, and the prediction of another fog-affected day on Monday, means the match between Tamil Nadu and Haryana in Rohtak could come down to run-rate. Tamil Nadu have played 24 overs in their innings and need to play another six for the run-rate in the on-going match to come into play. If they don’t play at least 30 overs in their innings, then they will go through because they had a better net run-rate than Haryana in the group stage. Haryana scored at 3.26 in their innings while Tamil Nadu have scored at 3.00 in the 24 overs they have batted.Thick fog delayed the start of play on Sunday to 3pm, and Haryana decided to declare on their overnight score of 379 for 6. Seamer Sanjay Budhwar gave them an early breakthrough, dismissing opener Arun Karthik with the score on 39. Tamil Nadu’s two most prolific batsmen this season Abhinav Mukund and Subramaniam Badrinath put together 33, before Badrinath fell to Joginder Sharma just before stumps.Haryana still have a chance to bowl Tamil Nadu out if they have time to get in enough overs on the last day. From Tamil Nadu’s point of view, they will need to up their scoring rate.

Reece Young, the New Zealand wicketkeeper, has pointed to his move from Auckland to Canterbury in July as the key to his call-up to the national squad. While at Auckland, Young played alongside Gareth Hopkins, the man he has replaced, and had to play as a specialist batsman whenever Hopkins was in the team.”In Auckland, I was batting up the order and was a senior player, but I wasn’t keeping consistently,” Young told the . “That was the reason for leaving: to forge my own path and play head to head against Hoppy. Down here [in Canterbury] I get to be a senior player, bat up the order, and keep wickets consistently.”Young has been named in the 13-man squad for the two-match Test series against Pakistan that begins in Hamilton on January 7 next year, as well as in the Twenty20 squad for the three-match series beginning December 26.Hopkins was not only axed from the squad for the Pakistan Test and Twenty20 series, but left out of the 30 probables for the 2011 World Cup. He played all three Tests on New Zealand’s tour of India in November, after Brendon McCullum decided he was not going to keep wickets anymore in Tests, and said his lack of batting form on that tour was what resulted in his exclusion.”To be one day in the starting XI and then not in the 30 is a long way to fall but I missed my opportunity and I have to look inwardly,” Hopkins, who is 34, said. “I felt I had a pretty good tour [of India] with the gloves but I let myself down with a lack of runs.”Hopkins could only manage 44 runs in five innings with the bat during the Test series and then got only 33 runs in the four ODIs he played. He averages 14.75 in 25 ODIs.The 31-year-old Young has averaged 54.96 in first-class cricket in the last three years. He has played 99 first-class games, which means a debut Test against Pakistan will be his 100th, and said the 12 years of experience he had in domestic cricket would hold him in good stead when he played for the national side.”I’m really glad to have put in the time in domestic cricket before I got my opportunity,” Young said. “I know what it’s like to succeed and to fail and I know my game.”Young said he had heard rumours he may be picked for the Pakistan series but didn’t get his hopes up till he got the call. “I did realise there was an opportunity,” he said. “Mark Greatbatch called me this [Wednesday] morning, it was a brief conversation, but it was obviously one I was wanting. It’s a great Christmas present.”

ScorecardChris Hartley helped Queensland recover, with an unbeaten 64•Getty Images

James Hopes and Chris Hartley rescued Queensland from a precarious position on a slow-moving opening day against Victoria at the MCG. The Bulls recovered from 5 for 89 to reach 5 for 226 by stumps, with the captain Hopes unbeaten on 75 and the wicketkeeper Hartley on 64.The early stages of the day were a struggle for the batsmen, after Cameron White sent the visitors in on a pitch tinged with green. Clint McKay picked up two early wickets, trapping Ryan Broad lbw with an offcutter before adding Craig Philipson, who was caught behind for 4.Wade Townsend and Chris Lynn tried to steady the ship, but it was desperately slow going. Townsend was caught behind off Will Sheridan for 31 off 120 balls and the man who replaced him, Ben Dunk, soon became the first victim of Damien Wright.Wright was next to impossible to get away, and finished with 2 for 25 from 20 overs, finishing with the wicket of Lynn, who was bowled for 24 from 102. Hopes and Hartley found it much easier to score and they’ll be aiming to push on to a strong total on the second day.