A century by Salman Butt, leading the Lahore Lions, was overshadowed as his side were pipped by the Islamabad Leopards in the opening match of the ABN-AMRO Cup National One-day Tournament Silver League at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday.The Lions, put in to bat first, compiled a score of 236-9 in their allotted 50 overs, a target the Leopards reached with two balls and two wickets to spare. Butt, who has been placed among the five reserves for Pakistan’s World Cup 2007 campaign, remained unbeaten on 129, his ninth hundred in this form and his highest.It didn’t matter much as solid knocks from Bazid Khan (56), Bilal Asad and Raheel Majeed saw the visitors home. Majeed was particularly fluent, his 43 coming from just 30 balls. Asad’s innings comleted a fine all-round performance, complementing his 3 for 30 earlier with a 30-ball 34.The two teams shared the Silver League trophy last season, when the final was rained off in Islamabad without a single ball being bowled.Multan Tigers, with Usman Tariq and Saeed Anwar jnr unseparated, thrashed Quetta Bears by ten wickets in their opening round Silver League match at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.Tariq remained unbeaten on 51 and Anwar on 32 as the Tigers reached the target in 22 overs, in a match reduced by rain, to 25 overs a side. The win was set up Imranullah Aslam’s leg-spin, the 26-year-old from Bahawalpur picking up a career-best 4 for 12..Quetta opener Shoaib Khan made 39 and his second-wicket stand with Umar Javed brought 45 runs, but the Bears then lost nine wickets in just 11 overs as three batsmen were run out.Hyderabad Hawks also beat Abbottabad Rhinos with ease in their opening round silver league match at the Diamond Club Ground on Saturday.The match had been reduced to a 20-over affair due to wet conditions and after being put in, the Rhinos were bowled out for a paltry 105 in 17.5 overs.Hyderabad reached their target for the loss of only two wickets in 16.2 overs, captain Faisal Athar making an unbeaten 36 off 49 balls with five fours. Shahid Qambrani added 27 before being run out.Riaz Kail topscored for Abbottabad with 30 and wicketkeeper Ahmed Said hit 26 but it proved too little too late.

Dwayne Smith has justified his selection for the World Cup with a match-winning performance in the opening game against Pakistan on Tuesday. When West Indies’ squad was announced in February, there was strong opposition to Smith’s inclusion.However, Smith repaid the faith when he was adjudged Man of the Match for hitting 32 off 15 balls and taking 3 for 36, including the crucial wickets of Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq. “I’m always confident in myself and I don’t worry too much about what people say,” Smith told after the victory. “I just go out there and do my job, and do it to the best of my ability.”It was a great start for me personally, but I think it was a solid team performance and one that will give us plenty of confidence as we look towards the remainder of the tournament. Although I have been pushed lower and lower in the batting order, it has not really affected my confidence. It has just made me realise that I have to work harder and harder in the nets, and that is what I am prepared to do.”In 20 matches leading up to the World Cup, Smith had averaged 7.40 with the bat and 38.43 with the ball. Gordon Greenidge, the convenor of selectors, had said that he was not convinced about Smith’s selection.”Personally, I’m not convinced. I’m partly convinced. I feel that the guy has a lot going for him but he doesn’t show it as often as we would like him to,” Greenidge had told . “Unfortunately, in recent times, his bowling takes more precedence than his batting. I would like to see him develop more into a total player, an all-round player.”The coach Bennett King, however, backed Smith’s potential and said he was a matchwinner with the bat. Brian Lara also supported Smith and wanted him to go from strength to strength. “His performance was excellent, and he knows that, and from here what he wants to do is build on it, not just sit back and think I’ve started well and that’s it,” Lara said. “We’ve hopefully got ten more games in the tournament and he is looking for a performance like this every time.” West Indies face Zimbabwe in their second group match at Sabina Park on Monday.

Peshawar Panthers were beaten by Lahore Eagles by 26 runs in their last preliminary round match at the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi, but still made the final of the ABN-AMRO Cup Gold League, and they will now meet Sialkot Stallions at the National Stadium on Monday.Both sides, as well as Karachi Dolphins finished with an identical position of 16 points each, but Peshawar remained ahead on the basis of net run-rate. Sialkot Stallions had already qualified for the final, having collected 20 points from their six matches of which they won five.The Panthers, who put the Eagles in after winning the toss, did well to bowl their opponents out for 214 in the 48th over. The Panthers were then restricted to a score of 188 for 8 in their 50 overs and lost the match.Lahore wicketkeeper Humayun Farhat hammered a run-a-ball 55 with five fours and six and helped add 52 for the seventh wicket with Junaid Zia (19). The Panthers’ slow left-arm bowler Zohaib Khan was brilliant with a haul of 6 for 37 while wicketkeeper Zulfiqar Jan effected four stumpings.Yasir Hameed top-scored for the Panthers with 47 off only 35 balls with seven fours and a six. Jannisar Khan later made an unbeaten 33 off 60 balls with a solitary boundary.Almost all the Eagles bowlers chipped in with a wicket or two and did very well by keeping the Panthers batsmen and scoring in check.***********Last season’s champions Faisalabad Wolves plummeted to their sixth defeat in as many matches, as Karachi Zebras beat them by 25 runs at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Sports Complex Stadium in Karachi. Karachi Zebras batted first and scored 248 for 7 in their allotted 50 overs. The Wolves were then bowled out for 223 in 47.3 overs.There was really an inconsequential match as neither team was in contention for Monday’s tournament final and Karachi Zebras finished at number five in the seven-team table. The Wolves with six straight losses and no points ended at rock bottom.The day was highlighted by a bowling effort of Karachi seamer Imran Javed who took 5 for 39. The top-score came from Zebras’ in-form opener Khurram Manzoor, who hit 61 off 90 balls with seven fours in a 90-run opening partnership with Asif Zakir (37).Faisal Iqbal hit a run-a-ball 51 with three fours and a six. He then held three catches in the field. The Wolves were off to a sound start of 72 in 11 overs but the middle order stumbled. Both captain Misbah-ul-Haq (4) and Naved Latif (0), two of their region’s best batsmen, both fell cheaply.******Fawad Alam’s allround performance helped Karachi Dolphins defeat Rawalpindi Rams by seven wickets at the National Stadium in Karachi. Alam took 5 for 53 with his left-arm spinners and blasted 127 off just 88 balls as his side chased down the target of 254 in just 34.4 overs.Alam recorded his best bowling figures and his ton was his second in domestic limited overs, striking 15 fours and two sixes. The Dolphins lost two wickets with only 20 on board. Opener Khalid Latif and Fawad then added an incredible 213 for the third wicket in just 29 overs. Khalid, with his career’s third century, remained unbeaten till the end, his 100 coming off 99 balls with 11 fours and two sixes.For Rawalpindi, three batsmen contributed half-centuries. Wicketkeeper Ali Sarfraz made an unbeaten 65 off 56 balls with four fours and two sixes. Opener Adnan Mufti’s 58 came off 73 balls while Usman Saeed hit 53 off 99 balls with one four.Yet, inspite of having taken their points tally to 16 as Peshawar Panthers and Lahore Eagles did the same, Karachi Dolphins couldn’t qualify for the tournament final. The Panthers have joined Sialkot Stallions in Monday’s final, here at the National Stadium, on the basis of a superior net run-rate.

Genius knows its worth. Reclining back in his chair, signs of a little belly now, Muttiah Muralitharan straightened slightly as he was asked if he was pleased to have got second use of the surface. The pitch did, after all, afford a little turn. “The wicket didn’t turn much,” he began saying, sincerely enough, before those eyes jumped alive, “it’s just that I have the ability to turn the ball.” Pressmen, baying for the Indian captain’s blood moments ago, broke into spontaneous laughter. Off the field now, but it is the joy which Murali brings.For one of his calibre, 3 for 41 was all in a day’s work. As ever, it is manner that speaks of the champion. At nets before Sri Lanka’s first group-stage match, he bounded in for an hour to right-handers from round the wicket and only round the wicket. It was evident that he was trying to get beyond the bowler who till some years ago was deemed a reluctant operator from that side of the wicket, limiting in whatever small measure his vast range, narrowing, specifically his chances of winning the lbw.Game time, and he snaffled Virender Sehwag at slip with a superb piece of bowling from round, and then trapped Mahendra Singh Dhoni first ball lbw from the same angle. Upon the second dismissal, Murali turned back and ran all the way to long-off, into the arms of Chaminda Vaas. “I have always been bowling with him,” he said later, “and we have more than a thousand wickets; in one-day cricket, we have nearly 800 wickets. So I enjoy bowling with Chaminda. I wish to thank the team, they gave both of us a break for the trip to India. If we had gone on that tour, we would have been very tired. So I am looking fresh and Chaminda is looking fresh.”As if his bowling effort was not enough, Murali also took a spectacular catch to finish the innings of Sourav Ganguly, topping it off with a swallow dive. “I have been trying to improve my fielding, because everyone in the team sometimes thinks I am too old! So I want to make a point to those people. I want to show them I can field better than anyone else.”The Sri Lankans themselves had a point to prove, having lost to India at home in two series over the past year-and-a-half. “Any side at home is stronger,” said their captain Mahela Jayawardene. “If you take us in Sri Lanka, we are much stronger than anybody. You know the wickets, you have the support of the crowds, especially when you are playing in India. You have 30,000-40,000 in most stadiums, and in Kolkata you have 80,000 shouting for you. So it is totally different. That is why when you guys asked me in India, ‘You are playing India in the World Cup’, I said ‘Yes, but not in India. We are playing in the Caribbean.'”What we tried to do over the last year or so is that we tried to play a lot of cricket away from home. We wanted to compete away from home, improve ourselves and see where we can be. The practice that we have been doing over the last 12 months has groomed us to compete abroad, get adjusted to wickets and conditions quickly, and play some smart cricket.”The Lankans in this tournament they have carried a real vibe, and while the work of their champions surprises no one, the maturity and consistency of the younger members has been impressive. “A lot of credit should go to our young guys, the way they batted in really tough conditions. We knew it was going to be pretty tough, especially against the Indian attack. That ball was doing a lot because they used a fresh wicket, it hadn’t been used during this tournament at all.”So we knew there was going to be a lot of movement. We managed to keep wickets in hand. I thought Upul (Tharanga) batted really well and Chamara (Silva) once again showed what a good cricketer he is. He batted through the middle period and got us to the 230-240 mark. It is really good to see the way we built our innings. The way we handled the situation and the way the Indian handled the situation, probably was the factor that made the difference.”Delighted as he was to defeat the neighbours in their place, Jayawardene would much rather that India stay on in the competition. “We would have loved to beat India and also see them going through to the Super Eights because they can beat some of the other teams as well. That would have been an advantage for us. So we haven’t written India off yet. I don’t think they are out of the tournament yet if my calculations are right.”Much too early, as is our wont in the media, Jayawardene was asked to compare this side with the World Cup-winning side a decade ago. “That 1996 side was an amazing team,” he said. “They just outplayed everybody. They created new waves in one-day cricket. They did a brilliant job. For us, it is all about just taking one game at a time. Things have changed. There are lots of good sides and you can’t make any mistakes. For us, it is focus and consistency. That’s the most important thing. As long as we do the hard work and keep going – that’s the main theme of this team.”

The cool and absolute demolition of South Africa was judged by Ricky Ponting as Australia’s best win of the tournament and ominously enough for Sri Lanka and all the millions of underdog-backers in the world, he felt their best was still to come.”To bowl them out for that total on that wicket – and South Africa are a very, very good cricket team – it was definitely our best performance,” Ponting said with a serene beam. “But we still have some improvement to come in the game to come. Generally when the big games come around the Australian team stands up.”From the opening minutes of the match, when Graeme Smith was pressured into losing his wicket, there was little respite for the South Africans. If Ponting confessed to having had mixed feelings about the toss yesterday, it was no less clear this morning. In the final analysis it could not have worked out better.”It was always going to be a crucial toss with the wicket looking pretty dry at the start,” he said. “It could have been pretty slow later on. I thought 5 for 27 was a terrific start to the game. Bracks [Nathan Bracken] got us an early wicket again. Glenn [McGrath] does what he does most times when he’s given the new ball. It was a dream start. They were under pressure from the first over of the day, which is what I expected the guys to be able to do.”Was he surprised by South Africa’s shot selection in the morning? “They wanted to come out there really aggressive and put their noses in front and get some momentum their way,” he said. “Sometimes in one-day cricket that comes off, some other times it doesn’t. I must admit going that hard early was exactly what we wanted them to do.”Their openers have played that way all through the tournament. Smith in particular has been very, very aggressive. We just bowled well, did things really well. Glenn’s ball to get Kallis was a beauty. If he’s going to go down the track and back away then what better ball to bowl than a yorker on off stump. Once we got on a roll we were hard to stop. Taity [Shaun Tait] coming on and getting a few wickets was terrific for us.”Whether it was a case of benevolence in victory or not, Ponting desisted from using the c-word. Indeed, he claimed: “I’ve never used that word in my life to tell the truth and I won’t. They were outplayed by a better team, as simple as that. One-day cricket can be like that some times. There’s been a lot of talk about mental scars, having lost games to us in the past, maybe that was playing on their minds, but I’m not going to sit here and call them chokers.”Unsurprisingly a lot of talk revolved around the effect of Australia’s utter domination of the competition, which seemed to amuse the captain. “It’s funny, it’s only a few weeks ago I was sitting here and answering questions about how open this World Cup appeared to be and how much more open it was than any other,” he said.

“We’re doing a lot of things really well at the moment, whether we’re doing it better than any of the other teams in the last World Cup I don’t know. But I know this current group is very excited going into the final game and being ready for what’s going to be one of the most enjoyable days of our lives.”Enough little games have been played out between Sri Lanka and Australia before the big day on Saturday. Mahela Jayawardene pulled a cute stunt in the Super Eights and Ponting thereafter spent time saying it was Sri Lanka who lost a chance to get ahead.”I thought they had a bit of a chance to make a statement against us in the last game,” he said, “and they chose not to by resting three of their best bowlers.” “They’re a good team, no doubt about that, and they played some very good cricket yesterday. I really like the match-up of Australia v Sri Lanka. But all that we’ve done in the last seven weeks, to win our games as comprehensively as we have, that gives us a lot of confidence. The wicket in Barbados has a bit of pace and bounce. That should play into our hands beautifully.”We’re going to be doing nothing different from what we’ve done all tournament. If you talk about going out and hitting a hundred off 70 balls, if you put that sort of pressure on yourself you’re not going to succeed. If you let your skills take over you will. That’s the way we’ve been talking in this tournament. To tell the truth we won’t even be talking about winning the final – we’re going to be talking about preparing well to give ourselves a chance to play a good game.”

Sachin Tendulkar has opted out of the Afro-Asia Cup starting on June 6. He will be replaced by Sourav Ganguly in the 14-member squad. Zaheer Khan has also been included in the revised squad, joining Dilhara Fernando and Mashrafe Mortaza as the replacements for Shoaib Akhtar, Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga.”Following the unavailability of some players named in the original squads on May 11, the selectors have named their final squads for the three ODI matches in Bangalore and Chennai on June 6, 9 and 10 and the Twenty20 match on June 5,” a statement clarified.Sreesanth, who had to opt out of the Bangladesh tour due to injury, makes his return to international cricket after being named as Munaf Patel’s replacement in the 11-member Twenty20 team. The Twenty20 match will be played in Bangalore on June 5, and will be followed by three ODIs – on June 6 in Bangalore, and on June 9 and 10 in Chennai. Asia ODI squadSanath Jayasuriya, Virender Sehwag, Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Yousuf, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Dilhara Fernando, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad AsifAsia Twenty20 teamTamim Iqbal, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Ashraful, Shoaib Malik (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Farveez Maharoof, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafe Mortaza, Sreesanth

England 225 (Bell 56, Edwards 5 for 45) beat West Indies 146 (Chanderpaul 53*, Broad 3-20) by 79 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

After producing arguably their most disciplined bowling performance of the entire tour, West Indies squandered a golden opportunity to go 1-0 up in the best-of-three one-day series by shedding four wickets in 12 balls inside the first seven overs of their run-chase. Once again, Shivnarine Chanderpaul resembled the boy on the burning deck as he ground his way to 53 not out from 100 balls, but the match had been lost long before he was left stranded with 10.1 overs of the innings remaining.Up until the start of West Indies’ innings, it seemed there could be only one winner. Chris Gayle won the toss and chose to bowl first under overcast skies, and his bowlers responded with a heady combination of aggression and accuracy. The fiery Fidel Edwards claimed the lion’s share of the spoils with 5 for 45, his best ODI figures since he took six on debut against Zimbabwe, but it was Ravi Rampaul and Daren Powell who established the stranglehold by conceding just 46 runs in the first 13 overs of England’s innings.England’s eventual total of 225 contained just 12 boundaries, the first of which didn’t arrive until as late as the eighth over. Matt Prior, by all accounts an opener in the pinch-hitting mould, grafted his way to 34 from 65 balls; and even the mighty Kevin Pietersen was made to look ordinary. He had scratched his way to 33 from 47 balls before he lost patience and slapped Dwayne Bravo to gully (148 for 3).The mainstay of England’s performance was Ian Bell, a player who copes better than most with being becalmed. Back in the side after a groin strain, he compiled 56 from 75 balls before being run out in a horrible mid-pitch mix-up with Owais Shah – an accident that had been threatening for some time because of Bell’s continued habit of ball-watching.At 181 for 4 after 42.4 overs, bad weather interrupted England’s innings for the best part of an hour – upon the resumption, they lost their last six wickets for 44, including four in four overs to a pumped-up Edwards. Only Shah remained to guide them to any sort of serviceable total. He made 42 from 38 balls as England’s tail crumbled around him, before being run out with one ball of the innings remaining.Such a meagre target should have been easily attainable, especially with the sun breaking through to ease the conditions for batting. Instead, West Indies’ problems began as early as the fourth over, when Gayle inexplicably tucked a loose ball off his hip and all the way to Stuart Broad on the backward-square leg boundary. At 9 for 1, with their captain and key strokeplayer back in the pavilion, the stage was set for a bout of jitters.James Anderson was in the mood to exploit West Indies’ uncertainties. Finding good pace and movement, and zipping the ball down the slope at will, he bowled Runako Morton for 0 with an inducker, then followed up one delivery later with the big scalp of Marlon Samuels, who misjudged the length of a short ball, and gloved an attempted leave to the keeper.

Three balls later, Anderson was in the action again, this time as a fielder at third man. His fast, flat throw – coupled with a smart take from the keeper Matt Prior – beat a suicidal piece of running from Devon Smith, and at 13 for 4, West Indies’ innings was in tatters. Chanderpaul dropped anchor, as he has done all summer, while Bravo did his best to keep the momentum going with 29 from 34 balls, in a sixth-wicket partnership of 61.The drinks break, however, wrecked Bravo’s concentration – upon the resumption, Broad nipped his second ball off the seam, and Prior accepted a routine snick with glee. Two balls later, Denesh Ramdin lost his off stump to one that kept low, and Broad added a third when Dwayne Smith wafted loosely outside off stump for Prior to snaffle a thin inside edge.West Indies had been reduced to 93 for 7 and their tormentor of the Test series, Monty Panesar, hadn’t even made an appearance. When he did, in the 22nd over, he needed just eight deliveries to make his mark. Daren Powell was utterly deceived in flight and pinned plumb in front of middle-and-leg, and that was emphatically that.Rampaul did delay the inevitable, and in quite some style, making a career-best 24 in a stand of 35 with Chanderpaul that reduced the deficit to double-figures. But Plunkett, who deserved his success after a torrid time in the Test series, induced a leading edge that Broad circled beneath at mid-off, and the match was sealed, appropriately enough, by England’s new captain, Paul Collingwood, who collected a throw from the deep and whipped off the bails with Edwards still floundering for the crease. His one-day captaincy career is up and running with a hard-earned victory.

Pakistan interviewed Richard Done, the former New South Wales fast bowler and ICC high performance manager, for the position of coach, a post they hope to fill in before the team tours Scotland in July. Done, 51, is one of three Australians on Pakistan’s shortlist, along with Dav Whatmore and Geoff Lawson.”Done has been interviewed and in the final phase Whatmore and Lawson will be interviewed before making the final announcement shortly,” Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, said.Done, who succeeded Bob Woolmer as the ICC’s high performance manager in 2004 after Woolmer was named Pakistan’s coach, previously visited Pakistan in 2001 on a coaching assignment with the National Academy in Lahore. His main focus on that visit was to give guidance on coach training and suggestions on Academy work.Apart from his stint with the ICC, Done also worked with the Australian Academy and the Queensland Academy of Sport. He played ten first-class matches from 1978-79 to 1985-86 and took 21 wickets at 41.76. “Done has worked with Rodney Marsh in the highly praised Australian Cricket Academy,” Ashraf said.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

West Indies produced a near-perfect one-day performance as they claimed the series against England with a handsome 93-run victory at Trent Bridge. Set up by another well-paced batting display, built around contrasting innings from Chris Gayle and Runako Morton, West Indies’ bowlers then lifted their game to a new level as England never threatened to approach the target.The result was a triumph for Gayle, who was focussed on his task from the moment he faced up to the day’s first ball. He anchored the innings by batting 42 overs for an uncharacteristically sedate 82 before marshalling his team expertly in the field. He may have fallen out with his board, but whatever problems he has encountered over the last two weeks have been used as a major motivation and his team played with a huge smile on their face. After the drubbing at Lord’s there would have been long odds on West Indies taking the trophy and there are flickers of a brighter future.The most pleasing aspect about this win for West Indies was that Shivnarine Chanderpaul contributed only 33 – a relative failure given the riches of the tour – but others stood up to take the slack. Morton played a mature innings, exploding in the final 10 overs as West Indies outdid their Edgbaston effort by smashing 116 runs, then Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards showed the duel threat they can pose.West Indies’ innings was rounded off by a flourishing stand of 92 in less than eight overs between Morton and Dwayne Bravo and from the outset they were pumped up in the field. Powell steamed in with the new ball and Matt Prior fenced outside off stump to hand him his first wicket, but it was his fifth over which provided the most compelling viewing.Alastair Cook slashed hard to backward point after making another start, and the crowd readied themselves in anticipation of Kevin Pietersen’s arrival on his former home ground. Powell greeted him with a rapid bouncer, which reared over Pietersen’s head and Denesh Ramdin’s gloves as it flew away for four byes. The next delivery was quick and outside off stump, Pietersen couldn’t resist having a flamboyant drive and the resultant edge travelled at high speed to Devon Smith, at second slip, who held on at the second attempt after spinning around to take the rebound.As at Edgbaston there was constant chatter from West Indies towards the batsmen and the huddle after Powell removed Pietersen was the most exuberant of the tour. Bell and Owais Shah produced a brief rally – Shah elegantly pulling Powell into the stand – but Edwards broke through, at the end of a fine over, when Bell drove loosely to backward point where Dwayne Smith held his second low catch. Shah, one of the positives from this series for England, reached his third ODI fifty off 63 balls but any faint hopes they retained of making an impression vanished when he top-edged a lap off Smith.Paul Collingwood scurried and scampered the best he could, but a quicker delivery from Bravo ended his series providing confirmation, if any were needed, that the job of lifting England from the bottom of one-day cricket will be a long and arduous assignment. The contrast between the teams was emphasised by Gayle’s reflex slip catch to remove Dimitri Mascarenhas and Marlon Samuels’ low swoop at deep midwicket.

England were off the pace throughout the day, their performance typified by a fielding display that included three drop catches and some shoddy out-cricket when the fielders were put under pressure. Both Gayle and Morton were offered lives on 4 and made England pay. The tone was set early when Cook dropped a fierce drive off Gayle at short cover, then on 20 when Bell missed a straightforward effort at backward point. Bell had earlier held a smart catch to remove Devon Smith, but made a complete mess of the second offering and barely got a hand on the ball.Gayle picked off anything over-pitched from the England bowlers and Chanderpaul quickly carried on from where he left off at Edgbaston. Liam Plunkett managed to extract a rare edge only to watch it fly wide of Shah at the lone slip, and when Monty Panesar was given a bowl it didn’t take long for Chanderpaul to deposit him down the ground for the day’s first six.One of the few moments to go England’s way was Chanderpaul’s top-edge which was well taken by Pietersen, over his shoulder at midwicket, and they levelled proceedings by removing Samuels early. However, Gayle’s 85-ball half-century was holding the innings together and, when Gayle was Plunkett’s third wicket, Morton took over to ensure his captain’s hard work wasn’t wasted.The fifth-wicket stand of 92 with Bravo put England under severe pressure as the pair ran smartly between the wickets and took advantage of any fumbles. Morton took 17 off Stuart Broad’s eighth over, including a brutal straight six, and Bravo freed his arms through the off side with a string of powerful boundaries. It was another momentum-changing passage of play and West Indies didn’t loosen their grip. There are many problems for them still to confront, but for one day at least they have all be forgotten.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has said that it would adopt the same stance as the ICC with regard to the Indian Cricket League (ICL) which is threatening to sign up some of the top cricketers in the game. The board arrived at this decision at their monthly meeting held at its headquarters in Colombo on Monday.Kangadaran Mathivanan, the board secretary, said the ICC was due to meet in October where a decision is expected. “We will follow the lead given by the ICC,” he said.Mathivanan also stated that no Sri Lankan player had approached the board with regard to joining the ICL, with the exception of former captain Marvan Atapattu who had requested to be released from his contract. The board accepted his request and Atapattu will be released from his contract from October 1.When asked about Atapattu’s future as a Test player, Mathivanan said that it depended on his availability and also whether the national selectors are in favour of him. Atapattu has not been in good terms with the selection committee headed by Ashantha de Mel, the former Sri Lankan fast bowler. Although a part of the World Cup squad, Atapattu was cold shouldered and not selected to play in any of Sri Lanka’s 11 matches. He was left out of the one-day series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, and when the selectors finally picked him for the home series against Bangladesh, he snubbed them by saying he was unavailable due to family commitments. He proceeded to England where he is currently playing for Lashings in the English league. He is one of the Sri Lankan players whose name has been strongly linked with ICL.Mathivanan further stated that all national players, who are currently on a month’s break from cricket after the Bangladesh series, will have to report to Colombo by August 20, with the exception of those playing county cricket. Sri Lanka are due to leave for South Africa for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship on September 5.”There is no point getting them down here at this stage because they are already at training and playing matches for the counties,” said Mathivanan. “They can come at a later date.”Mathivanan said that Sri Lanka would announce the final 15-member squad for the championship soon, before the ICC’s deadline of August 15. Sri Lanka’s new coaching staff are due to arrive by mid August and commence training and practice from August 18. Trevor Bayliss has replaced Tom Moody as coach, Paul Farbrace from Trevor Penney as assistant coach and Jade Roberts from CJ Clarke as the team’s trainer.