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Scorecard

Neisha Pratt, the Hong Kong captain, almost single-handedly subjected hostsMalaysia to a 114-run trouncing at the Johor Cricket Academy in the opening match of the ACC women’s tournament.Pratt made a thumping, chanceless 71 off 77 deliveries as Hong Kongpiled on 143 runs off their allotted 30 overs. In reply, Malaysia couldonly muster a mere 29, that too off 29.5 overs.The hosts almost seemed to be playing for a draw. Opening batsman Emylia Eliani took36 deliveries for her 5 runs – but that was better than Norlida Hamid, whowas out without scoring after 45 deliveries. The crowd waited patiently while 30deliveries were played back to the bowler, and were put out of theirmisery when Kaori Iida clipped her Hamid’s off-stump.Few runs came off the bat for Malaysia, with 14 of the 29 runs coming in extras. Pratt shone with the ball too, capping the day with ahaul of four wickets.Pratt’s innings of 71 contained three boundaries and a couple of sixes.She played some powerful strokes, hitting on the up and it was only theintroduction of the slower bowlers that curtailed her run-scoring.The margin of victory could have been higher for Hong Kong, who were at86 for 1 at one stage – with Pratt going strong – and looking likely tosail past their pre-match target of 150. However, they managed only 57in the last 15 overs, the batsmen tied down by disciplined bowling.The bowlers though did benefit from umpires being lenient on a number ofdeliveries that went down the leg side.

Australia’s usually impeccable preparation ahead of big tournaments has taken a hit after they were troubled by the amount of swing fast bowlers achieved in the warm-up matches for the ICC World Twenty20. However Tim Nielsen, the coach, said Australia’s loss to South Africa and narrow win against New Zealand in the practice games had been valuable learning experiences.”The fact that the ball has swung quite a bit has caught us off guard,” Nielsen said after Sunday’s defeat. “It was good for the batsmen to get out in the middle and there might be some benefits in the fact that the lower order did get a bat because if we need them later in the tournament, they’ve had a bit of a chance to have a hit.”The movement in the air was a positive for Australia in the New Zealand game, when Ben Hilfenhaus’ outswing brought him 3 for 11 from three overs. Against South Africa, however, Australia’s attack failed to have the same impact.AB de Villiers, who blasted 65 from 35 balls in South Africa’s win, said their performance would give them confidence leading into the tournament. “Victory is always important, especially against Australia because they’re a well-drilled side,” de Villiers said. “It wasn’t just a warm-up game. It’s a bit of a psychological advantage to beat the Aussies.”New Zealand’s confidence took a blow after their practice games brought convincing losses to Australia and West Indies. Daniel Vettori, the captain, said it was reasonable to expect his side would take a while to warm up.”We have come out of a winter with two months of not much action and being indoors all the time,” Vettori said. “It’s been good to get some action and whilst we are getting some things right we need to get our game all together to challenge in this tournament.”In New Zealand’s loss to West Indies it was Daren Powell who troubled them the most, finishing with an incredible 3 for 4 from his four overs. Powell said even though Twenty20 was a batsman’s game the early season conditions in South Africa might help the fast bowlers.”Never in your dreams you can think of bowling a dream spell like that,” Powell said. “Basically I went out there to bowl line and length and pick up wickets, the pitch was assisting me with the areas I was bowling but what I also tried to do was vary my length.”

Haryana right arm medium pacer Nitin Aggarwal (5 for 16) and legspinner Amit Mishra (5 for 10) reaped a rich harvest of wickets asHimachal Pradesh collapsed to 52 allout in their first innings on theopening day of their North Zone Cooch Behar Trophy cricket match atMaharaja Aggarsain Stadium here on Sunday.Put into bat, Himachal Pradesh made a disastrous start. None of theHimachal batsmen looked in touch as both Aggarwal and Mishra ranthrough the side. Their domination was so complete that five of thebatsmen failed to score. Only Shashi Kumar (13) could reach the doublefigure mark. Himachal innings’s folded in just 25.5 overs.In reply, Haryana made a solid reply in the remaining 240 minutes toscore 230 runs for the loss of one wicket including an unbeatencentury by opener Manvinder Bisla. Bisla (143 not out, 205 balls 214s, two 6s) in the company of Bhuvanesh Sharma (62) put Haryana incommand with a 158-run opening stand in 49 overs. After a 163 minutestay Bhuvanesh departed, falling leg before to Shashi. Then IshanGandha (16 not out) joined Bisla to and the two remained unbeaten tillstumps.

Sri Lanka, who are hosting the fourth Women’s Asia Cup, are confident they can stop India’s domination of the event. India have won the last three tournaments, something the home side are determined to turn around.Shashikala Siriwardena, Sri Lanka’s 23-year-old captain, said that her team have been in intense training for seven months and that they are in a good position to win the tournament. “We have a strong batting and fielding department and the team comprises six all-rounders,” she said. “Our final target is to qualify for the Asia Cup final and win it.”India’s winning captain of 2006, Mithali Raj, agreed that the 2008 version of the Asia Cup was going to be very challenging. “We are looking for a good game with the rest of the teams,” she said.Indian team manager Mukherjee said that opening pair Jaya Sharma and Neetu David, a senior member of the team, would play a vital role in the team’s fortunes. “Anagha Deshpande is a very talented cricketer and has a bright future whereas Asha Rawat is an efficient performer along with Devika Palshikar,” she added.Urooj Mumtaz, Pakistan’s captain, also predicted a close tournament. “We are expecting to have very tough games and we are expecting to put up a good performance,” she said.Bangladesh captain Salma Khatur admitted her side will need to perform brilliantly to make an impact in the tournament. Bangladesh are taking part in the Asia Cup for the first time having qualified by beating Hong Kong last month. “We are hoping to give our team at this age group [a chance] to play, learn and gather knowledge through experience,” said Khatur.Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Duleep Mendis said that the board had taken charge of women’s cricket to help raise the standard. He pointed out that India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh had already gone a long way towards improving the standard of the game by introducing the sport to the schools and that Sri Lanka should also take steps in that direction.The tournament gets underway on May 2 at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium and Welagedera Stadium in Kurunegala. The four teams will play two series of round-robin matches at the two venues. The top two sides in the league standings will qualify for the final on May 11 in Kurunegala.

Victoria’s fast-bowling stocks have been bolstered with the recalls of Shane Harwood and Dirk Nannes for the Pura Cup match against the leaders New South Wales on Friday. The Blues hold a two-point advantage over the Bushrangers after four games, but the home team won the FR Cup match at the MCG on Wednesday night.”It’s a top-of-the-table clash and the Blues have obviously got some big names, but if you try to play the reputations, you’re already dead in the water,” Victoria’s Andrew McDonald said. “We’ve had some good wins of late so that gives us some confidence and hopefully we can put it together in this clash.”Harwood and Nannes, who took 3 for 28 on Wednesday, come in for Cameron White, the captain who has a broken foot, and Clint McKay, who has an ankle injury. Brad Hodge will lead the side again in White’s absence.New South Wales have been hit by the withdrawal of Phil Jaques, who has the mumps, while Brett Lee will miss the match to rest. Michael Clarke is also in some doubt due to hamstring soreness.Victoria squad Michael Klinger, Robert Quiney, Brad Hodge (capt), David Hussey, Nick Jewell, Andrew McDonald, Matthew Wade (wk), Gerard Denton, Shane Harwood, Allan Wise, Bryce McGain, Dirk Nannes.New South Wales squad Phillip Hughes, Peter Forrest, Simon Katich (capt), Michael Clarke, Dominic Thornely, Brad Haddin (wk), Grant Lambert, Matthew Nicholson, Nathan Bracken, Beau Casson, Stuart Clark, Doug Bollinger.

Matthew Hayden has urged Cricket Australia not to adopt a zero-tolerance approach on drugs because he believes the issue needs flexibility. The board is set to announce a new policy and Hayden, who is strongly opposed to drugs in sport, would welcome a “two strikes” rule that would give players one chance at rehabilitation.”I don’t think you can have a zero-tolerance policy on drugs because it’s not as black and white as that,” Hayden told the . “For example, what sort of drugs? Shane Warne was hit with a drugs charge but it was nothing more than a diuretic. Is that the same as Shoaib Akhtar getting caught out with steroids in his system?”There has to be flexibility. When drugs stuff goes public, like Shane went public, he is considered a drug cheat. It is a debate on a human life. I don’t think zero tolerance is the way to go.”The No. 1 aim is to eliminate drugs within any sporting code. As a part of that you have to look at the individual and help them become rehabilitated the most effective and the quickest possible way.”

Zimbabwe’s self-imposed suspension from Test cricket will continue for the foreseeable future after the ICC said that Peter Chingoka, the board chairman, had reported that it was not yet ready to return.Although the decision is put forward as being Zimbabwe’s, the leaked comments by Malcolm Speed earlier in the week made it clear that there was no chance of them being allowed back.Officially, the timing of when they come back remains with Zimbabwe Cricket.The serious allegations of financial mismanagement – and again these were detailed in Speed’s report – were all but ignored, with a comment that “it was agreed there would be an independent audit of ZC’s accounts by an internationally recognized firm”.Speed was less subtle in his private report. In that, he said: “It is clear that the accounts of ZC have been deliberately falsified to mask various illegal transactions from the auditors and the government of Zimbabwe. The accounts were incorrect and at no stage did ZC draw the attention of the users of these accounts to the unusual transactions. It may not be possible to rely on the authenticity of its balance sheet.”The results of that audit will be presented to the next meeting of the ICC board in October 2007 in Dubai. The short timeline is slightly surprising given that it took the auditors appointed by Zimbabwe Cricket a year to come up with their findings.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s captain in the limited-over formats, has urged his team-mates to respect the international guidelines for on-field behaviour in the wake of the Harbhajan Singh-Andrew Symonds controversy. He said there would be some allowance for “chit-chat” between players as long as there was nothing untoward being uttered.”Whoever the players are, they know the international guidelines that are set out to be followed,” he said, when asked about the importance of player behaviour in the forthcoming limited-over games. “Each and every player should respect it. It is the responsibility of an individual more than their skipper to know the limitations and to know where they stand.”It was reported that the Australian players were unhappy over Harbhajan’s reprieve, given that he had been handed a three-match ban in the first hearing. Dhoni would also remember the World Twenty20 match in Durban last year, a match that marked the start of the fractious relationship between the two sides.”We don’t really care about whatever has happened so far,” he said a day before the Twenty20 international in Melbourne. “It’s a fresh start and we’re going to play some good cricket. There’s always chit-chat going on between the players. If nothingcontroversial is said, I think both the teams will be happy with it. We can’t just shut up and play. It’s cricket and you’ve got to do lots of things with the bat and the ball and there should be chit-chat out on the ground.”Dhoni preferred that contentious catches be referred to the third umpire, a procedure which was used in the final two Tests of the series. Before the first Test in Melbourne, Anil Kumble and Ricky Ponting had agreed to take the fielders word but reviewed the pact after the controversial Sydney Test. “I believe in referring it to the third umpire,” Dhoni said. “A fielder can mislead so it’s important that it’s referred to the third umpire.”Was he expecting a hostile reception from a crowd that’s expected to be close to 90,000? “If they are not on the field it does not really matter,” he said. “We don’t care whether we receive a hostile reception or not. In Eden Gardens there are 100,000 spectators, in Kochi there are 80,000 spectators. Still, this is a huge ground and playing in front of such numbers would be exciting.”

Queensland have looked back in their bid to move off the foot of the Pura Cup table by picking the batsman Martin Love after his lengthy comeback from knee surgery. Rather than blooding a new player in the final three games, the Bulls, who have not won in seven attempts this season, have recalled Love, 33, in place of another veteran in Clint Perren for the match against Western Australia from Monday.Love, the state’s leading run-scorer, made 0 and 10 against the Warriors in November and re-proved his fitness with 187 for the Queensland Academy of Sport. He will be joined in the squad by Shane Watson, who has recovered from another hamstring injury. Watson will not bowl in the match to help his fragile body.Aaron Nye has been dropped and Scott Brant, the Gold Coast swing bowler, has come into the squad. The game will be Michael Kasprowicz’s final first-class appearance for the Bulls after his decision to retire.Adam Voges, who was in the national squad last week, will miss the contest for Western Australia with a slight hamstring injury. However, Marcus North, the captain, has regained fitness from a degenerative knee problem and will lead the Warriors, who are in third spot, 12 points behind the leaders New South Wales and Victoria.Queensland squad Ryan Broad, Jimmy Maher (capt), Greg Moller, Martin Love, Shane Watson, Chris Simpson, Chris Hartley (wk), Ashley Noffke, Michael Kasprowicz, Daniel Doran, Scott Brant, Grant Sullivan.Western Australia squad Justin Langer, Chris Rogers, Marcus North (capt), Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach, Luke Ronchi (wk), Liam Davis, Aaron Heal, Brett Dorey, Ben Edmondson, Mathew Inness, Steve Magoffin.

The Indian one-day team returned from the CB Series in Australia to a rousing reception at the Delhi airport, where they were greeted by hundreds of fans and received by officials of the Indian board and the Delhi and District Cricket Association.After a hard-fought series, where they won the finals 2-0, the team reached Mumbai in the morning and took a chartered flight to Delhi for a function at Feroz Shah Kotla. They were joined there by two members of the World Cup-winning under-19 side – Virat Kohli, the captain and Pradeep Sangwan – who play for Delhi.Speaking at the function, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the team captain, praised his side, which became the first Indian team to win a triangular one-day series in Australia. The series was played out amid some controversy and Dhoni made special mention of the team’s behaviour: “The conduct of my team on and off the field is responsible for our victory.”Sachin Tendulkar, who played match-winning knocks in both the finals, told news channel CNN-IBN that the team hadn’t been distracted by the controversies – which originated in the Sydney Test – during the tour. “Plenty of things happened on the field, but we were focussed on the cricket.”Rohit Sharma, who made a vital 66 in the first final, echoed Tendulkar’s sentiments. “We tried to enjoy our cricket as much as possible,” he said. “All the controversies motivated us.” The BCCI had initially planned an open-top bus parade from the airport, similar to the welcome the team had received after winning the World Twenty20, but decided against it later. “The players have been in Australia for more than two-and-a-half months and will also be tired after the two flights,” BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla told PTI. “That’s why we have not made any elaborate arrangements as the players will be eager to go home.”A reward of Rs 10 crore (US$2.5 million) had already been announced for the team.