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To the backdrop of noisy, happy, flag-waving celebrations, the West Indies completed yet another emphatic victory over India at Kensington Oval in the third Cable & Wireless Test yesterday, their seventh in eight Tests between the teams on the ground.The outcome, settled 25 minutes after lunch on the fourth day, levels the series at 1-1 with two Tests remaining.It was predictable as early as the first day when India tumbled for the all-out first-innings 102, but it was not finalised in quite the way expected.That the West Indies were obliged to go in a second time to knock off five runs was due mainly to India’s No. 9, Zaheer Khan, who batted with all the carefree abandon of an old-fashioned tailender for a personal best, run-a-ball 46.Twice he clobbered fast bowler Adam Sanford over the mid-wicket boundary for sixes, twice top-edged fours over the slips that prompted the installation of a fly-slip and drove through the covers and mid-off with more authentic strokes.Only opener Wasim Jaffer, with his second innings 51, and dogged captain Saurav Ganguly, following his first innings’ last-out 48, with 60 not out this time, scored more in the match.As unusual, and unorthodox, as Zaheer’s merry-making was, the West Indies had their own little trick up their sleeve.As Zaheer swashbuckled and Ganguly kept accumulating runs in an eighth-wicket partnership of 74, Ramnaresh Sarwan was offered the last speculative over before lunch to toss up his leg-spin.Soon, he was contemplating one of Test cricket’s most bizarre hat-tricks.His first ball got rid of Zaheer, who touched a long-hop to Ridley Jacobs, a signal for the players to head for the Sir Garfield Sobers Pavilion for lunch.On resumption, Sarwan struck again with his first delivery as Javagal Srinath stabbed a faster straight ball into Chris Gayle’s lap at gully.It was not easy to tell who was more delighted the beaming bowler, his whooping teammates or the noisy and animated crowd, although it wasn’t difficult to guess.Last man Ashish Nehra prevented the hat-trick and the prospect of months of incessant bragging after which Brian Lara, leading the team in the temporary absence of Carl Hooper, was judicious, and courageous, enough to thank Sarwan for his one-over effort and return to his major fast bowler, Dillon, to put a seal on the deal.It took him two balls. Like Zaheer, Nehra is a left-arm swing fast bowler and right-hand batsman and, copying Zaheer’s earlier approach, he swung Dillon high, wide and not so handsome towards mid-on.Pedro Collins, running ten yards to his right and sighting the ball as it came over his shoulder, collected the catch at third attempt.A joyous Sunday crowd of around 6 000 had gathered early in confident expectation of a rare West Indian success and were well primed for their celebrations by the time Stuart Williams cut Harbhajan Singh to the Kensington Stand boundary to settle the matter.They had been in the stands throughout, fluttering the flags of the several cricketing West Indies’ nations, and now they poured onto the ground.The disco boomed out appropriate sounds in the background, a West Indies captain collected the sponsors’ winning cheque for the first time at Kensington since Brian Lara did, following his breathtaking unbeaten 153 against Australia three years ago and Dillon took the Man-Of-The-Match award for his eight wickets.These have been rough times for West Indies cricket so that its passionate public craves any morsel of success.This was a whole, satisfying meal.The recovery from the disappointment of the narrow second Test defeat in Port-of-Spain (by 37 runs) reflected an encouraging spirit.Not everything is right and there remains a lot wrong with the openers, with the tailend and with the inability of all four fast bowlers to be consistent every session.But the result should be an enormous tonic for the remaining Tests in Antigua, starting on Friday, and Kingston from May 18 to May 22.It was the West Indies’ first triumph in nine Tests, since they defeated Zimbabwe by an innings in Bulwayo last July, and their seventh in eight Tests at Kensington Oval over the Indians, who have never won a match on the ground.India started the morning at 169 for four, still 123 away from requiring a West Indies second innings, with their batting champion, Sachin Tendulkar, and the reliable Rahul Dravid already dismissed cheaply.Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman, the last specialist batsmen, carried their hopes of making a fight of it but the left-handed Ganguly was left with only young wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra and the four bowlers when Laxman edged a low catch to Hooper at second slip off Collins 20 minutes into the day. He was 46 when he was undone by Collins.The preceding scores for wicketkeepers on both sides had been 0, 0, 1 (Junior Murray) and 0 (Jacobs), 0 (Deep Dasgupta) and 0, 2, 1 (Ratra).Ratra was a couple of inches short of another 0 to add to the list when he edged Collins to fourth slip but he more than tripled the combined keepers’ amount until he fell lbw to Dillon, using the second new ball.In the next over, Cuffy bowled Harbhajan Singh off the inside edge with the second new ball before Zaheer and Sarwan became the two unlikely stars of the finale.

MELBOURNE – Australian cricketers Colin Miller and Adam Gilchrist and coachJohn Buchanan were telephoned anonymously by someone seeking informationabout the third Test against India in March, the Australian Cricket Boardrevealed today.ACB chief executive Malcolm Speed said that Miller, Gilchrist and Buchanantook the calls in their hotel rooms in Chennai.The unidentified male caller was seeking information about the pitch, thestate of the match and the likely outcome.However he said no offers were made because the Australians ended theconversations quickly and immediately reported the incident to Australianteam manager Steve Bernard.

Yousuf Youhana became a doubtful starter for next week’s Sharjah Cup after he was forced to pull out from Thursday’s National One-day Championship final.Youhana’s employers PIA said Wednesday that the middle-order batsman was carrying a groin injury he had sustained during the last league match against Allied Bank in Karachi.The title favourites further said Youhana left the field Tuesday in PIA’s nine-run victory over National Bank after just five overs. He was limping and looked in discomfort, they said.”His injury seems to be severe otherwise he would not have pulled out from the final,” the team management said in a statement. However, Yousuf Youhana played down his injury scare saying the groin muscle was only tight.”I am just being careful and there is nothing serious or alarming. I don’t want to miss the Sharjah tournament or the series against New Zealand,” Youhana said from Lahore.Pakistan coach Mudassar Nazar was surprised when contacted in Lahore. “If he doesn’t play on Thursday, naturally questions will be asked. If he says he sat out because of groin trouble, then the doctors come into picture,” he said.Mudassar said Youhana was too valuable a player to be risked. “Of course, we will ask him how he feels. If he says he can play in Sharjah and then in the series against New Zealand, we have no problems. “But he will have to pass a fitness test for Sharjah ,” he said. The Sharjah triangular begins Monday.He added: “Youhana did the usual running at the Gaddafi Stadium and I didn’t notice that he was uncomfortable. But then groin doesn’t hurt much when you running in a straight line.”Mudassar said if there was enough doubt on Youhana’s fitness, Faisal Iqbal would be drafted in the side.”Faisal is the 16th player and he is a deserving candidate.”Faisal was last week added as non-playing member for which the critics slammed the youngster instead of targeting people who named him as a tourist. Faisal has scored consistently in the top order for PIA in the ongoing One-day Championship.

Richard Pybus has been given time till October 24 to decide if he wants to continue as the Bangladesh coach for the forthcoming West Indies series. The Bangladesh Cricket Board has written to him, the outgoing chief Mustafa Kamal said on his last day at the board headquarters.”The BCB will write to him officially to come before our West Indies series. If he doesn’t decide to come then we will take a decision based on his action,” Kamal said, flanked by Nazmul Hassan, the man succeeding him as the BCB president, after a five-hour meeting on Friday. Kamal had to chair the meeting as issues such as the one concerning Pybus and the Bangladesh Premier League franchises’ non-payment remain unresolved. Kamal, however, said that both issues will be tackled in the October 24 meeting, which he will also attend.”We will have another meeting on October 24. There have been family issues with Pybus. He hasn’t been able to convince his family to come here. We can’t agree to his demands. We can’t give him long leaves just for him to meet his family abroad. He is a professional coach, but we can’t make this provision for him.”If he doesn’t come then we’ll have to appoint someone else. I don’t think it’ll be a good idea to appoint Richard McInnes as it will disturb the development aspect of the BCB,” Kamal said, contradicting his earlier statement that the Australian could be appointed on a short-term basis.The other urgent issue for the BCB is the continuous failure of the BPL franchises to complete payments to all players who took part in the Twenty20 competition. It was announced earlier that teams who do not complete payments will be re-auctioned on November 7, but there are 54 cricketers who have remained unpaid including six overseas ones. The board will review the teams’ payment details in its next meeting, Kamal said, which will be four days after the deadline of October 20.”We have asked the franchises to make themselves updated in all areas. They should complete all the payments. We gave them a date till October 20, to complete all their payments, foreign or local.”If they don’t, then we will take a decision on October 24 regarding BCB’s relationship with these teams. We won’t want the BPL’s value to be diluted, this is a cricket board’s property and we want this to run properly.”

Bangladesh cricket history’s most cheerful day was when they achieved a stirring victory against Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup. It stunned the World since Pakistan, up to that stage of the tournament was leading and well ahead of Australia, the ultimate winners. In fact, that historic victory paved the way for Bangladesh’s admission to the ICC as a regular member, a status granted a year later. Since then, Bangladesh has made a good effort to establish its credentials in International Cricket. Although they lost their inaugural Test match against India at Dhaka in November last and more recently have again been out played in the first Test match of the current two-test series against Zimbabwe, they have fought well and learnt at the same time. One should give them due credit for the amount of effort their cricketers have put in these matches and that also assures their bright future.Bangladesh played its first One-day Internationals in 1985-86 and to date has played 40 ODI’s, losing 38 and scoring a solitary victory each against Kenya, Scotland and Pakistan. It would be worth reviewing their performance in the recently concluded One-day International series against Zimbabwe.Harare – First match:
Bangladesh tasted heavy defeat at the very out set of the series. Zimbabwe taught the babes of International Cricket a tough lesson by seven wickets. Bangladesh reached a relatively low total of 151 for 8 in 50-overs. Akram Khan (35), Mushfiqur Rahman (31) and Mohammad Rafique (22) were the only notable scorers. B Strang (2/25), Mutendera (2/45) and A Blignaut (2/24) all bowled well to contain the visitors and claim wickets. Zimbabwe, slowly but easily reached the target with 6.5 overs and seven wickets to spare. S Carlisle scored 40, A Flower 40 not out and G Flower 32 not out.Harare – Second match:
Alistair Campbell scored his seventh One-day century (103) off 145 balls with 8 hits to the fence. He was associated with S Carlisle in a 2nd wicket partnership of 133 to enable Zimbabwe reach a modest total of 230-7, after being put into bat by Bangladesh. Manjurul Islam returned his career best analysis of 3 for 37 in ten overs. Bangladesh in reply, crashed to 103 all out in 30.4 overs. Only Javed Omar carried his bat for 33. Incidentally, the opener repeated this feat in the second innings of the first Test also. Bangladesh’s last six wickets fell for 28 runs in nine overs. Heath Streak claimed 2 for 20, Mutendera 3 for 23 and Viljoen 2 for 14. Skipper Naimur Rahman struck 25 off 21 balls with four fours.Bulawayo – Third match:
Bangladesh gave a good account of themselves in this match. Zimbabwe scored an imposing total of 308 for 4, mainly built through the 148 runs of a 4th wicket partnership between brothers Grant and Andy Flower. Grant scored 142 not out and Andy 81. S Carlisle scored 42 not out. Though Bangladesh surpassed their previous highest score of 257 yet their valiant effort fell 36 runs short of the target. Opener Javed Omar scored 69, Habibul Bashar hit 74 and their 3rd wicket partnership produced 74 runs off 103 balls. B Strang claimed 3 for 56, Mutendera 2/44 and Andy Blignaut 2/41. Grant Flower who had smashed 65 off the last five overs was the Man of the Match and the Series.For the tourists, Javed Omar, Habibul Bashar, M Rahman and N Rahman batted with determination while Manjural Islam, Mohammad Sharif and Mushfiqur Rahman bowled well. Zimbabwe fully exploited the lack of experience and weaknesses of the minnows of International Cricket and thus convincingly won. However the visitors have surely been enriched with useful experience and exposure to top-level cricket.

New Zealand Cricket has named a sponsor for women’s domestic tournaments in the country. Action Indoor Sports, who currently sponsor the New Zealand women’s team, will now play a role in the domestic circuit as well. A full round of the newly named one-day and Twenty20 competitions will start on December 10.”It’s a very exciting phase with Twenty20 playing a major part in the growth of women’s cricket,” said Justin Vaughan, CEO of New Zealand Cricket. “We believe the shortened format will pave the way for greater involvement of women in cricket from school and club level through to Major Association and international arenas.”The NZC also announced the itinerary for the upcoming women’s cricket season. New Zealand will host Australia in the annual Rose Bowl series in a split tour comprising two matches in late December and six matches in February next year. New Zealand lost the Rose Bowl last summer and will be keen to make amends this year. “The Twenty20 format suits our team and we have a good record against the Australians, so the make-up of the tour gives us a really good chance,” coach Gary Stead said.The first game of the Rose Bowl series will be played at Seddon Park in Hamilton on December 28.

In the end, it didn’t matter that this match had no official sanction. Try telling that to the tens of thousands of people who thronged the National Stadium in Karachi. In the end, what counted was that an international XI, no matter how ragtag and rusty it was, had set foot on Pakistan soil, had safely played a game of cricket. A game, such as this, had not been played for close to four years in a nation where following for that game frequently crosses the line between passionate and fanatical. For the record, Pakistan All Star XI demolished International World XI who were led by the 43-year old Sanath Jayasuriya.Young batsmen Umar Akmal and Shahzaib Hasan made half-centuries at frenetic pace and were backed by handy contributions from the rest. Pakistan XI were set on their way by the pair of Shahzaib and Imran Nazir, who put on 83 by the time the field restrictions were lifted, at nearly 14 an over. The International XI fielders showed they were short on match practice by dropping numerous catches and fielding poorly on a ground where the ropes had been pulled in. Shahzaib was the first to fall for 54 off just 21 deliveries, which included six fours and four sixes.Akmal, coming in at No. 5, soon took over and blitzed ten boundaries on his way to an unbeaten 67 off 37 as Pakistan XI zoomed to 222 for 7. Thandi Tshabalala, the South Africa offspinner, picked up 3 for 20 while Shapoor Zadran, the Afghanistan fast bowler, took 2 for 38.Jayasuriya hit a six and a four in the first over of the chase but fell of its last delivery, caught by his counterpart Shahid Afridi. Facing such a tall target, International XI kept losing wickets regularly, and fast bowler Tabish Khan soon dealt the decisive blows. He bowled Ricardo Powell, Jermaine Lawson and Tshabalala off successive deliveries to take a hat-trick and reduce International XI to 52 for 6 in the seventh over.Zadran stuck around to make 42 along with Loots Bosman, who batted low at No. 9 due to an injury and remained unbeaten on 27. Pakistan used everyone but wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed as bowlers. Afridi, who had lasted seven balls with the bat to club three boundaries, had Zadran stumped off the final delivery of the match as International XI managed 138 for 8.The second and final game in the series will be played tomorrow at the same venue.

Sri Lanka A cricketer Ramith Rambukwella will be fined 50% of his tour fee after he caused mild panic on a flight by attempting to open the cabin door at 35,000 feet. Sri Lanka Cricket’s executive committee has also asked the board chief to serve Rambukwella with a severe warning for his behaviour, an official release said.The incident had occurred on a flight from St. Lucia to Gatwick airport in London, as the team returned from the tour of the West Indies. Eyewitnesses quoted by the had said Rambukwella appeared to be intoxicated, and wrestled with the cabin door for up to two minutes. Rambukwella, the son of Sri Lanka’s mass media minister, said he had mistaken the cabin door for the lavatory, and suggested he had been half-asleep, which is what prompted the error.After the incident was reported in the media, an initial report was submitted by the A team manager Jayantha Seneviratne, before an inquiry was launched by SLC’s anti-corruption officer, though the incident is unrelated to his usual purview. Bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake is said to have been the primary witness, after several of Rambukwella’s team-mates were unwilling to testify.

The USA Cricket Association (USACA) announced on Friday its intention to stage a Men’s National Tournament at a newly developed cricket facility in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana beginning in 2014. A joint press release by USACA and Indy Parks stated that USACA will host a four-day national championship involving eight regional teams in Indianapolis every summer from 2014-2016.”The 2014 USACA National Men’s Cricket Championship will provide the most talented cricketers in this country with the opportunity to compete in a first class facility against the best in the nation,” said USACA chief executive Darren Beazley. “It will be an important component in USACA’s mission to develop cricket at all levels, from youth to adult, and it will create an occasion to showcase our sport to a non-traditional cricket audience.”Last month, the city of Indianapolis approved plans for a $6 million multi-sport facility to be built on the east side of the city at the site of Post Road Community Park. Plans for the cricket facility were first reported by ESPNcricinfo in 2009. In addition to cricket, the facility will also have sports fields designed for soccer, rugby and lacrosse among other sports. According to a source, the cricket fields will have artificial pitches in order to make the facility easier to maintain for multi-sport purposes.”For over 30 years, Indianapolis has billed itself as the amateur sports capital of the world,” said Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard. “This facility and this tournament puts Indianapolis in a leadership position as the second most popular sport in the world grows in this country.”Despite the mayor’s eagerness over the plan, it has not been met with unanimous approval. “If we’re dependent on them, I’m worried,” Indianapolis City Councilor Christine Scales was quoted as saying about USACA in the . Scales is leading a counter proposal in city government to use the $6 million in funds designated for the stadium to pay for more police officers on the city’s streets instead.Various Indianapolis media outlets reported on Friday that some city officials expect thousands of spectators to attend from across the country for the USACA tournaments. City officials also reportedly are anticipating that USACA’s domestic championships will generate revenue for both the city and USACA through ticket sales and broadcast rights fees.Such ambitious targets would be a giant leap forward from the overall lack of community support shown during the course of recent history in domestic and international tournaments involving the United States regional and national teams. USACA has no scheduled domestic tournaments for 2013 and has not held a 50-over national championship since 2010.The last domestic tournaments USACA held of any kind were in 2011. That year, the inaugural USACA Twenty20 national tournament was shifted from Dallas, Texas to Newark, New Jersey just weeks before the scheduled starting date. Despite Twenty20 routinely billed as a format perfectly suited to the American audience, only a handful of spectators attended. The tournament was infamous for its shoddy organization, treacherous field conditions and administrators who had to be separated outside the boundary after nearly coming to blows.Poor spectator turnout for domestic events has been a routine problem for tournaments staged in Lauderhill, Florida at the $70 million Central Broward Regional Park. After opening in 2008, USACA held their Men’s 50-over National Championship at the 5000 seat stadium in Florida in 2009 and 2010, during which not more than a few dozen people attended. Roughly the same amount of spectators turned out this March for the 2013 ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament, which USA won 8-0 to clinch a spot at the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. None of the matches were broadcast on TV or radio.”Not one of those events puts anybody in the stands,” said Lauderhill Mayor Richard J Kaplan in an interview with ESPNcricinfo in April. “It doesn’t sell one ticket. I don’t need a multi-million dollar stadium with 5000 permanent seats to sit there with nobody using it.”The decision to host national tournaments at a facility with an artificial wicket rather than the natural turf facility offered at the Central Broward Regional Park may drive a bigger wedge between Kaplan and USACA, pushing Kaplan and Lauderhill officials towards carrying out a plan to redevelop the stadium for sports other than cricket in an effort to generate revenue.Kaplan detailed his frustrations over the lack of revenue generating cricket events at the Central Broward Regional Park in a letter to ICC chief executive David Richardson in April. In that letter and a subsequent interview with ESPNcricinfo, Kaplan placed the blame squarely on USACA for not doing enough to promote the sport. He had been pushing for more events with Full Members to be held at the stadium, such as last year’s successful Twenty20 series between West Indies and New Zealand, but said that two revenue generating matches a year are not enough to sustain the facility’s operating costs.”From those games we believe it is [commercially sound], but you can’t have games unless they’re sanctioned,” Kaplan said. “You can’t survive on putting on one event a year, and waiting a few weeks before the event before you even get permission to put it on. That just does not work.”Rumors have been circulating since May that the West Indies and Pakistan have agreed to play a pair of T20 matches in Florida next month following Pakistan’s scheduled ODI tour to the Caribbean, but a USACA official would not confirm that any matches have been agreed to be staged in Florida. No formal announcement has been made by the PCB or WICB either.

Match facts

Saturday, May 4, 2013
Start time 2000 (1630 GMT)Nearly there? Morne Morkel is yet to do a reprise of last year’s form•BCCI

Big Picture

Sunrisers Hyderabad are among the four teams who are closer to achieving the magic number of nine wins – Chennai Super Kings having already touched the marker – to qualify for the playoffs, assuming there are no major upheavals. They need at least three more wins out of their remaining six matches, four of which are to be played in Hyderabad, their fortress. They take on a resurgent Delhi Daredevils side, the captain of which had his smile restored after consecutive wins in Raipur.Daredevils’ campaign is under life-support – they need six wins in six matches – but every extra breath they draw will be at the expense of others, a fact Sunrisers need to be wary of. Daredevils have a strong pool of impact players; the same group took them to No. 1 in the points table last year. David Warner has been the best of them all this year – with four half-centuries – and has been pushed down from his usual top-three batting spot to lend some stability to a fragile middle order. Their bowling is pace-heavy, but slightly more dependable than their batting. Now if only Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene – the only other two batsmen to have scored half-centuries for Daredevils this season – can raise their games against arguably the most well-rounded bowling attack, Daredevils can continue to smile.The pitch in Hyderabad is on the slower side and offered generous turn to the spinners in the last match. It also helps the faster bowlers because the batsmen find it difficult to hit through the line. The pace-bowling spearheads of both teams have a similar make-up – Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma against Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav – but there is a wide gulf otherwise. Amit Mishra, Karan Sharma and Thisara Perera have tasted success this season. If Shahbaz Nadeem, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra are able to adjust to the conditions, another tight contest can be expected.

Form guide

Sunrisers Hyderabad WLLWW
Delhi Daredevils WWLWL

Watch out for…

73*, 0, 63*, 187, 63, 0, 110, are Shikhar Dhawan’s most recent scores. Dhawan also accumulated 969 runs in the last two editions of the IPL without getting noticed. That one innings against Australia, however, has propelled him to the spotlight and he is reveling in it. His shots are the same, but they now create a flutter, his name crops up frequently in post-match presentations and his Poirot-esque moustache adds weight to his on-field persona. That swagger has translated into two unbeaten half-centuries in three innings this IPL, taking his tally to 15 half-centuries in the tournament – 10 more than Yuvraj Singh.Umesh Yadav and Morne Morkel are Daredevils’ antidote to Steyn and Ishant. They hunted as a pair last season, picking up 19 and 25 wickets respectively. This year, Yadav is the top wicket-taker for Daredevils, but Morkel hasn’t had the same impact – he has six wickets against Yadav’s 13. Morkel has leaked runs too; his economy rate is 8.41 this year while it was 7.19 last year. If he can find his form – the signs of which he showed in his last match – Sunrisers could get a taste of their own medicine.

Stats and trivia

• Both teams have bowled 195 overs in the tournament. But whereas Daredevils have conceded 1506 runs, Sunrisers have only given away 1356 runs.
• Karan Sharma’s economy rate this season is 5.71, the lowest for any bowler who has bowled a minimum of 10 overs.

Quotes

“Now we are playing winning and entertaining cricket. You never know what can happen with that – we can even sneak into the playoffs through the back door.”