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ScorecardRumesh Buddika and Banuka Rajapaksa starred with bat and ball respectively to help Sri Lanka Under-19 trounce the home side in a one-sided contest at the Wanderers. Buddika’s 139 propelled Sri Lanka to 283 but South Africa Under-19’s response was so meek, they managed to bat out only 33 overs and conceded the game by 148 runs. Rajapaksa, for his part cleaned them up with a six-wicket haul.The Sri Lankans opted to bat but got off to a shaky start, losing their openers in the fifth over with the score on 17. South Africa held the advantage till the 15th over, when the fourth wicket fell on 82, before Buddika took the initiative away, and there was no looking back from thereon. Akshu Fernando added 123 for the fifth wicket with Buddika and that was the launch-pad for a big score. Fernando hit 51 off 59 balls before he was dismissed in the 35th over, ending an association with Buddika which lasted just over 20 overs. Buddika’s 139 featured 18 fours, before he was run out in the 47th over. Kirk Wernars, the right-arm seamer, ran through the lower order to pick up 4 for 42.The South African openers got the chase off to a good start, adding 53. However, they lost control after Chathura Peiris removed the pair in the same over. Thereafter, it was a downward slide as Rajapaksa ran through the middle order to finish with 6 for 29, more than compensating for his third-ball duck. The win also gave Sri Lanka a much-needed bonus point, after having lost both games prior to this.

Graeme Swann has joined Stuart Broad on the sidelines for the first two one-day internationals against South Africa, after failing to recover from the side strain that ruled him out of Tuesday’s warm-up match against South Africa A at Potchefstroom. James Tredwell has been drafted into the squad as cover.It means England will be without two key members of their squad for the series opener at the Wanderers on Friday. Broad had already been ruled out of the game after missing the Twenty20 series and two practice games, including Tuesday’s match. He incurred his shoulder problem while tumbling in the outfield during the first warm-up game in Bloemfontein.The England management reasoned that on a long tour with four Test matches after the five one-dayers, it was not worth risking such a crucial player. Broad, 23, voiced concerns at the beginning of the tour about player burnout and now has nine days to get himself ready for the third ODI in Cape Town.In better news for the injury-plagued tourists, Paul Collingwood hopes to overcome a back injury in time for Friday’s series opener, in which he could become England’s most-capped one-day player. He is currently level with Alec Stewart on 170 matches and is confident about his chances of making Friday’s match.”[The injury] is actually progressing really well. If I was playing today I would have been 50-50, but I’ve got a couple of days to go so the chances are going to be very high,” Collingwood told reporters in Johannesburg. “It was very, very sore on Sunday and I had two injections on Monday [but] everything seems to have settled down. I’m doing the work in the gym and progressing really well, so I’ve got a very good chance for Friday.”Collingwood was one of five players unfit for England’s tense victory over South Africa A on Tuesday and injuries have blunted England’s attack. With the injuries to Broad and James Anderson, England have been unable to bowl sides out so far on this tour, and with Sajid Mahmood and Tim Bresnan failing to impress, the selectors have called up Liam Plunkett as cover.They had already opted for youth ahead of this tour, ditching Steve Harmison and Ryan Sidebottom and given the strength of South Africa’s batting, it could be a tough experience for the inexperienced line-up. But Collingwood is not concerned and feels Anderson will play a pivotal role when he does return.”I think we’re aggressive as a unit, I think we’re getting more experience and we’ve obviously got Jimmy Anderson to come back into the side, which is crucial. He’s a real kind of leader for us now in terms of the bowling stakes. For such a young guy, I know that’s a big statement, but he is a real leader in bowling.”But again, we’ve got a lot of potential and very dangerous bowlers, obviously with Broady coming back in as well. We have missed those two when they were injured. Hopefully they will be fit pretty soon and we can get back to bowling sides out.”

West Zone

Mumbai’s powerful top-order delivered to set up a comfortable 32-run victory over Baroda in their opening match in Pune. Openers Paul Valthaty (45-ball 70) and Wasim Jaffer (31-ball 37) piled on 106 by the 11th over, before Baroda captain Yusuf Pathan removed both in two successive overs. There was no slowing the pace, though, as Rohit Sharma hammered 47 off 26 deliveries to take Mumbai to 190 despite a flurry of late wickets. Baroda started chasing the stiff target aggressively, but they were undermined by a steady fall of wickets, and the fact that none of their batsmen carried on after getting starts. Ajit Agarkar took three important wickets to be Mumbai’s standout bowler. The match was also Zaheer Khan’s first after the World Twenty20 in June; he had a low-key outing, though he grabbed the big wicket of Pathan.The zone’s other match of the day followed a similar pattern, Gujarat amassing 191 before cruising to a 28-run win over Maharashtra. It was the top order which did the job for Gujarat; opener Parthiv Patel making a 36-ball 49 and No. 3 Niraj Patel top-scoring with a 40-ball 54, powering the side to 191. Like Baroda, Maharashtra’s chase started in earnest but regular wickets – they lost three in the space of seven deliveries from 71 for 1 – meant the pace slackened. Only one of the top five made it past 20, effectively ending Mahrashtra’s chances.

East Zone

Sairaj Bahutule’s 4 for 19 was the standout performance as Assam convincingly beat Orissa by seven wickets at the Railway Stadium in Dhanbad. Choosing to bat, the Orissa innings never really got going with seamers Priyam Das and Abu Nechim doing the early damage. Bahutule then added to Orissa’s woes denting the middle order severely. The batsmen floundered against his leg spin, with Rashmi Das contributing the highest of 19 to the well below-par score of 83. Parvez Aziz led a solid reply for Assam even as they lost two wickets with the score on 41. He struck three fours and two sixes during his 42-ball 37, before Deepak Sharma sealed the win with a quick unbeaten 22, including four boundaries.Tripura were shot out by Jharkhand for a paltry 30, the lowest-ever Twenty20 score, at the same city. Read the report here.

North Zone

Delhi scored a comfortable 49-run win over Jammu and Kashmir at the Palam B Ground in Delhi. Opener Shikhar Dhawan starred with a half-century and was supported by contributions from Rajat Bhatia (42 not out), Farman Ahmed (29) and Mayank Tehlan (23 not out) to lift Delhi to a match-winning score of 167. J&K’s reply was lacklustre, with Pradeep Sangwan (3 for 25) and Bhatia (2 for 14) causing the early damage. Amit Baloria top scored with an unbeaten 31 but there was little backing from the other end, and J&K were bowled out for 118.Captain Paras Dogra and Vikramjeet Malik shone for Himachal Pradesh, as they beat Services by 14 runs in a low-scoring encounter in Delhi. Dogra struck three fours and a six in his unbeaten 54 and was involved in a partnership of 65 with opener Mukesh Sharma (39). The pair helped HP post a competitive score of 135, which proved too many for Services. Only Yashpal Singh fought hard with a 41-ball 58, as Malik (3 for 14) and Jitender Mehta shared five wickets to bowl the opposition out for 121.Punjab emerged triumphant against neighbours Haryana by nine wickets in Delhi. Medium-pacer Love Ablish took 5 for 20 to keep Haryana down to 111, opener Rahul Dewan top scoring with a run-a-ball 35. Haryana needed early breakthroughs to put pressure on Punjab, but that didn’t happen. Ravi Inder Singh blazed to 69 in 54 balls and added 79 with opener Sunny Sohal (27) to shut out any hopes Haryana may have had of fighting back after a disappointing batting display.

Central Zone

A combined batting effort from Railways led by Sanjay Bangar’s 35-ball 57 handed them a convincing 26-run win over Uttar Pradesh in Indore. TP Singh (34) and wicketkeeper Dhiran Salvi (28) rallied around Bangar to take Railways to a challenging 173. Piyush Chawla was UP’s best player, taking 3 for 35 and chipping in with a 16-ball 25 in the chase. He had added 47 for the fourth wicket with Parvinder Singh (51 not out), but a middle-order collapse, where UP lost four wickets for 18 runs, shut them out of the game.

Ernest Hilaire, the newly elected chief executive of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), has said it won’t be possible to conduct a regional Twenty20 tournament to give the West Indies players sufficient practice before the ICC World Twenty20 in April-May, in the Caribbean.Hilaire said West Indies’ international schedule, starting with the tour of Australia this month, was too packed to accommodate a tournament.”I think it will be difficult between now and the tournament in April next year to have a Twenty20 tournament,” Hilaire said at the launch of the World Twenty20’s ticket sales in Barbados. “We will not have a Twenty20 tournament before the World Cup because there is already a schedule of matches up to that time.”We travel to Australia in the next couple of weeks and return at the end of the year. We start from January our regional four-day tournament that would last until the end of March. In between that, we will be traveling to Australia for the one-day (bilateral) series and then we host Zimbabwe and there is virtually no space for us to have a Twenty20 tournament.”Hilaire however was confident that the West Indies team will be sufficiently prepared for the world tournament. West Indies end their tour of Australia with the two Twenty20 internationals before taking on Zimbabwe at home for a limited-overs series in March.”We will be playing Twenty20 matches in Australia, as well as against Zimbabwe, so you do not need to have a regional Twenty20 tournament for the team to prepare. We are trying to ensure the team plays enough matches leading up to the World Twenty20.”The Stanford 20/20 was the only recognised tournament in the Caribbean, which ran for two seasons before it was cancelled after Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire who bankrolled the tournament, was arrested on charges of fraud. Deryck Murray, the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board president, recently proposed a West Indies Twenty20 Championship at the end of the year, to help choose the best side in the region, who will then go onto represent West Indies in future editions of the Champions League Twenty20. T&T, the winners of the Stanford 20/20, qualified for the Champions League in India and reached the finals.Hilaire assured that the board will discuss the possibilities of hosting a regional tournament in future.”One of the things we are doing at the WICB now is a schedule of cricket until 2012 where we will actually create slots in the annual calendar to allow for our three regional tournaments – the four-day, the one-day and a Twenty20 tournament – as well as ensuring we meet all our international commitments, creating space for each territorial board to have their own tournaments. The challenge we are facing now is that there is so much cricket, and cricket is becoming so attractive for cricketers themselves, that we absolutely need to establish that schedule.”

ScorecardIt may have been a miserable season, but Worcestershire at least restored a little pride after earning a draw against the champions. Inspired by a superb innings from Steve Davies, they thwarted Durham’s much-vaunted attack throughout the final day to suggest grounds for at least a little optimism for the future.The result makes little difference to the final standings, however. Durham still finish top with a record winning-margin, while Worcestershire are still relegated.Yet Worcestershire will take heart from the performance. They showed admirable fighting spirit on the final day, with several of their younger players – particularly Gareth Andrew and Richard Jones – demonstrating some character in preventing what at times appeared certain defeat.Davies’ performance will provoke mixed feelings. While the club will delight in the success of a home-grown player, they are bitterly disappointed at his departure and this innings – his final first-class innings for Worcestershire before joining Surrey – simply underlined the enormous ability that will now be of service to other people.Davies produced a dazzling array of strokes, including three sixes and 16 fours, in his 75-ball innings. He tore into a plain-looking Ian Blackwell, skipping down the pitch and driving him for a series of boundaries, as well as pulling Mitchell Claydon for six. At one point, Davies took 14 off Blackwell in four deliveries as he followed up two flowing drives with a slog-sweep for six.He survived two chances: first on 74 when Phil Mustard missed a simple stumping off Blackwell; and another on 86 when Dale Benkenstein was unable to cling on to a tough chance off the same bowler and could only palm the ball over the boundary for six.Though he fell just short of his third championship century of the season, Andrew and Jones then posted an unbroken eighth-wicket partnership of 119 in 26 overs to make the match safe. Andrew, recording his second half-century of the game, was efficient off his legs and cut well, but it was Jones’ driving – and his pulled six off Liam Plunkett – that really impressed. This was the first half-century of his first-class career, but there’s no reason he should not make plenty more.Earlier Daryl Mitchell paid the price for a lack of footwork and edged to the keeper, Moeen Ali failed to capitalise on two dropped chances and was beaten by an in swinger before Vikram Solanki chopped-on yet again. Alexei Kervezee again showed his class with a pleasing innings before nibbling at one outside off stump, while Dave Wheeldon top-edged a sweep. Davies’ entertaining innings ended when he attempted to turn a ball into the leg side but looped a leading edge to point.With Blackwell and Plunkett – who finished on 49 Championship wickets in the season – unable to make the breakthrough, however, Worcestershire built enough of a lead that the two sides agreed to an early finish.It might be wrong to read too much into this result, however. The end of season table does not lie and Worcestershire – who finished a staggering 146 points behind Durham – would be wise not to delude themselves that this performance shows that they have turned a corner. Whichever way you look at it, this has been a dreadful season. It is the first time they have failed to win a first-class game in a season since 1928, while the futures of Stephen Moore and Kabir Ali remain uncertain.This was a strangely lacklustre performance from Durham. Struggling to rouse themselves for this game, they lacked intensity and appeared to be suffering some hangover from their celebrations.They also missed Steve Harmison. A swollen knee prevented him from bowling throughout the Worcestershire second innings, though he oddly remained on the field all day, hobbling around in discomfort and putting down a chance in the gully.Durham will not linger long over this result, however. With a seemingly endless supply of fast bowlers, an astutely signed all-rounder in the shape of Blackwell, and a batting order that combines flair and depth, they have proved to be head and shoulders above their opposition this season and richly deserve their rewards.

St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, South Africa’s oldest Test venue, has been renamed Axxess DSL St Georges following a R9.8 million (US$1.3 million) sponsorship deal with Eastern Province, the host association.The tiered sponsorship deal (stadium naming rights and amateur cricket) with the internet services company covers a 5-year period.”The sponsorship is unique because while having a commercial base it is much more than that.” Dave Emslie, chief executive of the EP Amateur Cricket Board and Jumbo’s Cricket, said. “Our business model is designed in such a way that one of the roles of our commercial company, Jumbo’s Cricket, is to generate sufficient funds to maintain the stadium and to provide funding for amateur cricket.”The venue has hosted Tests since 1889, making it the world’s seventh oldest Test venue. It was earlier known as Crusaders Ground, before being renamed the Sahara Oval. Several venues in South Africa have undergone name changes in the recent past. Sahara already has two stadiums in its control – Newlands (Cape Town) and Kingsmead (Durban). Others are Liberty Life (Wanderers), Senwes (Potchefstroom), OUTsurance (Bloemfontein) and SuperSport (Centurion).

Virender Sehwag has denied allegations by Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) officials that he tried to get his cousin picked in the Ranji team.”This [charge] is totally false,” Sehwag told the . “I have never asked anyone to pick any of my brothers or cousins in any team. Just ask Chetan Chauhan – because he was the chairman of the selection committee – if Viru has ever asked for any of his cousins to be selected.”Sehwag is reported to be seeking a move from Delhi, the state he has represented since 1998, to Haryana from the 2009-10 season onwards, citing interference in selection matters.Other senior Delhi players backed Sehwag’s claims about the DDCA’s selection procedures. Gautam Gambhir, Sehwag’s opening partner for Delhi and India, said there was a need to bring transparency into selection and he threatened to leave Delhi this year unless the situation improved. “The solution is to dissolve the sports committee, which doesn’t have a single cricketer in it,” Gambhir told the . “Sehwag and I have been at the receiving end of pressure tactics by the DDCA to push in their candidates. If we can be pushed into a corner, imagine the plight of a stand-in skipper.”Ashish Nehra, the Delhi left-arm fast bowler, said that this was the DDCA’s last chance to clean up their act. “The manner in which the DDCA functions, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to leave Delhi,” Nehra said. “For two years, when I was injured, I didn’t hear one word from anyone, and the moment I made my comeback, they are all looking to cash in on me.” Ishant Sharma also said things could be better.Chauhan backed Sehwag’s claim and said it was a “wake-up call for Delhi cricket”. “I am glad Sehwag has made a bold move by speaking out against corruption.” However Chauhan was confident a solution could be reached without losing Sehwag. “We’ll try to make the selection process transparent. I get calls all the time where politicians and bureaucrats try to push their players up for selection. I’m sure we can work out a solution. We can’t let go of him [Sehwag].”Sehwag said often four selectors got together to vote for their player, leaving him and the chairman of selectors powerless in the matter.If Sehwag does leave, it won’t be the first time a player from Delhi has done so. Indian legspinner Amit Mishra moved to Haryana after he was left out of Delhi’s Under-17 squad in 2000. More recently, India Under-19 player Manan Sharma made a similar move, saying he hadn’t got the chances he deserved. “There were many who didn’t do enough or lacked merit but got their chances, so I thought it was better to leave,” Sharma told the . “I didn’t like the atmosphere, there was just too much going on around.”

Graeme Smith’s new book, has caused controversy after a former board president claimed there were defamatory remarks about him in it. Norman Arendse, who resigned as president last year, has threatened legal action unless statements in the book criticising him were deleted.Arendse’s legal counsel, Dines Gihwala, said he would write to the publisher Jonathan Ball demanding the removal of those statements. Jeremy Boraine, the publishing director of Jonathan Ball, said he would discuss it with Smith. “The book has been published and is in the market,” Boraine told the Johannesburg-based . “I will have to look at it and discuss it with Graeme and our lawyers.”Smith criticised Arendse’s role in picking a controversial squad for the team’s tour to India last year when Andre Nel was replaced by Charl Langeveldt in keeping with South Africa’s transformation policy which requires at least six players of colour in a 14-man squad.”The CSA president was becoming more and more involved in every facet of the game,” Smith wrote. “I think, at various times, he [Arendse] wanted to be captain, coach, CEO, president and convener of selectors, which became very frustrating.”The team was in Bangladesh when the squad to India was announced and Smith said there was a lot of tension within the team.”When I told Langers, ‘you’re going to India,’ there was no smile, no celebration — he just looked at me and said, ‘but why?’ He was very taken aback by his selection and he took the fax and put a red line through his name. The next day on the bus there was a lot of tension in the air and it was very quiet; everybody kept their heads down and nobody spoke. It was a terrible environment.”Langeveldt eventually withdrew from the tour, saying the controversy over the selection of the squad upset him and he felt wouldn’t be in the right frame of mind for the matches. Arendse denied interfering with the team selection, maintaining that Langeveldt’s name had been in the original squad that was presented to him.The South Africa Cricketers’ Association chief Tony Irish, who had then feared the national side would lose both Nel and Langeveldt because of political interference, supported Smith in the latest controversy. “I’ve read what Graeme has to say about the Langeveldt-Nel issue and as far as I know it’s pretty accurate,” Irish said.

The West Indies players who declined to play in the first Test against Bangladesh are unlikely to back down and apologise to the West Indies board, raising the likelihood of a weakened side for the second Test against Bangladesh even though they lost the first by 95 runs in St. Vincent.Dinanath Ramnarine, the chief executive of the players’ association (WIPA), said the players were united in their resolve. “They’re very strong … and although they want to play, they’re not going to back down under this pressure,” he said. Ramnarine added that WIPA had consulted lawyers and a number of legal challenges to the WICB’s position were being discussed.Jimmy Adams, the secretary of WIPA, told Cricinfo that the players’ stance was unwavering. “You have a group of players earning more from playing cricket outside the Caribbean than for the West Indies and they aren’t putting up with this crap. They have choices and they are prepared to exercise those choices. They’ve got fed up with things going nowhere and they’re adamant they need this sorted before they come back and play.”It also emerged that recently Julian Hunte failed to turn up to a meeting with the players which he had offered in an attempt to clear up the situation.

Match facts

Friday, June 26, 2009
Start time 09.30 (14.30 GMT)

The Big Picture

A successful IPL proved crucial in Ashish Nehra’s selection for the ODI squad to West Indies•AFP

West Indies and India prepare for the first of four one-day internationals, in Jamaica, after extremely contrasting World Twenty20 campaigns in England. India entered the tournament as one of the favourites but underachieved tremendously, losing all their matches in the Super Eights stage. As a result of their second-round elimination, India reached the Caribbean even before their hosts, who exceeded expectations by qualifying for the semi-finals, where they lost to Sri Lanka.For India, a team shaken by defeat, injury and fatigue, this series is the last before a long break until the Champions Trophy in September. They will do well to focus on the task at hand, rather than think about the lengthy rest their tired bodies deserve. India are weakened for they are without Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and Zaheer Khan, four key players either injured or resting because of their hectic schedule in recent months. Their unavailability, though, opens up rare opportunities for players on the fringes of the national squad such as Dinesh Karthik, S Badrinath and M Vijay because the Indian one-day side has been a settled unit for a while now. It also gives others, such as Ashish Nehra, a new lease of life for few would have expected him to return after four years on the sidelines.West Indies’ performance in the World Twenty20 was a dramatic improvement from their efforts during a torrid summer in which they lost both the Wisden Trophy and ODI series to England. Their run to the final four was especially heartening since Dwayne Bravo and Lendl Simmons scored runs in vital games, disproving the belief that West Indies’ batting is a three-man act of Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Surprisingly, though, the selectors have left out Lendl Simmons from the squad for the first two games. There are other tweaks too, with Darren Sammy omitted, Runako Morton and Narsingh Deonarine recalled, and the uncapped Darren Bravo brought in.

ODI form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)
India – LWWNW
India’s last ODI series was the five-match contest in New Zealand which they won 3-1 with one washout.West Indies – LLNLL
West Indies’ last five one-dayers were all against England and they didn’t win any, losing two at home and two away with one being abandoned.

Watch out for …

Ashish Nehra: The left-arm medium-pacer last played an international for India in September 2005 after which a spate of injuries kept him out of contention. However, a strong performance in the IPL, where Nehra was the third-highest wicket-taker with 19 at 18.21 each, coupled with the axing of Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan, paved the way for his return.Darren Bravo: If he’s anywhere near as skilled as his sibling Dwayne, India have a problem on their hands. Darren Bravo’s an unknown quantity to people outside the Caribbean, having played only 15 first-class games and eight List A matches for Trinidad & Tobago. It will be interesting to see what responsibility he’s given, if he plays, in the first two games against India.

Team news

India have a few decisions to make regarding the composition of their final XI. Should Rohit Sharma continue opening in Sehwag’s absence? Or should he move down the order to give Vijay or Karthik a chance at the top? What of S Badrinath? Another worry for the team management is the delayed arrival of Karthik, Vijay and Badrinath due to issues with obtaining a transit visa to England. They were scheduled to arrive in Jamaica on Thursday evening.India (likely): 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Dinesh Karthik, 3 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 RP Singh, 11 Ashish Nehra.Simmons’ omission from the West Indies squad was surprising considering he scored 150 runs during the World Twenty20, including a 50-ball 77 against South Africa, and took a four-wicket haul in the group match against Sri Lanka. They also omitted Darren Sammy who has been an underrated allrounder in the West Indian outfit.West Indies (likely): 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Runako Morton, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Darren Bravo, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Jerome Taylor, 9 Ravi Rampaul, 10 Suleiman Benn, 11 Lionel Baker

Stats and trivia

• West Indies have won four out of their last five ODIs in Jamaica – against India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland. India have played only two ODIs at Sabina Park of which they lost one and won the other.
• Only once has a team made more than 300 at Sabina Park: Pakistan made 349 against Zimbabwe during the 2007 World Cup. The highest target successfully chased there is 254 when South Africa made 255 for 2 against West Indies in 2005.

Quotes

“West Indies are playing good cricket at the moment. They had a very good World Twenty20 tournament, but in 50 overs, you have time to settle down.”
“Both teams are looking to win and they (India) are trying to prove something against us. At the same time we want to get more wins under our belt and continue our development.”