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ScorecardAnother impressive all round performance from Bangladesh ended England’s faint hopes of making the final of the Under-19 triangular tournament. Needing to win their last two matches, with bonus points, England were committed in the field but fell short despite 72 from Moeen Ali – their Supersub.Mushfiqur Rahim again showed why he has already played Test cricket, as his unbeaten 78 off 73 balls guided Bangladesh out of a potentially troublesome situation of 91 for 4. Nicholas James had struck two quick blows for England with the new ball before Rahim and Raqibul Hasan steadied the innings.Hasan played the early anchor role, taking 99 balls over his 61, until being stumped of Rory Hamilton-Brown, the Surrey allrounder. At 142 for 6, England still harboured hopes to restricting Bangladesh to under 200 but Rahim found more support from Mehdi Hasan. The pair added 56 ensuring England faced a testing target.They made a positive start through Varun Chopra and Greg Wood but stuttered to 103 for 4 after the opening stand was broken by Ishraq Sonet. Ali, however, kept England in the hunt with a powerful 72 off 66 balls, as he clubbed three fours and three sixes. While he was at the crease England had a sniff but his departure left the tail with too much to do.Five Bangladesh bowlers chipped in, as their superb tournament continued. They now have five wins from five, while England have yet to register a win with just one match remaining. The Bangladesh youngsters have shown immense promise, but for England it has been a humbling experience.

Toby Radford has left his position as head coach of Glamorgan after two seasons in the role. He has departed with a year remaining on his contract as Glamorgan seek to restructure their coaching operation.There have already been calls for Robert Croft, a former England offspinner and a long-time Glamorgan servant, to be given a more central role – with the former England fast bowler Simon Jones among those naming him as a strong favourite.Both Croft and his former team-mate Steve Watkin, who is also on Glamorgan’s coaching staff, applied for the head coach role when Radford was chosen to replace the Australian Matthew Mott.Hugh Morris has been serving as both chief executive and director of cricket, an onerous task, but there are no indications he will step down from one of the roles.Radford will now return to specialist batting coaching, a role he performed both for the ECB at Loughborough and with the West Indies when they were crowned ICC World Twenty20 Champions in Sri Lanka in 2012.Glamorgan finished fourth in Division Two of the Championship last season, their second-highest position in the past decade, but a small squad faded badly in the second half of the season. They were also one of the few counties not to benefit from a general rise in T20 attendances, although they were not helped by a block of early-season matches in unfavourable weather.Radford admitted that he was disappointed with his departure, talking of “big strides” in developing a Welsh flavour in the side that Glamorgan again crave.”I am obviously pleased that the team showed major improvement in the past two seasons and it has been highly competitive across all formats and in all competitions,” he said.”It is disappointing for me not to be able to see the work through to its conclusion but I am confident that the wealth of home-grown young talents like David Lloyd, Aneurin Donald and Andrew Salter, all of whom are now first team regulars, gives the club huge optimism for both the immediate and long-term future. I would like to thank all of those who supported me in taking this club forward. Together we made big strides.”Morris said: “Toby’s hard work and commitment to the role has been evident for all to see and under his leadership we have made an important step forward in championship cricket. The coaching Toby has done with our young batsmen has been particularly important and I believe the players and the club will reap the benefits of this work in years to come. He leaves the club with our best wishes for the next stage of his coaching career.”

Stephen Fleming insists he will not copy Sri Lanka’s controversial tactics and rest key bowlers for Friday’s clash against Australia. Both sides are already through to the semi-finals, but the dead rubber will not prevent them from playing their best outfits in their final Super Eights match in Grenada.Fleming said New Zealand would not compromise their chances of making it four straight wins against Australia after a 3-0 Chappell-Hadlee home triumph in February. “We’ll go in with the best possible team bar injury scares,” Fleming said in a clear indication Shane Bond would play. “If someone needs to be rested from an injury point of view we’ll be cautious with that.”We want to continue where we left off against Australia in New Zealand. They’re a tough side if they get on top of you and they’ve got a point to prove.”New Zealand bounced back from defeat by Sri Lanka, their only loss in the tournament, with a five-wicket victory over South Africa on Saturday. Barring an extraordinarily huge win against Australia that would force them to swap first and second places on the table, they will face Sri Lanka in the first semi-final in Jamaica on Tuesday. Australia are set to take on South Africa in the other semi-final in St Lucia on Wednesday.”It’s a great opportunity before the semi-finals start to maintain the standards we had against South Africa,” Fleming said. “Part of the selection [against Australia] is looking forward to Sri Lanka and assessing what conditions we’ll get in Jamaica and Barbados and just make sure the team picked for Australia covers those bases.”Australia, who are defending a 26-game unbeaten record at the World Cup, face a key decision over the allrounder Shane Watson, who is recovering from a calf strain. If he doesn’t take the field against New Zealand it will place a huge question mark over his participation in the rest of the tournament.New Zealand have never won a World Cup, or even reached the final, but Ricky Ponting is in no doubt about their quality. “They love a fight,” Ponting said, “they love a scrap.”

The ground stage of the MTN Domestic Championship has been completed with the Eagles, Titans, Cape Cobras and Dolphins securing their place in the semi-finalsThe Cape Cobras made heavy weather of what should have been a comfortable run chase against the Warriors at Newlands, but Henry Davids held his nerve with an unbeaten 85 to steer them home with three balls to spare. He added an opening stand of 129 in 32 overs with Andrew Puttick before the Cobras lost their way and slipped to 163 for 5. However, Vernon Philander hit two important boundaries before Davids hit the second ball of the final over for another. The Warriors’ batting had also stumbled from 119 for 1 as they struggled to force the pace against Charl Langeveldt, Rory Kleinveldt and Claude Henderson.Two days later the Cobras had a more comfortable 53-run success against the Lions at Paarl to confirm their progress. Davids was again to the fore with 116 off 140 balls, including nine fours and three sixes to lift the Cobras to 214 for 6. The Lions promoted Andre Nel to No. 3 in the run chase, and with impressive results as he clubbed 58 off 45 balls to push them to 104 for 1 in the 21st over. However, the pursuit fell apart from that point as Philander made two vital breakthroughs and Francois Plaatjies went through the middle order.The Dolphins moved into the semis when their match against the Titans failed to produce a result in Durban. Rain hinder proceedings throughout, cutting the Titans innings to 33 overs where Faf du Plessis’s 47 off 45 balls boosted them to a competitive 153. The Lions were tottering on 97 for 4 in pursuit of an adjusted 172 despite a blazing display from Sanath Jayasuriya. He clattered 58 off 36 balls before three wickets fell for eight runs to even the contest. In the end, though, the rain returned with the chase 3.4 overs short of mandatory 20 for a match.The final group match between the Dolphins and the Warriors at Port Elizabeth had no bearing on the knockout stages, but it still produced a tight encounter. Jon Kent’s 86 marshalled the chase, but the Dolphins had a few nervous moments in the final over. Kent fell to the first ball with scores level, and Morne van Vuuren couldn’t score off three deliveries before being run out meaning one was still needed off the last ball. Daryn Smit, though, managed to steal the winning run.Player of the week – Henry DavidsThe Cape Cobras had gone three matches without a win, and were skittled for 39 last week, to make themselves sweat over a semi-final berth, but Henry Davids ensured they remained in with a chance of silverware with a fine double in the final two games. Davids, 28, has been a hard-working performer for the Cobras without ever quite being able to kick-on with his career. But he has found a happy home opening in the one-day game and scores of 85 and 116 mean his confidence will be high heading in the semi-finals.

Marvan Atapattu, the former captain, has not to been included in Sri Lanka’s 16-member Test squad to tour Australia after stating his unavailability; while Tillakaratne Dilshan, the right-hand middle-order batsman, has been replaced by Jehan Mubarak.Atapattu probably closed the door on his international career when he snubbed the selection committee for a second time by turning down an invitation to meet them. Earlier he had pulled out of the home Test series against Bangladesh stating ‘personal reasons’, and later went on to play league cricket in England.Atapattu has been out of the national team since the 2007 World Cup, where he did not play any of Sri Lanka’s 11 matches despite being a member of the squad. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament, where they lost to Australia.The selectors, who were to leave out Sanath Jayasuriya to accommodate Atapattu, were forced to fall back on Jayasuriya, who is expected to make the Australian series his final one in Test cricket.Thilan Samaraweera, 31, has earned his recall after playing the last of his 39 Tests in England in 2006.Chanaka Welegedera, the left-arm fast-medium bowler from Matale, is the only new face in the side. He forced himself into contention with some outstanding bowling performances in the past six months, notably his first ten-wicket haul to bowl the Sri Lanka Invitation XI to victory over Tamil Nadu in the four-day MJ Gopalan trophy tie in Colombo last week. Highly-placed sources said Welegedera is looked upon as a likely successor to the experienced Chaminda Vaas.Muttiah Muralitharan, who is recovering from an injury to his right bicep, also gets the nod. He is expected to play in the last two ODIs of the on-going series against England, but selection committee sources said that they would not rush him into playing. Murali is chasing Shane Warne’s world Test record of 708 wickets and will travel to Australia needing nine wickets from the two Tests to become the highest wicket-taker.The first Test will be played in Brisbane from November 8-12 and the second Test in Hobart from November 16-20.Sri Lanka Test squad [subject to Sports Ministry ratification]:
Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Michael Vandort, Chamara Silva, Thilan Samaraweera, Jehan Mubarak, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof, Chanaka Welagedera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara.

Israel will host Croatia in a European Division Two play-off game in November.As part of the new ICC World League structure, the Croatians, as winners of the European Division Three tournament played over the summer, have the right to challenge Israel, who finished second from bottom at the Division Two tournament in 2006, for the right to participate in Division Two in the 2008 tournament.According to the new ICC structure, each regional division is to consist of six teams. Division One consists of Ireland, Holland, Scotland, Denmark, Italy and Norway, who received promotion having won Division Two. Israel will need to defeat Croatia to remain in Division Two, which includes Gibraltar, France, Germany, Jersey, and Guernsey.The match, to be played on either Sunday November 11 or 18, with the Monday set aside as a rain day, is being embraced by the Israel Cricket Association, with chairman Stanley Perlman delighted at the opportunity to host an international match. “We have been trying to host international cricket in Israel for many years now, and hope that the visit of the Croatian team will pave the way for other countries to tour in the future. We will invite the Croatians to play a couple of friendly matches before the game against our national team as well.”Croatia defeated Spain by four runs to win Division Three in August, which included teams from Isle of Man, Belgium, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus and Finland.

Haafiz Majid Jahangir compiled a career-best 156 as Sialkot came from behind to attain a three-wicket win over Karachi Harbour on the final day of their third-round Pentangular Cup match at the Gaddafi Stadium.Chasing a stiff target of 369, Sialkot finally got there for the loss of seven wickets. Starting from their overnight score of 160 for 2, still needing another 209 runs to win their first match in three appearances, Sialkot were put on the right path by a third-wicket partnership of 145 between Jahangir and Ayub Dogar.Dogar followed his first-innings 77 with another invaluable knock of 61 that came off 150 balls with nine fours. The 25-year-old Majid, playing in only his third first-class match of the season, scored his 156 runs off 351 deliveries in almost seven and a half hours and hit 25 fours.Tahir Mughal (42 off just 43 balls with nine fours), the captain, promoted himself up the order and helped add 74 runs for the fourth wicket with Majid. At 351 for 3, only 18 more runs were required for victory.Sialkot then lost four quick wickets in the space of 14 runs but the issue had already been settled. The win was finally achieved with three wickets still standing. As they had earlier surrendered a first innings lead of 99, they collected only six points instead of the full nine.Sialkot, who are the current national champions, have managed to lift themselves up from the bottom of the five-team table after having started the tournament with two straight defeats. They now have only one match in hand and absolutely no chance of winning the Pentangular.In the fourth-round that starts from Monday (April 17), Faisalabad will play against Karachi Harbour at the Gaddafi Stadium while table leaders National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) will face Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

Ireland 222 for 7 (N. O’Brien 72, Botha 42, Haq 3-59) beat Scotland 199 (Watson 83, McCallum 54 ) by 23 runs
ScorecardA tight bowling performance from Andre Botha helped Ireland to beat Scotland, but they could not gain the bonus point needed to share the series title with West Indies. To do that, they needed to bowl out Scotland for 177, but the visitors reached 199. Nevertheless, Ireland will be pleased with their performance after holding their bowling nerve when Scotland were well set.Botha’s tight bowling pegged Scotland back, and he earlier struck 42 to round off an impressive all-round performance in front of a meagre home crowd. His dismissal of Ryan Watson, who made 83, was the turning point of the match as Scotland threatened to overhaul their target. Watson was well supported by Neil McCallum who struck 54. Botha ended with 3 for 27.Niall O’Brien’s 72 lifted Ireland to 222, which was a competitive score on a slow Stormont wicket. John Blain and Paul Hoffman bowled tight first up for Scotland, prompting the dismissal of William Porterfield, attempting to pull, and opening the way for Gordon Drummond to strike to remove Eoin Morgan for 10 in his first over.Ireland recovered from their early losses, though, through the combined forces of O’Brien and Botha as they put on 46 for the third wicket. Botha finally came good with 42 following a promising 27 against Netherlands and a duck against West Indies.Both played patiently at first, picking off the odd loose delivery, before opening up later. A change of ends finally worked for Majid Haq, who had Botha stumped.Kevin O’Brien and Alex Cusack moved the score along steadily, but it was the reliable Trent Johnston who boosted Ireland later, with a 57-run stand that brought Ireland near the 200-mark before he and O’Brien fell in the same Haq over.

A typically elegant, clipped on-drive for four off Corey Collymore took Mohammad Yousuf from 44 to 48 on the fourth day of the final Test between Pakistan and the West Indies at Karachi. A modest raise of the bat acknowledged that the drive also took him past one of the longest-standing records in cricket, of most runs in a calendar year.Sir Viv Richards scored 1710 runs in 1976, a memorable run during which he hit two double hundreds against England in England and the closest anyone had come to it since was Ricky Ponting in 2005, with 1544 runs.By day’s end, Yousuf added another century to the eight he had made already this year. He told reporters at the end of the day, “God has helped me break this record and I am extremely happy and proud for my country because whenever the record is discussed now, it will be with the name of a Pakistani batsman.”The day began with Yousuf needing a further 47 runs to break the record and knowing it too. “I was under a little pressure in the morning,” he admitted. “I knew what had to be done and luckily I was able to do it in the end.”Yousuf’s final tally for the year is 1788 runs from 11 Tests, and 665 of them have come from the series against West Indies, the highest tally recorded by a Pakistani batsman in a three-Test series. He began his run with two hundreds in the home series against India. He only played a solitary Test in Sri Lanka, personally an unmemorable one, but a doublecentury at Lord’s sparked off a stunning second half of the year.Two more hundreds came from the remaining three Tests in England, including 192 at Headingley. He ended the year with three hundreds in three Tests against the West Indies at home.During the course of this magnificent run, a few more records fell. His first-innings hundred at Karachi meant that he had scored eight Test hundreds this year alone, going past the previous best of seven, held jointly by Richards and Aravinda de Silva. By scoring five hundreds in five consecutive Tests, he also became only the third man, along with Jacques Kallis and Sir Don Bradman (six hundreds in six Tests) to do so.Yousuf also had praise for Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, and Mushtaq Ahmed for the part they have played in his game over the last year. “I changed the way I practiced. Mushy really helped during the England tour and in India,” he said. “He made me practice with slabs to be able to play rising deliveries better and that has really helped.”Since Bob has been with us, he has really sorted out my balance. I used to have some problems with it before but he has really helped me set it properly now and it was a big change.”Comparisons with greats were avoided as deftly as bouncers have been over the last year. When asked to compare himself with Javed Miandad, Yousuf said only, “It is difficult to compare. You are either better or worse and anyway, it is for the media to decide. I can’t say anything about it. But he is my ideal.” And when the question of Sir Don Bradman’s record of six hundreds in six consecutive Tests reared its head, Yousuf replied, withsome cheek, “I have six in five Tests, so you decide.”Reactions to the record

Bob Woolmer
It is a marvellous achievement. I have had the honour of playing againstViv Richards and coaching Yousuf. Both are very different in their styles,Viv was a lot more aggressive and Yousuf more sedate but to break Viv’srecord is really an outstanding achievement.Brian Lara
It’s excellent and slightly unbelievable what he has achieved. Ninehundreds in a year and that many runs is just magnificent. He is a verycommitted player and an excellent role model, not just for Pakistan butfor young cricketers everywhere. He’s had an amazing year, though the last600 runs that he has scored I haven’t really enjoyed.Sanjay Manjrekar
The most striking thing about Yousuf at the moment is that it is as if heis batting in a trance. He is so calm at the crease and that mental changeis the most striking change from last year. You know people will say thathe played on flat tracks, against weak attacks at times but that isneither here nor there. He still had to break a big record and he has doneit. What’s good to see, apart from the calm demeanour, is that he is, like all goodbatsmen, cashing in on good form and making the most of that period.”Nasim Ashraf
Pakistan is very proud of his achievements and he will be honoured by thePCB after the match.Hanif Mohammad
We are proud of what he has done and I hope this is the start of ofsomething great for him.Rameez Raja
He’s been absolutely brilliant this year and has done it against goodteams in India, England and the West Indies and has done it home and away.I don’t think he has made any technical adjustments as such, but he is so sound mentally now. Religion has played an integral part in his growth not just as a cricketer but as a person. I used to doubt his ability to see Pakistan through in situations before but he has rescuedPakistan from precarious positions through the year. A superb achievement.

England’s raucous band of Barmy Army supporters began arriving in Pakistan on Tuesday, dismissing security fears and bringing smiles to the faces of hoteliers in the Test venue cities.One of the first to arrive was veteran supporter Phil Long and his three travelling companions Keith Smith, John Freeman and Jonathon Dyson. All were on their way to the Pindi stadium to watch England take on the Patron’s XI. “We’re the first batch,” Long told AFP. “It’s as important a tour as the Ashes for England, and beating Pakistan in their den could be even tougher than beating the Australians.”Hoteliers are expecting full houses in the three Test venue cities of Multan, Faisalabad and Lahore as England supporters descend on Pakistan. “It’s fun to be in Pakistan,” said Smith, who said he faced no security problems. “There are no fears and we’ve been well received [here].”