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Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors, Asantha de Mel, is set to take control of selection issues when he arrives in England for the one-day series later this month, a move that is sure to increase the pressure on the coach, Tom Moody.de Mel, who was recently reappointed for a second stint after being sacked a year ago, is keen for the selectors to blend youth with experience, and to that end he persuaded Sanath Jayasuriya to come out of retirement to reinforce Sri Lanka’s Test squad.Jayasuriya has so far been overlooked in the five-day game, although he is set to take centre stage when the ODIs begin, as he builds towards his anticipated swansong at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.”I did not insist on [Jayasuriya’s] inclusion as I take over my duties from the one-day series,” de Mel told BBC Sinhala. “I recalled him but he was just another option for the management. But from the ODI series the team will be selected by a resident selector rather than the management.”de Mel added that an independent enquiry should be set up to investigate the circumstances of Jayasuriya’s original retirement, after suggestions that he had been forced to quit before he was ready. “Jayasuriya [should] be allowed to speak,” he said, “otherwise rumours will always be there.”

S Badrinath has been retained as Tamil Nadu’s captain for the coming Ranji season. Apart from Badrinath and Dinesh Karthik, Tamil Nadu will have a largely inexperienced squad, with only five players who have played more than 10 first-class matches. L Balaji, the former Test medium-fast bowler, has been left out of the squad that was picked for the first two matches. The management plans to ease him back into competitive cricket as the season progresses.Even among the experienced players, Badrinath, Karthik and Yo Mahesh will be the first targets for India A teams, if not the national team in the case of the former two. Offspinner R Ashwin, who has taken 34 wickets in the five matches he has played, might be the one to lead in their absence.In the absence of T Kumaran, who was one of the seven players to have joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the pace attack will have to be spearheaded by Mahesh. C Ganapathy, the right-arm medium-pacer and Ramadoss Naresh, the left-arm medium-pacer, are the two other experienced pacers. Murali Vijay, the right-hand opener, who impressed in his debut season last year, will be the main hope in the batting department, along with Badrinath, Karthik and S Anirudha, who played in the Challenger Trophy.Squad: S Badrinath (capt), M Vijay, S Anirudha, Dinesh Karthik, Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas, R Prasanna, R Ashwin, C Ganapathy, V Yo Mahesh, R Naresh, R Srinivasan, P Amarnath, R Ramkumar, Abhinav Mukund and KH Gopinath

David Hussey, the Victoria batsman, may have been purchased for US$625,000 by the Kolkata franchise in the Indian Premier League’s auction, but his county side Nottinghamshire have insisted he is contracted to play for them this season. Hussey’s participation in the IPL, which runs from April 18 to June 1, would mean he misses the first five County Championship matches and eight games in the Friends Provident Trophy.Mike Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, said: “We are currently talking to David and his advisors, so I would prefer not to comment at this stage other than to say that he signed a new two-year contract with us after the end of last season.”Hussey was one of the surprise buys at the IPL auction, being picked up well above his initial base price of $125,000. He even outdid his more famous brother, the Test player Michael, who went for $350,000. Unlike Michael, David was reportedly available for the entire tournament, which perhaps was one of the reasons why he sold for a higher price than the likes of Ricky Ponting and Matthew HaydenMeanwhile, Justin Langer, the former Australian Test opener, has indicated he will play for Somerset and won’t turn out for the Jaipur franchise. Langer collected his base price of $200,000, but Jaipur paid only $75,000 for him, with the Indian board covering the difference.”I have made a commitment to Somerset and I intend to honour it,” Langer told the . “I made that clear when I first signed with IPL and I have no hesitation sticking to it.”Langer fears the IPL will damage the game. “When you go to your grave,” he said, “people will remember what you did with your life rather than how much money you made.”The newspaper also reported Luke Ronchi, the Western Australia wicketkeeper, is considering an A$100,000 (approx US$92,000) offer to join the Mumbai franchise, while his team-mate Luke Pomersbach, who earned a car park call-up to play a Twenty20 international for Australia, is also set to join an IPL team. The Mumbai franchise failed to buy a wicketkeeper-batsman at the auction held on Wednesday.

Martin Suji, Kenya’s veteran fast bowler who has been suffering with a serious knee injury, has been asked to help the national squad prepare for their forthcoming ICC Intercontinental Cup and ODIs.Suji, 36, has not played a representative match for 19 months and there must now be serious doubts whether he will play again. But in the meantime, he will help Alfred Njuguna to coach the team until a long-term replacement for Roger Harper can be identified. He has some coaching experience with the title-winning Kanbis side.Samir Inamdar, Cricket Kenya’s chairman, told Cricinfo that Suji could bring much to the table in terms of his vast experience and that he had “plenty to give back to the game”.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Mahela Jayawardene produced an innings of pure class, a rare gem, when it was most needed as Sri Lanka claimed their rightful place in the final of the 2007 World Cup, brushing aside New Zealand, who have reached the semifinals five times and never gone further. The 81-run win was Mahela’s baby, but Upul Tharanga played his part, as did Muttiah Muralitharan, who picked up 4 for 31 and spun New Zealand out for only 208.The progress of Jayawardene’s innings was not unlike the shaping of a diamond. It was raw to begin with – carefully negotiated dot-balls, as he reached 17 off 47 balls, and, as the right environment was created slowly but surely, 23 runs came off as many balls; then, as the carbon crystal was almost worth its weight in carats, Jayawardene applied immense heat and pressure, carting 60 off 30 balls; finally, when the stone was done he cut and polished his gem, taking 15 off 5 balls, and left it out there for the world to admire.Even Stephen Fleming, Jayawardene’s opposite number, and a captain known to take on and target his counterparts, was moved enough to walk up and congratulate him immediately after Sri Lanka had ended on 289 for 5. The manner in which he built his innings, never once doubting what was best for himself as batsman or the team as captain, harked back to the mindset of Sri Lanka’s World Cup winning captain, Arjuna Ranatunga. But the purity of his strokeplay, oozing class, not one shot played in anger, barely a desperate run scrambled, was reminiscent of that stylist, Aravinda de Silva.But though Jayawardene was never once in trouble in the course of his innings, and always in control, it was not as though the conditions were perfect for batting. Although there wasn’t exaggerated assistance for the bowlers, the ball wasn’t exactly coming onto the bat nicely to be driven on the up at will. The fall of first Sanath Jayasuriya – bowled through the gate by James Franklin with the score on 13 – and later Kumar Sangakkara, who chipped Franklin to mid-on with Sri Lanka on 67, and New Zealand sniffed a chance.Up until then it was Upul Tharanga, under severe pressure for occupying a spot some believed should have gone to Marvan Atapattu, had kept Sri Lanka going. He was scoring fluently, reaching 50 off 51 balls, though without any of the debonair mien of Jayawardene, and built a solid partnership with his captain. A late surge from him, including a sweetly timed six over cover, took him to 73 from 74 balls before he was bowled round his legs, shuffling across his stumps too much, by Daniel Vettori.In a tournament where the umpiring standards have been uniformly high, a rare error each from the most experienced umpire and the best one, accounted for the final two wickets that fell. Rudi Koertzen gave Chamara Silva out lbw after a thick inside-edge went back onto pad, and Simon Taufel raised the dreaded finger when Tillakaratne Dilshan attempted to sweep one from Jacob Oram that was delivered from wide of the crease and struck the left leg in line with leg stump and would easily have missed another set of stumps.Lasith Malinga slinged out fiery swinging deliveries to put NZ in early trouble•AFP

Yet Jayawardene had kept his end tight, and built partnerships both times – 41 for the fourth wicket and 81 for the fifth – and was around to finish things off in style. A straight six that was gently caressed back over Oram’s head, a wristy flick off a full-toss that just eluded Shane Bond at deep backward square-leg and went the distance, and some sizzling late cuts powered Sri Lanka to 289 for 5 from 50 overs. 102 runs had come off the last 10 overs, and with their bowling attack, in these conditions, Sri Lanka needed to play really badly to lose.Lasith Malinga kept up the tempo with a fiery spell, getting the ball to move away from the right-handed batsmen late at sheer pace. But it was a left-hander who suffered as Fleming was trapped in front of the stumps by one that started outside off and came into him. Ross Taylor, who has harassed by Malinga, was put out of his misery by Chaminda Vaas and Koertzen, adjudged lbw to a ball that would have missed the stumps.Scott Styris, as he has done all tournament, punched well above his weight, creaming three straight sixes – twice off Dilhara Fernando, who was a mental wreck after being twice warned for running on the danger area in his first over, and once off Muralitharan – but he only managed 37 before popping a simple catch to short midwicket off an innocuous offbreak from Dilshan.Muralitharan then swooped in, having Oram caught and bowled off a doosra, and then off the very next ball Brendon McCullum brilliantly caught by a diving Silva at short fine-leg, and all of a sudden New Zealand were 114 for 5. Peter Fulton, who had batted well for 46, chipped Jayasuriya to midwicket, Vettori offered his pad to a doosra that was pitched in line and destined for middle stump, and New Zealand were dead and buried at 116 for 7. The rest was mere formality, though a cameo from Franklin towards the end provided some passtime, as Sri Lanka romped into the final of the World Cup.

Muttiah Muralitharan, who became only the second bowler in Test history to take 700 wickets, said that his main focus was not on breaking Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne’s world record but for Sri Lanka to win the two-Test series in Australia later this year.Sri Lanka’s next Test assignment is against Australia in November and Murali who took 12 wickets in the third and final Test against Bangladesh at Kandy on Saturday said: “It’s a big achievement taking 700 wickets. I knew anyway that I would get the 700 wickets. I want to go to Australia and try and win the series because we have never won one there. Also I have not taken five wickets in an innings in Australia. They are the No. 1 team in the world but we can also be better than them if we play to our strengths.”Muralitharan finished the three-Test series against Bangladesh with a haul of 26 wickets bringing him nine wickets closer to breaking Warne’s world record of 708. “I think I can achieve a little bit more than the world record. I hope to play until the next World Cup in 2011 and the challenge is before I retire I am thinking of taking 1000 Test wickets,” said the 35-year-old spinner.He described today’s victory by an innings and 193 runs as more special than taking 700 wickets. “If you are winning a match in less than 2 ½ days [taking into account disruption by rain] it is special. The way we batted and the way we bowled in the first innings was amazing. We played good cricket and didn’t allow Bangladesh to raise their heads. We wanted to knock them off every time we bowled and batted. That’s what we have done.”Sri Lanka captain Jayawardene praised his team’s all-round performance. “When you perform to that level it is always tough for a team like Bangladesh to keep up. Credit should go to the whole team, the way we played, the way we executed our game plan was brilliant. We should not take anything away from them. I am surprised the way we finished the series especially today after two days of rain. Mainly the way we bowled in the first innings and scored 470 run in a day put pressure on Bangladesh,” Jayawardene said.Bangladesh coach Shaun Williams said that Sri Lanka had basically given them lesson on how to go about playing good Test cricket. “They allowed us nothing and that’s what you expect from a top quality team. We don’t have enough to challenge top-shelf Test teams. It was very difficult to get many positives out of this sort of result. We were inconsistent in our batting although there were some individual performances. There were good signs here and there. But there were only little things we can take back. We got a lot to learn from Sri Lanka cricket, the way they’ve gone about building a side,” said Williams.”Sri Lanka’s got some superstars like Murali, Mahela and Sanga. The way they have built their A team and youth programme there’s a lot to be learnt from that. It hasn’t happened overnight. If Bangladesh cricket can learn from that then in time we can go forward,” he added.Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful said his side would put up a better performance in the one-day series starting next week. “Playing Test cricket was very tough in Sri Lanka. We know Test cricket is very difficult because Sri Lanka is a very good side especially at home. I am very confident we will put up a better performance in the one-day series,” he said.

ScorecardFast bowlers Syed Sahabuddin and D Kalyankrishna demolished Saurashtra for 87 as Andhra took control on the second day at Rajkot. Both bowlers shared all ten wickets to fall as Sahabuddin ended with figures of 7 for 37. Opener Kanaiya Vaghela was the only batsman to offer some resistance, scoring 30 off 134 balls, as the innings was wrapped up as early as the 46th over. The Andhra batting too wobbled, as Sandeep Jobanputra and Sandip Maniar took two wickets each to reduce them to 87 for 4 at stumps. However, Andhra were still in a strong position, ahead by 215 runs.
ScorecardRajasthan were in deep trouble in reply to Maharashtra’s imposing total of 527 for 5 declared, losing four quick wickets at the end of the day. Dheeraj Jadhav continued the good work from the first day going on to 171 while Hrishikesh Kanitkar, overnight on 93, was unlucky to fall three short of his century. Sreedharan Sriram, who moved from Tamil Nadu this season, helped himself to a century and his stand of 109 with Yogesh Takwale, helped push the score towards 500. Rajasthan lost the important wicket of Vikram Solanki early as Maharashtra’s opening bowlers, Anupam Sanclecha and Aditya Dole, made early inroads.
ScorecardKarnataka’s batsmen had a decent outing in the second day at Kanpur, edging ahead of Uttar Pradesh’s first-innings score of 264 by 32 runs with three wickets in hand. Karnataka could have ended the day in a stronger position had the batsmen converted their starts. Barrington Rowland was dismissed shortly after reaching his half-century while the middle order, including captain Yere Goud looked set to reach their respective fifties before giving it away. Mohammad Kaif, fresh from his 91, contributed with the ball as well, picking up two wickets. Earlier, R Vinay Kumar wrapped up the UP innings with a five-wicket haul.
ScorecardBoosted by Mayank Tehlan’s unbeaten ton, Delhi made a strong reply to Baroda’s total, leading by 12 with seven wickets in hand. Tehlan, cousin of Virender Sehwag, came in at the fall of Aakash Chopra’s wicket early and added 55 with Shikhar Dhawan for the second wicket. Mithun Manhas, the captain, also had a good outing in the middle, scoring a half century and his stand of 135 with Tehlan helped Delhi seize the initiative. Tehlan’s second first-class century included 15 boundaries, while Manhas’s knock of 70 included 10 fours.
ScorecardAfter posting 287 with much effort, Haryana ended the day in a good position reducing Tamil Nadu to 80 for 3. After a dull first day, in which the Haryana batsmen crawled at less than two an over, Amit Mishra injected some life with a fluent 50 off 78 balls. The Tamil Nadu spinners, C Suresh and R Ashwin took four wickets each and toiled for 46 and 48 overs respectively as the tail – in particular Gaurav Vashisht who made 6 off 75 balls – gritted it out. Openers M Vijay and S Anirudha got Tamil Nadu off to a good start with a stand of 60 but lost three quick wickets to peg them back.
ScorecardAfter bundling out Hyderabad for 205, Gujarat rounded off another good day as their batsmen, led by Niraj Patel’s unbeaten 109 and Azharuddin Bhilakia’s half century, ended at 225 for 2. Patel, the left-handed batsman who’s been a consistent performer in the last few seasons, added 141 with opener Bilakhia , who made an obdurate 72. They came together after the fall of the first wicket at 35 and took the score to 176 as Hyderabad struggled to get a breakthrough. Patel faced 210 balls in his knock which included 11 fours. Arjun Yadav and Kaushik Reddy were the only successful bowlers for Hyderabad.
ScorecardPankaj Dharmani, Punjab’s most experienced campaigner, carved out a solid 144 to take his side to 353 against Mumbai at Mohali. Resuming on 220 for 6, Dharmani batted till the end, as the Mumbai bowlers struggled to mop up the tail. Ishan Malhatra added 45 with Dharmani for the seventh wicket; Gagandeep Singh frustrated the bowlers even more with a 90-ball 24. Swapnil Hazare, the fast bowler, bagged the last three wickets to finish with a five-wicket haul. In reply, Mumbai ended the day at 21 for no loss.

Ramnaresh Sarwan and Glenn McGrath were once at each other’s throats, but now they are the best of friends. Sarwan, the West Indies vice-captain, and McGrath went toe-to-toe in an ugly shouting match in Antigua in May 2003.McGrath, Test cricket’s third-highest wicket-taker, was rebuked by Cricket Australia for his actions following an outraged reaction from the Australian cricket community. The incident was sparked after Sarwan, on his way to a match-winning second-innings century, reportedly reacted to lurid taunts from McGrath by telling him he should get the answers from his wife, who was recovering from radiation therapy for secondary cancer.But more than two years on and Sarwan said the incident was in the past and they had patched up their differences after the match. “That’s behind us now,” Sarwan said ahead of the tourists’ opening tour match against Queensland, starting on Thursday. “We spent some time in Antigua and we’re the best of friends. I thought what happened in Antigua was unfortunate and it’s not going to happen again.”The opening Test, beginning at the Gabba on November 3, will be the first time the teams have met over five days since the match at St John’s, which the West Indies won by three wickets. Sarwan is treating an injured shoulder and upper back, but said he would play against a full-strength Queensland.At 25, Sarwan is seen as the man to replace Brian Lara as their top batsman. Sarwan, the No. 3, averages 40.87 with eight centuries in 55 Tests but is intent on lifting his game. “Bennett [King, the coach] wants me to take up that role and I’ve been trying my best to do that,” he said. “Obviously Brian is 36 and we don’t know how long he is going to go on for. We have to try and make the best of use of him [until then]. But it is going to be a challenge and I’m looking forward to that challenge.”

The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) has refused to rule out the possibility of England’s leading players joining the Indian Premier League (IPL). Only Dimitri Mascarenhas has so far signed up to the IPL, while the likes of Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen have poured water on suggestions that they and their team-mates could be lured to the IPL by money.Currently, the IPL clashes with England’s county season but Lalit Modi, its chairman, maintains his willingness to shift the dates of future tournaments in order to accommodate English players. The ECB chairman, Giles Clarke, strongly believes that England’s players would rather play for their country than an Indian franchise, but Sean Morris, the PCA chief executive, is aware of the need for a balance.”We will ask the players how they feel,” he said. “We need to sit them down and ask their personal views – some might have different opinions to others. But I would like to think on behalf of the players we would be able to take advantage of this concept and allow them to reap the benefits.”There may be a very strong collective view but there may also be different circumstances for each individual which would affect their decision. We have a very open dialogue with the ECB right now, we met this week and will be meeting with them again next week, so there is a strong channel of communication.”Mr Modi is saying that he’s prepared to move his tournament to accommodate English players and that is music to everyone’s ears in this country.”The issue the PCA are trying to address with the ECB is the potential restriction of employment.”Their priority is England, they’ve all said that,” Morris said. “But I just hope we can come to a point where they’re comfortable with their arrangement with the ECB as their employers and take advantage of the increase in income into the game, because you’re a long time retired.”Restricting employees anywhere will cause friction in a relationship – over a period of time that will break it down.”Meanwhile Dougie Brown, the PCA chairman, insisted that for all the players’ loyalty to England, “IPL is not something that is going to go away – it’s going to be around for 10 years” and the ECB need to act sharply.”So we have to compartmentalise it within our own calendar, create a window of opportunity, or it will be a precarious situation that the ECB will find themselves in. You might find guys coming to the end of their careers will not sign a central contract, they will go and sign with the IPL instead. Suddenly you will be losing people a couple of years earlier than you might have.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Inspired by passionate hometown support, Nottinghamshire crushed the international all-stars of Surrey to book their place in the Twenty20 final against Leicestershire. Charlie Shreck knocked the stuffing out of the batting with three wickets while Ryan Sidebottom produced a spell of extraordinary economy. After weeks of gorging themselves on county attacks, Surrey suffered a collective failure and slumped with barely a whimper.Nottinghamshire had built a useful total on the back of a thunderous 42 from David Hussey and useful lower-order power-shows from Chris Read and Mark Ealham. However, with Surrey packing the collective weight of Ally Brown, Mark Ramprakash, Mark Butcher and Rikki Clarke no total is out of reach.In the blink of an eye, though, the top order had been decimated as Shreck found bounce and movement from an awkward length to enhance a growing reputation. Surrey’s chase started on a unconvincing note when James Benning, who dislocated his finger in the field, opted to open the innings but was in considerable pain. It was brave decision to bat, but Benning’s hit-and-miss start set a poor tone for Surrey.When he was cleaned up by Shreck, Brown had already been taken by mid-on running backwards and Mark Butcher was quickly run out by Will Smith’s direct hit. When Clarke swung and missed at Shreck the score was 16 for 4 and the game was up. Though the wickets had gone to Shreck, it was Sidebottom who created the pressure with an outstanding spell which yielded just seven runs in four overs, narrowly missing out on joining Mark Alleyne and Johann Louw with the most economic Twenty20 figures of four overs for six runs.Surrey just didn’t have their mind on the game, as characterised by some lazy running between Ramprakash and Azhar Mahmood. A lacklustre Ramprakash was eventually run out but by then he had visibility given up hope of guiding Surrey to their target. Mahmood fell to a stunning, gravity-defying catch by Smith on the deep-square-leg boundary and Nottinghamshire played on different level despite the odd blemishes in the field. One of the mistakes ended with Chris Read losing a tooth after a missed stumping against Jonathan Batty, but even he was smiling at the end.Graeme Swann and Stephen Fleming had begun in measured fashion with the bat but it was Hussey who provided the real fireworks as he launched the Surrey bowlers into the stands – and sometimes over them – four times. Considering Hussey bagged a pair in the last Championship matches he struck the ball extremely crisply and nearly launched one six into the Trent Bridge Inn.Read briefly flourished through the off side and Ealham handed the innings late impetus by taking 17 off Mahmood’s last over. The winner of the Twenty20 cup has always come from the second semi-final and Nottinghamshire have the support of large sections of a sell-out crowd. The final with Leicestershire has the makings of a thriller.