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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.

After weeks of speculation, it has been confirmed that Darrell Hair will not stand in the Champions Trophy in India next month.”Darrell Hair will not umpire the ICC Champions Trophy on the basis of safety and security concerns,” Brian Murgatroyd, the ICC’s media manager, said. “An announcement on the appointment of officials for that tournament will be made in due course.”Asked if this was nothing more than a convenient get-out, Muragtroyd replied: “Not as far as I am aware”.Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, issued a press statement in which he said: “A decision has been made in consultation with the ICC president Percy Sonn, the ICC general manager of cricket David Richardson and myself that he will not umpire at the Champions Trophy amid concerns over his safety and security and also the safety and security of those around him during the tournament.”

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.

The Chennai weather had the final say as the third one-day international between India and South Africa was abandoned without a ball being bowled. There seemed to be some hope of a truncated game when the rains – which had been lashing the city for more than a day – eased up late in the morning, allowing the umpires to call for an inspection at 4.30pm local time (1100 GMT). However, the outfield had taken a heavy pounding through the last 24 hours, and the lack of sunshine meant there was little chance of the huge puddles in the outfield drying up. The umpires finally decided to call off the match at 3.15pm.This is the third time in successive years that an international game at Chennai has been ruined by the weather. In October 2003, less than 27 overs of play was possible in an ODI between India and New Zealand; a year later, the Test between India and Australia was tantalisingly poised, with the home team needing 210 more for victory with all ten wickets in hands, but rain ensured that not a ball was bowled on the final day.The washout here means that India and South are tied at 1-1 with only two more matches left in the series. The fourth game will be played at Kolkata, on November 25.

Manicaland held out against champions Mashonaland until well into the afternoon at Mutare Sports Club, but a collapse by their lower middle order doomed them to defeat, which eventually came by nine wickets.For much of the morning session the overnight batsmen, Alistair Campbell and Stuart Matsikenyeri, raised hopes of forcing a draw as they played the bowling with little trouble on a placid pitch. The Mashonaland pace attack of Andy Blignaut and Gus Mackay rarely looked threatening under this conditions; Mackay returned the most economical figures and was the only bowler to find any significant swing during the match, but he has lost a bit of pace.When Campbell was bowled by Gripper for 92 – his third ninety in three weeks – the finger came out of the dyke. Matsikenyeri, with his second fifty of the match, lost his wicket through ball-watching; his new partner Guy Croxford played a ball to deepish mid-on but a fine throw from Craig Evans beat Matsikenyeri home. Three batsmen fell without scoring, and with Gary Brent making 14 Manicaland had lost six wickets for only 43 runs.Last man Justin Lewis showed more determination, however, and stayed in a last-wicket stand of 53 – a new Manicaland first-class record – with Croxford that ensured Mashonaland would have to bat again. They lost the wicket of Trevor Gripper in doing so, off-spinner Richie Sims winning an lbw verdict as some consolation for his tribulations of the first innings.

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Nathan Bracken destroyed Queensland’s Pura Cup home final with 6 for 27 as the Bulls fell for a miserable 102 at the Gabba. New South Wales, who decided against flying in Brett Lee from New Zealand, steamed through a disrupted opening day and held a pressing advantage as they reached 1 for 26 at stumps.Needing only a draw to win the trophy, Queensland started badly when Clinton Perren, Jimmy Maher and Shane Watson fell in 16 balls before Andrew Symonds (36) and Martin Love (24) shared the innings’ highest partnership of 42. But Grant Lambert, the allrounder preferred to Ed Cowan, dismissed Love, Matthew Nicholson added the important wicket of Symonds to go with Watson’s scalp, and Bracken returned with four more successes.Bracken was on a hat-trick after cleaning up Wade Seccombe and Ashley Noffke, but Joe Dawes defended his next ball, a swinging yorker, before becoming his sixth victim. The figures of 6 for 27 from 13.2 overs were the best since Wayne Holdsworth collected 7 for 41 against Queensland in the 1992-93 final.New South Wales suffered one setback in their chase when Greg Mail edged Watson to Andy Bichel at third slip, but bad light ended any hopes of more Bulls charging. Rain interrupted the first session and only six overs were possible before lunch, Queensland moving to 0 for 10 after being sent in by Brad Haddin.The Bulls appeared in their sixth consecutive Pura Cup final but they have not won the trophy since beating Tasmania at the Gabba in 2001-02. New South Wales also upset Queensland’s home advantage two seasons ago when they delivered a crushing 246-run victory.

Kent captain Matthew Fleming claimed four wickets to inspire a late Kent comeback against Yorkshire.Bad light stopped play five overs prior to the scheduled first day close with the Tykes on 365 for seven – yet the visitors had been in fine shape on 327 for two just 73 minutes earlier.After winning the toss, the white rose county took advantage of a sublime St Lawrence pitch and a short leg-side boundary on the lime tree side of the ground to punish Kent’s injury-hit attack.After the early loss of Simon Widdup, Vaughan – the only one on Yorkshire’s three representatives appearing in this game to have also played in last week’s series winning Test against The West Indies, started the run glut with a stylish 69 in almost three hours.He finally went to an excellent catch by Rahul Dravid at second slip to give Fleming the first of his four for 77 return, leaving Anthony McGrath to add a further 195 for the third wicket in partnership with Australian Darren Lehmann.Scoring at almost five an over McGrath notched 14 fours and a six on his way to a 181-ball hundred.Lehmann, who has past 50 in his last six championship innings, was even quicker to three figures needing just 89 balls to reach his fourth century of the championship summer.With the Yorkshire score on 330, Fleming removed McGrath to a catch at the wicket and then ended Lehmann’s stay to a leg-side catch also by Nixon.Gary Fellows followed in similar fashion in Fleming’s next over, then David Byas and Simon Guy both went cheaply to Martin Saggers and David Masters respectively to give Kent a second valuable bowling bonus point in their quest to stay out of the relegation zone.

On the resilience of India’s tail this morning
I wasn’t particularly surprised that it took a while. If you’d said to me at the start of day one, that we’d wrap the game up after lunch on day five, I’d have taken that. Four wickets is four wickets in India. You’ve got to work hard no matter what, and today we reaped the benefits of some great work last night, and in the first innings when we batted. It’s no surprise, we knew it would be a challenge.On the margin of victory
I wouldn’t say it’s an easy Test win. It’s a convincing win for sure, 200-plus runs, but in these conditions, those sort of margins of victory can come around more easier than elsewhere. That doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a huge gap between the teams, and it was certainly not a crushing win. I expect India to come back strongly. We’ve been here before, three years ago, but we’ve a different sort of confidence this time. I certainly didn’t know what it was like to lose a Test back then [in 2001]. I know now. I know what it means to lose and I know what it means to win, and I think that personifies what the team thinks.On the completeness of Australia’s performance
That was a very, very complete game of cricket for us. It went as close to our match plan as we could have hoped. I’m sure we’ll analyse our plans before Chennai, but I’m thrilled at how the guys went about their business. Our gameplan has certainly changed since 2001. There’s no need to delve into match plans or theories, but we’re a different team now, a bit more versatile.On the importance of the toss
In my experience, you do not just win the toss and win the Test. Whatever you do first, whether it’s bat or bowl, you must do it well. We won the toss here and batted well, and India will probably admit they didn’t bowl quite as well first up, although Harbhajan turned it around in the second innings. We fully expected that, and next time, it will be helpful for gameplan. But whether you bat first or second, that’s the crucial innings. You’ve got to set up your runs while the wicket is in a good state.On Shane Warne’s lack of penetration this morning
Let’s face it, in reality, India did not have a lot to lose this morning, other than a Test match [chuckles] … if that makes sense. I thought [Irfan] Pathan played Warne very well indeed. He’s an intelligent cricketer with experience beyond his years. The others rode their luck and took him on. They were not expected to perform heroics, so their approach was relaxed.Shane’s figures are sure to be analysed and scrutinised, and people will claim he was ineffective. I beg to differ. I thought he played a fantastic role. We have an attack based around fast bowlers, so if people want to call him a support bowler then so be it. I wouldn’t call him that. He got the most dangerous batsman that we’ve met in world cricket twice in two innings. If hetakes just eight wickets in the series and they are all VVS Laxman, I’ll take that.On the umpiring
There have been a great deal of words written about the umpires, and lots of airtime on TV, but it goes without saying that some decisions will go against batsmen at some time, and on this occasion, India were on the receiving end more often than not. It’s easy to say get on with it, take the good with the bad, but I don’t remember reading on day two in Kolkata, that the crucial wicket of Harbhajan’s hat-trick [Gilchrist himself] was a certain fairly dubious lbw decision. You’ve got to move on.And what’s more, there aren’t many people in this room who’ve played in front of a crowd like that. The noise is extraordinary. When I went into bat, I had to say to Billy Bowden: “Mate, I wouldn’t do your job for quids”. You have no ideaif a batsman has bat-padded, or got an inside-edge, or whatever. It’s a very, very difficult job, made more difficult in these conditions. You have to accept it and move on, and not get too critical.I understand the frustrations of the Indians in this game. But then, apart from two umpires, no-one’s ever congratulated me for walking. And yet today, I was made to feel bad for appealing for Virender Sehwag’s dismissal. As far as I knew, it was out. I’ve since seen there was some bat involved, but why should we be made to feel bad? Let’s be consistent.On the lessons learned from Australia’s various matches against India
We’ve focussed a lot on three years ago, but let’s not forget how India played in Australia last year. That Adelaide victory was a real shock, and it wasn’t that we didn’t rate India, but we scored 500 in the first innings and no team should lose from there. Somehow we did, and we’ve learnt a great deal from the Indians. There’s a wonderful aura around these series, whether it’s one-day cricket or Tests. This was another great battle, we’re thrilled to have won and we’ll celebrate tonight. But tomorrow it’ll be all hands on deck for Chennai.