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Santosh Kumar’s six wicket haul on the final day propelled theKarnataka Under-19 team to enter the knock out stage of the CoochBehar Trophy with a 173-run victory on the third and final day overKerala in the South Zone league match at the KRL Ground in Ambalamugalon Monday. The other team to enter the knock out stage from the zoneis Andhra who scored an innings and 67 run win over Goa on Sunday.Resuming their second innings at 217 for 8, Karnataka were all out for246, leaving Kerala a stiff victory target of 300.Kerala folded up for 126 off 35.3 overs. The openers R Kapil (9) andMM Nathani (18) made a sedate start adding 24 runs in 9.4 overs. Offspinner Santosh Kumar who was introduced early into the attack thenbowled Kapil. Rejas joined Nathani and the two took the score to 38when Rejas was bowled by Santosh Kumar. The last ball of Santosh’snext over saw the exit of Nathani in similar fashion. Skipper VipinLal (19) and RP Sujith (39) took the score to 58. But at this junctureVipin was caught by Krishna off Kumar. Three balls later NJ John (0)returned to the pavilion after being bowled by Kumar.In the next over Dharmichand had AC Antony caught by KV Bhatt beforethe batsman had opened his account. At 59 for 6 in the 21st over,Kerala were staring at certain defeat. But Sujith found some goodcompany in the later order batsmen to take Kerala past the 100 runmark. Sujith after a 46-run seventh wicket stand with Aneesh (10) in7.5 overs, was caught by HTS Rao off Dharmichand. For his brightknock, Sujith faced 23 balls while hitting 6 boundaries and 2 sixes.Kumar now came back to claim the wicket of Aneesh by shattering hisdefences. Dharmichand then dismissed S Santh (12) and S Sooraj (7) offsuccessive deliveries. Santosh Kumar finished with six for 35 whileDharmichand had four for 64.

In October 1978 on this very ground Indian cricket began a new chapter as a certain Kapil Dev Nikhanj played the first of his 131 Tests. Apart from spearheading the bowling attack for over a decade, Kapil captured the imagination with his spontaneity and brought to the crease a certain audacity, the likes of which hadn’t been seen before. So when Kapil calls someone his hero, you know that that someone needs to be taken seriously.Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who orchestrated a quite astonishing 148 under pressure, received that accolade and he admitted that it was the “best message” he had got till now. Kapil would have probably identified with his swagger and daring. Several Indian batting masters would have probably brought off those juddering pull shots off bowlers in the Shoaib Akhtar class, but few might have achieved it with such ferocity. The pressure was immense, the opponent brutal.Dhoni talked about the most engrossing passage of the series: “He was bowling very fast. It was actually the fastest deliveries I have played till now, both in the one-dayers and Tests. It was quite fiery. I believe he was bowling consistently over 148kph. It was really fast. It was a challenge for me and I accepted it. I just wanted to hang in there for a while and get used to the pace and bounce of the wicket but soon decided to take a calculated risk. I had to play my strokes at some point of time and I decided it was the right time to go for it.”It was no doubt his toughest test to date, one where he was up against electrifying pace against a team on the rise. He looked out of place in the first few deliveries and even got hit when he missed a short snorter. “It’s my best innings in Test cricket,” he added. “It was a good batting track but I don’t think it was very easy to score with Shoaib bowling at his best with the new ball. It was quite tough for me and I got hit.”Dhoni nearly got hit again this morning when Shoaib let rip a chest-high beamer, but was fortunate that it was not spot on, running away for four runs. “I would like to believe that the ball just slipped out of his hand,” he said, yet confirming that Shoaib hadn’t apologised for his action. “A beamer always surprises you, so I was a bit surprised. I don’t think anybody bowls a beamer intentionally.”Dhoni also acknowledged Irfan Pathan’s contribution and spoke about what he liked about their partnership. “Both of us have one thing in common,” he said, “we always look for runs. I was getting runs quite fast and he was playing the sheet-anchor’s role. That was the perfect thing in our partnership.”

Erudite, intelligent, charismatic and, in his heyday, one of the greatest allround cricketers the world has ever seen, Imran Khan was the figurehead of Pakistan cricket for a generation, and a man who could hold his own in all walks of life. Educated at Aitchison College in Lahore, Imran went on to Oxford University, before honing his skills as a frighteningly quick fast bowler for Sussex.He brought to the Pakistan captaincy an international dimension and diplomacy that enabled them to become one of the finest teams in the world in the late 1980s and, in 1992, he ended his career on a glorious note, when he lifted the World Cup at Melbourne, after cajoling his “cornered tigers” into an inspired performance against England.With his sculpted good looks and flowing mane, Imran in full cry was a sight to behold – his bowling action culminating in a bounding leap for the crease and a full-stretch whip of the body. His mastery of reverse-swing enabled him to conquer the subcontinental conditions, and ensured that a legacy was passed onto his inheritors, Waqar Younis, and Wasim Akram, whom Imran first spotted as a teenaged net bowler in 1984.When injury limited Imran’s bowling, he instead transferred his talents to his batting, and in the mid-1980s his allround skills put him on a plinth that he shared with Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee – international champions one and all.

Glenn McGrath has been passed fit for the fifth and final Test at The Oval, starting tomorrow, after recovering from the elbow injury that forced his withdrawal from the side that lost at Trent Bridge last month.Trailing 2-1 in the series, Australia were desperate to give McGrath, 35, enough time to get back to full health, and the man himself had said he wanted to play “even if his arm falls off”. But he had first to must pass a fitness test on Wednesday afternoon, ahead of Australia’s most important match for a decade.McGrath delivered two spells in the nets on Tuesday, in which he performed well enough to be picked if his elbow showed no more bad signs, and speaking to the press at The Oval on Wednesday morning, Ricky Ponting declared: “he’s looking more and more likely to play.” That was confirmed after a further work-out in the afternoon, and McGrath will now take his place at the expense of Michael Kasprowicz, in the only change to Australia’s line-up.Earlier, Ponting had stressed how importance McGrath was to the Australian team, adding that his combination of incisiveness and frugality made it almost like having two bowlers in one. “He’s always missed any time he misses a game,” said Ponting. “He’s probably our main strike bowler with the new ball and at the same time you can call on him, through the course of the day, to bowl some tight overs as well.”He’s a vital player in our side, someone who’s done exceptionally well for us over the years, especially in big games and that’s what this one is building up to be.” But Ponting stressed that Australia would not go into the game with a less than fully fit McGrath. “I wouldn’t take him at 60 or 70 percent, no way. We can’t afford to do that in a game like this. With the situation of the series we’ll probably have to be a little bit more cautious.”If McGrath had not been passed fit, Australia had been expected to gamble on a five-pronged package that could include Stuart Clark and Stuart MacGill, at the expense of a batsman. “Certainly it is an option,” Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, said in . “We’ve got to get 20 wickets to win the game. It hasn’t worked for us in the past.”

ScorecardIt will be nothing more than a formality for Trinidad and Tobago when they return to Guaracara Park to wrap up their Carib Beer Cup semi-final against the Windward Islands.Facing a mammoth target of 541, due to T&T’s second innings total of 416, a batting collapse saw Windwards tottering at 102 for 7 at the end of the third day. A sparkling 161 by Daren Ganga, the T&T captain, and late wickets for Amit Jaggernauth and Dave Mohammed made sure that T&T ended the day on the brink of an outright victory and a berth in next weekend’s final.Mohammed gave an impressive allround performance, scoring 43 not out in a 51-run ninth wicket partnership with his captain, before returning to rip the heart out of the Windwards batting with figures of 4 for 31 off nine overs.Devon Smith, the Windwards opener, looked formidable, slamming six fours in his 33, but when Mohammed had him trapped in front leg-before, the Windwards folded easier than fresh linen. Mohammed also removed Junior Murray, the hard-hitting wicketkeeper for 17 via a midwicket catch by Ganga, as well as Darren Sammy (4) and bowled Dennis George (4). Jaggernauth grabbed the important wicket of Craig Emmanuel (21), caught by Sherwin Ganga at leg slip, and gave Dillon a simple catch at mid-on to dismiss Alvin La Feuille.With T&T already firmly in the driver’s seat overnight in their second innings at 171 for 3, Ganga made sure there was no room for the visitors to claw their way back into the match, slamming a century that included 16 fours and a six. He and Jason Mohammed started slowly, pushing the score along to 185, before an impatient Mohammed, attempting to go over the top, looped Rawl Lewis, the Windwards captain, to Butler at mid-off to depart for 20.Denesh Ramdin joined his captain and, looking to make amends for his first innings duck, got off the mark with a cut to the left of gully that crashed into the boundary. In the first hour, T&T had only managed 36 runs, but Ganga stepped up the scoring after the drinks break, smashing George to the square-leg fence and Sammy over backward point for four.Ramdin survived an lbw appeal and Ganga had a close call with another appeal for a catch at silly mid-off. But he responded with successive fours off Smith, hoisting him over long-on and then driving to the cover boundary, before clouting Liam Sebastien for another boundary to move into the 90s.A miscued sweep from Ramdin gifted the visitors their fifth wicket, Lewis taking the catch off Sebastien at slip, with the score at 266. Richard Kelly joined Ganga at the crease and the pair took the score to 277 at the lunch break, with the captain needing just a single to reach his tenth regional century.After tea, Ganga pushed to mid-off to bring up his century as he and Kelly looked to accelerate. Sebastien was replaced by Lewis mid-way through the over, and immediately had Kelly caught at the mid-wicket boundary for 17. Reyad Emrit and Dillon fell soon after, and at 338 for 8, Mohammed took the attack to the bowlers. He was left stranded, seven short of his half-century, after Jaggernauth was bowled for three.

Australia made a clean sweep of their Rose Bowl series with New Zealand, as they romped to a 3-0 whitewash on Sunday to confirm their place as World Cup favourites ahead of the tournament which starts next week. The drubbing will be a wake-up call to New Zealand, the World Cup holders, as both sides left for South Africa ahead of their first match on Tuesday (March 22).The favourites for the World Cup, Australia, won the final match on Sunday comfortably, easing home by three wickets with more than four overs remaining in a low-scoring encounter. The match was changed to a day-night fixture at the last minute, after sprinkler problems. New Zealand batted first and recovered from 6 for 31 to post 9 for 114, with Emma Twining taking 4 for 17 from 10. Australia overhauled the total with few difficulties.The second match of the series, on Saturday, was a closer contest – Australia won by just seven runs – with Haidee Tiffen’s career-best of 91 from 127 not enough to save New Zealand.

Mushtaq Ahmed and Chris Read were involved in a confrontation off the field at Hove during the current Championship clash between Sussex and Nottinghamshire.The incident happened after Read was trapped lbw by Mushtaq for a duck, and he appeared to be angry at a string of appeals. Mushtaq had four lbws on his way to 6 for 72Read returned the pavilion but then reappeared on the boundary edge where Mushtaq was fielding and the two exchanged angry words. Chris Adams, the Sussex captain, left the field to speak to Read.At the close of play the umpires, Rob Bailey and Graham Burgess, met with the two players and their captains, following which Read issued a brief apology. “I wish to apologise for my involvement in the incident with Mushtaq Ahmed earlier today,” he said. “It was totally out of character and will not happen again.”The ECB could take action depending on the report from the umpires.Read, whose disappointment at getting out was increased by the fact that he was being watched by England selectors David Graveney and Geoff Miller, was out of order, but some eyewitnesses did endorse his view that Mushtaq’s appealing was excessive. “Although there were too many appeals that were fatuous,” observed the Daily Telegraph, “his bowling enlivened a slow day.”

ScorecardIndia A completed an easy 10-wicket win over Northern Territory Chief Minister’s XI with a day to spare in their four-day match at the Marrara Cricket Ground in Darwin. Tejinder Pal Singh, with a century and six wickets in the game, made the most of his opportunities.It was Siddharth Trivedi, the medimpacer, who got India A away, picking up four first-innings wickets as NTCM XI were bowled out for only 234. Then India A responded well with Venugopala Rao, the captain, scoring a 100. Tejinder Pal Singh, who batted at No. 8 made a century of his own, and India notched up 430, a lead of 196 runs.When it was their turn to bat again NTCM XI managed only 224, with Tejinder Pal Singh taking 4 for 75 and Shib Sankar Paul picking up 4 for 60. India A needed just 3.3 overs to score the 29 runs that took them to victory, and did so without losing a second-innings wicket. The game was not especially memorable for NTCM XI, with just two batsmen scoring half-centuries, and no bowler picking up more than 3 wickets in an innings.

Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, said his team felt “added pressure” to beat Ireland on Tuesday as they tried to set themselves up to progress past the Super Eights stage. Arthur also said South Africa wanted to avoid a rematch with Australia in the semi-finals.South Africa face Ireland and Bangladesh this week and need a more convincing performance than in their warm-up game when Ireland nearly pinched a shock victory. South Africa were in trouble at 91 for 8 before Andrew Hall led a recovery that inched them to 192. Ireland were on track to overhaul the total until they lost 18 for 6 in a late collapse.Arthur said beating Ireland and Bangladesh, which would give South Africa six points from three matches, was crucial. “They are huge games because when you sit down and make plans for the rest of the tournament, they are both ‘banker’ games and, with games like that, there comes an added pressure,” Arthur told .”If things go well, we would also hope to work a little bit on our net run-rate because, in the event of two teams finishing with the same number of points after the Super Eights, they will be divided by their overall run rate. But first prize is to leave Guyana with six points – if we can do that I’ll be a very happy man.”South Africa almost choked in their opening Super Eights match against Sri Lanka after Lasith Malinga’s four wickets from four balls. Arthur said the tense win had “taken quite a few years off my life”.”At five wickets down with four runs needed to win, I started packing away the kit bags, but then it suddenly became very hectic,” he said. “It was always going to take something extremely special to derail us from there and Malinga certainly nearly delivered it.”Arthur said South Africa’s best chance to make the World Cup final would be to avoid the defending champions. “Based on current form I wouldn’t mind staying away from Australia in the semi-finals,” he said. “Right now I firmly believe the last four teams will be Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa based on what I have seen but we still have an awful lot of work to do to be sure of our place.”

Greg Chappell, the Indian coach, believes that his Pakistani counterpart Bob Woolmer has helped turn the Pakistan team into an organised unit.Talking to reporters on Sunday at the Bagh-e-Jinnah here, Chappell also made it clear that the coming series between Pakistan and India was not a contest between him and Woolmer.He said, “It is all about the captain and the team. The captains are the ones who extract the best performances from their players. Our job is to guide them as best as we can and ensure every player plays to his potential.”Pakistan would be confident after their series win over England and their recent performances. And they have some very good bowlers but we also have the players to play them well. The series will be a very close and good contest and if all the players play to their potential we are in for some wonderful cricket.”Chappell said on a personal level he was excited to be directly involved in such a high-profile series and see up close how the players reacted to the pressures.He stated, “The way I see it this series is all about performing under pressure and expectations of the people.”Woolmer, talking to reporters at the Gaddafi Stadium where the Pakistani players trained, said he was upbeat about the coming series but refused to name any one player who he believed could play a vital role in the series.Asked about Shoaib Akhtar, Woolmer said that while Shoaib had performed extremely well against England and was bowling well he would still not single him out as the main performer. “All our bowlers have to perform with discipline if we are to do well against India, it is not about any individual it is about a team performance.”Woolmer said that Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, would have a lot on his hands in the series but expressed confidence that he had the experience and skills now to lead the side well.