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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.”

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.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
Photo Gallery
Bulletin – Pakistan ride on Afridi blitz
Verdict – Blown away
Roving Reporter – A day with TWI
Quotes – ‘I was lucky’ – Afridi
Commentary – Master of chaos
On the Ball – Front-foot blasterPreview package
Preview – All to play for at Green Park
Stats – Where’s the run-fest?

The cricket boards of India and Pakistan will review and assess any incidents of crowd trouble during the series before taking any decision on the continuation of the tour.Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, addressed a news conference in Karachi on Friday, and said that the BCCI had agreed to tackle any misbehaviour from the crowd in a sensible manner. “Any incident of stone or bottle throwing during matches would be reviewed by the boards and no hasty decision would be taken on aborting the tour.”We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian board. And they agreed to do away with the clause that said that their players had the right to consider returning home if any stone, bottle or objects were thrown at them in any match.”Khan called on the people of Pakistan to give a big welcome to the Indian team, and show the world that it was not a place to be feared. The Indians have laid a lot of stress on security conditions, and the tour was cleared by the Indian government only after intense speculation.Shaharyar said it would be a tragedy, and very damaging at that for Pakistan, if any violent incident led to the series being aborted.

ADELAIDE, March 6 AAP – South Australian opener David Fitzgerald batted throughout the opening day to put the Redbacks in firm command of their Pura Cup match at Adelaide Oval today.At stumps, SA was 1-266 after winning the toss, Fitzgerald unbeaten on 127 from 283 balls for his third century of the season and skipper Greg Blewett on 61.Fitzgerald shared an opening stand of 137 with Shane Deitz, who was bowled by paceman Damien Wright for 57 late in the second session when he played an attempted pull shot onto his stumps.The openers scored only 60 from 29 overs in the opening session on a flat pitch, but it laid a solid platform from which SA was able to launch an assault in the final two sessions.An increasingly confident and free-scoring Fitzgerald and Blewett put on an unbroken 129-run second-wicket stand, including 106 in the final session.”We’ve had a tendency to get one little partnership and then lose a few quick wickets, so it was important to just keep building and building and play to our strengths,” Fitzgerald told reporters.The SA batsmen were helped when Tigers paceman Adam Griffith suffered a strain to his right hamstring in the second session and he did not bowl in the final session.Tasmanian coach Brian McFadyen said Griffith was to receive an ultrasound tonight and depending on the result of that test, might not bowl again tomorrow.The young paceman had already missed last week’s match against SA in Hobart with thigh and calf injuries.Should he be unavailable, it would leave the Tigers with a very thin pace attack of Gerard Denton and Wright, himself returning from injury.Left-arm orthodox spinners Daniel Marsh and Xavier Doherty both had little impact today, Doherty in particular with 0-81 from 22 overs, tiring late in the day and conceding 14 runs from his final over.With SA having no chance to make the Cup final after last week’s outright loss in Hobart, Fitzgerald said the team had been intent simply on getting the best out of each discipline in this match.He said his century gave him something positive to take away from the summer.”It’s been a funny season, this is my third century, but I’ve had quite a few starts and probably haven’t gone on, so that’s been disappointing, but to get another century is very pleasing,” he said.

The International Cricket Council ban on players using mobile phonesis being “strictly” enforced during the ongoing one-day tri-seriesinvolving India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka here, sources say.Sri Lanka’s Cricket Board sources revealed they were also keeping alog of calls made and received by the players through the switch boardof the hotel where the three teams are staying.The measures were taken as part of attempts to prevent bookmakers fromcontacting players following the match-fixing scandal which rocked thegame recently.”What we are implementing is an ICC recommended ban,” Sri Lanka’s teammanager Ajith Jayasekara said. “We are enforcing it very strictly.”From the time the teams leave for the match venues and during play aswell as at practice, the players were not allowed to use mobilephones, Jayasekara said.A website reported there was “speculation” that six Indian bookmakershad checked into the team hotel a day before the Indian team arrivedhere on Monday.None of the three teams, however, is accompanied by a ecurity officeras recommended by ICC’s anti-corruption unit. But the players remainheavily guarded.The Taj Samudra hotel floors occupied by the players are guarded byarmed members of the elite Ministerial Security Division and onlyauthorised personnel are allowed access.

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.

Going up against the likes of Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi and Hasan Raza in your maiden domestic final is no bowler’s dream. Younis has just come fresh off another successful international season, Raza is Habib Bank’s (HBL) top-scorer of the season, fresh from a double hundred, and statistics don’t really matter for Afridi.The 19-year-old Asad Ali was given the challenge of containing this star-studded HBL batting line. Although Samiullah Khan, his senior bowling partner, captured two early wickets, including that of Younis, the pressure was on Asad to deliver the goods from the other end. He duly responded with three quick and key wickets, a spell that may just prove decisive in dictating the outcome of this final.”I admit I did not bowl that well at the start of the innings,” Asad told Cricinfo. “The first two or three overs were completely useless. But as I settled down, I enjoyed my spell.”Before we took the field, the plan was to end the day with them [HBL] five or six down for under 100 runs on the board. Mohammad Hafeez [captain] advised us to stick to a good line and length and make them play. The onus was on the batsmen playing, whether they hit us for boundaries or we bowl a dot ball. We had to make them play.”All three of Asad’s wickets came from this; Rafatullah Mohmand was caught-behind, Afridi bowled off an inside edge and Aftab Ahmed, beaten for pace, saw his middle stump uprooted. Unsurprisingly, the prized scalp of Afridi was the most cherished.”A feeling that cannot be defined. He had just hit me for two boundaries and even though he was new to the crease, we all knew what he was capable of doing. We had a set plan for him. Hafeez provided me with a packed off-side field while Misbah-ul-Haq told me to make him play outside the off-stump. It worked wonderfully.”That really got me charged up. I felt great dismissing an international batsman, and that too of Afridi’s stature. Following that, I was all pumped up. I ran in faster, bowled faster and basically gave it my all from there till the end. It was only when Hafeez wanted me to take abreak that I was forced to come off.”HBL need another 46 runs to save the follow-on, and even though Hasan Razan and Kamran Hussain appear well-set, early morning conditions have aided swing bowlers over the span of the final.”The pitch still remains a sporting one. Even though the ball is slow coming on to the bat, it helps both batsmen and bowlers. The first hour will be crucial. Our plan is to get another two or three wickets by lunch. We will attack their batsmen right from the start.”Ideally, that gives us a good chance of dismissing HBL second-time round and lifting the trophy.”

The reactions to Pakistan’s shock first-round elimination from the World Cup has, understandably, enraged passionate fans back home and drawn plenty of criticism. In a nation stunned by Pakistan’s three-wicket defeat to Ireland in Jamaica, there have been angry protests, calls for arrest and even Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, hasn’t been spared.”We will ask for his [Ashraf’s] resignation in the meeting which is due to take place before March 28,” Senator Mohammad Enver Baig, a member of the senate standing committee on culture, sports, youth affairs and tourism told AFP. “You lost miserably to a country like Ireland. There is nothing to compensate and the chairman must resign and go back to the United States.”The way the team has lost is the most disgraceful performance since the World Cup started. The entire nation is shocked.”Baig said Ashraf had no experience to head the PCB and that his “one-man show” management had resulted in the “shameful defeat.” “He is a crony of [President] Pervez Musharraf and the way he [Musharraf] is running the country, the cricket board is also being run in same manner. It is a one-man rule everywhere.”In Multan, Inzamam-ul-Haq’s home town, incensed youth held a protest rally, chanted slogans against Pakistan and demanded that police arrest the World Cup squad. The mob was heard chanting, “Death to Bob Woolmer , death to Inzamam, death to Nasim Ashraf – police should arrest them”.Sarfraz Nawaz, the former Pakistan fast bowler, said the shock was “unbearable”. “I am speaking with deep pain and this shock is becoming unbearable for me,” he said, demanding that those responsible be fired. “The captain, coach and the entire team should be held accountable. It seemed that the umpires also wanted that Pakistan should win, but the body language of the team reflected that they wanted to lose.”The defeat was Pakistan’s second after the 54-run loss to West Indies in the tournament opener. Ireland are provisionally at the top of Group D, with three points – one more than West Indies and two ahead of Zimbabwe – leaving Pakistan at the bottom of the table with no points.

David Graveney, the England chairman of selectors, has said that his committee do not spend as much time as they should with England’s junior players and ‘A’ teams.Graveney, who was in Sri Lanka to watch the Under-19 side participate at the World Cup in Colombo admitted that it was the first time he had watched them at close quarters during his 10-year tenure as chairman.”We’ve not done anything. It is definitely my fault, that’s my call,” admitted Graveney. “Anywhere in the world if you are not actually there with the senior team you can always switch the TV on and watch it.”There is no TV coverage for England ‘A’ and for U-19 I think it’s a good process for the selectors to get to know the young lads and their parents, and they get to know us. Then we can see how they progress because everybody who starts at this level wants to play in the senior team. I’ll be making a report on this.”England went as far as the Super League semi-finals before crashing to 58 all out against India. Graveney said everybody wanted to win but there were a few things that need to be taken into consideration.”The main thing for England is the players learn from playing in the subcontinent. Hopefully, they will have the same opportunity in a few years time. We need to spend more time in the subcontinent which we have done.”We need to develop our players to bowl spin and play spin which is always stated to be a weaker hand. I wouldn’t say we can’t do it. It is just a weaker hand. In England you have to be a top notch wrist spinner like Shane Warne to be successful. The wickets themselves tend to favour the quicker bowling than slow bowling.”