ScorecardJames Kirtley’s four wickets and three more from Ollie Rayner helped Sussex bowl out Sri Lanka A for 225 on the first day at Hove.Choosing to bat, Sri Lanka A had an early setback when they lost Michael Vandort to Kirtley for 4 before a stabilising second-wicket stand of 76 between Mahela Udawatte and Malinda Warnapura levelled the balance.Both fell in quick succession to Kirtley, however, and Sri Lanka’s middle-order struggled against Rayner and Chris Liddle, though the wicketkeeper Kaushal Silva did crunch five fours in an unbeaten 49 to edge his side past 200 and into a position of relative respectability.Sussex, in reply, got off to a brisk start with Richard Montgomerie and Carl Hopkinson taking particular liking to Chanaka Welegedara. And although Akalanka Ganegama bowled Hopkinson for 21, Sussex had hustled to 78 for 1 at stumps, trailing by 147.

More than three months after Bennett King stepped down as West Indies coach, the board has finally advertised for applications to fill the vacancy.David Moore, King’s deputy, took charge on the recent tour of England but on the field the team struggled and there were reports of disharmony off the field and of friction between the management and some players.The big question seems to be whether the WICB will risk appointing an overseas coach again after King, whose time was not helped by criticism in some quarters which appeared to be based on the fact he was hired from outside the region. His tenure was generally considered not to have been a success.The closing date for applications is August 31 and the quality of applicants may depend on how quickly Julian Hunte, the new board president, can mend the broken relationship between the WICB and the players which has overshadowed almost everything in recent months.Moore will remain in charge for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa next month.Click here for the application details

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has set up a ten-member committee to review the structure of the domestic game. Aminul Haque, a former board secretary, was named convenor of the committee, which includes former players Raqibul Hasan, Aminul Islam, Enamul Haque and Gazi Ashraf.”The weakness of domestic cricket is hugely hampering our performance at the international level and that’s why we felt the need for a strong committee to find a solution,” Ahmed Sajjadul Alam Bobby, the BCB’s media committee chairman, told the , a Bangladeshi newspaper. He said the panel would provide recommendations for improving Bangladesh’s cricket in the medium and long term.Though the committee has already been formed, Bobby said it would not be possible to implement its suggestions in the coming season. Bangladesh’s national first-class tournament is currently played on a league basis with six teams playing each other home and away. Their one-day structure also follows a similar format.Committee members Aminul Haque (convenor), Jalal Ahmed Chowdhury, Shafiq-ul-Haque, Raqibul Hassan, Aliul Islam, Shakil Kasem, Aminul Islam, Enamul Haque, Lt Col M Abdul Latif Khan and Gazi Ashraf

Leicestershire have announced that six players – Darren Robinson, John Maunders, Arno Jacobs, Paul Harrison, Marc Rosenberg and David Stiff – are being released at the end of the season. The county were keen to stress that the players had been released with a view to making room for new ones to be brought in.”We are currently in negotiations with new players and I am confident that we will be in a position to announce new signings in the coming weeks,” said Tim Boon, Leicestershire’s coach. “We have set out our intentions through the club’s recruitment and selection policy for 2008 and beyond that we want to develop the best young talent around a core group of senior role-model professionals, and that will be reflected in the players that are brought to Grace Road.”I would like to thank those players who have not been offered new contracts for their commitment and service to the club and would also like to wish them well in the future.”

The inaugural tournament of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) – the ICL 20 20 Indian Championship – will be held between November 30 and December 16 at the Tau Devi Lal Cricket Stadium in Panchkula, Chandigarh.The announcement was made at the ICL’s executive board meeting in Chennai. The tournament will consist of 20 Twenty20 matches, and will culminate with the final on December 16, preceded by the playoff matches for 3rd/4th and 5th/6th place.”The ICL 20 20 Indian Championship will be held as promised, later next month at Chandigarh. We are working hard to deliver a very exciting tournament for the Indian viewers,” Kapil Dev, the chairman of the ICL’s executive board, said. “I am confident that the public in this country will witness for the first time a fully professionally run and organised extravaganza of cricket.”The ICL, launched by the Essel Group, has signed players such as Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje, Damien Martyn, Deep Dasgupta and Dinesh Mongia. Mohammad Yousuf had joined as well, but opted out ahead of Pakistan’s home series against South Africa.The dates for the tournament clash with India’s home Test series against Pakistan.

John Wright has been appointed as acting high performance manager for New Zealand Cricket, replacing Ric Charlesworth, who left on Friday following the end of his two-year contract. It is understood Charlesworth has taken a role with the Indian hockey team.”Many of the initiatives Ric has put in place are positive for the long-term future of elite cricket performance in New Zealand,” said the NZC chief executive, Justin Vaughan. “His main initiatives include a world-class specialist coaching network which will expose many more cricketers throughout New Zealand to coaching at the highest level and a winter playing programme which will allow emerging players to train and play outdoors in Australia during the winter months.”John will assume the role of acting high performance manager as we work through a process to determine the optimal structures for high performance in the future. John has been at NZC a short time but has already made a significant contribution. His approach towards creating winning performances is exactly what we need at the elite level.”Wright, who joined in August, was tipped as Charlesworth’s long-term replacement last month, with the short-term deal providing further indication that he could be the man for the future.

Shane Bond will miss this month’s Chappell-Hadlee Series after his recovery from an abdominal tear has taken longer than expected. New Zealand are set to maintain the same 14-man one-day squad which narrowly lost the one-dayers to South Africa, the national selector Richard Hadlee told the . James Franklin remains out following knee surgery.Bond, the fast bowler, will also be unavailable for Bangladesh’s visit in January, all of which he finds “frustrating”. He picked up the problem in November, during New Zealand’s injury-hit tour of South Africa where they won one match out of seven. They lost both Tests, the Twenty20, the one-day series 2-1 and even the warm-up.He said it was exhausting to come back from yet another injury and feared for his future in the game should he keep picking up problems. “It’s worn me down,” he told on Tuesday. “I’ve spent a lot of time rehab-ing. There are a lot things I want to achieve and to be realistic, I can’t expect cricket to keep supporting me if I am going to continue to get injured, so it’s frustrating.”He is now aiming to recover for England’s visit in February and March, when they will play five one-dayers and three Tests. In his absence, Kyle Mills has filled in well and impressed Hadlee. “Mills has been outstanding,” he told the . “With Bond out, he has stepped up magnificently.” Mills was named Man of the Series in South Africa for his nine wickets at 11.33.He will now lead the attack for New Zealand’s defence of the Chappell-Hadlee title in Australia after their 3-0 cleansweep last season. The first of the three one-dayers is at the Adelaide Oval on December 14.* Iain O’Brien was also included in the squad.Squad Lou Vincent, Jamie How, Mathew Sinclair, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum (wk), Gareth Hopkins, Iain O’Brien, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori (capt), Kyle Mills, Mark Gillespie, Jeetan Patel, Michael Mason, Chris Martin.

The two stars of the day have something in common. Uttar Pradesh’s Tanmay Srivastava, who cracked a fine century, and Delhi’s Pradeep Sangwan, the best bowler on view, had just returned from India’s Under-19 tour of South Africa.Both are reaping the benefits of that exposure and reckon the Wankhede wicket was similar to the ones they played on in South Africa. Their display today was no coincidence; the wicket offered consistent bounce and good carry and the two knew how to be effective.Tanmay took UP out of troubled waters. Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina, their main run-getters of the season, had fallen cheaply and Delhi were biting into the brittle lower half when Tanmay took charge. The front foot was not pushed across and the bat didn’t jab at the ball as he played close to the body. The ball did dart around in the morning but he saw through that phase before playing his shots.”The wicket was moving a touch in the morning but settled down. It was quite similar to South Africa. The bounce was little less here and the pace a bit faster there,” Tanmay said. Aakash Chopra thinks the South African experience could have been a hindrance had the Wankhede track had been a typical slow Indian track. “I remember after I came from Australia [in 2003-04], we didn’t play in Feroz Shah Kotla but at another ground in Delhi. It took some time to adjust back to the slowness of the track and I had to make an effort not play a touch early.”Another tip Tanmay got on tour was from the coach, WV Raman. Raman, a fellow left-hander, told Tanmay to open his stance a bit to allow for a smoother downward bat swing and to have better visibility of a right-hand bowler charging from over the wicket.”I couldn’t use it much on tour as I didn’t want to tamper with the technique mid-tour. But I tried it out in the nets a bit and over here, I did that [in the match],” Tanmay said. “Scoring runs on the wickets there [he made 240 runs in five matches at an average of 60] has obviously made me more confident. It’s not only the South African tour. I toured England and a few other places as well. I have started to play better in front of the wicket and I am trying to increase my concentration levels.” While Tanmay has still a long way to go as his first-class average of 31.58 suggests, the recent overseas tours has emboldened him to walk on the right path.

Meanwhile, Sangwan is desperate for two more wickets on Thursday to get a prized five-for in the final. “The bounce was pretty similar to South Africa. There was the same balloonwala bounce there and so I knew the right lengths to hit. Only thing was that I had to adjust back to the SG ball from the Kookaburra but I think I managed to do that.”At 17 the youngest Delhi bowler on view, he was by far the best, bowling a good line outside off, Though he was guilty of bowling a touch short on occasions, it was a pretty satisfying day’s work.Manoj Prabhakar has been of great help as Delhi’s bowling consultant. Sangwan would take the ball away from the right-hander with the natural left-armer’s action but, under Prabhakar, he has started to bend the ball back in. “Sir [Prabhakar] has made me bowl closer to the wicket and importantly, worked on my wrist position. It used to fall early at the release and now I have improved and keep it up till late. That has helped me to get bring the ball back in.”The Indian board should be credited for two moves. The board wanted to increase the overseas tours in challenging conditions for all age groups and also moved the semi-finals and final of the Ranji Trophy to neutral venues. The curator Sudhir Naik said he had been instructed to produce a sporting track with bounce and the two youngsters, fresh from tasting success in South Africa, have enjoyed their outing in Mumbai.

ScorecardUAE made an excellent start to their Intercontinental Cup clash against Namibia, dismissing them for a mediocre 164 on the opening day in Sharjah. At stumps, UAE had almost closed the gap on Namibia’s poor total and trailed by 17.Namibia chose to bat and began solidly enough, with Jan-Berrie Burger and Dawid Botha putting on 29 for the opening wicket. But Botha’s demise – he was caught by Amjad Ali off Fahad Alhashmi for 9 – prompted a dramatic mid-order collapse in which Namibia lost 5 for 52. Burger eventually found much-needed support from Tobias Verwey, the wicketkeeper, with whom he put on 69 for the sixth wicket.After bringing up his fifty, Burger was bowled by Arshad Ali and Ahmed Raza cleaned up the tail with 3 for 20. Namibia were all out for 164 – but not down and out by any means. UAE got off to a dreadful start when they lost both their openers and Gayan Silva, the No. 3, with 16 on the board. Louis Klazinga then gave Namibia genuine hope of dismissing UAE for a paltry total by taking two further quick wickets, but UAE recovered well with Saqib Ali smacking 10 fours and a six in his combative 72.With Saqib unbeaten at stumps and four wickets remaining, UAE are still well placed to take a significant first-innings lead going into the second day.

Pakistan Under-19s 256 for 3 (Umar Akmal 84) beat England Under-19s 252 for 5 (Godleman 118*) by seven wickets
ScorecardA fine unbeaten 118 from Billy Godleman was not enough to secure a consolation win for England’s youngsters, as they bowed out of their triangular tournament in Sri Lanka with a seven-wicket defeat against Pakistan.Despite the result, it was a much-improved display from England following a limp performance against Sri Lanka on Monday. They easily posted their highest score in their four matches in the tournament, with Godleman anchoring the innings with a superb 152-ball innings.He struck seven fours in the innings, and received sound support from James Taylor in a 42-run opening stand, as well as the captain Alex Wakely (39) and Tom Westley, who rounded off the innings with a brisk unbeaten 33 from 28 balls.But Pakistan’s openers, Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad, proved unstoppable in response. They added 149 for the first wicket inside the first 20 overs to break the back of the run-chase, before Umar Amin eased them to victory with an unbeaten 68 from 76 balls.