If Pakistan have to ponder the Virender Sehwag question, then it can be equally said of India, as they have Younis Khan to consider. Today’s fifty was his fifth fifty-plus score against them in the last six innings – the run includes a double hundred and two big centuries. In five Tests including this one, he has nearly eight hundred runs against them and an average comfortably over a hundred.In particular, his record against spinners is impressive as centuries against a Muralitharan-led Sri Lankan attack attest to. He handled Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble as he has done in the recent past; quick to pick up singles when they bowl tight, punishing when they stray and always composed. “In my earlier years I happened to play a lot of spinners, both leg-spinners and off-spinners. That is probably why I can handle it quite well but they bowled well at times.”Younis also praised the other Indian seamers, in particular the debutante RP Singh, who also took his wicket. “He is a good bowler and he has a bright future. But I thought Pathan also bowled well and the other bowlers really tried hard.”Younis was keen to assert, on another day when Pakistan scored at comfortably over four runs an over, that the batsmen had played their part. “I will not blame the bowlers and say that we batted very well. We won a good toss today because it can make a big difference here. We played well today and although we lost four wickets there were some good partnerships in it. They played a five-man attack which was a good move and we did lose four wickets but despite that, I thought we did very well.”Hefty middle-order contributions notwithstanding, both Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik will rue not cashing in after both had made a good start. Malik’s dismissal in particular, leaving his bat upright while ducking a bouncer and providing an edge to first slip, was a poor one. But Younis, as Bob Woolmer did last week, defended Malik and the opening combination.”The opening pair of Butt and Malik provide us solid starts at least. Before we used to get smaller starts of 20-odd but we are now doing much better with these two. With the Kookaburra ball it is essential that the new ball is seen off and Malik is doing that with Butt. He is a good player and he doesn’t need to prove anything. We shouldn’t put pressure on him because he is doing a good job.”Younis refused to comment on the surprising exclusion of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in Pakistan’s line-up but did at least have some praise for the pitch. After the Gaddafi Stadium came in for much criticism last week for its lifelessness, Younis said this pitch might offer a little more to the bowlers. “The wicket is good and it is a little double-paced. Some are going through lower, some aren’t and it isn’t as easy as the Lahore track.We need to have another good session in the morning tomorrow to take advantage of the position we are in, score quickly and take it from there.”

The ICC has announced that Johan Botha, the South African offspinner, has been suspended from bowling in international cricket. The decision follows his action being cited during the third Test against Australia at Sydney last month.Dave Richardson, the ICC’s general manager – cricket, said that the ban will apply until Botha can be shown to have remedied his action. “The independent report has identified excessive levels of straightening in both his off-break and doosra deliveries,” Richardson explained. “It’s now up to Johan to remedy the concerns that have been identified ahead of a reassessment which will be necessary if he is to return to international cricket. Johan is a young player and there’s nothing to stop him making a successful return to international cricket with a remodelled action.”Botha, who underwent independent testing by a team led by Professor Bruce Elliott at the University of Western Australia on February 1, had not been reported before. He now has to submit to fresh independent analysis to establish that he has remedied his action. The timing of any reassessment is at the discretion of the United Cricket Board of South Africa and the player.Botha has 14 days to appeal. But if he returns to international cricket and is again ruled to have been bowling with an illegal action with 24 months of his return then he faces an automatic one-year ban.Botha is the fifth player to have undergone an independent review of his action since a new process for the review of suspected illegal actions was introduced in March 2005. The other players are Harbhajan Singh, Shabbir Ahmed, Shoaib Malik and Jermaine Lawson.

New South Wales will rely on a couple of new faces when they play South Australia in the ING Cup final at Adelaide on Sunday. With Australia stealing Michael Clarke, who made 75 against Western Australia at the weekend, the Blues have added Moises Henriques, Grant Roden and Corey Richards in the 13-man squad.Henriques, an allrounder, is in line to play his second domestic one-day game after returning from leading the Australia Under-19 side to the semi-finals of the World Cup in Sri Lanka last week. Australia were knocked out by Pakistan and Henriques finished with 150 runs at 37.5 and 16 wickets – the most in the tournament – at 10.62.Roden will step into the squad following the Cricket Australia Cup match against Victoria at Glen Waverley in the hope of appearing in his second match while Richards is eyeing his 54th game. Matthew Nicholson, who has captained the state during the season, misses out. South Australia made one change to the side that beat Queensland on Friday with Daniel Cullen returning from a finger injury in the place of Ryan Harris.New South Wales squad Phil Jaques, Craig Simmons, Matthew Phelps, Corey Richards, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, Brad Haddin (capt, wk), Moises Henriques, Jason Krejza, Grant Roden, Aaron Bird, Doug Bollinger, Stuart MacGill.South Australia squad Greg Blewett, Cameron Borgas, Mark Cosgrove, Darren Lehmann (capt), Callum Ferguson, Daniel Harris, Ken Skewes, Graham Manou (wk), Mark Cleary, Jason Gillespie, Daniel Cullen, Cullen Bailey, Shaun Tait.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Muttiah Muralitharan loves the Asgiriya stadium but at least one bowler will walk away from this ground, irrespective of the result, as infatuated by it. No sooner had Muralitharan sat down to contemplate his 51st five-wicket haul, one that had seemingly shifted a taut Test decisively away from Pakistan in the afternoon, he was contemplating coming out to bat, barely two hours later. For this he can blame Mohammad Asif who with a second five-wicket haul – 11 for the match – ensured that the daunting advantage Muralitharan had gained – a 109-run lead – had been hacked considerably. On an insanely fluctuating day, Sri Lanka crashed to 73 for 8, with Sanath Jayasuriya unlikely to bat, a lead of 182 and the match, still and again, in the balance.Had Glenn McGrath been watching Asif today, he might have allowed himself a smile, but only after recoiling in horror first at a decent mimic. In 12 overs, he loitered around off-stump and cut and seamed through Sri Lanka. For nine overs, Kumar Sangakkara and Upul Tharanga had played and missed but also scored runs occasionally and at 22 for no loss, it was game, set, almost match. Even the loss of Tharanga, cleaned up by a superb offcutter, didn’t seem to matter too much.It was only after Sangakkara went five overs later – inside edging one that came in and not out as he expected – that the madness began. Admittedly, Asif doesn’t seem an easy proposition to face, but using your bat can’t be a bad idea. Thilan Samaraweera, though, probably didn’t think so, offering no shot – as he had done in the first Test – in Asif’s next over. As in the first innings, Asif didn’t let go thereafter. Some luck, when Farveez Maharoof was adjudged lbw, brought him his first ten-wicket haul and Tillakaratne Dilshan’s misjudgement, driving to the wrong length at the wrong time, brought him his second five-wicket haul of the game.Unlike the first innings, he received support from at least one of the three other medium-pacers. Abdul Razzaq began essentially as a run-check but after sending back Mahela Jayawardene in the middle of Asif’s tribute to McGrath, he became something more. Quite what is not certain, but Sri Lanka clearly sussed him as some pie-trundling clown, not a man with a Test hat-trick here. Both Nuwan Kulasekara and Malinga Bandara swung the bat and were duly dismissed in successive overs as a scarcely believable day closed. Bandara’s wicket was the 20th since the morning, when Asif had swiftly brought to close Sri Lanka’s innings.That Asif was even out there again was due mostly to Muralitharan, who began his work, inevitably, in that last over before lunch. Pakistan started the day in a frantic and unsettled manner. An umpteenth new opening pair in Imran Farhat and Kamran Akmal greeted each other just before they greeted the bowlers. The latter introduction wasn’t an easy one. For some time, Farhat drove repeatedly but connected only with air and his first confident stroke came in the eighth over, when he struck Maharoof for a crunchy drive inevitably through square cover. Akmal began in a casino, playing roulette with the slips and gully as Maharoof was prodded tentatively through gully in the second over. His next over found Akmal entirely out of sync; jabbing uppishly and uncertainly through gully again, outside-edging a drive, before attempting to pull but only cracking his bat and apologetically hitting the ball straight for two.

Both, however, survived and just before the drinks break, they celebrated a fifty partnership. Sri Lanka tightened after liquid nourishment and having put together a string of maidens, Kulasekara struck. Farhat would have wished he had driven air, instead of catching the thick edge that went straight to Jayasuriya at gully, who duly, in his last Test, split the webbing on his hand. As revenge for dropping him yesterday, it was bizarre retribution for Farhat.Then arrived the Kandy-man Muralitharan, bearing no lollipops. Two balls after coming on, he got turn, bounce and Akmal, but his best work came a little after lunch when for 11 overs, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf pretended the Sri Lankans were Indians. A flurry of boundaries, cut late or driven, mixed freely with singles sensible, cheeky and suicidal, and gave Pakistan bluster. When Younis uncertainly edged Pakistan’s eighth boundary since lunch, a quick-time fifty-partnership came up. Had Maharoof not began his previous over, the first of a new spell, with a no-ball that castled Younis, the partnership would have been less.Muralitharan soon balanced Maharoof’s transgression. Yousuf, having cut him late successfully earlier, tried again, only now with less room, less time and more spin to deal with. He didn’t. It spurred Sri Lanka’s fielders and Maharoof at the other end, who soon kept his front foot in check and got Younis to play a half-cut, half-push but fully poor shot to slip.The meat of Pakistan’s batting gone, Muralitharan let the ball do the talking, though Sangakkara’s constant chatter meant it wasn’t alone. Shielding the doosra, he persisted with the offbreak. Angles were changed, flight was tinkered and so was speed. Faisal Iqbal, no mug against spin and freshly confident, swept a four only to be deceived next time he tried it by a rare doosra. Abdul Razzaq’s dismissal was tastier; fed a loopy, wide offbreak which he duly lashed through point for four, he was beaten next ball by a flatter, sharper offbreak. Inzamam’s run-out just before tea heralded, spiritually at least, the end of Pakistan’s innings and Danish Kaneria’s scalp – Muralitharan’s fifth – did it factually. He wouldn’t have expected coming out to bat 25 overs later, though to be fair no one would have. It was that kind of day.

Sri Lanka
Nuwan Kulasekara b Asif 13 (271 for 9)
Lasith Malinga c Razzaq b Kaneria 9 (279 all out)
Pakistan
Imran Farhat c Jayasuriya b Kulasekara 23 (57 for 1)
Kamran Akmal c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 33 (71 for 2)
Mohammad Yousuf b Muralitharan 17 (121 for 3)
Younis Khan c Samaraweera b Maharoof 35 (125 for 4)
Faisal Iqbal lbw Muralitharan 5 (140 for 5)
Abdul Razzaq b Muralitharan 4 (149 for 6)
Inzamam-ul-Haq run-out (sub) Kapugedera (162 for 7)
Umar Gul c Sangakkara 4 (166 for 8)
Mohammad Asif run-out Malinga (166 for 9)
Danish Kaneria c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 4 (170 all out)
Sri Lanka
Upul Tharanga b Asif 12 (22 for 1)
Kumar Sangakkara b Asif 18 (41 for 2)
Thilan Samaraweera b Asif 5 (46 for 3)
Mahela Jayawardene b Razzaq 15 (56 for 4)
Farvez Maharoof lbw Asif 1 (57 for 5)
Tillakaratne Dilshan c Akmal b Asif 11 (65 for 6)
Nuwan Kulasekara c Gul b Razzaq 6 (72 for 7)
Malinga Bandara c Akmal b Razzaq 4 (73 for 8)

Barbados won the patience game and first day honours of the Carib Beer Challenge Final against Trinidad and Tobago at Guaracara Park. Not the favorites to win against a T&T team playing at home and already the new holders of the regional four-day Carib Beer Cup, the Bajans nevertheless created a good position for themselves by diligently going about their work.So well did they stick to their plan, that T&T, to the disappointment of a large Saturday crowd, had lost eight wickets for 223 runs by the end of play. Rayad Emrit’s bold, unbeaten 37, made in the last hour of play, improved what had threatened to be an even more humble score. His 33-run eight-wicket partnership with Mervyn Dillon – bowled with the second new ball – and an unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 19 with Dave Mohammed (11*), held up the Bajans late in the afternoon on a day on which events took time to unfold. It also gave his team-mates hope that opener Lendl Simmons’ fine 84 would not have been in vain.Having won the toss for the second straight match, Daren Ganga again opted to take first strike. Unlike last weekend, there was not the consideration of extra grass or added moisture to think about. And in the opening spells of new ball bowlers Pedro Collins and Ian Bradshaw, there was nothing to suggest Ganga had erred.Ganga, opening the innings with Simmons instead of Dwayne Bravo and Ganga’s omitted brother Sherwin, would have been pleased with his team’s start up until the first change, when Corey Collymore was introduced with the total on 37 for 0. Colleymore, playing his first competitive match since knee surgery last December, may have appeared to be a fitness risk in a final. But his opening spell was superb: in those five overs, he did not concede a single run. His control was spot-on and on a surface that offered him little real help, he still managed to worry the batsmen with movement both ways.Eventually, Ganga himself was fatally confused, falling lbw offering no stroke to a delivery which moved back into him, and not away as he had anticipated. The score then was 41, but the Bajans had successfully curtailed the runs given away by the opening bowlers. By lunch, T&T had reached just 55. Only one wicket was down, but Simmons and new partner Bravo had been unable to dictate terms to the visitors.Bravo, never at his most fluent facing left-arm spinners, looked uncomfortable against Hinds. Like a cat pawing at some mysterious object, he gingerly felt his way through his innings against the Bajan skipper, especially after lunch. Twice, Dwayne Smith, under the bat at forward short-leg, put him down as he tried to turn Hinds away. But eventually, when he reached 25 and had added 59 with Simmons, Bravo fell to Collins, back at the northern end, who induced him to snick a drive at a ball angled across him, to Floyd Reifer at first slip.Brian Lara, warmly greeted as always by the crowd, now arrived at the crease in the last hour before tea. But the score was only 100 for 2. The T&T batsmen spent time at the wicket but had been unable to take control. And before tea was actually taken, Barbados had edged in front with the capture of Lara’s prized scalp. Looking like a man short of time in the middle, Lara became Collins’ second wicket of the session when he was lbw to an in-swinging full toss which he walked across and missed.T&T went to tea on 112 for 3, with Simmons still there on 55, patient, resolute but highly fortuitous from four hours at the crease. He could – and from the television evidence probably should – have been either lbw to Collymore in his second spell on 43; run out when he was 44; or dismissed by a return catch to off-spinner Ryan Austin at 48. But on each occasion, umpire Norman Malcolm, TV umpire Khemraj Barrasingha and Malcolm’s counterpart Billy Doctrove ruled in his favour.Like a ghetto youth, dodging bullets in some on-going gang war, in some so-called hot spot, Simmo lived very dangerously at times. But it was shaping like a day on which he would survive and go on to his second century against Barbados this season. A confident lofted off-drive off Hinds, which took him to 84, seemed to signal the coming of that landmark. Simmons had used his feet well to the spinners when going over the top. But, next ball, he perished by the sweep, a too cute attempt, which he top-edged into the grateful Smith’s hands. That was overdue reward for the Hinds-Smith combination.Even more, Simmons’ departure marked the critical decline of the T&T innings. From 161 for 4 when he went, the home side plunged to 170 for 7. Jason Mohammed caught by first slip Reifer, and Richard Kelly, bowled playing on, were both Bradshaw victims in a belated second spell. And Hinds accounted even more critically for wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, bowled playing down the wrong line of a ball which spun across him. All the apparent rescuers were gone. But in Emrit, the Cup champs seemed to be finding another one.

Andrew Flintoff, the face of Sky Sports cricket as they embark on their first full summer of home international coverage, has extended his sporting experience in a host of different directions as part of a new mini-series to help promote the game.Entitled “Ready Steady Freddie,” the slot will feature on Sky Sports’ new Saturday morning entertainment show, Cricket AM, which is modelled precisely on the established Soccer AM programme that has proved to be popular, enduring and award-winning.”I’m a bit of a one-trick pony,” claimed Flintoff, although the range of challenges he has so far taken on suggests otherwise. He has practiced his rugby goal-kicking with England’s fly-half Charlie Hodgson, taken boxing lessons from the world welterweight champion, Ricky Hatton, and picked up darts-playing tips from the multiple world champion, Phil “The Power” Taylor.”I’ve enjoyed it to be honest,” said Flintoff. “It has been great to meet different sports people and see how they go about doing their business.” Some of the tips have proved more useful than others, given that Flintoff’s closest friend in the England team, Steve Harmison, actually took a dartboard on tour to India with him.”The manager wasn’t too happy with the excess baggage,” laughed Flintoff. “He had a pole, an oche and everything. We had interconnecting rooms on the trip, and just played darts for six hours a day.” For all of Taylor’s coaching, however, Flintoff struggled to keep up with his team-mate. “Harmy was far better than anyone else,” he joked, “but then he’s been going to social clubs since he was eight!”The Cricket AM show will be hosted by the former BBC children’s TV presenter, Simon Thomas, and Anita Rani, the former presenter of an Asian magazine programme, “Desi DNA.” Other innovations include a cartoon pairing, “Willow and Stumpy”, who will attempt to demystify the game in the manner that Simon Hughes, Channel 4’s analyst, did so effectively in recent seasons, and a Sunday morning chat show in the style of “What The Papers Say”.”The shows are designed to appeal to devoted cricket fans and newcomers to the sport alike,” said a Sky Sports spokesman. “Each sets out to entertain as well as educate and together they will cover all levels of the game from grass-roots to Test match cricket.””2006 is a huge year for cricket on Sky Sports,” added Barney Francis, executive producer for cricket. “This range of programming boasts something for everyone this summer.” In addition to all Test, one-day and Twenty20 international cricket, the coverage will include more than 60 matches at domestic level from the County Championship to the Pro40 tournament, as well as women’s and Under-19 internationals.

Bangladesh’s tour of Zimbabwe will take place in late July after Zimbabwe Cricket finally confirmed dates with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). The five-ODI series will start with a match at Bulawayo on July 29 and conclude eight days later at Harare.Confirmation of the series had been delayed after the Zimbabwe board had asked for the matches to take place in September, but the BCB was adamant that the original timeline as specified by the ICC in its Future Tours Program should be adhered to.Local reports indicate that the BCB is unhappy with the packed itinerary which sees five matches take place in eight days. It is thought that the BCB will continue to press for more rest time to be included between games.What is also unclear is the situation regarding the Zimbabwe players who are contracted to play club cricket in England. At least eight of the side which toured the Caribbean are believed to be in that position, and given that they arrived a month into the English season anyway, the clubs may be loathed to release them.That could account for Zimbabwe’s eagerness to play the series in September, as by then all those players will have finished in England.Draft itinerary
July 29 1st ODI Bulawayo
July 30 2nd ODI Bulawayo
August 2 3rd ODI Harare
August 4 4th ODI Harare
August 5 5th ODI Harare

India and West Indies may play three one-day internationals in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur in September, as it seems unlikely that the USA Cricket Association will have its grounds ready in time for the scheduled matches.”While we’re hopeful, I fear the US won’t be in a position to have two grounds ready by September,” IS Bindra, a member of the Indian board’s marketing committee, told , a Kolkata-based daily. “We’ve been looking at Florida, New York and New Jersey.”We’ve given that [Singapore/Kuala Lumpur] option to the West Indies. In fact, we’ve even suggested the matches could be played in Europe.”The ODI series is part of a deal struck between the West Indies and Indian boards before the ICC met to decide on World Cup hosts after 2007. According to Bindra, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is keen to have the matches in North America, with Toronto to host one of the matches. But the problem is that the grounds in the US will have to pass ICC inspection, even if they are ready by September.”If the WICB remains intent on North America, then the three ODIs are going to be played next year,” Bindra said. It should be clear within a fortnight where the matches will be played.

The fateful aircraft that killed Hansie Cronje in 2002 had incomplete maintenance records, an inquest into the crash heard yesterday.The only witness called to testify, Dr Andre de Kock, Civil Aviation Authority senior accident investigator, confirmed that Airquarius Aviation did not have its own maintenance crew and subcontracted its aircraft maintenance work.When questioned by assessor Bruce Hyde on how pilots could determine whether defects were rectified if the maintaince folio was incomplete, de Kock said it could have been signed in the office only. “Technically speaking it should be signed off in the flight folio . . . [in] smaller operators there are closer links between ground crew and pilots,” he said.On Monday, the inquest – presided over by Siraj Desai, a Cape High Court judge – heard that pilot error, faulty equipment and inclement weather contributed to the fatal crash. Desai asked de Kock if it was “reasonable for a pilot not to respond to 13 warnings”. After he ruled in favour of an application by independent newspapers to obtain crash photographs, except those which depicted the deceased, Desai said a decision would be handed down on August 14.Gavin Bramson, the managing director of Airquarius, and his attorney Carel le Roux, were also present at the hearing. The inquest is taking place in the Cape Town High Court.

AC Muthiah, the former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been appointed chairman of the six-member ICC Nomination Committee which will choose the next president of the ICC in 2007.The committee includes Bob Merriman, Mueen Afzal, John Blair, Stephen Camacho and Imran Khwaja. The deadline for filing the nominations for Percy Sonn’s successor as president has been fixed for January 1, 2007.Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, confirmed Muttiah’s appointment and added that he was the unanimous choice for the post, once Blair proposed Muthiah’s name at the committee’s first meeting on August 31.”Muthiah has a stature,” Shah told reporters, “and is known to all permanent and other members of the ICC since he had been maintaining good rapport with them during his presidentship of BCCI.”Commenting on his appointment, Muttiah – who served two terms as the BCCI president between 1999 and 2001 – maintained that it was an honour.”I deem it a great honour done to Indian cricket as I have been known to administrators of the game in the world as president of the BCCI,” he said. “The other committee members and myself will surely adhere to the code of ethics in selecting the right candidate for the post of ICC president.”