Match facts

Tuesday, February 9, 2016Start time 0900 local (0300 GMT)India Under-19s will look to Avesh Khan to provide early breakthroughs•International Cricket Council

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India-Sri Lanka contests, at all levels, have often been about their batsmen and one team outscoring the other in run fests. This time however, the clash between the India Under-19s and the Sri Lanka Under-19s could come down to their respective bowling attacks and India’s pace or Sri Lanka’s spin could well end up determining the outcome of the 2016 Under-19 World Cup’s first semi-final.The ability of India quick bowler Avesh Khan to bring his side an early breakthrough could make or break this game. If the Sri Lankan opening batsmen can withstand Avesh’s barrage of short balls or make their way past his full deliveries, the contest will be quite open. The game will also be about how the Indian batsmen take on Sri Lanka’s own barrage of spinners.Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka has said that India can expect to face a lot of spin bowling, and Sri Lanka will stick to spin which is their strength. India can handle spin bowling well but it will be interesting to see how they smother the likes of legspinner Wanidu Hasaranga and the left-arm spinner Damith Silva.The spotlight will also be on the captains, Asalanka and Ishan Kishan, particularly the latter who hasn’t made as many runs as he would have liked. Kishan, however, can rely on Sarfaraz Khan or Rishabh Pant to give his team the batting platform. India’s familiarity with the tracks in Mirpur – they played all four league games here, while Sri Lanka have played two – will also work in their favour.Sri Lanka will be India’s second Full Member opposition in the tournament so far and Asalanka has already said his team have an edge having beaten an opposition England in the quarter-final.

Form guide

India: WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka: WLWWL

Strengths

India have shown the ability to score quickly. They have so far put up scores at run rates of 5.36, 5.16, 9.63 and 6.98 in their four matches respectively. Even if they lose wickets early, India haven’t held back their stroke-play. Of the players who have batted for them, six have a strike rate of over 100, while four have batted at a strike rate of more than 90.Sri Lanka’s bowling depth has shown the potential to keep them in contests for long. After a bit of medium-pace from Asitha Fernando, Asalanka brings out his full catalogue of spinners – offspin, legspin and slow left-arm orthodox. For most of the innings, whether in the Powerplays or in the death overs, they have had spinners in operation and, so far, it has been effective.Charith Asalanka has led Sri Lanka Under-19s from the front, with consistent knocks•International Cricket Council

Star performers

While Rishabh Pant has been Man of the Match in India’s last two games, Sarfaraz Khan has been the most prolific batsman for the side in the tournament so far. He walked in during two tight situations against New Zealand and Ireland, and scored 74 each time. He is the team’s second-highest scorer so far with 245 runs, only seven behind Pant’s tally of 252.Charith Asalanka has led from the front with his runs in the middle-order and tight off-breaks. He has, however, fallen twice in the seventies, a statistic he would like to correct against India. Ahead of the tournament, he had said he held the responsibility of bringing the trophy back home and is two wins away from realizing that dream.

Key player

Avesh Khan has been India’s best bowler on show. He has mostly clocked over 130 kph and has found movement whenever he has pitched it up to the batsmen. He also bowled a few short deliveries at the batsmen’s bodies, to get them to play awkward pulls. Having already taken nine wickets, India will now hope that he can remove the Sri Lankan top order cheaply.The leg-spinner Wanidu Hasaranga has taken a wicket every 30 balls for Sri Lanka, and is their joint highest-wicket taker with seven wickets at a bowling average of 15.71. He has bowled with freedom, either giving the ball some air or bowling it slightly fuller and flatter. He took 3 for 34 against England in the quarter-final, and Sri Lanka will hope that he can get the legbreaks to grip on the Mirpur pitch.

Underperformers

Ishan Kishan has made only 62 runs in four innings, including a half-century. Three low scores don’t necessarily suggest a batsman out of form but the India captain has given it away at times and would like to remedy that in the semi-final.Allrounder Shammu Ashan made 74 in Sri Lanka’s first game against Canada Under-19s but since made 3, 1 and 5 not out. In October last year, he made a century and an unbeaten 75 against Pakistan Under-19s and much is expected from him. His offspin has rarely been used, but he took 1 for 20 in six overs against England in the quarter-final.

Pitch and conditions

The Mirpur pitches during this tournament have often played slow but there has been bounce. The tracks have not worn out too quickly, so chasing can still be a choice for the captain who wins the toss. In the six matches of the World Cup held at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, so far, three teams have won batting first.

Quotes

“It doesn’t matter what’s the name or the man. We just play the ball. It is like playing another big game for us. We will play our cricket.”

“Pressure is there for everyone because this is not an easy level for cricketers. It is the Under-19 World Cup.”

It took Mashonaland until just after tea to wrap up the Logan Cupfinal, winning by 257 runs, after some spirited resistance attimes from Manicaland, who played the game in fine spiritthroughout, as indeed they have done all season. Neil Ferreiraand Stuart Matsikenyeri scored determined fifties, while GavinRennie, who has been bowling regularly again this season aftervirtually giving up his left-arm spin due to back trouble, tookseven wickets.Mashonaland declared overnight, setting Manicaland a mere 498 towin. Manicaland were determined not to give in weakly, but theodds were stacked against them, despite Mashonaland’s ratherapathetic attitude in the field at times. Steve Lawson this timeopened with Neil Ferreira, but had scored only 7 before poppingup a ball from Gus Mackay backward of square on the leg side, forEverton Matambanadzo to dive and catch.Then came a determined stand between Ferreira and Patrick Gada,both looking secure and playing each ball on its merits until,with the total on 51, Gada thrust his pad at a straight ball fromGavin Rennie, misreading the arm ball completely, to be given outlbw for 18. In the same over Hamilton Masakadza, in contrast tohis fine first-innings effort, appeared to give it away; he hitan uppish four that just cleared short mid-on, and then pushed alow return catch that Rennie dived to take.Mark Burmester looked aggressive and hit some firm boundaries,only to be given out caught off bat and pad by Mackay off Renniefor 20. Ferreira once again held out gallantly, and just beforethe interval Strang bowled to him with all nine of his fielderson the off side. Ferreira waited for the right ball and thentapped it away wide of mid-on and ran three.At lunch Manicaland were 94 for four (Ferreira 33, Matsikenyeri7). This proved to be another useful partnership as they carriedon for almost an hour after lunch, with Matsikenyeri lookingincreasingly confident and playing some fine drives, especiallyoff the back foot. Finally Ferreira, driving at Hoffman, wascaught at mid-on for 55, another gritty innings.Dion Yatras announced his presence with a straight six and mixedsome powerful attacking strokes with some rather ungainly defenceat times. Slow spin did for him in the end, though, caught atsilly point by Darlington Matambanadzo off a flighted ball fromRennie. This made the score 207 for six, and it was thebeginning of the end for Manicaland, apart from some spiritedbatting from Matsikenyeri. Terry Denyer (0) was another lbwvictim, Gripper being the bowler, while Leon Soma (7) was out toa well-judged catch by Craig Evans on the long-on boundary offRennie. The teams went in to tea with the score on 238 for eight(Matsikenyeri 73, Brian James 3).The match ended only minutes after tea. James hit back a returncatch, then Jason Sparrow, amid great appreciation from theManicaland contingent, recorded his first runs in first-classcricket with a nudge past the slips for two, but chopped the nextball on to his stumps to end the innings for 240. Mashonalandhave not always played cricket in the best spirit this year, butthey were warmly congratulated by the good-humoured Manicaplayers, who may not have won the Logan Cup – they never expectedto – but did win friends all over the country with theirrefreshing attitude and fine efforts in the best traditions ofthe game.

Following yesterdays thunderstorms, and heavy overnight rain, it was not possible to make a start until 3:30pm on this third day of the PPP healthcare County Championship match at Riverside.With both teams anxious to gain a needed victory, 52 overs were taken from the day.Some frustrated members vented their anger on umpires Steele and Benson, and on some of the visiting players and officials. But those that stayed saw some interesting cricket as the sun shone into the evening.Martin Speight and Jimmy Daley pushed their fifth wicket partnership to 124 before Speight pulled Morris straight into the hands of Laney, and two runs later Warne had Daley trapped leg before.Andrew Pratt hit a belligerent 27* to guide his team past 300, but with Wood, Killeen and Harmison all going cheaply, Hampshire retained their record of maximum bowling points in each of their Championship matches this season. Morris took 3 wickets to return his best figures for some time.Jason Laney and Giles White made batting look easy on the bland wicket, against some wayward Durham bowling, and at close had reached 62-0 off 20 overs.The match, after so many stoppages, is in a difficult stage. Neither captain will want to give much away, as both teams are perilously situated at the bottom of Division One. However from an entertainment view, the spectators will hope that some collusion will be possible on the last day.

Buoyed by Ricky Ponting’s career-best score, Tasmania has continued to create headaches for Queensland on day two of the teams’ Pura Cup match at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane. At stumps, the Tigers have the Bulls pinned firmly on the back foot at 6/258 in reply to the Ponting-inspired total of 403.After a frustrating day in which several of his batsmen failed to capitalise on good starts, Queensland captain Stuart Law hinted that his team might already have effectively conceded the battle for first innings points. Law may even consider making an early declaration tomorrow in a bid to transform the match into a straight shoot-out for the six points on offer for an outright result.”We’ll wait and see because two points probably isn’t enough for us; we only got two from our first game,” said Law.”It depends what happens tomorrow morning because we might lose three quick wickets and we won’t have to worry. But if we’re still going at lunch, we’ll have a look and decide what’s best.”Accordingly, it seems that the immediate fate of the match will rest largely in the hands of overnight batsmen Andy Bichel (26*) and Clinton Perren (16*). That pair has already performed a fine job for Queensland, having stabilised things in the lead-up to stumps in the wake of a devastating late afternoon burst from underrated Tigers paceman Damien Wright (3/61).Wright put the skids under the Queensland middle order, playing a central role in a collapse which saw the wickets of the belligerent Andy Symonds (49), Law (21) and Wade Seccombe (3) fall within eleven runs of one another. Following steady innings from Jimmy Maher (47), Matthew Hayden (41) and Martin Love (31), Symonds and Law had threatened to tear the Tasmanian attack apart. But an error in judgement from Symonds as he drove at the spin of Daniel Marsh (1/29) served as a major setback for the Bulls and – followed as it soon was by Wright’s removal of Law and Seccombe – duly paved the way for a rapid turnaround.Earlier, the masterful performance of Ponting (233) finally met its end in the form of a dubious run out decision. Umpire Tony McQuillan ruled that the Test batsman had narrowly been beaten home by a direct hit from Symonds at cover, but the young Tasmanian looked far from impressed with the verdict. Easier to judge was the form of Bichel (5/126), whose fine bowling throughout the Tasmanian innings resulted in a well deserved five-wicket haul.

The decision of Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) to awarda contract to International Management Group and TransworldInternational Combine (IMG-TWI) towards team clothing sponsorship forInternational matches to be played in India or outside over the nextthree years from July 1 was on Wednesday challenged in the Mumbai HighCourt by Gayatri Arts.Gayatri Arts, a Mumbai-based company, filed a petition seeking aninjunction from the High Court on the BCCI for signing the contractwith IMG-TWI or any other group. It will come up for hearing on June1.According to Sham Dhumatkar, proprietor of Gayatri Arts, the threeyear contract was awarded to his company which had made the highestbid of Rs 90 crores through a legal tender advertised by the BCCI in anewspaper.The BCCI confirmed the contract in a letter to Gayatri Arts on May 3and gave 48 hours to the company to accept the offer. Accordingly,Gayatri Arts accepted the contract in a letter to the BCCI, thepetition submitted.On May 22, however, the BCCI’s marketing committee held a secondmeeting in New Delhi where the contract awarded to Gayatri Arts wasresiled and instead awarded to IMG-TWI after an open bidding andrevelation of prices.The petition alleged that the contract was complete with the BCCIwriting a letter to Gayatri Arts and the latter accepting the offer.Therefore, it was illegal on the part of the BCCI to renegotiate thecontract with others by keeping Gayatri Arts in the dark, the petitioncontended.The petition alleged that the BCCI was not transparent and did notrelease facts and figures to the general public and the media.Through its solicitors, Gayatri Arts had earlier sent a legal noticeto the BCCI asking for a list of tenders received before April 20 andletters of offer received before the second marketing committeemeeting of May 22 with the names and bid amounts.

Zimbabwe vice-captain and all-rounder Guy Whittall is happy to be back in batting form after the selectors kept faith in him despite a disappointing performance in the last three overseas tours of India, New Zealand and Australia.”I wasn’t quite going on to make big scores," he says. “I was getting twenties and thirties and not making any big scores and I was putting a lot of guys under a lot of pressure. This was obviously not good for the team.”In the two-match Test series in India, Whittall averaged 31 with a best score of 84 in the first innings of the second Test. The other scores were 0, 29 and 11. In the one-off Boxing Day Test in New Zealand, Whittall averaged just 7.50.”Although I had not made any big scores of 50 in quite a few games, I still believed that I would play against Bangladesh because I believed that the selectors and management would have confidence in me at Test level. But I would not have been totally surprised if I wasn’t selected. I thought that Gavin Rennie who had batted well in New Zealand would be preferred ahead of me.”Rennie averaged 65 in the New Zealand Test after making Zimbabwe’s highest individual score of 93.”The selectors however had faith in me, obviously because of my past record at home, and I managed to come through for the team and for the team, which was the turning point for the season for myself. Against India I might still be in the opening position and this is going to be more of a test for me against a better side.”They have Harbhajan Singh in the attack and he has proven himself. They also have Srinath who I think is one of the best bowlers in the world. He gets a lot of lift and bounce so he, I should think, will be spearheading the Indian attack. They also have got a couple of youngsters who have a bit of pace and are fighting for position.”I will, once again, not be bowling because of injury. It will be another six more weeks and we’ll review the situation after that.”India have a very strong batting line up with Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. They also have Laxman who we actually saw in a warm-up match the last time we were in India around 1996 and we thought he was a real classy act. He is now among the best inthe world.”But obviously when you are playing at home and you have the home support, you sort of know more about yourself and about the actual game on your own turf.”We beat India here the last time but unfortunately I was not involved because of injury. Hopefully this time we can get a good combination of our batsmen and bowlers so that everyone can bowl and bat according to the team plan.”India have failed to produce the same sort of standard of cricket that they have away from home but they have got a new coach now in John Wright from New Zealand. I think on the actual fitness side and on fielding skills and duels, India will now be able to compete with any side in the world.”They are a lot tighter and a lot better in the field. They are actually throwing themselves around on the field. They never used to do that a couple of years back. They are here after a fantastic win over Australia, which I am sure they are very proud of and the rest of the world was quite happy to see.”But that should not make us afraid of them as they chase their first overseas Test series win since 1986. When you play sport you can’t have this fear of being the first to go down. Your main aim is to suit your own game and do what you think is the best for the team.”In the last two years we have come a long way. I believe we have got some good batsmen playing at the moment and we are in good form. We just need to learn to take 20 wickets in a game.”

The Australian women’s team began their tour of England on Monday with an easy 142-run win over an MCC Invitational XI at Walker’s Ground, Southgate, in north London.The Australians made 251 for 9 in their fifty overs before dismissing the MCC for 109 in 44.4 overs.Australian leg-spinner Olivia Magno took 6/34 from her ten overs after earlier scoring 34 runs before retiring. Opening batsman Louise Broadfoot and wicketkeeper Julia Price both made half-centuries for the Southern Stars before retiring, while Michelle Goszko scored 35.The star for the MCC Invitational side was New Zealand all-rounder Haidee Tiffen, who top scored with 34 and took 2/46 from her ten overs. The MCC eleven also included Netherlands international Pauline te Beest, as well as a number of former England internationals and current members of their developmental squad.The Southern Stars play two more warmup matches before the First Test in the CricInfo Women’s Series against England begins at Shenley on Sunday. They return to Walker’s Ground today to play an ECB Development XI, whom they will meet again at Radlett on Thursday.

In almost a repeat of the ’99 World Cup, the Pakistanis caved in against the Aussies in the NatWest Series, handing them a facile but highly satisfying win. All hopes revived by a win over their worthy opponents in the league and promises of making it a great fight, by skipper Waqar Younis, came to nought.Younis’s charges were as frozen as those under Wasim Akram a couple of years ago when they should really have been blazing away. The result was, the Aussies were all over them, crushing them by an emphatic 9-wicket margin.

The Aussies had obviously saved their best, and the Pakistanis their worst, for the final.This is the kind of one-sided victory that leaves the losing side with egg all over its face. Sadly, more so in this case, for it seemed Pakistan had learnt from their earlier humiliations. There were too many similarities between the performances in the two finals, though they came two years apart. The final was at Lord’s again, and it was again a sunny day. Pakistan had won the toss then as it did now, it had elected to bat then as it again did on Saturday, and it had a miserable collapse then as it did now. The only difference being that it rustled up 20 more runs than two years ago.Again, it was more or less a case of self-destruction. On a pretty easy wicket with the ball not doing anything really, with 300 on the board a possibility, all the Pakistani batsmen with the exception of Inzamam-ul-Haq maintained their ambivalence about the price they put on their wickets. Inzamam may consider himself unfortunate to be adjudged leg before on full forward stretch. Umpire Peter Willey, declared him out when most umpires may have given him the doubt playing so far forward.The rest of the batsmen were all pretty ordinary efforts. The worst culprits of them all were Saeed Anwar and Yousuf Youhana, the former giving it all away after being well set for greater things and the latter consuming too many deliveries in a really patchy effort. In his innings, Youhana could have been run out twice and caught off a leading edge once. He didn’t make the most of it, and Saeed’s and his departure put Pakistan on a downward slide from which they never recovered.The bowling, a slightly weaker link in the otherwise exceptionally strong Aussie chain, ended up psyching out the might of the Pakistani batting. And that was that, for 152 was really not a defendable target.

And with Adam Gilchrist, 76 off 93 deliveries, and Ricky Ponting, 35 consuming just 23 balls, the Aussies cantered home. This time round improving the margin by a wicket – their only loss Mark Waugh, run out going for a third run – from their previous famous victory over Pakistan, with nearly half the quota from a regulation 50 overs remaining unused.This NatWest Series was a great triumph for the pocket sized dynamo, that Ponting is. His 298 runs at an average of 99.33 and strike rate of 98.7, one hundred and two fifties, in five games is really phenomenal. Bad news for England for the Ashes.The Pakistanis, licking their wounds as it were, should contemplate what they have been doing wrong to end up like this: frozen whenever there is a crunch. With Pakistan’s cricket administration, distancing itself from the dismal results of the national team for the last one year, claiming that its performance should not be judged in concert with that of the cricket team, the lessons still have to be learnt. Sadly, the lessons weren’t learnt in the last two years after the World Cup debacle. One is instilling self-confidence, and the other is weeding out players who show a singular lack of it, such as Saeed Anwar, at the top of the order.

Secondly, my question to the selectors and the team management is when would they learn the most rudimentary thing in cricket: that without a settled opening pair and one-down position, a side can never win consistently.Overall, the failure will require soul-searching within the PCB, and its handpicked management and coaching teams including the latest induction of a foreign coach, failing as miserably as he had on the three previous occasions he had served with the Pakistan team.To end on a positive note (perhaps an effort to lift the gloomy feeling), Waqar Younis could not have done more to inspire this bunch of cricketers to greater heights. That he has failed, in the final analysis, is not because he lacked in effort, but because there wasn’t enough tactical support from the PCB and its selectors. More on that in future pieces to follow.

Mark Wagh again showed his liking for the Durham attack as he thrashed 112 and allowed Warwickshire to set their hosts a target of 404 at Chester-le-Street.In seven overs Durham reached 12 without loss and Warwickshire hope Vasbert Drakes will be fit to bowl today after resting the knee injury he suffered on Friday evening.The declaration came just before 6pm on 324 for six with Dougie Brown on 67 not out, made off 64 balls, after Wagh and Dominic Ostler had softened up Durham’s depleted attack.Simon Brown, who also suffered a knee injury while bowling on Friday, took the field only to make two not out in the morning as Durham’s remaining three wickets went down for 23 runs and they were all out for 231.Wagh and Ostler put on 99 in 24 overs for the fourth wicket as Wagh completed his second hundred of the season, both made against Durham.He reached 50 off 99 balls but needed only 57 more deliveries to complete his hundred, racing to the target with a six over mid-wicket in an over from Nicky Phillips off which he took 16 runs.He hit two other sixes plus 16 fours before edging an attempted cut off Michael Gough.Ostler then put on 86 in 15 overs with Brown before falling 14 short of his second century of the match when he sliced a drive to point. He had ten fours and two sixes in his 126-ball knock.Brown completed the onslaught by smashing successive balls from Phillips for four, six, four just before the declaration.

Day 3 of 3Dales CC:
Berkshire 222 and 254
Herefordshire 476-7 and 4-0
Herefordshire (24 pts) bt Berkshire (4 pts) by 10 wktsBishops Stortford:
Hertfordshire 201 and 262
Buckinghamshire 234 and 218 (Atkins 95*)
Hertfordshire (21 pts) bt Buckinghamshire (6 pts) by 11 runsWhitchurch:
Shropshire 143 and 364-6 dec
Dorset 151 and 243 (Lamb 98*)
Shropshire (20 pts) bt Dorset (4 pts) by 113 runsRansomes:
Suffolk 266 and 64
Northumberland 192 and 139-3
Northumberland (21 pts) bt Suffolk (6 pts) by 7 wktsSouth Wilts CC:
Cornwall 126 and 281
Wiltshire 133 and 179 (JCJ Stephens 6-38)
Cornwall (20 pts) bt Wiltshire (4 pts) by 95 runsDay 2 of 3Alderley Edge:
Devon 203 and 55-1
Cheshire 252 (RG Hignett 95, P Bryson 75)Netherfield
Cambridgeshire 228 and 173-9 dec (C Jones 75)
Cumberland 144 and 13-2Day 1 of 3Manor Park:
Lincolnshire 300 (JC Harrison 98, MA Fell 69; C Brown 5-111)
Norfolk