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A brilliant bowling performance by Chamath Perera enabled Panadura S.C. to beat Matara S.C. by 42 runs in their Premier Limited Overs Tournament match played at Panadura Esplanade today.Panadura, who elected to bat first after winning the toss, were bowled out for 212 in the 49th over after a good bowling performance by MatarSC. M. Ramzan and F. Farook captured 7 valuable wickets between them for the south coast side. M. Silva top scored with 38. S. Liyanage (31), D. Perera (28) and C. Silva (27) also chipped in.In reply, Matara S.C. in reply did not have any answer to Chamath Perera, who picked up four wickets for 11 runs in his allotted 10 overs. Matara were bowled out 170 in 48 overs.F. Farook also had an excellent match; he scored a superb 72 in 99 balls, consisting of 9 fours and a six to go along with his bowling performance. All the other batsmen failed to impress with the exception of M. Wickremasekara, who scored 37.

Ricky Ponting says Stuart MacGill is the obvious choice to step into Shane Warne’s shoes for the first Test against Sri Lanka. MacGill is due to have a fitness check before New South Wales play Queensland in the Pura Cup on Friday, which is his last opportunity to prove he is ready after a pre-season knee operation.Australia open their Test season at the Gabba on November 8 and Ponting expects MacGill to be there if he completes the four-day fixture. “He’s the obvious choice to take over from Shane, he’s on 198 Test wickets now, and he’s got them as quickly [in 40 Tests] as anyone in the history of the game,” Ponting told AAP.”If Warne hadn’t been around Stuart would have taken a lot of wickets. And if you look at him, he probably would have fitted in to most other Test teams around the world over the last eight or 10 years.” If MacGill doesn’t make it to Brisbane Australia will have to look at the merits of Dan Cullen, Brad Hogg or a four-man pace attack.The opening batting spot is also being strongly contested and Justin Langer believes Brad Hodge’s only chance of making the team is at the top of the order. “Brad Hodge is too good a player not to be playing Test cricket,” Langer said in the Age. “He has never opened [in Tests] before but he would have to open against us if he is to be any chance.”Australia’s middle order of Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist is settled and Hodge has had to consider a promotion. “I’ll be trying my best to get my hands on it,” Hodge said, “but if I don’t, then back to the drawing board and we’ll see what happens from there.”Hodge, who struggled in the one-day series in India, has one major opponent in Phil Jaques, who has started the season in excellent form. Jaques has already played two Tests in the position and Langer said he had an edge. “Talent is about making runs,” Langer said, “and he knows how to do that.”

Margins are not always as tight as they seem and the 20-run difference between South Africa and New Zealand in the first ODI is deceiving. It makes the result look a lot closer than it really was – New Zealand were out of the chase in the 30th over of their reply when a double-strike from Vernon Philander took out their two best hopes of winning the game and even the 71-run partnership between James Neesham and Colin Munro did not ever really seem as though it would get them over the line. But AB de Villiers thought the victory could have been even more convincing.”The kind of intensity and the Protea fire that we always talk about was lacking tonight,” he said afterwards. “If we had that kind of energy tonight, it would have been a walkover and it wasn’t. New Zealand were in the game and if you let quality sides in the game, they tend to win.”South Africa’s spark shone brightly through their innings, where Hashim Amla anchored an effort that resulted in an above-par total on an early season pitch, and carried over onto the field. Dale Steyn created three chances in his first over, one with his first ball, but two of them were put down. “That sums up the way we were sort of lackadaisical in the field today,” de Villiers said.Kane Williamson and AB de Villiers praised Imran Tahir for holding the game during the middle overs of the New Zealand chase•AFP

Several other dropped catches followed, most of them from balls that were skied, got lost in the lights and fell into vacant spaces, making the usually slick South African fielding effort appear more comical than clinical. De Villiers, who previously said he would never blame a team-mate for dropping a catch as long as he tried, hoped the execution would come with time as his team goes through its transition.”I was a little but disappointed with our energy in the field as a unit, together. That probably comes with time. There were a couple new faces that need to get used to the way I captain and the way we operate as a team.”The newest of those was David Wiese, who made his debut on his home ground but did not seem as familiar with it as he should have been. Wiese started off bowling too full and was taken out of the attack after conceding 29 from his first three overs, but then returned with a selection of slower balls, which worked well. “David started slowly, it took him a while to get going,” de Villiers admitted.Almost as new is Kagiso Rabada, who debuted in this format in Bangladesh and is already establishing himself as a regular. Rabada was more economical than Steyn, was tasked with bowling at the death and seemed to enjoy the responsibility. “KG bowled well in spells. That potential and talent is definitely there; it just needs a little bit of experience. That’s our responsibility to get that through to him,” de Villiers said.Young players generally bring more energy to a side so South Africa being sapped of it could have come down to the the leaking of Steyn’s bowling plan after it was slipped under the wrong hotel room door the night before the game. Philander revealed it was the team’s analyst, Prasanna Agoram, who “made the mistake,” and said the strategy is not the be-all and end-all on the day.”We play against these guys so much that you go with your instinct. Generally it’s top of off with the odd bouncer, like Jacques Kallis used to say,” Philander said, revealing yet another South African tactic.Kane Williamson also brushed off the information and said New Zealand “didn’t make too much of it,” when they saw it. “It’s always in the moment when you are out there that’s the challenge when you bat. Everyone has got plans. A good area to most batsmen is similar, especially if the ball is doing a little bit and brings in most modes of dismissals.”The person who showed that the most was Imran Tahir, whose plans were not made public, but who controlled large swathes of the middle overs in the match and ensured New Zealand stayed in but never got ahead. “We were right in it all the way but we were never able to get in front of the game. The South African side bowled very well with the new ball and the class of Tahir in the middle was shown today,” Williamson said.De Villiers agreed: “Immi is a master of that. He knows how to turn the momentum around, how to speed things up to slow things down.” And he also knows how to inject energy into a team, should de Villiers feel like they need a little extra.

ScorecardBenny Howell added 129 with Hamish Marshall•PA Photos

Benny Howell and Hamish Marshall combined in a stand of 129 to help propelGloucestershire to a first-innings lead against Glamorgan.Marshall stepped up to the crease with Gloucestershire on a tricky 111 for3, trailing their LV= County Championship Division Two rivals by 188 runs,but they soon got to work.They remained for 34.5 overs, with Marshall completing a 106-ball 70 beforedeparting and Howell (67) followed soon after. Gloucestershire ended the day on301 for 6, to take a lead of two runs with four first-innings wickets left.Marshall, who was summoned from Bristol when Craig Miles broke down before thegame started on the first morning, and is still not fully fit, scored 11 foursand one six before he fell lbw to Michael Hogan.Howell, who was dropped from a straightforward chance to Andrew Salter at coveroff Hogan on 12, played a patient innings and did much to keep his team incontention .Glamorgan had added a further 26 runs to their overnight score, before theywere all out a run short of a third batting point, but Salter failed to add tohis overnight score of 73 when he sliced to second slip in the opening over.In reply, Gloucestershire soon lost Chris Dent, who played on to CraigMeschede, but Gareth Roderick counter-attacked effectively, striking Meschedefor three consecutive fours before edging Graham Wagg to slip in the followingover.Will Tavare was the next to go when he prodded to short leg off Salter’s offspin, but Howell and Marshall made sure there would be no further alarms.Apart from Hogan, the Glamorgan bowlers were not at their best in the afternoonsession, and it was Hogan who broke the stand by trapping Marshall lbw.Five runs later Howell also departed when a rash stroke outside the off stumpended up in Wallace’s gloves.Glamorgan were handicapped by an injury to Wagg, who left the field afterbowling two balls of his 13th over, but the left-arm seamer did return and hopesto resume bowling on the third day.Meschede took his third wicket when Kieran Noema-Barnett was caught at slip,but was then punished by Jack Taylor who drove him for three fours in an over.Glamorgan could have taken the new ball with eight overs remaining, but optedto wait for the morning and hope that Wagg is fit. With the last ball of theday, Taylor survived an appeal for a catch at second slip off Hogan, but theumpires ruled that the ball had not carried.

ScorecardRory Kleinveldt contributed with the bat [file picture]•Getty Images

Rory Kleinveldt scored a valuable unbeaten half-century for Northamptonshire assisting his side to avoid the follow-on in their LV=County Championship match with Essex at Chelmsford.The home side finished on 55 for 1 in their second innings and an overall lead of 140 runs and a day left for play but South African Kleinveldt played a major part in frustrating their hopes to make significant progress in this weather-affected game.The visitors had started the day on 143 for 3 still 217 behind Essex and they were soon in trouble losing two wickets in as many balls to Jamie Porter. The 23 year-old promising paceman sent Rob Keogh’s off stump cart-wheeling out of the ground as the batsman departed for 45 and then sent Adam Rossington on his way for a first ball duck to leave Northamptonshire reeling at 151 for 5.Facing the possibility of following-on, the visitors had added 37 for the sixth wicket when Richard Levi , who had scored a confident 31, was struck on a finger by fast bowler Tom Moore and was forced to retire. It was later learned that Levi would take no further part in the match having sustained a broken knuckle.Kleinveldt took his place, playing positively from the start. The third boundary of his innings ensured that the follow-on was averted and together with Josh Cobb, who had played with responsibly, he took the score onto onto 216 when former Leicestershire batsman Cobb drove spinner Aron Nijjar to Moore at long-on.Ollie Stone joined Kleinveldt in a 55 runs stand for the seventh wicket before Jesse Ryder swept up the innings with three wickets in five deliveries. Stone played down the wrong line and was bowled for 22 and both Mohammad Azharullah and Maurice Chambers were pinned in the crease without score.That left Kleinveldt out of partners and unbeaten on 52, his half-century having come from 56 balls with eight boundaries, as the visitors were dismissed for 275.On a day when 34 overs were lost to a combination of bad light and rain, Essex then made sedate progress in their second innings against accurate bowling from the Northants pace attack.Openers Dan Lawrence and Nick Browne had scored a cautious 22 in 14 overs when the latter was well held at second slip by Keogh off the bowling of the impressive Stone for 14.Lawrence, who had been dropped twice on 4 off Kleinveldt was 23 and Tom Westley a fluent 16 when bad light closed in to bring proceedings to a halt for the final time.Both captains will need an enterprising approach if there is to be a positive conclusion tomorrow.

Mashrafe Mortaza’s planned return to first-class cricket has been delayed after he was admitted to a Dhaka hospital on Friday morning with dengue fever.Mashrafe was supposed to travel to Khulna on Friday to play the division side’s third round match in the National Cricket League against Rangpur Division but at around 2:30am, he was taken to Apollo Hospital in Dhaka with high fever. His son Sahel has also been suffering from fever over the last few days.Mashrafe, whose previous international game was in mid-July, has been training hard to get back into competitive cricket and has also expressed optimism about a return to Test cricket, a format he last played in 2009. He would have had to wait till the Bangladesh Premier League in mid-November for his next assignment but decided to play at least two matches in the NCL this season. His previous first-class appearance was in January 2014.

Auckland have ended Canterbury’s dominance of New Zealand provincial women’scricket today with a six-wicket win in the final of the State Insurance Cupat Eden Park. Canterbury, who had previously won 20 out of 21 titles, losttoday’s game after being 154 without loss during their 37th over.Veteran Canterbury captain Debbie Hockley, who earlier this week announcedher decision to step down as captain of the New Zealand side, won the tossand elected to bat first. After a slow start, including a superb openingspell by Munokoa Tunupopo (0/12 from six overs), Hockley and her openingpartner Paula Flannery accelerated the scoring. Hockley was dismissed for76 on the final ball of the 37th over when Natalie Scripps sent her middlestump flying. The opening partnership was worth 154.Canterbury lost another four wickets before ending their fifty overs on 236for 5. Flannery finished unbeaten on 96 after taking a single off the firstball of the final over and losing the strike. Her innings was a fortunateone, however, as she gave several chances to dropped catches or missedstumpings. Nicola Payne (13) contributed the only six of the day, a hoickoff Kathryn Ramel.Fruin (21) and Tyler (55) added 53 for the first wicket before Fruin wastrapped lbw by Debbie Hockley. Emily Drumm (79* from 91 balls), who playeda near-flawless innings, and Kathryn Ramel (42 from 37 balls) kept Aucklandwithin striking distance of Canterbury’s run rate. It was wicketkeeperRebecca Rolls, who came to the crease with Auckland needing 36 to win from32 balls, who sealed the win for the home side. Rolls smashed an unbeaten 27from 14 balls with five boundaries, including two in a row to finish thematch. Canterbury shuffled eight bowlers to no avail.

North Zone managed to pull off a five-wicket win against East Zone inthe CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy Women’s cricket tournament at the IITChemplast ground in Chennai on Tuesday.At the start of the match, both North and East were looking for theirelusive first win in the tournament. After dismissing East for 142,North started disastrously by losing both openers Jaya Sharma (0),Gulshan (2). But the East bowlers could not maintain the pressure andwhen Rakhi Mehra (67) and Rajni Bhalla (17) came together, one saw asmany as three bowling changes in five overs. They both put on a 57-runpartnership in 13.4 overs for the third wicket before Rajni Bhalla wascaught at short cover by Saswathi off Seema Singh when she tried toclear the fielder.Incidentally, East’s bowling was in sharp contrast to that of NorthZone. There were far too many extras conceded in the early overs evenas they were able to pick up the two early wickes. This, coupled withsome wayward bowling later on saw Rakhi Mehra pick some easy runs andlay the platform for a North Zone win.In the company of Gurdeep Kaur (27), Rakhi took the match well andtruly out of East Zone’s hands with a 68-run fourth wicket stand in 24overs. But Kavitha came back in the 37th over to pick up Gurdeep andVandna off successive deliveries. But that was too precious and toolittle for the occasion and North completed the formalities thanks toRakhi Mehra and Reema Malhotra.Rakhi had a shaky start and was helped on the way by some shoddyfielding during her stay at the crease. Though her first scoringstroke was a boundary, she was not able to find the timing and theconviction. Even as she played some good shots and hit someboundaries, she had as many as three lives.Earlier, put in to bat East made a patchy start with openers NeetuSingh (26 runs off 40 balls) and Saswathi Mukerjee (5 runs off 20balls) putting on 20 runs in 5.4 overs. Saswathi fell to an innocuousshot when she mistimed a drive to give a simple catch to Jaya Sharmaat the covers. Then Chandrabarti Paul (37 runs in 75 balls) joinedNeetu and took the score to 61 with a fruitful 41 run stand in 9.2overs before Neetu was adjudged leg before to Anjuman Bassi. LaterAsha, who bowled ten overs on the trot, managed to find the edge ofGeetha Samantrai’s bat after scoring five runs in 21 balls.The middle overs saw the North Zone bowlers restricting the Eastscoring rate and picking up wickets at regular intervals. Kavita andChandrabarti put together a 27-run fourth wicket stand in 11.5overs. But the run out of Kavitha (10) triggered a little collapse asEast lost both Chandrabarti and Pratima cheaply for the addition ofonly seven runs to the total.In the end Anjuman Bassi picked up the wickets of Jhulan and Babushain the space of eight balls. The East innings folded up in the thirdball of the 46th over with the total at 142. Off-spinner AnjumanBassi was the pick of the North bowlers with figures of 3 for 27 inher quota of ten overs.

Lahore, Nov 25: The PCB XI narrowly escaped defeat after MatthewHoggard looked to steer England to an unlikely victory in the threedayer at the Bagh-e-Jinnah which ended in a draw on Saturday.Hoggard followed up his first innings effort of four for 13 with fourfor 17 as the PCB XI finished at 71 for six after England had declaredtheir first innings at 237 for seven to earn a first innings lead of120 runs.The second day of the match was washed out without a ball beingbowled. At stumps on the first day, England were 76 for two in replyto PCB XI’s 117.The home team had slumped to 18 for four in 10.4 overs before beingrescued by teenager Faisal Iqbal who celebrated his recall for theFaisalabad Test with a defiant unbeaten 27. He kept the one end intactduring his 103-minute innings during which he faced 70 balls aswickets fell around him.Hoggard, who has taken his tally of wickets to 17 in two matches, wasquick, accurate and deadly in his 11-over burst. After Alex Tudordismissed Mohammad Ramazan for his second duck of the match, Hoggardgot his acts together to dismiss Salman Butt, Bazid Khan, Shoaib Malikand Faisal Naveed.He was on a hat trick after accounting for Bazid and skipper Shoaiboff successive balls. But was denied by 17-year-old wicketkeeperKamran Akmal who finished the day at 10 not out. Nevertheless, despitea splendid performance, Hoggard received no good news from skipperNasser Hussain who didn’t guarantee him a place in the second Teststarting at Faisalabad from Nov 29.Hussain, who himself is struggling for form, said: “He has played justone Test match. We will see how things go because we have to see thepitch as well. “We got the warning in the one-dayers what lay aheadfor us,” he added with reference to the expected spinning pitch at theindustrial city of the country.Once again it were the out-swingers that carpeted the Pakistanhopefuls as five of the six batsmen were demised behind wickets. HasanRaza, world’s youngst Test player, was caught hooking Tudor.Earlier, England batted watchfully in an extended first session of theplay before accelerating the proceedings in the second half when theyscored run-a-minute 70 before declaring.Wicket-keeper Paul Nixon scored a 62-ball 47 not out with two foursand a six and Ashley Giles contributed 28 off 61 deliveries.Marcus Trescothick tuned up for the back-to-back Tests with 50 beforeretiring after a 125-ball innings that comprised six boundaries. AlecStewart scored 47 with eight fours and added 90 runs for the thirdwicket with the left-handed opener. But there was disappointment forTest aspirants Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff. Vaughan, whomissed the first Test because of calf injury, spent just 32 minutes atthe crease while scoring four and Flintoff, who flew in as areplacement, lasted for just one delivery.Left-arm Islamabad pacer Stephen John was the most successful PCB XIbowler with figures of four for 73. He bowled well within hislimitations thought the grassy wicket at times tempted to put in extrawhich result in him becoming wayward.Test discard Fazl-i-Akbar finished with two for 91 – expensive figuresconsidering the seamer’s friendly surface.England leave for Faisalabad on Sunday morning where they will have atraining session later in the day.

Those who followed the advice of my colleague, Matt Finnegan, prior to the First Test will be happy with England’s victory inside three days of actual play. England are now 6/5 favourites for a quick repeat and a fifth successive Test Series win.It is difficult to see the Pakistanis getting into the Second Test in Manchester. They were woefully under-prepared (and cold) at Lord’s. With the younger players inexperienced at playing on English tracks, Pakistan would perhaps have stood a better chance in a Three or Five Test Series.Back England to win the second test at 6/5 – after checking the weather forecast first.The draw is as short as 5/4 due to doubts about the weather. Old Trafford is one of the wettest grounds in the country (something that usually counts against backing Lancashire for the Championship), and only one one-day game has taken place there so far this summer.Pakistan are 7/2 to win – which would normally be an insult to some quality performers. Younis Khan might represent some value at 4/1 to be their first innings top scorer. For England, Michael Vaughan is in the form of his life, and is priced at 5-1 to be top scorer in England’s first innings.Looking further aheadThe long-awaited Ashes Series draws ever nearer. Let’s hope poor weather doesn’t scupper a contest that could define this English summer.England have real momentum going into the Ashes – and can be backed to hold the mighty Australians 2-2 in the series – priced at 6/1.