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Earlier this week, Mohammad Ashraful told Cricinfo that he didn’t “want to think about captaincy for another five years at least”. But Ashraful, 20, is going to have to address the issue rather sooner than that – he has been named as captain of the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI that is taking part in this season’s Duleep Trophy tournament in India.Ashraful has been put in charge of a squad which includes only two non-Test players – the left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq (who has played in six ODIs) and the wicketkeeper Sahagir Hossain Pavel.The selectors originally asked Naimur Rahman, the offspinner and former Test captain, to join the tour, but he declined, telling the Daily Star Sport: “I think I’m not mentally ready to play at this level at the moment. If I start now, I’ll have to begin from zero. Having been out of international cricket for three years, I’m not looking forward to a return to the national side. Besides, I’ve recently started my own business so that has made it difficult for me to concentrate on cricket.” Naimur, 30, who played the last of his eight Tests in December 2002, added that he was also suffering from a knee injury which needs further treatment.The BCB XI’s campaign in the tournament, whcih also includes the five Indian zonal teams, begins with a match against East Zone at Jaipur, starting on February 25. They then take on Central Zone at Jaipur (March 1). The six teams have been split into two groups, and the five-day final between the two group winners will be played at Indore later in March.Bangladesh Cricket Board squad
Al Shahriar, Rajin Saleh, Nafees Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Alok Kapali, Manjural Islam Rana, Sahagir Hossain Pavel (wk), Abdur Razzak, Talha Jubair, Nazmul Hossain, Tareq Aziz, Anwar Munir.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4th day
Bulletin – Murali spins Sri Lanka to victory
Verdict – Outclassed but unbowed
Quotes – Is Murali racing Warne?
3rd day
Bulletin – Sangakkara puts Sri Lanka in charge
Verdict – Sangakkara makes his point
Quotes – ‘This is right up there with my other hundreds
News – Vaas sustains hamstring injury
Big Picture 1 – Kandy’s unwelcome guest
Big Picture 2 – Sangakkara celebrates
2nd day
Bulletin – Sri Lanka build a healthy lead
1st day
Bulletin – Vaas leads Sri Lankan fightback
Preview
Flu-ridden Sri Lanka looking to wrap up series
News Lawson retained for second Test
News Sri Lankan camp hit by illness

Brian Lara’s position as West Indies captain has come under fire in recent months. Several disgruntled former Test players – most notably Sir Viv Richards – have attacked him for West Indies’ failures. Lara’s team has struggled to arrest a steady slide, and at times the strain of leading a team that regularly under-performs shows on Lara’s face. Ahead of their first match in this year’s Champions Trophy Lara reconciled himself to the criticism.”The expectations are always great,” he said at the Rose Bowl today. “You have to remember that just two decades ago the West Indies were invincible. People got accustomed to that style of cricket and the winning ways. We do understand how emotional people are about cricket in the West Indies. I feel it is a tough ask of a young and inexperienced team – one that has been chopping and changing not only because of bad performance but injury as well. We’ve been losing really badly to some of the top sides, and people want to see us show a bit more fight and that’s what we’re trying to instill in the guys.”But that fight has not been forthcoming often enough, and this has led to repeated calls for Lara’s removal as captain, and scathing criticism of the team. “People are entitled to their opinion. We’ve got to take our ability and our talents and get it going in the right direction,” admitted Lara. “We’ve got to accept the fact that people are disappointed. Some people put pen to paper and express themselves. We have to galvanise ourselves, and we can’t spend too much time thinking about what the critics have to say.”One of the problems for Lara is that his team comprises people from several countries. The West Indies exists as an entity only when it comes to playing cricket. This often makes it hard to bind a disparate group of cricketers into one fighting unit. But the team has worked towards being more united. “We spent some time in Grenada after the England tour. We got the guys together and team gelling. It wasn’t much cricket there,” explained Lara. “We’ve been here ten days now and we’ve been trying to get the guys together. The spirit is very good. We have some experienced guys coming back in [Mervyn] Dillon and Wavell Hinds, and these guys should help in that area.”More than once Lara has publicly called on his players to show more pride in the maroon cap, but they have seldom responded with positive action. When asked if he was happy with the way his team responded to him, Lara said: “I don’t like the results. The players accept the fact that the problem is within the team, and that we have to sort it out. I don’t think it matters that much who is leading the team – if you don’t play good cricket you’re not going to win.”West Indies have traditionally done well against South Africa in big tournaments such as the World Cup. This, combined with the fact that South Africa’s victory over Bangladesh ended a terrible run of ten consecutive defeats, has led to suggestions that West Indies are favourites to top their pool. Lara, however, shrugged off the “favourites” tag. “I think in recent times South Africa have had the upper hand against us. I know for a fact that losing ten straight games is going to hurt them. They’re going to come out fighting. I don’t think the West Indies could be labelled favourites in the pool.”Either way, we’ll find out soon enough, with tomorrow’s game against Bangladesh providing an insight into the state of the West Indian team.

Western Australia 6 for 248 (Harvey 53*) beat Queensland 244 (Harvey 4-28) by four wickets
Scorecard

Kade Harvey led a one-man assault on Queensland, to give Western Australia a thrilling four-wicket win in the final of the ING Cup. Harvey launched his display with 4 for 28 with the ball as Queensland batted first and reached 244, and then turned the game on its head with a blazing 53 not out off 42 balls from No. 7.WA had been almost down and almost at 6 for 173, but Harvey teamed up with Darren Wates (29 off 27 balls) to add an unbeaten 75 for the seventh wicket to guide them to victory with two balls to spare. They had needed to score 45 from the last four overs, and 8 from the last six balls alone, but Wates sealed the Cup with a six and then a four off the part-time bowling off Clinton Perren, who was called into the attack after four Queensland bowlers sustained injuries in the course of the innings.It was an excruciating loss for Queensland, who had seemed all set to end a three-year curse and become the first home team to win a domestic one-day final since 2000. “They came back from the dead,” admitted their captain Jimmy Maher. “We thought we were home.”Queensland’s optimism had been based on a fine mid-innings display, after WA had raced to 1 for 100 in 22 overs. Nathan Hauritz (2 for 55) was the catalyst, obtaining great turn and using subtle variation to bamboozle the batsmen. The opener Scott Meuleman smacked an impressive 71 from 85 balls, but the middle order failed to build on his good work as WA lost 5 for 62 and the run-rate required escalated.But the 47th over, which featured 13 runs including a dropped outfield catch by Ashley Noffke that went for six, was the turning point.Harvey and Wates took control against a Queensland attack that was visibly limping by the end. Maher was nursing an injured hamstring throughout, Andy Bichel and James Hopes suffered cramp and Craig Philipson was replaced with an upper leg injury after a long chase to the boundary. They paid the price by conceding some late-innings misfields, with slower fielders made to cover extra ground.Earlier, Harvey’s four wickets in Queensland’s innings came at crucial moments. Stuart Law (50 off 40) and Maher (46 off 43) were the first two victims, after racing to 100 in the first 12 overs. Meanwhile, the rookie wicketkeeper Chris Hartley enjoyed a one-day debut to remember by dismissing Meuleman with a vital stumping, standing up to the medium pace of Hopes.

Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been retained in Pakistan’s 16-member one-day squad for the five-match series against England after recovering sufficiently from his elbow injury. Shahid Yousuf, the 20-year old right-handed batsman from Sialkot, is the only new face in the squad.Wasim Bari, the chairman of selectors, said that Yousuf was included based on the merit of his performances with the Pakistan A side in Abu Dhabi and Australia. Akhtar, who has not played for Pakistan since February, was expected to play the final Test at The Oval but was eventually not risked. Bari confirmed that he had now recovered well enough.”We have decided to retain Akhtar for the one-day series as he has recovered well from his ankle injury,” Bari told Reuters. “Yousuf is a fine batting prospect who has done well for the A side in recent months in two major tournaments.”Shoaib Malik, the allrounder, has also been included, after he was cleared to play by the Pakistan Cricket Board’s medical panel. Malik missed the Tests owing to an elbow injury and will join the squad later this week.Faisal Iqbal, the middle-order batsman and pacers Mohammad Sami and Shahid Nazir will return home after the Test series.Squad Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal (wk), Imran Farhat, Shoaib Akhtar, Rana Naved, Rao Iftikhar, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria.

Don’t write us off just yet ! That’s the message from Calmore Sports after a crushing 162-run win over Portsmouth, which keeps the club’s prospects of avoiding the drop very much alive.Favourites to go down in the ECB Southern Electric Premier League after only one win all summer, Calmore produced a stunning performance – with Hampshire hopeful James Hibberd leading the way.He wrecked Portsmouth’s top order with a 4-20 blast after top scoring in Calmore’s towering 274-7.Calmore’s win has cut Portsmouth’s advantage at the bottom to ten points – a situation that could be overturned next weekend if Hibberd’s side win at Andover and Portsmouth are beaten by Havant."If only we’d played like that all summer," sighed Calmore captain Tom Pegler. "We brought a couple of the older, more experienced players back like Gregg Lewis and Clive Surry, and it made all the difference."The team spirit was terrific – as was our overall performance," he added.Calmore scored at a rapid rate throughout their innings, with Hibberd (61) and Lewis (33) putting on 90 before Paul Cass (58) and Charlie Freestone (29) took the total on to 185-5.Pete Hayward (3-38) made breakthroughs but had finished his ten-over stint by the time Surry unleashed 43 not out to sweep Calmore to 274-7.Fired up, Hibberd ripped through Portsmouth’s top order, whipping out Ben Thane, Dean Oliffe, Matt Keech (second ball) and Chris Moon to leave the visitors rocking at 20-5.Lee Savident (39) and Hayward (28) provided long overdue resistance, but two wicket spells by Freestone (2-24) and John Wall (2-21) reduced Portsmouth to 112 all out.

Heath Streak, Zimbabwe’s captain, has insisted his side are not in the VB Series to simply make up the numbers. He is aiming to qualify for the finals, despite injury worries over Craig Wishart and Stuart Carlisle.On their one-day tour of Australia so far, Zimbabwe scraped home by eight runs against Australia A last week, but went down to Western Australia by 70 runs at the weekend, and were comfortably beaten by Australia A today.Their preparation hasn’t been helped by Wishart’s knee injury he suffered against WA, and by Carlisle’s blow to the thumb while fielding today. However, Streak is still confident Zimbabwe can make an impact. “We haven’t come here to be a third playing nation, we’ve come here to make the finals,” he told . “We’re going to be all out to win every game.”Streak also had a word to say regarding the Australian team, claiming that they were right to be introducing younger players into an ageing squad. “When you look at the Australian team, you know, they’re not the youngest now,” Streak said. “Some of them are getting a bit long in the tooth.”Someone told me that the Australian bowls team is a younger average age than the cricket team. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s good for them to have a look at the youngsters.”Obviously they’re being looked at and I think it’s a wise decision by the Australian selectors to start blooding some of the youngsters. I was very impressed with a lot of the youngsters. Obviously Shaun Tait had a good outing against us and we are very impressed – he’s got pace.”Zimbabwe’s first game of the VB Series is against Australia on Sunday, January 11, at Sydney. The opening game, between Australia and India, starts on Friday at Melbourne.

John Wright has said that working with a pool of 36 players in two pre-season camps will give him and the selectors a good idea of which players can make the transition to the international level. Wright arrived in Bangalore yesterday with Gregory King, the newly appointed trainer, ahead of the conditioning camp which will be held from August 14-26.The Times of India quoted Wright as saying: "Managing 36 players could be a bit difficult but the main idea is to get more players used to the training methods of King. It’s the beginning of the season and as it progresses the number of players will come down. Having more players will also provide a wider pool of talent. It will give the selectors and myself a good indication of who’s keen on working harder."When asked about the absence of Javagal Srinath, who pulled out from the camp due to an injury in his right knee, Wright said that he hadn’t spoken to him yet. “Sri is an experienced professional. He is big enough to make up his mind. But at the end of the day we need to talk to him.”Wright also spoke about the areas where the team needed to improve. “There are certain areas like the top of the order, fast bowling and fielding …where we need more competition from players.”The list of 36 probables includes four openers apart from Virender Sehwag and Sanjay Bangar, who opened the innings in India’s last Test, but one name missing from the line-up was Sadagoppan Ramesh. Ramesh last played for India in 2001 before being forced out with an injury. Speaking on Ramesh’s chances of making a comeback, Wright said: “Ramesh is a good player. But there are always some unlucky players. He’s scored runs in the domestic season and will have to take his chances.”

Bournemouth are through to the Southern Electric Premier League’s Contracting Cup final at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday week, August 5 after crushing Alton by ten wickets at the BAT ground.When Ben Jansen (40) and Huw Ross (32) helped Alton to a competitive 137-8 off 20 overs, it appeared as though Bournemouth might have a fight on their hads.But Adam Voges and Richard Scott were far too good for the Premier Division 3 bowlers, and seldom looked in any trouble as Bournemouth coasted home in 16.3 overs.Voges twice hit sixes over the BAT pavilion in an unbeaten 69, while left-handed Scott was equally dominant, cracked two sixes and six fours in his 60 not out.Bournemouth play Havant in the Rose Bowl final.

Things are looking up for Otago cricket after the senior men’s side claimed a clear third place in the State Championship, the best finish for several years.Backing this result has been the early re-appointment of coach Glenn Turner and the news that former Pakistan international Mohammad Wasim will return to the side next summer.Wasim scored 651 runs at an average of 40.68 to finish in seventh place on the Championship batting aggregates and superbly complemented his fellow opening batsman Craig Cumming, who scored 751 runs.Otago Cricket’s chief executive Graeme Elliott said the side had benefited from having an attack which could bowl opponents out and the successive outright victories to beat Canterbury and Wellington in the last two matches of the season had been especially impressive.”Shayne O’Connor was back and fully fit and was taking wickets while Kerry Walmsley and Warren McSkimming also bowled well.”We had good top-order batting but our middle-order still needs to do better,” he said.Elliott was disappointed the side could not beat competition winners Auckland in their match at Queenstown when they had all day to score 247 for victory.”We just let them get on top of us,” he said.”But it was really good to see a couple of chunky wins at the end.”Elliott confirmed that Wasim would be back next summer. He was going to be working on elements of his batting that he had worked on with Turner during the summer and would also be working on his leg-spin to give the Otago attack another prospective prong.Elliott added that normally when Otago got to the end of season a period of time was wasted while sitting around wondering who might be the coach of the side in the next summer.That had been resolved this year with Turner’s early appointment, a move which allowed him to address issues over the winter.The improved quality of pitches in the Otago region had also been a boost for the side. Apart from Queen’s Park in Invercargill where there was still a need to lift the standard, Otago had pitches that were as good as anywhere in the country, Elliott said.”Carisbrook was a wee bit ordinary before Christmas, but afterwards it, and Queenstown and Molyneux Park in Alexandra were among the best in the country,” he said.The use of the University Oval next summer would continue the quality of pitches available in Otago.Elliott wants to play all of Otago’s four-day cricket in Dunedin, and to take the one-day State Shield matches around the region.”University Oval will have the Kakanui loam soil which is a proven product in our conditions.”What I want to do is play two four-day matches at Carisbrook and three at the University Oval,” he said.