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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

Shoaib Akhtar has sued two Pakistani citizens and has sought Rs 100 million (approximately $1.7 million) for tarnishing his reputation and for damages caused to him mentally. The two citizens had earlier moved a court seeking a life-long ban on his playing cricket.According to a report in Mr Furrukh Hussain, a civil judge in Lahore, called the defendants, Syed Muzammal Hussain Shah and Syed Najamul Abbas Shah, to appear in court on July 5 for the next hearing.In July last year, the two had approached the court saying they were hurt by Shoaib’s comments that he would have been better off playing for Australia. In an interview with The Guardian, Shoaib had said that he might have made a bigger impact in cricket if he was bowling Glen McGrath and Jason Gillespie rather than with Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.”Wasim and Waqar are in decline. They were great but they’re not match-winning bowlers anymore. Wasim has not won a match since 1996. So I have to make it all happen on my own. There is so much expectation on my shoulders. But, if I come on after those two [Australians], when the ball’s a bit older and swinging. Imagine, it would be ‘see you, mate, talk to you later’ every time.”The two suitors had also accused Shoaib of attending a fashion show on the night of an important Muslim festival. However, they had failed to establish the charges and the civil court had dismissed the case. Shoaib will now be claming Rs 70 million as compensation for the ‘malicious prosecution’ and Rs 30 million for the mental agony that he had to suffer.

Zimbabwe received the dampest of welcomes to England, on and off the pitch,as the first day of their opening tour match against British Universitieswas reduced to 38 overs by rain. By the close, the universities had madesteady and unspectacular progress to 92 for 2, though they were denied fullvalue for their shots by a quagmire of an outfield.Most of the interest in the game lay elsewhere, in the expected protestsfrom the Stop the Tour campaign, who have described the Zimbabweans as”spokesmen for Robert Mugabe” and have promised to stage demonstrations atevery ground. But, like the smattering of spectators, they were unenthusedby the conditions, with no more than seven protestors turning up.Warwickshire’s chief executive Dennis Amiss, who had instigated extensivesecurity arrangements for the match, was very satisfied with the day. “I amquite happy,” said Amiss. “There has been no sign of any trouble. Theprecautions taken have been worthwhile and the extra expense is nominal.”On the field, the universities captain, Jimmy Adams, top-scored with anexcellent 42, before falling in the last over before lunch.

After seeing his side finish the day on 265 for five, nearly 400 ahead of Surrey, Somerset coach Kevin Shine said: "It’s been a very good day for us today, and we have finished in a strong position. Congratulations to Steffan Jones who took his 50th championship wicket . He has grafted hard on very flat wickets. On any other track he would have taken more. There was also some fabulous bowling from Richard Johnson – a real Test Match performance."Regarding the batting he said: "We did a professional job when we batted , and we have built upon our first innings lead of a hundred to put ourselves in a commanding position in the match. We will bat for a bit longer in the morning and hope to bat them out of the game. At the start of the day we planned to be 350 ahead by close, so we are a little bit ahead of that."

Majid Saeed, the captain of the Gujranwala team, hit an unbeaten 94 in the second innings to steer his side to a four wicket win over Sheikhupura in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (Grade-I) match played at the Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala.Chasing a target of 143 runs, Gujranwala were reduced to 98 for 6 when the captain came to the team’s rescue. He shared an unbroken partnership of 47 with wicket-keeper batsman, Hafiz Khalid, to safely reach home.Earlier, Sarfraz Ahmad, the left-arm seamer from Gujranwala took 5 wickets for 43 runs to send Sheikhupura packing for a paltry 146 in their first innings. Qaisar Abbas scored 67, as only two other batsmen could pass the double-figures.Gujranwala’s reply was not a confident one, as they lost 6 wickets for just 100 on the board. However, a partnership of 61 runs for the seventh wicket between Abdul Rehman and Hafiz Khalid ensured that their side takes the vital first innings lead. In the end it turned out to be a lead of 52, as Gujranwala were all out for 198 in their first innings.For Sheikhupura, Naveed ul Hassan and Jaffer Nazir took 6 and 3 wickets each for 80 and 32 runs, respectively.Sheikhupura’s start in the second innings was disastrous as they lost three wickets for only 11 runs. However, it was the gritty knock of 59 from the opening batsman, Zahid Javed, which avoided a total collapse. He was supported in his efforts by the middle and late order comprising of Mujahid Jamshed (32), Yasir Bashir (40), and Naveed ul Hassan (39).Sheikhupura were all out for 194, leaving a target of 143 runs for Gujranwala to wrap up the game in their favour.Mubbashir Nazir was the most successful of the Gujranwala bowlers taking 6 wickets for 56. Sarfraz took 2 for 71, whereas Abdul Rehman and Asim Butt bagged one wicket each.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSamuel Badree sent back five of Stars’ top six inside the Powerplay•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

What is more impressive? Five sixes in five balls, or five wickets in 16 balls?The Brisbane Heat had seemed out of Big Bash League finals contention for nearly a week, but at the MCG, the very slightest slither of hope emerged. After scoring 188, had the Heat bowled Melbourne Stars out for 76 or under, and had a number of other results gone their way, they could have still qualified.In the end, the Heat’s win could not even take them off the bottom of the table, but remarkable performances from Chris Lynn and Samuel Badree derailed the Stars’ hopes of reaching the final, and all but ended the chance of home advantage in a semi. Even after the Heat were out of contention, they were determined to stick around to cause havoc for the rest.Having been invited to bat by David Hussey on a wet, windy Melbourne night, the Heat lost Jimmy Pierson – bowled by some skid from Michael Beer – in the opening over. That brought Lynn, the competition’s highest run-scorer and six-hitter, to the crease, and he was utterly irrepressible. Lynn has four of the Heat’s seven fifties this season, and also four of their five highest scores. No one has stood taller, and no one has struck the ball cleaner than him.The result of his onslaught – as well as some clever, if less eye-catching hitting from Lendl Simmons – was a Powerplay worth 78, with as many boundaries, 14 (half of which were Lynn’s own sixes), as dot balls.Lynn chose his targets, and his location. With a strong breeze favouring leg-side strokes and having got away by slapping Dan Worrall over his head for a two-bounce four, Lynn set into the same bowler’s next over, the innings’ fourth. There was the cross-court forehand slap over long-on for six, then a brutal pull over midwicket. The over ended with a perfect cover drive for four.Worrall was removed from the attack, but Lynn took a one-ball look at his next victim, Ben Hilfenhaus, and let fly. First, Hilfenhaus was sent for the biggest six of the tournament – 123 metres – swiveled over deep square leg. Next came a bottom-handed bunt over deep-midwicket, followed by a full toss flicked behind square. Six, and six more. To mix things up, Lynn even went over the bowler’s head with the same result. He finished off with the strangest, and most special six of the lot, going down the ground with his left leg cleared and his arms swinging fast. The ball barely got above waist height, and just crossed the rope in front of the sightscreen.The replacement of Hilfenhaus with Adam Zampa’s legspin ended Lynn’s marvellous innings. Looking to hit straight again, but this time needing to find the pace, Lynn was unable to clear Rob Quiney, running round from long-off.From that point, the Stars fought back well to limit the Heat to 188, though it eventually proved to be too much. After Lynn’s fireworks, 110 runs were added in the final 14 overs, with Simmons and Joe Burns quietly accumulating and falling just as they looked ready to free the arms. Nathan Reardon and Ben Cutting then continued to push things along before falling late.It was the Badree show from then on.First, Luke Wright played on trying to force to off, then Kevin Pietersen was trapped lbw by a skiddy leg-break. Two balls later, Marcus Stoinis slapped one with loop straight to mid-off and trudged off, disbelieving. In his next over, Badree deceived Peter Handscomb in the flight and had him stumped, before Quiney lobbed the first ball of his competition to mid-on.Thankfully for Stars, some late larruping from Evan Gulbis kept their net run-rate in the green, but if they fail to win in Perth on Saturday, their finals fate will be out of their hands.

Mark Cleary, the South Australia seamer, has been denied a work permit to join Glamorgan because he hasn’t played enough first-class cricket over the past two years.The Home Office view was supported by the ECB after Glamorgan wanted to sign Cleary, 27, to bolster an injury-hit bowling attack. It is the third time they have missed out on an overseas player after West Indies paceman Daren Powell opted for Hampshire and Ravi Rampaul picked up a groin injury.Cleary has had previous stints with Yorkshire and Leicestershire, but during the past Australian domestic season was restricted to Ford Ranger Cup one-day outings for his state.Glamorgan have struggled to field a frontline attack all season with David Harrison ruled out for the whole campaign with a back injury and Simon Jones making tentative steps in his recovery. Jones played in a recent Pro40 match, sending down two overs in a rain-reduced match, but Glamorgan are also expecting to lose 17-year-old James Harris to England Under-19 duty next month.

England are considering arranging more matches to allow their injured players, and Andrew Flintoff in particular, to get match-fit before the winter’s Ashes series.Already without captain Michael Vaughan, who is hoping to make his return from knee surgery in January, England fear the comeback of Flintoff could be delayed by a lack of available action. Flintoff is due to have a second operation on his troublesome left ankle this week which will sideline him for three months, ruling him out of the Pakistan Test and one-day series and establishing him as a major doubt for October’s Champions Trophy tournament in India.But without playing in the Champions Trophy, Flintoff will be desperately short of match action before England arrive in Australia for a one-day match and two three-day games prior to the opening Test in Brisbane on November 23.David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, has admitted to being “mischievous” when he suggested Cricket Australia may want to help arrange practice matches, but it is an avenue England may consider anyway. “I was being a little mischievous when I said that, but there are a couple of areas we may look at,” he explained. “We know [former Hampshire batsman] Paul Terry has a set-up in Perth and we could look at setting up matches in India, so there are a couple of places we could go to if we felt it would help.”Flintoff remains a priority for England because of his importance to the side, but the same could apply to injured duo Ashley Giles (hip) and Simon Jones (knee), although both of them remain major doubts for the Ashes because they are yet to play this season. England do not want a repetition of the last Ashes tour, when Flintoff and Darren Gough were picked while still recovering from injuries and had to be sent home without playing any part in the series.”The last trip to Australia was shambolic,” stressed Graveney. “Freddie arrived at the Academy in Adelaide and he could hardly walk, let alone bowl. “Regrettably we may be heading for the same situation to a degree. We might have a number of guys going there that are physically fit, but not match fit.”I believe Flintoff will be physically fit. What we have to do with Freddie and Ashley, because he’s making positive noises as well, we’ve got to arrange enough cricket for them so they are running when they actually get there for the first Test on November 23.”

Scotland and Canada qualified for the semi-finals from Group B, leaving Netherlands and Naimbia to join the scramble for the final World Cup place.Scotland went into their final group match against Holland as the only unbeaten side in Group B. Holland had to win the match to stand a chance of qualifying while Scotland would be through if they could come close to matching Holland’s run-rate.These circumstances made for a tense opening spell after Scotland were put into bat by Holland and when light rain disrupted play they were struggling at 138 for 5. When the game resumed, Scotland’s middle order all chipped in with valuable runs to lift the total to 221 all out. Scotland’s seam attack found the damp conditions to their liking and made early inroads into the Dutch batting line-up. A series of batsmen made steady starts but only Ryan ten Doeschate was able to pass 20 as the wickets continued to fall. Holland crumbled to 123 all out with Ryan Watson the chief destroyer with four wickets.Canada knew that net-run-rate could be a determining factor in Group B ahead of their match against Papua New Guinea. So after losing the toss and being put in to bat, openers John Davison and Desmond Chumney wasted no time in hitting out. They raced to a century partnership before Davison was out for 62. Though Romero soon followed for 50 the momentum was maintained by Zubin Surkari (45) and Ian Billcliff, who hit an unbeaten 102, to lift Canada to 319 for 3 in 50 overs.With the Scotland against Holland match at that stage still in the balance, Canada knew it could be crucial to their chances of a top two finish for them to bowl out Papua New Guinea cheaply and Umar Bhatti and Don Maxwell made important early breakthroughs. Mahuru Dai held out for 52 runs as Papua New Guinea edged past the 100 mark. They were all out for 159 but, with Holland losing to Scotland, net run-rate was no longer an issue and Canada had sealed a place at a second consecutive ICC Cricket World Cup.In the other Group B game, Oman recovered from 12 for 3 to post 170 for 9 in 50 overs. Captain Azhar Ali led the fightback, top scoring with 60 runs. It was not enough to trouble Namibia’s batsmen who reached the target in 41.2 overs for the loss of four wickets.Naimbia will now play UAE on Saturday, with the winners of that tie meeting the winners of the game between Denmark and Holland. That final tie will decide which country earns the right to play in the 2007 World Cup.

The ECB has cleared the fast bowler Robbie Joseph to play for Kent with immediate effect.Joseph, who is 22, was born in Antigua, but came to England in 1997. he finished his schooling at Sutton Valence School in Kent, and is currently completing a degree course at St Mary’s College in Twickenham, in Middlesex.His only previous first-class match was in 2000, when he was called up for a First-Class Counties XI against the touring New Zealand A side at Milton Keynes. He took one wicket (Jacob Oram) for 56 in that match.