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Duncan Fletcher was pleased with his team’s perseverance after they hadlost the toss and were asked to field first on the opening day of thethird Test at Newlands. Despite 74 from Graeme Smith and a serene 81 notout from Jacques Kallis, South Africa were restricted to 247 for 4 in the day’s 90 overs."We’re quite happy with our performance on that wicket," said Fletcher. "Ithink the guys have done a good job, because it’s quite a flat track and afast outfield and it’s not offering the bowlers anything. From our pointof view, we’d have looked to have scored over 300 if we were only fourdown on the first day, so it was pleasing to restrict them to around 250.I think if we can restrict them to around 350 or 400 that would be a goodeffort.”It was a tough ask for England’s bowlers to get back out into the field sosoon after their victory charge in the second Test was scuppered by badlight, but Fletcher conceded that the conditions here are much morepleasant than at Durban. “I don’t think the guys looked too tired at theend of the day, but it’s totally different to Durban and it’s a lot morepleasant playing cricket here temperature-wise.”It’s not easy and it would have been asking too much if we were playingin Durban today, but you have that cool breeze here which helps. It’sdifficult to maintain that intensity over two days, but we’ve playedback-to-back Tests in Sri Lanka and that is a hard ask – it’s not as hardplaying this one."England’s day began with a late selection drama, as Mark Butcher – who hadbeen under pressure for his place – was ruled out at the last minute witha troublesome wrist injury. "He felt a twinge while he was batting inDurban," explained Fletcher. "He saw a doctor yesterday, but when we goton the bus this morning, I thought he was playing." Butcher’s place hasbeen taken by Robert Key.

National League Division OneDivision One TableGlamorgan 273 for 2 beat Essex 267 for 6 by 8 wickets at Sophia Gardens
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Jimmy Maher belted a magnificent 142 from 113 balls, inclusive of 18 fours and 4 sixes, as Glamorgan sauntered home with 6.5 overs to spare. Essex’s total had been inspired by Nasser Hussain’s superb 144 and Ronnie Irani’s 63. But Maher, and Robert Croft who made 64, made light of the stiff target on a day when bowlers on both sides took some fearful hammer.Leicestershire 295 for 7 beat Worcestershire 219 by 76 runs at Oakham School
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A comfortable victory for Leicestershire. Trevor Ward, with 68, and Virender Sehwag – who slammed three sixes in a blistering 59-ball 76 – gave Leicestershire the perfect start, while Darren Maddy provided the late innings-momentum with 58. Stephen Peters anchored the reply with 82, but Worcestershire were never on the ball as Jeremy Snape and David Brignull both finished with three wickets.Warwickshire 244 for 4 beat Surrey 242 for 9 by six wickets at Edgbaston
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Ian Bell (59*) and Mike Powell (26*) led Warwickshire to an ultimately facile victory after Nick Knight (74) had given the run chase the perfect start. Waqar Younis, who finished with 4 for 35, did the damage early on, before Collins Obuya – with 3 for 65 – mopped up the lower order. Mark Ramprakash held the innings together with 57, but it wasn’t enough against a Warwickshire team that was never behind the eight-ball.National League Division TwoDivision Two TableNorthamptonshire 215 for 7 beat Durham 166 by 49 runs at Chester-le-Street
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Another match, another Australian having a party. Mike Hussey carried his bat for a superb 112, before Ben Phillips and Ricaldo Anderson ripped through the fragile Durham batting. As for Shoaib Akhtar, his 9 overs cost 48 runs, for one wicket. Not quite his day, and certainly not Durham’s.Middlesex 337 for 5 beat Somerset 305 for 9 by 32 runs at Southgate
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Middlesex triumphed in a run-fest at Southgate. Owais Shah and Andrew Strauss both made 74 in quick time, but it was Abdul Razzaq, who slammed 5 sixes in a 49-ball 79, who provided the impetus as Middlesex cruised past 300. Keith Dutch (65) and Ian Blackwell (64) gave Somerset a chance, but Jamie Dalrymple and Chad Keegan did enough to ensure that Middlesex prevailed. Nottinghamshire 212 for 5 beat Hampshire 208 for 7 by five wickets at The Rose Bowl
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Chris Cairns and Chris Read saw Nottinghamshire home in a thrilling finish with a 55-run partnership. Cairns made 57 from 58 balls, while Read chipped in with an unbeaten 33 after Jason Gallian had nurdled 60 at the top of the order. Hampshire’s modest total owed much to Simon Katich’s sedate 56, and an unbeaten 45 from South Africa’s Nick Pothas. Derbyshire 235 for 4 beat Sussex 232 for 6 by six wickets at Arundel Castle
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A game of two centuries, with Christopher Bassano’s being the decisive contribution, as Derbyshire made it past the target with 20 balls remaining. Mohammad Kaif cobbled together 44, and Dominic Hewson – who had earlier snared 4 for 40 – made 34 in support of Bassano’s brilliant 126. Murray Goodwin was Sussex’s batting hero with a classy 129.

At Universals Sports Club. Old Hararians 197 (R E Butterworth 65, S M Ervine 64) beat Universals 69 (D T Mutendera 14, N B Mahwire 14; S M Ervine 3-6, N Chari 3-40) by 128 runs.At Eaglesvale High School. Harare Sports Club 313 (T R Gripper 119, G M Croxford 75, Taylor 68) beat Takashinga (formerly Winstonians) 169 (T Taibu 60, T R Gripper 4-20, G Johnstone-Robertson 3-16) by 144 runs.At Old Georgians Sports Club. Old Georgians 268/5 (C N Evans 100, A J C Neethling 97) beat Alexandra Sports Club 267/6 (D A Marillier 131*, R Liddell 84) by 5 wickets.Defending champions Old Georgians opened their defence of the MashonalandVigne Cup First League title with a five-wicket win over last season’s runners-up Alexandra Sports Club at Old Georgians. Elsewhere Old Hararians and Harare Sports Club posted crushing victories over Universals and Takashinga.Alex batted first at Old Georgians and enjoyed a solid opening partnership of Douglas Marillier and Ross Liddell before the latter was dismissed for 84, caught by Gus Mackay off the bowling of Ian Coulson. Marillier, who has had stints with the national team, was unbeaten on 131 as Alex made 267 for the loss of six wickets off their allotted 50 overs.There were no significant figures from the Old Georgians bowlers. Iain Coulson took two wickets for 38 off 10 overs while Mackay finished with 2/57 off nine overs.In reply Old Georgians reached their victory target for the loss of five wickets with an over remaining. Craig Evans led the scoring with 100 whileAndre Neethling weighed in with 97.National league champions Old Hararians beat Universals by 128 runs in the second match at Universals. Old Hararians, who finished at the bottom of last season’s Vigne Cup, batted first and were dismissed for 197 after 48.5 overs. Opener Ryan Butterworth top-scored for OH with 65 runs, while Sean Ervine was the second best scorer with 64.Shiraz Adam led the Universals attack with four wickets for 35 off nine overs. Ali Shah took three for 32 off 8.5 overs.Universals were dismissed for a mere 69 in just 22 overs. Sean Ervine took three wickets for six runs off four overs. Nyasha Chari also took three wickets but was more expensive conceding 40 runs, 20 of them wides, off eight overs. There were only two batsmen from Universals to score double figures, DavidMutendera and Blessing Mahwire, who both scored 14 batting at number two and three.The last match, between Harare Sports Club and Takashinga (formerly OldWinstonians), initially set for Harare Sports Club, was moved to EaglesvaleHigh School because of some upgrading work at the national ground. Young wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu left Bulawayo on Friday evening having gonethere with the national team but his presence could not save Takashinga froma crushing 144-run defeat.Harare Sports Club piled up 313 runs for the loss of just four wickets in 50 overs as the inexperienced Takashinga attack failed to trouble the HSC batting. Opener Trevor Gripper was the HSC top scorer with 119 while Guy Croxford added 75 runs.Facing a required run rate of over six an over, Takashinga were bundled out for 169 in 40.3 overs. Gripper came back to haunt Takashinga with the ball, taking four wickets for 20 off seven overs.Taibu was the only successful batsman for Takashinga, scoring 60 runs. Harare Sports Club also fielded Brighton Watambwa who withdrew from the Zimbabwe team for the first Test against South Africa a week ago because of a knee injury. He bowled 10 overs, conceding 35 runs (six no-balls) without taking a wicket.

While the old firm of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara made merry in their last few years, unloading big scores on oppositions like they were having a going-out-of-business sale, Sri Lanka had also invested in a few startups. Lahiru Thirimanne was among the promising ventures that impressed in domestic cricket, and made encouraging starts to their international careers.There has been some frustration in the years since, but the investment in Thirimanne has begun to come good in ODIs. His Test average, though, remains in the mid-20s. He hit two centuries in the 2014 Asia Cup, and became Sri Lanka’s youngest World Cup centurion in March, so the selectors feel there is quality there. They will hope that his 44 in Galle and a 62 at the P Sara hint at big Test runs to come, following a lean series against Pakistan.”If you look at the ODIs, I was always in the runs,” Thirimanne said. “In Tests, the shots I played weren’t executed all that well. There was an element of bad luck as well – sometimes the shots went directly to hand. Mentally I never had an issue. I was always ready for the matches I played. But then when you spend a little bit of time at the crease it gets easier. Once you score 20 or 30 runs, you start playing those shots well.”Despite his good returns in ODIs, Thirimanne has largely been a slow mover in Tests, in which his career strike rate is 40.26. He has added attacking strokes to his ODI game, but his approach in Tests could do with some fine-tuning, he said.”When I go to bat, usually there’s a bit of pressure on the team. There are two options – to hit out quickly and try to get some runs with the batsman on the other end, or to stay at the wicket for a while and work through it. I did take the second option quite often. But then sometimes you think that it would have been good to follow a middle path – to score runs without taking too many risks. My low strike rate has often had to do with the situation.”Thirimanne has been a victim of Sri Lanka’s frequent top-order reshuffles. In this series alone, he has batted at Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 7, and has had no more than 13 innings in any particular spot, out of 42 overall.He has been talked about as Kumar Sangakkara’s replacement at No. 3, and even his ODI success has come in the top three. But with Upul Tharanga set to return to the XI, Thirimanne may have to settle for a middle-order position.”You have to bat well wherever you get the opportunity, so there’s no real excuse,” Thirimanne said.  “That’s something I’ve learned since making my debut. You have to play anywhere at this level. That said, I do have good one-day form in the top three, and I hope I can replicate that in Tests.”Thirimanne has been among the left-handed batsmen who have struggled against R Ashwin’s offspin this series. He has fallen to Ashwin three times in four innings.”Even though Ashwin doesn’t have a doosra or too many other variations, he troubles batsmen with those changes of speed,” Thirimanne said. “He doesn’t give many loose balls at all. It’s a big challenge for a left-hander. A right-hander would have two or three options. We’ll talk as a team and work hard in training. We’ll try to counterattack him and win through. It’s important to go in with a clear mind and a clear plan.”

Ricky Ponting says his players are keen to test themselves against the World Twenty20 champions in Mumbai on Saturday. “We are pretty excited actually and looking forward to the match against a team which won the World Cup a few weeks ago,” Ponting said. He also sought to underplay the hype surrounding the game, just as he hoped the tired debate over verbal volleys would die down.”There are a lot of things said in the build -up to this game,” he said. “Probably there was more talk about this game than the one-dayers. So I would expect good entertaining Twenty20 cricket and we are looking forward to it. It’s a nice way to wind up the tour – to tell you the truth – to be playing a game like this around which there has been so much build up and talk.”When asked whether it was more difficult to adjust to the shorter version from the longer version Ponting said: “I am not sure what is more difficult, going into a longer-format of the game from Twenty20 or the other way round. But we do prepare slightly differently for this form of the game.”We get time to go out there and settle down in a 50-over game. There is some time in Twenty20 also, but not much. So you might go there and start hitting everything from the first ball and make sure you are timing everything spot on right from the word go. It’s a lot more intense. Everything you do through a 50-over game, you have to do it right at the start of a Twenty20 game. That’s the way the preparation is.”Ponting also conceded that it was difficult to plan too much for a Twenty20 match. “This game is harder than any other game to plan. Because things just change so quickly, you’ve got to be changing your field placings almost every ball, mix and match your bowlers to suit the batsman. Everything is on-the-spur-of-the-moment stuff here.”There was also some doubt about Matthew Hayden playing the game, as he has a sore throat, but Ponting “pretty much guaranteed” his return. He also acknowledged Brad Hogg’s impact in the series, but said his selection in the side wasn’t guaranteed.”That’s the thing we have to decide. We had a look at the wicket, it looks good. There is no doubt the wickets turn a bit in this part of the world as we saw in the Champions Trophy. But even in that tournament we played five fast bowlers, four frontline and Shane Watson. I think we’ve got bowlers who can adapt and adjust to any conditions so we leave that decision until we finalise our side on Saturday.”

A little over eight months ago, Makhaya Ntini produced a devastating spell under lights as Australia were skittled out for 93 at Newlands, and similar pace-friendly conditions in Durban are likely to influence India to play seven batsmen (including Mahendra Singh Dhoni) in the second match of the series. With Virender Sehwag still nursing a sore hand, Sachin Tendulkar could be called on for some seam-up bowling should the rain, which again threatens to disrupt play as it did at the Wanderers on Sunday, relent on Wednesday.Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, made it amply clear that his team would target the Indians with pace, and they have released Boeta Dippenaar from the 14-man squad that was picked for the opening game. But South Africa too have a history of batting frailty when the ball moves around – Stuart Clark routed them in last year’s Newlands Test , and Kyle Mills inspired an emphatic New Zealand victory in the Champions Trophy – and some of the grass seen on the pitch on Tuesday could be clipped away before the game starts.With the evening conditions providing extra incentive to the pace bowlers, the toss will be crucial. Over the past few seasons, and especially during the 2003 World Cup, the winning formula for Kingsmead usually meant putting a decent total on the board and then unleashing the fast men to scupper the run chase. In Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, India have some options of their own, even if they’re not in the Ntini-Pollock class.If Tendulkar and Sehwag do fill up the fifth-bowler quota, Dinesh Mongia is almost certain to get a game at No.7. And with Zaheer having emerged with credit from the tour game at Benoni, Agarkar could be the one to miss out on the XI. Despite this being no spinners’ paradise, Harbhajan Singh’s recent displays more or less seal his place in the side.South Africa will leave the slow bowling to Graeme Smith, if needed, and opt for an all-pace attack in conditions that are likely to be overcast with all the rain about. With the breeze from the Indian Ocean an additional factor to consider, a line-up of Ntini, Pollock, Andre Nel, Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt is a frightening prospect.On his first tour here in 1996-97, Rahul Dravid revealed glimpses of his class with a fine second-innings display even as India were shot out for 100 and 66 in a Test match. Not long after, he played a wonderful knock in a lost cause in an ODI while an irate Allan Donald let fly with a volley of abuse. The leader of the pack will need to set the tone for his players in this series, and then hope that some of the youngsters show the same sort of resolve that he did all those years ago.Teams
South Africa (likely): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Loots Bosman, 3Herschelle Gibbs, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Mark Boucher (wk),7 Justin Kemp, 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Charl Langeveldt, 10 Andre Nel, 11Makhaya Ntini.India (likely): 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 MohammadKaif, 4 Rahul Dravid (capt), 5 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 6 Suresh Raina,7 Dinesh Mongia, 8 Irfan Pathan 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11Munaf Patel.

On the team’s batting
To get just 196 on this wicket was unacceptable. We had three good games with the bat before this but today wasn’t a day for us. It’s just a matter of being consistent. All our batsmen have the experience to get big scores but we let ourselves down today.On Murali’s absence
Murali had a hamstring strain when he was fielding in the Ahmedabad game and we decided to leave him out in the last minute. With the amount the pitch was turning in the morning, Murali’s presence could have been crucial with a total of 230 or 240. But 196 was just not enough.On the pitch
The new ball was coming on a bit but slowly a bit of dust began to come up and it got slower. I wouldn’t say it was the best pitch for batting, compared to the rest of the pitches in this series. But I’m not making any excuses for our poor display.On what has gone wrong
It’s all about getting some momentum early in the series. When you are down in a long series, and when things are not going your way it becomes very difficult to come back. We should approach it game by game and try and perform.On the positives from this series
I think throughout the series Dilhara Fernando has done well. The way he has come back from injury, and the amount of work he has put is in great. Dilshan has also done well. He gets a bit overconfident and takes some unnecessary risks but we need to send messages to him sometimes.On the reaction back home
The CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket [Duleep Mendis] met the team in Pune and given us his full support. We have their backing despite the defeats.On trying to experiment with a few youngsters
Sooner rather than later we may have to try out a few youngsters.On plans for the next few weeks
We’d like to end the tour on a winning note and then take our minds off the results. We hope to refresh ourselves back home, think about the positives from this series and then come back prepared for the Tests.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Indian cricket board, has blamed Zee Telefilms and ESPN-Star Sports, the opposing parties in the telecast-rights issue, for putting the Australian series in jeopardy. Dalmiya felt that the TV channels had placed their commercial interests ahead of the public interest for the game.Dalmiya’s comments came in the wake of the battle for TV rights to telecast international matches in India for the next four years. Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, Dalmiya revealed that the BCCI had been “pushed back to the wall” and had “no elbow-room” to arrive at a solution.”We need TV channels for the telecasting of the matches. But they are not ready to come to an agreement so that we can ensure the live coverage of the matches. We require TV channels, but cricket is supreme.”Dalmiya reiterated that the board was trying its best to ensure that the series was telecast live, and said that they had proposed four options to Zee and ESS. “We are making necessary arrangements. We will make an announcement within the next few days.”The first option was to submit fresh bids before the Mumbai High Court whereby rights could be awarded to the highest bidder. The second option was the division of the four-year telecast period into two parts. That would mean that the upcoming three cricket series will be segregated from the total period under consideration. Dalmiya added: “The four-year TV rights contract would then have commenced from May 2005.”As a third option, the TV companies were asked to submit tenders for the coverage of only these three cricket series. The final option was for the BCCI to produce the television coverage of these matches on its own.Dalmiya also said that the board had tried to convince the ICC about holding the series without TV coverage. “In a letter to the BCCI, the Australian Cricket Board even threatened not to come and play in India,” Dalmiya said. “If there was no television coverage. So, we had no option before us other than cancelling the whole tender process.”

Sri Lankans 299 and 66 for 1 drew with the West Indies Cricket Board President’s XI 296 (Hinds 83, Ganga 54)Sri Lanka’s second-string attack achieved a three-run lead on the first innings over the West Indies Cricket Board President’s XI today, but a more consistent line and length might have produced greater reward in the drawn match.The lack of discipline at Arnos Vale was reflected in the concession of 25 no-balls and three wides in a total of 32 extras.Before the game was called off with 8.4 overs left, Sri Lanka’s former captain Sanath Jayasuriya took the opportunity to collect some useful runs ahead of Friday’s first Test. He smashed seven fours and one six in an undefeated 44 off 46 balls, as the Sri Lankans finished on 66 for 1 in their second innings.Tillakaratne Dilshan was the batsman out, to the last ball of the match. Dilshan, who was promoted to open to give him some match practice, made 20 off 46 balls with three fours before edging Dwayne Bravo to Carlton Baugh, the wicketkeeper. Earlier, the Sri Lankans picked up their wickets with a mixture of speed and spin, and only the captain Daren Ganga (54), Ryan Hinds (83) and Baugh (43) made runs in the top order.Ganga anchored the innings after the Sri Lankans had reduced the President’s XI to 56 for 3 by the 17th over. Ganga helped his team recover from that bad start by sharing a 70-run stand for the fourth wicket with Hinds.Hinds, the 22-year-old Barbadian left-hander who captained the West Indiesteam in the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2000, gave the selectors areminder. He was dropped from the national squad after his Test-debut season last year, but his 83 in 197 minutes here was a fine knock.His innings ended when he unnecessarily chased a wide one and edged a catch to Mahela Jayawardene at slip, giving the persistent Dinusha Fernando his first wicket of the innings. Hinds faced 166 balls and hit seven fours.Fernando also claimed Baugh, who hit an exciting 43 off 55 balls with one six and five fours before gloving a rising delivery to Dilshan behind the wicket. Baugh and Hinds shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 94 to lift the President’s XI from 130 for 5 to 224 for 6. Once that stand was broken the last four wickets tumbled for 34 runs. Dave Mohammed provided some entertainment in scoring 33 from 39 balls with two sixes, and added 38 for the last wicket with Jerome Taylor.Thilan Thushara, the left-arm fast bowler, struggled with his run-up andwas no-balled eight times in his first seven-over spell. He ended upbowling 11 no-balls and three wides for figures of 2 for 43 off 11 overs.Thilan Samaraweera was the most successful bowler, taking 3 for 56 off 19 overs including two in one over – Tino Best and Daren Powell were both dismissed behind the wicket, with Dilshan claiming a stumping and a catch.

Apart from staging the hottest ever Test match, with temperatures in excess of 38 degrees Centigrade (100 degree Fahrenheit) on each day, the recently concluded first test match of Asian Test Championship established four unique test records that have gone unnoticed by cricket statisticians. The following are the four unique records:1. Pakistan’s record equalling five centuries were made out of a total of 546-3 declared. This total is the lowest ever to include 4 centuries, let alone 5. The previous record was West Indies’ 550 v India at St John’s in 1982-83 – that total included 4 centuries.2. The Pakistan v Bangladesh test match saw the first ever instance of both left-handed opening batsmen scoring centuries in the same innings. Saeed Anwar and Taufeeq Umar provided the 39th instance of both openers scoring centuries in the same test innings, but the first ever by a left handed opening pair.3. For the second time in Test history two separate century partnerships for the same wicket in the same innings were recorded. Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana added 123 (unbroken) for the fourth wicket and then Yousuf Youhana and Abdur Razzaq added 165 (unbroken) for the fourth wicket. The first such instance was for the West Indies against England at Kingston in 1959-60. E.D.A.S.McMorris and G.S.Sobers put on 133 (unbroken) for the 3rd wicket. McMorris then retired hurt and then G.S.Sobers and S.M.Nurse put on 110 for the same wicket for West Indies v England at Kingston in 1959-60. However, Pakistan’s achievement is unique in that both century partnerships were unbroken.4. The Pakistan v Bangladesh and the concurrent Sri Lanka v India (3rd Test at Colombo) test matches provided the unique feat of centuries on test debuts on successive days in two separate test matches. Never before has there been such a feat. Taufeeq Umar of Pakistan scored 104 on 30th August, and on the next day, i.e. 31st August, T.T.Samaraweera of Sri Lanka scored an unbeaten 103.CricInfo readers will be interested to note that B.H.Valentine (136) of England and L.Amarnath (118) of India provide the only instance of two batsmen scoring centuries in their debut tests on the same day in the same test match. This rare feat occurred during the 1st Test between India and England in 1933-34. The match was the only test match ever played at the Gymkhana Ground in Bombay. On 17th December 1933, i.e. the third day of this test match, B.H.Valentine resumed on his overnight 79 and went on to score 136 in England’s innings of 438. Later in the day, India batted, and by the close of play, were 159-2 with L.Amarnath unbeaten on 102.