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The 16 members of the Bangladesh National Squad were awarded with Test Caps in a flamboyant ceremony in the Winter Garden of the Hotel Sheraton, Dhaka last night. The President of Bangladesh Cricket Board, Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, formally handed over the green caps with the BCB’s logo on top.The event started with a documentary on Bangladesh Cricket named “Sabash Bangladesh”. After that the President distributed the caps among the 16 tigers of Bangladesh who are representing the country. Statistics of the players were shown on a large screen.Cash awards were given to Aminul Islam, Habibul Bashar, Al-Sahariar, Naimur Rahman and Mohammed Rafique who displayed outstanding performance in the inaugural Test against India. Centurion Aminul Islam and Naimur Rahman (six wickets in that Test) received cheques of Taka. 200,000 each. Habubul Bashar and Rafique were awarded Taka. 100,000 each and Al-Sahariar collected Taka. 80,000. The Partex Group and the BCB distributed the cash awards jointly.About 500 guests were present, and a cultural program was arranged. Renowned singer Tapan Chowdhury and Baby Naznin took part in the entertainment.Mehrab Hossain’s wife won a Grameen cell phone, and coach Imran’s wife won a Dhaka-Hong Kong-Dhaka Air Ticket in a raffle. The presentation was followed by a buffet dinner.Former state minister for Youth and Sports, Obaidul Quadir Chowdhury, was present as the special guest. He was honoured for his contribution to cricket over the last five years. Guests were shown a nostalgic film of the matchwinning shots of the sixth ICC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur.

ScorecardGlenn Maxwell struck a century off 70 balls•Getty Images

Thirty miles south of Australia’s troubles in the Edgbaston Test, countryman Glenn Maxwell made 111 from 76 balls in Yorkshire’s emphatic 133-run win against Worcestershire at New Road in the Royal London Cup.The 26-year-old allrounder, a World Cup winner only four months ago, powered Yorkshire to 345 for 6, the highest total on the ground by a visiting county in List A competitions. To have got anywhere near the target, Worcestershire would have needed to break their own chasing record but despite Ross Whiteley’s third score of 50 or more against Yorkshire in 15 days, they were dismissed for 212 in the 42nd over.Whiteley romped to 77 from 51 balls, hitting six fours and five sixes after knocks of 91 not out in a NatWest T20 Blast victory at Headingley and 101 in a Championship defeat at Scarborough. The left-hander was last out, caught on the midwicket boundary to give Steven Patterson 5 for 24 after he took four wickets in 15 balls in a second spell.The two sides came into the 50-over competition on the back of contrasting performances in T20. While Worcestershire are through to a home quarter-final, Yorkshire failed to qualify from the North Group.Maxwell was way off his potential in scoring only 229 runs from a dozen innings but the switch to the longer format seems to be suiting him, with a half-century against Surrey on Wednesday followed less than 24 hours later by his fourth List A hundred – his second 50 coming in 25 balls.The stage was set up for him when Andrew Hodd, opening instead of the injured Andrew Gale, established momentum in a partnership of 61 with Alex Lees. Hodd made 18 before edging to slip in Ed Barnard’s first over in List A cricket.England Under-19 allrounder Barnard finished with a creditable 3 for 59 – including the dismissal of Maxwell – but no one entirely escaped the Australian’s systematic rather than spectacular destruction of the bowling.Lees was close to matching him until beaten in the air by Saeed Ajmal and easily stumped by Ben Cox for 67, but from then on it was the Maxwell show as Yorkshire made 216 in the second half of their innings. The only blip came when Gary Ballance, mishitting to mid-on after making 28, and Will Rhodes, caught behind, fell to successive balls from Barnard.By then Maxwell had completed his hundred and even when he was out – attempting to reverse paddle after hitting four sixes and eight fours – Jack Leaning (58 not out) and Adil Rashid (41) put the game out of Worcestershire’s reach. Leaning’s 50 took only 36 balls and they put on 102 in 11 overs before Rashid gave Cox his fourth dismissal.Worcestershire could ill afford the mix-ups that saw openers Richard Oliver and Daryl Mitchell run out by direct hits from Patterson and Lees. Brett D’Oliveira played tidily for 42 before he was caught behind off Liam Plunkett and Patterson wrapped it up for Yorkshire, just as he did when taking 5 for 11 in a Championship win over the same opposition in April.

ScorecardFile photo: Arun Karthik fell six short of a sixth first-class century•PTI

Assam regained some pride with a powerful batting display led by a century from Gokul Sharma to draw the first quarter-final in Indore. However, Karnataka’s march into the semi-final was almost academic after they had gained a massive first-innings lead, which had helped them set an improbable target of 683.Assam would have wanted significant improvement from their 185 all out in the first innings. And they got it as the top order produced the team’s best second-innings display in over six years – 338 for 4, at a run-rate of nearly four.Gokul was the only one to convert a start into three-figures – his 127 came off 191 balls and had 19 fours – but opener Pallavkumar Das’ rapid half-century had set up a platform and KB Arun Karthik’s 94 off 138 balls had kept up the momentum.Assam hit 51 boundaries in the 88 overs, although only 54 was bowled by Karnataka’s frontline bowlers. Shreyas Gopal, the legspinning-allrounder known more for his batting, did the bulk of the work but his 25 overs cost 109 runs.

ScorecardSaqib Mahmood struck early for England but it was small beer compared to Australia’s early inroads•Getty Images

Henry Thornton’s remarkable spell on the opening day in Perth gave Australia an immediate advantage in the first youth Test. Thornton, the 18-year-old from Sydney, took 4 for 17 in 13.1 overs, dismantling England’s top order and leaving the tourists with work to do to get back into the match.At one stage England were reduced to 11 for 4, with Thornton rampant after three wickets in an opening spell. Ryan Davies, the Kent wicketkeeper, counterattacked with 11 fours and a six in making 61 in 79 balls that at least saved the tourists from complete ignominy. But he fell to the offspin of Riley Ayre. Some lower-order runs limped England up to 172.In reply, England struck in the first over with Saqib Mahmood removing Jake Carder after just three balls but Australia got through the opening spell to make steady progress, marshalled by the other opener, Sam Heazlett, who closed unbeaten on 68, one fewer than Australia’s deficit.

ScorecardKyle Jarvis produced his best spell for Lancashire to set them up for victory (file photo)•PA Photos

Kyle Jarvis delivered his best bowling performance for Lancashire, who cruised to a crushing 250-run victory over Derbyshire on the final day of their clash in Championship Division Two.The 26-year-old Zimbabwean produced an inspired spell of swing bowling from the City End at the 3aaa County Ground to take 5 for 10 in 39 balls as Derbyshire were routed for 114 in pursuit of a distant victory target of 365. Only Martin Guptill and skipper Wayne Madsen reached double figures.Resuming the final morning on 27 for 2, any slim victory hopes Derbyshire entertained vanished when Jarvis blew away the top order to finish with the excellent figures of 5 for 13 in nine overs.Derbyshire needed a solid start to sow some seeds of doubt in Lancashire minds, but they quickly lost nightwatchman Tom Taylor who edged Tom Bailey to third slip in the third over of the day. Guptill pulled and cut Peter Siddle for boundaries and the New Zealander was shaping well until Jarvis started the spell that undermined the home side so dramatically.His first ball found the edge of Guptill’s defensive bat, and Wes Durston chipped a gentle catch to square leg to leave Derbyshire’s chances of avoiding a heavy defeat resting on Madsen.He was fortunate to survive what looked an excellent lbw appeal from Jarvis, but the bowler had the last word when Madsen was trapped half forward by another swinging delivery. Shiv Thakor had narrowly avoided being caught off his first ball but he never settled and was lbw shuffling across after Alex Hughes offered no shot.Lunch was delayed when Harvey Hosein had his off stump plucked out by Bailey but Lancashire needed only two balls to complete an impressive session’s work with Simon Kerrigan trapping Mark Footitt.It was an impressive performance by Lancashire and Jarvis, who said: “It was great to finish the game off like that and great to get our season under way in such a good fashion. It all happened pretty quickly. I got a bit too full in the first innings and I knew I had to sort it out and that’s what I concentrated on, getting my lengths right.”I have been dying to play my part for Lancs and I’m happy to have got under way now. I never got going last season and I’m just desperate to help out the team in any way.”A heavy defeat for Derbyshire was compounded by the loss of a point for a slow over rate, but elite performance director Graeme Welch was able to take encouragement from the match.”Three hundred and sixty was always going to be a difficult chase and I think we could have bowled them out for around 220 in the first innings,” Welch said. “In the second innings we got three [early] wickets and when we identify passages of play it could have been a different story. Basically, out of the 10 sessions we’ve played, we’ve lived with one of the favourites to go up this year, so there are some positives to be taken out of this and some good performances.”

Zimbabwe Cricket has denied reports that Brendan Taylor has given it an ultimatum over his desire to play club cricket overseas.Sources close to the player said he had given himself a cut-off date of Friday (June 6) to decide on his international career. Taylor had been trying to get permission from the board to play club cricket in Europe. “He is seriously considering resigning now,” Cricinfo was told. “By end of week he would have made a decision.”However, this version of events was disputed by Lovemore Banda, ZC’s media manager. “This gives the impression that ZC is an overbearing organisation that is unreasonably denying Taylor leave to play overseas,” he told Cricinfo. “Nothing can be further from the truth.”At the onset of the 2007-08 season, ZC made it clear to every player that they were expected to fulfil all their domestic obligations with the organisation and would only be free to play wherever they wanted after the end of the season (June 2). We have invested heavily by providing exposure to our nucleus of senior players over time. It is only proper that we get a return on that investment by having the players taking part in our domestic cricket and raising the standard of the local game.”At the end of the season, the players are allowed to play in whichever country they accept an offer from, since ZC stands to benefit if the players remain exposed to a high level of play.”We remain supportive of all our players and said as much in our letter of May 7 to Taylor, part of the last paragraph of which reads: ‘We would therefore encourage you to complete your obligations as per the dates outlined and we remain supportive of whatever direction you so decide your career to take’.”

Either Craig White or Alex Tudor could be called into the England Ashes squad should they decide to look outside the existing party for a replacement for Andrew Flintoff.The England coach, Duncan Fletcher, announced today that Flintoff is to receive further treatment on his hernia injury at the Australian cricket academy in Adelaide.”Although Andrew’s recovery programme is running behind schedule at present, we remain confident that he will be able to take part in the Ashes series,” Fletcher said.”However, our physio Kirk Russell has a heavy workload at present due to the number of injuries in the squad and we feel that the medical team at the Academy are best placed to give Andrew the intensive one-to-one treatment he needs if he is to be fit for the first Test in Brisbane.”Other players are around in Australia, practising, and if the injuries don’t work out, we may have to make a decision to bring them in. We’ll make that decision over the next four or five days.”Tudor, who celebrates his 25th birthday today, has taken 26 wickets at 31.5 in nine Tests. The Surrey fast bowler narrowly missed selection in the original squad after an up-and-down summer against Sri Lanka and India that was interrupted by shin splints.White was another of the summer’s injury victims, suffering a side strain that prevented him from bowling after he had batted impressively against India, scoring an unbeaten 94 at Trent Bridge.If he is now fit to bowl, White’s all-round credentials are the stronger. Although Tudor made an unbeaten 99 against New Zealand three years ago, White’s Test average of nearly 25 fits him more closely to the vital number seven slot which is will be at issue if Flintoff does not recover in time for Brisbane.Three recuperating England players, Flintoff, Michael Vaughan and Darren Gough, missed the opening game of England’s tour against an Australian Cricket Board (ACB) Chairman’s XI, which the tourists lost by 58 runs in Perth.”Vaughan has a very good chance of playing in the next three-day match against Queensland, starting in Brisbane on November 2,” Fletcher told a news conference.”Gough is pretty positive. He has bowled on each of the past two days and there has been no reaction. He is feeling pretty bullish at this stage. We don’t want to push him too soon. We’ll just have to wait and see. We won’t know whether he is ready for the Test unless he is ready for the Brisbane three-day game.”Fletcher dealt succinctly with a question about whether England should have brought so many injured players on tour against the world’s top-ranked side.”Should we have left them at home then?” he said.England next match is over two days against Western Australia in Perth, starting tomorrow.

Daren Ganga and Mahendra Nagamootoo have been named in West Indies’ final XI for the opening limited-overs international of three against Bangladesh at the M.A. Aziz Stadium on Friday.Batsman Ganga and leg-spin all-rounder Nagamootoo replace Shivnarine Chanderpaul and regular West Indies captain Carl Hooper in the side that won the final international of the seven-match series against India at Vijayawada last Sunday."Shiv took two stitches in the webbing of his right hand after being struck in the field last Sunday and is also unlikely to play in any of the limited-overs internationals in this series," West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt reported.Skerritt also indicated that left-arm fast-medium bowler Pedro Collins is to be rested for the limited-overs international series because of his troublesome back."We will not be taking Bangladesh for granted and are here to play good cricket and to continue our build-up to the World Cup," Skerritt added.The limited-overs series concludes with day/night matches at Dhaka’s Bangabandhu Stadium on December 2 and 3.Squad: Ridley Jacobs (captain), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Daren Ganga, Ricardo Powell, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Vasbert Drakes, Jermaine Lawson, Corey Collymore.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

A mighty performance from India’s batsmen, led by Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina, made easy work of a competitive target of 300 and gave the team two points to take into the next round. The pair tore into Pakistan’s depleted and wayward bowling attack – scoring at more than eight an over during their second-wicket partnership of 198 – as India reached the target with six wickets and 47 balls to spare, their quickest chase while facing a target of 300 or more.The Indian approach was in stark contrast to Pakistan’s methodical plan in their innings. Their openers played cautiously at the start and accelerated once the new ball had been seen off. Malik’s maiden century as captain was the cornerstone of the innings and gave the batsmen who followed the freedom to innovate and bat aggressively to propel Pakistan to 299 for 4. In the end, however, they needed plenty more to challenge a trailblazing Indian batting line-up.Pakistan’s attack was weakened by a rib-muscle injury to Umar Gul, who left the field after bowling only 1.2 overs. Shoaib Malik’s offspin was also unavailable because he didn’t take the field after cramping towards the end of his century, which left acting captain Misbah-ul-Haq with only three specialist bowling options – Sohail Tanvir, Iftikhar Anjum and Shahid Afridi – and their flat performance cost Pakistan dearly.Despite snaring Gautam Gambhir early – Misbah showed lightning reflexes in taking a one-handed catch to his left at gully – Pakistan were unable to contain India. After the Kitply Cup final, Dhoni had admitted that promoting Raina ahead of himself was a mistake but today Raina walked in at No. 3, instead of the out-of-touch Rohit Sharma.Bristling with confidence after his century on Wednesday against Hong Kong, Raina began with free-flowing cover drives when offered width outside off stump by Tanvir and Anjum. He did most of the early scoring and Sehwag hadn’t got off the mark till the fourth over. However, Sehwag began to gather momentum by flicking consecutively to the long-leg boundary when Anjum strayed on to his pads, and slashed two short and wide balls from Tanvir to the third-man boundary.With Tanvir and Anjum ineffective, Misbah turned to Afridi in the 11th over. Afridi bowled one satisfactory over before Sehwag hit him for two straight sixes in his second. Raina lofted Anjum audaciously over extra cover for another six and when Misbah brought Tanvir back, Sehwag immediately glided him down to the third man for four.

Pakistan began to haemorrhage runs and by the time Malik took the field, India had raced to 100 in 14 overs. They found the boundary virtually every over: Raina lofted Fawad Alam’s left-arm spin over the midwicket boundary, Sehwag hit Afridi over long-on for six once more. And when Malik, who wasn’t allowed to bowl for 71 minutes after taking the field, turned to Salman Butt, Sehwag responded by charging him and smashing the ball twice into the stands at deep midwicket to move into the 90s.Sehwag brought up his century of only 80 balls but Raina missed his, chipping Anjum tamely to Alam at cover. At that stage India needed 90 runs in 23 overs and victory was only a matter of time.The ease with which India achieved victory was startling for Pakistan, who had worked extremely hard to build a competitive total on a benign pitch. They reverted to the caution-before-aggression approach that won them the Kitply Cup final in Dhaka earlier this month. In that game, Butt and Younis Khan did the groundwork, steering Pakistan cautiously to 104 for 1 after 25 overs before they went on to score hundreds in a final total of 315 for 3.Today, Malik’s effort was an example of how to pace an innings. He and Butt gave the first eight overs to the Indian bowlers and took no risks. By the end of the 13th over, Pakistan had only scored 38 but India’s fast bowlers had failed to create wicket-taking opportunities. Thereafter, Malik began to attack, driving Praveen straight for four and then gliding him between Dhoni and short third man. He was offered width twice by Ishant and cut him through and over point for fours. Dhoni finally resorted to spin in the 20th over but by now Malik was well set and he hit Chawla for two fours through midwicket to reach his fifty off 61 balls.Malik and Younis, who scored 59, strengthened Pakistan’s grip on the game during their 129-run stand for the second wicket. Brimming with confidence, Younis swept the spinners fluently, made room to cut, lofted them over midwicket and threw them completely off line by using the reverse-sweep repeatedly. They played crucial roles in setting a challenging target but their hardworking partnership, during which they ran between the wickets splendidly, was put firmly in the shade by the blitzkrieg launched by Sehwag and Raina.

Pakistan slumped to a poor eighth spot, only above lowly Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the latest Test championship ratings released by the game’s ruling body, International Cricket Council (ICC), Monday.Australia who inflicted on Pakistan second successive 3-0 whitewash retain top spot by the slender lead of 0.1 of a point from South Africa with New Zealand in third place.Steve Waugh’s men however will have to win the Ashes series to retain their top spot. Anything less than a win will see South Africa take over from the Aussies.Sri Lanka, England, West Indies and India follow the top three in that order.Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Wasim Raja, has been named as the ICC Match Referee for the Ashes series and Elite Panel umpires Rudi Koertzen and Steve Bucknor will stand in the first three Tests in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Russell Tiffin and Dave Orchard wil take over for Melbourne and Sydney Tests.(tabulated as under team, series, won, lost, drawn, points, average):Australia 13 9 2 2 20 1.54South Africa 17 12 3 2 26 1.53New Zealand 16 8 5 4 20 1.18Sri Lanka 16 8 6 2 18 1.13England 16 6 6 4 16 1.00West Indies 15 6 8 1 13 0.87India 14 4 6 4 12 0.86Pakistan 16 4 7 5 13 0.81Zimbabwe 16 3 11 2 8 0.50Bangladesh 6 0 6 0 0 –