Brian Lara has had many glittering moments in a stellar career, but he says Trinidad and Tobago’s capture of their first regional first-class title for 21 years is an achievement he will cherish for a very long time.”To beat Barbados in Barbados, to literally take the Cup off their shelf is an amazing feeling,” Lara told reporters. “On the international circuit, playing Australia and beating Australia is real cricket to me. On the regional scene, playing Barbados in Barbados and beating them is what it is all about. You’ve got to understand I am now aged 36, and any sort of success on the playing field would be greeted with uncontrollable emotions because I am not sure to experience it again.””I thought we were in a very privileged position coming to Barbados knowing we had to win. Barbados, maybe, needing just one point to earn success were under more pressure than we were and it proved so in this game. Their decision to bowl first on such a good pitch was strange, but it was great to come out and win in Barbados. Barbados and Jamaica are the premier teams in regional cricket. After 21 years, to come to Barbados and snatch this victory and this trophy away from them is a special occasion for us.”Lara also singled out praise for Daren Ganga, the T&T captain. “All kudos to Daren and the way he has molded his team over the last couple of years, and he was able to come away with a title. Hopefully, this is not the end,” he said. “This is the start of things to come, and we can dominate for a few years. We have to cherish this moment, live in this moment, and I’m happy to be part of it.”Ryan Hinds, the Barbados captain, was visibly dejected after leading Barbados to their heaviest defeat in the history of the modern regional first-class championship (1966 onwards). “We are very disappointed,” he said glumly. “We did not really bat well on the first day, but we still have the semifinals for which we can look forward, and we will be very positive going into that game.”Barbados’ decision to field first in the match has been roundly criticised. “It really did not matter whether we put T&T in to bat or not,” he said. “We bowled them out for 259 and then lost four wickets on the first day, and I think that is what put us out of this game.”Hinds expressed a bit of disappointment at the decision to push back the semifinals to April. “We would love to have the semifinals brought forward, since many of our guys will be going to England either next month or early in April on playing contracts.” Hinds has been the leading batsman this season with 570 runs at an average of 81.42, and hopes to gain a place on the West Indies A-Team for their series against England-A. “I have been enjoying the cricket all season,” he said. “I have been working very hard, and the team has helped me to be in this position with lots of encouragement.”In the semifinals, from April 7 to 10, Barbados host Guyana and T&T entertain the Windward Islands. The Final is set for April 15 to 19.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) president, has strongly denied the charges of financial irregularities made against him by the current BCCI regime. Addressing a press conference in Kolkata today, Dalmiya said he had replied to each of the charges to to the BCCI’s marketing committee.The BCCI had last week asked Dalmiya to clarify certain financial transactions made during the 1996 World Cup by the PILCOM (Pakistan-India-Sri Lanka), the organising body which Dalmiya was the convenor secretary. The charges included the transfer of certain amounts to the Cricket Association of Bengal.”Nobody has lost a single paisa — be it BCCI or Cricket Association of Bengal”, Dalmiya today said.”The new convenor secretary of PILCOM (Niranjan Shah) has made a wild, defamatory charge through innuendo. I wish to state categorically that I am not aware of any amount being due from TWI … It is expressly reiterated that not a single penny was misappropriated and the BCCI received the entire amount with due justifications.”Asked if he was contemplating any legal action, he said, “I have already given the papers to my lawyers, once I find things are going too much beyond control, I will not hesitate in moving the judiciary.”He added that he had some revelations to make about the current regime. “I have a lot to tell. I will come to you very soon. Only I know what kind of transparency they have. I have nursed the BCCI like my child. If something grossly wrong is being done, I’ll come back to you. You have to just wait.”Turning to the goings-on in the February 21 meeting, Dalmiya said that a ten-page document was circulated and he was asked to answer without knowing the contents. “I wanted seven days’ time. But such was the aggressiveness of some of the members, that they wanted me to reply then and there,” he continued.However, Dalmiya praised Sharad Pawar, the board chief, for not bowing to the pressure tactics of those members. Releasing to the media his reply to Shah’s note as also various other documents pertaining to the PILCOM, Dalmiya clarified that it had only one account maintained by Pakistan and India at Citibank, London. “It has no other account anywhere, be it Kolkata or any other place.”

Twenty wickets tumbled on an eventful opening day of the 2005-06 Pentangular Cricket Championship at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday, as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) were shot out for a pathetic 69 runs and Faisalabad too lost all their first-innings wickets in reply, though they managed to reach a comparatively adequate total of 277.A depleted PIA side, missing several players who are touring Sri Lanka with the Pakistan team, had no answer to the Faisalabad pace trio after having been put in to bat first. The two openers both failed to score and only two batsmen managed to reach double figures.Faisalabad appeared to be going the same way, when Mohammad Hafeez was dismissed first ball. But a 119-run fifth-wicket partnership put them on the road to recovery and at the end of the first day’s play, Faisalabad had gained a substantial first-innings lead of 208.Faisalabad’s pacemen, Samiullah Niazi and Asad Ali, both captured four wickets each. Asad’s four cost him only 19 while the left-armer Samiullah took 4 for 31 in nine overs.For Faisalabad, Ijaz Ahmed junior narrowly missed his 29th hundred as he made 96 off only 115 balls with 16 boundaries in a stay of almost two-and-three-quarter hours at the crease. His fifth-wicket stand of 119 was with Mohammad Zahid, whose 60 runs came off 101 balls with 10 fours. Jannisar Khan, the Peshawar allrounder, captured 5 for 63 with his medium-pacers.PIA are one of the three teams — Habib Bank and United Bank being the other two — who have won the Pentangular Trophy in the past on three occasions. Here in Lahore, they are struggling to hold on to their reputation. The match between Sialkot and NBP at the Multan Cricket Stadium, also due to start yesterday, has been postponed by a day and will now begin on Friday.The Pentangular has been revived after a lapse of a full decade. The five teams qualified for this season’s event are the top sides of the domestic circuit. National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) are one of them, by virtue of winning the Patron’s Trophy Championship while PIA had ended as the runners-up. Sialkot won the season’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Championship Gold League title with Faisalabad taking second spot. Karachi Harbour are the fifth team in the competition, as they had emerged champions of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Silver League.

Click here to let us know your viewsThe ICC has dismissed suggestions by Matthew Engel in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack that it is putting money ahead of other considerations.Referring to the recent challenge to authority of the ICC by the Indian board, Engel wrote that it was time someone stepped up as “the ICC’s entrepreneurialrole is damaging its regulatory one. There was a crucial symbolic change when its web address switched from .org to .com. It constantly now has to refer to its own financial interests – exacerbated by the fraught TV deal with the Global Cricket Corporation, which expires in 2007 – rather than the good of cricket, which should be its only concern.”But Brian Murgatroyd, the ICC’s media manager, told the BBC that the ICC was not a profit-making organisation and plouged income back into its 96 member countries, but he admitted it still needed to be careful. “There’s always a balance to be found between on the one hand making sure we safeguard the future of the game, while at the same time ensuring we look after that future by maximising revenue.”We’re acutely conscious of the need to protect the heritage of the game, but we have to ensure any events we put on earn revenue, which we’re able to pass on to our members. That’s our rationale – to ensure the health of the game worldwide.”Murgatroyd also defended an attack on the Champions Trophy, which Engel described as “yet another ugly-looking [tournament], to the delight only of TV channels with more airtime than content.”He said that the competition was being altered. “It’s gone through a few facelifts and we feel we’re getting closer to an appropriate format. The profits that the ICC make from that tournament are going to be ploughed back into the game – it benefits cricket for that tournament to take place. It’s a very worthy event.”

At a time when players are reportedly unhappy with the non-stop schedules imposed on them by their boards, it might seem out of place to moan about the gap between matches, but South Africa and New Zealand start the second Test at Cape Town on Thursday after eight days of doing nothing.New Zealand might have expected to play a tour match in that time, but the itinerary has left them with nothing more strenuous than the occasional net and plenty of time off. That hasn’t stopped them losing Shane Bond, who failed a gentle fitness test on his knee on Tuesday and will return home, hobbling out of the tour and of his summer commitments with Gloucestershire.Hamish Marshall has also been ruled out with a rib injury, although at least their third doubt, Nathan Astle, has been passed fit to play despite bone chips in his left knee. New Zealand have given Michael Papps a chance to restate his claim at the top of the order, although he has failed to impress against short-pitched bowling in the past and is sure to be tested here. “The openers are an area of concern,” admitted Stephen Fleming, New Zealand’s captain. ” We’ve got to wait until someone comes along that has good statistics behind them and is a good opening bat. At the moment our best batsmen are on tour and it’s a case of finding a position for them.”.South Africa have no such worries, with just one self-imposed change. Hashim Amla is likely to take the No.3 slot in the batting line-up after Herschelle Gibbs was left out. Amla has much to prove after a very disappointing time against England in 2004-05, making 36 runs in four innings, with serious questions being raised about his technique. Boeta Dippenaar is likely to replace Gibbs as opener.The pitch is something of a mystery as Newlands has never staged a major match this late in the year. The hard-pressed groundsman admitted that he had struggled with heavy rain taking longer to dry than it would in a conventional season, and that will mean any moisture in the pitch will linger well into the day. The general consensus is that it will give variable bounce to the seamers, as well as help to the spinners earlier than might otherwise be expected.Early-morning dew could make the first hour of the day even more tricky for the batsmen. Both teams have postponed their practice sessions from 9.30am to 10.30am to avoid the wetness. The Test itself starts at 10am.If the pitch does turn, it has to help New Zealand, for Daniel Vettori is the one class spinner in the match. If it really looks likely to break up then New Zealand might even contemplate drafting in a second spinner – Jeetan Patel – but that would leave their attack dangerously imbalanced if they were to lose the toss and bowl first.South Africa (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Boeta Dippenaar, 3, Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Ashwell Prince, 6 AB de Villers 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Sean Pollock, 9 Nicky Boje, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini.New Zealand (probable) 1 Peter Fulton, 2 Michael Papps, 3 Stephen Fleming (capt), 4 Scott Styris, 5 Nathan Astle, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 James Franklin, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Chris Martin.

Sri Lankans 180 for 3 (Jayawardene 79) v PCA Masters XI – match abandoned
ScorecardSri Lanka’s rather faltering preparations for the NatWest Series were stymied by rain which limited their Twenty20 warm-up game against a PCA Masters XI at Arundel to 16 overs.After a week of sweltering heat in the south of England, the weather broke an hour into Sri Lanka’s innings and while the players gamely soldiered on for a few overs, they soon had to seek shelter. Although the rain did eventually stop, no more than a cursory inspection was needed to confirm that further play would not be possible.Against a PCA Master’s XI which contained nine internationals, past and present, Mahela Jayawardene shone with a 35-ball 79 after the Sri Lankans had made a faltering start, reaching 24 for 1 after five overs.Sanath Jayasuriya started to inject some pace with an assault on Chris Lewis – who had removed Chamara Kapugedera in the fourth over – and the run-rate quickly increased as Jayasuriya and Jayawardene added 75 in less than six overs.Jayasuriya was run-out when Jayawardene called him for an improbable single to Vasbert Drakes, but Kumar Sangakkara continued the assault with a flurry of boundaries before the rain came. By then, Jayawardene’s impressive innings had been ended by a faster ball from Shaun Udal.”Our players have not had a lot of Twenty20. It’s a different game and they have certainly come to the party,” Trevor Penney, Sri Lanka’s assistant coach, told The Argus. “I think Mahela got everybody going when he got out there first ball and charged down the wicket. That was just what we needed.”This Twenty20 teaches you can play your shots. Sometimes you can look after your wicket a bit too much in one-day cricket. It was a good exercise.”

Day 3
Scorecard

A four-wicket burst by the legspinner Cullen Bailey orchestrated a lower-order collapse as Pakistan A conceded a first-innings lead of 79 on the third day of the Top End Series match against Australia A at Darwin. Mohammad Hafeez anchored the innings and fell 20 short of what would have been his first double-century in first-class cricket. Abdur Rehman, the left-arm spinner, took two wickets in successive overs late in the day as Australia finished at 2 for 57, with an overall lead of 136.Earlier, Hafeez and Shahid Yousuf continued their good work from yesterday and made the most of the drop-in pitch which favoured the batsmen. The pair added 78 before Yousuf was trapped leg before to the Australia offspinner Dan Cullen for 71. After captain Misbah-ul-Haq departed 13 overs later, Bazid Khan and Hafeez had a good partnership going till Mitchell Johnson got the prized scalp of Hafeez, caught behind by Brad Haddin. His knock included 19 fours and three sixes. Pakistan felt the pressure when Hasan Raza was dismissed soon after with the score at 5 for 353, but Bazid and Mohammad Salman restored some order with a 52-run partnership. Bazid reached his half century, but his dismissal, trapped leg before to Bailey, sparked the collapse. Bailey ran through the lower order, picking the last three wickets to fall and finished with figures of 4 for 71 as Pakistan finished with 431. Johnson had the next best figures of 3 or 93.Australia got off to a steady start in their second innings, with the openers Chris Rogers and Phil Jaques putting on 53. However, they were jolted by a double strike by Rehman, who first had Rogers caught by Rafatullah Mohmand. Mark Cosgrove didn’t last long, and was caught for two in the fag end of the day.

Denying any involvement in leaking Greg Chappell’s controversial email last September, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), dismissed Sourav Ganguly’s charges against his group saying he did not expect loyalty as he was no more the chief of the Indian board (BCCI).”I am no longer in the BCCI. I have nothing to give. So, I do not expect loyalty from him,” Dalmiya told newspersons shortly after Ganguly’s email was made public by CAB dissidents.Ganguly blamed Dalmiya for leaking Chappell’s sensational email but Dalmiya said that Chappell himself had not wanted to send the mail to him. “Yes, I was one of the intended recipients,” he continued. “But in the meeting of the high-powered committee held in Mumbai after the controversy erupted, Chappell himself stated that he could not send it to me.The six-member committee, set-up to investigate that email, comprised Dalmiya, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the then BCCI chief, SK Nair, the secretary, and three former India captains — Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S Venkatraghavan. Asked whether he agreed with Ganguly that the email was leaked to damage his career, Dalmiya said “the e-mail does not concern me.”You put the question to those quarters who leaked it,” he said at a hurriedly convened media meet at the Eden Gardens. “This question can be best answered by the affected and those who made him affected.”

Having won the presidential race for the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) against heavy odds, Jagmohan Dalmiya today threw the gauntlet at the Indian board (BCCI), asserting that its efforts to malign him would not go ‘unchallenged’.”I don’t believe in witch-hunting, but a lot of wrong has been done to me [by the BCCI]. This is not cricket. I can only say that whatever they do will not go unchallenged,” Dalmiya told a media meet after defeating challenger Prasun Mukherjee, the Kolkata Police Commissioner.”I will prove the truth. I needed a platform to bring truth to the fore. That is why I chose to fight the elections despite the chief minister’s [Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee] advice not to contest.”Pointing out that the board had suspended him from attending its meetings, slapped two show cause notices and even filed an FIR against him, Dalmiya said “I won’t be vindictive. But it has to come out who is the real culprit.”Asked how he proposed to utilise the CAB platform to fight the BCCI, Dalmiya said, “I myself don’t know. How we deal will not be in my hand. It is so confidential that I would like to keep it with me.”Dalmiya evaded a question whether he would appear before the BCCI Disciplinary Committee in the near future. “Leave the matter to me and my legal advisers. I was contemplating retirement from the cricket administration, but the peculiar way things turned out, I was forced to fight the CAB elections as I needed a platform.”On receiving cooperation from the Kolkata Police, “Why won’t I? Such apprehension should not be there. It is a democratic election and it is now over.”Questioned if he had anything to say against West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who had publicly asked him not to contest the CAB election, Dalmiya said “I respect the chief minister. We need the support of the government to run the game and I have no apprehension.”

The Indian squad which went to Sri Lanka for the ill-fated tri-series last month is likely to be retained for the triangular tournament in Malaysia, which also features Australia and West Indies. However, Anil Kumble could be in contention for a place in the 14-member Champions Trophy squad, which will also be named later on Sunday.Kumble has been named among the 30 probables for the Champions Trophy, and was considered a strong candidate for a berth in the final squad. However, he might be left out if the selectors feel he needs more time to recover from tendonitis – Kumble was detected with the injury when he was playing for Surrey last month. Also, the ICC stipulations state that after the Champions Trophy squad has been named, no replacements will be allowed if the concerned player already had the injury when the squad was announced.The 30-member probables list also included Sourav Ganguly, but it is highly unlikely that he will make the cut.The squad that went to Sri Lanka
Rahul Dravid (capt), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Mongia, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Sreesanth.