There are old school adherents who believe that education is best achievedwith sharp cane and plenty of punishment, but one fears that the severebeating being handed out to Bangladesh in this Asian Test Championship matchcould seriously undermine the long-term confidence of their aspiringplayers.Yesterday they faced the humiliation of being bundled out for 90 and todaythey suffered terribly under a scorching sun as Sri Lanka’s batsmen went onan embarrassing run spree, before Muralitharan quickly plucked out the rumpof their top order in the evening.The home team, who started the second day on 246-1, clobbered anastonishing 190 runs in the morning session and a relatively sedate 119after lunch before declaring on 555 for five.Bangladesh, facing a mountainous first innings deficit of 465 with more thanthree days remaining in the match, then lost four wickets before the closeto finish on 100 for four, still 365 runs in arrears. At least they had thesatisfaction of surpassing their lowly first innings effort.The scorecard says that they claimed five wickets, but the truth is theyonly took three because the Sri Lankan captain made the unprecedented decisionto retire two batsmen `out’ when he felt that they had gorged themselvesenough. Jayasuriya is a strict Buddhist so he may have reasoned thatover-indulgence was inadvisable.Batsmen have retired `out’ in first-class cricket on a smattering ofoccasions, usually in early-season games on England’s university fields, butnot in the 1,560 Test matches that have preceded this game.In fairness to Jayasuriya the decision was entirely sensible in the case ofMarvan Atapattu, as he had already scored his fifth double hundred and theretirement gave new-boy Michael Vandort his first taste of internationalcricket.Atapattu, who had started the day on 99, scored 201 off 259 balls, to take hisplace in a select band of cricketers. Only Australian Donald Bradman (12),England’s Walter Hammond (seven) and Pakistan’s Javed Miandad (six) havescored more than four double-centuries in Tests.There was no respite after Atapattu returned to the pavilion as the in-formMahela Jayawardene scorched his way to an utterly dismissive 150 off just115 balls, which included 26 fours and one lofted straight six.Bangladesh’s bowlers paid heavily for their inability to maintain aconsistent line and length. Each over was littered with a boundary ball andJayawardene needed no second invitation to unveil his complete repertoire ofstrokes.It was Jayawardene’s third consecutive Test century, having scored 104against India in the Second Test at Kandy and 139 in the Third Test atColombo in his last two matches.It looked like he was destined to smash Ian Botham’s 220-ball record for thefastest double ton in Test cricket, but Jayasuriya pulled him back into thedressing room to let Hashan Tillakaratne have a quick run in the middle before atea-time declaration after Vandort was caught on the long off boundary for36.Earlier in the day, Kumar Sangakkara, 49 overnight, had reached his fifthTest half-century, but then missed out on the run feast as he cut loosely ata short ball from medium pacer Hasibul Hossain and was caught at backwardpoint for 54.Bangladesh opener Javed Omar started with a flurry of boundaries andJayasuriya waited just eight overs before he reintroduced off spinnerMuttiah Muralitharan. Once again he conjured up the wickets for Sri Lanka.Mehrab was the first to be dismissed as he was deceived by Muralitharan’sarm ball and was trapped leg before wicket for four to end a defiant 31-runopening partnership.Omar continued to bat positively, but two balls after he charged down thewicket to loft the off spinner over the top Muralitharan trapped him legbefore wicket for 40.Next over off-spinning all rounder Thilan Samaraweera trapped Al Shahriarleg before wicket for seven with his first delivery to leave the tourists on54 for three.Habibul Bashar and Aminul Islam then added 27 runs for the fourth wicketbefore Muralitharan grabbed the wicket of Habibul Bashar, caught by Jayawardene for 19, to leave Bangladesh in the bleakest of positions.

Mumbai medium-pacer Ajit Agarkar was on Sunday named to replace left-arm quick Ashish Nehra who had been ruled out of the team for the South Africa tri-series after the final fitness tests.Agarkar won the nod ahead of Orissa’s Debasish Mohanty after Indian captain Sourav Ganguly reportedly insisted on having the former.Most selectors were initially said to be in favour of Mohanty. The five wise men might have decided to go along with the captain to avoid a controversy after the one involving Nehra.The Delhi quick continued maintaining his fitness even after the BCCI appointed sports medicine expert Dr Anant Joshi certified him as less than completely fit after a fitness test at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai. Ganguly agreed with Nehra’s view that a decision should only be taken after the final fitness tests in Mumbai.On Saturday, the Delhi quick was able to do all the drills without any obvious discomfort but despite this he was ruled out as he had not completed his rehabilitation programme.”I gave him an eight-week programme in Sri Lanka on the advice of a leading Australian orthopaedic surgeon. And he is just reaching that final phase of rehabilitation, which is very important. He needs another couple of weeks to finish his training programme. If we stop it here, it could probably reopen his injury and might set him back for another couple of months,” Indian physio Andrew Leipus told the on Saturday.”So I am being tough with him. But I am being fair thinking about his long-term career. We will rest him for the one-day series and get him back for the Tests.”He is going to go through another fitness test in a couple of weeks to see how he is bowling. But I have no doubts that he will be fit for the Tests. He is actually bowling freely at the moment. But there is still a little stiffness which means the injury has not fully healed,” Leipus told the paper.Top guns, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble, being deemed fit for the tour though meant that the Indian side for the one-day tri-series would still one of the strongest in recent times.Kenya is the third team in the competition.The Indian team that leaves for South Africa on Monday then is as follows:Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Shiv Sunder Das, Virender Shewag, Yuvraj Singh, Jacob Martin, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Deep Das Gupta (wkt), Harbhajan Singh, Harvinder Singh, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad and Ajit Agarkar.

West Indies’ captain, Carl Hooper, has warned his players to focus on thecricket and not on safety concerns as the West Indies begin their first tourto the island for eight years.Hooper had voiced safety concerns prior to the teams departure beforereassurances were given by the Sri Lankan board, but expects his team to beable to focus on the cricket despite predicted election violence over thecoming weeks.”As professionals, we have to focus straight on the cricket,” he said. “Ifwe start worrying (about) what is going to happen off the field with thepolitics in Sri Lanka, then it will be a wrong note to start the tour on.Hooper admitted the Sri Lanka posed his stiffest challenge yet overseas ascaptain: “Obviously this tour is going to be a sterner test than theZimbabwean tour but I think we’ve got the players to deal with it,” he said.Team manager, Ricky Skerritt, who visited Sri Lanka recently to check on tour arrangements and met with top officials in the Ministry of National Security, was convinced that security was not a big issue for the team."What they tell me in Sri Lanka is that this is very local – political party versus political party – and it gets heated up close to the election," he said."We don’t expect to experience any of it – or very little of it. "If we find that the security arrangements are not to our satisfaction, we are going to try to get it improved and if we can’t get it improved, we’ll have to take other steps."Meanwhile, coach Roger Harper has brushed aside concerns that the team wouldbe adversely affected by injuries to star batsman Brain Lara andwicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs saying that he expected both players to play afull part in the tour.The team’s preparations have been marred by injuries. Key middle orderbatsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul was forced to pullout with back problems,whilst Lara (hamstring) and Jacobs (finger) were included despite not havingfully recovered from their respective injuries.Chanderpaul’s replacement, Jamaican left-hander Wavell Hinds, was thenforced to stay back for surgery to his nose after being hit by a shortdelivery from former West Indies fast bowler Joel Garner in a festival matchon Sunday. He is, however, expected to re-join the squad shortly.Jacobs, who was originally injured in a domestic one-day match, attended apre-tour training camp in Jamaica but was not able to participate fully innet sessions.Harper was unconcerned: “We’ve seen Ridley in the past operating withinjuries and it hasn’t affected his game one iota. He is the sort ofcharacter that once he has committed himself to going on tour, he will givehis all and I expect nothing less of him on this tour.”Lara’s injury is longstanding, stretching back over a year to the WestIndies tour of England. He played through series against Australia and SouthAfrica whilst suffering from the injury and was finally forced to pullout ofthe Zimbabwe tour in July.”Brian has had an injury which has plagued him for a while,” Harperadmitted, but added, “The doctors feel that it is an injury that can bemanaged and should not really inhibit him providing he follows the propermanagement and rehabilitation programme set out for him. We expect thathe’ll be able to perform very close to his best on this tour.”The West Indies arrived in Sri Lanka on Thursday morning where they are dueto play three Test matches and a tri-series also involving Zimbabwe. SriLanka have only played three Test matches against West Indies in their 111Test match history.Full West Indies squad:Carl Hooper (captain), Ridley Jacobs (vice-captain), Chris Gayle, DarenGanga, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Wavell Hinds, LeonGarrick, Neil McGarrell, Dinanath Ramnarine, Colin Stuart, Mervyn Dillon,Marlon Black, Reon King, Pedro Collins. Ricky Skerritt (manager), RogerHarper (coach), Ronald Rogers (sports therapist).

As if anxious to spend as little time as possible at Goodyear Park, India took just 11.3 overs to sweep to a 10-wicket victory over Kenya in their Standard Bank One-Day International on Friday evening.There were very few spectators in to watch the two “away” teams in this triangular and those that were present might have felt a little short-changed in terms of overs for money. Kenya lasted only 37.1 overs in making 90 and, in all, the match consisted of just 48.4 overs.India didn’t bother to used their regular openers, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, entrusting the task of knocking off the runs to Deep Dasgupta and Virender Sehwag. In many respects Sehwag is a Tendulkar lookalike and apart from the resemblance he played a Tendulkaresque innings, helping himself to 55 before the match ended. Dasgupta’s contribution was 24.The gulf in class between the haves and the have-nots of international cricket was never more evident than on Friday as the Kenyans were simply blown away. The only thing that went right for them was winning the toss, but even this proved a mixed blessing.Ajit Agarkar bowled Ravindu Shah with the last ball of the second over and from there on things went downhill for Kenya. Agarkar’s opening six-over spell brought him three for 9 and he was to come back later in the innings to finish with four for 27.And when he wasn’t in action from the Loch Logan end, Anil Kumble was, claiming three leg before victims as he took three for 14 in his 10 overs. It was an innings, in fact, mostly notable for its statistics – eight wickets fell to bowlers operating from the Loch Logan end, there were five lbw victims, four batsmen out bowled and just one catch in the innings – and an umpiring curiosity.When Thomas Odoyo had 9 he was adjudged run out by umpire Dave Orchard after being sent back by Martin Suji. As he left the field, the third umpire Wilf Diedricks got on the radio to Orchard to inform him that he’d made a mistake.At this point Odoyo was already off the field of play, but Orchard reversed his decision and called Odoyo back. It was, in the end, the right decision, but Orchard got to it by probably the wrong procedure. In a match so one-sided as this one it made no difference, but in a tighter contest a major controversy would almost certainly have erupted.How much Kenya benefited from this trouncing is a moot point. It is one thing to argue that the East Africans, and other lesser sides, need to play the bigger teams for experience, but one-sided humiliations serve very little purpose for anyone.And, certainly, the Bloemfontein public voted with their feet by almost completely ignoring this match. A head-to-head series between South Africa and India would have provided six or seven matches and far better cricket than the mismatches currently involving Kenya.Perhaps the only positive feature of the entire match was the fact that by winning so easily India have now moved to the top of the triangular table on run rate over South Africa.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today expressed its delight thatan agreement had been reached between the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and that the forthcoming three-match Test Series between India and England will therefore continue as scheduled.Lord MacLaurin, ECB Chairman, said, “I am delighted to hear this news. The decision is a victory for common sense and I congratulate both the ICC and BCCI on reaching an agreement. As we have made clear, the ECB has always been fully supportive of the ICC’s position throughout this process. The decision will strengthen the ICC’s authority and integrity as the world governing body for cricket, but the family of cricket is the real winner. “Tim Lamb, ECB Chief Executive, said, “This is good news for the millions ofcricket followers worldwide and England’s supporters. There is huge expectation about the Series and I am delighted that the tour can now proceed as planned, and that the England team can continue their preparations for the first Test in Mohali without any further distractions.”

Souths left-hander Michael Sippel will make his State debut againstTasmania on Sunday with XXXX Queensland Bulls captain Stuart Law missinghis first game since 1998-99.Law and his wife Debbie are expecting their first child on Monday and itwas not possible for the Bulls skipper to play on Sunday in the ING Cupmatch against the Tigers and return back from Hobart in time for thebirth.It will break a run of 62 consecutive four-day and one-day matches forQueensland for Law, who last missed a game in the 1998-99 season when hewas on international duties.Queensland Cricket Chief Executive Graham Dixon announced that openerJimmy Maher would captain the Bulls in the absence of Law. It will beMaher’s first match as Queensland captain and comes hard on the heels ofhis selection in the Australia ‘A’ team that plays tomorrow nightagainst New Zealand at the Gabba.The Queensland selectors have opted to blood the 26-year-old Sippel forthe ING Cup clash with the Tigers at Bellerive Oval, with the Bulls alsomissing Australian one-day players Matthew Hayden, Andy Bichel andAndrew Symonds.Allrounder Lee Carseldine, a century-maker for the QAS againstQueensland Country last week, will make his first appearance this seasonin the Bulls one-day strip in the only other change to the team thatlost to WA by 42-runs at the WACA on Friday.Sippel, a regional sales manager for Yates Seed Company who lives inGatton, said he was thrilled at his selection, which follows impressiveperformances at club and 2nd XI level this season.”I’ve been pretty happy with how my game has been going this seasonalthough I didn’t think this would happen. I was working onconsolidating a QAS spot and getting runs for Souths so this is a bit ofa shock," he said.The clean-hitting left-hander has scored three centuries in the BrisbaneXXXX First Grade competition and produced a useful 58 for the QASagainst New Zealand in one of the tour practice matches in October.Sippel, who is a second cousin of Bichel, is a former QueenslandUnder-19 and Colts player who has been a member of the QueenslandAcademy of Sport program.The Bulls leave on Thursday for the match. The Pura Cup team will beannounced later this week, with Queensland and Tasmania meeting in thefour-day match from next Thursday.XXXX Queensland Bulls v Tasmanian Tigers, ING Cup, Sunday, Hobart: JimmyMaher (c), Martin Love, Clinton Perren, Lee Carseldine, Brendan Nash,Michael Sippel, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, Nathan Hauritz, AshleyNoffke, Michael Kasprowicz, Joe Dawes. (all 12 to play).

Despite gutsy knocks by Kamran Akmal and Rizwan Aslam, Lahore Whites conceded a 58- run lead on the first innings to Rest of Punjab on second day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-I match at Gaddafi Stadium Sunday.By stumps, Punjab further increased their advantage to 123 by reaching 65 for one in the secondinnings.Punjab owed their strong position to paceman Azhar Abbas, who claimed four for 60 as Lahore Whites managed 224. Former Test leg-spinner and Punjab skipper Mushtaq Ahmed picked up three for 66.Opener Rizwan Aslam made 56 off 109 deliveries with the aid of 12 fours in a stay of 132 minutes.Kamran Akmal, who made a century last week, continued his good form by stroking a blistering 81 off just 79 balls. The wicket-keeper/batsman batted for 124 minutes and struck 12 boundaries.The third wicket partnership between Rizwan and Kamran was worth 120 runs. But once Rizwan was caught behind off Azhar the rest of the Whites batting line-up caved in without a fight. The last seven wickets added just 64 runs.

The Tasmanian Selectors have today announced the Cascade Tasmanian Tigers team to play the Western Warriors in the Pura Cup at Bellerive Oval commencing Friday, 25th January 2002.

• Jamie COX (Captain)
• Sean CLINGELEFFER
• Michael DIGHTON
• Michael DIVENUTO
• Shane JURGENSEN
• Scott KREMERSKOTHEN
• Daniel MARSH
• Scott MASON
• David SAKER
• Shannon TUBB
• Shane WATSON
• Damien WRIGHT

The side is unchanged from the side that defeated the Queensland Bulls in the Pura Cup last week.We would also like to advise that Sunday, 27th January 2002, will be Family Day at Bellerive Oval.

Peshawar qualified for next month’s Quaid Trophy Grade-I final with a clinical annihilation of a disappointing Sheikhupura on the second afternoon of the four-day encounter at Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar Tuesday.Sheikhupura succumbed to an innings and 78-run loss with the irresistible Fazle Akbar and young left-arm speedster Waqar Ahmed sending the visitors crashing to a paltry 65 all out in their second innings in only 94 minutes after a remarkable recovery by Peshawar’s lower-order batting.Peshawar made the final by topping Group-II with 72 points against Sheikhupura ended up with 60. Test discard Imran Nazir was unable to bat in Sheikhupura’s innings for unspecified reasons.Fast bowler Fazle Akbar, who has been out of favour with the national selectors at the moment, claimed three for 25 to end the match with excellent figures of seven for 81. The leading wicket-taker in the current is seven shy of reaching the coveted 100-wicket mark.Waqar Ahmed, meanwhile, has now picked up 74 scalps this season. Earlier, Peshawar, who won their sole title in 1998-99, took an unexpected first innings lead of 143 as their last three wickets combined to add 187 runs.Taimur Khan, who resumed at 47 in Peshawar’s overnight total of 138 for seven, fell quickly after scoring eight more runs.Arshad Khan, 11 overnight, however, found a reliable partner in fellow ex-Test man Kabir Khan. The pair added 92 for the ninth wicket before Arshad departed for a 132-ball 59, scored in 156 minutes.Kabir, better known for his left-arm pace bowling, finished with an unbeaten 66 off 135 deliveries in 167 minutes while Fazle Akbar contributed 23. The two right-handers were involved in a last wicket partnership of 56 in 43 minutes.

One more loss for India and the National Bank Series against New Zealand will be all over for them in the fourth match of the seven-game series which is to be played in the magnificent venue of Queenstown tomorrow.If any one venue in world cricket could be capable of lifting India’s spirits then the John Davies Oval at Queenstown’s Events Centre would have to be it.Set against the awe-inspiring backdrop of the Remarkables mountain range as they loom high over the ground, it is an outstanding location, and this occasion is the first time a One-Day International has been played at the ground.It was used for a three-day warm-up match for England last summer but the match was affected by bad weather. However, a new pitch has been laid at the ground and more drainage has been installed to bring it up to scratch.The wicket hasn’t escaped the extra moisture that has been in the New Zealand air this summer but it does offer hope of having consistent pace and bounce which will allow the prospect of scores in excess of 220-plus. But no-one is second guessing just what the pitch will be like after the surprises that have been in store in earlier matches.New Zealand’s dominance of the summer has not been reflected in any dimunition of public interest as the ground has been pre-sold, and while this represents a crowd of around 8000, that is a fair result for this ground.Queenstown is one of New Zealand’s holiday towns and its summer population is considerably in excess of its usual numbers.Most will be hoping that they get a rare chance to see the leading Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar in action, but no-one associated with the series is holding their breath. Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was convinced he would play in the last match but he did not appear.The official word is that a decision will be made tomorrow morning, but the unofficial word is that he is unlikely to play.New Zealand have their own aims from this game. They have made three significant changes to their side as they continue their preparation for the World Cup.Long-serving Chris Harris, and all-rounders Scott Styris and Andre Adams return to the side and will be especially keen to continue the dominance the home side has achieved this year.Adams is probably the player who will be most under scrutiny as he has been working his way back from a stress fracture to his back. His bowling variations, and the impetus he can bring to the batting will be especially useful.Styris was a surprise omission from the one-day team after having a good Test series and will have every incentive to get a good performance on the board.Harris too, was overlooked as the selectors assessed his recovery from injury and in his absence it would be fair to say that players like Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills seized the chance to put him under some pressure.New Zealand have been fashioning an improved record in ODIs over the last 12 months and their effort in bowling India out for 108 in Christchurch on New Year’s Day was the fourth time it has bowled out a side for that many runs or less in the last 12 months.Those occasions, England for 89 at Wellington in February 2002, India for 108 at both Auckland and Christchurch and Bangladesh for 77 at Colombo in September represent four of the five lowest scores against New Zealand. The record is still the 70 Australia were dismissed for at Adelaide in 1985/86.The win in Christchurch was the second fastest victory achieved by New Zealand chasing a target, and the fastest against a team with full ODI status, with 139 balls remaining which beat the win with 130 balls to spare over Zimbabwe at Wellington in 1997/98. The record for New Zealand against all teams is 193 balls to spare over Scotland at Edinburgh in the 1999 World Cup.New Zealand’s record in ODIs against India also continues to improve. New Zealand now won their last three ODIs against India, and six of their last seven and of their last 18 matches they have won 12. Before that 18-game spell started however, New Zealand had won only seven of their previous 28 games against India. In a change from recent history New Zealand have won eight of their last 10 ODIs on home soil (and 10 of their last 14).It’s only the fifth time New Zealand have won four ODIs in a row, following streaks of four during the World Series Cup in 1982/83, seven against England, Sri Lanka and Australia, also in 1982/83, seven at the 1992 World Cup and five against the West Indies in 1999/00.New Zealand cannot afford to relax the intensity of their approach because they need to ensure they are at peak efficiency at the World Cup while India just have to pick up some confidence in their bid to keep the series alive.