At the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, hosts Karnataka would havehoped to restrict the touring Delhi side on the first day. Delhi onthe other hand would have been looking to go through the day with somesteady batting after they lost the toss and were put in to bat. As itwere, neither team could fully accomplish their goal.Ashish Chopra at the top of the order showed the way with some solidbatting. Defying the Karnataka spinners and mediumpacers alike, Chopracompiled a good hundred. His knock was not one of flambouyant strokemaking, but rather one of patience and stability. At the other end, helost his opening partner Ashu Dani (19) pretty early on, but wasundeterred. In the company of Gautam Gambhir, Chopra rotated thestrike well and pushed the visitors’ score on to 172 before Gambhirwas run out by Vijay. Gambhir’s entertaining knock of 73 off just 116balls included 9 boundaries.Gambhir’s role as support for Chopra was then ably filled by VirendraSehwag who has been on the fringe of national reckoning in the recentpast. Unlucky to be dismissed just one run short of a fifty, Sehwagwasted no time while he was at the crease. His almost run a ballinnings included 7 fours before he became Vadiaraj’s second scalp. Bythis time, Chopra was motoring confidently on and Delhi were in aposition of reasonable safety.Akash Malhotra (1) was the only Delhi man who did not get going. WhenChopra (101) fell soon after he reached his century, Mithun Minhas (39not out) and wicket keeper captain Vijay Dahiya (10 not out) were atthe crease. Delhi were 308/5. With only 8 points so far, Delhi willbe keen to get a positive result from this game and pip Karnataka (11points) to the post.

An invaluable unbeaten 155 (258 balls, 20 fours) by Sridharan Sriramtook Tamil Nadu to the imposing position of 346/5 at the end of thesecond day of their Ranji Trophy quarter final against Punjab at theMA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai today. Sriram’s fifth century of theseason also took his Ranji tally past the thousand mark this season inhis seventh match. Resuming at 40/0, Tamil Nadu made 306 runs in the90 overs bowled during the day.After Sadagopan Ramesh had fallen to RP Singh in the third over of theday without adding to his overnight score of 18, Sriram and HemangBadani added 150 for the second wicket to virtually shut out Punjab onthe first innings. Badani was let off on 13, when he pulled SandeepSharma and the ensuing top edge went through the glove tips of aleaping wicket keeper Harminder Jugnu.But the other more critical life was when Sriram, then on 38, droppedthe ball down the wicket, set off, and was sent back by Badani. Thebowler, Sodhi, in a remarkable display of athleticism, swooped downand underarmed the ball onto the stumps as the batsman dived back in,but umpire Ranade was not impressed. Badani made 70 from 147 ballsbefore he guided off spinner Sharandeep Singh staight into the handsof captain Vikram Rathour at slip. His knock comprised of eleven hitsto the fence, with his favourite stroke being the front foot drive onthe rise through the covers.But the most fascinating contest was between Harbhajan and Sriram. ThePunjab offie crowded Sriram with two slips and a gully and tried toentice him to hit against the spin into the vacant area on the onside. Sriram played and missed the sweep shot more than once and hewas also drawn towards one that turned and bounced outside off, whichjust went wide of second slip. He learnt his lesson and then preferredto get to the pitch of the ball aand smother the spin rather than waitfor it. When Sriram went up to 99, the field was brought up, but hecalmly drove Sodhi through the covers for a couple to bring up thelandmark of f 163 balls and with 12 fours.Sriram added another 55 for the third wicket with Madanagopal followedby a fourth wicket stand of 79 with his skipper S Sharath. The latterwas caught at first slip by Rathour off Harbahajan for 30 after whichhe put on an unseemly show of dissent, gesturing his hand at theumpire in frustration. Aashish Kapoor was run out for 5 in going for aneedlessly cheeky single late in the day. Nightwatchman T Kumaran waskeeping Sharath company when stumps were drawn, as Tamil Nadu go intothe third day leading by 88 on the first innings.

At draw of stumps on the third day Haryana were struggling to avoidthe follow on against Punjab, having lost seven wickets for 247 intheir North Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the Gandhi ground inAmritsar on Monday.Haryana resumed their innings at the overnight score of 41 for 1.Padamjit Sehrawat got a life off the fourth ball of the day when hewas on 20, dropped at second slip by Pankaj Dharmani off ReetinderSodhi. After this both Paramjit and Ishan Ganda played sensibly andadded 120 runs for the second wicket in 265 balls. The duo dominatedthe first session and were not separated until lunch, taking the teamtotal to 137 for 1. Padamjit in particular was more aggressive as hecompleted his 50 in 106 balls with the help of six hits to the fence.Ganda supported him well by taking the singles and doubles.In the second session Haryana added only 63 runs and lost two valuablewickets. Padamjit was the first to go in the fourth over after lunch,brilliantly caught by Dinesh Mongia at second slip off the bowling ofSodhi. He had scored 88 runs in 189 balls during a stay of 253 minutesat the crease with the help of 10 boundaries. Parinder Sharma was thenext to depart at his individual score of 21 when he snicked a legcutter from Harbhajan to wicket keeper Jugnu. Haryana was reeling attea with the score reading 200 for 3.The last session of the day belonged to the bowlers as they caputuredfour wickets in this session at the cost of 47 runs, Harbhajan takingthree of them. He trapped Rajesh Puri (14) and Ajay Ratra (0) in frontof the wickets with consecutive balls. Ganda played a laboured knockof 67 runs as he stayed for 300 minutes and faced 206 balls. His knockwas studded with seven hits to fence. He was sent back to the pavilionby Gagandeep Singh after misjudging an incoming delivery which he leftonly to see it uproot his off stump. Sanjay Dalal was the last todepart as he edged an outgoing delivery from Bharat Bhushan into thesafe hands of Mongia at second slip.With one ball to spare the umpires called off play. Haryana stillrequires 89 runs to avoid the follow-on with three wickets in hand.

Himachal Pradesh suffered defeat by an innings and 70 runs at thehands of Delhi in the Vijay Merchant Under-16 Trophy North Zone Leagueat the University Ground in Solan on Tuesday. Delhi walked home witheight points and Himachal had no points from the match.Himachal scored 184 off 81.1 overs. Deepak Soni topscored with 51 andParas Dogra made a valuable 43. Abhishek Sharma bagged five for 60.Delhi replied with 379 for seven declared off 94 overs. Opener ShikharDiwan scored 88 off 193 balls. He was well supported by Abhinav Baliwho made 77 off 155 balls. Rahul Sharma picked up three for 87.Himachal began their second innings by losing opener Varun Sharmawithout a run on the board. They lost wickets at regular intervals andwere bundled out for 125 in 49.4 overs. Deepak Soni stood through theinnings and was unbeaten on 45. Abhishek Sharma picked up four for 44,and returned with match figures of nine for 104.

Mike Burns savaged the Yorkshire attack to hit a career-best 162 not out as Somerset dominated the opening day of the Bath Festival after losing the toss.Burns shared a stand of 206 with skipper Jamie Cox, which was a Somerset record for the second wicket against Yorkshire. By the close he had faced 283 balls, hitting 19 fours and a six, in beating his previous highest score of 160 against Oxford University.Cox overcame a sketchy start to hit 95 and there was an impressive debut from 20-year-old Devonian Matthew Wood, who finished 60 not out, having shared an unbroken stand of 139 with Burns, which took the total to an imposing 371-2 off 104 overs.Yorkshire skipper David Byas must have regretted his decision to field yet it had looked sound enough during a morning ession in which his bowlers enjoyed little luck.Gavin Hamilton send back Piran Holloway for five with the total on 26 and a key moment came at 54-1 when Cox was badly dropped by James Middlebrook at first slip off the aggressive Steven Kirby, having made only 20.Burns was caught behind off a no-ball on five and the two reprieves were capitalised on in style. Cox had hit 15 boundaries when he was finally picked up by Byas at slip trying to force Gary Fellows through the offside.The pitch lost all trace of its early life in the afternoon and Burns made majestic progress. Having taken 147 balls to reach 50 he need only a further 119 deliveries to race past 150.Wood leant excellent support after the departure of Cox. His first two scoring strikes in Championship cricket were boundaries and he reached his maiden half-century with an eighth four, handsomely lifting Middlebrook over mid-off.Somerset coach Kevin Shine spoke highly of Wood, saying: “Matthew played very well indeed, and I was very impressed. It’s the first time I’ve seen him in a match situation. He was very calm and very assured – and he’s not finished yet.”

Owais Shah has been called into the England one-day side to replace theinjured Graham Thorpe for Sunday’s NatWest Series game against Australiain Bristol.The 22 year-old Karachi-born former England Under-19 captainhas been in outstanding form for Middlesex this season, with a Benson &Hedges Cup century and a CricInfo Championship double century to his name.”We have an injury list which is very extensive and we have chosen after much debate to give youth its chance,” David Graveney explained.”Owais now has his opportunity until we can assess Graham Thorpe’s injury. He has been in fine form this season.”

With the series deadlocked after two drawn ‘Tests’, Pakistan A willtry to draw some inspiration from the deeds of their senior team at theGalle International Stadium, when they meet Sri Lanka A in the third andfinal four-day ‘Test’ beginning on Monday.Moin Khan’s Pakistan side subjected Sri Lanka to their only defeat in fiveTests played at this venue since 1998 when they won by a big margin of 163runs last year.It was the only occasion the Galle pitch helped the seamers and WasimAkram, Waqar Younis, Abdur Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood revelled in theconditions to take 17 of the 19 wickets that fell to the bowlers.On the other four occasions it has helped the spinners and Sri Lanka haverecorded three wins and drawn one.It was a memorable Test for Razzaq who became the youngest bowlerto take a hat-trick and the first to achieve the feat in Sri Lanka.The pitch for Monday’s unofficial Test is expected to help the seamers, andPakistan A can gain some inspiration from that.The only setback they face is that two of their quickest bowlers who canexploit such a wicket are not fully fit. Shabbir Ahmed has been ruled outof the series with a groin strain and will concentrate on playingonly in the one-dayers. Irfan Fazil, who has a long run-up, bowled only fourovers in the Sri Lanka A second innings before pulling up due to a stiffback, which coach Mudassar Nazar said was a result of him having to carry aheavy workload. Irfan is expected to play on Monday.Though the series is deadlocked, Sri Lanka A came the closest to victorywhen they were one wicket away from success in the first ‘Test’ at Dambulla.However, as the thinking of the two coaches in the team goes, a winningresult is furthest from their minds in contests of this nature. HemanthaDevapriya (Sri Lanka) and Mudassar Nazar have both said that if they canfind about four to five players who could fit into the national team, thenthey would have achieved something from the series, although Devapriyaadmitted that if there is a possibility of a win, they wouldn’t ignore thatfactor.The weather in this part of the country is a worrying factor. But curatorand Galle District CA secretary Jayananda Warnaweera promised that it wouldn’tbe a problem and little time would be lost as the ground had been upgraded toface such vagaries of the weather.In a bid to give those who have not got an opportunity to display theirtalent in the series so far, the national selectors have made radicalchanges to the squad of 15 named for the ‘Test’.Missing from the squad that was on duty at the NCC are DhammikaSudarshana, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Indika de Saram, Suresh Perera, AkalankaGanegama and Sajeeva Weerakoon. They are replaced by opening batsmanShantha Kalavitigoda, wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene, leg-spinnerMalinga Bandara, left-arm fast bowler Ruchira Perera, and all-roundersMalintha Warnapura and Muthumudalige Pushpakumara.Perera and Pushpakumara return to the squad after missing out at the NCC,but the most interesting change is that of the wicket-keeper. After tryingout two batsman/wicket-keepers in the first two ‘Tests’, the selectors haveresorted to a genuine glovesman in Prasanna Jayawardene.The advent of the one-day game has brought to the fore batsmen who can keepwickets. This has to some extent spread into the longer game as well wherea batsman/wicket-keeper stands a better chance of being selected than agenuine wicket-keeper who can bat a little down the order. Jayawardenefaces such a calamity. To make matters worse he has not been able to retaina regular place at the SSC and, in the only Test he was picked to play(against Pakistan at Kandy in June 2000) he never got an opportunity todisplay his wicket-keeping prowess as rain prevented Pakistan from batting.Now at Galle, Jayawardene finally gets an opportunity to press his claims for a Test place on his wicket-keeping abilities alone. A good performance would surely put pressure on the selectors to include him for the forthcoming Test series against India.The teams: Sri Lanka A (from): Tilan Samaraweera (captain), AvishkaGunawardana, Shantha Kalavitigoda, Michael Vandort, Jeevantha Kulatunga,Chamara Silva, Muthumuthalige Pushpakumara, Gayan Wijekoon, MalinthaWarnapura, Prasanna Jayawardene, Ruchira Perera, Ishara Amerasinghe,Dinusha Fernando, Malinga Bandara, Chandana Samarasinghe.Pakistan A (from): Hasan Raza (captain), Imran Farhat, Faisal Naveed,Toufiq Umer, Qaiser Abbas, Humayun Farhat, Misbah-ul-Haq, Yasir Arafat,Danish Kaneria, Irfan Fazil, Najaf Shah, Salman Butt, Kashif Raza, AzamHussain.Umpires: Peter Manuel and Jagath Nandakumar, Match Referee: Roger Wijesuriya.

Karnataka will take on Mumbai in the opening match of the SponsorsTrophy (previously known as the Wills Trophy) at Mumbai on April 18,next year.The other two first round matches pit Railways Sports Control Board(RSCB) against Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) at Rajkot on April 18and Sponsors XI against Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) at Pune onthe same day, a Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) release said onThursday.Reigning champions Board President’s XI, who have got a bye directlyto the semi-finals will play either Karnataka or Mumbai in Mumbai onApril 21 while the second semi-final between the winners of RSCB vsPCA and Sponsors Eleven vs OCA would be held at Ahmedabad on the samedate, the release said. The final would be played at Baroda on April24.

Kent left-hander Matthew Walker made Leicestershire pay a heavy price for dropping him on 20 by completing his fourth CricInfo Championship century of the season at Grace Road.Walker was put down at second slip by former Kent man Trevor Ward off the bowling of Matthew Whiley and Kent were able to wriggle off the hook having been in trouble at 153 for five in reply to Leicestershire’s 425.At that stage they looked in danger of following on, but with Walker holding the innings together they sailed past the target of 276 with little trouble and closed the day on 358 for eight – 67 behind.Walker and former Leicestershire wicket-keeper Paul Nixon shared a partnership of 90 for the sixth wicket and then, after Nixon was out, Kent captain Matthew Fleming joined Walker in a seventh-wicket stand of 91.It all added up to a bad day in the field for the home side who failed to take their exciting form in one-day cricket into the Championship.After totalling 425 their bowling was wayward and undisciplined and the fielding untidy. They conceded 53 extras against Kent’s seven, with far too many wides and no-balls, and dropped four catches.Kent made the most of their good fortune and are now in a position to win the game themselves, although a draw looks the most likely outcome on such an easy paced pitch.Before lunch Kent seamer Martin Saggers claimed the last Leicestershire wickets to finish with six for 92 – his third five-wicket haul of the season.The visitors didn’t make the best of starts to their reply with openers David Fulton and Robert Key out in the first 11 overs. And when Ed Smith, Andrew Symonds and Mark Ealham were dismissed in the early part of the afternoon, the signs were ominous.But Walker, Nixon and Fleming then kept Leicestershire at bay. Walker reached his century off 180 balls with 17 fours and Fleming hit a half-century off 45 balls with 10 fours before being bowled by Darren Maddy. Walker was still there at the close on 107.

In his latest exclusive diary entry for CricInfo, England’s senior player pays tribute to his county colleague Mark Butcher for the innings which won England the fourth Test at Headingley. Reflecting on the game, he assesses his own contibution, which included his best score for England this summer.Firstly, full credit to Adam Gilchrist for his declaration. Australia were looking for a "greenwash", so they chose the attacking option. It made for a magical day’s cricket on day five, and I’m very, very pleased that England won. We’ve ended our four-match losing streak, and we’ve got the chance to make the final scoreline look better at The Oval. I’ve always said that we should make a judgement on our form over the past 18 months at the end of this series, and that’s what we’ll be able to do in a week’s time.Fantastic though yesterday’s win was, it shouldn’t obscure the fact that our performance at Headingley was patchy, and we’ll be looking to improve on it at The Oval. On Thursday we played as badly as I can remember in recent times – our performance in the field simply didn’t come up to scratch. It got better on Friday, and it was good to see Goughie take five in front of his home crowd. With its uneven bounce, the pitch was always easier to bowl on with a new ball – it was dry on top, but damp underneath. As the ball got older, batting became easier.I wrote here before the game that I wasn’t too happy about being asked to bat at seven. I’m afraid that after Saturday they’ll be asking me to do it again! My partnership with Mark Ramprakash was vital in enabling us to avoid the follow-on. While Mark was in I batted as I normally do, but once he and Alex Tudor had gone, I decided it was time to take a gamble. Some of the strokes you saw weren’t quite out of the coaching manual, but I must say it was very pleasing to hit Glenn McGrath over extra cover for six. He’s the world’s number one bowler in my view, so that’s a moment I’ll remember for a while.As it turned out, my batting services in the second innings weren’t required! Mark Butcher’s innings was quite extraordinary. I’ve known Mark for a long time – I remember earlier days at Surrey when he and his brother Gary turned up at The Oval as youngsters with father Alan, and his innings on Monday was the best I’ve ever seen him play. He’s always looked like a Test player, and the irony is that but for injuries he probably wouldn’t have played in this series at all. Like Marcus Trescothick last summer, he took his chance well. In the past he’s often got into the forties without going on to a really big score, but this was the innings of his life.Looking ahead to The Oval, there are two spinners in the squad – Robert Croft and Philip Tufnell, and we can expect one of them to play. I’ve not seen Tuffers bowl a ball since his last Test match, but he’s obviously forced his way back into the squad by taking a hatful of wickets for Middlesex.Looking further ahead, I wrote here last week that I’m hoping to play first-class cricket for at least another two years. I’ve also had discussions with David Graveney and Duncan Fletcher about my future plans. The squad for India’s due to be announced in a week’s time – watch this space for further news!