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ScorecardWest Indies won the third and final one-dayer against Bangladesh by seven wickets at St George’s. After Bangladesh reached 118 for 7 from 25 overs, Devon Smith guided his side home with five balls to spare. Thus they took the series 3-0, and while the first two games were a little too close for comfort for West Indies, at least today was a more convincing win.The game was reduced to 25 overs per side after heavy rain, which originally threatened to wash out the game. Once play got underway in the afternoon, Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh captain, won the toss and chose to bat.It was Bashar himself who played a captain’s innings of 42 to hold together Bangladesh’s innings after they again slipped to a stumbling start. Bashar, helped by Rajin Saleh, Faisal Hossain and Mushfiqur Rahman, who all made useful contributions, boosted their total to a respectable one. Dwayne Smith was the leading bowler for West Indies, taking 3 for 24, including the wicket of Bashar.Devon Smith, opening West Indies’ innings with Ricardo Powell in place of Chris Gayle, provided the backbone of the innings. After Powell was caught off Mushfiqur Rahman for 17 (21 for 1), Dwayne Smith gave proceedings some momentum with 23 from 24 balls, including four boundaries, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul then scored a handy 24 to put West Indies within sight of the finishing line.Ramnaresh Sarwan, West Indies’ captain, who was still standing in for the rested Brian Lara, kept his cool towards the end before Smith fittingly hit the winning runs from the first ball of the final over.

Phil Tufnell, the winner of the reality TV show, I’m a Celebrity … Get Me out of Here, is set to follow in the footsteps of the former England captain, David Gower, by becoming a team captain on the BBC One sports quiz They Think It’s All Over. Tufnell is currently negotiating a number of media offers after being crowned king of the jungle, and They Think It’s All Over would suit his laconic style. The quiz is now in its eighth year, and the departing captains Gower and the former England football captain, Gary Lineker, were routinely made the butt of jokes by the comedians Lee Hurst, Rory McGrath and Jonathan Ross.Ross, who hosts a chat show on BBC One (Tufnell is lined up as one of next week’s guests), is to stay as one of the panellists, along with the host of the show, Nick Hancock. Contenders to be Tufnell’s opposite number include Steve Davis, the snooker player, and the former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies.

LONDON – Man of the series Glenn McGrath feels inferior to Dennis Lilleedespite beating the great fast bowler’s benchmark of 355 wickets in theFifth Ashes Test.And Shane Warne, pipped by McGrath for the honour of being the highestwicket-taker in the series by 32 to 31, says he has never bowled betterthan on the final day at the Oval.McGrath took 5-43 in England’s second innings of 184 for a match haul of7-110 and a total of 358 wickets from his 75-Test career.That’s three more wickets than Lillee claimed in his 70 Tests, but thosefigures do not include his 103 scalps from World Series Cricket andSuperTests which would have bumped Lillee’s aggregate up to 458.”I dont think I’m up there with Dennis yet,” said McGrath.”He was my hero and I doubt I will every get up there alongside him.”I rate him as one of the best – if not the best – fast bowler ever.”To go past him is a great honour but I still feel I have a long way togo yet.”Warne, dogged by injury over the past two years, bowled with all his oldturn, flight and bounce on a pitch ideally suited to spin, finishing theTest with 11-229 and a man of the match award.Warne’s 92 Tests have netted 407 wickets, fifth on the all-time listbehind Courtney Walsh (519), Kapil Dev (434), Sir Richard Hadlee (431)and Wasim Akram (414).”Here in the second innings is probably the best I can bowl,’ Warnesaid.”I think I bowled two bad balls in 28 overs and I had the ball fizzing.”A bit of the old turn was there … I feel like I’m bowling as well asI ever have.”The ball from McGrath for wicket No.355 to match Lillee was his best ofthe series, rearing off a good length and prompting a floated returncatch off Marcus Trescothick’s gloves as he ducked for cover.”There was just a spot on the wicket there where I hit it and it jumpedoff a length,” McGrath said of the Trescothick ball.”It was hard call for Marcus to get and the fact it flew straight to mewas a little bit unusual.”He could think himself a little bit stiff.The Australian bowlers were superior to their English rivals throughoutthe series with the exception of Brett Lee, who came out of adisappointing series with only nine wickets at 55.11.McGrath’s 32 were at 16.93, Warne’s 31 were at 18.7 and Jason Gillespietook 19 wickets at an unlucky 34.31.”England bowled well in spells but when you bowl to a lineup like we’vegot it is pretty tough work,” said McGrath.”You look at Gough and Caddick and they go for the wickets a lot of thetime rather than build it up and try to maintain pressure that way.”I bowl line and length because I don’t swing the ball and I’ve got nopace.”No pace, but plenty of wickets.

Rahul Dravid, Rajasthan Royals’ team mentor, has said he respects the Justice Lodha Panel’s decision to suspend Royals and Chennai Super Kings’ owners for two years, but felt the court’s decision was a massive blow to the prospects of the younger players in the two teams.Dravid, who is currently the coach of the India A team, was speaking at a press conference in Chennai ahead of India A’s four-day match against South Africa A. While he refused to get drawn into the specifics of Lodha’s verdict, Dravid said the entire episode would affect “everyone involved with Indian cricket”.”I don’t want to make firm judgments on people, but it’s disappointing that the actions of one or two can have an impact on so many,” Dravid said. “Not only me, but generally in a situation like this, the people at the bottom of the pyramid are the ones who are most affected.”The top players and coaches always find stuff to do afterwards. It’s not difficult for top players to be picked by other franchises. However, the young players who don’t easily get an opportunity, they miss out. I feel disappointed for them, but we respect the decision the court has taken. In my opinion, not everyone at Rajasthan Royals or Chennai Super Kings are bad. There are lots of very, very good people.”When asked if his association with Royals would forever be a blot on his career, Dravid diplomatically insisted it was “for the people to decide”, but said had he been aware of any wrongdoing in the team, he would have “dealt with it”.”At the end of the day, I see my role as a mentor and as a coach of a team. People need to decide if the actions of shareholders or owners can be linked to coaches or mentors. I don’t want to try and defend myself. I only wish I had known that the three players were doing something suspicious, as I would have dealt with it,” he said.”People know what spot-fixing is. It’s difficult to know, even if in same team, if people are involved in spot-fixing. If I were to doubt every single wide or four, I would lose all my love and interest in the game. Any team I coach, I don’t go into it suspecting people everytime they get hit for a four. I had absolutely no clue, and I’ve spoken to the Mudgal commission about that. What people do in their private lives, I personally feel it’s difficult for mentors and coaches to know what decisions they are making.”

Shandong, the second-most populous province in China, has become the seventh region after Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Liaoning, Chongqing and Tianjin to officially take up cricket, according to a media release from the Asian Cricket Council.”The Shandong people are well known for their good physical condition in China … the majority of rugby players are from Shandong,” Aminul Islam, the ACC’s development officer for China, said. With cricket being aligned with rugby in the multi-ball games administrative centre in China, the Chinese Cricket Association (CCA) felt a partnership between both bodies to make use of athletes all-year round would be ideal.”The local education bureau has said that they would organize the local junior students to learn cricket for promotion and then build for high performance,” said CCA secretary-general Liu Rongyao.The appeal of taking the game to China is not hard to see. “The potential benefits and commercial revenues from [China’s] presence in the cricket world are enormous,” said Syed A shraful Huq, the ACC’s chief executive. “As soon as China breaks though, I foresee the total global revenues for cricket increasing by 30% to 40%.”

The National Selection Committee has announced a squad of 22 players for the training and fitness camps to be held in Quetta from July 10 to July 23, 2007. The camp in Quetta, second of the three camps organised to improve the players’ fitness levels, follows a disappointing tour of Scotland in which Pakistan’s both matches were rained off.The left-handed duo of Imran Farhat (opener) and Abdur Rehman (spinner) will join the squad as the only two new faces as 20 of the 22 players named were present in Abbottabad where the first camp was held.Talat Ali, the manager-cum-coach for the team’s tours to Abu Dhabi and Scotland, will be in charge of the camp while Haroon Rasheed, former Pakistan coach, and Aaqib Javed, coach of the National Cricket Academy, will serve as batting and bowling coaches respectively. With special emphasis on fielding, Mohtashim Rasheed, former first-class cricketer, has been appointed as fielding coach.The third and final camp is scheduled to take place in the coastal city of Karachi from July 25, 2007.Camp attendeesSalman Butt, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf, Yasir Hameed, Misbah-ul-Haq, Naved Latif, Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Fawad Alam, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzak, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhter, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Iftikhar Anjum, Najaf Shah, Abdur Rehman

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out – Sri Lanka
How they were out – England

Sanath Jayasuriya showed his hunger for one-day cricket hasn’t dimmed with a match-winning display at The Oval. He struck a sublime 122 which, alongside crunching fifties for Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, powered Sri Lanka towards their impressive 319 for 8. While England had Kevin Pietersen there was hope but Jayasuriya struck the key blow in the 32nd over before returning to clean up two more, snuffing out any thoughts of a fightback and, in the process, sealing a 2-0 series lead.Some aspects of England’s play were improved from an effort at Lord’s that was sometimes shambolic, yet the margin of defeat was significantly larger. Steve Harmison was outstanding in his 10-over spell and the ground fielding lifted itself by a few notches – especially the fine catches held by Pietersen and Tim Bresnan. Promising partnerships between Pietersen and Ian Bell then Pietersen and Paul Collingwood shaped a hopeful run-chase but ultimately too much rested on to few.Not all the failings from Saturday were erased, either, with 33 extras being conceded including another criminally high 21 wides. In their current form, Sri Lanka are not a team that need a helping hand and they quickly showed their intent to climb all over England while they are down.Harmison’s early pace brought the wicket of Saturday’s hero, Upul Tharanga, but once Jayasuriya and Jayawardene had assessed the conditions – and found them to be very flat – they set their sights on doing serious damage to England’s bowling figures. Jayasuriya was the first to flick the switch and unleash a volley of rasping boundaries. Sajid Mahmood was brought back following a first two-over spell that cost 26 and proved even more expensive second time around as Jayasuriya put his foot down by taking 17 off Mahmood’s fifth over, including an effortless six over midwicket.Jayawardene lost nothing in comparison to his partner and his fifty was noticeably faster, taking just 50 balls. The partnership raced past 150 and ended in the only way that appeared likely – a mix-up between the batsmen. Jayasuriya ploughed on to his 20th one-day century off 122 balls and continued a fond acquaintance with The Oval after he first signalled his presence to English crowds with a double-century in the 1998 Test. Sangakkara ensured the momentum was never lost and, after a steady start, he showed his own repertoire of boundaries and raced to his half-century from 41 balls with a swing over midwicket off the struggling Mahmood.

Chasing more than a run a ball from the outset, England needed a rapid platform. Trescothick’s start hinted at the possibility of a Jayasuriya-style onslaught but, attempting a third four, he leant back on a drive and sliced a catch to backward point. With the more orthodox pair of Strauss and Ian Bell together the innings didn’t get the flyer that was needed to exploit the fielding restrictions.Strauss tried to hit over mid-on and only located Muttiah Muralitharan at mid-off but in many ways his dismissal opened up England’s best chance of staying in the game. Pietersen started positively with a couple of crunching cover drives – one from a short-of-length ball that was still rising – and a glorious lofted drive over mid-on off Ruchira Perera, whose first two over cost 21. Pietersen found his range and overcame a painful blow to the knee from Lasith Malinga to crunch a forehand smash off the same bowler. Bell was not overshadowed and slapped a stunning straight six off Chaminda Vaas as England upped the tempo.However, Malinga made the breakthrough for Sri Lanka when Bell top-edged a pull and found Muralitharan at mid-on. With the stand flourishing it was bad timing for England and Malinga had again proved a valuable go-to man for his captain. Pietersen, who eased past fifty off 48 balls, and Collingwood formed another sensible stand and were the ideal combination to bring the required mixture of singles and boundaries.But the day quickly turned into the story of one man of which so much has already been written on tour. Jayasuriya kept firing in his non-spinning, leg-stump bullets and Pietersen fatally showed his stumps as he missed an expansive sweep. Collingwood’s typically energetic half-century came off 55 balls but the task was becoming desperate. He fell to Jayasuriya’s quicker ball and Dalrymple went in similar style with a massive air shot.The last three wickets – varying degrees of laughable run outs – summed up proceedings. Sri Lanka have dominated the two matches from start to finish, England haven’t been at the races. It would be a brave person to put money on this series being alive into next week.

Shane Warne might find himself in trouble after an incident involving opening batsman Scott Newman on the first day of Hampshire’s Championship match against Surrey at The Rose Bowl. Alan Whitehead and Nigel Cowley, the umpires, will have to decide whether to report Warne to Lord’s.The row erupted when Hamsphire thought they had Newman, then on 14, caught behind by Nic Pothas in the fourth over of the day. Led by Billy Taylor, the bowler, the fielding side staged a prolonged appeal, leading to Whitehead approaching Warne, Hampshire’s captain, at the end of the over.The pair engaged in what appeared to be a heated discussion lasting a couple of minutes and which involved a fair amount of finger wagging and gesticulating. The animated exchange reignited several times, both parties returning to the fray just as the debate appeared to be ending.Alan Fordham, the first-class cricket operations manager for the ECB, acknowledged that he had spoken to Whitehead during the tea interval but refused to comment further – neither would either official.But Warne, who received three disciplinary points after a clash with Somerset’s Peter Bowler last season, and Whitehead were believed to have been called together at the close of play to try to resolve their differences.To rub salt into the wound, Newman went on to score a hundred, although when he was finally dismissed for 111 immediately after tea there was hardly more than a splatter of applause as he returned to the pavilion.

Neil McKenzie, the South African Test batsman, has been released by Easterns and will now play for the new Highveld Lions team. McKenzie, 28, has scored 2028 runs in his 41 Tests, with two centuries.McKenzie had not been selected for the Titans in their first two Standard Bank Pro 20 matches, Brandon Foot, Easterns’ chairman, explained that he had been released by the franchise to further his career. He said: “Neil has indicated to me that, as a national player striving to achieve recognition in the limited-overs version of the game, it is important to him that he play as many Pro 20 matches as possible. We have elected not to stand in Neil’s way, but to afford him the opportunity of competing for the Highveld Lions, in the best interests of his career. This is, of course, also in line with the decision of the UCBSA to reduce the number of professional teams competing in South African domestic cricket and to ensure that playing strength is spread evenly amongst all the franchises in the country.”Dave Nosworthy, the Titans’ coach, said it was obviously a blow to lose a player of Neil’s calibre. “Neil has served Northerns well and is a player of quality. We wish him all the very best for his future career.”McKenzie concluded: “I would like to thank Northerns Cricket Union for all that they have done for me. Northerns is a truly professional set-up from their administration right down to the change-room attendant. I believe other unions can take a leaf out of Northerns’ book, who always allow cricket to prevail. I am sad to be leaving the Nashua Titans and will always be grateful to them for having afforded me the opportunities necessary, to allow me to be selected for South Africa. I wish them well in the future.”

Already overburdened by the perennial controversies that have become as attached as a Siamese twin, West Indian cricket was thrown into further confusion Monday, three days before the first Test of the Cable & Wireless Series against Australia.Not for the first time, surely for the last, Carl Hooper has withdrawn from a West Indies squad.His decision to pull out of the 14 announced last Saturday was not unexpected, as it came after his dismissal as captain last week, after two years in the post and following the West Indies’ first-round elimination from the World Cup in South Africa.Although he did not go so far in a brief statement, Hooper has effectively ended his 16 enigmatic largely unfulfilled years in international cricket, in which he played 102 Tests, 22 as captain, and 227 One-Day Internationals as a stylish batsman and steady off-spin bowler.In spite of a Test batting average in the mid-30s and a bowling average just a few points below 50, he is the only player in the game to score over 5 000 runs, claim more than 100 wickets and snare over 100 catches in both forms of the game.Apart from the frustration of having to hand over a basically young team that he feels, with some justification, has gradually developed under him, Hooper is now 36 and his knees required surgery last December."After giving my selection in the West Indies team for the first Test careful consideration, I have decided to inform the selectors and the West Indies Cricket Board of my decision to make myself unavailable," Hooper said in his statement, issued in St Lucia where he participated in the Double Wicket World Cup tournament last weekend."This has been a difficult decision but is one I feel must be made, given the recent developments over the last few weeks and the new direction in which the team will now head."Though [it is] tempting to play, it would curtail the development of a younger player, and I see it also as a backward step for West Indies cricket. I take this opportunity to wish the team well into the upcoming series and urge the Caribbean public to continue with their support for the West Indies team."Hooper reportedly had lengthy discussions with West Indies greats Sir Everton Weekes and Lance Gibbs in St Lucia.His wife Connie, a solid supporter who has been constantly by his side since he came out of two years’ retirement in 2001 to immediately take over as captain from Jimmy Adams, would have helped influence his decision."We are disappointed and we’re now thinking of a replacement" was chief selector Sir Viv Richards’ reaction. Sir Viv, the only West Indies captain never to have lost a Test series, strongly and publicly supported Hooper’s retention as captain but was outvoted by his two colleagues on the panel, Joey Carew and Gordon Greenidge, and ultimately by the board."We were hoping for him to play because he would have filled a certain role such as being a spinner," Sir Viv said. "As to who will replace Hooper, our options are still open."The clearest choice would be the 27-year-old Jamaican Gareth Breese, who had one Test in India last October and has had a good allround Carib Beer tournament (335 runs, average 37.22, 28 wickets, average 22.85). But he lacks Hooper’s vast experience andbatting class.The more likely scenario is that all four chosen fast bowlers – Merv Dillon, Pedro Collins, Vasbert Drakes and Jermaine Lawson – will start with Marlon Samuels to fill in with occasional off-spin.Hooper’s loss as a batsman comes after the enforced absence of Ramnaresh Sarwan, the appointed vice-captain, with a finger injury and the pointed omission of left-handed opener Chris Gayle, and throws the batting order out of balance.Since Gayle has presumably paid the price for preferring profit in the Double Wicket tournament to playing for Jamaica in the Carib Beer Series final against Barbados last weekend, it means a probable debut for 21-year-old left-handed opener Devon Smith and the return as his partner of Daren Ganga after a year out of the team.The upheavals place even heavier responsibility than usual on Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the only two batsmen with over 50 Tests.West Indies were in similar disarray when the Australians last came to the Caribbean, yet shared the series 2-2.Thrashed in all five Tests and six of seven One-Day Internationals in South Africa a few weeks earlier, West Indies were without Hooper for the first two Tests and Chanderpaul for all four. Lara was placed on probation for two matches and told to improve his leadership.West Indies were bowled out for 51, their lowest ever total, in the first Test in Trinidad, losing by 351 runs, yet rallied behind Lara’s brilliant batting to win the next two before losing the last.Australia have key absentees of their own. Fast bowler Glenn McGrath and leg-spinner Shane Warne, both with over 400 Test wickets, are missing for contrasting reasons, and batsman Damien Martyn is out of the series through injury.But the Australians have shown great depth among their reserves. West Indies are now about to have theirs tested.