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At least six more players have signed with the Indian Cricket League (ICL), according to sources in the cricket fraternity. Alfred Absolem became the eighth Hyderabad player to join, while Sridharan Sriram became the first former Indian player to sign on. V Devendran, the Twenty20 specialist from Tamil Nadu, and his team-mate Dakshinamoorthy Kumaran, have also reportedly joined the ICL.Meanwhile the reported that Shalabh Srivastava, Ali Murtaza and Avinash Yadav of Uttar Pradesh have also signed up with the ICL. It was learned that the ICL are in talks with several more of the UP players while those who have already signed have been asked to report in Mumbai, where Zee Telefilms will hold its first major press conference regarding the ICL on Thursday, August 23.Absolem, the promising young fast bowler, was part of the Hyderabad Cricket Association XI team that is taking part in the Buchi Babu Memorial tournament in Chennai, but withdrew on Thursday night, having agreed terms with the ICL. This happened a day after seven of his team-mates signed up with the ICL. Absolem has played just one full season for Hyderabad but had an instant impact. He picked up 30 wickets from six matches at under 20.Sriram, who played his early cricket for Tamil Nadu, and then won eight India ODI caps, albeit playing without much distinction, averaging just 13.50 with one half-century, recently moved to Maharashtra and was playing for them as a professional. Devendran, a medium-pacer who hits the ball a long way, was used effectively by Tamil Nadu in the inaugural domestic Twenty20 championships and was unlucky to not figure even in the long-list of 30 India probables. Devendran is considered a Twenty20 specialist, and has not played first-class cricket.Interestingly the three cricketers from UP to have signed up are all youngsters. Srivastava, the left-arm seamer, had a bright showing for India Under-19 several seasons ago, but failed to break into the bigger leagues. At 25 he is the oldest of the UP players to join the ICL. Ali Murtaza, the all-rounder, is only 17, and has played just three first-class matches. Avinash Yadav, the left-arm spinner, is 20 and also has played three first-class matches.UP were in a crisis of sorts as it is, with five of their cricketers, Srivastava among them, having applied to move to Railways at the start of this domestic season.

Cricket Australia has signed off on a drugs policy that allows players to be caught four times before they are in danger of losing their contract. The document, which was prepared with the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), was formed after a survey of the country’s players, with 88% saying the game needed an illicit substances code.The policy allows for a suspended fine and ban of 20 days for a first transgression and a second offence results in more small fines, a 40-day ban and the player’s state and country administration being told. A break of 12 months comes with a third violation and a fourth could lead to immediate termination of the player’s contract.”Cricket Australia is serious about keeping our sport drug free with a policy which balances deterrence with player welfare,” James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, said. “Cricket Australia, state and territory associations and the ACA understand that cricketers have the ability to influence the lives of others.”Paul Marsh, the ACA chief executive, said the policy had the right formula between stopping players from using drugs and providing support for those who were caught. The code will cover all men’s and women’s internationals, domestic and 2nd XI games and allows for random out-of-competition testing.

Rain affected more than half a day’s play as Tamil Nadu and Hyderabadsettled for a tame draw in their KSCA Coca Cola Under-25 Tournamentmatch at the Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodayar Sports Complex inBangalore on Saturday.Play started only at 14.15 hours on the third and final day due to acontinuous drizzle in the morning. Resuming at the overnight score of262 for 8, Hyderabad’s first innings folded up at 290. Ravichandra(104), who was stranded at 97 overnight, completed his century in notime. However he was the first to go when he was caught at square legby K Velmurugan off DS Doss. Then Fatima Reddy (17 notout) andMallikarjun (6) took the score on to 290 when Mallikarjun foundhimself stranded out of his crease.Tamil Nadu in reply made a disasterous start to their second inningslosing opener Ravindra John (0) off the fifth ball of the innings whenhe offered a catch to Saberwal off Ghouse Baba. Then the other openerS Badrinath (3) and N Lokesh (19) took the score upto 26. Badrinathwas the next to be dismissed when he gave a chance to Fatima Reddy atmidwicket off the bowling of Ghouse Baba. Ghouse Baba claimed histhird wicket of the innings, that of Lokesh, when he shattered thebatsman’s defences.C Hemanth Kumar (11) and R Satish (10) then took the score on to 49for 3 when play was called off for the day. Tamil Nadu got 5 pointswhile Hyderabad had to be content with three. Tamil Nadu now take onKarnataka in the finals which is to be played at M Chinnaswamy Stadiumin Bangalore from October 9 to 11.

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The Delhi top three scored half-centuries to take their side within one shot of Tamil Nadu’s 268, with four wickets in hand. For Delhi, this is a definitive step towards the semi-finals as the other contenders, Mumbai and Maharashtra, have struggled to bowl their oppositions out.After Rajat Bhatia finished the Tamil Nadu innings early, Gautam Gambhir and Aakash Chopra put on their third 100-plus stand of the season. Gambhir missed out on what would have been his third century this season, as he and Chopra fell one after the other. Chopra was the first to go for 55, while Gambhir scored 84. Shikhar Dhawan, the No. 3, held firm even as Delhi kept losing wickets frequently. Dhawan was the last wicket to fall in the day, but his 59 had seen Delhi to within 16 runs of the Tamil Nadu score. For Tamil Nadu, C Suresh took 4 for 65.
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Piyush Chawla and Praveen Gupta took four wickets apiece to bowl Hyderabad out for 193, a first-innings lead of 143 runs, and thus laid a foundation for Uttar Pradesh to go for an outright win that will ensure them a place in the semi-finals.After an early blow, Hyderabad had proceeded to 69 for 2 when Gupta removed captain Arjun Yadav. In the same over, he got Amol Shinde and Hyderabad struggled for partnerships following that. Only a 46-run eighth-wicket stand between Pragyan Ojha and MP Arjun helped Hyderabad avoid the follow-on.Earlier, resuming the day at 293 for 6, UP added 43 runs before being bowled out.
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P Vijay Kumar bagged his maiden first-class five-for to bowl Bengal out for 98, a first-innings lead of 23 for Andhra. Andhra were 147 for 6 in their second innings, setting up an exciting finish to the low-scoring match at the Eden Gardens.Bengal needed an outright win to give themselves a chance of avoiding relegation and their abject batting performance didn’t help their cause after the bowlers had shot Andhra out for 121. They were 46 for 1 at one stage. Vijay Kumar struck twice in one over and triggered a dramatic collapse – nine wickets fell for 52 runs. Vijay Kumar also accounted for the crucial wickets of Manoj Tiwary and Laxmi Shukla.Hemal Watekar gave Andhra a quick start, but they they too collapsed from 88 for 1 to 109 for 6, thanks to Ranadeb Bose. After the middle-order caved in, MSK Prasad and AG Pradeep consolidated, adding an unbroken 38 runs for the seventh wicket.
ScorecardIn the relegation face-off match, Himachal Pradesh obtained a crucial first-innings lead over Rajasthan by bowling them out for 218. Vikramjeet Malik took four wickets, while Vishal Bhatia and Ashok Thakur took two apiece.The rot for Rajasthan started in the first over of the day when Malik claimed Vineet Saxena’s wicket. Although Shubhanshu Vijay put together two useful partnerships with Rajesh Bishnoi and Nikhil Doru, the rest folded easily. Vijay missed out on a maiden century by 12 runs when he became the sixth wicket to fall with Rajasthan 90 behind Himachal’s score. Malik, Bhatia and Thakur took a wicket apiece in quick time and Bhatia effected a run-out to take the last four wickets for 28 runs.
ScorecardShiv Sunder Das scored a painstaking unbeaten century to take Orissa close to a first-innings lead against Baroda which, if they hold on for a draw should be enough to ensure they don’t get relegated.After Orissa took the last Baroda wicket early in the day, their batsmen dug in and ground the bowlers down. Baroda had to wait for 15 overs for their first breakthrough, following which Das and Niranjan Behera added 65 for the second wicket in 32.4 overs. Although Baroda got the third wicket soon, Das and debutant left-hand batsman Payas Sinha batted the rest of the day out. Das ended the day on 100 from 275 deliveries, while Sinha had scored 43.
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The Shitanshu Kotak special continued for the second day running as he scored a personal-best unbeaten 162 to all but ensure Saurashtra would not lose the match, the only circumstance that can keep them out of the semi-final line-up.Barring the three overs that Mumbai took to get their first wicket, Kotak has now batted for the rest of the two days and has faced a whopping 514 deliveries for his 162. Resuming the day at 202 for 2, Saurashtra had lost three wickets for 43 runs, but Kotak found support in Ravindra Jadeja who also outdid his previous best of 53. When Jadeja got out for 87, Saurashtra were one short of 400, but Kotak was clearly not done.For Mumbai the medium-pacers Murtaza Hussain and Mun Mangela managed four wickets apiece.Karnataka 239 for 5 (Pawan 102, Raghu 67) trail Maharashtra 276 by 37 runs
Scorecard KB Pawan scored a century and C Raghu a half-century to take Karnataka close to a first-innings Maharashtra in Ratnagiri. After Robin Uthappa and Devraj Patil fell early, Pawan and Raghu consolidated the innings and added 156 runs for the third wicket. This was Pawan’s second first-class century.Although Maharashtra took three wickets for 28 to come back into the match, they met dour resistance from Yere Goud and Thilak Naidu who added 27 unbeaten runs for the sixth wicket. Maharashtra need no less than an outright win to stay alive in the competition, while Karnataka are already out of the semi-finals race.

Sport has always drawn crowds, even in the most hostile conditions. Tuesday morning in Canberra was no different with dark grey clouds looming ominously. Rains lashed the Manuka Oval from between seven and half past ten, raising doubts if any game was possible in the first place.That didn’t dampen the hundreds who started gathering outside the oval in little flocks at the scheduled start time (10 am). For them, despite the weather, the game was still on. And like in every crowd, where there is a bunch that stands out with its characteristic fervour, there was one here too making heads turn. Shaking their bodies and tapping their feet, they created a buzz with their livewire intensity.The Appu Army, the latest addition to the existing bunch that includes the Barmy Army (England), Wave the Flag (Australia) and Bharat Army (India), were here to follow their side closely. The pouring rain didn’t matter to them. They had come down from Sydney in droves. Their red coloured T-shirts made them stand out and were joined by their friends in hay-coloured sombrero-hats.They kept playing the distinctive tune that lets you know the Sri Lankans are around. The Appu Army was in full swing and lent a carnival-like atmosphere as they marched up and down the main drag behind the Don Bradman stand inside the ground. The horns and the whistles kept blowing, so did the conch shells and the hand bells. So festive was the atmosphere that it was difficult for the Indians not to soak it in.The Appu Army, under a month old, is the concept of Lal Jacobs, a Sydney-based web designer. Jacobs’ friends had been coaxing him to starting something like the Barmy Army for a while and he decided to do something about it during Sri Lanka’s tour game against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI here last month.”I just wanted to start something that would help the Sri Lankans enjoy the game more,” Jacobs says with a smile, adding that he doesn’t intend to emulate the Barmy Army’s style of traveling with the team around the world. For Jacobs, originally from Sri Lanka, it’s about getting people together whenever there is an opportunity.Interestingly there were a few Tamils wearing red T-shirts with a map of Sri Lanka that had “Voice of Tamils. Where’s humanity” painted across the north and east, which has borne the bulk of the violence over the past few decades. Jacobs agrees sport is one of the best mediums to get the message of peace across. “Cricket is one game that gets both the Tamils and the Sinhalese together which is such a good thing”. It was definitely the case at the Manuka Oval, where ethnic Tamils were seen mingling freely with the Sinhalese. In the aftermath of the Harbhajan Singh-Andrew Symonds affair, where cricket was pushed to the background and the crowds turned partisan, this was a happy turn of events.”It doesn’t matter if it’s a truncated game. We are here to enjoy Sehwag, Tendulkar and Jayasuriya blast, that’s what matters,” a beaming Jacobs said as he emptied his pint of beer. Meanwhile the drum beats carried on as did the rain.

England 454 and 168 for 2 beat Australia 435 and 182 by eight wickets
Scorecard1st day

England made only one change from the fourth Test match, Voce replacing Mitchell, but Australia brought in Oldfield, O’Brien, Alexander and Lee for Love, Bromley, Ponsford and Wall, who was unable to play owing to injury. Woodfull again won the toss and Australia began batting under ideal conditions, but in the first over Richardson was caught in the slips. Jardine used his bowlers in short spells, and when Bradman was out at 64 Larwood had taken three wickets for 14 runs. O’Brien made many good forcing strokes in a fourth wicket partnership with McCabe which produced 99 runs, but he might have been caught when 37 and 43 by Voce in the slips. Darling did not begin well. He was nearly caught by Sutcliffe when 11 and missed off a caught and bowled by Allen one run later. However, he improved rapidly and with McCabe carried the total to 244 before the latter fell to Verity bowling round the wicket. Oldfield came in to play out time with an invaluable 13 not out. Darling was 66 not out and the total 296 for 5.2nd day
Runs again came much more freely than in the previous Test matches. Darling was out trying to drive Verity, and then Lee came in to hit the ball with great power and incidentally to drive Larwood. After defending splendidly for 2 hours and 18 minutes, Oldfield was brilliantly thrown out by Paynter, and then came some useful hitting by O’Reilly and Alexander. It was estimated that England missed 14 chances during the innings, but many of them were very difficult. Larwood again bowled splendidly and deserved better figures, but Allen was handicapped by a strained side. When England batted Jardine never really settled down, but Sutcliffe and Hammond got completely on top of the bowling and it was a surprise when the Yorkshireman was out for a chanceless 56 just before close of play. Hammond was in delightful form, still he gave two possible chances in the slips. When stumps were drawn England had scored 159 for 2, Hammond 72 not out, Larwood 5 not out. Hammond and Jardine protested against Alexander for running up the wicket after delivery.3rd day
When the game was resumed in perfect conditions Larwood scored much more readily than Hammond and reached his 50 in 77 minutes. In the meantime Hammond played with great care and was in for nearly three and a half hours before being lbw. He hit twelve fours and had the distinction of being the only batsman to score two hundreds in this series of Test matches. Joined by Leyland, Larwood continued to bat splendidly, but after hitting Lee from successive balls for 2, 4, 6 and 2, he was caught off the next ball, having batted for two hours and eighteen minutes with one 6. one 5 and nine 4’s as his best strokes. Leyland, hardly at his best, ran himself out, and then there was a quiet spell before Ames, too, was run out. Wyatt and Allen made a useful stand for the eighth wicket, and when the former was caught by Ironmonger at 418 stumps were drawn, Allen being 25 not out. Of the new Australian bowlers, Alexander was expensive, but had one or two chances missed off him. Lee did well with his slow off-breaks and he also suffered from dropped catches.4th day
Allen resumed his innings with Verity as his partner, but the Yorkshireman snicked a ball to Oldfield. Allen hit well with Voce in and was unfortunate to miss his 50, Bradman bringing off a magnificent catch. Australia made another disastrous start, Richardson bagging a pair by being well caught by Allen off Larwood’s second hall. Bradman then came in to partner Woodfull and proceeded to play an innings which was noteworthy for some beautiful strokes – and some most unorthodox ones. He tried to force Larwood’s leg balls to the off and made some highly dangerous strokes, but it was Verity who bowled him after he had been batting for 97 minutes. Bradman hit nine fours. With the dismissal of Bradman at 115, there was a bad collapse, caused chiefly through Verity, who flighted the ball cleverly and appeared’to be taking advantage of the heel marks made by Alexander. O’Brien fell to a catch in the slips McCabe, who was unwell, was caught in the gully, and Darling left at 148 and Oldfield at 161. Woodfull was the next to go, being beaten by Allen’s pace. He had batted nearly three hours for an invaluable innings which contained five fours. At the beginning of his innings Woodfull batted much more freely than usual, but when the collapse began he concentrated on defence. Verity bowled splendidly, but Larwood was handicapped by a swelling on his foot and was off the field from 3.30pm. England had 25 minutes’ batting and Jardine, 6 not out, and Wyatt, 5 not out, played out time.5th day
Ironmonger quickly found a spot caused by Alexander’s run on the wicket, and when Jardine and Leyland, who was bowled off his pads, were out for 43, Australia appeared to have a chance, but Hammond and Wyatt took the score to 70 for 2 at lunch. After the interval Hammond proceeded to attack the bowling and made some tremendous hits, an on-drive off O’Reilly being one of the biggest hits ever seen on the Sydney ground. Wyatt, too, forced the game well and there was a very bright finish with Hammond hitting Lee for a glorious six. The Gloucestershire batsman was in his best form and, apart from his two sixes, hit six fours. Wyatt played remarkably well for three hours and a quarter and had much to do with the victory. Although he appeared to have lost some of his nip, Ironmonger was the only bowler to cause any trouble, O’Reilly appearing to be rather stale after his exertions in the previous Test matches. Lee made a promising first appearance against England, spinning the ball and maintaining a good length.

Andrew Flintoff’s return to action after his ankle surgery has been delayed by England’s inclement summer. The first day of Lancashire’s 2nd XI match against Derbyshire, at Blackpool, was abandoned due to a waterlogged outfield and puddles on the pitch.Play was due to start at 11am, but a brief inspection by the umpires made it clear that play wouldn’t be possible and officials are not hopeful of any action over the remaining two days.Flintoff is confident of returning to England colours for the one-day series against India next month. He hasn’t played international cricket since the World Cup after feeling discomfort in his ankle while bowling against Hampshire, before the first Test against West Indies, in May and underwent his third operation.David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, is pleased by Flintoff’s progress. “Andrew Flintoff’s rehab is on course and there are not the same deadlines we have had in the past,” he told . “The original plan was for him to be fit for the one-day series and I haven’t seen or heard anything to the contrary.”

At the MCG on Friday, the world champions will attempt to maintain their unbeaten run against a talented opposition boasting a number of fresh faces. But in a reversal of the usual trend in recent years, Australia are the challengers and India are out to confirm their status as the world’s best Twenty20 side.The teams have met twice before in the shortest format and India came out on top both times, first with a 15-run semi-final win at the ICC World Twenty20 and then with a seven-wicket triumph in Mumbai a month later. However, India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his side was not overly concerned about Friday’s result.They have a 17-man squad to choose from and nine of those players were not part of the Test group. Dhoni said because the new arrivals had had only one training session in Melbourne, India would need to treat the Twenty20 as a chance to warm up ahead of the tri-series that also features Sri Lanka.”We will take the Twenty20 as one of the practice games,” Dhoni said in Melbourne. “The guys are more serious about the Twenty20 World Cup rather than just winning one game. I don’t know how the Australians will take it but we’ll take it as a good opportunity to get the new guys in and let them get used to the conditions.”Ricky Ponting said Australia were keen to stamp their authority on Twenty20 cricket after India’s successes against them. “For us, maybe there are some scores to settle,” Ponting said. “We are going to be playing more of it and there’s definitely room for improvement for Australia.”Australia have typically rested some senior players for one-off Twenty20 internationals, and this time Mitchell Johnson and Matthew Hayden are being given a break after a Test series that strained the relationship between the two sides. There is a chance that neither team will be led by the man who guided them through the Tests, with Ponting’s back injury giving Michael Clarke a slim hope of captaining Australia for the second time in two months, and Anil Kumble having returned home.Ponting picked up the problem during the Adelaide Test and although he is confident of playing, he conceded it was difficult to tell how much the complaint would affect his play. “I’ve been pretty much flat on my back for the last couple of days, just trying to give myself the best chance to recover,” he said. “At the moment I’m feeling okay but I haven’t done anything to test it out yet.”Ponting will likely have one new face in his line-up with David Hussey expected to make his international debut on his adopted home ground at the MCG. Hussey’s outstanding domestic Twenty20 form earned him a place and it will give him the chance to play alongside his brother Michael for the first time in three years.The pair has not been on the same side since a couple of Australia A games three seasons ago, and they never played together at Western Australia with David having to move to Victoria to break into state cricket. “It’s always been my goal to play for Australia,” he said, “so hopefully it can happen and can be a special night for me with my parents flying over.”The match will be preceded by a women’s Twenty20 international between Australia and England, which will be exposed to a huge audience with Channel set to air a highlights package on February 10. The MCG crowd is also expected to be something special, with Cricket Victoria hoping to break the ground’s record of 90,800 spectators, set during one day of an Australia-West Indies Test in 1961.Australia squad Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Ricky Ponting (capt), Brad Hodge, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Adam Voges, James Hopes, Brett Lee, Ashley Noffke, Nathan Bracken, Ben Hilfenhaus.India squad Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, MS Dhoni (capt, wk), Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth.

Lalchand Rajput, the manager of the Indian team, has been appointed assistant coach for the tour of Australia which begins in December.”Gary Kirsten will confirm [his willingness to take up the job of coach] in seven days,” Rajeev Shukla, the Indian board vice-president, said. “Kirsten, if he takes up the job, will be with the team in parts during the Australia tour and hence Rajput will be with the team.”India have been without a coach since Greg Chappell stepped down in April after the World Cup. For the tours that followed, cricket managers were appointed to take charge of the side. Ravi Shastri managed the team in Bangladesh in May and Chandu Borde was in charge in England. Rajput took over from Borde for India’s victorious ICC World Twenty20 campaign and continued to manage the side for the recent home series against Australia and Pakistan.He will now travel with the team to Australia for four Tests and a triangular one-day series.

The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) is stepping in to help make sense of the conflict that has developed between the ECB and the Indian Cricket League (ICL). A number of county players are effected by the ECB’s recent tough stance against ‘unofficial events’ and face the prospect of bans if they return to the ICL.Chris Read, Paul Nixon, Darren Maddy and Vikram Solanki all played in the first ICL tournament last year and, although that won’t impact on their domestic future, they have been warned that if they return a one-year ban will be imposed. Overseas players are also caught in the middle with Shane Bond, Jason Gillespie, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed unlikely to gain the No Obligation Certificates they require from their home boards.”The ECB have recently announced profound regulatory and policy changes with regard to players’ participation in unauthorised cricket,” said a PCA statement. “Several cricketers, including a number who are currently playing in ICL and have connections to English counties, have expressed serious reservations about the changes themselves, the rationale for them and the ultimate consequences for players and have asked for the PCA’s help and advice.”The ECB have been keen to ward off the threat of the ICL while getting on board with the Indian Premier League (IPL). Although no England players will be involved in the first IPL tournament which starts next month, that is set to change in the future even though it could impact the domestic season.”The PCA is about to begin pre-season meetings with every county squad and will be able to comment further in early April after it has discussed all of these complex issues with its members in detail,” they added.”In the best interests of its members and the game in England and Wales, the PCA will work with the individual players, the ECB and the counties to try to resolve the many outstanding individual player issues created by the ECB’s recent decisions and regulatory changes.”Around 20 players due to participate in county cricket this coming season are directly affected, and the longer-term consequences for all players are not yet fully understood. The PCA are optimistic that honest and open dialogue with all stakeholders will ensure the best outcome for the sport.”