Moin Khan, who has missed Pakistan’s last two matches in the Paktel Cup with a chest infection, will keep wicket tomorrow in the final group game, which is a dress rehearsal for the final against Sri Lanka after Zimbabwe, the other side participating, lost three of their group games and had the other one rained off.”Moin will be keeping wicket as I feel more comfortable with a regular keeper,” Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, “although now we have a good option in Younis for future matches.”Younis Khan, who kept in Moin’s absence, was Man of the Match in his first game with the gloves, conceding no byes and hitting a sprightly 77.Although the places for the final are already decided, Inzamam insisted there would be no short cuts on Thursday: “I would like to see us winning both matches and being consistent in our performances, because consistency has been a problem with us in recent months.” He continued: “We will play our full-strength side. The national team is not there to groom players but for players to perform.”Sri Lanka will enter Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium tomorrow with fond memories. They have won five of their eight matches there, including the 1996 World Cup final.”It is very important for us to win this one to boost our confidence for the final,” said John Dyson, Sri Lanka’s coach. “We are still short of practice in this competition and the last game being washed out against Zimbabwe didn’t help our preparations.”

The Australians are currently weighing up their choice in the Federal election, and their top-order batsmen also looked confused as they decided between two parties’ policies. Under Steve Waugh an attack-first, worry-later campaign style developed, but in India, following a change in command and a caretaker captain, patience and crease-occupation have become the buzzwords.John Buchanan, the coach and senior campaign manager, told his players it was better to bat 130 overs in the first innings than push along at the standard 3.5 runs an over. But the idea appeared to act more as a shackle in the first two sessions, and Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn and Darren Lehmann failed to toe the party line. At 4 for 149 Australia were again under pressure in the subcontinent.Fortunately the new recruits Simon Katich, in his tenth match, and Michael Clarke, taking his first step into the Test cabinet, discovered a balanced remedy with a partnership that lifted the team out of danger. Replacing Ricky Ponting at No. 3, Katich knows how difficult it can be waiting for opportunities, and he grabbed his promotion with a calm display that set up a late onslaught.In the final session Michael Clarke skipped away with youthful strokeplay that sparkled like the ear-ring below his brand new baggy green. Instead of edging to the finish Clarke raced past fifty, belting two sixes and driving with impressive force. It was instinct batting the Australian way, and when Adam Gilchrist joined him they burst towards the close.Unlike his opening partner, Justin Langer has not forgotten how to graft, and played to the plan on a pitch that looked like the one-colour jigsaws you buy to frustrate relatives. Absorbing the early aggression of India’s opening bowlers, Langer fought for his half-century and was a fine example for Katich until Irfan Pathan cannoned a wicked reverse-swinging delivery into his pads and off stump.Despite the setbacks of the first two sessions the batsmen ultimately satisfied both parties: 316 runs at 3.51 per over and five wickets left to see off at least 40 more overs and reach Buchanan’s mark. Voters can only dream of such a result in Saturday’s election.Peter English is Australasian editor of Wisden Cricinfo.

Rod Marsh, the ECB National Academy director and chairman of selectors for the Under 19 team, has named two squads for the upcoming Test and one-day series against Sri Lanka.Varun Chopra, from Essex, will lead both the Test and one-day teams, while Ben Harmison, the brother of Steve, is included in both parties. Worcestershire’s highly rated wicketkeeper Steven Davies continues his Under 19 career and Stuart Broad, the son of Chris Broad the former England batsman, is included after some promising performances for Leicestershire.Mark Footitt, the Nottinghamshire seam bowler who took five wickets on his Championship debut against Glamorgan, has earned himself a place in the Test squad.The team will play three four-day Tests and three one-day internationals starting on July 26. The one-day matches will be held at New Road and Old Trafford and the Tests at Shenley, Scarborough and Headingley.One-day squad Moeen Ali (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Leicestershire), Varun Chopra (Essex, capt), Steven Davies (Worcestershire), Joe Denly (Kent), Ben Harmison (Durham), Adam Harrison (Glamorgan), Nicholas James (Warwickshire), Kevin Latouf (Hampshire), Mark Lawson (Yorkshire), Andrew Miller (Lancashire), Steven Mullaney (Lancashire), Tom Smith (Lancashire)Test squad Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Varun Chopra, Steven Davies, Joe Denly, Mark Footitt (Nottinghamshire), Ben Harmison, Adam Harrison, Kevin Latouf, Mark Lawson, Tom Smith, Chris Thompson (Surrey)

The game’s most famous walker will hold the same stance through the Ashes series as long as he’s convinced of the edge. Despite Mike Gatting’s plodding around England and similar earlier ventures from Ian Botham and Allan Border, Adam Gilchrist’s steps have created the most interest since he introduced the policy at the 2003 World Cup.Questions about Gilchrist’s walking are regular and they were raised again yesterday when he was reminded about skipping off against Bangladesh at Canterbury despite missing the ball. “Hopefully I won’t make that a habit,” he told . “I will declare boldly now that I don’t intend to walk off when I am not out.”Gilchrist said he would also take the word of an England fielder for a close catch rather than rely on a third umpire’s decision from replays. “It is an issue that may need to be worked through but I am big on taking the word,” he said. The captains’ policy for the series will be decided when Ricky Ponting and Michael Vaughan meet with Ranjan Madugalle on Wednesday.The good sportsmanship drive does not cover converting other players to his value system. “I am not on a crusade and won’t have a go at people in the opposition or my own team who leave it to the umpire,” Gilchrist said. “I thought there were situations occurring where we could take more ownership of the game. I had a think about it and decided I wanted to be true to myself and play the way I wanted to play.”When asked what he would do if Australia were two short of victory in the final Test with one wicket at hand he replied: “I wouldn’t nick it.”

On scoring a century in front of his home crowd
It was always a dream of mine to get a hundred in Kandy and it was also asituation which the team needed runs. It was a great team effort today.There was a lot of joy at reaching my hundred as the last three innings Ihave played were great personal disappointments. Once I got a start here myonly ambition was to stay out there as long as possible and work as hard aspossible. It was one of the hardest-working hundreds that I have scored andit was in a situation where we needed to score over 300 to win the game.This is right up there with my other hundreds.On the pitch
I thought it was a difficult wicket but it was slightly easier for theleft-handers as the soft spots were outside the right-handers off stump. Butit was a challenge and I enjoyed it very much.On his technical changes before this innings
No matter how many runs you score cricket is about keeping things simple andin the last few innings that is something I have forgotten to do. One of thethings that I realised was that I was not focusing enough on the ball andthat was one of the changes I did before this innings and it worked.On his non-selection for the World XI Test squad for the ICC Super Series
Selectors like God move in mysterious ways, but as long as I do a good jobfor my country then it does not matter what comes after that. Therecognition that comes from being selected for teams like that is somethingthat comes after doing your job for the side. Selection is still up for grabs and it is just aboutperforming day in and day out on the field.On the state of the game
We were looking for something over 250 and anything over 300 would be abonus. Right now, we are just going to try and bat them out of the game.

A fighting century by Asim Ijaz prevented an early finish to the National Junior (Under-19) Grade-I Cricket Championship final between Lahore Blues and Karachi Whites at Multan Cricket Stadium here Thursday.Asim’s gallant 107 helped Lahore Blues recover from 106 for five to 288 all out in their second innings on the penultimate day of the four-day clash.Speedster Tabish Khan was the day’s other hero. He captured six for 82 in 32 overs and a match haul of eight for 130.Karachi Whites, needing 155 for an outright victory, were 12 for no loss at stumps.Having already conceded a first innings lead of 134 Wednesday, Lahore Blues ran into early trouble this morning after resuming at 54 for two. They lost three wickets for the addition of 52 runs to Tabish.But then a resilient sixth-wicket stand between Asim and Shahnawaz produced 75 runs with the latter contributing 45.Asim found another useful ally in Azhar Ali, top-scorer in the first innings, who helped him put on 54 for the seventh wicket. Azhar made 23.

John Bracewell’s New Zealand enter the most pivotal phase of project 2007 when they meet South Africa in the first of five one-dayers starting on Sunday. Since Bracewell took over the reins of New Zealand in 2003 he has made no secret of the fact that his goal was to develop a side capable of winning the World Cup in the West Indies. His focus has remained undeterred, even when it appeared Test results were suffering as a consequence – six wins, two each against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, offset by nine losses and four draws.Contrast those rather miserable statistics with his 23-10 win-loss record in one-day cricket (two no results), including two tri-series victories, and you can see where Bracewell’s strength lies. As he showed at Gloucestershire, he builds good one-day units.He’ll have plenty of opportunity to work those strengths this southern hemisphere summer. New Zealand’s Test programme is positively anaemic, with just a three-match home series against West Indies interrupting a steady diet of ODIs.But it is not Bracewell’s team-building strength, but his chopping down of a legend that has caught the eye. While New Zealand will toil against the likes of Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock, the one player the South Africans truly fear will be playing club cricket on a variety of suburban parks in Christchurch, trying to prove he still has the hunger to play for New Zealand through to 2007.There has been some nonsense written and spoken since, particularly that this is somehow new selector Glenn Turner’s final twist of the knife in a bitter relationship that deteriorated when he was Black Caps coach and Chris Cairns was a wilful, and sometimes unwilling, star. If that was the case then what was Cairns’s one-time team-mate and friend Dion Nash doing at the selection meeting? Surely he would have been a counterweight in any argument over Cairns’s merits.The fact was Bracewell flagged this concern about Cairns’s lack of recent match practice some months ago. He turned up at Zimbabwe and was a self-confessed “liability”. Bracewell acted and it is now up to Cairns to prove whether this particular story has a World Cup epilogue or not.In South Africa Bracewell will turn to Jacob Oram, another allrounder, albeit one who is undergoing his first career slump. He has gone 15 ODI innings without posting a 50 and looked laboured at the bowling crease on the recent tour of Zimbabwe, despite taking four wickets in the final against India. He will need to step up in the absence of Cairns.Stephen Fleming and Craig McMillan have both scored centuries against South Africa A in warm-up matches but there will be concern over the continued struggles of Hamish Marshall. He has failed to pass 30 in his past six innings and failed to reach double figures in his last four. Perhaps, as reflected by his unflattering domestic record, Marshall appears hungrier for runs against the really good attacks. So South Africa away, where he made the unlikeliest of Test debuts close to five years ago, should provide the challenge he thrives on.His twin brother James, who has been in good form on the recent A tour to Sri Lanka, is another player with plenty to prove at the top level. There are doubts about whether his propensity to try and steer everything through gully will work against international new ball attacks. New Zealand know they can win ODIs at home. They are even starting to believe it can beat most teams away (except Australia). A series victory in South Africa might just start having them believe Bracewell’s 2007 goal is more than fantasy.

Scorecard
Kenya’s captain Steve Tikolo won the toss and put his side in against Ireland in the final of the Intercontinental Cup at Windhoek.On the evidence of the two semi-finals, batting first will be a huge advantage in the three-day contest. Both games were drawn, but big first-innings totals from the side batting first guaranteed big points that sent them through. The two semi-finals produced 2237 runs for the loss of just 48 wickets, so a run-fest may not be out of the question in the final.Ireland make two changes to the side that beat UAE in the semis, bringing in Andre Botha and Andrew White for Paul Mooney and Greg Thompson. Kenya remain unchanged from their victory over Bermuda.Kenya Kennedy Otieno (wk), Maurice Ouma, Tony Suji, Steve Tikolo (capt), Hitesh Modi, Collins Obuya, Mohammad Sheikh, Thomas Odoyo, Lameck Onyango, Peter Ongondo, Martin Suji.Ireland Jeremy Bray, Dominick Joyce, Eoin Morgan, Niall O’Brien (wk), Andre Botha, Trent Johnston (capt), Peter Gillespie, Andrew White, Conor Armstrong, Kyle McCallan, Adrian McCoubrey.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has attempted to restructure its domestic league to make it more competitive. Each of the six participating divisional teams will now have its own selection panel and coach.When the Seventh National Cricket League kicks off on November 19 across the country, Rajshahi Division, one-day victors, are expected to play five home matches in a row. While Rajshahi enjoy the benefit of being based at home for the first half of the tournament, defending first-class champions Dhaka Division too start off their first four games at home, hosting Sylhet to begin with.Shahriar Nafees, the Bangladesh opener, will make his National League debut as captain of a young Barisal side. Barisal, seen by many as the weakest side in the competition, will be hoping to rebuild after losing bowlers Mohammed Sharif and Mosharraf Hossain to Dhaka. Shahriar Hossain, the former national cricketer, will return to the southern division after the gap of a year.Like Barisal, Dhaka will also have a new captain in Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh’s talented middle order batsman who struck a fantastic hundred to defeat Australia in this summer’s Natwest Series in England. Ashraful was chosen by Khaled Mahmud, the former allrounder and current selector, as Dkaha opted for a change in leadership. For Sylhet, Alok Kapali will become vice-captain under Rajin Saleh, the newly appointed captain.Teams
Dhaka Division: Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Javed Omar (vice-capt), AlShahriar, Sanwar Hossain, Mohammed Rafique, Khaled Mahmud, Mehrab HossainOpee, Talha Jubair, Shahadat Hossain, Anwar Monir, Rashedul Haque, MohammedRiyad, Arafat Sunny, Mosharraf Hossain, Mohammed Sharif, Sajjad Kadir, AnwarHossain, Mahbubul Alam, Kamrul Islam and Ashraful Khan.Sylhet Division: Rajin Saleh (capt), Alok Kapali (vice-capt), GolamRahman, Golam Mabud, Moniruzzaman, Enamul Haque Jr, Nazmul Hossain, HasibulHossain, Golam Mawla, Ejaj Ahmed, Rezaul Haque Nayeem, Siddiqur Rahman,Zakwan Ahmed, Rana Mia, Imtiaz Hossain, Ashiqur Rahman, Junaid Siddiqui,Saif Mahmud, Golam Mortuza and Tapash Baisya.Rajshahi Division: Khaled Mashud (capt), Hasanuzzaman Rosel(vice-capt), Naeem Islam, Jahurul Islam, Farhad Reza, Anisur Rahman,Mushfiqur Rahman, Shamimul Haque, Kamrul Islam, Saifullah Khan, RezwanulIslam, Jubair Ahmed, Moniruzzaman, Nuruzzaman, Shafaq Al Jabir, MohammedShahjada, Sumon Saha, Alamgir Kabir, Farhad Hossain and Rafiqul Islam.Khulna Division: Habibul Bashar (capt), Manzarul Islam (vice-capt),Tushar Imran, Sajjadul Hasan, Hasanuzzaman, Monirul Islam, Salahuddin Ujjal,Shafiul Alam, Jamauddin Babu, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafee Bin Mortuza, SyedRasel, Ziaur Rahman, Manjurul Islam, Mohammad Salim, Sahagir Hossain, AlAmin, Debabrata Pal, Rezaul Islam and Shamsur Rahman.Chittagong Division: Akram Khan (capt), Nafees Iqbal (vice-capt),Aftab Ahmed, Nazim-uddin, Faisal Hossain, Gazi Salahuddin, Masumuddowlah,Dhiman Ghosh, Tarek Aziz, Gazi Alamgir, Waiskarani Palash, Waseluddin Ahmed,Shabbir Khan, Yasin Arafat, Saju Datta, Moha-mmed Rabbi, Habib Moballik,Niaz Morshed and Ilias Sunny.Barisal Division: Shahriar Nafees (capt), Hannan Sarkar (vice-capt),Shahriar Hossain, Nasiruddin Faruque, Imran Ahmed, Raqibul Hasan, HumayunKabir, Prasenjit Bose, Nadif Chowdhury, Ali Arman, Tariqul Islam, ArifHossain, Mohammed Shahin, Ashikul Islam, Golam Rabbani, Anisur Rahman,Ishraq Sonnet, Sajid Islam, Arafat Salahuddin, Towhidul Islam.

Scorecard
Points Table
Bangladesh maintained their 100% record in the triangular tournament with a crushing 102-run win against Sri Lanka. The captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, lead from the front with a powerful 75 before the Bangladesh attack made short work of Sri Lanka.After winning the toss Bangladesh were given a sound base with an opening stand of 63 between Tamim Iqbal and Raqibul Hasan. Rajeeva Weerasinghe brought Sri Lanka back into contention by removing both players in two balls and when Saqibul Hasan fell for 1, Bangladesh were struggling on 64 for 3.Shamshur Rahman launched the recovery with a measured half-century and although his 59 was on the slow side it was just the innings Bangladesh needed. When he fell in the 42nd over Rahim was already into his stride and carried the innings forward.Rahim, who made a positive impression when he toured England in May and June, making his Test debut at Lord’s, hit five fours and six in his 69-ball innings and received solid support from lower order. Weerasinghe remained the pick of the attack, but he lacked sufficient back-up from the other bowlers.Bangladesh’s total took on menacing proportions when Dimuth Karunaratne fell in the third over (9 for 1) and a terminal decline soon set in. By the 24th over Sri Lanka had slumped to 84 for 6 and there was no way back. Sameera de Zoysa provided the only meaningful resistance with 46 until he was run out by Saqibul Hasan. Kamrul Islam finished with three wickets, while four other bowlers chipped in.Sri Lanka’s defeat leaves the door open for England, who still have an outside chance of reaching the final if they can win their last two matches with bonus points.