All posts by csb10.top

The blundering Pakistan cricket selectors continued to play musicalchairs with next month’s England tour aspirants when they named a 20-man provisional list on Tuesday instead of naming the final 16.All the “walking wounded” that toured New Zealand but forced to returnincluding former captain Wasim Akram were named in the provisionallist. The sole casualty being Moin Khan who had lost his captaincy toa lucky Waqar Younis earlier this month.”Moin has been left out because of his inconsistent performance,”chairman of selectors Wasim Bari explained without elaborating if itwas his wicket keeping or batting that led to his ouster.To benefit from Moin’s unceremonious exit was another former captainRashid Latif who last represented Pakistan in Harare, Zimbabwe, on the1997-98 tour. Rashid is the only wicket keeper in the list, whichguarantees him a third successive tour to England for which the teamleaves on May 2.Inconsistent Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi, who were described by theselectors as one-day specialists and were not considered for the Testseries in New Zealand after the limited overs rubber, were retained.In-and-out, Mohammad Wasim, who has played 18 Tests since making hisdebut in 1996, was also recalled after 12 months in wilderness.Also amongst the probables was paceman “joyrider” Shoaib Akhtar whosefitness was unknown though his controversial bowling action wascleared by the University of Western Australia.”The formal official report on his (Shoaib), will be forwarded by thePCB’s bowling advisors for onward submission to ICC,” a PCB statementsaid.On a day of chaos and confusion, powerless chief selector Wasim Bari,said in the afternoon that he had submitted a squad of 16 to thePakistan Cricket Board (PCB) advisory council for approval andannouncement.However, the PCB in the evening came up with the names of 20 probablesclaiming that the squad would be finalized in the next couple of daysbecause the medical reports of several players were still beingawaited.Later in the evening, Bari took a somersault when he claimed he had,in fact, submitted the provisional squad and not the 16- man team.Nevertheless, Bari left the PCB officials red-faced when he confirmedthat he had been conveyed by the cricket managers in Lahore that allthe players were available for selection after clearing medical tests.Contradictions after contradictions and repeated communication gapbetween the selectors and the PCB hierarchy once again reflect the sadstate affairs of Pakistan cricket. If there is no planning and coordination amongst the administrators themselves, to demand cohesionand unity from the team is perhaps asking for too much.Brig Munawwar Rana, the director of the PCB, said from Lahore that themedical reports on some players were expected within the next 48 hoursafter which the team would be announced.He, however, didn’t reveal the names of the players whose selectionswere subject to medical clearance.Wasim Akram had appeared before the three-man medical team on Sundaywhile Moin had cleared his medical test on April 13. The remainingplayers could be Yousuf Youhana, Azhar Mahmood and PCB’s blue-eyed boyShoaib Akhtar.Sequence of events confirm apprehensions that the PCB administratorswere adamant to show Moin the door. Initially named skipper until thetour to England, Moin was removed as captain on fitness grounds eventhough only two days before, he had been given a clean bill of healthby the medical experts of the board and along with Wasim Akram alsoappeared in the on-going one-day competition.The statistics of Moin, who was also dropped in 1993 before regaininghis number No 1 slot in 1996, in the last 16 months doesn’t justifythe claims of the selectors.Moin, who was bestowed with lifetime achievement award by the PCB lastyear, in 11 Tests as captain, scored 369 runs at 24.60 whileaccounting for 28 batsmen behind the wickets. In 63 Tests, Moin scored2,493 runs and dismissed 134 batsmen. In 190 one-day internationalsMoin has scored 2,853 runs. His 256 dismissal is a world record.But the factor that played the decisive role in his dismissal was thathe made more enemies than friends in the PCB. Moin repeatedly objectedto outside interference in team matters which didn’t please PCBofficials and the selectors.Needless to say that the PCB sacked two selectors earlier this yearwhen they protested against outside interference. Last month anotherselector Sikander Bakth also resigned.The unnecessary delay in the announcement of the 16-man squadobviously smells rat. And the bone of contention or debate is noneother than Wasim Akram.Sources within the PCB have confirmed that skipper Waqar Younis, oncedeclared by the PCB chief himself that he (Waqar) was not a certainityin the team, was in no compromising mood and flatly refused to acceptWasim in the squad. Sources say Waqar feels that Wasim’s inclusion inthe team will not allow the skipper to enjoy total command over theaffairs.”The PCB are trying to buy time, hoping that they will convince Waqarto change his heart,” sources said.Wasim’s allout effort to get into the squad has helped him retain hisplace in the 20. But whether he would find a place in the touringside? Only time will tell.Provisional squad (in bracket are age and number of Testsplayed):Saeed Anwar (32, 52), Imran Farhat (19, 3), Mohammad Wasim (23, 18),Imran Nazir (20, 5), Shahid Afridi (21, 11), Faisal Iqbal (20, 3),Inzamam-ul-Haq (vice-captain) (31, 72), Yousuf Youhana (26, 30),Younis Khan (24, 12), Salim Elahi (25, 8), Abdur Razzaq (22, 12),Azhar Mahmood (26, 19), Wasim Akram (34, 100), Waqar Younis (30, 71),Shoaib Akhtar (26, 15), Fazle Akbar (21, 4), Mohammad Sami (20, 2),Saqlain Mushtaq (24, 34), Mushtaq Ahmad (30, 50), Rashid Latif (wicketkeeper) (32, 22).

Indian delegation in Pakistan for ACC meetThe resumption of India’s cricketing ties with Pakistan is likely to be taken up when the presidents of the two boards meet in Lahore during the two-day meeting of the Asian Cricket Council starting on May 25. “We will be basically looking at proposals to initiate development projects like training programmes in the region,” BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele and treasurer Kishore Rungta told PTI over phone from Lahore. There could also be general discussions about thestatus of the ongoing investigations into match-fixing by ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit, they said.Meanwhile, BCCI president AC Muthiah on his arrival in Lahore said “We are here to attend the ACC meeting. The Indian team will be playing a match in the Asian Test Championship in Pakistan. So things are moving towards better relations.” Talking to a Pakistan daily Dawn, Muthiah said that good cricketing relations between Pakistan and India would promote the game in the Asian region. “Both countries are giants of the game in Asia and only their collective efforts can promote cricket in the continent”, he said.On Laloo Prasad Yadav’s statement after he was elected as president of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) that he would hold a one-day match between the two countries in Patna, the BCCI president said it was premature to say anything on the statement. He added that the BCCI had not received any request from the BCA in this regard.CBI welcomes ICC move to curb match-fixingThe Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday welcomed the support of the ICC in the match-fixing probe. Reacting to the ICC report on match-fixing, the CBI spokesman said “we welcome any assistance from the ICC and as far as the investigations of organised crime in match-fixing is concerned, we are already at it.” The agency was also willing to offer any assistance to the ICC in controlling the menace of match-fixing.The spokesman also said that it was heartening to know that the ICC was ready to pick up the threads from the CBI investigation as the agency could not further probe into the role of foreign players who were beyond its ambit. The spokesman said “the agency also welcomed the offer from the ICC to help the CBI in the telecast rights case as we have registered five cases and the probe is on.”Meanwhile, New Delhi police, who were responsible for blowing the whistle on former South African captain Hansie Cronje’s links with bookmakers last year, on Wednesday welcomed the match-fixing report of the ICC. The joint commissioner of Delhi Police KK Paul said “The report vindicates the stand of the Delhi police and it’s nice to know our investigations have had far-reaching effects.”Tendulkar felicitated with a 10kg silver batFormer Indian captain and batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar was felicitated at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday night for being the first batsman to complete 10,000 runs in one day internationals. At the function, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president Sharad Pawar presented Tendulkar with a bat weighing 10 kilos and a cheque of Rs. 2.51 lakh. Pawar also announced the namingof the ‘Sachin Tendulkar Enclosure,’ above the MCA pavilion for former and present cricketers and their family members. Pawar added that the renaming of a stand in Wankhede stadium after Tendulkar would be announced after the monsoon.Replying to the felicitations, the 28-year-old former Indian captain said “It was my dream to don India colours on this very ground when I came here for the first time in 1983 during the West Indies tour.” Remembering his guru Ramakant Achrekar’s contribution to enhance his cricketing skills, Tendulkar said “it (his lessons) changed my life. Without him I could not have been where I am today.”Talking at the function, the Indian coach John Wright said “It is a wonderful and special experience to be associated with a phenomenon called Sachin.” Former Indian captain Ravi Shastri said that his humility, willingness to listen and ability to walk ahead were his strengths. He added “Let the biggest stand be named after Sachin even at the cost of a sponsor because no one is greater than Sachin.” Recently, Tendulkar was conferred with the state government’s ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ award.Kapil makes contribution to National Sports Development FundFormer Indian captain and coach Kapil Dev has made a substantial contribution to the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF), the Indian Sports Minister Uma Bharti said at a meeting of the NSDF in New Delhi on Tuesday. Kapil’s contribution to the fund along with Naptha Jhakri Power Corporation Limited and Power Finance Corporation totalled Rs 1.25 crore. The NSDF has so for collected Rs 4.73 crore out of which Rs 2 crore is the government contribution as seed money during 1998-99.It may be recalled that Kapil quit as coach of the national side last year after his name was dragged into the match-fixing controversy. He was later exonerated by the CBI in its match-fixing report and also in the Madhavan report. Later Kapil had said that he was disassociating himself from cricket.

During his time at IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore, Ross Taylor quickly established himself as a fan favourite due to the ease and frequency with which his swipes cleared the mid-wicket boundary. Back in Bangalore as captain of a stuttering New Zealand outfit, he’ll have to play more in the manner he did at the pre-match press conference: with a straight bat. Nearly every question Taylor was asked dealt either with New Zealand’s dip in form or his own lack of big scores. All of which he answered with tact and optimism.Taylor was asked whether his side would be satisfied with a draw in Bangalore, a result most observers would call a reasonable achievement for the underdogs as they haven’t won a Test in India since 1988. Taylor acknowledged the challenge ahead but remained positive. “In a Test match, we go session by session. In the last three or four Tests, (we have realised) it only takes one bad session to ruin a Test. So we don’t want to look too far ahead. And, we’re still in the series, we have not won many Tests in India and we need to be brave and courageous in the way we go in this Test. We have nothing to lose.”Taylor called for a similarly adventurous approach to overcome New Zealand’s biggest weakness on this tour, the indecisive batting against the spinners. “(We have to) attack Ashwin and [Pragyan] Ojha and hopefully put pressure back on them. And when we attack them, there hopefully won’t be many men around the bat.”In the past 12 months, New Zealand’s misfiring batsmen have put up a 300-plus total only three times, including twice against also-rans Zimbabwe. It is the sort of record that prompted some stinging criticism from former New Zealand coach Mark Greatbatch, who earlier this week questioned whether New Zealand’s batsmen were taking on board what they were being taught. Taylor refused to be drawn into saying whether the comments were justified. “Our biggest critics are ourselves,” Taylor said. “Everyone is entitled to their opinions. I myself am very hard on myself. No matter what others say, I was very disappointed in the way I played.”Taylor has a massive role to play in New Zealand’s brittle middle-order, especially in the absence of Jesse Ryder and Daniel Vettori. The manner of his second-innings dismissal in Hyderabad – bowled after shouldering arms to an offspinner from Ashwin – will rankle, and adds to a dismal recent record, with only two Test centuries in his previous 30 innings stretching back to March 2010.Taylor held out hope of an upswing in his batting form. “Two hundreds in 30 innings is not great, but I feel I’m not far away from scoring runs. I’m working hard. When you score two centuries in 30 innings, sometimes you score two in two games. So you never know.”Besides winning over sceptical former players and critics in the media, Taylor has an added reason to perform in Bangalore. “Mackenzie has been to 2 games, I’ve scored 11, 0, 2 and 7,” he tweeted. “Thinks it’s time I showed my daughter that I can bat.”

Rajasthan took top position in the Central Zone Ranji Trophy league,after collecting five first innings points in a drawn encounter withVidarbha at the VCA ground in Nagpur on Sunday. The highlight of thefinal day’s play was Vidarbha keeper Amit Deshpande’s second centuryof the match. Rajasthan finished with 23 points, two clear of secondplaced Railways. Vidarbha which lost their first three games, managedto avoid a barren slate with the three points that accrued from thecontest.Having already taken a 74 run first innings lead, Rajasthan enteredthe final day at 132/2 in their second knock. Opener Nikhil Doru,unbeaten on 54 overnight, fell for 71 to give off spinner PritamGandhe his third wicket. Medium pacer Abhijeet Piprode cut through themiddle order for three wickets, including that of skipper Gagan Khodafor just ten. AS Jain compiled a laborious 38 while Saket Bhatiastruck a brisk unbeaten 26. Rajasthan declared at 234/7, setting theiropponents a victory target of 309 in a minimum of 55 overs.After AS Manohar fell for six, Deshpande and Shailesh Harbade added156 for the second wicket, of which the latter’s contribution was 42.Deshpande marched to an unbeaten 156 (173 balls, 18 fours, 3 sixes) asVidarbha closed out the game at 220/2.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMominul Haque and Sohag Gazi shared five wickets between them•AFP

After their famous 4-0 win against the same opposition at home in 2010, another clean sweep beckoned for Bangladesh after they wrapped up the second ODI by 40 runs. Bangladesh defended 247 and their decision to bat first was vindicated despite concerns over the spinners’ effectiveness with a dew-laden ball.Bangladesh made the two new balls count. Mashrafe Mortaza, who took three wickets, bowled two good spells to make sure New Zealand’s required run-rate never went down. Offspinner Sohag Gazi took the other new ball, and like Mashrafe, tied down the batsmen at first before picking up three wickets. Mominul Haque was Mushfiqur Rahim’s golden arm, removing the McCullum brothers.When they began their chase of 248 run, Hamish Rutherford was the first to go, chopping a Mashrafe delivery onto his stumps for 1, repeating his score from the first match. Anton Devcich and Grant Elliott were removed off successive deliveries a little while later, the former popping a catch back to Gazi and the latter getting stuck on the crease to Abdur Razzak, and falling leg-before.As the chase began to gather pace, the visitors pinned their hopes on the captain Brendon McCullum to make his first significant score on this tour. It remained that way, as he fell just when his partnership with Ross Taylor was starting to worry Bangladesh.After the second drinks break, McCullum went back to a Mominul delivery that didn’t turn much, missed it and was given out leg-before. In the next over, Tom Latham was run out thanks to Rubel Hossain’s throw after Taylor sent him back after completing the first run. James Neesham was caught off a short ball from Gazi, caught by a diving Naeem Islam at square leg.Gazi picked up the crucial wicket of Taylor just after he had smashed a six at the end of the batting Powerplay. That wicket – the eighth falling with the score on 158 – spelled the end of New Zealand’s resistance in this series, as Bangladesh waited for the inevitable. Kyle Mills and Nathan McCullum held things up for a while before Nathan McCullum holed out at long-on in the 46th over. The end came when Tim Southee missed Mashrafe’s straight ball in the 47th over.Bangladesh, on the other hand, were off to a better start with the bat, but none of their batsmen pushed on for a big score. The New Zealand bowlers were accurate and controlled their bowling variations. The Bangladesh batsmen had to be patient, but were often frustrated as they could not get on top of the medium-pacers. Brendon McCullum set planned fields, packing the off side and to his credit, he was backed by the bowlers and the fielders.Corey Anderson and Neesham both took four wickets, after Southee and Kyle Mills restricted the Bangladesh openers with tight spells with the two new balls. Their tidiness in the first 35 overs paid off when Bangladesh lost three quick wickets after the 36th over, at the start of the batting Powerplay, Bangladesh’s scourge. It set them back for the last nine overs during which they added only 63 runs and lost four wickets.Mushfiqur, Naeem and Nasir Hossain fell in the space of eleven balls, which took them from 169 for 3 to 173 for 6. All three dismissals were soft and the shots played, particularly that of Mushfiqur and Naeem, were unnecessary.The top and middle-order batsmen threw away good starts. The openers, Tamim Iqbal and the debutant Shamsur Rahman began steadily with a stand of 63. Tamim was the enforcer, but the debutant Shamsur was relatively sedate during his 25. Tamim drove stylishly through the covers and his only six, down the ground off Southee in the ninth over, was his best shot.Mominul struck five boundaries, one of them straight down the ground and another flicked through midwicket. But he fell to a trap, pulling a slower ball from Anderson to Nathan McCullum at deep midwicket.Soon after, Tamim got stuck in the forties for 18 balls, before reaching his 25th ODI fifty off 75 balls. He was finally dismissed by inside edging Anderson’s slower ball onto his stumps, after missing on several wild swishes. As the sun set below Mirpur’s horizon, the home crowd looked disappointed that the batsmen failed to capitalise, but the mood changed as the evening wore on.Batting is an area that still needs improvement, but with an inspired bowling performance such as this, Mushfiqur need not give himself and the rest of the batsmen the hair-dryer. With cricket being one of the unifying factors in the country, celebrations are expected everywhere.

Perth Scorchers coach Justin Langer hopes one of his spinners will do an Eric Hollies on Sachin Tendulkar when they play Mumbai Indians in the last Group A fixture on Wednesday. Hollies, a legspinner from England, is best remembered as the man who bowled Don Bradman for a duck in his final Test innings, leaving him four runs short of an average of 100 in Tests.”I hope we have a Hollies in our team tomorrow when we bowl to Sachin. Hollies – wasn’t that the name?” Langer told journalists on the eve of their last match. “Well, I love watching Sachin bat and wish he never gets out. But tomorrow, I wouldn’t like him to score too many runs. Even at this age of 40, he batted in the nets for two hours the other day. That was incredible.””I would like my boys to take up the challenge of playing against superstars. This is an inexperienced side and they will learn a lot from this trip. Look at Otago Volts. They have come here three times and now it’s showing results.”Tendulkar is now 26 runs short of completing 50,000 runs in first-class, List A and Twenty20 matches.

What Mumbai need to do to qualify

• If Mumbai Indians lose, they are knocked out of the tournament and Otago go through

• If Mumbai bat first and post anything in the region of 120 to 180, they will need to win by around 48 runs

• If Mumbai bat second, and they are chasing 120, they need to win with 37 balls remaining. If they are chasing 180, the balls remaining comes down to 32.

Langer also spoke of Harbhajan Singh, another international player for Mumbai who they would have to be wary of.”They have to face a trouble-maker like Harbhajan,” he said. “Well, please don’t make a controversy when I term Harbhajan as a trouble-maker. I mean he is a guy who would always like to have a competition or two with us over the years.”Scorchers lie at the bottom of the points table in their group without a win against their name. While their first match was washed out, they lost their other two matches, against Otago Volts and Rajasthan Royals. They were the first to crash out of the Champions League from their group and were soon followed by the Lions. Langer stated that even though it was no excuse, the absence of several players, due to injury and some of them opting for IPL franchises, could have affected their performances.”We didn’t have the Marsh brothers – Shaun and Mitch – due to injury,” he said. “We didn’t have Pat Cummins, while Nathan Coultier-Nile and Mitchell Johnson decided to play for Mumbai Indians. So we had a side that was very thin on experience. But that’s no excuse.”The first match was washed out and we played poorly in the next two matches. If we hadn’t dropped a couple of crucial catches, the matches could have swung in our favour. We packed our sides with four spinners and then found out that Jaipur track had a lot of pace and bounce. We didn’t have Cummins and that became a factor,”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSaeed Ajmal finished with 11 for 118, his second-best Test performance•AFP

The probability of Zimbabwe holding out for a draw was extinguished early on the final morning, not by the expected threat Saeed Ajmal, but by Junaid Khan and Abdur Rehman. On a wearing pitch with turn and uneven bounce, Zimbabwe’s batsmen were simply ill equipped to combat a situation where only longevity at the crease, and not runs, mattered.Ajmal returned for a second spell late in the first session and cut through the tail, striking twice in an over to complete the fourth ten-wicket haul of his Test career. Pakistan took the nine wickets they needed during an extended session, and while they were always favourites to close out this contest, they might have expected Zimbabwe to be less feeble.With the luxury of runs, Misbah-ul-Haq deployed his catchers: three slips and a gully for Junaid, and a slip, a leg gully, a forward short leg and a short midwicket for Ajmal. As Zimbabwe’s batsmen prodded tentatively off front foot and back, the cries from these men grew louder.Junaid ensured Pakistan’s wait for success was brief. In his first over, he delivered one that angled into the right-hander from round the wicket but the ball did not bounce as much as Hamilton Masakadza thought it would from short of a length. He held his wrists around waist height, playing no shot, and the ball crashed into the bat near the gloves and popped up to gully. In his next over, Junaid trapped Vusi Sibanda lbw with one that kept lower. Zimbabwe were 19 for 3 before the coffee had cooled.Zimbabwe’s batsmen had a torrid time against Junaid. He sprinted in from round the wicket, targeting the stumps with the angle, and got several deliveries to beat the bat by straightening or seaming away from the right-handers. He did not take another wicket, though.Malcolm Waller and Sikandar Raza had begun to stitch a partnership together when Misbah replaced Ajmal with Abdur Rehman in the first over after the drinks break. Waller drove Rehman’s second ball to the straight boundary and then swept the third in the air and was caught at square leg.Zimbabwe’s middle-order batsmen got starts and they played shots but they could not last. Raza, another relatively set batsman, was caught at short leg, giving Rehman his second wicket and reducing Zimbabwe to 58 for 5.Elton Chigumbura was Zimbabwe’s last significant line of defence, and he found the boundary occasionally through the sparsely populated outfield. His last four came by pushing hard at a flatter ball from Rehman and edging past first slip. Rehman bowled a similar delivery next ball but slowed his pace, Chigumbura pushed forward again and this time the edge went straight to slip.Ajmal’s twin strikes came just before the scheduled lunch break, which prompted the umpires to extend the session by 15 minutes. It was only a matter of time. Towards the end of that extension, Rehman darted a flat one into Tinashe Panyangara’s pads.With Zimbabwe nine down, the umpires kept the players on for a little longer. Ajmal had the final word, taking his 11th wicket to give Pakistan their first Test win since February 2012, and Dav Whatmore’s maiden victory as their coach.

The Dhaka Premier League match between Victoria Sporting Club and Kalabagan Cricket Academy was abandoned without a ball being bowled, forcing the teams to split points as a result. Rain over the week in Savar, where the BKSP cricket ground is located, did the damage as the reserve day too couldn’t be utilised.Victoria, the defending champions, were left frustrated, with captain Nasir Hossain questioning the choice of the ground which was soaked in water in the days leading up to the match. “If the [players] can tell that there is no chance of playing a match here, why can’t the BCB know?” Nasir told the Dhaka-based on Tuesday, the scheduled match day.The Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM), the tournament’s organisers, moved the BKSP ground’s next three matches. The Abahani-CCS match has moved to Fatullah Cricket Stadium on Thursday, which is located at the other end of Dhaka, a venue boasting a newly-installed drainage system.Two other matches on September 15 have also been shifted from BKSP to Bogra. But the new BKSP-3 venue nearby will be used for the next few rounds.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTillakaratne Dilshan smashed 16 boundaries in his unbeaten century•Associated Press

An unbeaten century from Tillakaratne Dilshan and 91 from Kumar Sangakkara carried Sri Lanka to a series win over South Africa with one match to play. The pair ensured the hosts achieved the highest successful run chase at Pallekele with six overs to spare to underline some of South Africa’s most pressing issues as they attempt to rebuild their one-day side.At first glance, it would seem the bowlers are to blame but South Africa’s middle-order are the real culprits in their defeat. Hashim Amla and JP Duminy shared a second-wicket stand of 101 to set a strong base for the team but the batsmen who followed squandered the advantage.From 118 for 1, South Africa were 238 all out, losing nine wickets for 120 runs. By contrast, Dilshan and Sangakkara shared a partnership of 184 – Sri Lanka’s highest against South Africa – to maintain their strong record at home against South Africa.South Africa have only won two ODIs in Sri Lanka and their inability to adapt to conditions was exposed again. The absence of quality spinners and senior players to take responsibility in the batting line-up cost them dearly and they will now return to Colombo with only pride to play for.South Africa began to make some amends for their failings with the bat and Hashim Amla’s return was central to that. Amla, who missed the first and third match with injury and could not bat in the second, recovered in time to form one half of South Africa’s fourth opening pair in as many matches.While Quinton de Kock’s inexperience was exposed against Lasith Malinga, when he was yorked for 8, Amla had the Sri Lankan attack erring. The seamers continually offered him too much width and he pulled and cut at will.Amla and JP Duminy, who has looked good without producing results in the series so far, settled in and took the batting powerplay after 15 overs. That proved a tactical mistake. Sri Lanka’s slew of spinners limited run-scoring opportunities and only 22 were scored in the five-over period.The pair succeeded in planting a platform but Amla did not stick around to help the launch from it. He was lbw to Dilshan, who went around the wicket to trap him on the back foot, and even a review could not save him.AB de Villiers’ lean run continued as he was caught behind trying to paddle-sweep. Faf du Plessis also did not contribute, offering a chance to Angelo Mathews in his follow-through and eventually being stumped.Ajantha Mendis foxed the less-experienced players, who have not learnt to pick him. David Miller was bowled by the legbreak and Farhaan Behardien clipped him straight to short leg.The fall of wickets forced Duminy to continue a quiet vigil and his strike rate remained in the 60s, until the last four overs, when he finally decided to launch against Malinga. Duminy managed to improvise, turning would-be yorkers into low full-tosses, but Malinga’s change of pace accounted for the tail.Still, South Africa would have thought they had enough with 198 the previous-best successful chase in Pallekele. Their bowlers started well against a changed Sri Lankan top order – with Mahela Jayawardene replacing Upula Tharanga – as Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe extracted extra bounce and got movement, but ill-discipline infected them again. South Africa sent down 17 wides, taking their series total to 58, and indicating an obvious problem with line.Jayawardene was frustrated by the early squeeze and when he tried to steer Tsotsobe to third man, he was caught by a diving Amla at gully. That was the last success South Africa saw until it was too late. Dilshan showed a willingness to ride out the pressure and looked for singles with Sangakkara instead of going for big shots to thwart the bowlers.But South Africa still had their chances. Sangakkara was on three when he edged Kleinveldt but Amla could not pull off the half chance, and on 33, when Duminy appealed for an lbw against him. South Africa had a review in hand but de Villiers chose not to use it. Afterwards, he said neither Duminy nor de Kock, who was keeping, were convinced, Replays, though, showed Sangakkara was out.His flirtation with fortune over, Sangakkara matches Dilshan blow for blow thereafter. Dilshan was strong square of the wicket and on the pull and brought out his trademark scoop off Tsotsobe. His century came off 119 balls with a swivel down to fine leg.Sangakkara peppered the on-side, with 52 of his runs coming in that area. After Dilshan crossed the century mark, Sangakkara was racing against the remaining runs to get there. He smacked Morkel for two fours to get into the nineties, but fell on his sword when he top-edged to mid-off.Dilshan finished things off to leave South Africa with plenty to think about. Foremost in their minds will be their poor effort in the field, and their decision-making under pressure, both of which need work before Wednesday.

ScorecardRicky Ponting ended his first-class career with the sort of commitment that has been taken for granted during an illustrious career•Getty Images

Ricky Ponting was committed to the last. He closed the first class chapter of his career with an unbeaten 169 to earn Surrey a draw against a Nottinghamshire side which was powerless to build on an impressive opening two days. Needing nine wickets, they could only manage seven, as Ponting unfurled a special innings to sign off his long-form career with impeccable class.He finishes on 24,150 runs – 493 of them coming in his six innings in Surrey whites, including two hundreds and a fifty. Today’s hefty unbeaten score gives him an illusory average of 123.25 in this stint, but it wouldn’t seem right if a career so illustrious came to end with a dismissal.That was particularly so when it all ended by him facing the part-time leg spin of Ajmal Shahzad, who resorted to his party trick for the last over of the day before hands were shaken. “There’s no worse time to be batting when a part-time bowler comes on,” he told ESPNcricinfo, laughing. But after resisting some juicy long hops, that was that.”First class cricket is over for me,” he said. “As much as I enjoy it, I need to look after in my personal life now. It’s been nearly 21 years that I’ve played and a lot of that time has been away from home. I’ve got a young family and it will be nice to just live a life as a father.”Those that turned up were treated to a display so masterful that at times it seemed Ponting played the day better than the sun itself – guiding Surrey away from dark periods with illuminating boundaries when Nottinghamshire sniffed blood. He was impenetrable in defence and countered with some smart hitting that gave Graeme White and Shahzad (off his long run naturally) cause for self-reflection; the ball thudding off his bat with that signature twang whenever they tried to settle.He ended immovable, satisfied but, ultimately, disappointed that Surrey come away from yet another Division One game with very little.”It’s nice to finish knowing you can still play,” he said, “but unfortunately it wasn’t in a winning team. We just haven’t grabbed the opportunities we’ve had. Even at the start of this game, winning the toss on this wicket and getting bowled out for 198 – that was the big moment in this game. We had to bat well in the first innings if we wanted to win and we didn’t do that.”There is no doubt that Surrey have developed a great affection for Ponting, who finishes his stay at the end of July before a cameo in the Caribbean Twenty20 and the start of an off-field career with Channel Ten as part of their Big Bash coverage.Beers were cracked open in honour of their adopted great, before the skipper hammered it home: “It wasn’t until Gareth spoke to the boys up there about my career being over that I had the chance to sit back, take my white pads off and put them to one side and think that’s the last time I’m going to be wearing them.”Behind the scenes, Ponting has taken it upon himself to imprint his values into the talented and impressionable youth at the club. It’s an ingrained stewardship that he says came to him in his final years as an international player, as he looked to bring Australia’s next crop through.He even had half an eye on Ashton Agar’s exploits at Trent Bridge, conscious of the 19-year-old’s talents having watched him guide Western Australia home against Tasmania in a Sheffield Shield match – a knock Ponting described as “fearless”. As Agar notched up a 98 in a similar manner, the former Australian captain couldn’t help but smile. “I thought I played pretty well on debut to make 96 and he’s ended up making more than me!”The day started awkwardly, with two Surrey wickets falling in the first hour; Harinath bowled by Harry Gurney, essentially around his legs and Zander de Bruyn’s suicidal run out.When the new ball arrived immediately, Ponting upped the rate but the wicket of Davies brought about a change of tact from the Australian. Only six runs ahead, with five wickets remaining – the last four of which added nothing in the first innings – runs were traded for minutes, and Zafar Ansari batted brilliantly for his 117.Nottinghamshire had a whiff of victory when Samit Patel removed both Ansari and Gareth Batty in nine balls, before also ending Chris Tremlett’s 34-ball stay with some ominous variable bounce. It was no less than Patel’s efforts deserved as he displayed commendable appetite and stamina to dig out a win with more than 50 overs of bowling – the vast majority of which were on the money.But he was no match for Ponting, and that is something a lot of other bowlers have had to accept over the last 20 years. He leaves Surrey staunch in the belief of his teammates and that success in the county championship is a won toss on playful pitch away.As for the next two days, family time and rest are the order of the day – his long term future in a nutshell.He recognised as much: “I’ve spent a lot of time in the middle – these old bones need a little bit of time off,” he said.