ScorecardA new world record in the Twenty20 competition was set at Colombo on Sunday between Nondescripts Cricket Club and Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club. Nondescripts, batting first, rattled up an astonishing 245 for 4 in their 20 overs. Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, who recently represented the World XI in the one-day matches of the ICC Super Series, clobbered 93 from 49 balls. Kosela Kulasekara, the 20-year-old, matched his senior partner in striking 98, including eight sixes, from the same number of balls. The Air Force Sports Club were never in the hunt, with Upul Chandana taking 3 for 18 from four overs to take Nondescripts to a thumping 142-run victory.

Mohammad Kaif has recovered from his hamstring injury, which he sustained on October 14, and is set to play for Central Zone in their crucial Duleep Trophy clash against West Zone at Aurangabad, starting on November 4.Wing Commander Baladitya, the manager of the Indian team, confirmed this and added that John Gloster, the team physiotherapist, had declared him fit after subjecting him to various tests.Kaif, who suffered a muscle tear on his left hamstring during the finals of the Challenger Trophy at Mohali, is likely to return to the side for the sixth ODI at Rajkot, to be played on November 9.His presence at Aurangabad, though, will be a huge boost to the Central Zone side in what will be a virtual semi-final clash. Simultaneously, the Sourav Ganguly-led East Zone will take on Zimbabwe President’s XI at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai and a victory will guarantee Central a spot in the final.

A 17-ball blitz from Lance Klusener, the Dolphins captain, smashed the Warriors out of this Standard Bank Cup game. Coming in at No.8, Klusener hit five sixes in his 39 to lead his team to a three-wicket win at Mercedes Benz Park, East London.Having been set a target of 224 the Dolphins were always behind theeight-ball as they progressively fell away from the required rate. DaleBenkenstein and Jon Kent tried to get on level terms with the Warriors,but with both falling in the forties they had almost prepared the scriptfor Klusener. When he came to the crease the Dolphins were still 44 runsbehind with 31 balls to be bowled. Four sighters followed before thefirst six went out the ground. Tyron Henderson then felt the might ofthe man as Klusener sent three consecutive balls over the ropes and thedamage had been done. A further six cleared the ropes and the Dolphinshad won with five balls to spare. For once the tactic of battingKlusener so low down in the order had worked, but only just.Thanks to a whirlwind innings of 28 off 14 balls from Hendersonthe Warriors were able to post a reasonable total of 223 for 9 in their 45 overs. For a brief period in the middle of the innings therun rate had reached five runs to the over after a 51 from JustinKreusch and a 49 from Arno Jacobs. With no-one able to stay with himHenderson chanced his arm once too often to be bowled, virtually endingthe Warriors’ onslaught. Nanty Hayward, making his season debut forthe Dolphins, bowled well for seven overs but had the misfortune ofbowling at the death as he gave away 27 runs in his last two withHenderson on a mission. He picked up two wickets while Andrew Tweediecleaned up the tail to take three.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced that it is prepared to host a one-day series against one or both of Kenya and Zimbabwe in March.A short press release from the board on Tuesday to that effect caught the Kenyan Cricket Association by surprise. A KCA spokesman said that it had not as yet been notified. Cricinfo contacted Zimbabwe Cricket for a response but at the time of writing had not had a reply.The BCB statement said that it would host a tour between March 10 and 24. Although this would clash with Kenya’s proposed ICC Intercontinental Cup tie against Holland, the ICC has indicated that should Kenya arrange an ODI against a Full Member then it would allow the Intercontinental tie to be rescheduled.It appears unlikely that Zimbabwe would entertain the idea of taking part in a tri-series. They have more than enough problems at the moment and their priority has to be to try to get a side to the Caribbean in April rather than take on an additional commitment they might not be able to fulfil.The ICC, especially Malcolm Speed, has been working hard behind the scenes to try to get Full Member countries to agree to play Kenya, but this has proved far from straightforward. Bangladesh are the first to make a concrete proposal, although it is reported that Pakistan might offer to host a short three-ODI tour in April.The idea of a tri-series involving these three countries was raised last June at the ICC annual meeting in London and at that time was provisionally scheduled for November. That was put back to February and it has to be hoped that the latest announcement means that it will finally happen, with or without Zimbabwe.

Andy Moles is about to quit as Scotland’s coach after falling out with senior players, according to a report in today’s Scotsman.Moles, who took over the role in March last year, guided Scotland to victory in the ICC Trophy and gained them a place in the 2007 World Cup. But the newspaper says that despite verbally agreeing a two-year extension to his contract, he is about to step down.The players are reportedly angry that Moles criticised them at the end of last season before spending three months in South Africa running the ICC’s Winter Training Programme. While the Scottish board agreed to him taking on that role, it has alienated some of the team who felt he should have worked with them to prepare for a busy season.His position was discussed at a Cricket Scotland board meeting on Tuesday night and a source told the Scotsman: “There is unrest over several aspects of the coaching situation. It’s ironic after all the success the national side had last season but Andy seems to have lost the confidence of the players.”Roddy Smith, chief executive of Cricket Scotland, refused to confirm or deny that Moles was ready to quit. A statement is expected this afternoon.”The bottom line is that Cricket Scotland has failed dismally to target private finance,” a local source told Cricinfo. “Their players still resent the slightest degree of criticism, and I suspect they are going to get the fright of their lives in the coming months.”Moles is said to be frustrated at financial constraints imposed on him. But if he does stand down, then questions will be asked. Moles walked out as coach of Kenya after falling out with many of their leading players and also because of the board’s financial predicament. In fairness, at the time Kenyan cricket was a shambles, but many inside Kenya have not forgotten his time in charge.But Cricket Scotland might find replacing Moles is far from straightforward. Neil Drysdale, who follows Scottish cricket closely, wrote in the Herald: “It will be interesting to discover whether any international luminaries will be prepared to walk into an environment where backbiting and whispering campaigns are prevalent, where the salary is modest by comparison with the county jobs in England, and where the administrators have little chance of changing the system, given that expenditure is likely to drop this season, now that the Saltires are no longer involved in the National League, thus halving their number of attractive fixtures.”

A fully-fit Simon Jones is taking tips from Dennis Lillee ahead of England’s tour of India beginning in February.Jones suffered an ankle injury after the final Ashes Test last summer and missed out on England’s tour of Pakistan. In India for a fortnight prior to the arrival of the England side on February 13, Jones will work with Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai. “It’s nice to be bowling again really,” Jones told Reuters. “It’s a good chance to be working with Lillee. I’m picking his brains.”Having played in India in 2004 during a successful comeback from a career-threatening knee injury, Jones said he knew what to expect of the pitches in India. “Obviously the conditions are pretty coarse out here, the grounds are very dry,” he said. “I think the ball will reverse swing. It’s only a question of how quickly. In Old Trafford it reversed after 15 overs. I don’t quite think it will go that quickly here.”On his own form – he has 59 Test wickets at 28.23 and was a star performer during the Ashes with 18 victims – Jones said it was a matter of getting back to full strength and putting to use an art he seems to have mastered – reverse swing. “I’ve been out here before with England A, and did okay. I got a couple of five-wicket hauls with reverse swing,” he said. “We are using a different ball this time. We’ll see what it is like.”England play three Tests and seven one-day internationals against India. Their tour kicks off with a three-day warm-up match at Mumbai from February 18.

Duncan Fletcher has praised the inexperienced England team for their performance in the first Test at Nagpur. The side included three debutants – Alastair Cook, Ian Blackwell and Monty Panesar – while none of the players were over 30 and the team was led by Andrew Flintoff, captaining England for the first time.”What is so pleasing is that these guys look as though they have really got a desire not just to play for England but to do well for England.” Fletcher confirmed that Flintoff will continue to lead England for the remainder of the tour, but he still has concerns over the workload for the allrounder.Flintoff bowled 46 overs at Nagpur and there are just three days between the Tests. However, Fletcher has talked to Marcus Trescothick in recent days and says there is ‘a very good chance’ that he won’t return for either the remaining Tests or the one-day series, while Michael Vaughan is unlikely to return for the one-day matches.”At the moment it is a lot to do,” said Fletcher. “Just as an all-rounder he had a lot to do. Adding the captaincy could be – you never know with the individual – what he needs to step his game up to another level. We will only find that out later on.”Fred, at this stage, will captain for the rest of the tour. He captained well. Considering the circumstances it wasn’t an easy game, being thrown in he had to grab hold of the reins straight away, which he did. You can see immediately he is a guy who wants to lead from the front.”England’s reshaped side performed above all expected with two of the debutants – Cook and Panesar – having outstanding games, while Paul Collingwood, who probably wouldn’t have played if Vaughan and Trescothick had been available, struck his maiden Test century.”I was very impressed with what I saw of Cook in Pakistan and that is why we got him back this time,” said Fletcher. “As for Monty, I was surprised with the control he had right from the word go, he didn’t seem to show any nerves. He has a good classical action and that is what we have been trying to get out of our bowlers instead of these mechanical actions which leave you fighting to get consistency.”Collingwood’s performance did not surprise Fletcher, who has always been a fan of England’s established stand-by batsman. Now he is demanding a position in his own right.”He is one guy who has shown some character. He has been given very few chances and yet he has grabbed them on nearly every occasion. He played two great innings in Pakistan and to come out and get that knock shows why I have wanted him around the side for some time. He has got that buzz about him which is very important. He has done a hell of a job and we have to take note of that.”The one negative of England’s performance was two dropped catches by Geraint Jones, the first of which would have broken the 128-run stand between Mohammad Kaif and Anil Kumble in the first innings, while the second came against Rahul Dravid on the final morning.But Fletcher, a big fan of Jones, has again fully supported him. “As I have said on numerous occasions, I have seen other guys put down chances. From our point of view he kept magnificently in Pakistan, he came here and missed two difficult chances. If he was putting down nine-to-five jobs then you probably would be worried but they were two difficult chances.”In a pleasing change of events for Fletcher, the England squad is all fit in the build-up to the second Test, which starts at Mohali on Thursday. Kevin Pietersen has been cleared of any serious problem after an x-ray on his elbow, which caused concern after a dive in the field on Sunday.

Simon Jones was named one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year at a dinner in London on Tuesday.”It’s something I’ve wanted for a while,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of the other guys pick it up and when you do get it it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It was really nice to get it and it’s a real accolade, especially following the likes of other Glamorgan players like Don Shepherd, Alan Jones, Matthew Maynard and Steve Watkin.”Jones, who was presented with a leather-bound copy of the 2006 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack by his father, Jeff, during the evening, said that it capped an unbelievable 12 months.”To beat the Aussies was something special. We had a feeling we might push them but to beat them as we did was a great feeling. The reception we had from the crowds and the public was amazing, and it’s something I don’t think I will experience again.”At the dinner, Kate Hoey, the former sports minister who was the evening’s speaker, criticised the ECB’s decision to sell all TV rights to satellite broadcaster BSkyB while David Morgan, the ECB chief executive, sat feet away. She also slammed the handling of the Zimbabwe issue.Hoey concluded her speech by calling for government incentives to promote the game in state schools, with suggestions that grants could be offered to any which played competitive cricket. She also admitted that when she was in office, between 1998 and 2001, she struggled to get cricket taken seriously, but added that the situation had now changed with the success of the national side last summer.

Another series, more injuries and another captaincy conundrum; when England’s selection panel meets this weekend to finalise the squad for next week’s first Test against Sri Lanka, not only will enough fit players have to be found, but a man to lead them will also be announced.David Graveney, chairman of the three-man selection panel, indicated to reporters that the captain, at least, is likely to be Andrew Flintoff. He did, however, also acknowledge ongoing fears that the extra responsibility on Flintoff’s admittedly broad shoulders remains a concern.”The first thing to be discussed is if Michael Vaughan is out of contention, for how long and how does that affect the captaincy,” explained Graveney to reporters. “We hear what everybody is saying about workload for Freddie. But let’s not forget he captained one of the most memorable victories, which was the last Test match we played – you can draw your own conclusions from that.”Graveney was referring to England’s stunning win against India at Mumbai, one which levelled the series many expected England to lose. England suffered similarly catastrophic luck against India with injuries to key players Marcus Trescothick, Simon Jones as well as captain Michael Vaughan, all of whom missed the entire series.The list of injured absentees for this Test is equally frightening, though at least there isn’t a broken metatarsal anywhere in sight. Vaughan has failed to recover from his knee problem, James Anderson has been ruled out with a back injury, Jones has ongoing knee problems, Ashley Giles remains a long-term casualty and Steve Harmison hasn’t recovered from the shin problems that curtailed his tour of India. Thus England will again take to the field against Sri Lanka under an inexperienced captain and team.The other possible alternative as captain is Andrew Strauss who captained England in two ODIs in India though Graveney was unwilling to reveal too much more. “There’s a huge difference between a one-off Test match and doing a whole series. We’ll monitor the situation. Michael Vaughan is captain of England, and let’s hope he comes back as soon as possible.”

Zee TV has won the exclusive telecasting rights for next week’s DLF Cup between India and Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. The two one-day internationals, which take place at the newly-built Zayed Cricket Stadium on April 18 and 19, will be in aid of the victims of the devastating earthquakes that hit the subcontinent in October last year.For the sum of US$219 million, Zee Sports has acquired the global media rights for the 25 matches that India are scheduled to play on neutral ground over the next five years, which works out at US$8.77 million per match.Yogesh Radhakrishnan, managing director and CEO or Real Media-Zee Network, said: “These international matches will definitely put Abu Dhabi on the world map of cricket, and Zee TV Middle East is proud to play a leading role in showcasing the capital’s sporting infrastructure.”Acquiring the global media rights is further proof of our commitment to promoting this game across the world and bringing exciting cricket right into the homes of cricket lovers.”