Sri Lanka v New Zealand, 2nd Test, SSC, 2nd day

New Zealand 159 for 5 (Taylor 70*, McCullum 5*, Thushara 2-37) trail Sri Lanka 416 (Samaraweera 143,
Mahela Jayawardene 92, Sangakkara 50, Patel 4-78) by 257 runs
The contest veered between bat and ball, dominating certain passages and providing the limited crowd with entertaining viewing, but, at the end of the day, New Zealand had their backs firmly to the wall.

The match was intriguingly poised with Sri Lanka at 295 for 4, but Thilan Samaraweera, with help from Chamara Kapugedera, powered Sri Lanka into the box seat with a breezy 72-run stand. Then the tail imploded - five wickets went down for 27 - to let slip a position from which they could have batted New Zealand out of the game. Samaraweera's fourth century of the year, though, guided the home side past 400, and the Sri Lankan quick bowlers struck thrice early to grab back some of the momentum the visitors had seized.

A limp reply from New Zealand, which included the haphazard dismissal of Martin Guptill, left the middle order with too much. Dammika Prasad, taking the place of Nuwan Kulasekara, struck with his first ball to get Tim McIntosh, though replays suggested he was lucky. Thilan Thushara needed no such help in getting Daniel Flynn to nick one that pitched outside off stump and held its line.

Guptill showed brief resilience, playing some cracking on-side strokes, to race to 29 from 26 balls. Then Thushara tested him with a series of bouncers. Guptill hooked one for four. The next ball reared into his ribs and he gloved it to fine leg. A man went out to deep square leg. Three in a row followed and Guptill was visibly torn between leaving or pulling. Then he got another short one and fell for the trap, getting a top edge straight to the fielder placed back. On air, an incensed Danny Morrison called it "brainless cricket".

Ross Taylor led a passage of recovery with Jesse Ryder, adding 85. Taylor took his time, playing out 31 deliveries for 10, before opening up with some aggressive shots through the off side off Prasad. He survived an extremely tight call on 30 against Muttiah Muralitharan but continued to sweep the spinner. He was dropped on 56 off Murali, but was left looking from the other end as spin accounted for Ryder, popping to short leg, and Jeetan Patel, edging to slip.

Unfortunately for New Zealand nobody could match Taylor's defiance and shot selection and the tourists found themselves struggling for survival. New Zealand had brought themselves back into this match well after lunch after Samaraweera made 500 look a distinct possibility, but their top order failed to reciprocate.

Without Samaraweera, Sri Lanka would have really struggled. Iain O'Brien put New Zealand on the right track with a good first spell of quick bowling on an unresponsive track, dismissing Mahela Jayawardene when a hundred seemed inevitable, but the visitors again sat back to allow Samaraweera flourish. A sumptuous on-drive for four - taking him past 1000 Test runs this year - set the tone for his innings along. The eighties were a blur as Samaraweera unfurled slow-motion pulls past square, spiffy drives past cover and a couple of deft dabs.

Samaraweera slowed down after Jayawardene's dismissal, facing 14 balls when on 99, but eventually reached the landmark, after 277 minutes at the crease, with a push between cover and point off Martin. The next ball was hooked for six, a release of adrenalin. A classy drive past cover followed off Jacob Oram, who continued to bowl without pace or menace, after which Samaraweera clouted Jeetan Patel for consecutive fours, unafraid to go over the top. Kapugedera, who enjoyed a life on 9, eased his way to 35 before miscuing to mid-off four minutes before lunch.

New Zealand came out after the interval and turned in their best passage of the match. Chris Martin began the session by bouncing Prasanna Jayawardene, who top-edged to long leg. Then Patel struck, first getting Prasad to poke to slip and trapping Herath lbw next ball. His fourth victim was the man of the moment, Samaraweera, who gloved a reverse-sweep to depart for an excellent 143.

Kiwis at full-strength

New Zealand will field a full-strength team in today's second Test against Sri Lanka after the tourists were plagued by a stomach bug in the first match.
Second SL-NZ Test starts today

New Zealand had 13 of their 15 players laid low by upset stomachs and viral fever during the first Test in Galle last week, which Sri Lanka won by 202 runs to take the lead in the two-match series.

Skipper Daniel Vettori said the entire squad had trained over the past two days and his players were gearing up for a better show in the final Test at the Sinhalese sports club.

"We need players with the ability to stand throughout the game," Vettori told reporters before Tuesday's practice session.

"We will decide on the line-up before the toss. It is important to get big scores. We need to get beyond the 30s and 40s we are scoring now and get those 100s.

"We have been selling ourselves a bit short. Hopefully we will do a much better job here."

New Zealand will probably make one change from the team that lost in Galle, with fast bowler Daryl Tuffey expected to replace seamer Iain O'Brien.

Vettori himself needs just two more wickets to become only the ninth player in history to achieve the all-rounder's double of 3,000 runs and 300 wickets.

The 93-Test veteran was New Zealand's star performer in Galle, with five wickets and knocks of 42 and 67 and is again expected to lead from the front.

"Records definitely motivate me," said the 30-year-old, who has scored 3,329 Test runs and taken 298 wickets since his debut in 1997.

"If you look back five years ago, my Test batting record was pretty embarrassing. I have been working hard on it. It's a nice feeling now that I can contribute a lot better and stay at the crease a lot longer."

Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said he was wary of a New Zealand backlash, saying he had a lot of respect for their fighting qualities.

"We are expecting a very tough response from New Zealand," he said. "I think they are going to come back very strongly and try to win this Test, so that they have something to take back home.

"For us, we are going all out to win this game and win the series."

Sri Lanka, who are now joint second with India in the official Test rankings, will hold the number two position on their own behind South Africa if they win the series 2-0.

But Sangakkara appeared less excited at the rankings, saying it was more important to perform consistently.

"The number two position probably reflects how well we are playing, but we are not number one, and that means we have a lot more to achieve to get there," he said.

All-rounder Angelo Mathews was ruled out of the match with a hamstring strain picked up in Galle and he will be replaced by batsman Chamara Kapugedera, Sangakkara said.

"A few of the bowlers have niggles so we will just have to see who is fit at the toss," he said. "We would love to play three spinners on this track, but we have all options open."

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

The preparations for the ICC World Cup 2011 is expected to gather pace now as the ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) has approved three stadium development projects worth Tk 152 crore yesterday to facilitate smooth holding of the showcase event in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is co-host of the cricket's mega event along with India and Sri Lanka and has been awarded eight matches including two quarterfinals and the opening ceremony.

India will host highest 29 matches out of 49 including one quarterfinal, semifinal and the final and a total of 12 matches including one quarterfinal and semifinal will be played in Sri Lanka.

The development and upgradation of the three stadia are among five development projects worth Tk 584 crore which was approved by the ECNEC at its meeting at the NEC on Tuesday.

While briefing reporters, Planning Minister AK Khandker said that Tk 293 crore of the total project cost would be met from the national exchequer while the rest Tk 291 crore would be spent from foreign aid.

Prime Minister and ECNEC chairperson Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting, attended by senior cabinet ministers and senior officials concerned.

The projects are maintenance and development of Bangabandhu National Stadium at a cost of Tk 31 crore to prepare the venue for the World Cup's inaugural ceremony, maintenance and development of Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, the home of Bangladesh cricket, at a cost of Tk 64 crore to convert it as an ICC standard stadium and maintenance and development of Fatullah Cricket Stadium at a cost of Tk 57 crore to upgrade for the cricket's biggest extravaganza.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has been lagging behind in preparation and with only 17 months in hand there has hardly been any improvement in this regard, but the approval will now pave the way for uplifting the facilities of the three major venues. The tender would be floated soon through the National Sports Council (NSC).

The venue inspection team however will arrive in Dhaka in October and after completion of the inspection the match schedule will be announced the following month.

The BCB, which is also planning to host a couple of matches in Chittagong, will have to wait for budgetary approval for the port city venue as they have just submitted the DPP (development project planning) to the NSC.

Meanwhile, the ECNEC has also approved the Tk 392 crore Siddirganj-Maniknagar 230KV power transmission line and Tk 40 crore expansion and development of Chittagong College to Kapash Gola Road project under Chittagong Development Authority.

England VS Australia 5th test match

Flintoff's fling inspires England Ashes glory:
Score Board..:

England : 332 & 373/9d
Australia : 160 & 348 (102.2 over)
England won by 197 runs

England 1st And 2nd innings:
AJ Strauss 55 runes by 101 balls, IR Bell 72 runes by 137 balls, AJ Strauss 75 runes by 191 balls, IJL Trott 119 runes by 193 balls..

Australia 1st and 2nd innings:
SM Katich 50by 107 balls,SR Watson 34runes by 69 balls, MEK Hussey 121 runes by 263 balls, RT Ponting* 66runes by 103 balls.

England won the 5-match series 2-1
Umpires Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and BF Bowden (New Zealand)
TV umpire PJ Hartley
Match referee RS Madugalle (Sri Lanka)
Reserve umpire JW Lloy
Man of the match: SCJ Broad (England)
Players of the series MJ Clarke (Australia) and AJ Strauss (England)

Broad and Swann give England control

England 332 (Bell 72, Siddle 4-75, Hilfenhaus 3-71) and 58 for 3 (Strauss 32*, Trott 8*) lead Australia 160 (Broad 5-37, Swann 4-38) by 230 runs

Ponting still has time for Tests

England's Andrew Flintoff may be about to call time on his Test career but retirement is not on Ricky Ponting's agenda.
This week's fifth and final Ashes Test, which starts at the Oval on Thursday will Flintoff, has said, be the last of the injury-prone all-rounder's career.
But Australia captain Ponting, whose side need only a draw in south London to retain the Ashes with the series all square at 1-1, is not thinking about departing the Test scene just yet.
At the age of 34, this could be Ponting's final Test tour of England and a series win would go some way to making up for the disappointment of Australia's 2-1 Ashes reverse on English soil in 2005.
But for Ponting the thrill of leading an Australia side without such star names as the retired quintet of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer still remains fresh.
"I've never put a time-frame on when I am thinking about finishing my international career," Ponting, Australia's all-time leading run scorer and a veteran of 135 Tests, told reporters at the Oval here on Wednesday.
"It's been one of the big challenges of my career and we've had some good successes along the way," explained Ponting, who led Australia to a series win in South Africa this year.
England famously celebrated their Ashes triumph four years ago with an open-topped bus parade through the streets of London.
But whatever the outcome of the fifth Test, Australia will be boarding a train the day after the scheduled finish for a one-day international against Scotland in Edinburgh.
Ponting has become something of a pantomime villain figure for many England fans at grounds during this series and the booing got so bad that spectators were asked, in the Headingley programme, by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), chairman Giles Clarke to stop jeering him.
"Last week at Canterbury (in Australia's final warm-up match) was terrific. I got clapped on the ground and I got clapped off, but that might have been because I only made 45 I got clapped off.
"I've enjoyed every moment of this series. It's been great Test match cricket and it's been great to be part of an Ashes series like this. I think it just goes to show that Test cricket is alive and well, and we are all really enjoying these bigger series we are playing in.

Welcome Bangladeshi heroes

Cricket news :

The victorious Bangladesh cricket team returned home late yesterday from their successful 51-day tour of the West Indies and Zimbabwe to a raucous welcome at the Zia International Airport.

Ministers, board members and officials were joined by a nearly two thousand strong gathering of fans, including numerous close family members of the players, who greeted their heroes with garlands of flowers and joyous chants of “Congratulations” & “Welcome”.

Such success is unprecedented in the history of Bangladesh cricket and the mass turnout showcased exactly how much this success means to the people.

Victorious captain Shakib al Hasan, who was thrust into the role following the pull-out of Mashrafe bin Mortaza, was visibly beaming at the press conference.

“We had gone into this series with the hope of just playing good cricket after our disastrous performance in the T20 World Cup, but this achievement is glorious.

“This has come about after two years of hard work and we are just now bearing the fruits of our labour,” said Shakib.

The all-rounder who has led from the front also had a word of warning.

“I would think that our players will go home tonight revelling in this glory but come back tomorrow morning seeking new challenges. As great as this is, we need to put this win behind us and look forward,” continued the left-hander.

Wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim, whose sparkling knock sealed the series in Zimbabwe, seconded his captain.

“The victory is the result of an all-round team performance. Everyone did well and this will raise our confidence for continued success.”

Mohammad Ashraful, the target of much flak for his subdued performances prior to this tour, managed to hit back at his critics with some good knocks including a century against Zimbabwe.

And the mercurial right-hander appealed to the media for more support for himself and his teammates.