Piper pleads guilty at ECB hearing

Keith Piper: hearing adjourned © Getty Images

Keith Piper has pleaded guilty to a charge of taking cannabis, after appearing before an ECB disciplinary panel in Manchester. At Piper’s request sentence was adjourned until May 26, 2005, but in the interim he has been suspended from participation in all forms of cricket that fall under the jurisdiction of the ECB.Piper, a Warwickshire stalwart for the past 16 years, was summoned before the panel, which consisted of Gerard Elias QC, Alan Wadey and Richard Bevan of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, after failing a drugs test during Warwickshire’s Championship match against Hampshire at Edgbaston on April 14.If the panel finds against him, it would in all likelihood signal the end of Piper’s career. He is 35 and has a previous offence behind him – he failed an internally-conducted drugs test in 1997 and served a one-match ban.Piper is the third Warwickshire player to be in such a position – Paul Smith and Graham Wagg have also served drugs-related bans, and as a consequence, Dennis Amiss, the club’s chief executive, is also coming under scrutiny for the club’s stance. Last season Wagg was given a 15-month ban by the ECB after testing positive for cocaine, and suffered a double blow when his Warwickshire contract was duly terminated.The Birmingham Post, which broke the story on Saturday, claimed that the drugs policy the club promised to introduce after the Wagg incident has never materialised, adding that while a firm was hired to construct a policy, the county have not reacted to the draft proposal sent to them before Christmas.

Sinclair and Butler miss NZ contract list

Look who’s back: Shane Bond will play for an Academy side in Brisbane next month © Getty Images

Mathew Sinclair and Ian Butler have been dumped from New Zealand’s 20-man list of contracted players for 2005-06 after disappointing seasons. Sinclair struggled against Australia in Test and one-day series while Butler was given few opportunities to impress and was unable to stay ahead of the returning Shane Bond in the bowling pecking order.The naming of Bond is a significant boost for New Zealand after their No. 1 pace bowler suffered and then recovered from career-threatening back injuries. Bond re-entered first-class competition late last summer and has been selected for an Academy tournament in Brisbane in July. Chris Harris, who injured a shoulder in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series in December, has retained his place and will return to bowling through the England club side Lashings.Lindsay Crocker, the New Zealand general manager, said even though Sinclair and Butler were not contracted they were still in the frame for international matches, particularly after they used 33 players over the past 12 months. “Sinclair was not considered as an opener,” he said. “As a middle-order player he ranks behind a number of other players in what is a congested area. Butler is still very much a prospect but does not make the top 20 when considered against Bond, Oram, Martin, Franklin, Mills and Tuffey.”Crocker said the pair’s omissions showed the growing depth of the squad and the competition for contracts was encouraging. He said Jacob Oram’s back injury was healing well, Daniel Vettori had benefited from missing the two-Test Sri Lanka series and Michael Papps, who is best remembered for being hit in the head twice by Brett Lee in the same over, was recovering well from finger surgery. The three players all made the list.”Those who have narrowly missed out on NZC contracts are more than likely to pick up top ranked Major Association contracts,” Crocker said. The 12-month period begins today.Contracted players Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Chris Cairns, Craig Cumming, Stephen Fleming, James Franklin, Chris Harris, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan, Hamish Marshall, James Marshall, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Michael Papps, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffey, Lou Vincent, Daniel Vettori, Paul Wiseman.

Inzamam praises, King blames

Danish Kaneria was ecstatic over his matchwinning spell © Getty Images

Inzamam-ul- Haq praised his team’s effort in securing their first Test win in the Caribbean since 1988. Pakistan won by 136 runs in the second Test in Jamaica and levelled the series 1-1. “The boys really worked hard, and all credit must go to them for us winning this game because it’s been 11 months of continuous cricket,” Inzamam said during the post-match press conference. “I think it was a great effort to have come back from defeat in the first Test.”Apart from Inzamam’s hundred in the second innings, Pakistan’s victory was also inspired by Danish Kaneria, who scalped 5 for 46 in the second innings, and ended all West Indian hopes of winning the series. Inzamam commended Kaneria’s matchwinning spell. “It was a close match, but I think the difference was the bowling of Danish in the second innings,” he said. “He bowled tremendously well, and it was never going to be easy batting on this pitch on the fourth and fifth day.”Kaneria himself suggested that the surface had helped in sending the hosts hurtling to defeat. “I bowled a little quicker in this match because the pitch was giving me a lot of assistance, different to Barbados, where the turn was slow and the pitch was good for the batsmen,” he said, after winning the man-of-the-match award. Shabbir Ahmed, whose bowling action was reported to the ICC last week, also supported Kaneria with 4 for 55 and finished with eight wickets in the match.West Indies, who were beaten 2-0 by South Africa prior to this series, and then lost eight consecutive one-day internationals, had won the first Test at Bridgetown by 276 runs, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul preferred to focus on the positives. “It was still a decent series for us,” he said. “We won the first Test, and we were able to bowl out Pakistan twice in both Tests. This shows that we can improve, and we are improving, and if we put in the hard work, we can get something in return.”But, credit must be given to Pakistan. They played very well to come-from-behind, and win this game. The pitch always had a little bit in it for the bowlers, and they put the ball in the right areas, and that helped them to come out on top.”However, Bennett King, their coach, was not so lukewarm in his response. He blamed the bowlers for the loss, as they conceded 374 and 309 runs in the match. “In terms of the actual reason why we didn’t win this Test match, you can actually blame our bowlers,” he said. “Although we had a very good performance in Corey Collymore, I thought they scored 150 to 200 runs too many in total, through some pretty ordinary bowling. And that probably is the thing that disappointed me most.”West Indies were set a target of 280, which King reckoned was always going to be a tough proposition. “I thought the total that they set us was too much. I honestly thought that we should have got them out for a lot less. I think on that wicket, under 200 was probably a more realistic score.”All was not lost for West Indies, as Brian Lara was named the Man of the Series for scoring 331 runs at a phenomenal average of 82.75, including hundreds in both Tests. “It was a good home season for me, I scored four hundreds in five matches, but I did not do anything in the second innings of this Test match when it was most needed,” said Lara. “We really needed a series victory to give us a boost of confidence, after losing to South Africa, and we were well placed coming into this Test after winning in Barbados. I think we have shown major improvements in our fielding, but hopefully we can work on our batting and bowling in the matches coming up.”West Indies have three weeks rest before traveling to Sri Lanka for two Tests and a triangular series also involving India. King made it clear that there would be no respite for his team. “They’ve all got programmes when they go home for the next three weeks,” he said. “And it’s been structured so that we’ve actually set times and organised with the trainers in their home countries what they’ve gotta do and what time to expect them. And if they don’t show up, the trainers have been informed to ring us and tell us.”

Bermuda battle back against UAE

When you come to watch the ICC Trophy, it’s not just a matter of jumping in the car and heading to the ground. With six games on each day, you are spoilt for choice. Short on time after taking in the morning’s first priority, the All Blacks-Lions rugby Test, I opted today for Lisburn, a stone’s throw from Belfast, where United Arab Emirates met Bermuda.In 1986 a thousand people crammed into Wallace Park when Ian Botham blazed a century off 37 balls during the Lisburn Cricket Club’s 150-year celebrations. In the last week of July each year, Bermuda has a two-day public holiday dedicated to playing cricket and providing the ultimate party for thousands of Bermudians.Contrast today where just a handful of spectators had arrived for the first ball, and the rustle of the wind through vast belts of greenery outside the boundary provided the loudest noise, as Bermuda struggled along on a wicket doing plenty. The UAE pacemen extracted sharp seam movement in the first hour and the spinners got it turn later on.Things seemed pretty grim for Bermuda at 105 for 6 until Dean Minors, their wicketkeeper, was able to hang around with Albert Steed. When Steed was dismissed in the 45th over, with Bermuda’s total sitting uncomfortably at 158, their all-rounder Saleem Mukuddem whispered to me “this boy can hit them”.Mukuddem was referring to Lionel Cann and his assessment was not wrong. In 17 balls Cann smashed 45 courtesy of the UAE bowlers feeding his favoured cow-corner slog. The shout of “timber” from one pumped-up fan after each of Cann’s four sixes was surely something unique.All of a sudden it was game on prompting Gus Logie, Bermuda’s coach, to say at the break, “I’d rather have the runs on the board than be chasing them”. Logie’s counterpart, Abid Ali, the former Indian international, saw it differently, saying 218 was a target UAE should get and at 67 for 1 they were in control.Enter man-of-the-match Dwayne Leverock, built more like a Bermudian version of David Boon than the athletes demanded by the professional game that the teams in the ICC Trophy aspire to. Leverock lured Arshad Ali, UAE’s star batsman, out of his crease with his cunning left-arm spin to start a memorable and decisive passage of play.When Leverock wasn’t probing and having batsmen caught he was snaffling catches at slip. When he displayed skilful foot juggling skills, after his second snare, the now hundred-strong crowd looked over at the scoreboard that read a scarcely-believable 84 for 6.At another level, one where one-dayers are a dime-a-dozen, it may have been all over for UAE but this is no ordinary competition. Aside from a daily allowance these guys receive nothing for playing and can only play if they can get time off work. Playing for your country in a tournament of this significance – there’s funding from the ICC on the line for the five that qualify for the next World Cup – really means something and Fahad Usman, UAE’s No.7, typified just that.Usman put his side in with a chance of victory with an intelligent but rapid 63. Looking on, Bermuda’s injured captain Clay Smith barked words of encouragement and when he said “it’s coming baby”, he was right: Usman holed out and the Bermudian celebrations erupted.

Middlesex repel Warne to claim win

Division One

Middlesex’s middle and lower-order repelled everything that Shane Warne could produce as they secured a tense two-wicket win over Hampshire. Each time Middlesex were moving into a favourite’s position Hampshire struck back. Firstly they removed Alan Richardson after he proved to be a stubborn nightwatchman and he was immediately followed by Ed Joyce. At 199 for 6 Hampshire were in with a real chance, but two generations of Middlesex allrounders – Jamie Dalrymple and Paul Weekes – forged a vital of 56. Still, though, Hampshire didn’t give in and when Warne removed Ben Scott 6 were still with two wickets in hand. However, Weekes had the final say, as his unbeaten 39 finally settled the issue after a brilliant example of hard-fought Championship cricket.Gloucestershire battled to an unlikely draw against Surrey through career-best innings from Alex Gidman (142) and Stephen Adshead (93). The pair added 233 and more importantly used up valuable time. However, when they both fell within 14 runs of each other Surrey would still have had the chance to chase a very attainable target if they’d wrapped up the tail. But they found more stubborn resistance in their path as Ian Fisher and James Averis both batted for over an hour. Jimmy Ormond eventually finished the innings with 4 for 89 but Surrey’s target of 180 was nigh on impossible in the remaining time. Azhar Mahmood gave it a shot with 26 from 17 balls but the game was called off after 11 overs. Surrey have missed a huge opportunity to close the gap on the leaders while the draw will boost Gloucestershire’s hopes of avoiding the drop.2nd daySolid batting from Kent’s middle-order left their clash with Sussex finely poised after two days. Four batsmen passed 50, Robert Key’s 74 currently being the top-score, and Matthew Walker is unbeaten on 55 overnight. He is Kent’s main hope of getting a lead if he can receive support from the tail. Jason Lewry picked up a couple of wickets, including Key, but Mushtaq Ahmed was usually expensive, going at over four runs an over. Earlier, Chris Adams and James Kirtley extended their partnership to 72 and Simon Cook finished with 3 for 57.

Division Two

Richard Dawson guided Yorkshire to a three-wicket win against Worcestershire with a flamboyant 51 from 58 balls. The match was in the balance when play began, Yorkshire needing 46 runs and Worcestershire four wickets. Matt Mason struck the first blow, removing Ismail Dawood for 5, but Dawson held firm to resist the Worcestershire attack. Kabir Ali, who had taken four wickets yesterday to set up the tense finish, could not gain another breakthrough as Tim Bresnan offered Dawson staunch support in the eighth wicket stand of 39 – enough to take Yorkshire home and gain a vital 20 points.2nd dayEssex took a firm grip against Northamptonshire after piling up 506 then setting their spinners loose on the Northants batting. James Middlebrook and Danish Kaneria took all six wickets to fall. Kaneria claimed the important scalp of Martin Love in his first over and Middlebrook dismantled the middle-order during his 23 overs. Essex’s total was based around a series of useful contributions right down the order, with no one going to reach a hundred, and Ravindar Bopara top-scored with 87. The warning signs were flashing for Northants when Monty Panesar, their left-arm spinner, claimed 7 for 181 from 56 overs. Middlebrook and Kaneria only needed 46 between them to leave Northants on the ropes.

Bell happy with quiet build up

Ian Bell bowls in the nets at Lord’s, but it is his batting that is vital for England © Getty Images

While the somewhat more brash members of this confident England team have been grabbing the headlines Ian Bell, England’s quiet man, has been busily preparing himself for the biggest test of his career so far – his first appearance against Australia, on Thursday at Lord’s.Bell has calmly – almost anonymously – gone about his business for Warwickshire and England this season, and tops his county’s Championship averages. The media have spent considerable time debating the side to face Australia, and further more time on Graham Thorpe and Kevin Pietersen – yet Bell barely got a mention in the press. Indeed, his captain Michael Vaughan suggested Bell’s place was cemented prior to the Bangladesh Test matches, a sentiment Bell himself didn’t subscribe to: “I felt I had a lot to [prove] against Bangladesh,” he told reporters during England’s media day in London.”Despite the form I had for my county, I still needed a bit against Bangladesh, especially with the amount of batting competition there is at the moment – which is getting stronger all the time.”He hasn’t missed the media glare which has shone on other members of the side, recently. “It was obviously quite nice, not having seen my name mentioned for a while – it’s been nice to be in that position, so I can just play my game,” he said. The excitement of his first Ashes series isn’t daunting him either: “I feel up for it and confident, and eager to see where I am in my game. When you play the best in the world, you really do see where you are in your game, and I’m really excited to be playing against these guys for the first time. I just want to get started.”Having had his talents and potential lauded for so many years, he is understandably pleased that the focus and pressure of expectation isn’t so intense. “At the start of the season, when places were up for grabs, I had to score as many runs as possible for Warwickshire,” he said. “And fortunately, with the way KP played in South Africa, a lot of the publicity and press were off me and I was able to go about scoring runs for Warwickshire: luckily I was able to do that.”Despite the achievement of making a Test hundred this summer already – an undefeated 162 against a lacklustre Bangladeshi team – Bell hasn’t played a four-day Championship match since June 15, almost five weeks ago. As befits his batting style, his response to this was calm and phlegmatic: “It does feel a long time ago since I last played a four day game,” he agreed. “Warwickshire have played a lot of one-day cricket, a lot of Twenty20 – but even on Twenty20 days, there is plenty of time to be spent practising. When you start at 5.30 in the afternoon, there’s a lot more you can do in the daytime before the game starts, so I’ve been trying to make the most of that.”While he is keen not to be labelled as a direct replacement for Graham Thorpe, he admitted to sharing similarities in their method of batting. “I’m not really a power-player, so I do see myself as being in the mould of Thorpe, really – and I will go about my batting in the same way he did.”England will hope Bell emulates Thorpe’s success against Australia and makes the No. 4 position his own this summer.

Sussex trounce Scotland

Division Two

Points TableA fifty by Jonathan Beukes was the only crumb of comfort Scotland could take from their match against Sussex, who totally outplayed them at Hove. Put in to bat by Sussex, Scotland got off to a poor start losing Fraser Watts for a duck with just two on the board. His wicket was one of five for the Pakistani Naved-ul-Hasan, who has enjoyed an excellent season with Sussex. Beukes arrived at the crease with the score on 32 for 3, and wickets continued to tumbled all around him; in fact, six of Scotland’s wickets were bowled. Sussex lost three wickets in pursuit of 133, losing two to medium-pacer Sean Weeraratna, but reached their target with more than 21 overs left to spare. Matt Prior top-scored with 69 from 50 balls, including 13 fours and a six, to see Sussex home by seven wickets.Kent brushed aside Yorkshire with a convincing performance at Canterbury. Yorkshire’s innings never got going, and they were thankful for an innings of 34 from Simon Guy. The South African, Andrew Hall, was particularly economical, picking up two wickets and conceding just 19 runs in 7 completed overs. Kent’s target of 165 was never likely to trouble their batsmen, and they eased home by six wickets thanks to a fifty from Darren Stevens, and a pair of forties from Andrew Hall and Justin Kemp.

Matabeleland draw with Mashonaland in Bulawayo

Left arm spinners Grant Flower and Gavin Rennie stole the limelight with their bowling but it was not enough for their respective teams as the Logan Cup match between Matabeleland and Mashonaland ended in a draw on the fourth and final day at Queens Sports Club on Monday.Rennie took five wickets as Mashonaland closed their second innings on 140 for the loss of eight wickets in 77 overs after Flower had grabbed six wickets when the hosts put up 264 in their second innings. Mashonaland had been set 235 to win in a minimum of 64 overs.Earlier in the day, Andre Hoffman and Gavin Ewing gave Matabeleland a flying start, taking 28 runs from the first three overs. Mashonaland opened with Douglas Hondo and the pace bowler conceded 19 runs from his first two overs.Hoffman and Ewing put on 54 for the fifth wicket before Hoffman played a Flower delivery straight back to the bowler, who took a catch off his own bowling to dismiss Hoffman for 42, which came off 80 balls. Ewing fell to the same bowler for 40 when Elton Chigumbura caught him at silly mid-on.Matabeleland captain Heath Streak tried in vain to give his side a respectable lead but in the end he ran out of partners as the Mashonaland spinners continued to wreck havoc. Wisdom Siziba, after making just one run, was run out attempting a quick single, with Stuart Carlisle throwing in the ball for Tatenda Taibu to complete the dismissal before Siziba could make his ground.Left-handed Keith Dabengwa made six with one four from 25 balls before becoming Flower’s sixth victim when Chigumbura caught him. Matabeleland were finished when last man in Jordane Nicolle was given out leg before wicket to off spinner Prosper Utseya for a duck. Streak was left stranded at the crease with 30 runs to his name.Flower finished with the best bowling figures of six for 53 from 31 overs with 13 maidens, with Hondo, Waddington Mwayenga, and Utseya taking one wicket apiece.Responding to their target, Mashonaland started off on a disastrous note when Streak grabbed tow quick wickets. With only eight ruins on the board, Streak struck, trapping Stuart Carlisle for a duck. His opening partner Gripper followed the same way after putting up eight runs. Mashonaland were three down with nine runs on the board when Dion Ebrahim, yet to open his account, was dismissed by Rennie, caught by Charles Coventry.The game had changed completely with Mashonaland, who had a better chance of winning the match, now looking on their way to their first defeat in years. Streak and Rennie piled the pressure on the Mashonaland batsmen. Flower and Taibu offered some resistance but it was not long before their partnership was broken. Taibu was out for nine when a delivery from Rennie came off his gloves to be caught by Mark Vermeulen at first slip but the Mashonaland skipper was not happy with the decision.If Taibu was not happy with the way he was dismissed, he had not seen much yet, as Flower also thought he was a victim of bad umpiring when he was given out leg before wicket to Rennie for 21. Flower was not amused with that decision and stood at the crease, seeming to tell the umpire that he was not out, but when the umpire told him that he was out, he lashed out by whacking the bat against the stumps and left the field. It was not exemplary behavior by the senior player.Veteran Craig Evans and Chigumbura rescued Mashonaland from the gallows of defeat when they shared a 68-run partnership before Evans was bowled for 46 by Hoffman. Chigumbura went on to make 40 before he let fly at a delivery from Rennie to be caught by Coventry.Rennie claimed his fifth scalp when he clean bowled Prosper Utseya for4 runs, and Douglas Hondo finishing unbeaten without scoring while Maungwamade one run, with Mwayenga not getting the chance to bat. The visitors were 140-8 in 77 overs, still needing 95 runs to win the match, but time did not permit and they settled for a draw.Rennie was the pick of the Matabeleland bowlers with a haul of five wickets at the expense of 55 runs with 17 maidens from 32 overs. Streak picked up two for 28 in 16 overs with seven maidens, and at one stage went for six overs without conceding a run.

Donald to play in two games

‘White Lightning’ to return for two benefit games © Getty Images

Allan Donald, the former South African fast bowler, is part of the star-packed Jacques Kallis Invitational XI who will take on the South African side in two benefit games to be held in Cape Town and Centurion this month. These games are part of the Jacques Kallis Benefit Year and, apart from superstar Brian Lara, gracing the occasion will be famous names like Mohammad Sami and Gary Kirsten.Donald, 38, retired from international cricket after the 2003 World Cup and from all cricket a year later following the rapid ebbing of his formerly formidable physical powers. Two of his former team-mates – Lance Klusener and Jonty Rhodes – will also be part of the team. The team is to be coached by Duncan Fletcher, the former Zimbabwe batsman who is currently coaching England.The matches are scheduled to be held on September 16 at Sahara Park Newlands and September 18 at Super Sport Park in Centurion.Jacques Kallis Invitational XI
1 Brian Lara, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Mohammed Sami, 4 Salman Butt, 5 Jonty Rhodes, 6 Gary Kirsten, 7 AB de Villiers, 8 Mfuneko Ngam, 9 Lance Klusener, 10 Alan Dawson, 11 Neil Johnson, 12 Allan Donald.

Remembering Anura Ranasinghe

Arjuna Ranatunga will be among the stars honouring the late Anura Ranasinghe © Getty Images

A galaxy of former and present Sri Lanka Test and one-day international players will line up at the R Premadasa International Stadium today to pay homage to the late Anura Ranasinghe, former Nalanda and Sri Lanka cricketer. They will participate in a day-night encounter between Ananda and Nalanda – leading Buddhist institutions and alma mater of sorts to so many of the island nation’s top cricketing talent.The fact that all these prominent cricketers have agreed to break away from their busy schedules to play in this 40-overs a side contest bears testimony to the character of Ranasinghe. Arjuna Ranatunga, the former Sri Lankan captain, has agreed to lead the Ananda team despite his official duties as deputy minister of tourism. Two past Nalandians Asanka Gurusinha, who appeared for the country in 41 Tests and 147 ODIs, and Keerthi Ranasinghe , who played in four ODIs, are flying across from Australia and England respectively to play in this match.Ranasinghe was the very epitome of a modern-day Keith Miller, fearless and a fighter to the core. His never-say-die attitude is what drew so many cricketers and friends around him. That he was lost to Sri Lanka cricket after just a handful of appearances (2 Tests and 9 ODIs) was due to the poor financial situation that prevailed at the time, when the players received only a pittance compared to what they get at present.The situation forced him to seek greener pastures, but instead of going to a country that his board would have been comfortable with, Ranasinghe took the wrong turn and went to South Africa, who at that time were banned from international cricket because of their apartheid policies. In that period it was anathema for sports teams to tour South Africa. The repercussions were so harsh that it virtually meant the end of the road for any sportsman defying the ban.Ranasinghe, who was 26 then and at the prime of his career, found the 25-year-ban imposed by the Sri Lanka Cricket Board too harsh and his life simply disintegrated from there onwards. Cricket was his life and for Ranasinghe there was no life without cricket. He passed away at the prime of his life four days before his 42nd birthday on October 9.It was a pity that the best years of his cricket were confined to the school and Under-19 level. Those who were fortunate enough to have seen him in his formative years saw the emergence of an allrounder of immense potential. But his career was, oh, so brief in the international sphere that cricket was the ultimate loser. They say the good die young. So it was with Ranasinghe.At today’s match the two schools will also honour three other former stalwarts who shaped Nalanda cricket – Gerry Gunaratne, Sunil Jayasinghe and Roshan Guneratne. The match will be telecast live by Rupavahini’s Eye Channel and live commentary will be broadcast by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.The event is organised by the Nalanda Junior Old Boys’ Association jointly with the Past Cricketers’ Association. Tickets priced at Rs.2500 have already been sold out, according to the organisers. Still available are tickets priced at Rs.350 (for family of five), Rs.300 and Rs.50. All proceeds are towards the Nalanda College gymnasium project with part of it going to the family of Ranasinghe.The teamsAnanda (from): Arjuna Ranatunga, captain (93 Tests/269 ODIs), Sidath Wettimuny (23/35), Ajith de Silva (4/6), Brendon Kuruppu (4/54), Marvan Atapattu (85/231), Chandika Hathurusingha (26/35), Sanjeewa Ranatunga (9/13), Avishka Gunawardena (4/60), Dinuk Hettiaratchi (1/0), Tilan Samaraweera (30/15), Thilan Wijesinghe, Oshadi Weerasinghe, Nishantha Ranatunga (0/2), Hemantha Wickremaratne (0/3), Akalanka Ganegama (0/2), Thilina Kandamby (0/4), Muthumudalige Pushpakumara.Nalanda (from): Bandula Warnapura, captain (4 Tests/12 ODIs), Lalith Kaluperuma (2/4), Roshan Mahanama (52/213), Asanka Gurusinha (41/147), Gamini Wickremasinghe (3/4), Kumara Dharmasena (31/141), Mahela Jayawardene (71/184), Shantha Kalavitigoda (1/0), Jayantha Seneviratne, Hemantha Devapriya, Keerthi Ranasinghe (0/4), Susantha Karunanayake, Sudharman de Silva, Ishara Amerasinghe, Shammi Silva.Umpires: Asoka de Silva and Ranmore Martinesz TV umpire: Sagara Gallage

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