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Marvan Atapattu knows the value of home advantage, and he certainly thinks beating Pakistan in Pakistan will be a challenge. “Cricket is a game of uncertainties and I wouldn’t want to predict anything at this stage,” said Atapattu, as Sri Lanka departed for Pakistan on Sunday to play in the Paktel one-day triangular series and two Tests.”Pakistan is a good and well balanced side. The way they have played in the past few months under Inzi’s [Inzamam’s] captaincy, they have done exceptionally well. Beating them is as difficult as somebody coming here and defeating us.”Pakistan had more strength in their bowling till very recently. However, they have found some good players to get runs at the top and in the middle. They are a very competitive side.” Atapattu said the squad of 16 players picked for the one-day triangular tournament covered all areas to suit the conditions they are going to play in Pakistan – four seamers, three spinners and eight batsmen. “We have covered all options to play any side at any given moment.”Pakistan is the team to beat for Sri Lanka even though Zimbabwe is also part of the competition. In the past six months Sri Lanka have beaten a struggling Zimbabwe six out of six times, the last occasion being the Champions trophy game at The Oval last month when they won by four wickets.Zimbabwe have been playing Sri Lanka so often in the last few months that they are gradually picking up the strengths and weaknesses of the players and are not going to be any pushovers. It was to be Sri Lanka’s only win in the Champions trophy tournament for in their next encounter against England they lost and were eliminated.”It was one of those games that every team goes through. There were teams with more hopes than us. We went there with 18 wins out of 22 games. It was purely bad luck. I don’t think we played the game that we are all good at against England,” said Atapattu. “Nothing went right. Had everything gone to plan we would have won. I don’t want to pinpoint to anyone. We take credit as a team and likewise we take the blame also.”Atapattu said that to make Sri Lanka the best one-day side, they had to keep on improving in all three areas – batting, bowling and fielding. “To be competitive in the cricketing world you have to be updated and be looking at improving day by day, maybe 1%. We make an effort to constantly do something different at practices not just go through the motions. It may not come right every day but it helps.”The areas we need to work on sometimes depends on the country that you are play in. At home the margin is less. You may have heard from various other teams that Sri Lanka is a difficult place to play. Going into a country like England maybe we got to concentrate on the middle overs and probably the top order batting. You learn by experience. You should be prepared to do experiments.”On seamer friendly wickets if you safeguard your wicket for a while it would do you good. It depends on the country that you play, the attack that you are facing and the wicket that you are playing on. Generally we need to keep improving in all three areas.”Atapattu said that he would still go for seven batsmen in a one-day side unless the conditions forced a change. He said the absence of any warm-up games ahead of the two Tests against Pakistan has given less opportunity to fringe players to make any impact for selection. Sri Lanka will open their tour against Pakistan at Karachi on October 6. They play Pakistan and Zimbabwe twice each before the final on October 16 at Lahore after which they go straight into the two Test series starting at Faisalabad on October 20 and at Karachi on October 28.

Monsoon rains in Karachi washed out the 2003 Youth Asia Cup matches, meaning the points were evenly shared by Singapore, Maldives, UAE and Qatar.

At the Karachi Gymkhana, Maldives, chasing Singapore’s 276 for 9, were 17 for 1 from 6.4 overs when the rains came flooding down. At the UBL Sports Complex Ground No. 1, Qatar were 13 for no loss after 2.4 overs while chasing UAE’s 201 in 43 overs.The star performer for Singapore was Zeeshan Raza who hit a fine 91 from 82 balls. His innings included eight fours. He featured in a 69-run sixth-wicket stand with Iftikhar Haider, who chipped in with a useful 36. Opener Christopher Janik contributed a 53-ball 40 which included four boundaries.For Maldives, Mohammad Imran picked up four wickets for 65 runs, while Mohammad Mahfooz bagged 2 for 44.Hussain Adnan (2) and Hasan Aflam (5) were at the crease when the rain came down and forced the abandonment. Maldives were 17 for the loss of Ahmed Hassan Sobir (6).Across Karachi at the UBL Sports Complex, UAE’s innings revolved around opener Asim Zubair’s 57 which was laced with four boundaries and a six off 53 balls. He received good support from fellow opener Ramvir Rai (32) and they put on 61 for the first wicket.Qamar Sadiq, a left-arm spinner, was the pick of Qatar bowlers with 3 for 38.Scores in brief:
Singapore 276-9 in 50 overs (Zeeshan Raza 91, Christopher Janik 40, Iftikhar Haider 36, Mohammed Imran 4-65) v Maldives 17-1. Match washed-out. Points shared.UAE 201 in 43 overs (Asim Zubair 57, Ramvir Rai 32, Qamar Sadiq 3-38, Mohammad Emran 2-36) vs Qatar 13-0. Match washed out. Points shared.Thursday’s fixtures:
Hong Kong v Malaysia at PCB Academy Ground, Kuwait v Thailand at Aga Khan Gymkhana Ground.

The West Indies will leave for their tour of Sri Lanka on October 30 as planned, despite the September 11th atrocities in the United States and subsequent military action in Afghanistan.Parliamentary elections soon to be held in Sri Lanka have also raised concernsabout player safety, but no changes to the team’s plans are currently envisaged.The President of the WICB, Wes Hall, will speak to the players about safety and other tour matters on Monday.The West Indies have concerns about the fitness of several key players. One of them, Brian Lara missed training at Sabina Park yesterday with a strained hamstring. Shivnarine Chanderpaul has had an MRI scan on his back, although it is not thought to be a serious concern.

ScorecardChesney Hughes’ century set up a potential Derbyshire victory that went begging•Getty Images

Derbyshire fell just short of what would have been a famous victory in a thrilling end to the Division Two county championship match against Leicestershire at Derby.Set 341 in 81 overs, 101 from Chesney Hughes plus half centuries from Billy Godleman, Ben Slater and skipper Wayne Madsen looked to have secured Derbyshire’s first home championship win of the season.But Wes Durston’s dismissal with 14 needed sparked a collapse that saw four wickets fall for two runs and with 10 needed off the last five balls, Derbyshire settled for a draw at 331 for 8.Durston had looked set for a memorable end of the season after he took a career-best 6 for 109, including the wicket of Mark Cosgrove for 156, to bowl Leicestershire out for 363.Leicestershire needed to set a challenging target with key bowlers missing and Cosgrove added another 30 runs to his overnight score before he was last out.He drove Durston for two sixes, the second taking him past 150, but when he went for a third, he was stumped to give Durston his second six wicket haul in a month.Derbyshire began their chase knowing the pitch was still a good one to bat on but they needed a solid start and Godleman and Slater provided it with an opening stand of 103 in 27 overs.Ben Raine was hit for six fours in 14 balls but he made the first breakthrough when Godleman misread the length and was lbw and Slater followed before tea, leg before trying to work Zak Chappell through mid-wicket.At the interval, Derbyshire needed to accelerate with another 186 required from 34 overs and Hughes opened up by pulling Rob Taylor for six and driving the next ball for four.Madsen swept Dan Redfern for four to pass 1,000 first-class runs for the season and Derbyshire went into the last hour needing 94 from 16 overs with Leicestershire increasingly desperate for a wicket.Cosgrove turned to the off-spin of Aadil Ali but Madsen reverse swept him for three to reach 50 and complete 1,000 championship runs before he drove Redfern for another boundary.Derbyshire went into the last 10 overs needing 64 and Hughes reduced that by two to reach his second hundred of the season from 152 balls but was then yorked by Taylor who had Madsen caught behind in his next over.Durston responded by driving Raine for a much needed boundary to bring the target down to 35 from 30 balls and 16 came from Taylor’s next over as Durston pulled him for four and six off consecutive balls.That looked to have settled it but Durston drove to long on, Tom Poynton was bowled by Raine and Tom Millns was run out going for a second off an overthrow to leave 11 off the last over.When Tom Taylor was run out going for a second off the first ball, Tom Knight blocked the next five balls from Ollie Freckingham to leave Madsen to reflect on what might have been.”We are disappointed not to get the win but there are lots of positives to take because I thought we played brilliantly to get ourselves into that position. To chase down that sort of a score on the last day is no mean feat and we were in the position we wanted to be but unfortunately we threw it away at the end.”We were under a run a ball so we should have got across the line but then at the end we felt it was too much a task in the last over so we had to close up shop.”Leicestershire head coach Andrew McDonald said: “It was a classic four day game, there was no winner but it went down to the wire and I’m really impressed with the way the boys fought . We stuck at it and to have an opportunity to almost win it at the end I think speaks volumes for where this group of players is at.”I don’t want to get too carried away with a draw but if people were here to see that they would understand why it was a significant effort and a significant step forward.”

Sceptical players felt the buzz of Adelaide’s biggest Test crowd since the Bodyline series but will reserve judgment on the pink ball and the day-night format until the end of a match that has already shown what is possible for cricket’s future.The gathering of 47,441 swelled notably as day bled into night, with the provision of $20 “twilight” tickets a major plus for spectators arriving after work. Both Peter Siddle and Trent Boult noted the momentous feeling of the day, but equally maintained the view that this is not Test cricket as they have known it, largely due to the behaviour of the pink ball.There was a marked contest in good conditions for batting across the day. The ball barely moved in the air in the afternoon but bent around corners in the hands of Boult and Tim Southee in the final session under lights. Boult said the game had panned out more or less as expected, with the ball closer in characteristic to the white variety than the red. He also said that with New Zealand already planning their own pink-ball Test for next summer, he wanted to see more of this match before finalising his judgment.”We need to see a bit more of it, to be honest,” Boult said. “It was a great buzz out there, everyone could see that and it’s amazing to be playing Test cricket in front of 50,000-odd people. We’ve got to see how this one goes and pans out, but it definitely is exciting for Test match cricket.”I’ve had a couple of hit-outs with it during the day and at night, and the findings are it does tend to change a lot under lights and in the last session, it definitely swung around a little bit with the new ball and there was still a shade of it with it 22 overs old now. It is a different game under lights and we’ve got to come back tomorrow and hope to put a bit more pressure on them.”For Siddle, the fact he took his 200th Test wicket with a pink ball rather than a red ball seemed insignificant next to the fact he had done it in front of such a large and enthusiastic crowd. “That was the exciting thing for the boys, the atmosphere was amazing,” he said. “I think from early on until the end of play there, the crowd was upbeat, especially when we were on a roll and getting a few wickets [and] especially walking down after the 200 down to the crowd on the boundary and the cheer.”It was exciting for everyone. The Adelaide Test match has always been one of my favourites and to play it with a crowd like that definitely surprised a few boys, I think. We haven’t spoken too much about it yet, in time through this Test match there may be a bit more spoken about it, maybe tomorrow morning and all that. But it was a great day, wasn’t it? I think everyone here that came and witnessed what went on will be very impressed just with the whole experience.”It [the pink ball] was slightly different to the red ball, you didn’t get much swing early on but there was a bit of seam movement throughout the day, so a lot of comparisons with how it is with the white ball, but cricket in general, it was supported well here, and I’m sure it would have been on TV and all over the world. I think for cricket it’s definitely been a great day.”

Craig Spearman will see out his career at Gloucestershire, after signing a two-year extension to his contract.Spearman, 35, had one year left on the deal but the extension means he will be at Bristol until the end of 2010. He has been with the club since 2002. “I am happy to be finishing my career here,” he said, “and have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the club.”Jon Lewis, Gloucestershire’s captain, added: “Craig’s been our most consistent batting performer since he joined. His experience and knowledge is invaluable to us.”Spearman played a strong part in this year’s Twenty20 success – Gloucestershire reached the final – including being named man of the match in the semi final.In June 2004, he scored 341 for Gloucestershire against Middlesex in the County Championship, surpassing a 128-year-old record, previously held by WG Grace, for the highest score by a Gloucestershire player.He has played 19 Tests and 51 ODIs for New Zealand.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, has said Pakistan could face further charges after yesterday’s events at The Oval. The whole team has been cited for the condition of the ball and the ICC are awaiting the umpires’ reports.”The umpires are meeting this morning to consider whether there should be any further charges in relation to the refusal by Pakistan to take the field that resulted in the forfeit of the match,” Speed told BBC Radio. “It may be that there is more than one charge.”Having failed to appear for the session after tea, Pakistan again remained in the changing room when the umpires went out a second time 15 minutes later. They then took the field but by then the umpires ruled that the match had been forfeited and, after several hours of deliberation, the game was awarded the game to England, whose victory meant they took the four-match series 3-0.”The next step that will be taken will be that there will be a [ICC] disciplinary hearing to deal with the ball handling issues,” Speed said. “I’m not sure whether that will take place today [Monday] or whether it will be later in the week.”There are other provisions under the code of conduct that would enable a charge to be laid for bringing the game into disrepute and that is being considered this morning. It would be directed at the captain [Inzamam-ul-Haq].”The captain is responsible for the actions of the team, that’s very clearly laid out in the laws of the game and it’s one of the things that we try very hard to uphold. The ball tampering charge, that will be dealt with, and there is power there for the match referee to fine or ban the player there.”Similarly, if other charges are laid, the player could face fines or if he is found guilty, he could face a fine or a ban.”

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.

Wasim Bari, the chairman of Pakistan’s selection committee, has launched a scathing attack on the 63-year-old David Shepherd, according to the BBC. The fierce criticism followed Pakistan’s narrow defeat in the Videocon Cup final, with Bari claiming that the umpire’s mistakes had cost Pakistan the game and suggested that age had caught up with him.”Shepherd’s umpiring decisions were like target killing and cost Pakistan the final. It’s time for the inaccurate Shepherd to retire,” Bari was reported by AFP as saying. “His decisions were not only doubtful but disgraceful. The Pakistan team management must mention with protest in their match reports.”The decisions that rankled Bari were given against Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana. While Inzamam scored only seven runs, Youhana was adjudged caught-behind on 43, with Pakistan 32 runs away from victory.Incidentally, a few days ago, most international captains agreed with the ICC’s plan to implement more technology to ease umpires’ burden. Inzamam was one of them, and he was quoted, “Yes, I’m very much in favour, because the game of cricket has become very professional, small errors have been affecting results. So much cricket is being played and umpires have been under tremendous pressure due to the heavy workload on them.”But Shepherd didn’t just come under fire from the Pakistan Cricket Board. Omer Kureishi, a cricket columnist, was scathing about the umpire’s performance: “Shepherd has crossed his retiring age and I have always advocated that all umpires standing at international level must go through medical tests. He is an old man and his judgment in the final was very poor.”

Close West Indies 160 for 4 in 36.5 overs (Samuels 45*) beat Sri Lanka 191 all out (Jayawardene 51, Collymore 3-28)by six wickets

West Indies’ recent acquired reputation for saving their best cricket for dead rubbers was enhanced further with their six-wicket wicket win against Sri Lanka in the third and final Duckworth/Lewis affected one-day international at St. Vincent. Sri Lanka, though, bagged the series 2-1.Sri Lanka’s batting, the key to their remarkable series-clinching win at Bridgetown at the weekend, struggled against a next generation West Indies pace attack. Corey Colleymore lead the way, claiming 3 for 38, as Sri Lanka were bowled out for a below-par 191 on an excellent batting strip.West Indies, cheered on a by a capacity crowd that has become accustomed to home success on their Windward Isle (the West Indies had won 11 out their 12 matches at the venue prior to this match), started their run chase purposely, with Wavell Hinds (19) flaying a couple of back-wrenching boundaries during a 36 run opening partnership.Sri Lanka started to claw their way back into the game when Hinds smeared a catch to mid on of (36 for 1). That brought Brian Lara (14) to the wicket, fresh from his 64 not out and magnificent 116 in Bridgetown, to renew a personal duel with Muttiah Muralitharan, who had been whisked into the attack early as Sri Lanka pressed for wickets.But Lara ate away at Muralitharan’s precious overs, playing him with care but confidence, so Marvan Atapattu tossed the ball instead to Kumar Dharmasena. Fatally, Lara relaxed. He skipped down the wicket to loft the first ball for six but perished next ball as he aimed a similar shot (54 for 2).The runs started to dry up. Neither Gayle, who crawled along, facing 75 deliveries for his 21, and Ramaresh Sarwan were comfortable. The pressure started to mount. Eventually, Gayle was bowled around his legs after missing a lazy waft to leg (81 for 3).But Marlon Samuels, who had earlier fielded brilliantly, pulling off two athletic run outs and one stupendous leaping catch, swaggered to the crease as storm clouds gathered around this seaside ground. He quickly reestablished West Indies’ grip on the game, walloping two sixes in an over off Upul Chandana and three in all, racing to 30 off just 16 balls before rain forced the players from the field.The break did not dampen the spirits of the crowd, or the ambitions of Samuels, the eventual man of the match, as West Indies were set a revised target (186 off 48 overs). Sarwan (25) was caught at slip of Muralitharan, but Samuels and Ricardo Powell kept ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis target before final rain interruption. The pair returned to knock off the required 10 runs after another revised target (160 in 42 overs). Samuels finished with 45 from 38 balls.Earlier, Mahela Jayawardene had top scored, gluing the innings together after the fall of early wickets. Coming to the crease with Sri Lanka tottering on 63 for 4, he scored 51 from 74 balls before missing a full toss in the penultimate over of the innings. It was his first fifty in 18 matches and ended a wretched run with the bat that stretched back to the VB Series in Australia.But Jayawardene’s innings was not enough to wrestle back the initiative won earlier by West Indies’ pace bowlers. Colleymore was the pick of them, taking 3 for 28 from his 10 overs, but there was also promising back-up from the inexperienced Jerome Taylor and Darren Powell, who were surprisingly included ahead of Mervyn Dillon and Vasbert Drakes.Powell was energetic and steady on his comeback, and Taylor, just 18-years-old with only a handful of first-class games under his belt for Jamaica, was impressive on his first outing, generating a lively pace from a smooth run and fluid action. There was no sign of first day nerves and he settled down so well, taking 2 for 36, that his name will surely be seriously discussed for the Test series.The pace bowlers were well supported by their part-time spinners, Ryan Hurley, Gayle and Samuels, and Sri Lanka had to graft hard for their runs. The only partnerships of note were between Jayawardene and Chandana (57 in 109 balls) for the fifth wicket and Jayawardene and Dharmasena (42 in 38 balls) for the seventh. However, the innings then fell away in the slog overs to set-up a comfortable West Indies win.