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Four Bangladesh cricketers who made their international debut last year have been given rookie contracts in place of four experienced players in the BCB’s contract players’ list. All fifteen players have also been given a 10% increase in salary for 2013.Sohag Gazi, Anamul Haque, Abul Hasan and Mominul Haque have been brought under BCB’s contracts in place of Nazimuddin, Imrul Kayes, Nazmul Hossain and Shuvagata Hom.Offspinner Gazi was the stand-out performer against West Indies, taking 12 wickets in the two-Test series as well as breakthrough performances on both Test and ODI debut. Opening batsman Anamul struck 120 in only his second one-day match while pace bowler Abul became the first No. 10 in 110 years to make a Test century on debut. Mominul impressed as a middle-order batsman in the ODI series, playing a crucial littlie innings in the deciding ODI.The players they have replaced haven’t had a great 2012 with Nazimuddin, Imrul Kayes and Shuvagata all on the fringes of national selection. Nazmul Hossain seems to be the unlucky one yet again, cut off from the central contracts despite playing important roles on occasions as well as filling in whenever required. But his own injury record probably worked against him.Among those who have been given an extended contract from 2012, vice-captain Mahmudullah has been promoted from Grade A to Grade A+ while Nasir Hossain has been elevated from Grade B to C.Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Abdur Razzak and now Mahmudullah are in Grade A+, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam and Nasir Hossain are in Grade B while Jahurul Islam and Elias Sunny are in Grade C.Bangladesh central contracts 2013
Grade A+: Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Abdur Razzak, Mahmudullah
Grade A: none
Grade B: Rubel Hosain, Shafiul Islam, Nasir Hossain
Grade C: Jahurul Islam, Elias Sunny
Rookie: Sohag Gazi, Anamul Haque, Abul Hasan, Mominul Haque

Jacques Kallis will bat in the ongoing second Test in Adelaide but the exacerbation of his hamstring injury is likely to rule him out of the third Test in Perth, starting November 30. The South African selectors are considering naming a replacement player as cover.Kallis is suffering from a grade 1 hamstring strain which was sustained after he bowled 3.3 overs in the first innings on Thursday. He left the field immediately and did not return for the rest of the day but was cleared to bat. He could only come in at No.7, because of the time off the field but was only ready to bat at No.9. Kallis spent two hours at the crease, in which he scored 58 off 93 balls, 46 of which were in boundaries.”Our physiotherapist worked on him and it had gone so well that by the time he went out to bat, most symptoms had almost been eliminated,” Mohammad Moosajee, South Africa’s team manager, said.”With the time he spent batting, it would be fair to say that he aggravated his injury. He will also bat in the second innings and so there is no guarantee he will be fit for the third Test because of the turnaround of only three days. The selectors are looking at the possibility of sending out somebody else as cover.”Kallis was South Africa’s third highest run-scorer and he looked only mildly uncomfortable throughout his innings. At times, he could only walk between the wickets although he was able to jog through some singles. He will not field at all. As a result, he will only be able to bat at No.7 again in the second knock.It will mean a battle through pain again, something Kallis has become used to. During the third Test against India in Cape Town in January 2010, Kallis batted with a side strain which Moosajee then said was like “being stabbed in the ribs on every ball.” He scored a century in both innings. This time, the hurt could be even greater. “That was different as we could use anaesthetic so it was just numb. Here, whenever he reaches forward or ducks under a bouncer or stretches, he will feel it.”South Africa have already suffered one injury blow on the tour. JP Duminy was ruled out of Brisbane Test after the first day when he ruptured his Achilles’ tendon. South Africa played that match with 10 men and Faf du Plessis debuted in Duminy’s place in Adelaide. Dean Elgar, a top-order batsman, was called in as cover.Elgar’s has yet to play a Test for South Africa and has only featured briefly in the one-day squad. His inexperience may be the reason the selectors are looking at someone else. With that in mind, one of Ashwell Prince, Justin Ontong or Neil McKenzie could be recalled in an emergency. If South Africa are looking for a seam-bowling all-rounder, they do not have much to choose from. Ryan McLaren would be the only obvious contender.Other options may include moving AB de Villiers or Jacques Rudolph up the order and slotting in someone lower down. It’s a complicated problem for South Africa to face on their first defence of the No.1 ranking. Either a series win or a draw will ensure they do not have to hand over the mace to Australia.

For most of the Mumbai A players, the first-class game against England XI is an opportunity to push for Ranji Trophy selection. For 22-year-old medium-pacer Javed Khan, however, it was more than that as he took the field on the first day. Javed’s father, Mohammad Jayish Khan, had died the night before while undergoing an open-heart surgery.Javed, who played two Ranji Trophy games for Mumbai in 2010-11 but has been ignored by the selectors since then, skipped his father’s burial and decided to turn up for the game at the Dr DY Patil Stadium on Saturday. He had a fruitful day, dismissing Jonathan Trott and the centurion Jonny Bairstow. He was not required to bowl on Sunday morning.”By 5 am, we advised him to play the match. He was crying the whole night and was in a state of shock,” Javed’s coach Raju Pathak told . “But this match against England was a big opportunity for him. His father was keen to see him bowl against England. So he did what his father would have wanted him to do.”Most of his teammates in the dressing room did not know that Javed had lost his father. And those who knew didn’t want to talk about it because they thought it would affect Javed. It was very brave of him to come out and play today.”

After meandering along for nearly four months, the CB40 is finally nearing the semi-finals. Only the top side of the three seven-team groups is guaranteed to qualify, while the best runner-up also progresses.Lancashire are the one county assured of qualification. The most likely scenario is that Hampshire, Kent and either Sussex or Warwickshire will also consist the semi-finals, although there is much still to be decided.Here is how the groups are shaping up:Group ALancashire are the only side who have already qualified for the semi-final stage, having won eight of their ten games. If they win at either Chelmsford or New Road, they will be guaranteed a home semi-final.Their success has been built around their bowling attack. Gary Keedy and Ajmal Shazhad have claimed 17 wickets each, while Stephen Moore’s six half-centuries have underpinned their batting.No other side can qualify, even as a best runner-up: Middlesex are second but they cannot match Warwickshire’s number of victories in Group C, because victories are used as the tie-breaker between runners-up.Netherlands’s initial success – they won five of their first six matches – caught attention, but their form has since subsided.Group BThis is the most complicated group, with three sides retaining hopes of qualification as winners. Hampshire, with Michael Carberry and James Vince consistent run-scorers, lead with 15 points, but face a tricky final game at Chester-le-Street, where Phil Mustard has smashed centuries in his last two CB40 games. If Hampshire lose, they will need neither Warwickshire nor Kent to gain any more points.Despite grim form with the bat – top run-scorer Steven Davies averages under 28 – Surrey also retain an outside chance of qualification, owing to the quality of their spin attack. But they must win both their final two games, at home to Glamorgan in tomorrow’s Tom Maynard Celebration game and then at Taunton.Somerset, led by Peter Trego’s all-round contribution, also have unconvincing qualification hopes – which is remarkable considering they picked up only one point (from a washout with Glamorgan) from their first five games.If Hampshire win their final game, the task for Somerset and Surrey becomes harder. They would then require Kent to lose both their remaining games and Warwickshire to lose their final one to have a chance of qualification.Group CThree sides can still claim top spot in this group, which is by far the most likely to be the source of the best runner-up.Sussex, for whom seamers Chris Liddle and Amjad Khan have been outstanding, are currently top with 16 points, despite the frustration of four washouts.They face a crunch match at Canterbury, the winner of whom is certain to progress to the semi-finals. But if Sussex lose, then would be out unless Warwickshire also lost.Kent’s mix of youth (Matt Coles and Sam Bilings) and experience (Darren Stevens and James Tredwell) has been formidable, with six wins and only one defeat (to the Unicorns) so far.One more victory – either against Yorkshire on Wednesday or Sussex on Monday, both of which are at Canterbury – will almost guarantee them qualification, because their run rate is by far the best of all sides who could end up on 17 points.Should Kent win both games they are guaranteed to be top, and with a home semi-final; if they lose both they are certainly out.If Warwickshire, whose seven wins have been built on a powerful seam attack, win their final game, against Yorkshire at Scarborough, they will qualify – unless Kent beat Yorkshire and Sussex beat Kent, because no other second-placed side would be able to get up to 17 points.Should they lose, they would probably be out – they would need Kent to suffer two heavy defeats, and also for runners-up in other groups to suffer dips in their run-rate.ConclusionIt could not be simpler.

ScorecardThe real damage for Leicestershire came in a 12-over spell in the second half of the afternoon session, during which they lost four wickets for 28 runs in sliding to 108 for 5. Needing to reach 250 merely to avoid the follow-on, it was the kind of position that has become the familiar prelude to a short-order defeat. Yet the bigger blow, in psychological terms, happened five overs before the close.It came in the shape of a disastrous moment of hesitation and misunderstanding that saw Ramnaresh Sarwan run out for 59, ending a partnership with 18-year-old Shiv Thakor, who had been playing with a maturity that says much about his prospects, that looked capable of hauling Leicestershire back into the contest.It was largely a self-inflicted wound, given that it was from his own push to extra cover that Sarwan, the former West Indies captain, set off in search of a single. But, as ever in such instances, it takes two to conspire in a communication breakdown and after a stop-start moment halfway down the pitch the drama ended with Sarwan attempting in vain to complete the run as Alex Wakely gathered the ball and ran in to break the stumps.The set of his shoulders as he tucked the bat under his arm and began tearing at his gloves conveyed the depth of Sarwan’s disappointment. But you felt for young Thakor, too. He is a cricketer of enormous promise and, while it was Sarwan’s authority that dominated a partnership of 75 runs, Thakor had batted sensibly and carefully and was learning so much in the process. Had the two been able to continue on the third morning, they might have gone a long way to staving off potential defeat.As it is, with the new ball available in five overs, Northamptonshire will be disappointed if it costs them another 63 runs to clean up the last four wickets. Their attack is lacking Jack Brooks, who is still recovering from an Achilles tendon problem, but they have unearthed another capable pace bowler in Oliver Stone, also 18, and with the left-armer David Willey looking impressive lately they are not short of potency.Stone is playing in only his third first-class match, yet already has the handy habit of taking wickets in the first over of his opening spell. He did so twice against Yorkshire last week and repeated the feat here as Andrew Hall tossed him the ball for the first time in the 17th over. Leicestershire’s opening pair had ridden their luck a little against Willey and Lee Daggett but Michael Thornely’s ran out as Stone’s fifth ball hit him in front.Will Jones, a Cardiff University student in only his second Championship appearance, was bowled when Hall nipped one back and it was his wicket that set off a collapse, one that was not helped by Ned Eckersley going down the pitch to James Middlebrook’s offspin with calamitous consequences, or by the tame flick that had Josh Cobb caught behind off Willey.Yet Sarwan looked secure, so much so that his record of building profitably on half-centuries seemed sure to continue. It was his seventh of the season. Of the previous six, two had been converted to centuries and there had been three other scores in the 90s.At 32, and with his international career at least on hold, he seems primed to make an impact in county cricket. Leicestershire think so, certainly, having last month extended his one-year contract to a three-year deal. He may well be the man to lead a renaissance, even if it does not begin here.Set up by a superb innings by Stephen Peters, which ended on 148 when he lost his off-stump to Nathan Buck in the pursuit of bonus points, Northamptonshire’s only – minor – disappointment was that after Middlebrook and Willey had helped David Murphy secure a fourth batting point they ran out of overs to claim a fifth. Given that they were asked to bat first, however – and would have bowled first themselves had they had the chance – the outcome was more than satisfactory.

ScorecardNeil McKenzie suggested keepers will now consider wearing helmets more often•PA Photos

The rain that stair-rodded down on Southampton prevented anything other than the toss taking place. Hampshire won and will take the field against Yorkshire when play does eventually start in a match in which Neil McKenzie, the former South Africa batsman, will open the innings against Steve Harmison, the former England bowler who is now an honorary Yorkshireman. To confuse matters further, they were once, briefly, team mates at Durham.This, though, was far from McKenzie’s mind in the West End atrium. Like all his countrymen, he has been shocked by the eye injury sustained by Mark Boucher, his friend and colleague since they represented South Africa at Under-19 level.McKenzie was in touch with Boucher after his freak injury at Taunton earlier this week and was told immediately that serious damage had been sustained. “Obviously every wicketkeeper suffers a few injuries but the only one I can remember him having was when he cut himself with a biltong knife,” he said. “Normally he wears sunglasses to keep in and that obviously would have prevented the injury. Each wicketkeeper will now assess whether helmets should be worn all the time in the same way that batsmen do.”These things happen for a reason and we all knew this was going to be Mark’s last tour. How good was he? David Richardson, his predecessor, played in about a third of the number of Tests he has been involved in and he wouldn’t have played for as long as he has and been called ‘Guinness’ after the record book, for no good reason. His catching contributed a great deal to the number of wickets taken by Allan Donald and Makhaya Ntini. He was a powerhouse figure at the back.”Mark wanted to play for two more years for Cape Cobras, which would not have affected his family life. I am not sure whether he will want to stay in the game as he is a silent partner in a few business ventures and obviously the most important thing is that he regains his full sight. From the point of the view of the series between England and South Africa, it was already very finely balanced in terms of personnel.”McKenzie, who came to England with South Africa on their last two tours and has played in 58 Tests, will appear for Hampshire until at least early August, depending on how long Michael Carberry takes to recover from a knee injury suffered in net practice. He has never particularly wanted to open the innings, but did so for his country as there were no positions available in the middle order, and will do so now for Hampshire because this, too, is where the vacancy has occurred.”The glory boys can come in at three and four,” he joked. “Giles White, the Hampshire coach, asked me how I viewed this and I am happy not to upset the continuity in the middle order. I have a family in South Africa but will willingly come back next year if I am wanted.”

Sahara Matribhumi, the Bangladesh subsidiary of Sahara group, has made an offer of approximately $9.4 million for the sponsorship of the Bangladesh team for a four-year period. The bid was substantially higher than the $ 3.4 million offered by the previous sponsors, Grameenphone, and $4 million offered by Robi, another telecom company.BCB president Mustafa Kamal said that while no decision has been made yet on which offer to accept, Sahara’s bid of approximately $2.3 million a year, if finalised, would be beneficial for Bangladesh cricket.”The national team sponsorship, which is the main component of the tenders that we had invited, has been offered 2.3 million dollars per year by Sahara,” Kamal said. “We expect the revenue to be around Tk 110 crore during this four-year period. It was unimaginable a few years ago but more than the money, I think it will be a turning point if we can have Sahara with us.”All the tenders are for a four-year period. I hope that we can finalise the deals in the next few days. We haven’t made a decision on the tenders; I’m just letting you know what is the highest we’ve got.”Apart from the national team sponsorship, Sahara was the only company to bid for the sponsorship rights of the National Cricket Academy at a price of $130,000 per year.Last week, Sahara group chairman Subrata Roy had said in Dhaka that his company was interested in investing in Bangladesh cricket. Speaking at an event, he said that it ‘may be possible’ for Sahara to sponsor the Bangladesh team. “The Sahara logo is seen on the jerseys of Indian cricket team,” he said then. “Though I am not announcing it right now, but I can say it may be possible to see the same logo on the jersey of Bangladesh cricket team.”

ScorecardLeft-arm spinner Liam Dawson took three late wickets to enable Hampshire to finish in a much stronger position than they could have expected after Greg Smith’s bright half-century for Leicestershire. On a rain-ruined first day, play did not get under way until 2pm and at the close Leicestershire had slumped to 159 for 6 from 62.2 overs despite a promising start to their innings.Hampshire were led by former Australia international Simon Katich in the absence of Jimmy Adams, who missed the match for personal reasons, and Katich had no hesitation in fielding first in gloomy conditions. But Leicestershire found batting easier than they might have anticipated as bowlers struggled to cope with a wet ball and soaking outfield.Matthew Boyce and Smith put on 34 for the first wicket, while Jacques Du Toit made just 8 but his dismissal meant Smith was joined by captain Ramnaresh Sarwan in the best stand of the day, worth 81. Smith and Sarwan took the score to 146 for 2 before a late flurry of wickets following Dawson’s introduction to the attack saw four fall for 13.Smith was first to go, bowled by Dawson after an increasingly fluent innings of 68 from 168 balls and including seven fours. That was the signal for the Leicestershire collapse to begin, Dawson striking in his next over when Sarwan’s innings of 46 was ended by a slip catch by Sean Ervine.Kadeer Ali had his off stump knocked back by left-arm pace bowler Chris Wood before Dawson won an appeal for lbw against Nadeem Malik.Dawson came on as fourth change and only because Hampshire had chosen to leave out No. 1 spinner Danny Briggs, expecting the pitch to help their battery of pace bowlers. Dawson, who bowls only occasionally, ended the day with figures of 3 for 13.

ScorecardMark Pettini was the only Essex batsman to master the conditions•Getty Images

It would have been funny if it had not been so serious for Ravi Bopara, a man with almost-certainly dashed England hopes. He batted today with a runner for just over an hour and a half, ran himself out in classic village green style and did not appear in the field for the fag end of this Division Two stalemate.Although Essex were optimistic about Bopara’s ability to be fit for the first Test against West Indies, starting at Lord’s on Thursday, the evidence of his innings suggested England would be unwise to take the gamble. He suffered a “slight tear” to his right thigh in the field on Friday and though he batted for his team, at No. 8, in pursuit of bonus points, his discomfort was clear.During an over in the morning Essex had four batsmen on the square while Bopara and Alviro Petersen used runners, a rare occurrence for a partnership at first-class level, perhaps in any cricket. Bopara looked far from sprightly when he instinctively moved into a run with a midwicket stroke off Ivan Thomas and pulled up with a ghastly stagger. After some scurried runs seemingly in all directions, and five balls without any real mishap, both batsmen sent off their assistants – though Bopara was publicly persuaded to change his mind by the Essex physio Chris Clarke-Irons. So Greg Smith trotted back on, while Petersen, hobbling on a sore ankle, did his best without Tom Westley.With no sign of declarations or targets, Essex’s innings creaked along, owing just about all momentum to Mark Pettini. The last three wickets fell for no runs when Charlie Shreck picked up two in two and Bopara ran himself out, finally forgetting his runner. Bopara pushed a Mark Davies delivery into the covers and set off for the single, reaching ‘safety’ at the other end along with his runner before realising he should have stayed at the crease. Kent did not spot their opportunity until Shreck screamed at his colleagues to get the ball back to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones, who removed the bails at leisure.Pettini, seeking his first Championship hundred for three seasons, batted exceptionally well, though he struggled to score against the constant probing by Davies, the pick of the Kent attack. Resuming on 61, Pettini cut effectively, concentrated well and look set for his much-needed century when Thomas seamed one back into him to win an lbw shout and the innings tailed off after that.Thomas, 20, impressed as a Championship rookie with more whip in his action than one might think. He has had first-class experience with Leeds-Bradford University this season, including the destruction of a callow Sussex side, when he took 6 for 21 in the second innings in Leeds. A memorable maiden wicket for Kent came courtesy of a flying goalkeeper catch in the covers by Brendon Nash, clinging to a full-blooded cut by Essex’s captain James Foster.Both counties harbour expectations of climbing out of this division, but it was a shame that some sort of arrangement could not be reached. Kent, 131 ahead overnight, might have persuaded Essex to chase something as they held some aces in Davies, Shreck and the England offspinner James Tredwell. Thomas could also have been added to the mix on an easing, but still helpful, Chelmsford strip.With Bopara and Petersen unfit, Essex’s batting looked depleted. “The problem with declaring overnight would have been forfeiting batting points, though as it turned out we didn’t get any,” Foster said. “We weren’t expecting to get only 181; we were hoping to get 350. A chase would have been quite a risk as the ball was nibbling about.”Rob Key felt he lost “a horror” of a toss and was elated that his Kent side had gained a first innings lead after their collapse to 9 for 5, thanks mainly to a superb century by Darren Stevens. As so often in county cricket, the effort of fighting back seemed to inflate the fear of defeat. “It was so wet on the first day and by the end it was so dry,” Key said. “We thought it was going to be hard work trying to set up a game. I felt we would have to throw up so many and we would only have two sessions, if that, to bowl. The pitch didn’t deteriorate enough to make it interesting. Essex would have been able to block out, so that the result was either a win for them or a draw.”

Premier League Tier ANondescript Cricket Club (NCC) will celebrate their 125th year in 2013 by playing in Tier B of the Premier League Tournament for the first time in their history, after finishing at the bottom of the Tier A tournament for 2011-12, which concluded last weekend. Never has the club, which was founded in 1888 and has produced several national cricketers, been so badly humiliated.NCC failed to win a single match out of their nine and, of the seven drawn encounters, they managed to gain first-innings points from only their match against Moors SC. This was insufficient to lift them from the bottom of the table where they had been languishing for a greater part of the season. This was the club’s worst season in their history and next year they face a gigantic task of trying to retain their top players, who may look for other avenues.The irony of it is that NCC this season won the Premier Limited Overs title, defeating traditional rivals Sinhalese SC by 32 runs in the final and it was against the very same opponents that their relegation chances hinged when they met in the final round of the first-class competition. As it turned out, SSC gained sweet revenge for that defeat, beating NCC by 26 runs in Colombo to end runner-up to champions Colombo Colts CC. NCC only needed first-innings points to lift themselves from the bottom of the table but it was not to be.”The key factor to NCC’s dismal performance this season is that they have been losing players consistently and have not been able to find suitable replacements,” former Sri Lanka cricketer and NCC stalwart Ranjith Fernando said.”We have been losing players sometimes in the middle of matches and with an imbalanced pool the club has found it difficult to find 11 players to play in a match,” he said.NCC’s situation got so desperate that they had to bring their former Sri Lanka legspinning allrounder Upul Chandana out of retirement in the match against SSC. Chandana, at 39, showed that he still hadn’t lost his skills by capturing eight wickets and scoring 24 and 20. NCC also grabbed former CCC and Sri Lanka opening batsman Michael van Dort as soon as he had arrived after playing cricket in Australia.During the season NCC lost the services of captain Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Lasith Malinga, Dinesh Chandimal, Farveez Maharoof, Chamara Kapugedera and Kosala Kulasekara to the national team.”My fear is that NCC playing in Tier B could result in a big blow to the development of Sri Lanka cricket. For it is around clubs like NCC and SSC that the other senior clubs revolve their cricket,” Fernando said.In a low-scoring game NCC did well to keep SSC down to a first-innings total of 209, of which Sri Lanka Test batsman Thilan Samaraweera made 102. But their own batting crumbled for a disappointing 138 to the part-time offbreaks of Sri Lanka Test opener Tharanga Paranavitana, who finished with figures of 3 for 25. NCC’s bowlers again performed well to dismiss SSC for 186 in the second innings to give themselves a target of 258 to chase and avoid relegation. But from 182 for 4, courtesy half-centuries from Van Dort and acting captain Jehan Mubarak, they folded tamely for 231, falling to the spin of Samaraweera and Kaushal Lokuarachchi, who shared eight wickets between them.A double-century opening partnership between Udara Jayasundera and Ian Daniel, who both made hundreds, enabled Ragama CC to run up the highest total of the season – 601 for 9 declared and beat Tamil Union by an innings in Colombo. They finished in third spot, the highest position they have attained in Premier Tier A since being promoted 12 years ago. Tamil Union’s batting failed to match Ragama’s score and were bowled out for scores of 308 and 200. The main damage was done by the offspin of 21-year-old Rushan Jaleel, who ended up with career-best figures of 11 for 164, playing in only his fifth first-class match. The star performer for Tamil Union was Sri Lanka ODI player Jeevan Mendis who was captaining the club in the absence of Sachitra Serasinghe (representing SLC XI in the three-day practice game against England). Mendis took five wickets and scored 63 and 39 in the match.Chilaw Marians ended up in the fourth place after thrashing Lankan CC by 255 runs in Colombo. Chilaw Marians recovered from a bad start of 48 for 4 to raise a respectable total of 302. Lankan CC were bundled out for 150 and Marians batted a second time and set Lankan’s a target of 400. Lankans hardly had a chance to get a start as their batting was destroyed for 144 by the left-arm spin of Malinda Pushpakumara who took a career-best 9 for 46 to complete a match-haul of 13 for 107.Defending champions Bloomfield had to be content with fifth place when they grabbed a narrow 11 runs first-innings lead over Moors SC in Colombo. The match was notable for former Sri Lanka batsman Chamara Silva becoming the first batsman to reach 1000 runs this season when he scored 86 in the first innings and celebrated the occasion with a century in the second innings. Sri Lanka offspinner Suraj Randiv once again gave the national selectors a reminder with a haul of eight wickets in the match but conceded 263 runs off 52.1 overs.Colombo Colts CC, who won the Premier League Tier A with a weekend to spare, finished the season on a high note taking first innings-points against Badureliya SC at the Surrey Village Ground. After bowling out their opponents for 235, Colts built their total of 338 around Shihan Kamileen’s knock of 97.Premier Tier BChampions Sri Lanka Army completed a highly successful season by posting their seventh win in nine matches to finish on top of the Premier League Tier B standings with a clear 36 points gap from second-placed Sri Lanka Navy SC. The other two forces’ clubs didn’t fare all that well. Sri Lanka Air Force finished seventh out of ten and Police SC finished at the bottom of the table to be relegated to the 2-day Sara trophy tournament. Police’s chances of avoiding relegation hinged on the outcome of their final match against Burgher RC which they lost by an innings. The win boosted BRC to finish the season in third place with Andy Solomons scoring his maiden first-class hundred (166).