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ScorecardA solid and grafting 128 from Tushar Imran, Bangladesh A’s captain, ended England A’s hopes of forcing victory on the final day of the 2nd Test at Bogra.Declaring overnight, with a lead of 99, England were soon in business with Graham Onions removing Jahurul Islam with his first ball and, five balls later, Mehrab Hossain, both for ducks. But Bangladesh fought back valiantly, if stodgily; Nasiruddin Faruque made a grey 31 from 130 balls and, together with Tushar, put on 127 for the third wicket as Bangladesh played for time.Tim Bresnan picked up a couple of wickets to give England brief hope of a win, but Tushar was resolute in defence, ending unbeaten as the game petered to a draw.

Andrew Strauss says he is still coming to terms with being omitted from England’s Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka and has yet to decide on his next option. After a poor 12 months he was overlooked in favour of Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara, the first time he has been dropped from the Test side since his debut in 2004.”To say that it hurts is a massive understatement. In truth it is the culmination of a long, tiring and immensely frustrating 12 months in which little has gone my way,” Strauss wrote in . “I have been a victim of some poor umpiring decisions, some unfortunate dismissals and a few incredibly good balls delivered at just the wrong moment. But I still have to take responsibility for my less than satisfactory contributions.”When the squad was announced David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, said Strauss, who has a central contract, will still come into consideration for the New Zealand tour next February. Strauss is set to have a meeting with Graveney next week to discuss his options, which include being part of the development squad in India or following the same path as Steve Harmison and playing for an overseas team.”I am determined to take a little time to let the news and disappointment settle in before deciding how best to plan the fight to get my spot back,” he said. “Some further time away from the game, regaining hunger and desire, may be beneficial. But over the longer term the only way I can rediscover the habit of scoring runs is by playing, so I will have to look into the opportunities available.”

Scorecard
How they were out

Mohammad Kaif’s timely century and Suresh Raina’s allround performance spurred Rajashtan Cricket Association XI to a thrilling five-run victory in the final over against England XI at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Ian Bell and Matt Prior kept England in the hunt for most of the match but a spate of run-outs and tight bowling by RCA XI’s spinners derailed England’s chase.Chasing 261, Prior gave the initial push with a 69-run stand for the third wicket with Kevin Pietersen. The early loss of Vikram Solanki and Owais Shah didn’t faze him as he collected runs by cutting and lofting over the infield. The opening bowlers were guilty of offering far too much room to Prior and bowling much too straight to Pietersen, who milked runs to the midwicket fence. But they found runs hard to come by against Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar and Prior holed out soon after Pietersen was run out.Bell handled the responsibility of leading the chase marvellously and, with Paul Collingwood, used his feet to play the spinners very effectively. Skipping down the track both batsmen lofted over the infield to find the fence and suddenly all the pressure created was let off. Two calamitous run-outs, first Collingwood and then Ian Blackwell, reduced England XI to 216 for 6 but Bell carried on. Making use of a missed stumping early in his innings, Bell showed that, when necessary, he could adapt to the one-day format as well and his nudges and pushes were interspersed with attacking shots down the ground.The asking-rate mounted as wickets fell at the other end and Bell perished while trying to clear deep midwicket . The match seemed lost then but Kabir Ali was reading another script. Needing 24 off 11 balls, he hoisted Chawala over long-on for six. With the equation reading 12 runs off three balls with one wicket remaining, Ali unleashed another massive hit over deep midwicket. However, it was to end there. He drove the next ball to cover and James Anderson set off at top speed from the non-striker’s end. Kaif pounced on the opportunity and completed the fourth run-out of the innings to seal England’s loss.It was fitting that Kaif ended the match for it was he who set it up so perfectly for RCA XI’s in the first innings. He paced his century perfectly – taking time to settle as Suresh Rania sparkled during his 49, picking off the ones and twos in the middle overs, and finishing unbeaten on 119 with a flurry of boundaries at the death. His innings began after both openers had fallen cheaply. Gautam Gambhir, almost certain to partner Virender Sehwag in the ODIs, floundered and fell tamely to a nick down leg side but another Indian hopeful shone. Rania, who was superb later with the ball and in the field, kept the momentum going with his characteristic punchy drives and whippy flicks while Kaif took time to get settled.England’s attack, missing Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard, showed their inexperience by bowling far too full and wide. Raina got cracking straightaway, steering Sajid Mahmood through cover point for four off the second ball he faced. He was especially severe on Anderson, bashing him for three fours in his fifth over as the innings began to pick up pace after a sluggish start. As Rania unleashed an array of crisp strokes, Kaif dug in. He was typically busy in the early part of his innings and his first signs of aggression were consecutive fours of Liam Plunkett.England lost Mahmood to a stomach bug after he bowled just three overs but Collingwood and Blackwell filled the breach and stemmed the run-rate. Collingwood’s offcutters snared Rania (49 off 46 balls) and Venugopal, who frittered a crucial opportunity to impress the selectors, and Blackwell induced a top-edge from Ajay Jadeja. Blackwell returned figures of 1 for 33 and staked his claim for a one-day spot.At 166 for 5, RCA XI were in a dicey situation but Kaif took centrestage. He shifted gears and unleashed drives and pulls and when he couldn’t find the boundary he played infuriating chip shots over the infield that fell in no man’s land. His cheekiness rubbed off on Parthiv Patel who contributed 25. Kaif quickly made up the deficit between his runs and balls faced by playing in an aggressive vein, something which has been missing in his international knocks of late. He ended the innings with a flourish, clouting a four and a six off the final two balls to finish with 119 off 136 balls.

RCA XIJaidev Shah c Batty b Mahmood 10 (11 for 1)
Gautam Gambhir c Prior b Anderson 5 (28 for 2)
Suresh Raina c Shah b Collingwood 49 (100 for 3)
Venugopal Rao b Collingwood 14 (120 for 4)
Ajay Jadeja c Pietersen b Blackwell 18 (166 for 5)
Parthiv Patel c Bell b Ali 25 (227 for 6)
England XIVikram Solanki c Raina b VRV Singh 0 (10 for 1)
Owais Shah c Patel b RP Singh 2 (19 for 2)
Kevin Pietersen run out Raina 28 (88 for 3)
Matthew Prior c RP Singh b Powar 55 (97 for 4)
Paul Collingwood run out Patel 34 (163 for 5)
Ian Blackwell run out Jadeja 23 (215 for 6)
Ian Bell c Kaif b Raina 71 (229 for 7)
Liam Plunkett c RP Singh b Venugopal Rao 1 (230 for 8)
Gareth Batty c RP Singh b Chawla 2 (244 for 9)
James Anderson run out Kaif 4 (255 all out)

Hasan Raza smashed a brilliant hundred as Habib Bank cruised into the final of the Patron’s Cup National One-day Cricket Championship beating Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), at Karachi on Saturday. Sent to bat first, Habib Bank posted a respectable 285 for 5 in 50 overs and then bowled out ZTBL for 248 in 45 overs.Leading the side, Hasan made 105 off 92 balls with 11 boundaries and a six. He was dropped when on 13 by Adnan Akmal off pacer Imran Sabir, fully exploited the lapse and hammered the bowling to all parts of the ground. Aftab Khan, who made an unbeaten 44 off 42 balls with three fours, put on 104 runs for the fifth wicket with Hasan. Taufeeq Umar hit seven fours in his 44, while wicketkeeper Humayun Farhat, promoted to open the batting, hammered five boundaries and a six in his 34 off a mere 24 balls.Faisal Naved top-scored for ZTBL with 62 off 97 deliveries including five boundaries and Atif Ashraf contributed a defiant undefeated 59 off 45 balls banging six boundaries and a brace of sixes. Fahad Masood was the pick of the Habib Bank bowling attack, taking three wickets for 57 in his ten overs.Habib Bank will now take on Pakistan Customs in the final, at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Sports Complex Ground at Karachi on February 20.Pacers Imran Ali and Stephen John and off-spinner Murtaza Hussain bowled Pakistan Customs into the final of the Patrons Cup National One-day Cricket Championship, when they defeated Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) by 20 runs, in an exciting low-scoring semi-final at Karachi on Saturday.Put in to bat first, Customs could manage only 171 for 9 in their 50 overs. WAPDA in response were bowled out for 151 in 47 overs. Right-arm fast-medium Imran Ali took 2 for 19, left-armer John got 2 for 31 and Murtaza claimed 2 for 22 in a tight 10-over spell. Opener Mohammad Ali Niazi made 35 while Fawad Alam scored 31 off 59 deliveries, hitting a solitary boundary. Shabbir Ahmed was the pick of the WAPDA bowling attack with three wickets for 35 runs in ten overs.Asif Hussain slammed a fighting 50 with three fours after facing 108 balls and Ahmed Said, who had earlier claimed five catches behind the stumps, got 48 in 96 balls with two fours. The pair added exactly 100 runs for the fourth wicket after WAPDA were reduced to 14 for 3 in the first three overs with Imran striking twice.Customs will meet Habib Bank in the finals on Monday.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, has backed Darrell Hair in the aftermath of the Oval Code of Conduct hearing and said that he wants him to stand again in international matches.In an exclusive column for Cricinfo, Speed emphasised that Hair remained a member of the ICC’s Elite panel. “His decision-making marks him out as one of the ICC’s top officials and I very much hope he will stand again at the highest level. And in that regard it was pleasing to see comments from both Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shaharyar Khan last weekend expressing similar sentiments.”Speed also emphasised that there was “nothing sinister” about the decision to withdraw Hair from the Champions Trophy. “Prior to the hearing we received a letter from the BCCI president Sharad Pawar raising his concerns about a potential negative reaction from some followers of the game there and the security implications this may have.”We listened to this view and sought independent security advice which highlighted a heightened risk and the need for 24 hour protection. In the circumstances we decided it was in the best interests of Darrell and the tournament not to send him to the event.” The BCCI, however, has denied that it raised specific security issues with the ICC.Speed also admitted that ideally the hearing into events at The Oval should have happened sooner but “for a variety of reasons that was not possible this time, not least because the issue confronting everyone involved the real world, was unprecedented and provoked high emotion.” He added: “Cricket must learn from this experience.”Far from undermining the authority of the umpires, as some have claimed, the hearing maintained it. By banning Inzamam-ul-Haq for four matches, Ranjan [Madugalle] confirmed players cannot take the Law into their own hands, no matter how wronged they feel. The fact the Pakistan Cricket Board have not appealed the ban is a clear indication it accepts that.”But he also acknowledged that the issue of ball tampering needed “careful consideration” by both the MCC, who are responsible for the Laws, and the ICC’s own cricket committee.

MCC 165 for 5 (Cairns 61*) beat European XI 162 (Cairns 3-26) by five wickets
ScorecardMCC eased to a five-wicket win in their match against a European XI at Rotterdam, thanks largely to the allround efforts of Chris Cairns who smacked an unbeaten 61 after taking 3 for 26.MCC were wobbling on 97 for 5 before Cairns drew on his experience to launch a measured counterattack with Rob Turner, the pair adding an unbeaten 68 for the sixth wicket. Cairns was steady rather than spectacular, but still managed to score at better than a run-a-ball.Trent Johnston was the pick of the European bowlers, taking 1 for 16 from nine overs.

Brad Haddin’s elevation to the Australia Test squad has forced New South Wales to boost their keeping stocks by picking up Peter Nevill from Victoria. The arrival of Nevill, who was behind Adam Crosthwaite and Matthew Wade in the Bushrangers’ plans, will push Daniel Smith for first-team appearances as Haddin steps up following Adam Gilchrist’s retirement. Smith played three Pura Cup matches last season as cover for Haddin, but he has also played as a specialist batsman.The Blues handed a deal to the fast bowler Burt Cockley who, like Nevill, is aged 22. Cockley made his Pura Cup debut in February after impressing in the Sydney grade competition. Craig Simmons, Tim Lang and Martin Paskal were left off the 19-strong full-contract list. With ten other Blues players on Cricket Australia deals as well, the state list has been afforded a strong emphasis on youth, with seven rookies also in the fold.Rookies Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Stephen O’Keefe, Steven Smith and David Warner were rewarded with full contracts after strong seasons. Hughes averaged 62.11 in seven first-class matches, including his initial century in the successful Pura Cup final. He was vice-captain of Australia’s Under-19 World Cup side this year and won the state’s rising star award.Khawaja, a left-hander, was the leading run scorer at grade level, making 1134 runs at 59.68. On Pura Cup debut he made a mature 85 at home in February against the eventual finalists Victoria. Smith, a leg-spinning allrounder who was also in the national Under-19 squad this year, has the chance to further push his claims for a regular spot after debuting in both Pura and FR Cups last season and impressing in the Twenty20 competition.Josh Hazlewood, the 17-year-old fast bowler who was the youngest member of the Australia Under-19 World Cup squad this year, earned a rookie contract, as did Daniel Burns, a left-arm orthodox bowler who was also at the youth World Cup, and former junior internationals Sam Robson, a legspinning allrounder, and Mitchell Starc, a left-arm fast bowler.James Crosthwaite, Adam’s brother and like him a wicketkeeper, also picked up a deal after representing Scotland and ACT. Joshua Lalor, a left-arm fast bowler, and the left-hander Scott Henry complete the rookie set.The New South Wales chief executive David Gilbert is happy with the depth of the squad but warned that every player must play his part. “The absence of our Australian players will make the 2008-09 season a very challenging one,” Gilbert said, “so it will be imperative that the younger players rise to the occasion.”The Blues have lost three players from their 2007-08 group. Matthew Nicholson announced his retirement earlier this year while Aaron O’Brien and Tom Cooper have both transferred to South Australia. The Redbacks were also chasing Greg Mail and Grant Lambert but both decided to stay in New South Wales for study or family reasons.Squad Aaron Bird, Mark Cameron, Burt Cockley, Ed Cowan, Scott Coyte, Peter Forrest, Nathan Hauritz, Moises Henriques, Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Grant Lambert, Greg Mail, Peter Nevill, Stephen O’Keefe, Ben Rohrer, Daniel Smith, Steven Smith, Dominic Thornely, David Warner.Import Peter Nevill.Rookies Daniel Burns, James Crosthwaite, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Henry, Joshua Lalor, Sam Robson, Mitchell Starc.Players on the transfer list Craig Simmons, Tim Lang and Martin Paskal.

One of the off-field entertainments in place during this tournament is the dancers placed around the boundary edge who jump onto stage with each boundary that’s hit or wicket which falls. It’s a miracle none of them collapsed of exhaustion the way Bangladesh flew out of the blocks at Newlands. Few, if any, innings, even in Twenty20, have begun in such astonishing style and after 4.2 overs the score line read 58 for 4. There’d barely been a ball where the dancers hadn’t been up on their podiums.Bangladesh batted with a freedom of a team who knew they were already in the next stage, but you sense that they wouldn’t have played much differently if the situation hadn’t been so comfortable. They have some of the most naturally aggressive batsmen in the game – one of the reasons their Test growth has been much more stunted than in limited-overs cricket – and once the big shots began it was hard to stop them.There has never been any doubting their ability to play shots, but even in Twenty20 there is a judgment call to be made. Mohammad Ashraful opened his innings with a majestic first-ball six over square leg then scooped his next delivery over short fine leg. Ten in two balls is plenty, but the adrenalin was coursing through Ashraful’s veins and he couldn’t stop, miscuing his third ball to Graeme Smith at mid-on.Aftab Ahmed also quickly found his over drive setting, mauling Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini in the early overs. It was an audacious period of striking and the packed crowd were lapping it up. England captain Paul Collingwood was spotted in the crowd, trying to collect a few tips for Sunday’s key Super Eights game, but he seemed as equally baffled by what was going on.If the likes of Ashraful and Ahmed are going to play with such abandonment, they also need to learn when to step back for a moment. The phrase, ’20 overs is more than you think’ has been used so much by domestic players that, in five years, it is already a cliché but it does hold true. Ahmed had given his side such an early kick-start, he could have taken a few overs to consolidate, but instead fell to an awful swing across the line.

Deriders of Twenty20 say it is not much more than glorified slogging. But the innings of Chris Gayle and Sanath Jayasuriya already in this tournament have been a compacted version of how they play in ODIs. Jehan Mubarak’s 13-ball 46 against Kenya was clean, straight hitting, not slogging. However, some of Bangladesh’s shot selection did lurch back towards the hit-and-hope variety. “We wanted to play our natural game,” said Ashraful. “We have good strikers in the top six but while the run-rate was good we lost too many wickets.”Their age can be put forward as a significant factor in their defence – no one in the side is older than 25 – and the passion they put into their cricket is a joy to watch. They want to succeed every time and Ashraful could barely tear himself away from the crease after his dismissal. Against West Indies Ashraful and Ahmed guided the team to victory, but even though the batting was no less aggressive there was a touch more selection. That, however, was in a chasing situation and, as expected, it is quickly becoming clear that hunting down runs is the way to go.In the end they weren’t a million miles away from a decent total, which is where some restraint would have paid dividends. It is still difficult to judge what a defendable score is when batting first and as Bangladesh’s approach suggested they did really know what they were aiming at. But it cost them nothing having a go and if ever there was a game to try something different this was it. As with everything in their development, it will have been a valuable learning experience.

ScorecardAlex Blackwell slammed 112 off 114 balls•Getty Images

Australia Women shrugged off the disappointment of losing the T20I series by handing India Women a 101-run thrashing in the first ODI in Canberra.Australia, opting to bat, rode on a 180-run stand for the third wicket between Alex Blackwell and Ellyse Perry. Blackwell top-scored for the team, stroking a 112-ball 114 with 12 fours, while Perry chipped in with 90 off 118 balls. Their efforts lifted Australia to a competitive 276 for 6.Perry then contributed with the ball, collecting 4 for 45 to run through India’s top and middle order, as the visitors failed to gather any momentum in their chase. Harmanpreet Kaur top-scored with 42, but no other player managed more than 25, as India folded for 175 inside 47 overs.

Who should take responsibility for this defeat?
I think it’s a collective responsibility. We didn’t play well enough and it is a disappointment that everyone has to share.Would you like to continue as coach?
This is not the time to talk about that.This proves Vision 2007 has failed. Is it a personal failure for you?
As I said before I think it’s a collective responsibility. We’ve come here with high expectations obviously, certainly from home, and we haven’t been able to live up to that. That’s something that everyone is well aware of in the dressing room. It’s a fairly quiet place as you can imagine at the moment. Everybody’s disappointed. As Rahul [Dravid] said some time back, we’re all in it together and we have to share in it together.The team looked flat in the middle. Have they played too much cricket?
I think coming out of Jamaica the feeling in the group was very strong and the spirit was fine and high and we were confident and we had a reasonably good break in that period in Jamaica so that we can complain about that or use that as the excuse. At the end of the day we didn’t play well enough in the group stage.Was the team under pressure?
I think Indian team definitely playing under more pressure than most teams because of the weight of expectation back in India. I think it does have an effect and I would say from my experience from the last few weeks that it definitely had its effect, playing up to the Bangladesh game I thought the boys were a bit anxious at that stage and then the pressure built from there. Today, they just didn’t play that well. I think the bowlers did a reasonable job and we didn’t really give ourselves a chance to win the match because we didn’t get any partnerships.There was a whole hype built around how this team was working towards the World Cup. What went wrong?
There is nothing more to be said other than we didn’t play well enough. The fact of the matter was that we got the team that India wanted and we didn’t perform when the time came. That’s the long and the short of it. That is my answer. I’m not sure right at this time is the moment to try and dissect it. We need to go and look at it from a distance that might give some perspective. There is no point making comments at an emotional time like this. At the end of the day, we didn’t play well enough.

Are you concerned about the reactions back in India?
In the light of recent incidents, obviously you’ve got to be concerned. When India wakes up tomorrow, they will be disappointed. They will be angry with what has happened, and it is a disappointment. I hope that people realise that it is just a game, and the guys out there did their best. It wasn’t good enough on this occasion. I think there are a number of things that need to be looked at to get a clear perspective about what has happened this week but I don’t know if we’re going to get any answers right at this moment other than to say we didn’t play well.Why did the team crumble? Are they unable to handle pressure?
There are a number of factors but I’m not going to try and put labels on it. Again, it’s a very emotional time for a lot of people and any comment that is made can be misconstrued and made to sound worse than it actually is. I don’t know I can say it, but we weren’t good enough on the day.Over the last 17 matches overseas, India have only played 50 overs on four occasions. Why is that?
We haven’t played well enough.But it’s a period stretching over one and a half years…
We haven’t played well enough, that’s it.Can you pin-point the reasons why they haven’t batted well enough?
I don’t think this is the forum for me to make any comment in that regard. There is a lot of emotion, as I said. In light of this and in light of recent events I am not going to be making any comments about what’s wrong with anything or anybody.Aren’t you shirking your responsibility?
No I don’t think so. I am not employed by you people, I am employed by the BCCI. Obviously, I will have to face up to them and give them a report and give them some indications of what I think. But I don’t think this is the forum for me to say anything.Another word that has been mentioned a lot is ‘process’. What went wrong with the process?
That’s an inflammatory question and I’m not prepared to answer it.You said you are answerable to the BCCI. But aren’t you also answerable to one billion fans in India? Shouldn’t you say something to them?
We didn’t play well enough.That’s all?
I don’t know what else you want me to say? You want me to criticise somebody or a group of people? I am not prepared to do that. We didn’t play well enough. We weren’t able to play well enough under the conditions or the circumstances of the tournament. We didn’t play well enough.

Why didn’t we play well enough?
Well I don’t think India has won a tournament overseas since 1985. There is a bit of history to it. There are obviously some reasons. I am not prepared to go into them at this stage.How critical was [Sachin] Tendulkar’s failure?
I don’t think we can give the blame to one individual, or a group of individuals, in this case. Everyone goes out there and tries to play well. Nobody goes out there and tries to play badly. I don’t know if we can pick on any one person and say it their lack of form or lack of performance. As a group, we didn’t play well enough.Did we pick the right team?
That’s not for me to say. I was given a team and I was happy to work with the team.How much responsibility are you willing to take?
Obviously I have to take some responsibility and I am quite happy to do that, I’m the coach. But I don’t think the coaching staff alone must be blamed for what has happened here. The coaching staff and the support staff have worked very hard, the coaching staff haven’t worked very hard. Apportioning blame is not going to change what has happened.This is still India’s worst performance in World Cup history. Is there a need for serious introspection?
I think there is a need for a serious introspection, but I don’t think it should start today.Do you think it’s time for a change of guard?
That’s an inflammatory question, and you know I can’t answer that in this forum.Are you taking anything from this World Cup?
A lot of disappointment. Again, I think if we look at this from a distance it will give better perspective than walking straight off the field on what has been a disappointing day, and one of the more disappointing days in India in cricket. I’m not sure we’re going to come up with any answers that will solve any problems or change what has happened out there today. But, as I said in the last answer, it’s time to sit down and take a serious look at what’s happening and what’s happened and see what may be done to improve things for the future.Given a chance, would you like to stay with the Indian team?
I am not prepared to answer that question today. It’s not my decision.What if you are given a chance?
I haven’t been given a chance. Given an opportunity, I will give an answer then.Was there anything wrong with the planning?
I think the planning was fine, the preparation was good, but the execution on the day wasn’t good enough. You’ve got to give some credit to Sri Lanka, they played well and they deserve their victory. We weren’t able to execute the plan as we would have liked to. It happens. It’s happened probably more often that it should have.We didn’t see the right body language after the Bangladesh match. Do you agree? Or do you think it would also be an inflammatory answer?
It would be an inflammatory answer. You are trying to put words in my mouth. They’re not my words and they wouldn’t be words I would like to use.Do you agree the fire was missing?
The team was under pressure, I absolutely agree with that. I think that pressure did have a bearing with what happened out there today.Are you going to go back with the Indian team or are you worried about your security?
I don’t think any comment about that is going to help the situation. I’m quite confident that systems are in place to look after security of the team and the individuals involved.You took over the team in July of 2005. How many points would you give yourself on a scale of 10?
Again, that’s a very difficult question to answer. I’m happy that I’ve done the best job that I could do. Eighteen months is not a long time to build a team. If you look at any sport, it takes a long time. To put a number from my point of view, I don’t think I am the right man to make that assessment. I am happy with myself. The coaching staff and the support staff did they best that they could do. It wasn’t good enough.