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ScorecardYorkshire take a lead of exactly 200 into the final day here, three wickets down and with the prospect of a decent finish, which makes the forecast for rain sweeping in from the west in the early hours all the more regrettable.Just as the team from the eastern side of the Pennines has the potential to set up a tempting run chase, the home team will feel a decent morning with the ball could leave them to dictate their own destiny. Both hoped for a change in wind direction overnight.Yorkshire will edge in front at the top of the First Division table with a draw but given that a win for Lancashire would see the Red Rose leapfrog both Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire into first place, stand-in Yorkshire captain Jacques Rudolph will be wary of taking a gamble, particularly after what happened at Taunton in May.There he challenged Somerset to score 362 from 68 overs and wound-up red-faced as Marcus Trescothick’s team knocked them off with a couple of overs to spare. It is Yorkshire’s only defeat so far.In any event, Lancashire bowled well enough here on day three to feel they might yet be able to set their own target. Without Joe Sayers and Andrew Gale, this Yorkshire line-up lacks depth in the batting and the loss of Rudolph and Adam Lyth for a combined 33 was not the start they needed if they were to establish a commanding lead. Anthony McGrath is unbeaten on 50 overnight, but should he go early Lancashire will have their tails up.They will be eager to see Daren Powell continue his form of the third day, the West Indian having opened with a hostile, penetrating spell at the Statham End that soon struck a blow for Lancashire as Rudolph nicked a catch to wicketkeeper Luke Sutton to perish for four.Powell was unlucky not to dismiss Lyth himself, beating the left-hander twice in one over and seeing Simon Kerrigan miss a difficult chance at mid-on when the batsman was on 19. Lyth soon went for 29. He had never looked at ease and when he pulled a ball from Kyle Hogg to Stephen Moore at deep square leg he cursed his luck. He is still 18 runs away from reaching 1,000 first-class runs for the season, a milestone he once looked capable of hitting before the end of May.He should still be first in the country to get there. Nearest challenger Mark Ramprakash does not play another first-class match until 20 July. Lyth, on the other hand, has another opportunity when Yorkshire take on Warwickshire next week.Kerrigan, the 21-year-old left-arm spinner who looks a decent cricketer in the making, deservedly had some success when Jonathan Bairstow, aiming for mid-wicket, sliced horribly to backward point. There could have been another setback for Yorkshire in the last over, moreover, when Tom Smith dropped Gerard Brophy at mid-wicket off Steven Croft.Earlier, Lancashire had fought back well when appearing odds-on to miss the follow-on target of 298. The home side had begun the day at 187 for 6 but while there was a wicket each for pace bowler Tino Best and off-spinner Azeem Rafiq in the morning session, Sutton and Kyle Hogg combined to drag the home side out of trouble.They threatened to topple the county record for the ninth wicket, which has stood at 142 since 1907. In the end, that prospect disappeared when Hogg, who must have fancied he could complete a maiden first-class century, had a rush of blood and hit straight to cover off Adil Rashid, taken low down by Richard Pyrah.Rashid’s leg-spin was not such a consistent threat as it had been on Tuesday but Hogg’s concentration, in the face of Rashid and Rafiq in tandem, was admirable nonetheless. He also hit 11 boundaries. Best, who began the day with a beamer to Sutton, tended to be wayward but held a return catch when Tom Smith miscued a drive. Rafiq, who was as impressive as the more experienced Rashid, had Glen Chapple caught at a deep mid-on as the Lancashire tried to hit over the top, the wicket giving the 19-year-old off-spinner the best figures – 4 for 92 – of his career so far. Rashid, watched by England selector James Whitaker, took a five-wicket haul for the fourth time in a Roses fixture.

Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan captain, has said that he wanted former captain Younis Khan in the squad for the tour of England but various issues, such as form and discipline, had prevented the batsman’s selection.”I wanted Younis to be in the team but, besides the issue of his recent form, there was also a bit of a disciplinary issue with Younis,” Afridi told . “One must understand I don’t pick the team alone. The input of the coach and selectors is also involved in this process.”Younis, whose ban had been overturned by the PCB after an appeal, was not included in Pakistan’s Test or Twenty20 squad for the trip to England. Ijaz Butt, chairman of the board, said last week that Younis’ return would require clearance from the board, an issue that wasn’t deemed to be an issue at all with Shoaib Malik, Afridi and the Akmal brothers, who had all apologised for their mistakes.Afridi also said that fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who made a comeback in the Asia Cup, would only play limited-over cricket for now. “We don’t want to waste him or damage his remaining career by playing him in Test cricket,” Afridi said.Although Pakistan made an early exit from the Asia Cup, after beating only Bangladesh, they competed hard against Sri Lanka and India. Afridi’s performances were impressive in the tournament: he scored centuries against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and took three wickets at an economy-rate of 4.60. “The truth is that in the Twenty20 World Cup, I had taken the pressure of captaincy which affected my individual form as well, but this time I focused on my own performances,” he said.Afridi will make a return to Test cricket after four years when he leads the team in Pakistan’s ‘home’ series against Australia in England this summer.

Cricket Australia has agreed to the BCCI’s proposal to convert the seven-match ODI series scheduled for October to two Tests and three ODIs. The Indian board’s Tour, Programme and Fixtures committee announced the new itinerary today, with the first Test to be played at Mohali beginning October 2.

Tour itinerary for India v Australia

October 2-6 First Test – Mohali
October 10-14 Second Test – Bangalore
October 19 First ODI – Kochi
October 22 Second ODI – Goa
October 24 Third ODI – Vishakapatnam

The second Test will be played in Bangalore, followed by three one-day matches to be held in Kochi, Goa and Vishakapatnam. Australia will also play a three-day practice match at Mohali in September to begin the tour.This is not the first time the Indian board has made changes to a tour itinerary. Earlier this year, Cricket South Africa agreed to replace a five-match ODI series with two Tests and three ODIs. The board’s determination to schedule more Tests has come in the wake of India ascending to the No.1 Test ranking for the first time.The BCCI also announced the schedule for New Zealand’s tour of India in November. The teams will play three Tests and five ODIs. The first Test starts on November 4 and will be played in Ahmedabad. The second and third Tests will be played in Kanpur (November 12) and Mumbai (November 20).The schedule for the ODIs will be decided later based on logistics but the venues are Bangalore, Mohali, Chennai, Guwahati and Hyderabad.

Suresh Raina, India’s stand-in captain for the tri-series in Zimbabwe, has said the tour is “an excellent opportunity” for the younger players selected in place of resting or injured seniors to stake a claim for a regular spot in the national line-up.”It’s nice that the seniors wanted a break and the selectors took the positive step of picking such a young side,” Raina told the . “Indeed, one is thankful to the board.”Raina was named captain for the tournament, and Virat Kohli his deputy, after the selectors decided to rest regular captain MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Praveen Kumar. Seamers Pankaj Singh and Ashok Dinda, wicketkeeper Naman Ojha and offspinner R Ashwin are the new faces getting a look in.”I spoke to Gary [Kirsten] before leaving the West Indies. We talked about the preparations on getting to Zimbabwe. I’ve got a good pace attack, all are young and hungry. The tour will be an opportunity to learn and press for a regular berth in the ODIs and stake a claim at the highest level — Test cricket.”Raina will be leading India for the first time and he said his aim was to “win every game” without putting himself or his team-mates under too much pressure. “By nature, I’m very positive and, while on the field, I’m high on intensity. Those things won’t change. I’ve learnt from some of our best captains. I realise one has to be disciplined and one must follow the process.”I’m happy with the team. At some level or the other, I’ve played with all those who’ve been selected – Under-19, India A, India. I know them and they know me.” India will leave for Zimbabwe on May 26 and play their first match against the hosts on May 28 before taking on Sri Lanka two days later.

IMG, the event management company, has denied allegations that they were involved in helping set up a parallel IPL in England, and that they just facilitated an informal meeting between county representatives and Lalit Modi.Their response comes after ECB chairman Giles Clarke had sent an email to the BCCI, alleging that the suspended IPL chairman Modi was trying to induce the counties into activities that could prove “detrimental to Indian cricket, English cricket and world cricket at large.””IMG has a 50-year record of integrity and probity in the business of sport and at all times IMG respects the authority and sovereignty of official federations and governing bodies,” the company said in a statement. “IMG has not been involved in any plans of the kind suggested in the quotes attributed to Mr Clarke.”Representatives of certain ECB member-counties requested a meeting with Mr Lalit Modi through IMG. An informal lunch meeting subsequently took place on 31st March 2010 in Delhi and was attended by IMG executives. The matters discussed at the lunch included a general conversation about the challenges currently facing English cricket and a theoretical discussion about the possible modelling and commercial potential of an English Twenty20 cricket competition.”As a matter of formality it was stated by IMG, and acknowledged by all present prior to this theoretical discussion, that the sovereignty and processes of the ECB must at all times be respected as must the relevant rules of all other official cricket bodies, including the ICC. Any suggestion otherwise is baseless, untrue and defamatory. IMG has been involved in no subsequent discussions regarding any of the matters discussed at this meeting.”Clarke’s accusations forced the BCCI to slap a second show-cause notice on Modi in two weeks, after the board suspended him from all BCCI positions including that as the chairman of the IPL and pressed five specific charges ranging from financial impropriety to “behavioral pattern.”However, representatives of the counties said the issue of their meeting with Modi was overblown, and that they were in India only on a fact-finding mission. Yorkshire’s chief executive, Stewart Regan clarified that they met Modi to find out more about how the IPL has gone from nowhere to being one of the biggest sporting businesses in the world inside two years.

Michael Clarke and Marcus North have both been under pressure this week for different reasons, but both men could be thrust into the spotlight on field early on Friday. Daniel Vettori said the seam-friendly conditions at the Basin Reserve might encourage him to send Australia in if he wins the toss, while Ricky Ponting will, as always, be keen to put runs on the board.By the time Australia are two down, there will be plenty of attention on the next two men padded up. Ponting was confident that the No. 5, Clarke, would have felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders after facing up to the media on Wednesday, significantly easing much of the intrusion into his personal life. Clarke has looked upbeat at training and Ponting had no doubt he was ready for Test cricket.”I only had to ask him a simple question, are you right to go?” Ponting said. “The fact he was back here when he was said to me straight away that he was ready to play cricket again. There’s no doubt it’s been a tough week or couple of weeks for him but I know Michael well enough to know if he wasn’t ready to come back and play he wouldn’t have come. When he first arrived we sat down in my room and had a chat about a few things and he assured me then that he was ready to go and focussed on playing.”The challenge for the No. 6, North, is a different one. He finds himself on the verge of a potential Test axing, after what was for the majority a positive first year of Test cricket. His poor form after the first Test of the Australian summer has left him needing runs in Wellington to fend off the allrounder Steven Smith, and Ponting felt certain that North could regain the form that made him a key player on the tours of South Africa and England.”I’ve done a lot of work with him actually, one-on-one stuff the last couple of days and spoken a lot to him,” Ponting said. “There’s no doubt that he’s probably feeling a bit of the pressure, that probably explains why his form in the last half of the Shield season probably hasn’t been as strong as he would have liked. I’ve made it clear all the way through last summer with him he didn’t have a lot of great opportunities.”From the moment he came into this side, his debut hundred at the Wanderers, his shot selection and everything that was on display just looked like he’d been around for five years. You don’t lose that, just sometimes you get a bit confused and second guess yourself a little bit. He has just got to get back into that clear thinking state of mind when he is out in the middle and I am confident he can do that over the next couple of weeks.”Vettori knows how important it will be to maintain the pressure on Australia’s batsmen. His own top order is inexperienced and in their past five first-innings at the Basin Reserve, New Zealand have failed to post 200 four times and once didn’t even reach 100. All the more reason to look to the bowlers for direction.”Clarke’s record speaks for itself as of late so I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Vettori said. “North is a guy we probably haven’t seen a lot of, just video footage and seeing the Test match series against West Indies and Pakistan. The goal for us is to keep North under pressure because that’s what you need to do. There’s going to be key moments in the game but if we can keep that pressure on then we have a chance of winning.”New Zealand always enter a Test series against Australia as the underdogs and this is no exception. Victory would be a landmark achievement for Vettori’s men, given that they haven’t beaten Australia since 1993, but even holding Australia to draws would be a positive result and the captain said a strong series would make their 2009-10 a success.”It’s been a pretty good season up till now,” he said. “If we could have won the Chappell-Hadlee then it would have been a really good season but if we look back from the Champions Trophy through to now there’s been some really good cricket and to finish it off in the Test match form would be the key for us because that’s one that we have struggled with.”

Mitchell Johnson and Scott Styris have been fined by the match referee after a heated clash during New Zealand’s win in the first ODI in Napier. The two men were cited for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct with Johnson docked 60% of his match fee and Styris hit with a 15% fine.The incident occurred in the 46th over of New Zealand’s chase, when Styris struck Johnson for two boundaries. The players bumped shoulders and then appeared to clash heads. Initially, there was a verbal exchange between the two but at that point Johnson approached Styris and made what the umpires felt was deliberate and inappropriate physical contact with his opponent.Johnson, who was charged with a Level 2 offence, pleaded guilty at an early stage to avoid a full hearing. Styris also avoided a full hearing and was charged with a Level 1 offence. The umpires felt Styris contributed to the verbal exchange that preceded the physical contact and that his actions contravened clause 2.1.8 which covers actions that are contrary to the spirit of cricket or bring the game into disrepute.”Sometimes in the heat of competition players cross over the line of what is acceptable behaviour and that has clearly happened in this case,” the match referee Ranjan Madugalle said. “I made it clear to them that as role models it’s important that they conduct themselves not only within the laws of cricket but also in keeping with the spirit of the game.”Styris had the last laugh after leading New Zealand to a memorable final-over victory, which ended when he hit a six over long-off. He played down the incident and when asked if Johnson had headbutted him, he replied: “He may have done. It was just a bit of friendly banter. He was trying to get into my head to get me out and I was trying to win the battle over him.”There was nothing more than normal, the Australians play good competitive cricket and I’d like to think that we’ll match them in that competitiveness. There wasn’t anything untoward out there.”Styris and Johnson were separated by Australia’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and the captain Ricky Ponting was also keen to keep the focus on the game. He said he had seen the incident but was not sure how it had started.”I saw it, yeah. I was watching it from where I was fielding,” Ponting said. “I’m not sure what led to it. I didn’t see any build-up. There was obviously something that happened. I rushed in as quickly as I could and separated them as quick as I could and we just tried to finish off the game well from there.”

Shane Warne has raised concerns about playing in the IPL this year and believes the organisers may need to think about moving it again after a terror threat against sporting events in India. Last year’s event was relocated to South Africa and Warne said it was something that should be considered again this season.”The threats of the past 24 hours have certainly got me thinking twice and is of deep concern to athletes across several sports,” Warne told the . “If the threats are proven to be real, then organisers of the IPL may look at moving the tournament.”We moved it last year at short notice, so it can be done. There is no way organisers will risk the safety of players and officials.”Warne will wait for advice from security expert Reg Dickerson before deciding whether to head to India for the tournament, which begins on March 12. The threat specified the Hockey World Cup, the IPL and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where players will be staying in the relative safety of an athletes’ village, unlike the IPL players.”We’ll be staying in hotels and travelling on buses and as we saw with the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, it can be dangerous,” Warne said. The paper also reported that Australia’s high-profile players were considering hiring their own security staff for the tournament.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outMohammad Ashraful resisted the Indian attack initially, but his dismissal opened the flood-gates•Associated Press

From a position of relative strength to utter disarray in the space ofhalf an hour – that was Bangladesh’s story on the final day of the seriesin Mirpur. From 290 for 3, they lost six wickets for 14, and only a coupleof hefty blows from Mushfiqur Rahim ensured that the innings defeat wasavoided. But Zaheer Khan, who had spent much of the morning wearing aback-brace before returning to scalp three in an over, needed just threeballs after lunch to make a mess of Rubel Hossain’s stumps, and whenShakib Al Hasan’s second ball went for byes, the match was over.Pragyan Ojha had taken the wickets of Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib AlHasan, before ceding the limelight to Zaheer, easily the pick of thebowlers in the series. But there was no hint of the drama to come asBangladesh made serene progress in the opening hour. Ashraful drove Zaheerthrough cover, but was largely an amused onlooker as Shahadat Hossain, thenightwatchman, took to the attack with some gusto.

Smart stats

• India’s 2-0 win in Bangladesh is their fifth series win in a row. They last lost a series in Sri Lanka in July 2008. Since then they’ve beaten Australia, England and Sri Lanka at home, and New Zealand and Bangladesh away.

• The win is India’s sixth in seven Tests against Bangladesh. Three of those wins were by an innings.

• Zaheer Khan’s 7 for 87 is only the ninth instance of Indian fast bowlers taking seven or more wickets in an innings. Kapil Dev has done it five times, while Lala Amar Singh, Javagal Srinath and Irfan Pathan have done it once each.

• It’s Zaheer’s first ten-wicket haul in a Test – his previous best had been 9 for 134 against England at Trent Bridge in 2007.It’s also his fourth Man-of-the-Match award, two of which have come against Bangladesh.

• Tamim Iqbal’s 151 is the second-highest score by a Bangladesh batsman in Tests. He fell only seven short of Mohammad Ashraful’s unbeaten 158 against India in 2004. Bangladesh’s three highest individual scores have all come against India.

A pull for four off Ishant Sharma bolstered his confidence and though asubsequent top-edged heave over slips betrayed his tail-end roots, therewas nothing fortuitous about a lovely straight six off Ojha or a copy-bookcover-drive off Zaheer. With Gautam Gambhir then conceding fouroverthrows, and Ojha clubbed for another four through midwicket, therewould have been Indian supporters whose minds strayed to the prospect of atricky fourth-innings chase.The sense of unease was compounded when Amit Mishra dropped Shahadat atdeep midwicket after he’d given Harbhajan Singh the big heave-ho. Therewere 51 runs scored before drinks and it was only when Shahadat tried towallop Harbhajan over long-on again that the wheels came off. This time,Amit Mishra held on to the catch, and the 68-run partnership was over.Ashraful, who had shown uncharacteristic patience all the while, followedin Shahadat’s wake, undone by a beautiful Ojha delivery from round thewicket. Shakib played the most bizarre of innings, striking the first ballhe faced for a straight six, and then sweeping one straight to Gambhir atsquare leg. Resistance breached, MS Dhoni turned to his best bowler.Brace or no brace, Zaheer was a man on fire. Raqibul Hasan shouldered armsto one that came in with the angle from round the wicket, whileMahmudullah was defeated by late movement and a magnificent catch fromMurali Vijay, who took the catch an inch from the ground while diving tohis left at second slip. Shafiul Islam’s stumps were splayed next ball,and it took some defiance from Mushfiqur to make India bat again. In theevent, they didn’t even need to play a shot in anger.

Former New Zealand women’s captain Maia Lewis is the surprise selection in the TelstraClear White Ferns to play in the World Series of Women’s Cricket which starts with a replay of the final of the last World Cup at Bert Sutcliffe Oval tomorrow.Lewis’ recall comes in the wake of the loss of experience in the national side resulting from retirements, unavailabilities and non-selection of members of the 2000 CricInfo Women’s World Cup-winning side.Her presence will bolster the side which is in a rebuilding phase before the next World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa in 2005.Lewis, who played for the Wellington women’s side this year, and who captained the New Zealand A side during warm-up matches against sides competing in biggest women’s cricket event outside the World Cup, last played for New Zealand in 1997.She had suffered major knee problems and took some time away from cricket but returned to Wellington this summer and has been an influential player in that side’s recovery.While never having played to the potential she offered in the earlier stages of her career as a hard-hitting batsman, Lewis, with more experience, can be expected to give a lift to the batting strength of the New Zealand side. She has played 42 One-Day Internationals.Other new caps in the side are Canterbury left-arm orthodox spin bowler Rebecca Steele, Auckland captain Michelle Lynch and Wellington right-arm medium pacer Amanda Green.New Zealand women’s selection convener Lesley Murdoch said having a left-arm orthodox spin bolwer was an exciting addition to the New Zealand side and such a bowler was rare in the women’s game.Steele is a recent convert to spinning having previously been a left-arm medium pacer.”Green bowls consistent channels and can bowl both into the wind and down wind,” Murdoch said.”Lynch is an aggressive batsman who will be a great asset to the top order,” Murdoch added.The full side is: Emily Drumm (captain, Auckland), Nicola Browne (Northern Districts), Amanda Green (Wellington), Frances King (Wellington), Maia Lewis (Wellington), Michelle Lynch (Auckland), Sara McGlashan (Central Districts), Aimee Mason (Central Districts), Louise Milliken (Northern Districts), Nicola Payne (Canterbury), Kate Pulford (Central Districts), Rebecca Rolls (Auckland), Rebecca Steele (Canterbury), Haidee Tiffen (Canterbury).