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The first women’s World Twenty20 will be played alongside the men in England in 2009 opening up huge TV exposure opportunities, the ECB has confirmed. The women will play both the semis at the same ground, on the same day and same ticket as the men and then the final at Lord’s will be the curtain raiser for the men’s match.Cricinfo revealed in December that the tournament was likely to get the go-ahead subject to financial approval which has now been granted by the ICC. Taunton, the home of women’s cricket, will stage the group matches.Clare Connor, the ECB’s executive director of women’s cricket, was understandably delighted by the ratification of the tournament. “The ECB’s support and drive to get women’s cricket showcased is fantastic,” Connor told Cricinfo. “To think you could have forty thousand fans watching England-Australia women’s final from Lord’s before the men’s – how exciting. Just brilliant. It’s hard to put into words, it’s so unprecedented. The number of people that will tune in across the world and see a superb day at Lord’s.”The budget the ICC have given for the staging of both these tournaments is very generous and it’s as it should be, but it’s still a huge step. We’ve just had the World Cup qualifiers, then two massive tournaments in the World Cup and the World Twenty20 next year, it’s a very very exciting time.”I would want to add huge credit for people who have worked for it – Gill McConway (Connor’s predecessor), the ICC women’s committee who proposed the tournament to the next committee up. The work that’s been done to get to this point has been mammoth.”Steve Elworthy, the tournament’s director, said: “The ECB are extremely proud that we will host the first global team competition that will culminate with the semi finals and final on the same day as the men’s events. We must praise the ICC for their foresight in scheduling this event in this historic fashion.”The tournament will be contested by the same eight teams who will compete for the next World Cup, in Australia in March. They are Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.Whether these teams will head into the World Twenty20 with seeds based on their performances before or after the 50-over World Cup which predates it remains to be seen. The eight sides won’t be too worried about that at the moment, for now it’s a case of looking forward to competing on one of the biggest stages yet for them.There have already been several trial days across the world where the women have been a curtain raiser for the men, largely with much success. The latest such event was when the Australia and England women were up first at the MCG ahead of the Australia and India men. The game went down a storm with the fans who had filtered in early and highlights on prime-time TV a week later showed their skills, albeit briefly.The biggest chance yet to awaken the world comes next year. While the game could never hope to compete with the men on a large scale, women’s cricket – including the contracts that are about to be announced for the England women – continues to head in the right direction.

ScorecardA splendid spell of bowling by Avinash Yadav and an unbeaten 66 from Raviraj Patil helped the Champs to their first win after three matches of the current Indian Cricket League tournament.The Rockets’ openers, whose powerful stand knocked the wind out of Chandigarh Lions in the first game of the tournament, gave their team a steady start after Damien Martyn decided to bat against the Champs. Sachin Dholpure was trapped by Michael Kasprowicz for 29 after he and Wavell Hinds had put on 61 off 9.1 overs, and although they were slightly off the pace, the platform given was ideal for a run-fest in the remaining overs.However, Avinash Yadav wrecked any such hopes with his 4-0-14-4. He first removed Hinds in the 12th over. Saman Jayantha effected a run-out of Sridharan Sriram in the 14th; in the same over he caught Martyn off Yadav’s bowling. The left-arm spinner went on to make it four for the match by dismissing Reetinder Sodhi and Rakesh Patel in the 18th.The Rockets struggled to 131 for 9, and though it was an improvement on their 107 for 6 against the Delhi Giants, the score was not likely to be enough.Subhojit Paul fell early during the Champs’ chase, and Jayantha wasn’t too impressive in his 22-ball 13, but Raviraj Patil went at a brisk pace to keep the Champs on course.His 66 off 46 balls contained six fours and three sixes. Patil’s fiery 52 against the Kolkata Tigers in their previous match had all but sealed victory, but this time he stayed till the end as the Champs reached their target with two balls to spare.

South African cricket is on the edge of a crisis with coach Mickey Arthur facing the sack after a row erupted over transformation quotas for the Bangladesh tour.Arthur is part of a selection panel that picked a squad for the Bangladesh tour which included only four coloured players despite CSA guidelines saying there should be seven. The announcement was delayed as hurried discussions took place.After Norman Arendse, president of CSA, laid formal charges against Arthur and told the that he was being “disrespectful” and “abusive” while adding he was “cocking a snook at his employers’ policy of transformation”, Arthur hit back by filing a counter-complaint with the board.”This has reached ridiculous proportions,” Arthur told the news agency. “I’ve laid a counter charge against him, because he was just as abusive to me as I was to him.”Earlier, Arendse had urged the coach to fall in line with CSA transformation policy. “If a coach says, ‘There’s no transformation policy’ (among selectors), if he says, ‘Sorry, I’m not prepared to implement Cricket South Africa’s policies’, then his position is untenable.”After laying the charge against Arendse, Arthur said, “I have no problem with transformation and I am very willing to work for transformation. However, seven players of colour in a squad of 14 is a target and not a policy.”The situation has arisen after Arendse questioned the make-up of the squad for Bangladesh, with earlier reports saying he wanted Herschelle Gibbs and Monde Zondeki to be included. There have been suggestions that Graeme Smith has considered resigning a players strike is in prospect.Arthur rejected reports that he was threatening to resign and said: “There was nothing that drastic … but the selection panel were very disappointed that we were asked to alter the squad.”However, he did say Thursday was “a crucial day” and hinted at further action if the squad isn’t passed. “Anything could happen in terms of the composition of the squad. I haven’t thought about what course of action I would take if our squad isn’t ratified.Tony Irish, CEO of the South African Cricketers’ Association, said: “The players are not involved in selection, nor should they be. However they believe strongly in the need for integrity in the process.”In a team sport such as cricket selection is probably the most important factor. The team has yet to be finalised so it is not for us to comment further at this stage. For the sake of the integrity of the process however, this issue needs to be finalised quickly.”Arendse added that his role was to make sure the transformation policy was working when squads were selected but said Arthur hadn’t wanted to entertain the notion.”The more I was asking questions about transformation, the more he (Arthur) said they did not have a transformation policy,” Arendse said. “He questioned the fact that I was even asking questions and holding him to account.”

Nottinghamshire have signed swing bowler Darren Pattinson on a two-year contract.Pattinson, 28, was born in Grimsby but raised in Australia. He made his first-class debut for Victoria in 2006-07 and has played in five Pura Cup and 12 limited-overs games for the state.”We have had an eye on Darren for a couple of years, ever since he came along for a net with us two years ago,” Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket Mick Newell said. “Like Charlie Shreck, he’s come into the first-class game late and that should mean he’s got plenty of miles left on the clock.”He bowls with good pace and gets the ball to swing. We’re keen to see how he gets on with more regular cricket and believe he will be a very useful performer in all competitions.”

Sri Lanka Board President’s XI 298 for 9 (Tharanga 86, de Silva 1*, Amerasinghe 0*, Hoggard 3-57) v England XI
Scorecard

Steve Harmison’s new back injury cast a shadow over what was otherwisean encouraging day’s labour for England’s bowlers, as Matthew Hoggardand Monty Panesar warmed up for the first Test with three wicketsapiece. By the close of the first day at the Nondescripts CricketClub, the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI had slipped to 298 for 9,having at one stage been well placed on 287 for 5.The mainstay of the Sri Lankan performance was once again UpulTharanga, who enhanced his own prospects of a Test recall with afluent innings of 86 to add to his century in England’s openingwarm-up. Another member of Sri Lanka’s Test squad, Jehan Mubarak,chipped in with 68 from 143 deliveries, while the young wicketkeeper,Kaushal Silva, made a dogged 53 despite being struck a painful blow onthe wrist by a loose shy from Kevin Pietersen.The talking point of the day, however, was Harmison’s injury. Itoccurred after the third ball of his 11th over, just as he wasreturning for his fourth spell of the day. Up until that point heappeared to be gathering rhythm and confidence in equal measures, andwas markedly improved on his lacklustre six-over performance earlierin the week. He bounded to the crease with menace and picked up hisfirst wicket of the tour when the President’s XI captain, TillakaratneDilshan, spooned an attempted pull to James Anderson at mid-on.With competition for places high among England’s fast bowlers, Hoggardand Anderson were handed the new ball, and Hoggard might have struckwith the fourth ball of the morning when Mahela Udawatte survived araucous appeal for caught-behind. Hoggard, who experimented withcutters and slower balls in a bid to overcome the conditions, dideventually get his man on 18, caught by a diving Michael Vaughan atmid-on to end an opening stand of 55.Anderson, who had also been suffering from a back problem in the earlystages of the tour, bowled a hostile but luckless first spell, and itwas the unlikely character of Ravi Bopara who provided England’s nextbreakthrough. Although his principal aim in this match is to outscoreOwais Shah at No. 6, Bopara did his prospects no harm whatsoever in awaspish 11-over spell. Tharanga was badly dropped by Vaughan off ano-ball, before Malinda Warnapura tried to force one off the back footthrough the covers, and edged a simple chance through to Matt Priorfor 16.

Dilshan, who made a duck in the first of these two fixtures, signalledhis intent by smashing an Anderson bouncer out of the ground and intoa passing tuk-tuk, but he fell in Harmison’s second over after lunch.Tharanga was the next to go, well caught by Ian Bell at second slip asAnderson cramped him for room outside off stump, and before ChamaraKapugedera could pick up where he had left off in the first match, hewas expertly snaffled by Bopara at short midwicket, off the bowling ofHoggard.Thereafter England found the going somewhat tougher, as Mubarak andSilva dug in for a 105-run stand, but with the light beginning tofade, Panesar got in on the act. With his rhythm improving throughouta 22-over spell, he grabbed two wickets in two balls, as Silva poppeda simple chance to Alastair Cook at short leg, and KaushalLokuarachchi played back to be lbw for 0.Hoggard then chipped in with one last wicket of a typicallyhard-grafting spell, as Mubarak nicked an offcutter to Prior, andthree balls before the close Panesar had Chanaka Welegedara caught atshort leg, again by Cook. It was an uplifting end to England’s day,but Harmison’s injury still casts a shadow.

Norman Arendse, the new president of the South African board (CSA), has issued a statement clarifying his country’s stance of touring Zimbabwe following media criticism inside South Africa of the current A-team trip.”The Zimbabwe issue was debated fully, and at length, at the recent ICC AGM in London. Despite initial criticism from countries like Australia, England and New Zealand, after full debate and discussion, the Full Member countries of the ICC unanimously agreed to retain Zimbabwe as a Full Member.”The Full Member countries also agreed that it is not for the ICC to take up any moral or political stance on any issue in any of the Full Member countries. CSA is therefore committed to fulfilling its ICC obligations, and will only not do so, if instructed by the South African government whether to play there or not.”Arendse said that the issue had also been debated at the Africa Cricket Association meeting a fortnight ago, and also at a CSA board meeting last week, and the same conclusion was reached there. “The decision to continue with the tour was unanimous,” he concluded.The issue of Zimbabwe was always going to dog Arendse and he is likely to face ongoing claims that he is hardly impartial on the issue. As a lawyer, he was retained by Zimbabwe Cricket to act against its own rebel players, led by Heath Streak, in 2004.

Steve Waugh, the former Australian captain, wants the concept of neutral umpires to be done away with and says the best umpires should officiate in high-profile matches, such as the India-Australia series. Waugh’s comments came after several umpiring errors on the first day of the second Test between India and Australia in Sydney.Waugh wrote in Australia’s : “The world’s No. 1 umpire for the past four years is Simon Taufel from Sydney and he should be out in the middle making the crucial decisions under pressure for this is what the best aspire to.” He said there might have been a need for neutral umpires in the past, because of a lack of professionalism coupled with poor television cameras.However, with more transparency and with poor performances from umpires likely to see them on the sidelines, Waugh believed there was no reason to insist on neutral umpires any more. Waugh was the most high-profile of the critics of Wednesday’s umpiring. “To have at least four obvious errors in one day is not bad luck,” Waugh said, “just inadequate concentration.”Mark Benson failed to spot an edge down leg side from Ricky Ponting on 17 and then did not see another deflection off the bat when he gave Ponting out lbw for 55. A nick from Andrew Symonds also escaped Steve Bucknor’s attention, while the third umpire Bruce Oxenford turned down a stumping appeal despite replays suggesting that Symonds’ foot was in the air when the bails came off.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Dilhara Fernando’s stunning career-best 6 for 27 secured Sri Lanka a consolation 107-run victory in the final one-day international in Colombo. Their total of 211 again appeared under par, but Fernando took it upon himself to save some national pride with the fifth-best figures by a Sri Lankan in one-day cricket. From a promising 56 for 2, England lost seven wickets in 51 balls, however they still go away with the main prize.Although a few of England’s batsmen gave their wickets away – notably Kevin Pietersen when his mind and feet wandered across the stumps against Chaminda Vaas – the credit must go to Fernando. He has caused problems throughout the series with his split-finger slower ball and the delivery did for Ian Bell and Owais Shah on this occasion. Sri Lanka had never lost four one-day internationals on the bounce in their own backyard and Fernando ensured they wouldn’t register an unwanted record.England’s capitulation came as a surprise because for the first half of the game they’d produced another top-notch effort with the ball. Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad led the way as the quick bowlers caused Sri Lanka problems after a rapid start, but Chamara Silva battled his way to 73 to give his team – or as it turned out mostly Fernando – something to bowl at.Phil Mustard ended his first international series with an edge off Vaas and Kumar Sangakkara – aware there were no slips – flung himself to his right and clung onto the ball in the webbing of his left glove. Mustard has scored less than 100 runs in the series, not enough to make him an automatic selection when Matt Prior is fit again, but he hasn’t looked out of place.Bell has come back down to earth after his prolific series against India, regularly starting his innings in promising style before falling to a loose shot. The trend continued here when he clipped a Fernando slower ball to mid-on, although the bowler deserves credit for deceiving another batsman. Alastair Cook was shaping to play a similar style innings to his 80 in the fourth game, but after settling down for 47 balls he edged an expansive drive at Fernando and Sangakkara held his second blinder of the innings.Fernando was now charging in with real purpose and nailed Paul Collingwood for 2 as he was trapped on the crease for the second innings running. Whereas Collingwood was done for pace, Fernando’s fourth – Shah – was brought about by expert deception as he spooned a slower ball to cover.Those two wickets sandwiched a dramatic end to Vaas’s spell. Pietersen had taken up the charge with three consecutive boundaries in his ninth over, but Vaas had the final say when Pietersen walked across his stumps and missed a straight ball. Pietersen’s bravado is one of his major strengths, but it was poor judgment and poor timing. This time England weren’t going to be bailed out by the lower order.Broad has performed some rescue acts in his embryonic career, but this was a challenge too far and he spooned Fernando into the leg side to hand him his first five-wicket haul in ODIs. Number six followed two balls later when Sidebottom chopped into his stumps and Fernando could do no wrong. It came too late to save the series, but a few markers have been laid down for the Test series in December.

Both sides will have learnt plenty of lessons for the longer challenge that is to come in a little over a month’s time. Before then Sri Lanka have a two-Test series in Australia, and could struggle if the way they have coped with England’s pace attack is anything to go by.With the series lost Sri Lanka had come out with a different mindset as Sanath Jayasuriya and the debutant Dilruwan Perera, who replaced the struggling Upul Tharanga, flayed 45 for the first wicket before Jayasuriya spooned James Anderson to mid-off in a repeat of Wednesday’s dismissal. Sidebottom put the brakes on with two wickets in four balls, Perera nibbling outside off stump and Mahela Jayawardene collecting his second duck in two innings with a leading edge to mid-on.The attack didn’t suffer from Collingwood’s absence after an early collision with Jayasuriya aggravated his shoulder problem. Shah picked up Kumar Sangakkara, bowled round his legs out of the rough, although Rudi Koertzen initially signalled a wide before the third umpire restored sanity. Bopara benefited from an extended bowl, performing Collingwood’s wicket-to-wicket role, and at 159 for 7 Sri Lanka didn’t appear likely to post 200.But Silva brought up his half-century off 79 balls, his second in consecutive innings, and managed nine of Sri Lanka’s 14 boundaries. The pattern of earlier matches suggested it had given the home side enough to make it a tight contest – Fernando’s blitz meant the match ended 20 overs early. However, while Sri Lanka started and ended with emphatic victories England take the series and on foreign soil that it is a notable achievement.

Amazing acts of individual brilliance have sometimes decided the outcome of Cup finals, and three breathtaking moments of magic from Shawn Findlay effectively settled the KFC Cup final last night.

As a result, Jamaica’s long wait for regional limited-overs glory is over, triggering emotional celebrations that included a spontaneous rendition of their national anthem moments after the mission was accomplished at 9.20pm.Under lights at the 3Ws Oval before an appreciative crowd, Jamaica won an absorbing duel against dethroned champions Trinidad and Tobago by 28 runs in a match in which Findlay’s sensational triple-play in the field proved decisive.As Trinidad and Tobago were trying to keep hope alive in pursuit of 231 from 50 overs, Findlay produced magic at critical times to help limit the men from the Land Of The Hummingbird to 202 in 49.3 overs.Daren Ganga’s men were just about starting to recover from the early discomfort of 36 for three in a fourth-wicket partnership of 43 between the solid Lendl Simmons and the potential big-hitter Kieron Pollard when Findlay intervened.Spectators at long-off were scampering for cover when Pollard launched into a drive against medium-pacer Brendan Nash that seemed headed for six, but were stunned to see Findlay leap to clutch in a spectacular left-handed catch.It was almost unbelievable. It was out of the top drawer. It was one of the finest ever in regional cricket. More was to come. With Simmons on 64 and a lot depending on him, he was prised out required confirmation from the television replay umpire.It left Trinidad and Tobago 130 for 5 in the 31st over and the match still delicately poised, but Jamaica refused to let up and went on to claim their first regional limited-overs success since 1999.Denesh Ramdin tried his best to rally the effort for Trinidad and Tobago, but when he was caught at extra-cover for 48 in the 42nd over, the match was as good as over. Findlay’s third piece of magic was late in the piece, a wonderful diving catch running in from the cover boundary in which the ball was taken inches off the turf as he dived forward.Jamaica owed their early inroads to incisive fast bowling from their West Indies combination of Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell, who combined to claim the first three wickets, including Trinidad and Tobago’s two most reliable batsmen at this level, Ganga and Dwayne Bravo.Taylor started things by removing Mario Belcon, who was an lbw victim playing across the line, in very much the same way Powell accounted for Bravo for a first-ball duck. In between, Taylor took care of Ganga, whose unconvincing attempt to hook ended up in a catch to the keeper. Twice, Taylor and Powell knocked batsmen on the helmet and their early impact was just as crucial as Findlay’s contribution.The two fast bowlers were earlier part of Jamaica’s rally at a time when Trinidad and Tobago might have been fancying their chances of restricting Jamaica to a total of less than 200. It was somewhat of a surprise that Trinidad and Tobago chose to field first and their decision seemed to be paying off when Jamaica were 167 for 7 in the 42nd over, subsiding to a quick three-wicket burst from leg-spinner Samuel Badree, after off-spinner Sherwin Ganga, who also took three wickets, stemmed the early flow of runs.Brenton Parchment provided the early impetus with 52 off 67 balls, but after Jamaica ran into the trouble they required important runs from the lower half which was getting a chance to bat for the first time in the competition. Danza Hyatt, who batted at No. 5, made 28 and there were also useful runs from Carlton Baugh (25), Nikita Miller (26), Powell (20) and Taylor (18).