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South Australia are resigned to being without the powerful allrounder Kieron Pollard for the Champions League in South Africa in September and are still waiting to learn whether Shahid Afridi will be available. Pollard and Afridi were key components in the Redbacks qualifying for the lucrative Twenty20 event, but they were not part of the state’s 20-man preliminary squad for the tournament.Pollard’s IPL side Mumbai Indians are also in the competition and he will have a third option if his home side Trinidad and Tobago win the domestic series in the West Indies next month. Afridi’s calendar has become complicated by his new leadership duties with Pakistan and a South Australian spokeswoman said they were unsure whether he would be available.The offspinner Dan Cullen has been given hope that his career with South Australia is not over after being named in the outfit. Cullen, who played a Test in 2006, was cut from the Redbacks’ contract list along with Mark Cosgrove after the summer, but remains in their plans even if he doesn’t make the final 15-man squad.South Australia will test out their new leadership team at the event, which they qualified for by finishing runner up to Victoria in the 2009-10 Big Bash final. Michael Klinger is the new captain and his deputy is Callum Ferguson, who did not play at all last summer due to a knee reconstruction.The squad will be boosted by Shaun Tait and Daniel Christian, who are currently playing in England’s domestic Twenty20 competition. Tait is with Glamorgan while Christian, a non-playing member of Australia’s World Twenty20 squad, is at Hampshire.South Australia squad Daniel Harris, James Smith, Michael Klinger (capt), Cameron Borgas, Aaron O’Brien, Graham Manou (wk), Daniel Christian, Gary Putland, Peter George, Callum Ferguson, Kane Richardson, Michael Cranmer, Jake Haberfield, Tim Ludeman, Shaun Tait, Tom Cooper, Chris Duval, Joel Davies, Cullen Bailey, Daniel Cullen.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 71 off 51 balls set up the first 300-plus total in Dambulla•Associated Press

Tillakaratne Dilshan all but scuttled Bangladesh’s hopes of staying competitive in the Asia Cup and helped earn Sri Lanka a bonus point in the process. He blazed to a half-century, providing thrust for the first-ever total in excess of 300 in Dambulla, and then exercised control over Bangladesh’s escalating run-rate, while ripping out three wickets to end the visitors’ chances of an improbable victory.Bangladesh’s chase stayed true to their well-rehearsed script. They harboured hope while Tamim Iqbal attacked the Sri Lankan fast bowlers and played the spinners confidently, but once he was dismissed the rest followed without a fight. Mohammad Ashraful, who scratched his way to 9 off 29, played another momentum-deflating innings. The game, however, had been lost even before Bangladesh began to chase, for their bowlers had conceded too many on a pitch that would be harder to bat on under less-than-ideal floodlights.If the rules of boxing were applied to cricket, umpires Billy Bowden and Bruce Oxenford would have been justified in awarding Sri Lanka a technical knockout, for Bangladesh’s bowlers were unable to defend themselves against Dilshan and Upul Tharanga. Sri Lanka’s openers scored at will, finding the boundary at least once in each of the first 12 overs.Shakib had said at the toss that he hoped to restrict Sri Lanka to less than 240 but Tharanga’s fluent cover drive for three, off the first ball, indicated that would be tough to achieve. The second ball disappeared to the extra-cover boundary, off Dilshan’s flashing bat, and another went past point, making it 12 off Mashrafe Mortaza’s first over.While Dilshan didn’t need room to cut and drive Mortaza, he was offered a short ball by Syed Rasel first up and pulled it to the long leg boundary. Most of his runs came on the off, but when afforded opportunities on the leg, Dilshan took advantage – pulling a long hop from Mortaza for a six that crashed into an advertising board and brought a reward of $1500 as well.With Mortaza and Rasel proving expensive, Shakib brought Shafiul Islam and himself on but both their first overs cost 10 each. Dilshan dominated both scoring and strike and reached his half-century off his 31st delivery. Tharanga was on 13 off 15 at the time. Tharanga, however, imposed himself now and then, chipping Shafiul over midwicket and skipping down to loft Shakib for a straight six. The opening stand was worth 111 and it lifted their average partnership to 64.53, the best for any pair who have opened in more than ten innings.The contest began to find an equilibrium only after Sri Lanka reached 100 in the 12th over, as Shakib delayed the bowling Powerplay to avail the protection of five boundary riders. During this quieter passage, Dilshan’s attempt to work the ball to leg hit the leading edge and gave Shakib the softest of return catches. Sri Lanka, however, accumulated steadily through Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, and the innings was poised for a strong finish.Sri Lanka were 242 for 4 after 40 overs and Angelo Mathews and Chamara Kapugedera took over. They barely tried anything spectacular but both scored at over a run a ball during their half-century partnership, leaving Bangladesh to contemplate how they would approach a record target.Tamim began with a hat-trick of fours off Nuwan Kulasekara: the first driven past the bowler, the second over cover, and the third sliced square on the off side. He lost his partner Imrul Kayes in Kulasekara’s next over to an edge that was caught low at second slip by Jayawardene. Kayes’ dismissal heralded Bangladesh’s best period of the match, during which Tamim and Junaid Siddique attacked Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga successfully.Bangladesh had raced to 59 for 1 after eight overs and Sangakkara, seeing that pace was having no effect, turned to spin. Dilshan and Muttiah Muralitharan exercised immediate control on the run-rate, and the next five overs produced only 17. Junaid tried to break free against Murali but his attempted slog-sweep was held spectacularly by Kulasekara, who ran forward and to his right from deep square leg and dived to catch the ball moments before it hit the ground.Tamim had more success against Murali; he charged the doosra and hit it into the stands at wide long on. He also played a precisely-placed cover drive against Dilshan to bring up his half-century off 52 balls. The next delivery, however, was his last. Dilshan dragged Tamim forward with his flight, leaving Sangakkara with a routine stumping to complete.Bangladesh’s slim hopes soon vanished when Dilshan trapped Ashraful in front and had Mushfiqur stumped. At 126 for 5, all that remained to be seen was whether Bangladesh could prevent Sri Lanka from gaining a bonus point. They couldn’t.

Durham’s captain, Will Smith, has tendered his resignation in the wake of his team’s innings-and-62-run defeat against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, and will be replaced by the 27-year-old former England wicketkeeper, Phil Mustard, with immediate effect.Smith succeeded Dale Benkenstein at the end of Durham’s Championship-winning 2008 season and managed to guide the team to their second title in a row the following summer. However, the 2010 campaign has not gone to plan so far, with the Nottinghamshire defeat being their first in first-class cricket for 21 matches, and Smith’s own form has suffered, with 114 runs in seven innings at 16.28 to date.”I am disappointed that things have not worked out as captain,” said Smith in a club statement. “I will remain fully committed to ensuring that the club continue to prosper under Phil’s guidance. He will add great spirit and character to the role and it is fitting that a North East lad is entrusted with it.””I’m honoured to have been offered the role of captain at the club where I came up through the Academy and have spent the whole of my professional career,” said Mustard. “I’m confident that with the help and support of my senior, experienced, team mates we’ll go from strength to strength.”Durham’s chairman, Clive Leach, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Will Smith for his hard work and success in the past season. I wish him well in his future career with Durham CCC. Appointing Phil was an easy task, he is totally committed to the Durham cause and I’m sure that with the support of the dressing room will take us forward over the coming months.”Head coach, Geoff Cook, added: “I’m delighted that Phil has accepted the role. This adjustment is an opportune time for us to kick start our season while at the same time giving Phil the chance to move his career up to the next stage.”

ScorecardAnthony McGrath scored a special century as Yorkshire’s batsmen made excellent progress on the first day of their Championship match against Essex at Scarborough.It was the former captain’s 30th first-class century for the White Rose county and the first one that he has ever taken off the Essex attack. Now only four counties remain to be added to his list (Surrey, Notts, Northants and Sussex) for him to complete the full set.Current captain Andrew Gale was also in splendid form and he and McGrath had put on an unbroken 163 together by the close when Yorkshire had reached 313 for 3 after winning the toss, McGrath having moved on to a gritty 112 and Gale a fluent 89.New Zealand paceman Chris Martin, making his Championship debut for Essex, shared the new ball with David Masters, and although there was some movement through the air and off the seam it could not prevent Adam Lyth from getting off to a cracking start with some great shots.Joe Sayers also hit a fine cover boundary off Masters, but having contributed only five to a stand of 32 in six overs he edged Martin into the waiting hands of Alastair Cook at first slip. Lyth continued to look a class act while McGrath took time to settle in and it came as something of a surprise when the young left-hander was out for 47. An intended drive at Ryan ten Doeschate appeared to deflect off either his pad or glove and into his stumps.Yorkshire remained in control as Jacques Rudolph continued his recent great form and the morning session belonged to the home side who went in to lunch on 109 for 2. Rudolph quickly scored his 500th run of the season after the interval and Essex were left to rue a glaring miss when McGrath had reached 33, the batsman edging Martin straight into and out of Cook’s hands at first slip.Having amassed an unbeaten 228 against Durham last week, Rudolph appeared to have laid the foundations for another huge score but in trying to drive a swinging delivery from Ten Doeschate he gave the bowler a return catch and Yorkshire were 150 for 3.The dismissal did not worry the hosts too much, however, as McGrath and Gale went on to combine in the biggest stand of the day, although it took McGrath a little over three hours to complete his 50 off 133 balls with seven fours.McGrath opened out to drive spinner Tim Phillips for an off-drive six into the pavilion enclosure, whereas Gale’s half-century was a much speedier affair than his partner’s, coming off only 47 balls with seven fours and a six.After a good spell from Phillips, Essex took the new ball at 288 for 3 off 86 overs and McGrath immediately scampered the single that brought up his five-hour century from 244 deliveries, with 14 boundaries. A tough day for the visitors got even worse when McGrath, on 106, was put down for a second time, John Maunders at second slip dropping him off Masters.

Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach, has been fine 10 percent of his match fee after his angry response to the umpiring during the third day of the second Test against England at Dhaka.On a day where a number of decisions went against Bangladesh, Siddons’ frustrations became apparent after Ian Bell had been given not out to an lbw appeal. He marched to the front of the dressing room and signalled onto the field that he thought it was out. He also went and spoke to the match referee, Jeff Crowe, but it’s the public show of his emotions that has caused the problem.”There were probably three or four decisions I was unhappy with,” Siddons told the BBC after the third day. “Hindsight makes it easy for me to be critical but that’s the game. Umpires do make mistakes, but it made it hard for us today but we’re still in the game, it’s still pretty even.”He has been charged with a Level 1 one offence of “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during an international match” and immediately pleaded guilty during a hearing with Crowe on Tuesday.”Jamie became increasingly frustrated and let his emotions out during the second session of day three which was obvious for all to see,” said Crowe. “Clearly he behaved inappropriately and he agrees that such actions and gestures must be kept behind closed doors. He is disappointed with himself that he was so public and he did not hesitate in pleading guilty and accepting the proposed sanction.”The Umpire Decision Review System hasn’t been in place for the series due to the cost of implementing the system and Shakib Al Hasan felt the match would have gone differently if the reviews had been available.”We would have been in a very good position if [UDRS] was in use here,” he said. “I think we would have asked for a referral four times with full confidence, and three of them would have come to our way for sure. It’s really bad for us that we did not use the referral system, which we could have done.”

Reflecting on their thrilling one-run defeat against India at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, South Africa captain Jacques Kallis has said Wayne Parnell’s performance with the bat, under pressure, was one of the positives they could take out of the game. Parnell, batting at No.9, scored 49 and was run out off the final ball with South Africa needing three runs to win.The left-arm seamer didn’t make much of an impression with the ball, taking 1 for 69 off nine overs. He walked in in the 36th over of the chase with South Africa in trouble at 180 for 7. Kallis and Parnell had added 45 for the eighth wicket, but when the captain fell, India were still well in control. But Parnell’s stand of 65 with Dale Steyn gave their side a fighting chance of pulling off an improbable win. Steyn smashed a 19-ball 35 before falling in the final over, as South Africa’s hopes rested on the well-set Parnell.”He’s a talented cricketer and he’s going to take a lot away from today. Everytime he plays he’s going to learn. He’s still very new to the subcontinent,” Kallis said. “He’s got all the attributes of becoming a good allrounder and that’s something that he’s working on. He’s a man for the moment, so he’s certainly got a bright future ahead of him.”One of the biggest turning points in the chase was Sachin Tendulkar’s save at the boundary in the final over. Charl Langeveldt pulled the ball to long leg where Tendulkar dived full length to his right and pulled it back before the rope. Replays weren’t conclusive if Tendulkar had simultaneously made contact with the rope and the third umpire gave the benefit of the doubt to the Indians. The South Africans ran three but that extra run was the difference between a tie and an Indian win.Kallis accepted the third umpire’s call but referred to another bizarre incident, also involving Langeveldt, in the final over of India’s innings. Langeveldt’s yorker to Ashish Nehra had hit the stumps but the bails weren’t dislodged. To add to South Africa’s ill luck, the ball deflected to the third man boundary, adding a crucial four runs to India’s total of 298.”That’s not our call – that’s what third umpires are there for and he saw that it wasn’t four and we’ve got to accept it and get on with it,” Kallis said of the Tendulkar incident. “I think what came back to haunt us was Charl Langeveldt’s second last ball that hit the stumps and went for four, which was incredible.”Kallis said he was pleased they had managed to restrict India to just under 300, but the real worries were with the batting. Kallis scored 89 but the rest of the batsmen failed to rise to the challenge, which left plenty for the lower order to handle. The recognised batsmen struggled against the left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who took 2 for 29 from his 10 overs on a good batting pitch.”I think on the whole we’re pretty happy with the way things have gone, although obviously there are things we need to work on. Our death bowling has been a problem for a while but the guys did really well there. At one stage it looked like India would make 330,” Kallis said. “On the batting front we need to make sure we don’t lose wickets along the way and get some big partnerships going to set the game up. Perhaps we’ve got to come up with ideas for the way Jadeja bowled – I thought he bowled really well and tied us down for a while, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re strong on our game plans there.”Indian captain MS Dhoni, on the other hand, said India needed to work hard on their bowling.”It was a team effort and from that perspective it was a good show, but we need to do better with our bowling,” Dhoni said. “We cannot give away the runs we did with the new ball, although we were a bit hampered by the absence of Sehwag in the field. He made himself unfit while batting and could not bowl.”When there are so many runs needed and when the No.9 and 10 batsman are at the crease, you don’t really expect your best bowlers to get hit the way they did. Credit must go to the batsmen, but I’m sure we would do better in the next game if the conditions are the same.”The second ODI will be played in Gwalior on Wednesday.

Michael Clarke will return home from New Zealand for personal reasons, Cricket Australia has announced. There was no word on how long he would be unavailable for selection and a back-up player was yet to be named.”Michael is attending to personal, non-cricket matters and we ask on his behalf that his privacy be respected,” CA general manager of cricket, Michael Brown, said.Clarke’s departure from the tour comes amid a controversy back home surrounding his fiancee Lara Bingle, whose topless photo, allegedly taken in 2006 by an Australian rules footballer, was published in a magazine last week.The third ODI of the trans-Tasman series is on Tuesday in Hamilton, with the series squared at 1-1. The limited-overs leg of the tour is followed by two Tests, the squad for which will be announced on Tuesday.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dinesh Karthik’s attacking century gave South Zone control on the first day•AFP

Dinesh Karthik’s attacking, unbeaten 161, laced with 23 hits to the fence, put South Zone in front against West Zone in an empty Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The Hyderabad Cricket Association decided to not allow spectators in the stadium, fearing crowd trouble due to the political situation in Andhra Pradesh.The absence of any support appeared to have had its effect on South Zone in the initial stages of their innings, as the West Zone seamers made their mark, dismissing the openers with just 34 on the board. In conditions favourable to batting, and given the importance of a first-innings lead, South Zone would have been disappointed with the start they got.But the middle order stepped up. Ganesh Satish scored a patient half-century before being dismissed with the score on 120, but Karthik, by then, had found his groove. He was involved in a stand of 121 with wicketkeeper M Gautam (49) and 89 with Rohan Prem (24) to guide his side beyond 300.Irfan Pathan’s three-for was a highlight for West Zone, but Karthik’s presence at the crease, with the score currently on 356 for 6, should provide enough encouragement for South Zone to put up a substantial score on the second day.

Canada Under-19 offspinner Riyaz Pathan has been reported for an illegal bowling action. Nadeem Ghauri and Norman Malcolm, the on-field umpires during Canada’s 2010 U-19 World Cup opening game against Zimbabwe at Village Green in Christchurch, along with third umpire Sarika Prasad, reported the 19-year-old soon after the conclusion of the match. The bowler finished with 2 for 44 from his ten overs.Pathan’s bowling action will now be scrutinised under the ICC process relating to cricket other than Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals. The bowler will be assessed by the Canadian board in accordance with Clause 3 of the ICC regulations, whereby it will “instigate an immediate assessment of the bowler’s action by its group of advisors and arrange for the undertaking of any remedial action required by the player concerned.”The board will then be asked to report back formally to the ICC within 21 days, but if the board’s assessment concludes that the bowler’s action is illegal, he would be immediately suspended from bowling in international cricket.Until the result of the Canadian board’s assessment is made available, Pathan may continue to play and bowl in the tournament, but may still be called by the umpires in accordance with the laws.Pathan became the second bowler in the tournament to be reported with a suspect bowling action after Rushan Jaleel of Sri Lanka.Canada have been placed in Group C of the tournament along with hosts New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. While they edged out Zimbabwe by 10 runs, New Zealand handed them a nine-wicket thumping in their next game. Their last match is on January 18 against Sri Lanka in Lincoln.

In between two vibrant flushes of youth, an older man began to save a career at the MCG. It may be nothing but a late swish against the inevitability of time, but it gave the day a nice touch.Misbah-ul-Haq’s career has been a strange one, even by Pakistan’s standards. He was tried and dispensed with early in the decade. He went back content to less-lit fields and did big things for five years, before suddenly, when least expected, he became a celebrated nearly man for Pakistan.Some success came, a quirky penchant for brain-fades, the vice-captaincy and even talk of leadership, but it always felt like a gift from God to an ailing man late in life. When the form faded and he was dropped from all three formats for the tours to New Zealand and Australia that seemed just about that. Not many complained. But such is the way the wheel turns in Pakistan that a new captain came in and immediately demanded his return to the middle order.So Misbah returned and though he didn’t do much in New Zealand, he played a quiet and entirely unexpected gem today. Only his third half-century this year, it was his most grooved innings in some time. At the time of his dropping, he had become a curious pendulum of a batsman, either blocking everything, or having a bash at everything. But he was fluid today, moving well, taking singles and looking for runs.It helped him to begin against Nathan Hauritz, for he has always fancied his chances against spin. He slogged the very first ball for a massive six, before sweeping him square straight after. He took more time against the pacemen, but a clutter of wickets and the last man brought out a range of strokes last seen a few years back.Doug Bollinger, in the middle of a bullying spell, was driven back hard and then pulled away elegantly. A whippy, upright square cut came off Peter Siddle and plenty of gaps were cleverly found to keep the bowlers away from Saeed Ajmal. The fifty was an important personal milestone – for a Pakistani a half-century in Australia is still a big thing. Taking his side past the follow-on with Ajmal was a bigger accomplishment from the team’s perspective.”It was a really important innings for me,” Misbah said. “I was under immense pressure before that, not scoring runs and even in New Zealand I was getting starts but not scoring runs. That innings really helps me for the future and I would like to thank the captain [Mohammad Yousuf]. He has given me a lot of confidence and I hope to make this a consistent thing.”Despite his efforts and those of Umar Akmal and Mohammad Aamer, Pakistan will still have to do very well to save this Test, punishment for their inertia in the first two days. The docile surface, Misbah said, might still help them. “The wicket is really good still. It’s very good for batting. You can’t say anything in cricket but you can make sure that you play well and see what happens. We can’t control the result all the time but we can play good cricket.”The guys bowled well, especially Aamer and [Mohammad] Asif, they started really well. Let’s see what they set for us. What we can do is just fight and play well and let’s see what the result will be. It’s up to them now – let’s see how we bowl tomorrow. If we get them out in the first session, let’s see how it goes.”Misbah noted that the advent of Aamer and Akmal meant exciting times ahead for his team. “Aamer’s a really good prospect for Pakistan. A guy who bowls 150kmph is always an asset for the team and he’s batting well as well.Umar’s an exciting player. He just wants to dominate any bowling and it’s good to see him dominating an Australian attack. He has a big future ahead of him. He loves to play under pressure and loves the challenge. We just always advise him to play his natural game. That is how you can be successful. We suggest to him to not play rash shots but the way your attacking instinct and cricketing shots are you should go and hit them,” Misbah said.