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Shashikala Siriwardene will lead Sri Lanka Women in the Women’s World Twenty20 and the preceding T20I series against India, which starts from February 24. Siriwardene has recovered from a thumb injury she suffered during the side’s tour of New Zealand in November last year, which ruled her out of two ODIs and the following T20I series.The squad for India includes uncapped allrounders Hansima Karunaratne and Harshitha Madavi, although the latter will only join the squad for the Women’s World T20, which starts on March 15. The experienced trio of allrounder Eshani Lokusuriyage, batsman Yasoda Mendis and left-arm medium-pacer Udeshika Prabodhani have made their way back to the side after missing the New Zealand series.Achini Kulasuriya, Chamari Polgampola, Hasini Perera, Maduri Samuddika, Anushka Sanjeewani, who had a disappointing tour of New Zealand, were left out, although Samuddika and Sanjeewani have been added to the list of standbys for the tournaments.Sri Lanka’s tour of India comprises three ODIs and as many T20Is, which will be played in Ranchi between February 15 and February 26. Sri Lanka have been slotted in Group A of the 10-team Women’s World T20, alongside Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Ireland. Their World T20 campaign kicks off against New Zealand on March 15. The top two teams from the group will progress to the semi-final stage.Sri Lanka T20I squad: Shashikala Siriwardene (capt), Chamari Atapattu, Yasoda Mendis, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Dilani Manodara, Prasadani Weerakkody, Ama Kanchana, Eshani Lokusuriyage, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Kumari, Nilakshi de Silva, Hansima Karunaratne, Nipuni Hansika, Harshitha Madavi*

India Blue 330 for 8 (Sehwag 75, Yadav 65, Karthik 65, Raina 64) beat India Green 239 (Parthiv 53, Powar 3-45, Mishra 3-50) by 91 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Virender Sehwag’s prediction after winning the toss was spot on: India Blue racked up a mountain of runs, sparked by Sehwag’s 57-ball 75, and the spinners turned it on under the Motera lights to storm into the final of the Challenger Trophy. Parthiv Patel dazzled briefly but a succession of wickets jolted the prospect of a thrilling run-chase, as the Greens, attempting to chase down a target of 331 in 40 overs to qualify for the final, fell short by 91 runs.For the second day in a row India Green’s scarce bowling options were exposed as Sehwag, Arjun Yadav, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik made merry on a flat Ahmedabad track. Sehwag backed his decision to bat with a blistering innings: no bowler was spared as Sehwag cashed in during the first and second Powerplays, hitting 14 boundaries and a six .With Sehwag in such an attacking mood, Parthiv didn’t a chance taking the third Powerplay, but as soon as Sehwag backed away a straighter one from Iqbal Abdullah and lost his leg stump, the Greens captain took it. The run-rate dipped just slightly during those five overs, but Yadav and Raina made sure to up the tempo again with an 85-run stand. Both used their feet to the spinners and relied on the width from the medium-pacers.In what was otherwise evidence of the Greens’ scarce bowling resources, Manoj Tiwary was brought on to bowl his legspinners in the 31st over and was successful in getting rid of Yadav, who miscued a short delivery pitched outside leg to midwicket. Raina, after a crucial 92 in the series opener, hardly batted an eyelid as he raced to his 64 from 51 balls before slapping a long hop from Piyush Chawla to Tiwary at midwicket.Dinesh Karthik, who recently told Cricinfo that he could bat at any number , slammed his first delivery for four and raced past his fifty – amid news of his axing from the Indian side – to get the Blues past 300.

A canny Joginder Sharma nipped out the Green openers in no time before Parthiv and Rohit Sharma cashed in on the second Powerplay, driving and cutting boundaries exceptionally. Anything even fractionally short and wide was pounced upon by Rohit, whose firm back-foot play was pleasing on the eye, while Parthiv whipped trademark boundaries with ease.As long as Parthiv was smashing the ball around the Greens appeared in with a slim shot, but his dismissal for 53, run out by a Joginder direct-hit from deep midwicket as he attempted a suicidal second, dented the side’s chances. Sharma kept up the momentum with a leant-in straight six off Saurabh Bandekar and seemed certain for more before he was smartly stumped by Karthik off a Ramesh Powar wide down the leg side.Tiwary was left to steer a sinking ship but after spanking a couple of boundaries even he couldn’t cope with the pressure, making room to hit Powar and losing his leg stump. The two experienced spinners, Powar and Amit Mishra, shared six wickets and with Abhishek Nayar and Cheteshwar Pujara falling cheaply, the Greens lower order flayed the bat around in desperation. Raina picked up the final wicket as Munaf Patel slogged into the deep, sparking wild celebrations among the Blues.With the highest total of this year’s competition, and their spinners turning in a second successful evening on a flat track, the Blues made the best of the occasion. They’ve already defeated the Reds, and are through to the final courtesy a bonus point from their 88-run win over the Greens. But the final will be minus the incentive of national selection.

Karnataka placed themselves in a position of considerable strength atthe end of the first day’s play against Goa in the KSCA Coca Cola Cup(under-25) tournament at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore onWednesday. After dismissing Goa for 158 runs, the hosts replied with61 for no loss at stumps.Winning the toss and opting to bat, Goa ran into trouble early whenopening bowler Sunil Kumar dismissed both openers Nilosh Mulkar (0)and H Nityananand (19). with only 38 runs scored. Kapil Angle (33) andAmit Jadhav (21) then shared a third wicket partnership of 36 runs off8.3 overs. Both fell in quick succession and Goa were again shakilyplaced at 78 for four. Gourish Phadte (42) and S Prasanth (13) revivedtheir hopes somewhat with a fifth wicket stand of 31 runs off 17.2overs. But the later order succumbed meekly before the bowling of GVRavi, who finished with five for 36 off 20.4 overs. Phadte, who topscored, faced 129 balls and hit five of them to the ropes. Coming inat 74 for three, he was ninth out at 151.Karnataka openers V Pramod (39) and Shyam Ponappa (19) consolidatedthe good work done by the bowlers as Karnataka raced to within 97 runsof the Goa total by stumsps off 18 overs. Pramod, much the dominantpartner, has hit six boundaries while Ponappa has hit two.

If there’s a sense of brotherhood in the BBL final, then the equivalent fixture in the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League has a similar familial feel. It will take place at the MCG, but this is the Sydney derby. The players know each other well and many have enjoyed success together with NSW Breakers and the Southern Stars.This competition may have heralded a new dawn in Australian women’s cricket, but New South Wales’ status as the game’s powerhouse – despite South Australia winning the Women’s National Cricket League to break a ten-year NSW women’s streak – has merely been reaffirmed.Cricket Australia thought long and hard about whether to play the WBBL with six teams or eight. They opted for eight in order to replicate the BBL’s brands, which had the strung-on bonus that it created space for teenagers to play alongside seasoned internationals. While the Melbourne teams have struggled for depth – both Stars and Renegades failed to make it to the semi-finals – the Sydney teams have shone.”The fact that there are two Sydney teams in the final shows the depth in New South Wales,” said Thunder captain Alex Blackwell. “It was very disappointing for the Breakers to not get our eleventh consecutive victory [in the WNCL] but ten is pretty good; when you lose one you realise how tough it is to win one, and we won ten in a row. We’ll share it around but we’ve taken both spots in this game and whatever the result it’s good for New South Wales, but the Thunder are desperate to win this one.”Blackwell admitted that, having qualified for the final first by beating Perth Scorchers in Adelaide, the Thunder hoped to meet their crosstown rivals, who beat Hobart Hurricanes at the MCG on Friday. “I was hoping we would meet the Sixers,” she said. “It makes it a best of three contest. We took first honours in the opening round, them they beat us by about 20 runs at the SCG. Two quality matches and I know tomorrow is going to be no different. We have a lot of friendships between the teams but for the 40 overs it’s going to be a real contest out there.”While the Thunder have been consistent throughout the competition, Sixers have veered wildly. Since losing their first six games, they have won nine in a row to make the final, with strong batting from captain Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy, Ashleigh Gardner and Sara McGlashan, and outstanding seam bowling from Marizanne Kapp and Sarah Aley, while Lisa Sthalekar, who came out of retirement for the competition, has 13 wickets, including three in the semi-final victory.”After having lost six on the trot, it’s been really nice to have such a big turnaround and win nine in a row, it’s been a lot of fun,” said Perry. “Now we’ve got really tough competition in the Thunder and it’s nice to be playing our Sydney counterparts.”Asked what had caused the turnaround, Perry said: “We’ve been trying to put our finger on that, and I don’t think anything too dramatic changed. We got on a losing streak which was a bit of a bummer and something we wanted to rectify pretty quickly, but just winning that first game in Sydney against the Scorchers was the catalyst for a lot of things. We had a couple of weeks off over Christmas and New Year when we worked pretty hard at training. It just worked for us. The four games on the trot in Melbourne just after New Year, we managed to win them and momentum is a big thing and has helped us.”The final brings the curtain down on a highly successful tournament, and will be the latest game to be broadcast on Channel Ten, which is enough proof of how well the competition has been received. Now for a cracking finale.

Gary Kirsten, the newly appointed India coach, landed in Bangalore today for his first interaction with the players. Unperturbed by the crowd of reporters awaiting his arrival, he said it was great to be back in India and an honour to be chosen as the coach of the national team.Asked about his agenda during the visit, he said: “I’m going to meet the players and see how they play their cricket. I will also be taking inputs from the team’s support staff.”Earlier the Indian board secretary Niranjan Shah confirmed Kirsten will join as coach from March 1. “He will be briefly involved with the Test team as a consultant during the tour to Australia,” Shah said. Kirsten confirmed that he will be spending around 3-4 weeks with the team in Australia.Kirsten stressed the importance of the mental side of sport and is keen to have Paddy Upton, South Africa’s fitness trainer during the mid to late nineties and currently working at Kirsten’s academy as a mental conditioning coach.”Kirsten wants to have Upton in the support staff. But we have to discuss the issue with him once he is here but we don’t think he is required at the moment,” a top BCCI source told Cricinfo. It is learnt that the matter will come up for discussion in the Working Committee meeting in Mumbai on December 16.Kirsten will get an opportunity to watch the players in action when they take on Pakistan in the third and final Test which starts on Saturday.

Zimbabwe Cricket has doubled the number players on central contracts following the financial boost resulting from the World Cup, while the board is set to receive another windfall for participation at this month’s inaugural ICC World Twenty20. ZC had 10 players on central contracts for the year ending on August 31, 2007.The issuing of contracts to the players has, however, not been painless and one senior player, Elton Chigumbura, who had been placed in the B category, angrily demanded a better deal on August 30, the day he was offered the contract document.Chigumbura, Zimbabwe’s best allrounder at the moment, has been promised a review of the terms of his contract amid fear that disgruntlement among the players could trigger yet another rebellion in the wake of recent disputes over pay.The central contracts, which determine the players’ salaries and perks, are split into four categories, with the top grade – which was only offered national team captain Prosper Utseya – being A+. The second highest, which has three players is Grade A, while Grade B has eight players, with six players in Grade C.Below is the full list of the contracted players and their classes.A+: Prosper UtseyaA: Tatenda Taibu, Gary Brent, Vusimuzi Sibanda.B: Edward Rainsford, Hamilton Masakadza, Terrence Duffin, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Sean Williams, Tawanda Mupariwa, Elton Chigumbura, Christopher Mpofu.C: Brendan Taylor, Chamu Chibhabha, Keith Dabengwa, Tino Mawoyo, Graeme Cremer, Timycen Maruma.

Scotland will be missing three key players for their Intercontinental Cup match against Netherlands next month. Gavin Hamilton, Dewald Nel and Glenn Rogers are ruled out due to other commitments but are set to return against Ireland in Belfast.Scotland’s first match, against UAE, suffered from the weather at Ayr with play limited to 48 overs on the first day”Obviously, bearing recent weather in mind, our preparations have been limited and we have been somewhat handicapped of late,” said Scotland captain Ryan Watson. “But the Dutch have also fallen foul of the weather and are in similar circumstances, while they also play a lot on matting, so their familiarity with natural turf conditions will be limited.”We have a high regard for the Dutch who defeated us in our last full encounter, and they had us in trouble during the quadrangular series in Ireland. We are a fair match, so we will need to be on top of our game to beat them.”Squad for Netherlands match Ryan Watson (capt), Richie Berrington, Fraser Watts, Craig Wright, John Blain, Gordon Drummond, Majid Haq, Omer Hussain, Paul Hoffmann, Ross Lyons, Qasim Sheikh, Neil McCallum, Simon Smith

Scorecard

A power-packed performance from Punjab, propelled by Salman Butt’s 290, put them in control of their match against Federal Areas at stumps on the third day. Punjab declared after amassing 599 for 7, and then reduced Federal Areas to 37 for 3.Punjab carried their momentum from the previous day, when Butt and Mohammad Hafeez added a 191-run opening stand. Butt, who resumed on 135, combined well with No. 3 Nasir Jamshed to pile the misery for the Federal Areas bowlers, led by Shoaib Akhtar. The two added 290 runs for the second wicket – 262 of which came today – before Shehzad Azam dismissed them both. Jamshed, who scored fifties in his first two ODIs for Pakistan during the Zimbabwe series, made 108.However, the star of the day was Butt, whose knock needed only 318 deliveries, and included an astounding 50 fours and and one six, perhaps a timely reminder to the selectors who dropped him during the Zimbabwe series. Mohammad Yousuf also helped himself to a fifty before Punjab declared on 599. Azam claimed three wickets, but he was carted for more than a run-a-ball in his 20 overs. The rest of the bowlers didn’t impress either, with the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Arafat conceding more than four an over.Aizaz Cheema then removed both the Federal Areas openers cheaply, before left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman struck to leave the opposition struggling, still trailing by 179 runs.
Scorecard
Having conceding the first-innings lead to North West Frontier Province on the second day, Sind fought back strongly on the third day to still be in with a chance of victory.Leading by 200 runs with seven wickets in hand in their second innings and captain Younis Khan still at the crease, NWFP were done in by Danish Kaneria’s 5 for 62. Kaneria, who recently expressed his disappointment at being demoted in the central contracts handed by the Pakistan board, dismissed Nos 6 -10 as NWFP crumbled to 254 all out from 150 for 3 at the end of the second day.Younis’ 111 was the only substantial contribution, the next best was only 26. Shahid Afridi, the Sind captain, chipped in with the wicket of his opposition counterpart, while Anwar Ali ended with 3 for 66.Needing the highest total of the match to win the game, Sind were off to a buoyant start. Khalid Latif and Khurram Manzoor, two others jostling for the opening slot in the Pakistan line-up, scored patient fifties as their team finished at 130 for no loss. Sind need another 179 with ten wickets left, but given the propensity of batting collapses in this match, it is still anybody’s game.

Scorecard

Justin Langer has batted for the final time for Western Australia, but his team-mates have given him the best chance of bowing out a winner against Tasmania. The Warriors lost three wickets once they dismissed the Tigers after tea for 207 and hold a 284-run buffer entering the third day.Langer went for 23 when he hit Brett Geeves to point and the bowler switched ends to remove Shaun Marsh for 4 three overs later. Chris Rogers picked up 41 before nicking Luke Butterworth to first slip, leaving Marcus North (23) and Luke Pomersbach (24) to make it 3 for 119 at stumps.North did not enforce the follow-on when Tasmania were dismissed 16 short of the mark after a strong performance from Brett Dorey. He picked up 4 for 45 while Mathew Inness, who will also step down after this game, and Ben Edmondson captured three wickets each.Tasmania relied on Michael Di Venuto, who top scored with 64 while playing his final contest for the state, and Daniel Marsh (51), but there was not much help from the rest and the innings finished when they lost 3 for 2 in 10 balls. Both teams are out of the race for the finals.

The South African cricketers selected by the eight Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises willlose part of their treasure chest after they decided to fly back home atthe conclusion of the ongoing Test series to take part in the final stagesof the Standard Bank Pro20.The likes of Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini will now be available for the semi-finals and finals of the domestic competition, and will enter the IPLfray only after April 25. As a result, most of them will miss four games.The news comes three days after Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, said the members of the Cobras side would stay back in India for the start of the IPL. He said the Titans players could also follow suit.However, Gerald Majola, the chief executive of Cricket South Africa (CSA), confirmed to Cricinfo that the South Africans would be available for IPL only after the first week of the tournament. “That was always the arrangement,” Majola said.Charu Sharma, the chief executive of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, told Cricinfo that the franchise was yet to receive any official information. Bangalore, who play their first match on April 18, have Kallis, Boucher and Steyn and will be the most affected. The Chennai Super Kings will lose Makhaya Ntini and Albie Morkel but VB Chandreshekar, who oversees cricket operations, said the team was always expecting this situation, especially after Majola’s visit to Chennai last month.The decision, made in consultation with Majola, was taken on Wednesday night, and the players will now fly home, via Dubai, at the conclusion of the Kanpur Test.Under the terms of their contracts, the players could end up forfeitingmore than 25 percent of what they would otherwise have earned during theIPL season. Kallis, signed by the Royal Challengers for $900,000stands to lose more than $200,000. As things stand, he and Smith, who areteam-mates at the Cape Cobras, will now miss their first head-to-headconfrontation, when the Royal Challengers take on the Rajasthan Royals atthe Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 26.