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Naeem Islam is set to earn his first Test cap for Bangladesh in the first Test against New Zealand starting Friday at Chittagong. Having made his ODI debut in the recently-concluded three-match series against the same opposition, he will become the 51st Test player for Bangladesh.”Once I heard that I would be in the Test team, I was very happy. It is like a dream for me,” Naeem said. “There are no personal goals for me but to bat for a long time. Although I like batting between four and six, I would stick to whatever the team tells me to do.”Primarily a middle-order batsman, his useful offspin will give Bangladesh the option of an additional allrounder as they look for their first series win against New Zealand. “I am used to bowling 15-20 overs so and if the captain asks me to bowl more than that, I must try to do that,” said Naeem.Though run out without facing a single ball in his very first innings in the second ODI at Dhaka, Naeem put up a much better show with an unbeaten 46 in the next match at Chittagong. He also contributed with the ball picking up three wickets at 34.66.This apart, the 21-year-old who plays for Rajshahi in Bangladesh’s domestic circuit, has been in good form for the last two seasons and his time in the Bangladesh Cricket Board Academy and the Bangladesh A team has admittedly helped his chances of staking a claim in the Test team.”I have been playing with the Academy and A team in foreign conditions so probably I felt much calmer because of that,” said Naeem, who captained the Academy team in their 2-1 ODI series victory against the Sri Lanka Academy XI last month.Rajshahi captain Khaled Mashud backed Naeem’s inclusion and felt the player deserved his chance. “He has the quality of playing in the longer version and he deserves to play for Bangladesh given his domestic performance. I think he is a rare breed among offspinners because he can read a batsman and not just bowl offbreak for the sake of bowling.”

Scorecard

Karnataka, led by Sunil Joshi, breezed into the quarter-finals, overwhelming Maharashtra by 155 runs on a spinners’ paradise at the RSI Ground in Bangalore. Joshi marked his 100th Ranji Trophy game with his fifth ten-wicket haul to bowl out Maharashtra for 116 in their second innings.Maharashtra had no hope of an upset on this track once B Akhil and Joshi had hit out in the morning to set a target of 272. The visitors lasted only 136 minutes in their second innings; Joshi running amok to grab 7 for 29.It was Akhil who set up the stiff target with a splendid 62 though Joshi also used the long handle effectively in a breezy 35 to push Karnataka to an unassailable position. Karnataka, a lead of 173 overnight, added 98 runs on Saturday. Akhil, who didn’t make the squad at the start of the season and was drafted in later in place of Bharat Chipli, had hit a vital hundred against Uttar Pradesh in the last game and upped it with a fine knock today.He was one of the few batsmen to come down the track repeatedly to the spinners, and started off with two fours – an off-drive and a sweep – in the first over of the day. Time and again, he punctuated his charges down the track with a hard sweep and once even reverse-swept a boundary.Joshi joined him at 186 for 5 and he too started off with a first-ball boundary – a clean hit over mid-on. He deployed his two favourite shots – the swing over mid-off or mid-on and the slog-sweep – to good effect. Both Akhil and Joshi knew there was no point in defending on this track as they were just one unplayable ball away from getting out. However, a tad strangely, Akhil got bogged down when Joshi began to hit. He was scoreless for 20 balls before getting out. Joshi kept swinging and was the last man out, holing out to deep midwicket.The chase was over in a blink. Joshi struck in his first over, the fourth of the innings and the last before lunch, with his signature ball on this track – pitching middle and leg and hitting off – to remove Harshad Khadiwale. The Maharashtra innings went downhill from there as Joshi kept taunting and teasing out the rest. He removed Ameya Shirkhande two balls into the second session with a snorter that turned and bounce to take the glove en route to slip.Karnataka continued their good catching form on a poor outfield. Rohan Bhosale, who offered brief resistance, flicked Joshi hard to short-leg where KB Pawan held on to a sharp chance and KP Appanna dived low to his right at square leg to remove Deepak Shilamkar. Joshi varied his length and pace to run through the tail and when Pawan dived to his front from short leg to hold on to a catch to remove Enamul Haque jnr, it was all over. The game ended in the second session of the third day and the sparse crowd rushed in to shake hands and back-slap Robin Uthappa and Joshi.

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, has predicted a close contest in the three-Test series against India, while his counterpart Anil Kumble emphasised his team’s consistency in the run-up to the tour, during a press conference in Colombo to launch the series.”Every time we’ve played them, there has been some really good cricket played by both teams, who possess some good-quality players,” Jayawardene said. “I am sure that the public will have a great series to watch.””We thoroughly enjoy playing India, at home or away,” he said “It’s always been a tough challenge. There is good rivalry with our neighbours.”Jayawardene said his team’s focus was on winning the series and not on stopping Sachin Tendulkar from getting the 172 runs needed to overtake Brian Lara, who has 11,957 runs to his name, as the highest run-scorer. “I don’t think we will try that hard not to give him the record. We are going to treat Sachin in the same manner as anybody else in the Indian camp,” he said. “It will be a great milestone if he achieves it, but our focus will be on the series.He also spoke about his performances against India. “Personally I have a couple of milestones against India. I made my debut against them and also scored my first double-hundred against them. It’s a pretty good team for me to play against.”Kumble was upbeat about India’s prospects considering the players at his disposal and the team’s recent record. “The last time we played Sri Lanka in India we beat them. We are confident,” he said. “We have Zaheer Khan back in the team with his experience of bowling in subcontinental conditions, Ishant Sharma who has really progressed well as a seamer, and Harbhajan Singh is back as well.””We have a good combination and we have done pretty well in the lead up to the Test series,” he said. “In the last one year or so we have been really consistent with our performances. That’s something which we will take forward.”Kumble, who has not played in Sri Lanka since the 1993-94 tour, said the senior members of the team had experience of the conditions there. “The conditions would be pretty similar [to those in India] and the players we have in the team are all quite used to these conditions, especially the batting line-up. They are familiar with what to expect.”He also expected his team’s middle order to cope with the threat posed by Ajantha Mendis, who destroyed India in the Asia Cup earlier this month with figures of 6 for 13. ” We have the quality [to counter Mendis] … our middle order has more than 30,000 Test runs and four of them have played more than 100 Tests,” he said. “It will be challenging and I am sure our batsmen will definitely cope with that. It is something obviously we need to be on the look out for.”Meanwhile, former captain Hashan Tillakaratne has been appointed as the Sri Lankan team’s manager. He replaces Shriyan Samararatne.India play a three-day warm-up match against a Sri Lanka Board XI from July 18 to prepare for the first Test, which begins on July 23.

Sri Lanka ambled to victory against a youthful Sri Lanka A side at NCCGrounds on Sunday, their only match practice before the opening game of theICC Champions Trophy starting next Thursday.However, despite overhauling the 200 for nine scored by Sri Lanka A with11.4 overs and four wickets to spare, Sri Lanka’s middle order had to fighthard after a top order collapse left them facing potential embarrassment.Marvan Atapattu (42) and Kumar Sangakkara (25) set a quick early pace,benefiting from their young opponent’s ill discipline with the ball (SriLanka A bowled 36 wides), before four wickets fell for 29 runs and Sri Lankaslipped from 74 without loss to 103 for four.Fortunately for Sri Lanka, Russel Arnold was reprieved early on in hisinnings when he looked to have nicked a catch to wicket-keeper JeevanMendis.Arnold (28) and Mahela Jayawardene (28) then steadied the innings with 52run partnership with Upul Chandana (19*) and Chaminda Vaas knocking off thewinning runs.Watching from the sidelines, Jayasuriya was not entirely happy:”Preparations have gone well but it wasn’t a very good performance today.However, it was our first game since Morocco and I’m glad we had a chance toplay under match conditions.”The best news of the day for the management was the sight of Jayasuriyabatting in the middle for the first time since he dislocated his shoulder inMorocco.Facing four overs after the completion of the match, he was dismissed twiceand looked uncomfortable against the short ball but grew in confidence,hitting two towering leg-side sixes in his final over.He now expects to play on Thursday: “Yesterday was quite painful and I was alittle stiff today when I first started, but its getting better and better.The chances of me playing are good and increasing everyday.”However he still has hasn’t bowled a ball since Morocco: “I have my doubtsas to whether I will be able to bowl if I play. Alex (Kontouri) has not evenlet me try bowling yet.”Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka had bowled and fielded better than they hadbatted, restricting Sri Lanka A to 200 for nine.All the bowlers completed economical spells, although Muttiah Muralitharanwas forced to endure the ignominy of being launched for three sixes by22-year-old seam bowler Thushara Mirando in the later overs.Mendis, highly rated by the Sri Lanka hierarchy, confirmed his potentialwith a patient 43 from 88 balls. Captain Thilan Samaraweera chipped in with32 and opener Michael Vandort scored 31.

Captain Sourav Ganguly claimed India were `destined’ to win after his side’s dramatic 10-run victory against South Africa at Premadasa International Stadium on Wednesday night.India looked dead and buried after a record 178-run second wicket stand between Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis left South Africa cruising to victory on 192/1.But when Gibbs was forced from the field with cramps in both hands, South Africa lost quick wickets and then fell behind the run rate as India’s spinners excelled.An emotional Sourav Ganguly said afterwards: “I don’t how we won this game. I don’t have the words to describe it but it was fantastic. We never gave up and were destined to win.”We thought it was a big total because the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat but Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis played well,” said Ganguly. “But we got two wickets in one over from Harbhajan Singh which probably turned the game for us.”He admitted though that Gibbs’ hand cramps were a godsend: “We got an opportunity with Gibbs going off the field…and we grabbed it.”He reserved special praise for left-armer Zaheer Khan, who conceded just 27 runs from nine overs, and Virender Sehwag, the eventual man of the match, who followed a brisk 59 with three wickets at the death.”I thought we did pretty well with the ball,” said Ganguly. “Zaheer (Khan) has been outstanding for the last six months and to go for 27 runs in nine overs on this track was amazing.””And Sehwag can’t do anything wrong,” he added. “Perhaps I should have bowled him earlier.””But I have to give credit to everybody – we fielded brilliantly. The two catches from Yuvraj were some of the best I have seen.”South Africa captain Shaun Pollock was understandably distraught.”It’s basically just not good enough at an international level…we had the game wrapped up but, unfortunately, we didn’t do it and we are out of the tournament,” said Pollock. “We only have ourselves to blame.”He was pleased with his bowlers who had fought back after a brisk Indian start.”I thought that 260 was very gettable and the way we went about it at the start was pretty awesome – we were well in control. But after Herschelle’s cramps we lost our way.””Unfortunately, he had cramp in both of his hands and he wasn’t able to bat again. We tried to get him going again but it was impossible,” he revealed.”All credit to India though. I thought they fought back hard. They didn’t give us any free balls to hit and kept the pressure on us.”We will have to go back to the drawing board and make sure that we don’t make those mistakes again.”He played down the similarities with South Africa’s humiliating exit from the 1999 when they lost off the final ball of the semi-final to Australia: “In that game we needed one run from one ball, here we were behind the run rate in the final three overs.”

Scorecard

The third day in Perth was a tough grind for Tasmania but half-centuries to Tim Paine and Rhett Lockyear ensured Western Australia’s final-day chase would not be a formality. At stumps Tasmania had reached 9 for 283, giving them an overall lead of 187, with Tim Macdonald on 11 and Ben Hilfenhaus on 2.The Western Australia bowlers did their best to create opportunities but not all the chances stuck and they could yet regret not ending the Tasmania resistance sooner. Lockyear registered his maiden first-class half-century and although he eventually departed for 77, he could have been removed on 56 when Steve Magoffin put down an easy chance at fine leg.George Bailey also had a life on 18 when Arron Crawford could not complete a return catch. Bailey went on to score 38 before becoming one of three victims for the Warriors captain Marcus North, whose part-time offspin caused the Tigers a few problems.But importantly for Tasmania they refused to capitulate and added 224 in their 96 overs, having resumed at 1 for 59. Problems again looked likely for the visitors when they battled to 5 for 164, but a 76-run stand for the sixth wicket between Paine and Luke Butterworth proved valuable.Paine occupied the crease for more than three hours for his 54 before he was caught behind off Ben Edmondson, who ended up with 3 for 55. Butterworth (37) was another of Edmondson’s victims but despite picking up four wickets in ten overs late in the day, the Warriors could not finish off the final pair.

Younis Khan will give the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League tournament a miss, choosing to concentrate on playing first-class cricket with South Australia. His decision follows a clearance from the PCB allowing him to sign a contract with the Redbacks for the upcoming Australian domestic season.Having won the first season of the IPL with the Rajasthan Royals, Younis was eligible to play in the Champions League tournament, beginning on December 3, featuring the Chennai Super Kings, runners-up of the IPL, Western Australia and Victoria from Australia, the Titans and Dolphins from South Africa, Sialkot from Pakistan and Middlesex from England.”Twenty20 might be popular but to me it is nothing compared to first-class cricket, ” Younis told Pakistan’s channel. “I would prefer first-class because that is real cricket and that is where a player is really tested.”Younis will be joining South Australia from mid-October after playing in Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 competition and a quadrangular tournament in Toronto, involving Pakistan, Canada, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s outstanding performance in the second Test against Australia, in Antigua, which helped secure West Indies a draw, has lifted him to a career-best position of No. 5 in the world rankings.Chanderpaul was twice unbeaten in the match, for 107 and 77, and claimed the Man-of-the-Match award as West Indies kept alive their hopes of squaring the series, although the Frank Worrell Trophy is now safely back with Australia. Chanderpaul’s double continues a prolific run of form, following on from his 118 in the first Test, and he currently averages 156.50 in the series.In the past 12 months he has played nine Tests and scored 1,062 runs at 106.20, including five centuries on away tours to England and South Africa as well as this home series against Australia.Chanderpaul is now level with South Africa’s Jacques Kallis and just three points behind Mohammad Yousuf. Michael Hussey currently holds the No.1 spot, followed by Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara.West Indies’ captain Ramnaresh Sarwan just missed out on a return to the top 20 in after his fifth-day century. Sarwan scored 65 in the first innings and then 128 in the second and that performance has lifted Sarwan back to 21st place.From the Australians, Simon Katich is the most significant mover following his first-innings century and has climbed 12 places to 56th.After missing the first Test through injury, Jerome Taylor has climbed back into the top 20 of the bowling rankings. He took five wickets in the match – including Ponting in both innings – and moved up 12 places in the tightly packed rankings. It is the highest ranking of Taylor’s 19-match career and he is now just three points behind Matthew Hoggard in 13th spot, who is currently trying to force his way back into the England side.Brett Lee strengthened his position in fourth spot and is also holding the highest rating of his career. Lee was the outstanding bowler in Antigua, with match-figures of 8 for 110, on a docile surface. This included a destructive burst of reverse-swing in the first innings. He is closing the gap on team-mate Stuart Clark, who is currently occupying third spot.Muttiah Muralittharan is still in first position with Dale Steyn just behind him. With Sri Lanka hosting India in a Test series next month and South Africa playing in England around the same time, those two will be jostling for top place.

For the full rankings click here.