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Sri Lankan off-spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, was the star of the show at the end of day three of the second Test at the Asgiriya International Stadium, Kandy, after his batting put his side in a strong position in the Test.He usually excels with the ball or in the field, but this time surprisingly it was with the bat. At the end of the day’s play, Muralitharan, who made an entertaining 67 runs in 64 balls, declared, "This is my best innings by far."With side struggling on 157 for nine, Muralitharan and Ruchira Perera put up a crucial 64-run partnership for the last wicket, Sri Lanka’s best partnership for the last wicket against India. Speaking about the partnership the Tamil speaking off-spin bowler said, "Nothing was going on in my mind. I was taking my chances and just hitting the ball and the runs kept coming. So I thought that I will keep going in that way and at the end we got a good partnership."That last wicket partnership helped Sri Lanka set India a victory target of 264 and Murali himself feels it’s a good one, "I feel that is a winning total."Ruchira Perera though made only six runs gave Murali marvelous support from the other end by staying in the middle for 76 long minutes, "Ruchira gave a marvelous support. It can turn out to be a crucial partnership at the end of the match. If not for his support we’ wouldn’t have gone past the 200 mark."When CricInfo asked him about the improvement he has made in his batting, he modestly said, "I don’t think there’s any improvement at all."He further said, " I don’t bat at the nets at all. So there’s no improvement whatsoever. But it’s just that I can play some shots. I just attack rather than defend and the runs flow."Murali ended the day on a high note claiming the only Indian wicket to fall. The bowler who’s playing at his home venue, Kandy, while speaking about his home ground wicket said, "It’s seaming a bit and provides some assistance for the fast bowlers, but not a bad wicket at all. We got to keep things tight on Saturday."" Definitely it would have been good if we had got a couple of more wickets, but at the end I think one wicket was good enough."When asked whether this is the first of many Test fifties, the 29-year-old Murali said, "Don’t know. I can’t predict myself at the middle."

The Lodha committee was tasked with fixing the sanctions on Gurunath Meiyappan, Raj Kundra, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. Here’s the case made to the committee for a reduced punishment by Raj Kundra‘s advocate Kavin Gulati, and the committee’s responses.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

1. Gurunath Meiyappan

Having rejected all the arguments presented by Raj Kundra’s lawyers, the Lodha Panel imposed the following sanctions on Kundra:(i) He is declared ineligible from participation in the sport of cricket as explained in the Anti Corruption Code for the maximum period of 5 years under Article 2.2.1.(ii) He is suspended for life from the activities as explained in Article 7.5 under Level 4 (first offence) of Article 2.4 of the Code of conduct.(iii) He is suspended for life from being involved with the BCCI in any type of cricket matches under Section 6, rule 4.2(b) read with (j) of the Operational Rules.The above sanctions shall run concurrently and commence from the date of this order.

Ian Botham has hailed Ben Stokes’ “enormous potential” and suggested he may be a better player than he was at the same age.Stokes broke Botham’s record for the quickest Test double-century by an England player in the game at Cape Town – a moment Botham compared to his exploits in the Headingley Ashes Test of 1981 – and, despite being the youngest member of the squad, has quickly emerged as a key figure in a developing side.In statistical terms, the 24-year-old Stokes has some way to go to match Botham. By the time Botham was 25, he had scored six Test centuries (Stokes currently has three), claimed 14 five-wicket hauls (to Stokes’ two) and was captain of the side.But such comparisons are unnecessary. In terms of the aggressive role he plays with the bat and the balance he lends the side by virtue of his all-round skills, there are obvious similarities between the two. Botham recognises that and sees in Stokes a kindred spirit who will be at the centre of every plan England make for much of the next decade.

Botham on…

Nick Compton
“He’s going to have to find a balance. He was left out in the first place as he had no change of tempo. There’s not a lot of point being out there for 70 balls for 15 runs. Tavare, Boycott and Brearley all scored faster than that.”
England’s rise
“This is the most exciting England team since they were world No. 1. England are an emerging side and they will progress quite quickly. They will be competing by the end of this calendar year for No. 1 status. They might not actually be No. 1 because of the way the fixtures work, but they will be up there and ringing the door bell.”
Hashim Amla
“I like his timing. He said captaincy was hurting his batting. But he went out there and showed what character he has by getting 200. If it was hurting his batting before, then God help us now.”

“As a player, he’s probably better than I was at 24,” Botham said. “What I did was yesterday’s news, what he did is today’s news.”He is not a jack of all trades and master of none. He is actually probably master of the three most important assets you need: batting, bowling and fielding.”His bowling can only get better. He has all the attributes: he has pace; he can swing the ball; he can reverse it; he can bowl orthodox. And he is terrific fielder close to the bat, in the covers or midwicket, backward point, on the boundary.”Certainly Botham holds no resentment in losing a record to Stokes. He already feels Stokes is a better player than Andrew Flintoff (who scored five Test centuries and claimed three five-wicket hauls in his career) at a comparable stage – “he’ll take more five-fors” – and suggests that Stokes should be allowed to play his natural game without complication or impediment.”I held that record for 33 years, so it was about time it got broken,” Botham said. “I enjoyed watching Ben Stokes. I have been a massive fan of his since I first saw him on the international scene. I think he has got tremendous, enormous potential to go all the way.”That was one of those moments when you can just say ‘I was there’. When you think back to Headingley ’81, I know there were only about 10,000 people in the ground but I have met three-and-a-half million who say they were. Well, I was there for Ben Stokes.”It was fun. And Ben Stokes will be enjoying it as well. He’ll see it as fun as well. You walk out and you empty the bars rather then fill them and it’s a nice feeling. Then you get out and you see them all going back in for a beer and you think ‘sorry, lads: can’t do it every day.’ And he can’t do it every day, either. That’s what people have to remember. You have to give him the right to fail.”Just let him go. Mike Brearley did absolutely the same with me. There was no leash in any way.”I didn’t think too much. There is too much thinking about the game, too much analysis, looking at computers. I don’t need to look at a computer to know I’ve played a **** shot. It’s not that hard.”But he is crucial to Alastair Cook’s selection policy. If he’s playing, then Cook actually has an option of two other players in his mind. He is the genuine article.”Ben Stokes broke Ian Botham’s record for the fastest double-hundred by an England player•Getty Images

Botham also believes that Jonny Bairstow’s maiden century at Cape Town will give him the confidence to settle into the side and improve his wicketkeeping.”I think Jonny Bairstow offers a lot to English cricket,” he said. “I have always been a fan of his. He was a rough diamond three years ago but you knew those skills were there.”He only put one down one chance and it wasn’t easy. He also had the first stumping for three years by an English keeper in Durban. I think there are more pluses than negatives. He works very hard at his game and he will only get better. I genuinely think he is good enough.”

Matt Prior’s up-and-down summer behind the stumps for England looks set to end in disappointment next week. He is expected to miss out on one of the 14 coveted central contracts being unveiled by the England & Wales Cricket Board.Prior made a sparkling century against West Indies on Test debut at Lord’s in May, after being hand-picked by England’s new coach, Peter Moores, who was his mentor from the age of 13 at Sussex. But Prior has struggled since then, dropping crucial catches during the 1-0 series defeat against India and failing to replicate his form with the bat.His omission from the list would leave England no closer to finding a long-term successor to Alec Stewart, whose retirement in 2003 left a void that men such as Chris Read, Geraint Jones and now Prior have all struggled to fill.”We won’t reveal the list till Monday,” said England’s chairman of selectors, David Graveney. “The selectors met as a group to come up with cricketing recommendations for cricket contracts. That list has gone directly to the board, who are discussing as we speak. We have done the list.”We can go up to 16 names,” added Graveney. “The criteria for awarding a central contract is to identify people who are heavily involved in international cricket over the next 12 months. Now, unlike in 2005 when we had a settled side, we have a number of players challenging for places. That has made central contract discussions lengthier than in the past. We have never, ever awarded a central contract to a one-day player only.”Three key figures in the 2005 Ashes victory – Marcus Trescothick, Simon Jones and the retired Ashley Giles – will not be having their contracts renewed, while three others – Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison – are expected to receive scaled-down deals, because they do not have any role to play in one-day cricket.That leaves plenty room for a new clutch of players to take centre stage, and chief among these will be Ryan Sidebottom, who has enjoyed an annus mirablis after his unexpected return at the beginning of the summer, and James Anderson, who lost his contract last year but is now seen as the leader of England’s new-look attack.Stuart Broad and Ravi Bopara, England’s young heroes from the ODI victory at Old Trafford last week, are also in line for a deal, although Bopara’s withdrawal through injury from the ICC World Twenty20 may change the picture slightly. As for Andrew Flintoff, his ongoing ankle concerns highlight the importance of central contracts, to enable England to manage the fitness of their star performers.

Herschelle Gibbs arrived in Mumbai today where the South Africans are based for the ten-nation Champions Trophy tournament and was promptly whisked away to the team hotel to avoid a large media contingent stationed at the airport. Gibbs, who was accompanied by lawyers and arrived four days after the rest of the South African squad, is to be questioned by the Indian police tomorrow over match-fixing allegations dating back to 2000.Team officials declined to entertain questions on Gibbs and did not allow him to be interviewed by the media, saying he was tired after the long journey from Johannesburg and needed rest.Gibbs was fined and suspended for six months by South Africa after he admitted accepting money from disgraced former captain Hansie Cronje to under-perform during a one-day international on the 2000 tour of India. He went on to score 74 runs in that game, claiming later that he had “forgotten” about the deal.Cronje, who admitted to receiving money from illegal bookmakers but denied he was involved in match-fixing, was banned for life. He was killed in a plane crash near Cape Town in 2002. For six years Gibbs had declined to travel to India with the South African team fearing his arrest by the Indian police.Confusion reigned over the likely venue of the police interrogation. New Delhi police officials had told AFP on Tuesday that Gibbs will be questioned in the Indian capital on Thursday. But Tshepo Tsotsotso, Cricket South Africa spokesperson, was quoted as saying in the Indian media from Johannesburg that Gibbs was unlikely to move away from Mumbai. “According to my information, Gibbs will be in Mumbai where he will be interviewed by the Indian police,” Tsotsotso said.On October 4, Micky Arthur, South Africa’s coach, had said that Gibbs would be flying to Delhi for the interrogation. “Herschelle will fly on the night of October 10 straight to Delhi and will be accompanied by his lawyer,” said Arthur “He has an appointment with KK Paul [the Indian policeman leading the match-fixing investigation], which we are led to believe will take an hour-and-a-half. He will then join the rest of the team in Mumbai ahead of the practice game on the 13th.”South Africa face New Zealand in their first Champions Trophy match at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai on Monday.

Cricket Australia and Northern Territory Cricket today announced the appointment of Michael McGregor to the role of senior officer – indigenous cricket. The position will be based in Darwin and was created to help drive Australian cricket’s strategy to increase participation in cricket, particularly among indigenous people, who represent approximately 4% of overall figures.McGregor’s primary responsibility is to develop and implement services and programs to increase the current rate. James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said providing all Australians with access to cricket was part of the plan to have 555,000 participants by 2009.”This important role is an investment by Australian cricket into increasing participation of indigenous people,” Mr Sutherland said. “The state and territory cricket associations work across most urban and provincial regions to provide people with access to cricket. But we recognise there are some harder-to-reach areas where we need to take responsibility and ensure that appropriate access, resources and services are available so that all Australians have the opportunity to be involved in the game.”Neil Dalrymple, the NT Cricket chief executive, said the appointment was a joint initiative between Cricket Australia and NT Cricket. “While this role will be based in Darwin, it will adopt a national focus with close liaison and working relationships right around Australia,” Dalrymple said. “A large focus of the role will be the event management and coordination of the Imparja Cup, Australia’s national Indigenous cricket carnival, which is a significant aspect from NT Cricket’s perspective.”

Ravi Rampaul is to fly home early from West Indies’ tour of England, after failing to recover from a persistent shin injury. Rampaul, 19, played in three matches in the recent NatWest Series, but was forced to pull out on the morning of the match against New Zealand at Cardiff on July 3.A spokesman for the West Indies team said that Rampaul would be flying home tomorrow, and his replacement, Corey Collymore, would be flying in on Monday. Collymore, 26, managed just three wickets in four Tests during England’s series in the Caribbean, although he often bowled without reward.

At the end of a day when 38 overs were lost to rain, Glamorgan were 128-2 in reply to Hampshire`s mammoth first innings total of 531-7 declared.Rain prevented any play in the morning session, but the Hampshire batsmen morethan made up for lost time when the match eventually resumed at 2.05pm. The visitors added a brisk 148 in just 17.5 overs with Dimitri Mascarenhas clubbing 100 from only 78 balls with 13 fours and 4 huge sixes. Two of Mascarenhas` sixes cleared the Cardiff pavilion as the Hampshire batsman raced from 50 to 100 in just 20 balls.Needing 382 to avoid the follow-on, Glamorgan`s openers survived a few early scares, as Hampshire`s slip cordon of Kenway, Kendall and Morris each dropped chances, before Dale snicked a ball from Chris Tremlett to the wicket-keeper.Ian Thomas remained resolute, and with his new partner David Hemp unfurlingsome classical drives after tea, the pair had added 69 for the second wicket when Will Kendall made amends for his earlier fumble in the slips by holding onto a blinder of a catch in the gully off a full blooded cut by Ian Thomas, who appeared on course to register his first half-century of the season.Hemp was unbeaten on 41 when play ended with Glamorgan still 403 runs behindwith eight first innings wickets in hand.

Ricky Ponting shrugged off his Ashes blues to make a long overdue and superbcentury at Headingley to give Australia another sizzling success tocelebrate in the Fourth npower Test Match.It was the fifth Australian century of the Ashes series but for Ponting, whohas been through one of the most miserable phases of his career with just 50runs from five Test innings, it was a spectacular return to form and showedboth courage and ruthless spirit in his bid for a century.It was courageous because he arrived at the crease with Australia in anunusually tentative position at 42 for two after Adam Gilchrist’s decisionto bat first on a pitch that looked to favour the bowlers, was in danger ofbackfiring.With so few runs in his tank this summer, it was a pressurised situation forPonting but his destiny became almost preordained when the third delivery ofhis innings from Andy Caddick flew off his bat and carried to MarkRamprakash at third slip.Or did it? The umpires were unsure and referred to their third set of eyes,Neil Mallender who watched the catch over and over again and ruled that theball had not in fact carried to the fielder.It was an impossibly close call but from that point, Ponting, who was yet toget off the mark, was ruthless in his pursuit of runs, grabbing theopportunity as the Australians do in lucky breaks, with unrestrained zeal.By tea nine overs later, he had already notched up 32 runsThe hundred was not long in coming. Less than three hours later, havingfaced 113 deliveries, he flicked Alan Mullally to square leg and ran thesingle. He had struck three sixes, one off each of England’s frontlinebowlers, as well as 11 fours, most of them immaculately and deliciouslypulled through the leg side.He shared a magnificent double hundred partnership with Mark Waugh whodeparted for 72 at the close having continued his rich vein of form thatstarted pretty early into the tour.Looking at Australia’s total at the close, 288 for four, one would neverhave guessed that 23 overs had been lost from the scheduled day’s play. Heavyrain had greeted a large Yorkshire crowd first thing, postponing play untilafter lunch.Australia are no longer fighting to retain the Ashes after their triumph atTrent Bridge but are now battling to make it a 5-0 ‘greenwash’. As a result, they started cautiously until they had a better measure of the pitch, a green top with patchy brown ends, that at the toss had everyone guessing.England dropped two catches to help Australia’s openers on their way.Matthew Hayden was missed by Marcus Trescothick at gully, which marked theend of Trescothick in that position for the day. Mullally then missed Michael Slater for 11 at square leg which would have made the score 23 for two.Neither miss proved particularly expensive with both openers departingshortly afterwards to Andy Caddick, who proved the most attacking bowler inEngland’s otherwise ragged effort.But the loss of Hayden leg before brought together Waugh and the mightyPonting. The entertainment became enthralling, as both were allowed to playtheir shots and Nasser Hussain struggled to find the best option forbringing the show to a close.None of his pace bowlers responded with any great commitment to accuracy orplanning and so he turned to his bit parters, Mark Butcher and MarkRamprakash who unwittingly may have set up the opportunity for Alex Tudorten overs from stumps.Having made a sparkling 144 from 154 balls, Ponting finally edged Tudor toAlec Stewart and an excellent third-wicket partnership was over, finishingeight runs short of Australia’s record at Headingley, set in 1930 by Sir DonBradman and Alan Kippax.By this time, the bowlers were looming in the shadows and many of the crowdhad dispersed, possibly disheartened by another frustrating Englandperformance but they missed a remarkable last innings setback for thetourists.With three balls left of the day’s play, Caddick surprised Waugh with a ballthat lifted and the squirted up and came down in the hands of Ramprakash, tobring an amazing day’s play to a close.

Queensland’s first real blemish of the match – a missed catch at slip in late afternoon – threatens to undo most of its good work over the first three days of the Pura Cup clash with Western Australia at the WACA ground in Perth. Martin Love’s uncharacteristic error has allowed Damien Martyn (70*) and Simon Katich (39*) to add an unbroken century stand and reduce the Warriors’ overall deficit in the match to ninety-nine runs (with seven second innings wickets in hand) by stumps.Prior to the advent of the grassed chance, the Queenslanders had continued to dominate until almost the point of tea on another fine, sunny day. Indeed, the tale of woe that could have been recounted on the back of Western Australia’s batting performance yesterday soon needed extra paragraphs added to it when play resumed this morning. Following the two best individual performances amid the wreckage of an innings of 195, Adam Gilchrist (59) and Mike Hussey (41) both lost concentration and forced away from their bodies at deliveries cutting off the pitch. Soon, Jo Angel (5) was driving uppishly at a reasonably full outswinger from the ever-accurate Adam Dale (5/41) and lofting a catch straight into the hands of Jimmy Maher at a shortish cover position. And then, on the other side of lunch, Dale continued to capitalise on a similarly excellent effort behind the stumps from Wade Seccombe (who held six catches for the innings) by attaining the opening five-wicket haul at first-class level for the season. The right arm paceman had snared the final two scalps, and allowed captain Stuart Law to enforce the follow-on, when he induced Matthew Nicholson (35) into a top edged cut and then trapped Gavin Swan (0) lbw with an inswinger from the very next delivery.A mere nineteen minutes into the new innings, Hussey (5) suffered the ignominy of being dismissed twice in the one day as he made the mistake of pulling to mid on a delivery far too full in length to encourage such a shot. As if that was not bad enough, Australian number three Justin Langer (0) then encountered the rare horror of being dismissed for a pair as he drove loosely at, and outside edged, a ball swinging away two deliveries into the next Andy Bichel (2/32) over. Ryan Campbell (25) fought bravely for a time but was the next to head back in the direction of the pavilion as he tried to cover drive an Ashley Noffke (1/34) outswinger, only to mistime the shot and watch as Maher completed a fine catch high to his left at backward point.In between some scorching strokes to the boundary from the former, matters were initially no easier for either Martyn or Katich. Both played and missed repeatedly at Noffke and the right hander dodged a large bullet at 12 when Umpire Woolridge ruled in the batsman’s favour upon being subjected to a beseeching lbw appeal from Dale (0/24).But this was all before Love, normally as reliable as slips fieldsmen come, snatched at the opportunity to bring Martyn’s hand to a close in the same general manner as in the first innings – with an interception at first slip following an ill-advised slash at a leg cutter. At the time, the Test aspirant had just 25 alongside his name and the Western Australians were deep in trouble at a mark of 3/61, a scoreline which still left them as many as 186 runs in arrears.Batting has never been the almost impossible task that the Warriors had made it look in their first innings and the early stages of a second that eventually billowed to an overnight mark of 3/148. And, offered the reprieve on the still placid pitch, Martyn joined with Katich to prove the point as they took the sort of toll of a tiring attack that should have been exacted far earlier. The former hit some delightful shots behind point and through the covers, while the latter – playing his first match since returning home from a productive season of county cricket with Durham – concentrated his energies on executing some magnificent drives through the arc between mid on and mid off. Having weathered the series of early scares and been forced to bat against attacking fields for much of the afternoon, both truly earned their runs.Difficulties still loom for the Western Australians tomorrow if they do not show an equivalent level of application. But the extent of the resolve displayed by both Martyn and Katich must surely have served up something in the way of a general morale-boost among their teammates in the dressing room. Together with the accompanying sight of some uncharacteristically wayward bowling and sloppy fielding from the Bulls – one piece of it in particular – the generation of the best Western Australian stand of the match would certainly imply that the connection between Queensland and a eleventh outright victory from its last fourteen first-class encounters is not necessarily automatic.