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Neither of the three captains from Group B teams, Ihsanullah, Abraash Khan and Charith Asalanka, were short of confidence, but it was the Afghanistan Under-19 captain who firmly said that his team has set sights on the title.Ihsanullah, the younger brother of Nawroz Mangal, drew confidence from Afghanistan’s series win against Pakistan in October 2014, and said that the Under-19 side looked up to the senior team.”We beat Pakistan in their home so we hope we can beat them and top our group. We dream of winning the trophy, ,” Ihsanullah said. “Obviously, we are inspired by the national team and wish to play for them. Our future is so bright so now we are looking for this achievement. All our national players are heroes. There’s nothing in Afghanistan but cricket is getting very big, because of them.”Sri Lanka’s Asalanka, meanwhile, was wary of the expectations with his country having never won the Under-19 World Cup.”I think all teams will have target to win the World Cup,” he said. “I will have the responsibility to bring the trophy home. If I can, it will be for the first time, and it will be a big thing. I think it is a tough group. Canada, Afghanistan and Pakistan are good sides.”Abraash, the Canada captain, said that they were keen to get past the group stage for the first time and give a good account of themselves. “Our goal is to make the second round in this tournament,” he said. I know Canada has played many World Cups in the past, I played in the last one.”We never made the second round. If we really believe in our preparations, we can make it. We don’t play that much cricket. Sometimes it is good to be an underdog. People don’t expect you to do well. We are trying to change opinions in the World Cup.”Abraash took inspiration from offspinner Nikhil Dutta who has featured in the BPL and CPL, and said that Canada’s participation in the regional tournament in West Indies held them in good stead.”Nikhil and I are from the same club. We have played in the same team, Abraash said.” It is good to see him making big strides and hopefully we can all follow his footsteps. We won one game out of six in the West Indies regional tournament. It was a good tournament to prepare for the World Cup because it is a step up for us.”Abraash also identified Davy Jacobs, who has played for Eagles, Free State and Mumbai Indians among other teams, as a key figure.”Davy Jacobs is in my club,” Abraash said. He is not with the national body but he is the head coach in the Ontario Cricket Academy. We trained with him all winter and played with him all summer as well.”

With the Indian Premier League just days away from its launch, followed immediately by the conclusion of the Indian Cricket League’s second season, Twenty20 cricket has caught on like a virus. Sri Lanka will have its own version with its inaugural six-team inter-provincial tournament scheduled to take off on Thursday.With the national team away in the Caribbean, and a few seniors set to take part in the IPL, the tournament has opened the doors for many budding cricketers trying to make their mark at this level. The inter-provincial limited overs series which was held in December and January was, however, fortunate to have the full contingent of national players.Jehan Mubarak and Kaushalya Weeraratne will have big shoes to fill when they lead Kandurata and Wayamba respectively, which shared the inter-provincial limited-overs title. Weeraratne will be taking over from Kumar Sangakkara and Mubarak from Mahela Jayawardene. With the unavailability of Chaminda Vaas, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya (all to IPL) Basnahira North will be led by Thilina Kandamby, Basnahira South by Prasanna Jayawardene and Ruhuna by Indika de Saram respectively.However for the first two matches on April 17 and 18, both Mubarak and Weeraratne will not be available due to their commitments in the West Indies. In their absence, Wayamba will be led by Jeevantha Kulatunga and Kandurata by Thilan Samaraweera as the province’s vice-captain Chamara Kapugedera is also in the Caribbean. In addition, Ajantha Mendis, Mahela Udawatte and Ishara Amerasinghe (all Wayamba), Thilan Thushara (Kandurata), Nuwan Kulasekera (Basnahira North), Upul Tharanga (Ruhuna) who are all also in the Caribbean, will miss the first two games as they are due to return only on April 18.One unique feature is the introduction of a Schools Invitation XI, led by Dinesh Chandimal, which comprises as many as eight of the 14 cricketers who represented Sri Lanka in the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. Ashan Priyanjan, Thisara Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne and Sachith Pathirana – four from the World Cup squad – have been included in the Ruhuna, Wayamba and Kandurata teams.Sidath Wettimuny, the Inter-provincial committee chairman, said there would be mixed reactions to exposing a Schools XI to Twenty20 cricket, but reasoned that it would expose them to the domestic level and give an opportunity to play under pressure against the best cricketers in the country.Each team will play five matches in the first round before which the top four teams qualify to play in the Super Four round on a league basis. The top two teams in the Super Four will qualify for the final, whcih carries prize money worth Rs 2,250,000. The losing finalist will receive Rs 1,125,000.The Man of the Tournament carries prize money worth Rs 50,000 while the Man of the Final gets Rs 25,000.

Roger Twose had become increasingly conscious, even broodingly concerned, that his form for Wellington through this Shell Cup season had not been commensurate with his status as one of the best one-day batsmen in the world.Twose wanted desperately to contribute for Wellington, consistently and well as he felt a player should who was both a professional and an international, but had been bedevilled by an unaccountable series of dismissals for low scores.It wasn’t that Twose was out of form – quite the contrary, he had a sense that he was well prepared, settled and in a frame of mind to make substantial one-day totals. But each visit to the crease seemed more brief and unproductive than the last and he had a sense that while he was ready to perform, luck was against him.It was a coincidence, clearly, but still a point of relevance that while Twose’s form lagged behind his expectations, Wellington’s ability to win Cup matches was also reduced. They were unlucky to lose matches against Northern Districts at Mt Maunganui and Central Districts at Waikanae and they were gradually losing their standing in a close race for places in the Cup finals.So there was considerable celebration in the Wellington dressing room this evening from Twose, who made 45 in an innings of typically earthy and uncomplicated style and from Wellington who took advantage of that contribution to beat Auckland by five wickets in a match vital to their Cup hopes.Wellington dismissed Auckland for 157 in 48.1 overs after their opponents had won the toss and batted, and made 158/5 in 42.2 overs in reply to grab two points which made their failing Cup campaign more sturdy.They still face three more matches over the next six days, against Otago and Northern Districts in Wellington and Canterbury in Christchurch, and must win each of those, and be favoured by other results, to have any chance of reaching the finals.But their win today and Twose’s contribution to it lifted the spirits of both and made the disappointing events of the recent past lose a little of their black appearance.”We can’t afford to slip up again and this win today was just the start of a big six-day run for us but it was very satisfying,” Wellington coach Vaughn Johnson said.”We were pleased with the way the bowlers set up the game for us. The channels were excellent and our ground fielding was superb. We showed lots of energy in those first 15 overs.”It’s been one of those campaigns where we haven’t had the rub of the green and we’ve lost a couple of games that we probably should have won. But we’re not looking back, we’re only looking forward and we’re in much better spirits after this win today.”It was nice for us all to be able to get up today and have such a complete performance. And I’m delighted on Roger’s behalf. He was thrilled to make a contribution today. We know how good he is and we were all thrilled that he got a chance to show what he could do. He told us today that he felt in good nick lately but he kept on getting out cheaply and he couldn’t explain it. He just wanted to contribute but things weren’t going his way. He feels a lot better this evening.”Wellington’s win was set up, as Johnson suggested, by an outstanding bowling performance supported by an energetic and skillful effort in the field. Auckland would have been happy to have the chance to bat first after winning the toss but when they lost both openers, Llorne Howell and John Aiken, for 13 runs in the first six overs, their innings lost direction and it stumbled rather than galloped to an early conclusion.Carl Bulfin, James Franklin and Andrew Penn bowled accurately in the first 15 overs to limit Auckland to 38/2, then Stephen Mather and Matthew Walker stepped in and took the heart of Auckland’s middle order.Franklin removed Howell, Bulfin took Aiken, spinner Mark Jefferson wrung out the wicket of Adam Parore, then Mather quickly contributed the wickets of Dion Nash, Blair Pocock and Tama Canning and Auckland were 109/6. At the same time, Walker bowled 10 consecutive overs for 16 runs and Auckland’s innings has been robbed of its heart.Even the few batsmen who made runs did so too slowly to help the revival of the innings. Parore lingered for 48 balls for his 18 runs, Pocock for 91 minutes for 26 and Canning for 41 balls for the same score.Kyle Mills batted through the second half of the innings, for a total of 90 minutes, for Auckland’s top score of 31 but the progress of the Auckland batting effort was always more sluggish than sprightly.Mather finished his eight overs with 3-24 and Franklin, who bowled seven overs to take 1-19 at the top of the order, returned to claim another wicket for only two runs at the death.Wellington, in reply, were slightly shaken by the loss of Chris Nevin for 10 when they were 11 and Matthew Bell for 15 when they were 38, both out to soft dismissals. They needed an anchor for the innings and they found it in Richard Jones who batted 135 minutes for 62 – his best Cup score for the Firebirds – and was out three overs and five runs before the end.But Twose gave the innings the boost it needed in its middle stages when he blasted 45 from only 46 balls. His first six scoring shots were boundaries and he ended with a flourish, hitting Mark Haslam out of the ground for six before being caught and bowled, to the immense delight of the bowler, from the next ball.His innings included eight fours – to all parts of the ground – and that six for a total of 38 runs from boundaries. Seldom has a player made a more resounding announcement of his return to form.Spinner Haslam bowled his 10 overs and took 3-30, Chris Drum removed Bell and Nevin and had 2-26 but the Auckland bowlers always had too few runs to defend.

The selection of India’s squad for the first two Tests against South Africa has been postponed from March 9 to March 17. The selectors will now meet in Bangalore instead of Mumbai.Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, had requested a postponement for picking a squad for the Tests starting March 26, so that players could take part in the Deodhar Trophy scheduled between March 14 and 26. “The Deodhar Trophy is a significant tournament on the domestic calendar and would have lost its value if we had announced the Test team on Sunday,” Vengsarkar told Cricinfo. “We want those who returned immediately after the Test series in Australia to appear in this tournament. But those who stayed back for the CB one-day series deserve these 15 days of rest.”Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, and Wasim Jaffer are expected to turn out for their respective zones in the tournament that marks a close to the 2007-08 domestic season. Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ishant Sharma are among those who will get a break before the South Africa series.In an earlier interview, Vengsarkar had pointed out that it was with the amount of international cricket being played, it was difficult to get players in the national side to play domestic cricket.South Africa will arrive in Chennai on March 21 for three Tests, the first of which begins at the MA Chidambaram stadium on March 26. The next second and third Tests will be played in Ahmedabad and Kanpur between April 3-7 and 11-15.Meanwhile India’s Test specialists will have to undergo routine tests at the NCA over the next three days in accordance with a BCCI policy, which states that players who have been out of action must undergo periodic check-ups prior to all selections. Laxman, Jaffer, Ganguly, Dravid, VRV Singh, Pankaj Singh and Kumble haven’t been part of the side since the Adelaide Test in January and will need to go through fitness tests before their names are cleared for selection. They will undergo tests under Paul Chapman, the trainer at the NCA, Paul Close, the physiotherapist, and Dav Whatmore. The NCA will in turn forward the reports to the board on Saturday.

Left-arm orthodox spinner Sijomon Joseph took his maiden five-wicket haul to help Kerala notch up their second win of the season, a 131-run win against Rajasthan in Thumba.Rajasthan were set 343 to win after Sachin Baby’s counterattack – 30 off 16 balls – lifted Kerala’s score from 217 for 2 to 250 for 5 in less than five overs on the morning of the final day. Overnight batsman Jalaj Saxena was unbeaten on 105 when Kerala declared; Sanju Samson couldn’t add to his overnight score of 72, falling in the first over of the day.Rajasthan’s innings was plagued by recurring collapses. They had lost both openers withing seven balls of the start of their innings, before a 63-run stand between Robin Bist (70) and Rajesh Bishnoi (35) brought stability to the innings. But Joseph broke that stand and followed it up with the wicket of Ashok Menaria to reduce Rajasthan to 64 for 4 with more than 70 overs still to play. Nearly 40 of those overs were absorbed by the fifth-wicket pair of Bist and Mahipal Lomror (53) but the former’s wicket brought yet another collapse – they fell from 160 for 4 to 190 for 9. Deepak Chahar and Aniket Choudhary then attempted a final resistance, batting out 62 balls and bringing Rajasthan close to pulling off a draw. But Joseph trapped him in front in the 84th over to seize the win for Kerala.Jalaj, who made scores of 79 and 105* in the game, took two wickets in the second innings to also finish with a ten-wicket match-haul.Jharkhand walked away with a bonus-point win against Haryana in Ranchi, after chasing their 80-run target without losing any wickets.The win was set up by Shahbaz Nadeem, whose six-wicket haul inflicted a collapse on Haryana, who had begun the day on 141 for 4. Overnight batsmen Rajat Paliwal (93) and Rohit Sharma (71) added 107 runs on the final day before Nadeem dismissed the former, seven short of a 14th hundred. Haryana lost the rest of their wickets for the addition of only 48 runs and were bowled out for 296, having conceded a first-innings lead of 217.Jharkhand promoted wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan, who struck an unbeaten 46 off 45 balls and took them home in the company of Nazim Siddiqui (24*).

Match facts

Saturday April 19, 2008 Start time 15.00 local time (10.00 GMT)

The Big Picture

The series predictably stands at 4-0 with Bangladesh perched on the edge of another series whitewash. They showed stiff resistance in the third match in Lahore, nearly upsetting the home side in a high-scorer, and in Multan, showed the hunger to bat out the 50 overs after tottering at 109 for 8 in the 29th over. These performances, however, weren’t enough to keep the series alive. Shakib Al Hasan’s batting has been their biggest gain but he has lacked support from an inconsistent top order.The series may be already in the bag for Pakistan, but they need one more win to break their existing 18-year-old record of ten consecutive victories. The dead rubber will be witnessed by the President Pervez Musharraf, and that should be an added incentive for the home team, who said before the series they wouldn’t settle for anything less than a 5-0 sweep.

Form guide – Pakistan

Last five matches – WWWWWPlayer to watch: Salman Butt has topped the run charts among both teams with 315 at an average of 78.25 which makes him the obvious trump card for Pakistan. The bowling may not be of the highest quality, but to his credit Butt has made the most of it. He has scored at a strike rate of 92, and Bangladesh have struggled to keep him in check. His last three knocks, all above 50, have been the deciding factors in Pakistan’s dominance.

Form guide – Bangladesh

Last five matches – WLLLLPlayer to watch: Shakib Al Hasan has run into some excellent form of late: before his 75 in Lahore, he had registered four single-digit scores in his previous games. Not the quickest of scorers, unlike his more flaboytant peers at the top, Shakib took the attack to Pakistan with a 73-ball knock that night and gave his side some hope of pulling off an upset. His 108 in Multan showed his determination to push the score to some respectability, when many would have imagined an early finish to the innings at 109 for 8. With 187 runs in four games, Shakib tops the table for the highest run-getter for Bangladesh.

Team news

With the series already in the bag, Pakistan are likely to give an opportunity to Naumanullah, the 32-year-old batsman who has been prolific in the domestic circuit but hasn’t played an international game yet. Wahab Riaz, the left-arm fast bowler, will play instead of Sohail Khan. Bangladesh are likely to play the same team which lost in Multan.Pakistan (likely) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Kamran Akmal (wk), 3 Mohammad Yousuf, 4 Shoaib Malik (capt), 5 Younis Khan, 6 Misbah-ul-Haq, 7 Naumanullah, 8 Shahid Afridi, 9 Mohammad Asif, 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Umar Gul.Bangladesh (likely) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Junaid Siddique, 3 Aftab Ahmed, 4 Mohammad Ashraful (capt), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mashrafe Mortaza, 8 Farhad Reza, 9 Dhiman Ghosh (wk), 10 Syed Rasel, 11 Abdur Razzak.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch looks like a typical subcontinent track which should offer plenty of runs. The captain winning the toss will want to bat first and put the runs on the board.

Stats and trivia

Chris Morris gave South Africa one of their most memorable ODI victories in Johannesburg on Friday night but not even the man himself thinks it has secured him a place in a side packed with allrounders but still searching for middle-order muscle.”I’m trying my hardest to cement a spot in the team,” Morris said. “I wouldn’t say I’ve leapfrogged over anybody. There are still a couple of guys who should be given an opportunity if they put in the performances but I’ve put in a lot of work on my batting. Eventually it has to pay off and tonight it was my turn to show off that I am pushing for that allrounder spot.”As a seam-bowling allrounder, Morris’ direct competitor is David Wiese, who also played in the Wanderers match but had far less eye-catching returns. Wiese scored just 21 runs off 32 balls before reaching for a wide ball and spooning a catch to short cover after a similar bowling effort to Morris’. Wiese conceded 58 runs in his 10 overs while Morris cost South Africa 52 runs in nine overs and picked up an important wicket – that of Joe Root – at the death.Ultimately Morris believes they are not competing with the bat because his “main role is to bowl.” In that department, Morris thought he was “slightly under par” but admitted that “being a hitter at the end is a bit of an advantage”.In South Africa, it is more than a bit of a positive. The team have long looked for reliable finishers and have yet to find someone who can consistently deliver, although AB de Villiers mentioned someone else who he can now put faith in at the end.”Fudgie, look he’s a big match player, he always has been, especially at domestic level, he’s proved it time and time again,” de Villiers said, referring to Farhaan Behardien, who hit 38 off 42 and shared in a sixth-wicket stand of 48 with Wiese that ensured South Africa did not implode after JP Duminy’s dismissal. “He’s started to prove that now at international level over the last year or so, playing big knocks under pressure. Unfortunately he got out but he played his game to perfection and set it up nicely for guys like Chris to finish it off.”Behardien will welcome the support, especially after his bowling was not required and he received heaps of criticism on social media for not seeing the chase through.De Villiers’ backing of Behardien can also only mean that Duminy, who ran the captain out and was then dismissed by an Adil Rashid legbreak that smacked him on the pad, is under pressure for his place, especially as his contributions dwindle.Duminy’s bowling was cast aside two matches ago, when South Africa first called on an allrounder in the XI, but that has not helped his batting. He last scored an ODI fifty seven matches ago, in Bangladesh last June, and questions over how much longer South Africa can accommodate Duminy while keeping David Miller and Rilee Rossouw on the sidelines are starting to sprout.Unlike some of his team-mates, Duminy does not seem to embrace the do-or-die moment in the same way Morris did. “As a cricketer you live for those pressure situations,” Morris said. “I kind of enjoy being put under pressure because that’s where you get tested as a character and a cricketer.”Those are exactly the kind of words a captain like de Villiers wants to hear. “Knocks like that shape a player,” de Villiers said. “It’s massive for Chris what happened. The game and sport is about confidence and now he can find a way to get a bit of confidence and self-belief.”Not that Morris needed any more of an ego boost. Last Saturday, he sold for a million dollars in the IPL – over R16 million at the current exchange rate – but it seems he still has not realised what that says about his worth.Just as Morris did not think his match-winning efforts at the Wanderers will guarantee him a place in the national side, he does not think that his price tag says too much about his ability. “I don’t think anyone can justify going for that amount of money in the IPL,” Morris said. But after his performance on Friday, the Delhi Daredevils will be able to justify spending that amount.

Nathan Adcock’s South Australia career is hanging in the balance after the Redbacks did not give him a contract in their first round of offers. Shane Deitz, the wicketkeeper-batsman, also missed out, while the New South Wales players Greg Mail and Grant Lambert have declined a move to Adelaide.It is a remarkable fall for Adcock who started the 2007-08 season as captain. However his poor batting form – his first-class average for the campaign was 13.83 – first cost him the leadership and now a contract.”Obviously Nathan’s disappointed but he understands where we’re going,” the South Australia coach Mark Sorell said. “He’s taken it really well. His batting performance overall was down on what we expected. That doesn’t rule him out in the next round of negotiation and also even in performance down the track in club cricket.”Sorell will not rush to appoint next season’s captain, although he admitted he was keen on cementing Adcock’s replacement. “We need to get our squad sorted,” he said, “but come May 15 we will have our final list of offers and we will know where our squad is at.”The management has drawn on last year’s lessons when an 11th-hour appointment meant Adcock barely had time to settle after replacing Darren Lehmann. “I’d be quite keen to establish our leadership early,” Sorell said, “so everyone knows what we’re doing.”Graham Manou, who took over the Pura Cup leadership in February, is a strong contender but Sorell was offering no promises. “We’ve got some candidates for that position,” he said, while acknowledging that Manou was the stand-out contender from the current group.Adcock and Deitz could yet receive lifelines if they are handed second-round deals on May 15, and until then they also have the option of being picked up from the transfer pool by other states. Deitz made two fifties in 16 Pura Cup innings, with an average of 20.25, and appeared only once in the one-day competition.Instead of looking at local talent, the Redbacks picked four targets at New South Wales and were successful in picking up Aaron O’Brien and Tom Cooper as they attempt to bolster the state’s inconsistent batting. Sorell said O’Brien, who also offers left-arm orthodox bowling, was “an exciting player, a good all-round cricketer” and the 21-year-old Cooper was “a guy for the future”.Sorell plans to analyse the state’s recruitment and retention system after finding it “really disappointing” to miss out on some key batsmen in Mail and Lambert. Mail is studying to be an investment banker while Lambert’s decision was based on family reasons. “The downside of attacking those sorts of players is that they are more entrenched where they are,” Sorell said. “We had some hurdles there.”South Australia had previously made an unsuccessful bid for the opener Chris Rogers and were unable to secure their own No. 1 player Ryan Harris. Rogers ended up at Victoria while Harris will move to Queensland. The state will continue to look for new signings in the next few weeks.South Australia’s local contract holders Graham Manou, Mark Cosgrove, Daniel Cullen, Daniel Harris, Paul Rofe, Mark Cleary, Cullen Bailey, Callum Ferguson, Daniel Christian, Cameron Borgas, Peter George, Gary Putland.The imports Michael Klinger, Aaron O’Brien, Tom Cooper.The rookies Jake Brown, James Smith, Jason Donnelly, Jake Haberfield, Chadd Sayers, Andy Delmont.Players on the transfer list Nathan Adcock, Simon Roberts, Ken Skewes, Shane Deitz, Ben Cameron, Jason Borgas, Tom Plant.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:23