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Chris Martin, the New Zealand seamer, has expressed his desire to team up with Shane Bond and the new ball at the international level. Neither are together on New Zealand’s upcoming tour to Sri Lanka – Martin is in the Test side, Bond in the one-day squad – but Martin was keen to strengthen New Zealand’s fast-bowling attack by forging a healthy pairing domestically.Martin, 34, has returned to Canterbury for the 2009-10 season after spending the past four summers at Auckland and will share the new ball with Bond. “I think we can be a good partnership with the new ball,” Martin told the .”That’s because both of us know what we’re doing with the ball; our job is well-defined in our own mind and if you have two guys who are confident in what they’re doing they can put on more pressure.”While New Zealand’s selectors have often preferred contrasting bowling pairs, Martin hoped his similarities with Bond would not stop them sharing the new ball. “We both tend to swing it in at pace but Shane bowls a bit more full whereas I tend to whack it in shorter and look for more bounce, but we can complement each other because we both know what we’re doing with the ball,” he said. “And Shane’s a genuine wicket-taker so anyone at the other end should be giving him the opportunity to bowl at one guy for as long as he needs to and I can do that role.”It will be quite exciting to have him back and to have an opportunity to build on having two guys who should be at the top of their game and mentally be pretty relaxed about their job. And when Dan Vettori looks around the park to throw the ball to someone he will have more options.”According to Martin, in Bond’s absence – he had quit to join the unofficial Indian Cricket League – New Zealand’s bowling attack “has been steady without being world class but still gets the job done”.Martin and Bond have shared the new ball in only four Tests. While Martin will travel to Sri Lanka with the Test side, Bond will warm up for his international comeback by visiting India with New Zealand A in August.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided to allow those who were associated with the ICL to participate in domestic cricket. However, the players will have to see through a cooling-off period, which ends on December 31, before they can be eligible for national selection.The move follows the granting of amnesty to 14 ‘rebel’ cricketers on May 9 this year on condition they ended their contracts with the unauthorised league. Subsequently, the cricketers severed their ties with the ICL.The development took place in the immediate aftermath of the BCCI granting amnesty to 79 Indian players who had ended their association with the league.”The 14 cricketers who were under contract with the ICL formally applied to the BCB within the deadline seeking permission to return to domestic cricket,” a board statement said. “They also submitted the necessary documents to confirm that they have terminated their contract with the ICL.”As they have fulfilled the requirements to avail the amnesty the BCB therefore recognises that these players are eligible to participate in all forms of domestic cricket with effect from 16 June 2009.”The Bangladesh players who have returned to the official fold are: Aftab Ahmed, Alok Kapali, Dhiman Ghosh, Farhad Reza, Golam Mabud, Mahbubul Karim, Manjural Islam, Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad Sharif, Mosharraf Hossain, Nazimuddin, Shahriar Nafees and Tapash Baisya.

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan captain, believes his team is now mentally prepared to return to international cricket following the Lahore bus attack on March 3, but admitted that some apprehensions still remain, as shown by the recent decision to withdraw – along with Muttiah Muralitharan and manager Brendon Kuruppu – from a speaking engagement in Oxford due to security fears.”Returning to cricket is the sign of normalcy for us, getting back to our normal lives,” Sangakkara told Cricinfo. “The guys have moved on very well from Lahore. It is great to be back playing cricket and hope we can make a challenge in the World Twenty20. The side is really looking forward to doing well.”Sangakkara was one of the seven players injured in the attacks after terrorists fired and hurled grenades at the Sri Lankan team bus as it made its way to the Gadaffi Stadium on the third day of the second Test against Pakistan.The team had its first practice nets at Lord’s on Saturday afternoon and the players seemed happy to be back in action. “We remember the Lahore attack. There is a lot of emotion tied up with it, but we’ve got to move on,” Sangakkara said. “Life moves on, cricket goes on. The guys have realised that and they are prepared mentally now.”Even if Sangakkara was happy with the security arrangements put in place by the ICC for the event, the aftermath of Sri Lanka’s victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – which brought to an end to a 26-year-old civil war – has brought with it new concerns.Sangakkara said they had been alerted to the perceived security risks and players had been asked to keep the management informed of their movements. On Friday, he and Muralitharan were supposed to take part in a debate organised by the Oxford University Union but the visit was cancelled at the last minute as the organisers failed to put the required security arrangements in place.”Our movements are a bit restricted at the moment but the security people have allowed us to keep our focus on the game,” Sangakkara said.Asked what the mood was like before the team boarded the bus for the first time after Lahore, Sangakkara said it was full of optimism and the usual banter. “Getting back together, going on a bus you know sometimes you look around and you feel how vulnerable you are in the bus if anyone wants to do any harm. At the same time it is great to get back on it as a team and play your first major tournament after Lahore. That feeling of togetherness, being through tough situations, and playing the game we love brings us a lot closer together.”Cricketers love routines and are superstitious when it comes to matters such as sitting on a particular seat. The Sri Lankans are no different. “Everyone just fell into their places. Lots of players have seats they are really fond of: Sanath [Jayasuriya] always sits on the right three to four rows from the front and Mahela [Jayawardene] likes to sit at the back. So the guys are back in their usual positions. Life is back to normal.”Quite a few of the players, including Sangakkara, Muralitharan, Jayawardene, Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lasith Malinga and Farveez Maharoof played during the IPL in South Africa and are expected to carry the momentum into England. “We are trying to play on our unpredictability and our unorthodox make-up and hopefully be able to come up with the unexpected and surprising,” Sangakkara said.Unlike teams like India and Pakistan, who have landed relatively easy groups, Sri Lanka are paired with Australia and West Indies. Sangakkara is aware of the threat but is confident his team can make the second round as long as the batsmen can construct formidable scores for his in-form bowlers to defend.”We start off in a very tough group so we need to win at least one, if not both of our opening games,” he said. “We have got probably one of the best bowling attacks, but we’ve just got to make sure our batting complements that and gets totals we can defend. Guys like Jayasuriya, Dilshan and Mahela are in good form and can win games on their own, so it is going to be a good experience. It is also a good way to judge how far we need to go before becoming a force in Twenty20 cricket. We’ve got the depth in both bowling and batting.”Sangakkara has also put the onus on his young allrounders Maharoof and Angelo Mathews to perform and make an impact in the lower-middle order, which Sangakkara feels is the team’s Achilles heel. “Angelo Mathews and Farveez Maharoof will have to take that responsibility of making that difference,” he said. “We have lot more strengths than weaknesses.”

Match facts

May 1, 2009
Start time 16.30pm (14.30GMT)The choice of captain will be the dominating issue for Bangalore with Jacques Kallis the frontrunner for the position•AFP

Big Picture

Kings XI Punjab are running hot. They have won their last three games and are favourites against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Punjab lost a few big names like Brett Lee and Shaun Marsh ahead of the tournament but have brilliantly gelled together as a team. Even relatively unknown names like Yusuf Abdulla, who was drafted in to cover for the injured Jerome Taylor, have stood up to be counted.With spin increasingly proving to be effective on dry pitches, they will be relying heavily on Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar. Irfan Pathan has also hit a purple patch and VRV Singh turned in a frugal spell in the last game that he played. They have successfully defended two low scores in a row but will be hoping for a tall score if they bat first against Bangalore.Bangalore have been struggling after a bright start but gave themselves some breathing space with the win against Kolkata in the last game. They will have a new captain – Jacques Kallis is the the frontrunner – and while the bowling hasn’t been bad, the batting has let them down. Five first-ball dismissals and three second-ball dismissals – a rare occurrence in cricket – have meant the batting has never got going and they have been always trying to repair the faulty start. They went in with Shreevats Goswami as an opener in the last game and finally, found some momentum. Anil Kumble has been in top form and they have drafted in KP Appanna and Roelof van der Merwe to bolster the spin. Suffice to say, it won’t be a walkover for Punjab.

Form guide

Punjab: Pathan and Abdulla have worked wonderfully so far and have been successful in knocking down early wickets. Irfan does the job with the new ball while they have tended to use Abdulla, who has a good yorker at the death.Bangalore: Despite being out of action, Anil Kumble has been miserly as ever and the opposition batsmen have been trying to play out his quota of overs. van der Merwe had a good outing with the ball in the last game and though he is agricultural in his batting, he can turn in an innings that could make a difference.

Watch out for

Kumble v Yuvraj: Last time they faced, Yuvraj gave plenty of respect to Kumble, preferring to not to take any risks. Watch out for Kumble tempting Yuvraj with his googlies. Last time, the situation allowed Yuvraj to play out Kumble; tomorrow it might require him to take a few risks. The contest should be very interesting.

Team news

For Punjab, the management is considering bringing in Simon Katich for Ravi Bopara though Tom Moody added that Luke Pomersbach too is in contention. “Katich has been middling the ball really well but if we feel we need a bit of fire at the top, Luke can come in,” Moody said.Punjab: (probable) 1 Karan Goel, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Yuvraj Singh (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Irfan Pathan, 7 Taruwar Kohli, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Vikramjeet Malik, 10 Ramesh Powar, 11 Yusuf Abdulla.The choice of captain will be the dominating issue for Bangalore with Jacques Kallis the frontrunner for the position.Bangalore: (probable) 1 Sreevats Goswami, 2 Jacques Kallis (capt), 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Robin Uthappa, 5 Virat Kohli, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Roelof van der Merwe, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 R Vinay Kumar, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 KP Appanna

Head-to-head record

Punjab won by seven wickets in the last match at Durban, but it was a tight game and gave them their first win of the tournament. It came down to the final overs where Yuvraj Singh and Ravi Bopara showed immense maturity to select the bowlers to be attacked and executing their plan to a T. In 2008, Punjab were one of the teams to beat in the league phase while Bangalore were dismal right through the tournament. Punjab posted easy wins both the times they came up against Bangalore last season.

Afghanistan’s cricketing fairytale just keeping rolling along, and in front of hundreds of supporters they beat Nepal to reach the final of the ACC U-19 Elite Cup. To put the result into context, Nepal have won every staging of this tournament since 2000, and until yesterday’s loss to Hong Kong, had not lost an U-19 match in all that time.Nepal batted on winning the toss, but while the first two overs produced 23 runs, two wickets fell and thereafter the innings struggled for any momentum. Only Prithu Baskota looked to take the attack to the bowlers, hammering three sixes on his way to 81. Some late hitting helped Nepal to 186 for 8, with 73 coming off the last ten overs after they had been 113 for 6.Afghanistan also wobbled early on, and at 54 for 3 in the 16th over, Nepal appeared to be back on track. But Man of the Match Aimal Wafa (61*) and Asgher Hotak (478) came together at 84 for 4 and not only consolidated but also kept up with the required rate, adding an unbeaten 106 for the fifth wicket to see their side home.There was less drama in the other semi-final where Hong Kong beat Qatar by 23 runs, despite only making 161 themselves.

The 2009 season of the IPL could have been held in India had the tournament’s organisers listened to suggestions and not put pressure on the government, India’s home minister P Chidambaram has said. The Twenty20 tournament was shifted to South Africa after the Indian government said it could not guarantee adequate security because of a clash of dates with the country’s general elections.”We could have done it [held the tournament in India], but only if they [IPL officials] had reflected on the concerns of the police and not tried to pressurise the [state] chief ministers,” Chidambaram told the news channel CNN-IBN. “I am not letting out any secret by that. If they had only listened to the concerns of the police, this tournament could have been played in two parts. First the league part and then give a break for the critical three or four week period and then the knock-out part.””But they were trying to be too clever by putting the pressure on chief ministers and ultimately the police told the chief ministers that ‘sorry, we cannot provide security’.”However, the IPL organisers had said that it was not possible to play the tournament in two parts because of a clash with the World Twenty20 in England in June and a packed international schedule thereafter. The IPL was initially scheduled to be held in India between April 10 and May 24; it will now start in South Africa on April 18.

Scorecard

The pitch at Fitzherbert Park behaved in much the same way as the tracks used for the ODI series between India and New Zealand, playing host to a run-fest in which over 700 runs were scored. England Lions fought hard in pursuit of New Zealand A’s mammoth 373 for 6, but seamers Brendon Diamanti and Michael Mason took three wickets each to help the hosts win by 35 runs in the first unofficial ODI.England Lions were well within reach of their target after Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan – who has represented Ireland in 21 ODIs – added 129 for the fourth wicket. At 226 for 3 in the 37th over, a win still seemed possible but England Lions then lost three wickets for 45 in under five overs to let it slip. However, Essex allrounder Graham Napier led a late resurgence, bludgeoning 77 in just 41 balls, including nine fours and three sixes, to give New Zealand A a serious scare, but a double-strike by Diamanti triggered another collapse where four wickets were lost for 22, sealing a win for the home team.Opener Peter Ingram spearheaded New Zealand A’s innings with an aggressive 135 and was involved in a 97-run fourth-wicket stand with half-centurion Shanan Stewart to lay the foundation for a substantial score. Nathan McCullum, brother of Brendon, and Diamanti then dealt some lusty blows, adding 73 runs in just 26 balls to ensure their team’s eventual score was just about adequate for their bowlers to defend.The two teams played the second one-dayer at the same venue on March 16.

Ricky Ponting’s surprise recall to the Australian team was portrayed by his coach, Tim Nielsen, as a positive move, but the broader implications are less rosy.Ponting engaged in a rare act of public defiance last week when Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, decreed that he be rested from the second and third one-day internationals against New Zealand. Riding a three-game losing streak, and with team confidence eroding by the match, Ponting made clear his preference to play through the Chappell-Hadlee Series and postpone his scheduled break until the storm clouds had passed. Hilditch, though, won out and Ponting played no role in the six-wicket defeat at the MCG on Friday.That result took Australia’s losing skid to five games, and handed Daniel Vettori’s men an imposing 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. But Ponting has persuaded Hilditch that, with the series on the line, it was imperative he miss no further matches and be recalled immediately for Sunday’s third ODI in Sydney.The selectors’ prompt about-face will raise questions as to the wisdom of their move to rest Ponting at such a critical juncture of the season, even if their intentions were noble. The decision will also do little for the confidence of Michael Clarke, who had hoped to stamp his authority on the one-day team after a week in which his leadership qualities were called into question.Nielsen announced Ponting’s recall on Saturday and despite his best attempts to portray the move as an affirmative action, he could not completely gloss over the selectors’ muddled handling of the situation. “He was really keen to play and he made sure that everybody that is involved with the team understood that,” Nielsen said. “The biggest challenge we face at the moment is the amount of cricket we play.”The players always want to play for Australia, which is something we really encourage and look for them to do, but it’s difficult finding a break for them. You try and plan a break for players and you lose a couple of games and you’re under pressure because the scoreboard says you’re 2-0 down. Ricky understood the reasons for his rest. He knew he had played a lot of cricket.”The pressure is coming from all quarters at present. A depressing losing sequence, injuries to key personnel and damaging reports of a scuffle between Clarke and Simon Katich have placed the Australians in unfamiliar territory. The tension is even being felt at executive level – James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, spent much of Saturday speaking to an irate David Gyngell, the Channel Nine supremo, who was aghast that the Australians were considering not playing Ponting on Sunday, the first day of the television ratings season.There is no suggestion that Gyngell’s calls were the catalyst for Ponting’s recall, but they do indicate just how intense the situation within Australian cricket has become. Nielsen suggested as much when discussing the factors that led to Ponting rejoining the team.”We are obviously 2-0 down in the series and he was very keen to play even though we talked about, and worked out, a resting plan for him,” he said. “Obviously us being 2-0 down has forced the issue a little bit and, with his keenness to play, the selectors believe it’s the right move.”We feel as though we’re getting close. We’ve been involved in a couple of close tussles with New Zealand and I don’t feel in any way, shape or form that we’re playing anywhere near our best. With Ricky back around the group hopefully that will add that edge for us and get us over the line [on Sunday].”The Australians arrived in Sydney on Saturday aware that another defeat would not only cost them the series, but also guarantee them an inglorious place in cricket’s annals. Only once in the 38-year history of ODIs has Australia lost six matches in a row, and Ponting will be desperate to prevent his team from adding its name to the list.The inclusion of Ponting will bring starch to Australia’s top order, and can only help the team in its bid to keep the series alive. But the more pertinent point was why, with the Australian team in its most fragile state in years, was the captain benched against his wishes in the first place? At a time when Australia needs clear, strong leadership, the mixed signals from Hilditch’s panel are hardly reassuring.”Ricky has today made a strong appeal to be allowed to play given that this is a ‘decider’ game,” Hilditch said. “Given the circumstance, we have made an on-balance decision to support his request and we will continue to monitor his workload closely. It should be noted that selectors were pleased with Clarke’s leadership and batting form in Melbourne, where he was Man of the Match, but this decision will bolster our batting. We also understand Ricky’s desire to lead from the front.”

Daniel Vettori was disappointed Brad Haddin did not make an effort to prevent Neil Broom from leaving the field after the wicketkeeper dislodged the bails in a bowled dismissal in Perth. New Zealand went on to win the game on the last ball, but Broom’s exit came at a critical time, ending his 42-run partnership with Ross Taylor.Haddin’s gloves were in front of the stumps and knocked off the bails, with Michael Clarke’s delivery also appearing to head over the stumps. Neither umpire noticed Haddin’s movement, which should have led to a no-ball, but it was clear on the replay.”I think you saw from Haddin’s reaction that he knew something was wrong so he probably should have made more noise about it,” Vettori told NZPA after the win. “It is [disappointing] because I thought that was the partnership that was going to win the game, so it put us under a bit more pressure. We’ve just got to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”Haddin called Vettori’s response “poor” and “low”, but maintained the ball hit the stumps before his gloves. “I’m pretty disappointed in Dan that he didn’t have the decency to come and speak to me after the game if he had an issue with it rather than air his thoughts in a press conference,” Haddin told AAP. “I think the polite or the decent thing to do would be to come and ask me. He’s played a lot of cricket now and he knows too well what happens with these situations, so I thought it was a bit low. I think it’s quite poor.”He said he was unaware at the time that his hands were ahead of the wickets. “After looking at the replay, my hands were in front of the stumps,” he said. “But the ball, I’m 100% positive, hit the bails first and then came up into my gloves.” Under the Laws, a no-ball should be called if the wicketkeeper does not stay behind the stumps until the ball touches the batsman, passes the stumps, or a run is attempted.Ponting spoke before he had seen a replay but challenged Vettori to be sure of his Haddin criticism. “It’s a bit much, he’s basically claiming [Haddin’s] a cheat, isn’t he? That’s a bit strong unless they’re 100% certain.”We’ll wait and see. If [a replay] does show anything that Brad is in the clear, I’ll certainly be letting Daniel know about it. It’s probably worth Haddin having a chat to him as well. He’s basically had a bit of a crack at Haddin’s make-up.”Haddin told Ponting the ball had hit the top of off stump. “The umpire gave it out and the batsman walked off, and the next I heard of it was when I was asked about it at the end of play,” Ponting said. “[Haddin] obviously didn’t know, because if he knew then he wouldn’t have claimed it. Whatever we’re saying about Brad Haddin here, you can’t say that knowingly happened, that is for sure.”Ponting’s night grew worse when he was fined 20% of his match fee after being two overs behind the required rate. The rest of the team received 10% punishments. Australia get the chance to hit back in the second match of the Chappell-Hadlee Series in Melbourne on Friday.

The innings that won Virender Sehwag the Cricinfo Award for the best Test innings of 2008 has earned the highest endorsement from the man himself. Talking to Sanjay Manjrekar, a member of Cricinfo’s jury at the awards function yesterday, Sehwag termed his 201 not out against Sri Lanka at Galle as his best-ever Test innings, ahead of both his triple hundreds.”Both my triple centuries in Pakistan and Chennai came on good tracks and I could feel on both occasions that the opposition simply didn¹t have it in them to get me out,” Sehwag said, “but here wickets were falling regularly at the other end and I batted throughout the innings.”Sehwag¹s 201 came in a team score of 329 in an innings where only two other batsmen, Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman, got to double digits. Sehwag added 167 with Gambhir at nearly six runs an over and then watched four wickets go down for 11 runs. Sehwag said in jest that he was thankful to his team-mates for getting out so that he could become thesecond Indian opener to carry his bat through an innings. “After all, I am not Sunil Gavaskar, who could stay at the wicket for long periods.”Sehwag’s knock came in the backdrop of a carnage in the first Test in Colombo where India lost by and innings and 239 runs, surrendering wickets to the two spinners – debutant Ajantha Mendis and the old master Muttiah Muralitharan. At Galle, Sehwag scored 128 off the spinners, including 70 in 77 balls off Mendis.”I could pick the ball from Mendis’ hand,” Sehwag said. “I attacked him and created a little doubt in his mind. I hit the good balls for fours through covers and point. I was able to read his googly and top-spin.”I was never worried about Mendis. In the seven or eight innings I played against Sri Lanka, I got out to him only once.”Sehwag rated Murali, along with Glenn McGrath, as the most difficult bowler he had encountered. Watching him bat at Galle one could have hardly known though, as Sehwag kept on hitting against the turn through the off side. Sehwag had a delightfully candid answer about the way played he him. “I was not able to pick his doosra, so I treated every ball as a doosra and tried to hit it. But I found them to be off-spinners. It did not matter much as I was getting boundaries,” he said.”No matter who is the bowler, I always like to attack,” Sehwag said, “I don’t like to defend and hate to leave deliveries. That is nothing but waste of time.”Sehwag went on to score an aggressive 50 in the second innings and India won the Test by 170 runs.