India series a 'tough one' - Whatmore

With India and Pakistan set to face-off in a bilateral series for the first time in five years, Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore is excited. On the opening day of Pakistan's preparatory camp in Lahore, he said he is 'very keen to play the series' and take on the challenge of playing India in India.

"India v Pakistan in India is not going to be an easy one, particularly with the added interest of the neighbours playing each other [for the first time in a while]," Whatmore said at the Gaddafi Stadium. "But it's fantastic. I can tell you players from both sides respect each other, we are fellow professionals. We understand the pressures that exist but sadly there are a number other people who build it up as something different … But that's the way it is. We are very keen to play our neighbours and we are looking forward to it very much."

The series, which begins with a Twenty20 in Bangalore on December 25, will be the first bilateral series between the two sides since Pakistan toured India in late 2007. They have since met in multinational tournaments, but bilateral ties between the two were put on hold following the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. India had withdrawn from their planned tour of Pakistan in 2009 and, after the attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore that stalled international cricket in Pakistan, have not agreed to play a series at a neutral venue as has been the case with all Pakistan's 'home' series.

"It's a privilege to be involved in series like this," Whatmore said. "I've been involved in the odd match at ICC events and Asian Cricket Council events, but this will be first time we'll play more that two or three times in a small series.

"It will be an experience, particularly playing in India, where the fans are also very keen to come out and have a look and support their team."

Saeed Ajmal will be Pakistan's trump card, Whatmore said. "We will pick our group of bowlers depending on the conditions. You can't do that until you've had a look [at the conditions]. We feel we've enough boys in the group to satisfy the requirements of any conditions. But Saeed Ajmal will always remain a trump card for us, he will always remain a threat [for the opposition]."

Despite India's struggles during the ongoing England Test series, Whatmore refused to be complacent. "England are playing very well at the moment and India have a big job to square the series. But one Test series [results] doesn't necessarily mean that they are weak, we all know how good they have been over many years. I wouldn't read much into that."

Fifteen players of the 22 who will travel to India for the three Twenty20s and three ODIs attended the inaugural day of the camp; Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez and Misbah-ul-Haq were absent due to various reasons.

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MCC Royal Charter eases financial fears

MCC has been granted a Royal Charter, so easing the fears of its members that they could become liable should the club's redevelopment plans ever run into financial difficulties.

The charter, which comes into effect in July next year, is awarded by the Queen on the advice of the Privy Council and alters MCC's status from that of unincorporated association to become a body incorporated by royal charter.

Royal Charters are reserved for eminent professional bodies or charities with a proven record of achievement and which can show that they operate in the public interest.

MCC established a working party last year under the chairmanship of Peter Leaver, a London-based barrister, to consider the status and governance of the club. MCC's 18,000-strong membership overwhelmingly approved a recommendation to apply for a Royal Charter with 97.4% voting in favour at a special general meeting in June this year.

The club accordingly sent a petition to the Privy Council, together with a draft charter. It was considered and approved by The Queen at a meeting of the Privy Council on Wednesday.

Incorporation will enable MCC to hold assets - not least Lord's itself - in its own name, rather than through a custodian trustee. It will also remove any potential liability of individual members - as owners of the club - in the event of MCC finding itself in great financial difficulty.

Royal Charters are far from automatic - even for such an august body as MCC. The club has applied unsuccessfully twice before, in 1864 and 1929.

MCC's president, Mike Griffith, said: "After two previously unsuccessful attempts, it is a great honour to be incorporated by Royal Charter - and one of which the club is immensely proud. "MCC plays an important role in the promotion, protection and development of cricket - it is a private members' club with a very public responsibility. This charter means we can better protect our members' rights and assets, and strengthens our ability to work for the good of game in the UK and abroad."

At one time a Royal Charter was the sole means by which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means, such as forming a limited company, are normally used nowadays.

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Delhi target outright win with four quicks

As the winter in Delhi begins to bite, its Ranji Trophy team has decided it must do the same - with a bullet. With only two matches left and 11 miserable points from six matches, Delhi will attempt to bring all their powers of purpose down on Maharashtra from Saturday at the Roshanara Club in north Delhi. Those powers begin with the fortuitous occurrence of a home ground going into preparation lockdown for an international game against Pakistan. It is why Delhi must move groundstaff, supersopper, catering unit and everything else it needs to play yet another all-or-nothing match on the fastest wicket in the neighbourhood with the promise of a four-man pace attack and a 9:15 start time known usually for freezing fingers in Delhi's Decembers.

Even though the Kotla ODI between India and Pakistan is more than three weeks away, the logistical nightmare of moving from the Kotla to the private Roshanara Club, around 8 km away, will have to be undergone. The grumbling will be kept to the minimum if the move ends up being to Delhi's eventual advantage, even though Ashish Nehra, their most experienced of quick men, is not on the team roster and Parvinder Awana, their quickest and most successful, finds himself in the Indian dressing room.

Instead, said coach Vijay Dahiya, medium-pacer Vikas Tokas had been called into the 15. If he does indeed turn up in the XI, Tokas will make his debut for Delhi after having played two Ranji matches for Railways in 2010-11. He completes the quartet of Delhi quicks being promised to stomp all over the Roshanara Club alongside Pawan Suyal, Pradeep Sangwan and Sumit Narwal. Delhi may be tempted to play five bowlers, including left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra, according to Dahiya, given that they are trying to snatch two outright wins and sneak their way into the knock-outs.

Against them will be a batting line-up that has rattled up totals of 764, 315, 333 and 540 and has six centuries, including a triple, from their batsmen in five matches. Yet, Maharashtra do not have a single outright win. Against Tamil Nadu, they were all out for 88 in their second innings in Chennai and beaten by 104 runs. Eight points and many tall totals have come from four draws, from first-innings leads against Vidarbha and Haryana. They may have three group games still left as compared to Delhi's two, but at the tail-end of the Ranji Trophy, it is only strong and desperate opposition that lies in wait. First Delhi on what the day before the game looked like a green top, and then Baroda and Karnataka. In Group B, given Haryana's unpredictability, Maharashtra must do all they can to ensure they do not end up hitting the bottom of the points table.

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Hussey and Wade steer steady Australia

Lunch Australia 5 for 364 (Hussey 66*, Wade 31*) v Sri Lanka
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Michael Hussey continued his productive summer with a half-century that kept Australia on track for a very healthy first-innings total against Sri Lanka. In a session shortened by rain, the Australians added 65 to their overnight score and went to lunch on 5 for 364, with Hussey on 66 and Matthew Wade on 31, and the Sri Lankans had so far been unable to find the spark they needed in the field to fight their way back into the contest.

Their only success during the session was the early wicket of Michael Clarke, who added only four to his score in the morning before he was caught at slip. In the third over of the morning, Shaminda Eranga got one to nip away off the seam and Clarke, on 74, saw his edge snapped up by Kumar Sangakkara at first slip. That brought Wade to the crease to join Hussey, and by lunch their partnership had reached 60 runs.

The Sri Lankans had a chance to get rid of Wade on 20 when he pulled Chanaka Welegedara and the ball whizzed through the fingers of the substitute fielder Suraj Randiv at midwicket. The ball was flying but Randiv, typically a very reliable fielder, had a genuine chance to make the catch stick, but instead it raced away and became Wade's first boundary.

Wade was generally watchful in his first Test innings on the ground on which he grew up playing his club cricket, while Hussey was also careful. But both men accumulated enough runs to keep things from stagnating and Hussey's half-century came from his 114th delivery with a single to mid-off from Welegedara, in an over that cost the Sri Lankans ten runs.

It was Hussey's fourth fifty-plus score in his six Test innings this summer and by lunch he was in a position to push for what could become his fourth Test hundred this year, which would be a personal record. Hussey and Clarke had to wait 50 minutes beyond the scheduled start time before they could resume in the morning, due to wet weather.

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Eagles, Rhinos clinch easy wins

Mashonaland Eagles 182 for 2 (Matsikenyeri 77, Raza 46) beat Mountaineers 179 for 9 (S Masakadza 52*, H Masakadza 49) by eight wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A 102-run partnership between opener Stuart Matsikenyeri and No. 4 Sikandar Raza sealed Mashonaland Eagles' eight-wicket win over Mountaineers in Harare. This was after their collective bowling effort helped restrict Mountaineers to 179 for 9, an innings which featured a half-century from lower-order batsman Shingi Masakadza, and a near half-century (49) by his brother Hamilton. But besides the two knocks, Mountaineers couldn't offer much resistance to the bowling.

Their innings was full of small partnerships, but none progressed beyond 42 runs. The most productive stand, between Shingi Masakadza and Donald Tiripano was for the eighth wicket, after they were in trouble at 104 for 7. Towards the end of the innings, the last-wicket pair added 33 in 3.3 overs to boost their total. But that didn't prove to be a difficult one to chase, as Matsikenyeri, scoring 77, featured in productive partnerships with three other top-order batsmen to clinch victory in the 43rd over.

Mid West Rhinos 302 for 6 (Taylor 134, Sibanda 106, Musoko 3-67) beat Southern Rocks 113 (Masvaure 40, Nkala 5-35) by 189 runs
Scorecard

At the Kwekwe Sports Club, another one-sided contest took place. Centuries by opener Vusi Sibanda and Brendan Taylor, and an effective spell of 5 for 35 from seamer Mluleki Nkala ensured a comprehensive 189-run win for Mid West Rhinos over Southern Rocks. After being put in to bat, Sibanda and Taylor scored 204 runs together to lead their side to a strong 302 for 6, after which seamer Richard Muzhange, by taking early wickets, laid the base for fellow seamers Ed Rainsford and Nkala to ensure a clinical win.

Sibanda's knock of 106 contained nine boundaries and a six, but the more aggressive innings was played by captain Taylor, who scored 134 off 106 deliveries with the help of 15 boundaries. When their mammoth stand was broken in the 43rd over, their team was a strong 247 for 2. Towards the end there was slight stutter, but they managed to reach 300. In reply, only middle-order batsman Prince Masvaure resisted, with his knock of 40, as the seamers ran through the line-up.

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Shakib ties knot with US-based girl

Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan has married Umme Ahmed Shishir, a US-based software engineer, in Dhaka on Wednesday. The private ceremony was held at a five-star hotel where the couple completed their Akhd, the Islamic marriage formality.

The media wasn't allowed inside the hotel, and when the couple arrived to find photographers and cameramen trying to capture them, it resulted in a melee. It is the most talked about wedding in the country given Shakib's superstar status. Local newspapers have reported that the couple will host the traditional Bangladeshi ceremonies in March, but a date for it hasn't been made public.

The duo met in 2010 in United Kingdom, where Shakib was playing county cricket for Worcestershire. Shishir is a software engineer based in Minnesota, USA. She is originally from Narayanganj, a small town south of Dhaka.

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Sri Lanka seek first win in Australia

Match facts

December 14-18, Bellerive Oval
Start time 1030 (2330 GMT)

Big Picture

For Australian cricket fans, it will be difficult not to think that the main course has been served before the entrée. The battle with South Africa for the No.1 Test ranking has come and gone, all before the most popular part of Australia's international cricket season, the Christmas and New Year period. But as New Zealand showed with their victory in Hobart last summer, classic Test matches can pop up at any time, against any opponent, and now it is Sri Lanka's turn to attempt to produce the unexpected.

It is not that Sri Lanka are a weak Test team, far from it, but their record away from home is disappointing. Leaving aside Bangladesh, Sri Lanka have won only two away Tests in the past five years, and they are yet to win a Test in Australia. But they will take inspiration from their most recent Test in Hobart, when Kumar Sangakkara was driving Sri Lanka towards an incredible chase of 507 when he was wrongly given out caught off his shoulder. Had the DRS been around, it might well have become one of the greatest Test victories of all time.

Sangakkara is back, and along with Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan forms a formidable batting line-up. Sri Lanka's main issue is finding a way to take 20 wickets. But for all the talk of their less-than-threatening seam attack - Rodney Hogg said this week that ''Sri Lanka have the worst new ball attack that has landed on our shores ever" - Shaminda Eranga showed against the Australians on debut in Colombo last year that he is a bowler to watch out for, and he should enjoy the Australian conditions far more than those at home. Much will also depend on how Rangana Herath transfers his home form to the Australian pitches.

The Sri Lankan attack will be coming up against an evolving batting order. Australia's first Test in the post-Ponting era will also be their first with Phillip Hughes at No.3 and Shane Watson at No.4. It is an order they hope can take them through all of next year and a pair of Ashes series, but if there are any cracks in the plan or nerves amongst the batsmen, it is up to Sri Lanka to find them. Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey at Nos.5 and 6 could hardly be in finer touch, so it is all the more important that Sri Lanka don't let Australia's top order feast.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
Australia LDDWD
Sri Lanka LWDDW

In the spotlight

Phillip Hughes is only 24, but he has already had a number of incarnations in Australia's Test team. The previous one ended in Hobart last December, when he couldn't avoid edging to the cordon off Chris Martin, a recurring theme in that series against New Zealand. His return will come at the same venue, albeit batting at No.3 instead of opening, and facing one of Test cricket's less imposing seam attacks. All the more reason he must make use of this opportunity. Over the past year, Hughes has worked hard to improve his leg-side play and widen his scoring areas, but whether he can translate that to Test cricket is one of the big questions to be answered in this series.

Who is the leading Test wicket taker over the past 12 months? Graeme Swann? Vernon Philander? James Anderson? No, no and no. It's Rangana Herath, who since this time last year has collected 64 Test victims at 20.64. Although it is true that much of his success has come in home conditions - he took 20 wickets in the two recent Tests against New Zealand in Sri Lanka, and 12 against England in Galle - he will still be a challenging opponent for Australia's batsmen. In his newspaper column on Thursday, Michael Clarke wrote that Herath's accuracy and clever variations made him a difficult prospect, and in his first Test in Australia, in Hobart this week, Herath should take note of Shane Warne's oft-quoted advice: "If it seams, it spins".

Team news

Hughes has replaced Ponting in the side and will bat at No.3, with Shane Watson moving down to No.4. Australia's only real question was which bowler to leave out, and Michael Clarke announced on the day before the match that Mitchell Johnson would carry the drinks.

Australia 1 Ed Cowan, 2 David Warner, 3 Phillip Hughes, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Michael Clarke (capt), 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Nathan Lyon.

Dimuth Karunaratne has a strong chance of partnering Tillakaratne Dilshan at the top of the order, with Tharanga Paranavitana having struggled for his best form for some time now. Nuwan Kulasekara is expected to play after sitting out of the tour match in Canberra, where Shaminda Eranga was the best of the bowlers. They should be joined by Chanaka Welegedara, with Dhammika Prasad only an outside chance for inclusion.

Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Shaminda Eranga, 11 Chanaka Welegedara.

Pitch and conditions

There are showers forecast for the first four days of the game, which won't make conditions easy for the batsmen, especially on a Bellerive Oval surface that has been relaid this year and has resulted in some awfully seam-friendly conditions in Sheffield Shield matches. In the three games there this season, the totals in the first innings for the team batting first have been 112, 95 and 67. However, the curator Marcus Pamplin is confident that the Test won't suffer the same fate.

"With such a major restoration of over 70 cubic metres of soil of new black soil into the wicket table, the process of the clay to settle down will take time, but we believe we are in a far better position for a more consistent surface than at the start of the season," Pamplin said. "On the back of a good cricket pitch for the last Sheffield Shield game we think the Test pitch should play better and provide a good contest."

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have only beaten Australia once in a Test match, in Kandy in 1999. The only remaining player from either side who was part of that game is Mahela Jayawardene
• Sangakkara needs another 107 runs to reach 10,000 in Tests and become the 11th man to the milestone
• This will be Australia's first Test in Hobart without Ricky Ponting since 1995, when David Boon was the only Tasmanian in the side against Pakistan

Quotes

"None of us will be taking Sri Lanka's bowlers for granted even though they may be largely unknown in Australia. It was our batting which let us down during the last Test in Perth."
Michael Clarke

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Jayawardene to step down as captain after tour

Mahela Jaywardene has confirmed he will step down from the captaincy at the end of Sri Lanka's tour of Australia - a move he had hinted at for some months now. Jayawardene's second stint at the helm began in January, when he was called in to replace Tillakaratne Dilshan, and he committed to a 12-month tenure, which expires at the end of the current tour. The second Twenty20 at the MCG on January 28 will be his final match as captain.

Vice-captain Angelo Mathews is the most likely successor, and Jayawardene said his decision to step down was largely borne from a desire to assist Mathews with leadership in Mathews' first phase as captain. Jayawardene will continue to be available for selection in all forms of cricket.

More to follow

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Services maintain lead at top

Services 473 (Yashpal 166*, Chaterjee 103, Jakati 4-100) and 99 for 2 (Gupta 62*, Bandekar 1-7) drew with Goa 381 (Asnodkar 83, Shukla 78, Yashpal 4-12)
Scorecard

Services dismissed the last five Goa batsmen in time to take the points for first-innings lead in Porvorim and maintain their position at the top of the Group C table.

They broke the 119-run fourth-wicket partnership between Ravikant Shukla and Rohit Asnodkar in the first over of the day and then took the remaining four wickets for 60 runs. Continuing with his overnight score of 52, Asnodkar added another 31 which took the team total to 381 in reply to Services' 473. Right-arm medium bowler Yashpal Singh finished with figures of 4 for 12.

Services came out to bat for 39 overs in the second innings and were 99 for 2 when the match ended in a draw.

Assam 354 (Das 90, Sinha 53, Dhawan 4-60) drew with Himachal Pradesh 316 for 5 (Dhawan 114*, Bhalaik 57*, Mohammad 2-62)
Scorecard

Himachal Pradesh and Assam ended up sharing one point each after only 50 overs were possible on the last day of the Group C tie in Guwahati. Himachal started the day 158 behind Assam's first innings total, lost only one wicket and ended the day on 316 for 5, only 38 short of Assam's total. Amit Kumar was out in the 10th over of the day, but Rishi Dhawan and Aatish Bhalaik shared an unbeaten 143-run stand.

Allrounder Dhawan continued his good form scoring his third century of the season and taking his total to 460 runs. He earlier took four wickets in the match which made him the highest wicket-taker of the season so far with 32 wickets.

Jammu & Kashmir 215 (ID Singh 117*, Shahid 8-51) and 151 (Prasanth 5-16) beat Kerala 163 (Rassol 3-66, Mudhasir 3-15) and 129 (Rassol 5-43, Gupta 5-26) by 74 runs
Scorecard

Seventeen wickets fell on the third day at Malappuram and at the end of it Jammu & Kashmir had beaten Kerala by 74 runs. It was the first time J&K had won a second Ranji Trophy match in a season since 2000-01.

The day had begun with J&K on 68 for 3 in their second innings, leading by 120. They were dismissed for 151. Padmanabhan Prasanth took 5 for 16 in 14.4 overs, while KR Sreejith claimed 3 for 56.

Chasing a target of 204, Kerala had reached 44 for 0 before they began to collapse. They lost five wickets for 21 runs, and their last four wickets for 15. Apart from the openers, no one else got past 20 and Kerala were dismissed for 129. Parvez Rassol took 5 for 43 in 18 overs and Manik Gupta claimed 5 for 26 in 9.4

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Vinay bullish about reaching quarters

It took five games for a struggling Karnataka to get their first win of the season, but with only 11 points on the board their captain Vinay Kumar is bullish about making the quarter-finals, if they can make the most of their three remaining games. Playing in familiar surroundings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, Karnataka picked up six points from their victory over Delhi on Tuesday which meant they were no longer the bottom-placed team in Group B, jumping to sixth. With their next two games also at home (in Mysore and Hubli), Vinay felt two more wins would help them get a foot in the door in the quarter-finals.

"It was a good win and there were some positives to take from the game," Vinay said. "Now we've got 11 points. In the next three games, two are home games, one's away. Hopefully we'll get another two outright wins and make the quarter-finals."

The pitch had a crucial role to play. Karnataka were desperate for a result to arrest their slide, and a grassy pitch was prepared to encourage a win. It was a sort of pitch suited for the seamers to make a mark on the opening day, but Vinay took the gamble of batting first. You had to ask why a team struggling for runs through the season would throw its batsmen in the deep end at a crucial stage in the tournament.

From an armchair critic's perspective, it was a surprising decision but Karnataka saw things differently. It was a question of seeing off the new ball and waiting for the afternoon session to start piling on the runs. However, the decision was questioned on the opening day when Karnataka were bowled out for 192.

Their bowlers did a decent job to not allow Delhi run away with an imposing lead, keeping it to 66. Karnataka's openers, Robin Uthappa and KL Rahul got their heads together to build a stand of 140. Delhi hit back with quick wickets but the hosts' middle order ensured a more than handy lead, enough to ensure they couldn't lose.

If given a similar pitch, Vinay said he would still opt to bat. "It was a good wicket to bat on," he said. "In any wicket, the first one hour will be crucial. We lost three wickets in the first hour. So, if we get the same kind of wicket, we're definitely going to bat first."

The pitch had eased out for the batsmen on the fourth day, and with the Mithun Manhas-Rajat Bhatia duo standing in the way of Karnataka's plans of chasing a win, Vinay realised he had to try something different in the field to force mistakes. He continued to attack, and persisted with his seamers from both ends.

Manhas' untimely dismissal, caught off a top edge, gave Karnataka a big opening, but Vinay felt that Bhatia's wicket, caught brilliantly by Kunal Kapoor at silly point, turned the game.

"Till tea, we tried many things, but nothing happened," he said. "The catch that Kunal took was amazing. That's where the game turned. The fourth-day wicket was very good to bat on. We knew when the new ball was due, we would have a chance."

While Karnataka can toast their success, there's still plenty to be done if they are to be contenders for the quarter-finals. They need bigger contributions from their batsmen. So far, the team has only two centuries, both scored in a high-scoring draw in Chennai. In this game, both Uthappa and Stuart Binny were in sight of centuries but fell in the eighties.

Their performance against Delhi was a big improvement from their previous game against Odisha, where none of the batsmen passed fifty. Having made 475 in the second innings, Vinay acknowledged the improvement but felt it was time his frontline batsmen started converting their scores. He said the bowling attack had a more settled look, and wasn't in favour of going with four frontline seamers, given that the lone spinner KP Appanna was underused in this game.

"It (playing four seamers) means that one will be underbowled. If it's the three of us and Stuart (Binny), it'll be easier for us to rotate the bowlers. Appanna is also there, he got three crucial wickets in this game. So, we don't think four seamers is a good option."

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