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Mark Ramprakash has been awarded a testimonial by Surrey for his endeavours both on and off the pitch. The county usually rewards ten years’ service, but Ramprakash has made such an impact that he will be the beneficiary of the honour in only his seventh year with the club.This fact, coupled with his usual modesty, left him an astonished recipient. “It was a complete surprise,” he told Cricinfo. “I’m really, really chuffed and obviously really pleased.”But it was an award that was richly deserved after his prolific form, and tireless dedication to the club in marketing and PR matters. Even during the final stages of Strictly Come Dancing during December, he would regularly give up his own time to present awards for the club.Ramprakash is keenly aware of how players’ form can dip during a benefit or testimonial year – with the extra pressure of events – and has vowed to remain ever-professional. He says he will also use the experience of his benefit year at his former county Middlesex, when he organised a lot of events, to make sure he does not lose his on-pitch focus.”It’s not an easy balance,” he admits, “but it depends on the individual. The players want to make the most of the opportunity, but if you’re one of the main players, you’re still aware of the responsibilities. I will hopefully do some good functions, but not as many as in my benefit. I have to use the time wisely, and rely on my wife [Van] to be understanding. But hopefully I will have some fun with it, too.”I still have things I want to achieve. I’d still love to get to a final and win one. I haven’t given up on that. Success is still important. Personally, I’m aiming for the 100 hundreds. It would be a fantastic thing to achieve before I retire.”Ramprakash has reached 93 first-class centuries to date, and has every chance of succeeding in his latest personal goal, given that he has signed with the county until 2009, and could – like Graeme Hick who has recently extended his contract with Worcestershire at 41 – carry on and on. “Hick has done brilliantly. I’m not saying when I’m going to finish. I’m still enjoying my cricket.”Besides, he’s got no clear plan of what he will do after cricket, another reason he is thrilled with the testimonial. “These are very important years for cricketers, financially. I really don’t know what I will do next – I don’t really have a career; it’s not like I’ve studied.”Surrey have also announced that their head groundsman, Bill Gordon, will be awarded a benefit for his hard work in the last four years in the role at The Oval. Gordon is the three-times winner of the Groundsman of the Year award for both the four-day and one-day categories – and has also won the four-day category in 2004.He has been on the Surrey staff since 1964 and became Head Groundsman in 2003. He will retire at the end of the 2010, having completed 46 years of service to the club. “I am happy to receive this honour,” he said, “as it makes me feel very appreciated.”

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Saqib Ali, the United Arab Emirates captain, rattled up 195 to boost his team’s second-innings total to 306, but a target of 61 proved all too easy for Ireland on day four of their ICC Intercontinental Cup clash in Abu Dhabi.Ireland duly knocked off the required runs with nine wickets in hand to gain 20 points from this game, which put them at second place in the tournament’s points table.Saqib, resuming the final morning on 98, brought up his fourth first-class hundred without fuss. Along with Zahid Shah, batting at No. 9, he continued to delay the inevitable. The two added a further 100 to UAE’s overnight score of 186 for 7 before Greg Thompson, the legspinner, ended Zahid’s 166-ball vigil. Zahid’s 28 included four fours and a six, and he put on 159 runs for the eighth wicket with his captain.Saqib, meanwhile, stood head and shoulders above his team-mates. He scored nearly 64% of UAE’s total, moving past his previous first-class best of 142, but was cut agonisingly short of a maiden double-hundred. He fell to allrounder Alex Cusack, who took his fifth wicket of the match. Saqib’s 195, compiled off 358 deliveries and with 24 fours and four sixes, won him the Man-of-the-Match award.UAE batted out 62.2 overs on the fourth day, but Ireland’s first-innings lead of 246 meant they needed only 61 to complete the win. William Porterfield made an unbeaten 40 as the defending champions sealed victory in 14.2 overs for the loss of one wicket.Ireland now have 49 points and remain 17 behind Kenya, with one game in hand. Ireland’s next match is not until July 9, against Netherlands at a to-be-announced venue. UAE’s disappointing campaign will end with a match against Netherlands in Sharjah starting April 3.

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Bazid Khan seems to have taken a liking to the North West Frontier Province in Peshawar, he scored 170 in Federal Areas’ first innings on Saturday, and made another century on Sunday as his team followed on.Bazid’s second ton for the match – an even 100 – ensured Federal Areas avoided a defeat, after they fell 183 runs short of NWFP’s 573 in their first innings. Asked to follow on, Federal Areas were given a solid start by their openers Raheel Majeed and Afaq Raheem. The two added 53 before Waqar Ahmed snared them both in quick succession.The next three batsmen, however, consolidated on the foundation provided to bat their team to safety. Ashar Zaidi made 75 and put on 169 runs for the third wicket with Bazid. His 75 contained nine fours and two sixes and came off 143 deliveries, while Bazid took 164 for his 100, which included 13 boundaries.Yasir Shah, the legbreak bowler, dismissed the duo, but by then Federal Areas had wiped out the deficit. Sohail Tanvir helped himself to a 39-ball 50, as his team finished the day at 296 for 5.Earlier, resuming on 381 for 8 in their first innings, Federal Areas could add only nine runs. Nauman Habib ended with 4 for 76 for the innings, while Yasir scalped three.Despite earning no points from this game, Federal Areas are second in the table after Sind, three points ahead of NWFP in third.

The England selectors have named three replacements for the Lions tour of India with James Foster, Charlie Shreck and Steve Kirby being called up after injuries to the Worcestershire pair Steven Davies and Kabir Ali.Davies has been forced out with a knee injury, opening the door for Foster, while Ali has failed to recover from an ankle problem and the selectors have decided to add an additional name to the squad.Foster has been pushing for recognition after a string of impressive seasons for Essex. In his last four seasons he has scored 3457 runs at 43 with eight hundreds and David Graveney, the chairman of the selectors, said he had come into consideration when the tour parties were initially named.Foster’s trip to India, where the Lions will play in the Duleep Trophy, will be his first appearance at any England level since the 2002-03 Ashes tour where he filled in for the injured Alec Stewart for the fourth Test in Melbourne. Kirby and Shreck have yet to receive full international honours but enjoyed solid domestic seasons in 2007 with 41 and 47 wickets respectively.”Since the end of last season I’ve been heavily involved in my coaching company – James Foster Coaching – so I’d planned my winter around that,” Foster told essexcricket.org.uk. “Normally I would have started my training for the new season a bit earlier but with all my coaching I didn’t pick up a bat in anger until last Thursday.”Being involved with the England Lions puts players in the shop window for the full team so it’s good to be in there showing what I have to offer,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had some England recognition but I never gave up hope.”The ECB also confirmed that Andrew Flintoff won’t be joining the trip after earlier speculation that he may travel as a specialist batsman as he continues his recovery from ankle surgery. “He will continue his rehabilitation programme with Lancashire and it is anticipated that he will be available for their pre-season tours of India and Dubai,” said the ECB.Kirby and Foster will be joining the squad this week at their training camp in Loughborough. The Lions are due to fly to Mumbai on January 23 and Shreck will join them from New Zealand where he is currently playing for Wellington.”It was a surprise to get the call, to say the least,” said Shreck. “I hadn’t even been looking at the news to see when the Lions were touring, I was just concentrating on my cricket with Wellington.”Revised squad Michael Yardy (capt), Michael Carberry, Joe Denly, James Foster, James Hildreth, Ed Joyce, Steve Kirby, Graham Onions, Monty Panesar, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Alan Richardson, Charlie Shreck, Jonathan Trott

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Half-centuries from Billy Godleman and captain Tom Westley guided England to an eight-run D/L victory at Royal Selangor Club. England next take on the winner of Thursday’s Australia-Bangladesh clash in the fifth place play-off final.Sri Lanka, after being put in, got off to a disastrous start and were reduced to 10 for 2 in the fourth over. However, powered by an unbeaten 97 from Sachith Pathirana, who is currently the tournament’s leading run-scorer, they posted a competitive 241. Pathirana smashed five boundaries and two sixes in his 91-ball effort. There were also significant contributions from opener Lahiru Thirimanne (47) and captain Ashan Priyanjan (54).In reply, England’s openers put on a brisk 75 before Pathirana removed James Taylor for 30. Godleman (57) was the next to go, stumped off the bowling of offspinner Roshen Silva with the score on 106. Westley (58) and Sam Northeast were involved in a patient 90-run stand for the third wicket which left England needing 46 at a run-a-ball. However, with the score at 204 for 3 after 44.1 overs, the rains came down and England were adjudged winners by the D/L method.
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West Indies shot out Papua New Guinea for 89 and cruised to victory with six wickets and nearly 35 overs to spare. They now face Nepal on March 1 in the ninth place play-off final.PNG had a torrid time after opting to bat with none of their batsmen making more than 14. Even their measly total was achieved because of some wayward West Indies bowling, which conceded 27 extras, including 22 wides. They would have collapsed for even less if not for a 26-run ninth-wicket partnership, the largest of their innings. West Indies spinners Veerasammy Permaul, Steven Jacob and Sharmarh Brooks turned in impressive performances, giving away a mere 35 runs in 24 overs while sharing four wickets.Though West Indies lost four wickets – including three for one run – in chasing down the target, breezy knocks from Kieran Powell (37) and Adrian Barath (26) ensured the result was never in doubt. The lone bright spot for PNG was medium-pacer Loa Nou, who picked up the wickets of Powell and Barath in his three overs.

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Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir, who scored centuries, put up a much improved show for Delhi and prevented an innings defeat against Himachal Pradesh. Following on after being bowled out for 75 in the first innings, Delhi needed 268 to avoid an innings defeat, and Chopra and Gambhir ensured they did it quite easily.After Virender Sehwag got out for the addition of one run to his overnight 31, Chopra and Gambhir made Himachal wait another 66.5 overs for the next wicket. They added 230 for the second wicket, with Chopra ending the day on an unbeaten 146, while Gambhir scored 103. This is Chopra’s second century of the season to go with the 87 he scored against Mumbai; all three have come in the second innings.
ScorecardRamesh Powar and Ajit Agarkar, the bowlers dropped from the Indian side, came to Mumbai’s rescue with the bat with a 185-run seventh-wicket partnership after Mumbai were reduced to 197 for 6 in reply to Maharashtra’s 451. Maharashtra seemed certain to take the first-innings points, but Powar and Agarkar have brought Mumbai to within 61 of their total, with three wickets in hand.Agarkar missed his century by five runs, and was dismissed by Salil Agharkar with just 2.1 overs to go to stumps after a partnership which lasted 65 overs. Powar went on to get his hundred just before close of play, and was unbeaten on a 214-ball 102, an innings which included nine fours and three sixes.
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Praveen Gupta and Piyush Chawla spun Baroda out for 148 in the second innings to bring Uttar Pradesh back into contention at Lucknow. After the UP openers, RP Srivastava and Tanmay Srivastava, saw out 28 overs without the loss of any wickets, they ended the day needing 219 more on the final day.Baroda started the day 142 ahead with all their wickets in hand and didn’t lose a wicket for 22 more overs. But once Satyajit Parab fell with the score at 59, the combination of Gupta and Chawla turned the screw on them, as the rest of the wicket fell for the addition of just 89 runs. Gupta ended up with career-best figures of 5 for 35, his second five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Chawla took 4 for 49, while Mohammad Kaif chipped in with one.

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Arindam Das completed a patient century, Manoj Tiwary scored an aggressive one, and Laxmi Ratan Shukla scored a quickfire 74 to build a massive first-innings lead as Bengal pushed for an outright win against Punjab. At stumps on day three, Punjab had scored 64 for 1, still needing 208 runs to avoid an innings defeat.Earlier in the day, Das added only 10 his overnight 93, but Tiwary and Shukla continued from where the openers had left. Tiwary scored his second century in three matches, hitting 17 boundaries in his 183-ball 138. Shukla, the Bengal captain, shrugged off his poor batting form (one run in three innings so far) as he hit 11 fours and three sixes in his unbeaten 74 that came off 59 deliveries.
ScorecardCaptain Yere Goud’s century, scored in company in No. 11 NC Aiyappa, was not enough to save Karnataka from falling behind Rajasthan in the first innings. Starting the day at 118 for 3 in reply to Rajasthan’s 393, Karnataka were soon reduced to 208 for 9, as Shamsher Singh and Mohammad Aslam caused plenty of damage with the ball.But Goud and Aiyappa created hope for Karnataka in a hopeless situation, adding 121 runs for the last wicket. Goud farmed the strike as Aiyappa contributed only 24 to the partnership. Goud stayed unbeaten on 110, while Shamsher and Aslam took four wickets apiece.
ScorecardHyderabad took the last seven Orissa wickets for 50 runs, thus keeping the first-innings deficit down to 58, but lost five wickets themselves in scoring 143 runs before stumps. The fall of wickets gave Orissa hopes for an outright win, something they must have lost after their collapse earlier in the day.Pragyan Ojha took six wickets for Hyderabad, while Ashwin Yadav took four. Orissa would have been disappointed as they had started the day eight runs in the lead with seven wickets in hand. But they pulled it back in the second innings, taking wickets consistently.
ScorecardBecause of bad light, only 28 overs’ play was possible at the Chepauk, but R Ramkumar struck twice during that period to give Tamil Nadu hopes of at least taking the first-innings lead, as an outright result looks difficult with a significant amount of play lost due to the weather over the last two days.Ramkumar crucially took the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored 62 out of Saurashtra’s 120. He has scored three centuries in the previous three matches. Amarnath ended the day with figures of 3 for 31.

Shane Warne is considering applying for a German passport so he can play county cricket as a non-overseas player next year. Warne’s mother was born in Germany and he is planning to investigate the matter further during the English winter.If Warne was to follow the German route he would probably have to lose his Australian passport as dual citizenship is not allowed under German law. Next season counties will be allowed a single overseas player instead of two.”My Mum was German,” Warne told the . “She came over to Australia when she was, I think, four or five. With only one overseas [player] next year, it’s something we’re looking at.””I’ve sat down with Shane and had a long discussion with him and he went away from the meeting quite happy with the idea,” the Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove told the . “It is theoretically possible once Shane receives his German passport that we would then register him as a local, and not an import, allowing my county to recruit in effect a second overseas player.”He’s given me and my county board an undertaking that he will pursue the matter over the winter. But rest assured even when he gets it, you’ll never be able to take the Australian out of Shane Warne.”However, a spokesman for Warne told the : “It is a bit of a joke. Shane is very, very, very, happy as an Australian. In all seriousness, I have never had a conversation with him before about becoming a German.”

At the end of day two, Sourav Ganguly had said that South Africa’s collapse in the first innings, during which they lost nine wickets for 113 runs, boosted India’s confidence in the second. Perhaps he knew the bowlers had got the measure of the Green Park pitch, something Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captaining in his first Test, reiterated today after the dramatic win.”In the second innings, everybody knew what lengths to bowl, and from what spots they would get variable bounce,” Dhoni said, “The fast bowlers especially deserve a lot of credit in the second innings.”A major change from the first innings was that India opened with Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma, neither of whom gave anything away. They made sure there were no free runs on offer to let off the pressure that a 60-run deficit would have put on the South Africans. India applied what Dhoni termed as ‘mindgames’ with that lead in their bags, and delayed its erasing as much as possible, knowing the wickets would just be a matter of time if they could push South Africa into a shell. The approach was rewarded fully, as South Africa had lost four of their best batsmen by the time they were only 12 ahead. “Although this was the third day of the match, this was not a third-day pitch,” Dhoni said. “The way Harbhajan and Viru [Virender Sehwag] bowled, we knew it was going to be just a matter of time. There were no easy singles on offer, so we put a lot of pressure on them. We made sure they didn’t take a single and go off strike.”This is where the efforts of Ganguly and VVS Laxman provide a stark contrast to the South African batsmen, and also proved crucial in the final equation, as they controlled the innings, consciously looking to score more often than they usually would. “To play positively on this wicket is very important,” Dhoni said. “You can get out irrespective of whether you are playing your shots or not, the way it happened to Rahul Dravid. So you have to keep scoring on such tracks. It was very crucial the way Sourav batted on this track, and the 60-odd lead was very crucial, because it changes the whole mindset of the team that is batting next.”Almost all the bowling changes he made seemed to work. In the first innings, Piyush Chawla got wickets in his first over on two occasions. In the second, Sehwag got a wicket with his first ball and Ishant got two in the first over of his second spell. But Dhoni said it was easier to captain on this pitch, especially with the way the bowlers bowled.”Viru is much more than a part-timer on this kind of wicket. He continuously kept bowling the right areas, in the rough. It was a deliberate move, and we knew that with him and Yuvraj in the team we would not need an extra spinner.”He had a pretty difficult job of replacing Anil Kumble as captain, and also playing without Sachin Tendulkar and Kumble for the first time since the latter’s debut. “It’s pretty hard to replace a man like Kumble, and especially on such a wicket,” he said. “Had he been playing, I don’t think this would have lasted three days.”Well we did well, but it doesn’t mean we are better off without Sachin or Anil. Who is there to replace Sachin? Who is there to replace Kumble? It is better to have them in the side than not, but the credit goes to the boys who stood up in their absence.”It was also an extremely difficult match for Dhoni the keeper, and to his credit he did himself no shame during the last three days. “The wicket was turning square, and most of our spinners were bowling in the rough,” he said. “So you find yourself keeping to some balls that would spin and some that wouldn’t. I was quite happy with the way I kept, because some balls were kicking and some were keeping really low. The way our fast bowlers were bowling, it could hurt your fingers pretty badly. It was good fun though.”This series was part two of a potential rivalry that India had started in South Africa last year. India needed a tailor-made track to come back on level terms on a series that they were expected to win easily. Dhoni, though, agreed with the South African coach Mickey Arthur that there was nothing wrong in playing to your strengths. “If we go to Australia, we get bouncy tracks; when we go to England, we get swinging tracks. When you come to India, you expect turning and bouncing tracks, and that’s what this one was. It’s better to stick to the specialties of certain places.”India fighting South Africa on a greentop at Kingsmead should make for an equally gripping a battle, if India can fight as hard as South Africa did at Green Park.

Rahul Dravid has been sidelined for two to three weeks following a hair-line fracture to his right middle finger, an injury that forced him to retire on the morning of the final day in Adelaide. Dravid was struck on the glove by a Brett Lee bouncer and walked off after showing signs of discomfort.Dravid hasn’t been included in India’s one-day squad for the CB series and is expected to be fit for the home series against South Africa, starting in March. Dravid couldn’t grip his bat too well after the injury and, after receiving regular treatment from physio John Gloster, decided to leave the field in what will probably be his last appearance in Australia.He was taken for an X-ray soon after and spent the day using ice-cubes to heal the finger. A final report is awaited but he is unlikely to be ready for action before at least another couple of weeks.

Tier 1Naeem Islam struck his maiden double-hundred across formats in Rangpur Division‘s draw against Dhaka Division in Khulna. He amassed 216 out of Rangpur’s first-innings total of 560 for 8 (declared) which also included centuries from Suhrawadi Shuvo and Ariful Haque.Naeem struck 23 fours and five sixes in his 349-ball innings that lasted eight-and-a-half hours. His 266-run fourth-wicket stand with Shuvo took Rangpur past 300, before he added another 183 runs for the sixth wicket with Ariful.Rangpur batted till 3pm on the second day, with Shuvagata Hom returning the best figures – 3 for 125 – among the opposition bowlers. In reply, Minhaz Khan, Raqibul Hasan and Shuvagata made fifties, but could not convert their knocks into bigger scores. Dhaka were bowled out for 321 as Abdur Rahman bagged a four-for with his left-arm spin.Asked to follow-on, Dhaka batted out 49 overs on the final day, crawling to 85 for the loss of Rony Talukdar. Opener Abdul Majid made a patient and unbeaten 52, having batted for more than three hours.Barisal fought hard to draw against defending champions Khulna despite being asked to follow-on in Rajshahi.Having elected to bat first, Khulna declared on 511 for 8 after Robiul Islam Robi and Ziaur Rahman made 114 and 152 respectively. Robi struck 17 fours while Ziaur blasted six sixes and 11 fours in his 222-ball knock. Barisal offspinner Sohag Gazi finished with figures of 4 for 148.Three-wicket hauls from Nahidul Islam and Abdur Razzak helped Khulna skittle Barisal out for 296 runs in 92 overs, despite half-centuries from Salman Hossain, Moin Khan and Gazi.Following-on, Barisal scored 296 again, but this time at the expense of only five wickets while playing out 110 overs. Captain Fazle Mahmud’s 107 anchored the innings, with fifties from Rafsan Al Mahmud and Gazi, whose unbeaten 68 saved Barisal from defeat as the ten Khulna bowlers used could only dismiss five batsmen.Tier 2Delwar Hossain’s all-round show – a match haul of 9 for 92 coupled with a half-century – and a second successive century from Mizanur Rahman powered Rajshahi to an innings and 13-run win over Chittagong in Bogra. With Sylhet defeating Dhaka Metropolis in the other Tier-2 game in this round, Rajshahi confirmed their promotion to next season’s Tier 1.Trailing by 143 after the first innings, Chittagong were shot out for 130 in 41.4 overs with Sadiqur Rahman’s 48 being the only substantial contribution. Delwar’s 6 for 23 – his career-best figures – helped him become the first quick bowler in this season’s National Cricket League to grab more than five wickets in an innings. Delwar’s charge with the ball was abetted by Farhad Reza, who coupled his first-innings four-for with two in the second.Put in to bat, Chittagong scored 260 in the first innings on the back of a 128-run fifth-wicket stand between Saeed Sarkar (70) and Sazzadul Haque (95). Rajshahi replied with 403 courtesy Mizanur’s 102, which included 13 fours and two sixes. Having hammered 143 in his side’s previous game against Sylhet, Mizanur added 153 for the third wicket with nightwatchman Delwar, who scored his second first-class half-century (62). Later, the wicketkeeper-batsman Hamidul Islam (73*) added important runs in the lower order and strung an 88-run ninth-wicket stand with Saqlain Sajib.A five-for in each innings from Sylhet‘s Enamul Haque Jnr handed Dhaka Metropolis a 190-run drubbing in Chittagong. In what was his seventh 10-for in his career, Enamul earned the distinction of becoming the first bowler to bag a 10-wicket match haul since the 2015-16 season.Sylhet put together 319 after electing to bat, with captain Imtiaz Hossain making 132 in nearly five hours, peppering 17 fours during his innings. Shykat Ali, Nihaduzzaman and Sharifullah took three wickets each for Dhaka Metroplis.Dhaka Metro were bowled out for 259 in 77.4 overs with captain Marshall Ayub scoring 98 off 149 balls as no other batsman crossed 40. Enamul took 5 for 96 from the 34 overs he bowled.Headlined by half-centuries from Shanaj Ahmed, Shahanur Rahman and Abu Jayed, Sylhet added 263 runs to their 60-run first-innings lead. Nihaduzzaman took four wickets and Elias Sunny picked up three wickets.After Sylhet declared on the final day to set a target of 324, Dhaka Metro lasted just 49.2 overs, as Enamul ran through the line-up with 5 for 63, skittling the opposition for only 133 runs.