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Leicestershire were on the verge of an impressive CricInfoChampionship victory at Cardiff as Glamorgan’s batsmen pressed theself-destruct button.The Welsh county were bowled out for a paltry 211 on a good SophiaGardens wicket and then, following on 377 behind, found themselves 15-2before heavy rain brought an early abandonment of the third day’s play.Only Robert Croft shone with the bat as the rest of the Glamorganbatting crumbled in their first innings with Phil DeFreitas recordingfigures of 6-65.Croft was dismissed for 89, an innings that came off 112 balls with 16boundaries.Glamorgan began day three on 52-1 but by lunch had been reduced to147-5, still needing 292 to avoid the follow-on.Replying to Leicestershire’s first innings of 588 was always going to bedifficult but Glamorgan’s batting this morning was little short ofirresponsible.Skipper Steve James flashed at a wide one from DeFreitas to be caughtbehind, Matthew Maynard was needlessly run out attempting a fourth runand Mike Powell clipped a Devon Malcolm leg stump half volley straightat mid-wicket.After lunch Croft and Adrian Dale gave Glamorgan some hope, putting on 71but the last four wickets then fell for just 30.Following on, James was out for the second time in the day. This timeonly surviving until the fourth ball of Devon Malcolm’s opening overbefore edging to first slip.And 0-1 became 6-2 three overs later when John Dakin forced Ian Thomasto glove behind.

Matt Doherty has thrown his name in the hat to become Antonio Conte’s first-choice right wing-back at Tottenham Hotspur after an emphatic display against Leeds United on Saturday afternoon.

Of course, some consideration needs to be made over the standard of opposition as the Yorkshiremen are the leakiest side in the Premier League but still, the manner of the Irishman’s performance makes him a much more appealing prospect than Emerson Royal.

Spurs thrashed the Whites 4-0 at Elland Road, thanks to goals from the 30-year-old defender, January signing Dejan Kulusevski, Harry Kane and Heung-min Son.

With one game in hand, it leaves the north Londoners on the cusp of breaching into the top five.

On top of finding the net – his first goal since arriving in a £15m deal from Wolves in August 2020 – the Jose Mourinho flop also provided an assist just five minutes after opening the scoring himself in the tenth minute.

As per SofaScore, the £10.8m-rated dynamo was also among the most influential players on the pitch, having registered 68 touches. From that possession, he made 40 accurate passes from 45 attempts (89%), delivered 100% of his crosses accurately and created two key chances.

Elsewhere, Doherty even registered three clearances, two interceptions, one block and won 100% of his aerial duels.

‘His best performance for the club,’ is how Evening Standard reporter Dan Kilpatrick described it in his post-match ratings column, where he graded him an 8/10, whilst The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke claimed there was “something utterly thrilling” about Doherty running in behind the defensive line.

The right wing-back position has long been problematic for Conte since he took over from Nuno Santo in November and that was evident in January as the Italian was thought to be keen on adding a new player in the role due to his doubts over Emerson, as per The Times.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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Adama Traore was targeted before his stunning move to Barcelona, so the 52-year-old has to work with what he’s already got until the summer, at the earliest.

Therefore, it’s easy to see why Doherty could be the answer for the remainder of the campaign. Just as Press Association reporter Jonathan Veal said on social media: “Matt Doherty’s performance has shown he should be the man to go with at RWB until the end of the season.”

AND in other news, Conte could unearth Tottenham’s next Skipp in 20 y/o terrier dubbed a “coach’s dream”…

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsCameron Delport blasted his third half-century of the season and also picked up three wickets•PSL

Cameron Delport slammed his third half-century of the season and picked up three crucial wickets, setting up a four-run win for Lahore Qalandars against Peshawar Zalmi in Sharjah. Chasing a stiff target of 165, Peshawar recovered from a top-order wobble through some big hitting from Dawid Malan, but the team did not have enough to get over the line. However, despite the defeat, other results in the tournament meant that Peshawar were through to the playoffs.Lahore, after being inserted, lost Chris Gayle for a first-ball duck, but Delport put up fifty-plus stands with Azhar Ali (25) and Umar Akmal to seize the advantage. Delport’s partnership with Akmal for the third wicket yielded 101 runs; Delport hit six fours and three sixes for his 78, while Akmal’s 31-ball 52 featured six fours. Their efforts ensured that Peshawar needed to chase at more than eight an over right from the off.Just as he had done in the previous game, Tamim Iqbal kept the runs flowing for Peshawar with a quick 30, but the team lost wickets in a cluster to soon fall to 95 for 4. Peshawar needed 70 runs from 46 balls at that time, but Malan blew new wind into his team’s chase by blasting a 35-ball 42 with three sixes. His blows brought the equation down to 18 off the last two overs, but Malan was trapped lbw by Kevon Cooper off the first ball in the penultimate over, tilting the contest back Lahore’s way. Peshawar needed 16 off the last over, and despite a six from Wahab Riaz, they could only muster 160 for 7. Cooper (3 for 25) and Delport (3 for 18) were the pick of the bowlers for Lahore.

Wasim Jaffer: a solid presence at the top of the order for Mumbai © Sidharth Monga

Of the 15 that made the Rest of India (ROI) squad last year, seven graduated to the Indian team over subsequent months and are still there or thereabouts. That should be the incentive for the Rest of India players in this year’s team as they kick off the domestic season in Rajkot tomorrow with the Irani Trophy match against Ranji champions Mumbai.The Irani Trophy is not as much a selection match as it is recognition of India’s second XI, if one may use the term. The second XI for this edition is a fine blend of performers from the previous domestic season and a few who have played for India in the past few months but now find themselves out. Experience and youth are both represented.Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Subramaniam Badrinath and Cheteshwar Pujara are four of the finest current young batsmen not in national colours. Pujara is still some way from national reckoning but for the other three it’s a battle to get into the Indian middle order. On current form Badrinath looks to be the front-runner, with a double-century for India A in an unofficial Test against South Africa A in Delhi and a Man-of-the-Match showing in the one completed 50-over game after that. Mohammad Kaif, who led India A against South Africa and on a twin-tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya, counts himself in the reckoning.Then there is Aakash Chopra, back in the fray after a prolonged absence, who will draw inspiration from the need for specialists at the top of the order on the tour of Australia later this year. The key for him will be to carry on the good form from the Kotla match against South Africa A, where he overcame three dropped catches on his way to an unbeaten double-hundred.Hard as it is for Parthiv Patel to break into the Indian team, he has done enough with the A team – more noticeably with the bat – to keep Dinesh Karthik, the second-choice wicketkeeper, on his toes. Starting with the tour of Zimbabwe, he has scored 591 runs in five innings, with four centuries, justifying his use up the batting order.The inconsistent Munaf Patel will be the main focus in the bowling department – his dodgy fitness levels have followed him throughout his career. For Ranadeb Bose, who toured Ireland and England but couldn’t force his way into the final XI, this is the start of another first-class season where he needs to perform consistently, as he did last time with 57 Ranji wickets.Pragyan Ojha, a left-arm spinner, and Amit Mishra, a legspinner, were too good for South Africa A in Delhi last month, but given a twinge of green on the Rajkot surface, only one of them might get a chance. Other options for bowling would be young pacers Ishant Sharma, who played one Test in Bangladesh, and Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh.For all of ROI’s strength, the Ranji champions have won the Irani Trophy 24 times, as opposed to ROI’s 18. A regular team definitely has an advantage over an assembled all stars’ XI. What would negate that to some extent is that the core of this ROI squad has been together from the start of the Zimbabwe tour in July.

Amol Muzumdar leads a youthful Mumbai side © Cricinfo Ltd

The Mumbai team, though, is on a roll after a young new-look side thumped Karachi Urban, the Pakistan domestic champions, in Karachi to lift the Mohammad Nissar Trophy. Of the five debutants involved in the Karachi clash, two, opener Ajinkya Rahane and Prashant Naik, scored centuries and two spinners, left-armer Iqbal Abdulla and offspinner Vikrant Yeligati, shared seven wickets between them.Is playing such a young team against such high-profile opposition a disadvantage? Captain Amol Muzumdar doesn’t think so. “This means they have not seen our youngsters, while we have always watched many of their players, Mohammad Kaif for example. They don’t know our strengths and weaknesses, while we know theirs,” he said after the Mumbai nets. “They have played Under-19 cricket for Mumbai and would know the intensity we play our cricket with. They have come up the ranks and have done hard to come up the ranks and have been doing consistently well in Mumbai’s local cricket.”Their side will be bolstered by the presence of Ajit Agarkar, who has been dropped from the Indian ODI side, and Wasim Jaffer. Youngsters Abhishek Nayar and Sahil Kukreja also showed good form in Pakistan. Ramesh Powar, who was dropped from the Indian squad, is also likely to join the side.Kaif also refused to write off Mumbai. “They won their 37th Ranji title last year and they won in Karachi too. Definitely they are a good side. But we have been doing well too. We have lost only one game [since the start of the Zimbabwe tour], that too a one-dayer to Sri Lanka A and are doing well. The only department we need to work at is catching. We didn’t take our chances in the one-dayer against South Africa.”The match will also see the debut of the video-review system for the umpires. Also present at the match will be an umpiring coach – VK Ramaswamy – who will serve the dual purpose: appraisal and guidance. While the video-setup will take care of the decision-making aspect of the umpires, the umpiring coach will appraise and guide them on the match management; communication and team work; professionalism; preparation; and fitness, diet and appearance.The Rajkot surface, where South Africa A almost chased 291 last week, wears a grassy look but the captains think it will help the pace bowlers only early on and aid spin later in the match.If Mumbai can bring their famous spunk then the stage is set for a clash between two teams that are on a high. ROI, on paper, are a stronger side, but Mumbai know what it takes to be champions.Squads:Rest of India (from): Cheteshwar Pujara, Aakash Chopra, Mohammad Kaif (captain), Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Parthiv Patel (wk), Arjun Yadav, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Randeb Bose, Amith Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Vijaykumar YomaheshMumbai (from): Wasim Jaffer, Sahil Kukreja, Ajinkya Rahane, Amol Muzumdar (capt), Prashant Naik, Hiken Shah, Abhishek Nayar, Omkar Gaurav (wk), Vinayak Mane, Ajit Agarkar, Aavishkar Salvi, Iqbal Abdulla, Vikrant Yeligati, Dhaval Kulkarni, Rajesh Verma

Shoaib continues to maintain he has done nothing wrong © Getty Images

Shoaib Akhtar has once again pleaded innocence in the doping scandal, saying one or a combination of the nutrition supplements he has been taking could have caused the Nandrolone levels to go up. He also argued that the supplements were not banned, hence his ban be overturned.Shoaib was banned for two years from all cricket on November 1 by a Pakistan Cricket Board tribunal after testing positive in an internal doping test conducted by the Pakistan team just before the Champions Trophy.”I maintain I have done nothing wrong,” Shoaib told . “Don’t stop me from playing cricket; my whole career is at stake.”He said he had told the tribunal that they should ban the supplements, which are available in the market before they ban him.Shoaib has lodged an appeal, which will be heard by a committee comprising of former judge Justice Fakhruddin Ibrahim, former Test player Haseeb Ahsan, and doping expert Dr Danish Zaheer.”The nutritional supplements like Promax-50 and Nitron-5 are not banned even in World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list and I don’t know if they have produced Nandrolone in my body,” Shoaib said. He said the doping expert Dr Abbas Rizvi had told the tribunal as much.Shoaib had undergone twin knee operations in February this year and had missed Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka and Test series in England due to recurrence of an ankle injury. “They should have considered my medical condition; I have gone through dozens of operations and have taken hundreds of medicines to heal up injuries. I am not a doctor and don’t know much about medicines.”There are certain herbal medicines that are not banned and I have been taking them. Greg Rusedski was cleared even though his levels of Nandrolone were higher than mine,” said Shoaib, who had been tested twice in the past. Rusedski, the British tennis player, had been cleared after testing positive for Nandrolone in 2004.Shoaib said there was very little awareness about doping in Pakistan cricket. He had attended just one doping seminar conducted by the PCB in 2002. “The seminar merely told us how to give urine samples, how to close the bottle carrying samples and it did not tell anything about what we have to take and what we can’t. Since 2002 a lot of new nutritional supplements have been introduced and are available in the market.”As for the allegation by a team official that Shoaib had slapped coach Bob Woolmer during Champions Trophy in India, the fast bowler said it was all rubbish. “I am already down with doping case. This is a rubbish and baseless story, I can never think of misbehaving with my elders and this is an attempt to gain cheap publicity,” he said.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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How they were out

Andrew Flintoff launched England’s fightback with his second five-wicket haul in Tests © Getty Images

A stunning England fightback, with Andrew Flintoff leading from the front, and bad light were the major players on the fourth day at The Oval. With another 56 overs lost England are edging near to regaining the Ashes, but just as no day this series has seemed complete without a contribution from Flintoff the same can be said of Shane Warne. Australia were given one final sliver of hope to cling to as Warne removed Andrew Strauss in his first overRicky Ponting had been forced to turn to his spinners early, but even with them operating England were offered the light on two occasions. Unsurprisingly Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan nearly jogged back to the pavilion on both times. The Australians did not make a great deal of fuss but were not enamoured by the decision. On the resumption after the first stoppage the players tried to make their point by all wearing sunglasses as they walked to the pitch.But that was a rare moment of humour in another seriously competitive day, the majority of which brought a thrilling bowling performance from England. Flintoff operated for the remaining duration of the Australia innings and his total spell, taken from yesterday evening, lasted 18 overs. It was a spell of sustained, hostile pace bowling which none of the Australia batsmen were comfortable at facing. After Flintoff took his fifth wicket Hoggard ran through the tail as England claimed a completely unexpected six-run lead.With the weather playing such a significant part in this match Australia were relieved when play started on time following torrential overnight thunderstorms. However, their progress suffered an early blow when Flintoff removed Damien Martyn in his second over. Flintoff charged in from the Pavilion End and cramped Martyn for room with a short ball, which looped out to square-leg for Paul Collingwood to hold onto the catch.

Shane Warne again dismissed Andrew Strauss to give Australia hope © Getty Images

When Vaughan opted for the new ball the umpires consulted about the light but, this time, the Australian batsmen opted to stay on rather than lose more precious time. That belated show of aggression was then followed by an attempt to push along the scoring rate as Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke started to play their shots.Clarke received a life when he edged a booming drive off Hoggard to Flintoff at second slip, who proved he was human after all by dropping the chance, which he attempted rather casually. However, Flintoff put that miss to the back of his mind and continued to charge in. Although Hayden appeared more comfortable against England’s other bowlers, his discomfort against Flintoff was clear as he refused to push forward.This ultimately cost him his wicket when Flintoff seamed a ball back into him which would have crashed into middle stump. Hayden knew his fate and was almost walking before the umpire raised his finger, as was Simon Katich two overs later. Katich received an almost carbon-copy ball, after a series of deliveries slanting across him, and this time replays showed leg-stump would not have been standing.Clarke, after his early life, was hanging on grimly, using all his efforts to try and see the ball amid the gloom and repeatedly played-and-missed at Hoggard’s probing outswing. Adam Gilchrist came out and played the only way he knows – by taking on the bowling, but his series has been characterised by rapid twenties. Flintoff’s line outside off stump has certainly troubled him, but so has Hoggard’s inswing. Gilchrist played across the line to what became the last ball before lunch – in a manner very similar to his second innings at Trent Bridge – to become the third lbw victim of the session.

Billy Bowden explains to Warne why the light was offered to England © Getty Images

The collapse continued after lunch when Hoggard also trapped Clarke in front – ensuring that another missed catch by Geraint Jones did not prove costly for England. Warne then top-edged a pull to Vaughan at mid-on and despite a juggle the catch was pouched as Flintoff gained worthy reward for another stunning display of aggression. Hoggard then took his cue to mop up the tail by dismissing Glenn McGrath for the first time this series and Brett Lee holed out at deep mid-wicket as he attempted to slog some late runs.Australia had lost eight wickets for 90 runs, but the celebrations from the crowd did not last long before Warne brought a dose of reality back to the day. With his fourth ball he forced Strauss to get an inside-edge to short-leg, dismissing the left-hander for the sixth time in the series.Vaughan played two flowing square cuts off McGrath, during a brief period when the light was good enough for the seamers, and only Warne caused many alarms. He spun a couple of deliveries past Vaughan’s edge while also finding considerable help from the footmarks. Warne is determined to finish his last Test in England on the winning side and although time is now against him he has the knack of pulling off the miraculous. England are now in the position of needing two sessions of batting to seal the Ashes and half those overs will be bowled by Warne.With this in mind, the cheer for the bad light was almost bigger than for any of Flintoff’s wickets on a day when the quirks of cricket were demonstrated to their fullest. A crowd who had paid considerable money to watch play were deliriously happy when they were watching nothing. Most of them want England to win the Ashes and they aren’t too bothered how they do it.

AustraliaDamien Martyn c Collingwood b Flintoff 10 (281 for 3)
Matthew Hayden lbw b Flintoff 138 (323 for 4)
Simon Katich lbw b Flintoff 1 (329 for 5)
Adam Gilchrist lbw b Hoggard 23 (356 for 6)
Full length, swinging back, would have hit leg stumpMichael Clarke lbw b Hoggard 25 (359 for 7)
Shane Warne c Vaughan b Flintoff 0 (363 for 8)
Glenn McGrath c Strauss b Hoggard 0 (363 for 9)
Brett Lee c Giles b Hoggard 6 (367 all out)
EnglandAndrew Strauss c Katich b Warne 1 (2 for 1)

Sri Lanka 713 for 3 dec beat Zimbabwe 228 and 231 (Taylor 61, Muralitharan 4-79) by an innings and 254 runs
ScorecardZimbabwe, hopelessly weakened by the loss of the 15 rebel players, on top of the 20-odd others who have walked out on Zimbabwean cricket in the last four years, went down fighting at Bulawayo, but they lost by a larger margin – an innings and 254 runs – than they had at Harare, which was already a record … and they only took three Sri Lankan wickets in the match. For an encore, they will face Australia in a Test match later in the week.Sri Lanka’s bowling was adequate but uninspired, with Muttiah Muralitharan still suffering with his bruised finger, but the batsmen applied themselves better than in the first innings. But, once Sri Lanka broke through, three wickets fell in quick succession, and from then on it was only a matter of time.Tatenda Taibu had clearly decided that his team would go down fighting. A rather loose opening over from Farveez Maharoof brought a wide and two twos to Brendan Taylor. Then Dion Ebrahim off-drove Chaminda Vaas for four and nudged him to the third-man boundary from successive balls.The strokes continued, although both batsmen got away with aerial strokes, intentional or otherwise, that evaded the fielders. Taylor reached his first Test half-century from 110 balls, impressing with front-foot drives through the covers and wide of mid-on. He battled through a quiet patch after reaching his fifty, but then on-drove two handsome boundaries off Sanath Jayasuriya. Earlier he had survived a difficult bat-pad chance off Murali, and a confident appeal for a catch behind off Jayasuriya which was turned down – an excellent decision by Rudi Koertzen.Taylor’s luck ran out on 61, though, as he was snapped up at bat-pad off Murali (125 for 3). His stand of 85 with Ebrahim was Zimbabwe’s highest of the series, by some way.Two balls later there was a similar appeal for bat-pad against Taibu, which Billy Bowden turned down. This time the umpire was probably wrong, but it was a very difficult one. In Murali’s next over, though, there was no doubt when Taibu, who still hadn’t scored, was snapped up at short leg (127 for 4).Alester Maregwede began by driving his second ball, a half-volley from Muralitharan, through extra cover for four, and then swung him over midwicket for another boundary. He lost Ebrahim, though, who flicked Jayasuriya round the corner but straight to Atapattu at leg slip, who made no mistake (143 for 5). Ebrahim had batted gallantly for 42 and was clearly sickened to be dismissed. He will have quite a while to reflect on his dismissal, as an unguarded comment about Murali’s bowling action has landed him with a one-Test ban.Maregwede still had his eye on Murali, hitting him for six with a spectacular slog-sweep, as if determined to go down with all guns blazing. His belligerence, coupled with the fighting spirit of Taylor and Ebrahim, made this one of the more watchable mornings of a forgettable series.After lunch there was a brief flurry of runs, but it was too frenetic to last. Three wickets fell at 173, two of them unfortunately borderline lbw decisions, Maregwede for 28 off 32 balls to Vaas, and Elton Chigumbura for 12 to Muralitharan.The final blaze, though, came from Tinashe Panyangara, who threw the bat with glorious abandon, driving powerfully straight and mowing through midwicket, to make the cricket interesting and enjoyable, even if hardly competitive. Finally Douglas Hondo, trying to get in on the act himself, skyed a sweep, leaving Panyangara with 40 not out from 45 balls, with six uncompromising fours.Sri Lanka finished their tour having won both Tests and all five one-dayers – and, given the quality of the opposition, it would have been a major shock if they had not. The new Zimbabwe team was totally crushed in statistics, though not in spirit, and they can at least take hope for the future in the promise shown by Taylor and Panyangara.

Gordon Greenidge’S dual role as a West Indies selector and a consultant with Bangladesh in preparation for the forthcoming World Cup is not viewed as a conflict of interest by the region’s governing body.If such additional duties, however, coincided with assignments for West Indies selectors, it could lead to a problem, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Wes Hall has pointed out.Greenidge, the illustrious former West Indies opening batsman, was recently appointed Bangladesh’s batting coach for a pre-World Cup tour of Namibia and was not expected back in the Caribbean for the beginning of the Carib Beer Series which starts today.Bangladesh Cricket Board cricket committee chairman Mahbub was quoted as saying Greenidge’s appointment as a consultant would run until today, but Hall’s information was that the former Barbados captain would be unavailable for the first three rounds of the Carib Beer Series."I do understand the great consternation it will cause in some circles in terms of conflicts of interests, but I would say that as soon as Gordon gets back, we will speak to him on the issue," Hall said."The board feels that when you employ a selector, he is employed from one match to another or from one tour to another. If a selector therefore had a job in between tours, we cannot in all honesty command that he stays here unless you had him in contract."Greenidge, arguably the finest opening batsman the West Indies has ever produced, served as Bangladesh coach at the 1999 World Cup and was largely responsible for the recent development of their cricket that eventually led to them gaining Test status.He was sacked, presumably for making comments that suggested they were not deserving of the status at the time.Employed by the Barbados Government in the last few years, Greenidge was appointed a West Indies selector last June and subsequently contracted by Bangladesh a few weeks ago on a short-term basis."If it happens during the time we are playing cricket … if it is not a conflict of interest, it is something that we do not think can be tolerated," Hall said."We have to talk to Gordon. We don’t really want to go and slam him behind his back."In the absence of Greenidge and chief selector Sir Vivian Richards, who will be sent to the World Cup, the WICB has asked two members of its junior selection panel, Clyde Butts and Ezra Moseley, to fill in as replacements to watch matches in the opening round of Carib Series matches.

Former Sri Lankan Test cricketer, Roshan Mahanama, blasted the Australianmedia for blowing the “Glen McGrath incident” out of proportion at thelaunch of his autobiography “Retired Hurt” yesterday at the BandaranaiakeMemorial International Conference Hall in Colombo.In his autobiography “Retired Hurt”, Mahanama criticizes the Australiancricketers for the amount of sledging they do during play and refers to aparticular incident where Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath calls SanathJayasuriya a “Black Monkey”.However, Mahanama feels this was yet another incident of that tour and hefeels that the Aussie media blew the incident out of proportion after hementioned it on his autobiography.”I went to Melbourne to launch the book peacefully. But the Australian mediawere there with lot of cameras and focused on the Glenn McGrath incident. It’s sad. This is just one line in the book, which has 235 pages. They havetaken this out of proportion and there were threats by McGrath to take legalaction,” said a disappointed Mahanama.McGrath denies calling Jayasuriya a “black monkey” while Mahanama sticks tohis allegation. On the person of Glenn McGrath he further says, “Glenn is agreat bowler. But that doesn’t allow him to say whatever he wants to theother players”He’s also critical of the then Australian skipper Mark Taylor and thepresent captain Steve Waugh, who suggested that Mahanama’s comments were apublicity stunt.”If I wanted publicity I would have gone with the story to a publisher muchearlier. This is just a remark in the book,” he said.On this particular incident, the former CEO of the Australian Cricket Board,Malcolm Speed had questioned Mahanama as to how he knew about the incidentsince he didn’t play in that particular game,”Even if I had played the match, I wouldn’t have been in the middle when theincident occurred,” points out Mahanama. ” After getting out Sanath came tothe dressing room and told us on Glenn’s remark. That’s how I came to knowabout it”To prove his point, at the book launch Mahanama played some video clips ofthe 1996 World Series where it’s seen McGrath standing in Jayasuriya’s waywhile the batsman was looking for a run. The video footage also showsMcGrath using foul language at the Sri Lankan opener. It also goes onto showthe umpire, Steve Randol pointing the incident to the Aussie captain MarkTaylor.The book, which was initially launched at Melbourne, Australia, was launchedin Sri Lanka yesterday with the Sinhalese and the English versions. Theminister of sports Lakshman Kiriella was the chief Guest at the occasion.Cricketers of Sri Lankan, Indian and New Zealand teams, Internationalcricket commentators, members of parliament, cricket administrators, pastcricketers, foreign ambassadors and lots of Mahanama’s fans and familymembers participated.The book starts from Sri Lanka’s World Cup victory and goes onto speaks ofhis reasons to quit the game. He also deals at length on Australian tour of1995-1996, calling it the “the most controversial tour in my career.”

ScorecardFile photo – Mithun Manhas continued his good form, ending day three unbeaten on 95•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Karaparambil Monish snatched a victory for Kerala as his five-wicket haul helped Kerala bowl out Saurashtra for 69 in their final-innings chase of 115. Monish claimed 5 for 46 as he ran through Saurashtra’s middle-order. Sandeep Warrier and Akshay Chandran supported him as they picked up two wickets apiece, giving away just 6 and 3 runs respectively.Saurashtra started the day at 16 for 1, requiring 99, but were soon reduced to 34 for 6 within the first 12 overs in the day. Saurya Sanandia and Jaydev Unadkat were the only players that crossed double-digit scores, providing Saurashtra with some lower-order resistance, with scores of 17 and 15 respectively.Monish’s 6 for 81 in the first innings, had him end the game with career-best match-haul of 11 for 127,
ScorecardThe run-feast at Jammu continued as Ian Dev Singh’s 115 and Mithun Manhas’ unbeaten 95 drove Jammu Kashmir to 325 for 5 on day three, in their reply to Goa’s 552 for 5 declare in the first innings.Ian Dev Singh shared a 100-run partnership with Pranav Gupta for the third wicket, reviving Jammu Kashmir from 9 for 2 to 109, before Gupta was bowled by Shadab Jakati. Mithun Manhas then combined with Ian Dev Singh to share a 156-run partnership, before Jakati once again broke a threatening partnership by having Ian Dev Singh caught behind.His captain, Parvez Rasool, soon followed as Jammu & Kashmir slumped to 300 for 5. No more wickets fell in the day with Manhas ending the day on a resilient 95.
ScorecardPacers Ravi Kiran and Chama Milind placed Hyderabad in a commanding position, as Tripura were asked to follow-on after being bowled out for 237 in response to the hosts’ mammoth 548 for 5. Both pacers picking up three wickets apieceArindam Das anchored Tripura’s innings, as they kept losing regular wickets, with a patient 73 before he was dismissed with the score at 158 for 7. Manisankar Murasingh’s lower-order 51 took Tripura past 200, before they eventually folded for 237.Tripura’s openers Virag Awate and Arindam Das ended the day at 25 for no-loss in their second innings.