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Two Sri Lankan club cricketers were nabbed at London’s Heathrow airport by officers of the anti-terrorist branch when they were about to board a Sri Lankan Airlines flight to Colombo.The incident which took place on Wednesday saw one of the cricketers, Manoj Hettiarachchi, being remanded and the other, Bathisha de Silva, escaping any punishment. They were playing league cricket for Sudbury CC in Harrow.According to sources, the officers of the anti-terrorist branch had acted on a tip-off. They had been on the trail of some Sri Lankans in the UK and one of them was Batisha de Silva, whom they suspected of being involved in terrorist activities.When the cricketers were nabbed at the airport and searched by Special Branch officers, they found 22 cloned credit cards and four cheques to the tune of £20,000 on Hettiarachchi.Both men were interviewed last Thursday by Detective Sgt Fahey at Heathrow Police station. During the interview, Hettiarachchi had said that De Silva had handed the credit cards to him before arriving at the airport, saying that his wallet was full.Hettiarachchi had then asked De Silva whether it was alright to carry so many cards, and the reply he got was that he too had similar cards in his pocket and that he was scared because a few days earlier he had been assaulted by some criminals whom he had been associated with. Hettiarachchi had also told the Heathrow detectives that he was carrying the three signed cheques drawn from three separate English banks, for a friend in Sri Lanka. De Silva when questioned had denied any knowledge about the cards which he had handed over to Hettiarachchi.According to sources, Hettiarachchi was under obligation to carry the cards and cheques because it was De Silva who had secured a position for him at the club, and also found him accommodation in the UK.At the end of the interview, De Silva was released because no evidence could be found on him, but Hettiarachchi was charged with the offence of handling stolen property and intention of supplying the same. He was produced at Uxbridge Magistrate Court on Friday and remanded for trial, which is expected to take at least another two months.However, though the Special Branch Officers could not pin anything on De Silva, they believe that he is behind the fraud, and suspect him to be involved in terrorist activities – the cards they say are used for funds.Alan Wahab, Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) UK committee representative, who is also an employee of Scotland Yard, assisted the Heathrow police at the interview.De Silva (27) plays for Tamil Union in the Premier division I competition. A right-hand batsman and an off-break bowler, he has been playing first-class cricket since 1995-96 and has previously played for Bloomfield, BRC and Antonian SC. He was also a Sri Lanka `A’ cricketer.Hettiarachchi (25) plays for BRC in the Premier division I tournament. A right-hand bat and wicket-keeper, he made his first-class debut for BRC in 1998-99.

Ajit Agarkar is relishing his return to Ranji cricket. After claiming a five-for on Friday, the mercurial all-rounder hit a half-century on Saturday as Mumbai gained a stranglehold on their five-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group semi-final against hosts Baroda. When play ended on the second day, Baroda, who had conceded a 260-run first-innings lead, were in dire straits at 16/1 in their second essay.Mumbai, who resumed on 138/3, lost overnight not out batsman Nishit Shetty early. He made 74. But with Bhavin Thakkar (77) and Ajit Agarkar (65) following in Shetty’s footsteps, the powerful Mumbai team were not to be denied a massive lead. By the time the last wicket fell with Mumbai’s score reading 360 all out, the outcome of the match had almost certainly been sealed. For Baroda, Zaheer Khan toiled gamely, claiming five wickets. Tushar Arothe, who claimed three wickets with his intelligent spell of spin bowling, was the other successful bowler on the day.When Baroda, who have made it to the Ranji finals in the last two seasons, began their second innings, they desperately needed an exceptional start if they were to mount an almost-impossible fightback. But the loss of the experienced opener Connor Williams put paid to those aspirations. At 16/1, they would now be looking to avoid the ignominy of an innings defeat.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Apr.9, WICB: Devon Smith is set to make his Test debut for West Indies after he was named in the final 11 for the first Cable & Wireless Test Match against Australia, starting at Bourda Oval on Thursday here.The 21-year-old left-handed opening batsman blessed with an array of strokes has gained his place following two seasons of heavy scoring in the West Indies first-class domestic competition.He becomes the third player from the Spice Isle of Grenada to play Test cricket for the West Indies.Final West Indies 11: Brian Lara (captain), Wavell Hinds, Devon Smith, Daren Ganga, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs, Vasbert Drakes, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Jermaine Lawson; Reserves: Carlton Baugh Jr, Dave Bernard Jr

Fresh from their whitewash of the truncated Test rubber, Pakistan take on the much-harried West Indies in the first of a series of three one-dayers here today. Regardless of the misery in which their opponents find themselves, Pakistan are unlikely to show mercy.To make matters worse for the West Indies, Wasim Akram is making a comeback after a lay-off to recover from a hamstring strain to add to the firepower, depth and variety of Pakistan’s vaunted bowling attack. So does young off-spinner Shoaib Malik, the duo replacing Mohammad Sami and Danish Kaneria, both of whom have returned home.For his part, Akram looks lean and hungry, at the venue which found him rejuvenated enough last October to convince all doubters that he could last up to the 2003 World Cup. To further egg him on, he is tantalizingly close to the 450-wicket mark in one-day internationals. Already ahead of the competition by a distance, he needs only four wickets to go past that milestone."I’ve missed quite a bit of cricket, and I am eager to make up for that by taking a few wickets here", said Akram, who was welcomed by the team the other evening as everybody huddled together for a meeting at the stadium before going for practice. They repeated the proceedure on the eve of the match, doing fielding exercises under the lights as well.That Pakistan are unlikely to let up in their resolve of a total whitewash of this series goes without saying. Coach Mudassar Nazar’s statement echoed similar sentiments: “The one-dayers are going to be a different ball game altogether. Since the Windies would be aiming to redeem themselves, we might have a fight at our hands. We at the same time have no intention of resting on our laurels. We intend to improve further – there are so many areas in which I still want the team to do better.”He mentioned fielding as one area where he wants a more disciplined performance by his charges.Fielding is also giving nightmares to Carl Hooper, whose side floored a mind-boggling 17 opportunities in the field – lapses which cost them dear as the Pakistani batsmen capitalized. If the West Indies can’t put up a better show in the field, the Pakistanis will not really be extended in this most happy of hunting grounds for them.The West Indies, badly missing Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and now Marlon Samuels, who last week underwent arthroscopic surgery on his injured left knee, have made only one change in the team which was beaten by 170 and then 244 runs in the two Test matches. All-rounder Runako Martin, a three-dimensional player who bats right handed, bowls at a brisk pace and is a good fielder, replaces Samuels in the squad.Though both sides are level in overs-limited cricket here, winning an equal number of games out of 16, the Pakistanis are the form team and keen to improve this record in their favour. But regardless of their woes in the longer version of the game, the West Indies too are reckoned to be a better one-day outfit. After their recent drubbing at the hands of Sri Lanka, they recovered enough to feature in the three-nation final there, and, as Hooper reminded everyone in a briefing here on Wednesday, the match was a proper contest even though they lost."They would be doing us a favour if they [the Pakistanis] underestimate us," said Hooper. While sounding confident of prevailing over his rivals, Waqar too conceded that the Caribbean strokemakers can be a different proposition in the shorter version of the game.But the Pakistanis are not willing to release their stranglehold on the opposition, and if the West Indies succeed in upsetting their best-laid plans, it would indeed be a surprise.

JOHANNESBURG – The 2007 Cricket World Cup could be a billion-dollar industry for the Caribbean.So says Chris Dehring, head of Windies World Cup 2007, the company formed by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to plan and manage the tournament.He said he was expecting the next tournament to inject US$500 million into the economies of the Caribbean countries."Having seen the contribution of the 2003 World Cup to South Africa, I’m confident of US$500 million being injected into the Caribbean when we host the tournament," Dehring said yesterday.He is heading a delegation of West Indies cricket and government officials to observe the organisation and conduct of the World Cup in South Africa.The scale and organisation of the tournament was impressive, said Dehring, who promised the West Indies would deliver an improved version."The World Cup has brought tremendous tourism and economic drive to South Africa and we’re hoping to replicate the success in the West Indies."This has been the best World Cup ever, and it will remain so until 2007 when we’ll raise the bar further."He said the geography of the West Indies posed challenges but would "add a distinct West Indies flavour to the cricket World Cup".The backing of Caricom governments was essential for the successful conduct of the World Cup."The Caricom officials know, we know and the world knows that the World Cup cannot be staged without their assistance," he said."South Africa has been able to create an atmosphere where everyone got involved in the World Cup. We’re taking back ideas to be adapted to the West Indies scenario. We’ll bring the West Indies pride into the World Cup’s organisation."

Chaminda Vaas may have achieved his best bowling figures in his Test career against the West Indies at the SSC grounds on Monday, but coach Dav Whatmore for one believes that we haven’t seen the best yet.”Performances like that don’t happen by accident. We haven’t seen the best of him yet,” said Whatmore after Vaas had demolished the West Indies batting by ending up with the second best bowling figures by a Sri Lankan in Test cricket with 14 wickets for 191.”I think Vaas had the ability all along, but it is only slowly coming out now. He does a lot of work which a lot of people don’t see; in the weights room, on the running track, and the nets, where he rarely takes the new ball. He always works with the old ball.”To me, there is always some sort of purpose for his training in any of those areas. The results are what we all see at the moment. Results come from hard work and not by magic. A few years ago Chaminda wasn’t as focused from time to time at training, but clearly you can see that every-time we have a session, that there is always something that he needs to achieve. In doing so, he’s built up a lot of hard work and lot of effort mentally as well,” said Whatmore.”When I began the Test series, my one priority was to give as much support to our no.1 bowler (Muttiah) Muralitharan,” said Vaas, reflecting back on his wonderful performance where he picked up 14 wickets to steer Sri Lanka to a ten-wicket win and a historic 3-0 whitewash of a Test nation.”But in the end, I finished with more wickets than Murali the series. The way I bowled throughout the series gave me a lot of satisfaction. My reverse swing is working to near perfection. I have a few more things to learn and add to my armoury. I think after I’d learnt to bowl reverse swing that I started to take wickets regularly,” he said.”It took me about a year to learn to bowl reverse swing. I have not mastered it yet But as a fast bowler you should get a couple of wickets with the new ball and then come back and take more wickets when the ball is old with reverse swing. I am quite happy I was able to do that in this series,” Vaas, who was joint man-of-the-match at the SSC, said.”I had lot of help from Saliya Ahangama, Champaka Ramanayake and Rumesh Ratnayake (all former Sri Lanka fast bowlers) and Whatmore. I also received a lot of support from my team mates without whose help I wouldn’t have been able to get so many wickets,” he said.Muralitharan to some extent would have helped Vaas achieve those career best figures by bowling the majority of overs to West Indies star batsman Brian Lara.”Without Murali’s heavy workload it was difficult for us to achieve the results we did,” said Whatmore.”The West Indies batsmen particularly, Lara attacked Murali, which made him ineffective. That is the reason why he couldn’t get as much wickets as he would have,” said Vaas.Eight of Vaas’ 14 victims were out lbw, which reflected on how accurate he was in line and length. More or less, he bowled wicket to wicket not giving anything away and, the slightest attempt by the batsmen to play across the line made them a prime candidate for an lbw decision.Having made his Test debut at the age of 20 as a left-arm fast-medium bowler Vaas had instant success when in only his fifth Test he became the first Sri Lankan bowler to take a match bag of ten wickets with 10 for 90 against New Zealand at Napier in 1995. The Test was notable for Sri Lanka recording their first overseas victory in a Test match (by 241 runs).That Vaas had to wait another 50 Tests to record his second match bag of ten or more wickets in a Test can be put down to several factors.What matters is that at present, he is bowling as best as at anytime during his career.”My main ambition is to get as many wickets as possible and bring many victories to Sri Lanka,” he said.”Initially, my ambition was to get 200 Test wickets, but if I continue to bowl the way I am now, I am confident of getting to 300 wickets,” said Vaas.His present tally at the end of the West Indies series where he finished as the top wicket taker with 26 wickets, stands at 182 wickets (avg. 28.52) from 55 Tests. Only the indomitable Muralitharan is ahead of him.

After a frustrating couple of days in Masterton, we were thrilled to see the sun shining on Wellington’s Kelburn Park.The only interruption to the matches was a streaker. Although he wasn’t quite as naked as the Beige Brigade boys in Hamilton, he did manage to turn heads, in the opposite direction.The wicket, although covered, was still very damp and just walking along it left indentations. The wind and sun had had a chance to dry the adjacent uncovered wicket and it was decided that this would be used for the match.Wellington captain Anna O’Leary won the toss and not surprisingly put us in to bat on a wicket lacking pace and any bounce at all. Batting conditions proved testing and the Wellington bowlers, in particular openers Frances King and Anna Corbin, exploited them well.Our batting showed little regard for the conditions, let alone any adaptation. After consulting our scorecard you’d be forgiven for thinking we were batting on a minefield. It was far from a minefield, and our dismissal for 88 in the 40th over was inexcusable.Of greater concern was that the second match was almost identical. Again Wellington asked us to bat, again we batted poorly, again we failed to bat our 50 overs, and this time we were dismissed in the 44th over for 93.At this level you must learn from mistakes and do so very quickly. A first-class season comprised of only 10 matches at most, is not kind to slow learners.We do not lack ability with the bat. Our batsman look competent at the crease, sometimes even dominant and we are good strikers of the ball. However we have so far not demonstrated any batsmanship or the ability to build an innings, graft through difficult patches and occupy the crease for a substantial length of time.A few batsmen did the hard work against Wellington, got a start and then threw it away with a poor shot option.We did produce some of the best cricket shots in both matches. What we have to learn is that there is more to batting than just being able to do the biomechanical stuff right. Anybody can hit a ball hard and straight in throw-downs, and look good while hitting a bad ball to the fence. But unless you are prepared to build an innings and have a plan for how and where you are going to score your runs, more often than not the scorebook will have little regard for you.The progress made by our bowlers is pleasing. They are demonstrating, in that discipline, the approach we need to take to batting. They have natural ability and they can bowl with pace and swing as well as anyone. This season they have stood up as competitors who are thinking about what they are doing, how they are going to get wickets and how they are going to make the batsman play. Our batsman could learn from them.Our final round this weekend is against the State Auckland Hearts on Auckland’s North Shore. The last time our sides met we came away with an upset win. It was based around the batting of one individual who got us to a defendable total, and the bowlers did the rest. We have one last opportunity to turn the batting effort around and we must do it if we are to put any pressure on the reigning champions. The Hearts are a strong side, but cricket is a funny game and if you can create a little bit of pressure, you never know what can happen.

Shane Warne might be serving a one-year ban from cricket for drug abuse, but the Australian board showed its support for him by naming Warne as one of 12 players who will participate in a media session in Sydney on Friday, July 11. The session is part of the Australian Test Cricketers’ Cap Presentation Reunion ceremony, and the players have been selected to represent Australia’s rich cricketing history – there is at least one from each of the last seven decades.Warne’s off-field exploits have been as controversial as his on-field ones have been spectacular. His latest controversial act – and the resulting one-year ban – raised speculation that he might not return to international cricket, but Warne himself has stated that he has been working hard to stay in shape for a comeback. The decision to name him in such an august list indicates that the board has forgiven him for his past sins.The representatives from each decade
1930s Bill Brown
1940s Sam Loxton and Arthur Morris
1950s Alan Davidson and Bob Simpson
1960s Ian Redpath
1970s Jeff Thomson
1980s Allan Border, Merv Hughes and David Boon
1990s Shane Warne and Justin Langer

A blistering assault on the North West bowling by 19-year-old Umar Abrahams just failed to carry Eastern Province to victory as the Dragons kept alive their hopes of a Standard Bank Cup semi-final berth at St George’s Park on Friday.With EP apparently down and out at 158 for seven in reply to North West’s 249 for six, Abrahams hammered 73 off 66 balls to carry EP to within 10 of victory at the start of the final over. There was no fairy tale ending, however, as Abrahams holed out off the first ball of the over from Alfonso Thomas to give the Dragons victory by nine runs.Earlier, Arno Jacobs, with 83, and a quickfire 59 off just 43 deliveries from captain Martin Venter had lifted North West to an impressive total. The victory means that North West leapfrog EP into fourth place on the log.In Benoni a torrential Highveld thunderstorm washed out Easterns’ clash against the Highveld Strikers with the Strikers struggling on 119 for six off 37 overs after the visitors had opted to bat first.Andrew Hall nipped out the Strikers’ big three – Daryll Cullinan, Adam Bacher and Nic Pothas – in a devastating opening burst which left the Strikers reeling on 7 for three before Stephen Cook made an unbeaten 55 to stage something of a recovery. Then the rain came down.

• It was the 1555th Test match in cricket history.
• It was India’s 342nd and Sri Lanka’s 112th Test.
• It was the 21st Test between these two teams. The record now reads:Sri Lanka 2, India 7, drawn 12. The Lankan win against India cameafter about 16 years. Sri Lanka’s only other win had come in September1985 at the P Sara stadium in Colombo when it defeated India by 149runs.
• Umpires Asoka de Silva and Steve Bucknor were standing in their fourthand 59th Test respectively while Cammie Smith was officiating as ICCmatch referee for the 34th time.
• India was without the services of Sachin Tendulkar for the firsttime in a Test since he made his debut against Pakistan at Karachi inNovember 1989. Tendulkar appeared in 84 Tests without a break – aworld record maximum consecutive Tests played by any player in Testhistory since debut. Tendulkar bettered the record of another Indian,Kapil Dev, who appeared in 66 consecutive Tests from his debut Testagainst Pakistan at Faisalabad in October 1978 to the Calcutta Testagainst England in 1984-85. Other players with 50 or more consecutiveTests since debut are Australia’s Ian Healy (64), West Indian RohanKanhai (61), New Zealander John Reid (58), England’s Tony Greig (58),Zimbabwean Alistair Campbell (54), South African Gary Kirsten (53),England’s Frank Woolley (52), Australia’s Rod Marsh (52), ZimbabweanAndy Flower (52) and Australian Greg Chappell (51).
• Tendulkar, however, seems to have missed the opportunity to make 100consecutive Test appearances in a career – the feat which has beenrecorded only by two players in Test annals. Australia’s Allan Borderplayed 153 consecutive matches of his 156-Test career while India’sSunil Gavaskar played 106 matches at a stretch out of 125 matches.Among contemporary players, Australia’s Mark Waugh with 94 consecutiveappearances might in all probability join Border and Gavaskar.
• Suresh Perera and Hashan Tillakaratne were making their return intoSri Lankan side. Perera had last appeared for Sri Lanka againstEngland at The Oval in 1998, missing 24 matches in between. Only DonAnurasiri (27) has missed more matches between two appearances for SriLanka. Tillakaratne, meanhwile, had last appeared for Sri Lankaagainst Pakistan at Dhaka in the final of Asian Test Championship,thus missing 21 matches in between.
• Sanath Jayasuriya, when he reached three in the first innings,completed 2,000 runs in Tests on Sri Lankan soil. He became the thirdbatsman after Aravinda de Silva (3084 runs in 43 matches) and ArjunaRanatunga (2851 in 48). At the end of this match, Jayasuriya has anaggregate of 2114 runs from 32 matches in home matches.
• Jayasuriya on 8 (in the first innings) also completed his 1000runs as Sri Lanka’s skipper in his 22nd match. He joined 55 othercaptains who have accomplished this feat. Ranatunga with 3118 runsfrom 56 matches is the only other Sri Lankan to aggregate 1000 or moreruns as skipper.
• Jayasuriya (111) made his eighth Test century in his 60th Test – histhird against India.
• Kumara Sangakkara (105*) became the fifth Sri Lankan wicketkeeper toscore a hundred. This was also the eighth instance of a hundred by SriLankan wicketkeeper. Romesh Kaluwitharana (3),Amal Silva (2),BrendonKuruppu and Hasan Tillakaratne (one each) are the others who have madehundreds. Sangakkara also became the second Sri Lankan wicketkeeper after AmalSilva to score a hundred against India. Silva had made 111 at the PSara stadium, Colombo in 1985-86. Interestingly Sri Lanka won on boththe occasions.
• The wicket of Tillakaratne was Javagal Srinath’s 100th wicket onforeign soil. He accomplished the feat in his 28 match abroad. He becamethe fifth Indian after Kapil Dev (215 wickets in 66 Tests), BishanSingh Bedi (129 in 37), Anil Kumble (101 in 30) and BhagwatChandrasekhar (100 in 26) and 38th bowler in all Tests to do so.Incidentally West Indian Courtney Walsh tops the list of bowlers withmost wickets in away matches with 290 wickets from 74 matches. He isfollowed by Pakistani Wasim Akram (260 in 62), New Zealander RichardHadlee (230 in 43), West Indian Malcolm Marshall (219 in 50), India’sKapil Dev (215 in 66), Australian Shane Warne (207 in 49) and WestIndian Curtley Ambrose (202 in 46).
• Srinath by not resuming his innings in the first innings after beingstruck by a Fernando delivery, achieved the dubious distinction ofbecoming the first batsman to retire hurt in an innings against SriLanka. He also became the 14th Indian to suffer this fate in a Test,incidentally it was the 16th instance of an Indian batsman retiringwith an injury – Dilip Vengsarkar retired on as many as threeoccasions.
• The following table lists all Indians who got retired hurt in an innings :

• Dilhara Fernando by returning figures of 5 for 42 in first innings,recorded the second best figures by a Sri Lankan against India. Thebest however still remains as Rumesh Ratnayake’s six for 85 at the PSara stadium in Colombo in 1985-86.
• By taking the catch of Mohammad Kaif in the second innings, HashanTillakaratne equalled Roshan Mahanama’s record tally of 56 catches inthe field for Sri Lanka.
• The five-wicket haul in the second innings was Muttiah Muralitharan’s25th in his 63rd Test bringing him level with Pakistan’s Wasim Akram.He still has some catching up to do – New Zealander Richard Hadleeachieved it a record 36 times and 27 of England’s Ian Botham.
• The five-wicket haul was also Murali’s second against India afterhis five for 162 at Lucknow in 1993-94. He became the third Sri Lankanafter Rumesh Ratnayake and Asantha de Mel to bag two separate fivewicket hauls.
• India’s first innings total of 187 was their lowest against Sri Lankain all matches obliterating the previous lowest of 198 at the P Sarastadium in Colombo in 1985-86. Later, India’s second innings total of180 took over the dubious honour.
• Sri Lanka has now played six matches at Galle and won four matches- three by an innings margin. Sri Lanka’s only defeat at this groundcame against Pakistan in June 2000.