All posts by csb10.top

The BCCI ombudsman, Justice AP Shah, has asked India offspinner Harbhajan Singh to respond to an allegation of conflict of interest related to his links to a sports apparel company that sponsors various state teams in domestic cricket. On January 16, Justice Shah forwarded a complaint from Mumbai-based activist Niraj Gunde to Harbhajan and asked the player to respond to the allegation by January 30.”It is widely reported that Mr. Harbhajan Singh had started a company by name of Bhajji sports, which is a sports apparel company,” Gunde wrote in an email to Shah on January 14. The same e-mail, accessed by ESPNcricinfo, was copied to BCCI president Shashank Manohar and Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI manager, game development. “Further, news reports have indicated that this Bhajji sports is sponsoring upto 6 Ranji Teams (Member Associations of the BCCI),” Gunde wrote.According Gunde, Harbhajan has specifically violated the sub-clauses C and D dealing with conflict of interest in the three-page document prepared by Manohar, in which the BCCI president listed various guidelines that would help administrators, match officials, players and board staff avoid involvement in conflict of interest.For the current players, Manohar wrote:A. Current Cricketers shall declare the name and details of his/her Player Agent or the Player Management Company.
B. Current Cricketers shall not have any business interest in a Player Management Company.
C. Current Cricketers shall not have any conflict arising with the BCCI sponsors including the apparel sponsor.
D. Current Cricketers shall not accept any Controlling position in any Commercial Organization having a contract with the BCCI or its State Unit.
“It is very clear from the above context, Mr. Harbhajan Singh is conflicted in C & D of the code,” Gunde concluded in his e-mail to Shah.This is the second complaint that the BCCI ombudsman has received over the last week, with the first one raising an allegation of conflict of interest against former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who has been asked to respond by January 28. The complaint against Ganguly, which was also filed by Gunde, alleged the former India captain has a commercial tie-up with the RP Sanjiv Goenka group, which has a stake in the Atletico de Kolkata football club in Indian Super League (ISL) and, in December, secured the rights to run the Pune franchise in the IPL.

ScorecardKhurram Manzoor was the star for Pakistan A with 113•Chris Whiteoak

Pakistan A kept the series against England Lions alive, securing a 17-run victory in Dubai with a late surge in the field after England had appeared on track. Khurram Manzoor’s 113 anchored Pakistan A’s total of 288 for 5, but with James Vince responding with a century of his own England were well placed on 194 for 2 in the 36th over only to subside and lose their last five wickets for 13.Vince and Sam Billings (51) had added for the third wicket when Billings was bowled by Fakhar Zaman. England were still on course as Vince reached his century off 117 deliveries, but when he was run out trying for a second to long leg the innings went into free-fall.Mohammad Nawaz, who had claimed Daniel Bell-Drummond, a replacement for the ill Dawid Malan, at the start of the chase, then removed Joe Clarke and Ross Whiteley – a player capable of quickly hunting down a target – and the requirement became too much for the lower order. Liam Dawson ran out of partners and was the last man out for 41.Earlier, Manzoor had helped give Pakistan A the solid foundation they had been lacking the previous two matches. A second-wicket stand of 100 with Fakhar (51) was the basis for their total although again England’s spinners – Dawson and Tom Westley – did a good job to ensure the scoreboard did not race away.Manzoor, who has played 16 Tests and seven ODIs, reached his hundred off 121 balls; unlike Vince’s century, which included just six boundaries, Manzoor struck 11 fours and three sixes by the time he fell to Tom Curran. Fawad Alam and Zohaib Khan finished the innings with a stand of 37 off 27 deliveries.

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

VRV Singh got his second five-for of the match as West Zone batsmen played one injudicious shot after the other, and despite a middle-order resistance they were bowled out in two sessions to set North Zone an easy 166 to get, with two days and a session to go. North Zone ended the third day with 92 more to get and seven wickets in hand.The first over of the day set the tone, when Sahil Kukreja played a loose drive to the first delivery that was not pitched on legs, and edged it through to Uday Kaul, the wicketkeeper. North did not look to capitalise on the early breakthrough as VRV continued to spray the ball around, and Vikramjeet Malik – although getting the inswing going – had problems with no-balls.Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane got a partnership going, and scored at a fairly good pace. But after overs of innocuous bowling, Ashok Thakur got one to land on a length and dip in towards Jaffer, who looked to play without any feet movement, and presented a gap between bat and pad. Parthiv Patel soon got his second awkward lifter of the match, which he jabbed to first slip. Cheteshwar Pujara completed his pair by going for an expansive drive to an inswinger, leaving his stumps vulnerable. In 5.4 overs, 56 for 1 became 70 for 4, with a lead of just fours runs.A brief partnership between Rahane, who was impressive once again in his innings of 43, and Yusuf Pathan was ended by a harsh call from AV Jayaprakash. Rahane was hit on the thigh pad by one from VRV that cut in but was going over the top of the stumps. With half the side out for a lead of just 42, two Baroda players – Rakesh Solanki and Pathan – counterattacked, exposing the North bowlers. Pathan, who had already got off to a quick start by the time Rahane got out (21 off 17 balls), took the attack to the next level and turned the attention away from Solanki. Soon the field spread out, Amit Mishra was brought on, and defensive bowling became the call of the hour.Pathan still managed to find gaps, whipping through mid-on, thrashing through covers, edging over slips, late-cutting through third man, sweeping through square leg, and lofting over the infield. Mishra, who had been swept for two fours by Pathan, finally got the breakthrough: bowling from round the stumps, he tossed one up, and Pathan backed his sweep, only to top-edge to short fine leg. Pathan ended up scoring 61 out of the 97 runs scored by West since his arrival at the crease. His 59-run partnership with Solanki in 10.4 overs made sure the game would not end on the third day itself.The North bowlers became lackadaisical once again and Solanki and Rakesh Dhurv took advantage. For more than 19 overs, they could only create one half-chance – a caught-and-bowled for Mishra – and a regulation chance for Kaul in Rajat Bhatia’s first over, which he duly dropped. Dhurv had scored 31 by then, but North got a breakthrough when Solanki uppercut VRV straight to third man. The tail folded easily, the last four wickets falling for nine runs. Three cheap dismissals gave VRV his second first-class ten-wicket haul. He now has 18 wickets from two Duleep Trophy matches.Chasing 166, North got off to a solid start just like in the first innings, and it seemed they would come close to rattling off the required runs today itself. But as had happened in the first innings, the fall of Aakash Chopra led to more wickets. Chopra got a dodgy lbw verdict, and Karan Goel followed after, ending what has been a horrible match for him, with a poke to an away-going delivery, just like he had in the first innings. He managed to get a run this time, though. When Mithun Manhas edged Trivedi to second slip, North had lost three wickets for 12 runs, and at that moment West Zone had a chance to sneak back.Shikhar Dhawan, meanwhile, had got off to a brisk start, having scored 25 off 27 balls out of the team score of 40. With his captain back in the pavilion, Dhawan adjusted to the situation, taking on the responsibility even as Yashpal Singh looked extremely edgy. Dhawan cut down on his shots without slowing down much, but there was a clear change in his attitude, suggesting he wanted to be there till the end. His scoring before the collapse had been attractive and imperious, but following it, he became more solid. He was also offered a reprieve when Sandeep Jobanputra, who bowled a testing spell of inswing bowling, dropped Dhawan off his own bowling: Dhawan was 27 then, and North had only got to 47.By the end of the day, Dhawan had added 17 more, ensured there were no more setbacks, and North were about one session of sensible batting short of a second successive Duleep Trophy triumph.

If England is to create a viable Twenty20 competition to rival the Indian Premier League, then the 18 first-class counties are going to have to bite the bullet and merge into six regional sides. That is the message from Sean Morris, the new chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, who believes that without adaptation, English cricket faces being second-best to India for evermore.”This is a great opportunity for English cricket, an unbelievable chance for England to reassert itself,” Morris told The Guardian. “I just hope we take it. India, a big competitor, has got first to the market. Considering that we invented Twenty20, they should not have got there first. It is important that we act quickly.”Morris’s proposal is expected to be discussed at a meeting of the England & Wales Cricket Board on May 26, but plans are already in full swing following a week of talks with Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire whose patronage has given English cricket renewed confidence as it seeks to respond to the threat of the IPL. Stanford told the BBC on Thursday that he believed that England was not only better placed to take the lead in Twenty20 cricket, but that the game could eventually overtake football as the world’s most popular sport.Should the regional plan come to fruition, there could be some enticing amalgamations on the cards. Lancashire and Yorkshire could be thrown in together with Durham as a Northern region, with Surrey, Middlesex and Essex all uniting under the London banner. Such a proposal may be anathema to the die-hard fans of the counties involved, but Morris cited the example of South African rugby, where traditional Currie Cup rivals have combined to form potent Super 14 franchises.”This is the biggest opportunity we will ever get to restructure,” said Morris. His argument is that, without reducing the number of competing sides, the talent on display would be spread too thinly, and the prospect of attracting the big-name players would diminish. “When you look at the broadcasting deal that will drive it and for sponsorship partners and for fans, does playing 18 teams really stack up? We need to have a product that is exportable back to India, because that is where the money is.”Stanford is willing to invest heavily in the scheme, but has effectively set the ECB a deadline of 2010 to get the competition up and running. “If I was to make a more aggressive bet I would say 2009. But no later than 2010 or they’ve missed the boat,” he told BBC Sport. “We all know that and I don’t think the British are going to miss the boat.”Potential regional sides

North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham
London Surrey, Middlesex, Essex
South Hampshire, Kent, Sussex
Wales and West Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Somerset
West Midlands Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Northants
East Midlands Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire

It was the first match of the 2000-01 Carlton Series of one-day internationals. But it was barely distinguishable from the Test series which went before it. Amid sweltering heat, Australia crushed West Indies by seventy-four runs to claim victory in the opening ‘contest’ of this triangular tournament here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.On a day during which the temperature ascended to forty degrees on the Celsius scale, the Australians’ play had the same glow of discipline and efficiency about it that it has carried for so much of this summer. But, for as hot as it was, so their opponents’ form was icy cold. Glacial even.Theoretically, there was much to which to look forward during the course of this match. A shift away from a largely lopsided and predictable Test series to the potentially more exciting one-day international arena should have brought with it new possibilities and new challenges for each of these two teams. Alas, it merely allowed the Australians to saunter to victory again.As the pipe-opener to something more enthralling, it was a damp squib. Once the Australians had overcome the inconvenience of losing Adam Gilchrist (7) to an impetuous stroke in the match’s third over, the West Indians barely seemed to make an effort to thwart them. Instead, their bowling, fielding and their batting became part of an exercise in damage limitation.Following Gilchrist’s hasty exit – as he tried to lift a Cameron Cuffy (2/45 off nine overs) delivery over the leg side only to balloon the shot in the direction of third man – Ricky Ponting (73) and Mark Waugh (51) joined to add 111 in partnership in the space of 134 deliveries. It was an association that made light of any difficulties that might have been posed on a slowish MCG pitch that has offered encouragement to new ball bowlers all season. Neither found too many difficulties in piercing the field; through the opening fifteen overs, a succession of strokes were slammed over the infield and, later, shots were cleverly eased into yawning gaps that were paradoxically created as West Indian captain Jimmy Adams sought to discover a method of imposing more restrictive field settings.A way through for the West Indians finally came via a lazy stroke from Waugh at the medium pace of Laurie Williams (2/39 from eight overs) in the twenty-fifth over. A further trickle of breakthroughs in the overs thereafter also helped retrieve the cause to an extent. But the tourists did not really help themselves; only a wonderful catch from Ricardo Powell at deep mid wicket to remove Ponting and a fine running interception from Nixon McLean at third man to remove Gilchrist assisting eliminate the stains on a copybook blotted by erratic bowling and sloppy ground fielding. Matters in the field became so unpleasant, in fact, that Williams even had to depart the arena in the forty-ninth over after his attempt at backward point to leap and catch a mistimed cut by Andrew Symonds (38*) resulted in him crashing head first into the MCG turf.In truth, the Australians didn’t completely capitalise as they might have done upon their victory at the toss. Wickets were thrown away needlessly in the middle and latter stages of the innings in particular: Mark Waugh (51) lobbed a stroke to long on; Michael Bevan (17) failed to ground a cut shot; Ponting (73) mistimed a pull; and, Steve Waugh (29) presented a regulation catch to long off. Notwithstanding the impact of a half-century stand at the end between Damien Martyn (42) and Symonds, fewer runs came from the closing overs of the innings than might originally have been expected too. But, virtually from the moment that Ponting and Waugh came together in the third over of the innings, things still flowed smoothly Australia’s way.It was an impression reinforced by a terrible start to the West Indian innings – one that quickly settled any lingering doubts about the way in which the match was headed. There was nothing startling in the opening bowling of either Glenn McGrath (1/7 off six overs) or debutant Nathan Bracken (1/30 from nine) as the West Indian response began. But it was made to look as though the pair was bowling on a minefield; poor shots from openers Wavell Hinds (1) and Sherwin Campbell (4) leading to a disastrous early decline that condemned the tourists to the mark of 2/9 as they pursued the Australians’ 6/267.Hinds was dismissed after being drawn into driving at a delivery wide of off stump from McGrath and playing uppishly into the point region. Campbell failed to last much longer and was, in fact, guilty of playing an even more irresponsible shot. He chased a short, wide delivery from Bracken and attempted to play a scything shot through point. Instead, a ball that he could have planted to virtually any part of the ground ended in the hands of Bevan at third man.That set the scene for a period of inactivity from a West Indian point of view so chronic that it looked as though they have already resigned themselves to the exercise of trying to play for second place in a triangular series that also involves Zimbabwe. At number three, Brian Lara (28) issued a few typically daring strokes through the field but he was restrained in his shot selection for the most part. Youngster Marlon Samuels (57) did what he has done for most of the tour and unleashed a rearguard action. Williams (26*) and Adams (25*) also fought determinedly toward the end. But by that stage there were simply no battles of any consequence left to fight.”We knew we had them in big trouble after ten overs,” said Steve Waugh of his opponents’ grisly predicament.Like a vulture, Symonds (4/35 from ten overs) helped himself to the spoils with his nagging off spin. Even a slightly nervous-looking Shane Warne (0/38 off ten) was allowed to slip his way seamlessly back into international cricketing ranks. Australia’s entire attack, based around just three specialist bowlers, encountered very few problems.”Their body language wasn’t that great,” added Waugh in a masterful piece of understatement about his rivals.”They probably dropped a couple of catches which could have been costly. If they’d taken those catches, we might have only made 230 and it would have been a different game.”Three hundred matches into his one-day international career, it’s doubtful that Waugh could have experienced too many easier, or too many more predictable, victories. It was amazing that so many of the 56732 people who came to the ground stayed until he and his team formally completed the job.

Post Tour Rehab Advice and Protocols
-L ACL deficient knee, subluxation episode Perth Test vs Australia Jan ’08
-MRI and investigation with sports physician at that time. Mx plan instigated
-Full reassessment with Dr David Young (orthopaedic surgeon) in Melbourne Feb ’08. Confirmed his availability to return to cricket (see full report in clinical notes).
-Plan post Australia tour will be on emphasis of strengthening and stability without high impact activity.
-Must have min 2 weeks (ideally 3) break from cricket and excessive loaded activities.
-Emphasis on x-training (swimming, cycling, water running)
-Maintenance of stability program, balance exercises and gluteal retraining
Things to Watch-pain posterior knee
-obvious swelling and persistence of swelling
-morning stiffness+
-fielding positions (straighter approach and attack to the ball, care on turning etc)
-Instability. Another episode of subluxation and giving way = Surgical Intervention required
– L great toe
-stress # through distal phalanx great toe (left), secondary to shape of phalanx
-significant healing/callous formation already evident (Dr. David Young, Dr. Michael Johnson, Dr. Soni). See full reports and scans in clinical notes
-min 2 – 3 weeks rest from bowling and running post tour. No compromise on this instruction
-allow pain to subside and full healing of # to complete.
-Strength and focus on core stability, gluteal strength, quadriceps strength and hamstring/hip flexor flexibility
R forefinger acute tendon sheath inflammation
– continue with anti-inflammatory techniques (NSAIDS, Ice, Co-Bahn, gel STM etc) until resolved
-L hamstring tendon enthesopathy (Dx. Dr David Young)
-Will require min 2 weeks rest from bowling and running post tour
-To avoid long distance running, running on inclines etc,br>-Continue with deep Tr Friction Rx to area, hamstring release STM, neural stretches etc
-To continue to monitor condition.
-Once this condition starts to impede his ability to bowl then surgical intervention will need to be considered (see full report, Dr David Young in clinical notes)
-R adductor tendonosis (? enthesopathy) with deep hip flexor involvement
-Requires min 2 weeks rest post tour from aggravating (pain inducing) activities
-Must not allow this condition to settle into ‘chronic phase’ otherwise may take further 2 weeks to control
-Once pain settles then commencement of deep release massage therapy to region, flexibility for R hip region incl adductors and flexors
-Once pain free then recommence basic strength training to adductors initially in water then with band resistance
-requires min 2 weeks break from competitive cricket to concentrate on conditioning
-main focus areas are to be low back, sides and shoulder strength/stability
-L ankle instability
-Emphasis on continual strength/stability and proprioceptive rehab of L ankle as well as ongoing glut med strengthening
-R shoulder and scapular stability maintenance program ++
-? requires cortisone injection into R DIP forefinger. # 2004, now sensitive+ and requires some form of intervention to alleviate sensitivity from recent knocks
-R hand 4th finger DIP severe sprain ? # 2nd final vs Australia 5th March
-Will need to be x-rayed on return to India and treatment avenue pursued

A vintage performance from 41-year-old Peter Siddle has helped power the Melbourne Stars to a confidence-boosting eight-wicket upset of reigning BBL champions Hobart Hurricanes.Siddle’s 3 for 30 helped restrict the Hurricanes to an underwhelming 158 for 9, after Stars captain Marcus Stoinis elected to bowl first at the MCG.The Stars then coasted to victory, reaching 159 for 2 with 24 balls to spare. Stoinis (62* from 31 balls) and Campbell Kellaway (41* off 27) handled the chase with ease, as the skipper ended the match with a six.Stoinis was Player of the Match for his brutal knock and 2 for 18.Ben McDermott played a lone hand for the Hurricanes•CA/Getty Images

The only BBL franchise yet to claim a title after the Hurricanes’ success last summer, the Stars couldn’t have started this campaign any better.Veteran matchwinner Glenn Maxwell opened the bowling, with his gentle offspin working wonders as he dismissed the dangerous Mitch Owen with the fourth ball of the game. Owen, who smashed a memorable century in last season’s final, holed out on the boundary to Hilton Cartwright, who had dropped a catch off the previous delivery.That dismissal started the rot for the Hurricanes, with Siddle and fellow paceman Haris Rauf cleaning up the tail with 4 for 6 in the final eight balls of the innings.First playing domestic cricket back in 2005, Siddle committed to the Stars again this season after bagging 12 wickets in the 2024-25 campaign. The evergreen 67-Test veteran, who retired from international cricket in 2019, ended his Victorian career last summer, but has kept fit for another BBL tilt. Siddle played in a 10-over league in Canada in October, before fronting up for the PM’s XI against England in Canberra last month.Thomas Rogers made a quickfire 30 in 18 balls•CA/Getty Images

” I just love competing and I don’t want to put out poor performances,” Siddle said. “I’ve worked hard to prepare for this. I was a bit nervous, it’s been a long time since I played a proper competitive game so it was good to get it out of the way. The stuff I was doing with my strength and conditioning trainer, who works for the Vics, was very individualised stuff because I only have to train to bowl four overs.”Ben McDermott played a lone hand for the Hurricanes, crafting a well-made 69 after arriving at the crease in the second over. Combining with Tim David, McDermott threatened to push Hobart to a competitive score. But David lost his wicket to Siddle in the powerplay, sparking the Hurricanes’ collapse.Maxwell, arguably the world’s best outfielder, pulled off another stunning catch when he helped dismiss former Australia teammate Matthew Wade. The Stars’ master blaster was able to jump over the boundary rope and then throw the ball back to himself, making the difficult effort look extremely easy.Hobart are back in action on Sunday against the Melbourne Renegades in Geelong, while the Stars face the Strikers in Adelaide next Tuesday night.

Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire behind Stanford 20/20, is expected to offer US$20 million for a one-off, winner-takes-all fixture between England and an All-Stars West Indies XI, when he meets the ECB at Lord’s on Tuesday to discuss possible joint ventures.According to the BBC, Stanford’s idea would be for the match to take place on England’s tour of the Caribbean next winter, although he has already made similar offers to both South Africa and India, and had them rejected. With the Indian Premier League just three days away, however, the ECB are eager to react to the game’s changing landscape.”Allen Stanford is an individual who is extremely wealthy and really doesn’t take no for an answer,” the veteran West Indian commentator, Tony Cozier, told BBC Sport. “He will come in and put forward a proposal that he will feel cannot be turned down, but I understand Giles Clarke is similar [in character] so we will see.”Clarke, the ECB chairman, has already talked about the creation of an English Premier League (EPL) to run during the middle of the domestic season when most international teams have time off. The hope is that the tournament would be able to attract overseas stars the same way as the IPL and in turn ward off the threat of English players jumping ship.”We don’t want a knee-jerk reaction to the IPL,” said Clarke, “but we believe that we can set up a robust, spectator-friendly, economically sustainable competition of our own which will not cut across the core revenue streams of Test and one-day international cricket.”Stanford could be a useful ally for the ECB as he has already shown his ability to set up and run a successful Twenty20 tournament then sell it overseas. Stanford is keen on multiple franchise tournaments and Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, has said an EPL would be welcome if it didn’t clash with the Indian version.Sean Morris, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, told the : “Looking at all options is pure commercial commonsense. There is no proof yet that the global TV market is strong enough to have a lot of different leagues,” he said. “But it is genuinely achievable to make it attractive for everyone to play in.”If we have got the right format and scheduling that will be an attractive product to the wider TV audience and that is where most of the money will come from. Half-a-billion pairs of watching eyes is also appealing to outside investment.”Kevin Pietersen, who has made no secret of the fact he would love to play in the IPL, was encouraged by the sound of the idea. “Until I hear more about Stanford and his proposals I cannot comment,” he told AFP, “but it sounds great, very exciting for players and spectators.”He would not be drawn on the Indian issue again. ” “I have said all I am going to say about the IPL. I am not going to get into a slanging match with the people who employ me. I do not want to jeopardise my England career. All I ever asked for was some space to play both.”Clarke, along with David Collier, the ECB chief executive, and John Perera, the commercial director, are due to attend the launch of the IPL later this week where they will hold talks with Modi.

ScorecardDay 2
Bulletin – Australia ahead on difficult track
Verdict – About mood and confidence
Australian View – Born to ride
Quotes – ‘The key is to bang it into the track’- Gillespie
Roving Reporter – Dancing the day away
Day 1
Bulletin – Damp start to the Mumbai Test
Verdict – The not-so-great cover-up
Quotes – ‘Right decision about offering the light’ – Buchanan
Roving Reporter – The ABC of cricket
Preview package
Preview – Playing for pride
News – Warne out of Mumbai Test
Quotes – ‘We’re not going to rest any players’ – Ponting
News – Ponting fit for Mumbai Test
Roving Reporter – The day before
News – Ganguly out of Mumbai Test
News – Four new players in Indian squad
Selection analysis – The need for nurture

On a pitch tailor made for their quartet of spin bowlers, Tamil Union look set to spring a surprise in the first semi final of the Premier Limited Overs tournament at Premadasa International Stadium tonight. They have bowled out the tournament favorites, Colts Cricket Club, for a meager 174 in 48.4 overs.Tamil Union have one of the strongest spin attacks in the land. Led by the irrepressible Mutiah Muralitharan, who picked up five wickets for 15 runs in 9.4 overs, the spin bowlers took nine of the wickets to fall. The Colts batsmen struggled to play them on a slow paced pitch that spun extravagantly.Colts CC had won the toss and begun confidently, despite the loss of Romesh Kaluwitharan for just six runs in the sixth over of the innings. Chaminda Mendis and Kulatunga compiled 67 runs for the second wicket and Colts CC looked set for another impressive total.However, Upul Chandana turned to Mutiah Muralitharan in the 16th over of the innings and in partnership with left arm spinner, Niroshan Bandaratilake, he turned the course the course of the match. Colts CC lost four wickets for just six runs and slumped to 92 for five.Kulatunga had played some sparkling shots including a brace of boundaries in Ranga Dias’s first and last over. However, he was less assured against the spinners, and started the slide when he charged down the wicket to Muralitharan and was caught at cover. He had scored 35 from 52 deliveries.Sajith Fernando walked to the crease in confident fashion but was caught in the very next over as he top edged a sweep. Then, Chaminda Mendis, who had scored a solid 35 from 69 balls, was clean bowled by Muralitharan four balls later. In the same over Sujith Janaka looked unlucky to have been adjudged caught behind.Were it not for Chaminda Vaas (18) and Eric Upashantha (34), who added 45 runs for the seventh wicket, Colts would not have even surpassed 150. The pair batted patiently and sensibly. Aware of the responsibility that now lay on their shoulders, they eschewed risks and concentrated on picking up singles.Just when they looked like they were on the verge of grasping the initiative back, Chaminda Vaas tried to pull sweep Upul Chandana and was brilliantly caught by a tumbling Brijesh Jeganathanan on the mid wicket boundary.The skipper wasted no time in recalling his premier bowler and Muralitharan just proved too good for the Colts lower order. They lunged and prodded as best they could but were eventually bowled out for a total that looks too small.