What a different atmosphere there could be tomorrow evening in Totton’s two premier cricket clubs whose grounds lie less than two miles apart.At Southern Gardens, BAT Sports will be celebrating the recapture of the ECB Southern Electric Premier League championship trophy from Havant if they win their penultimate 50-over match at Liphook & Ripsley.But at nearby Loperwood Park, Calmore Sports could be in mourning – if they fail to win their bottom-of-the-table battle with Portsmouth. Both matches start at 1 o’clock.BAT, who have fitness worries over James Schofield and Mark Page, need 18 more points to make sure Bournemouth cannot overhaul them.But that will become mathematically irrelevant if the second-placed Dorset club fail to glean anything less than a maximum 22-point return from a testing trip to Havant.Liphook, safe with nothing to play for save pride, are unlikely to provide undue resistance to BAT’s title claim.But Havant, facing their lowest finishing point for many years, are determined to complete a treble over Bournemouth, whom they upstaged in the recent SEC Cup final at the Rose Bowl.There is an outside chance that Richard Hindley, who broke two fingers during his Hampshire heroics against Glamorgan in June, could play for Havant.Calmore expect to be more or less back to full strength for the do-or-die clash against Portsmouth, who appear to be in some junior section disarray – a factor that could affect their Premier 1 accreditation status."We’ve got to pull out all the stops and produce our best performance of the season tomorrow," said Calmore all-rounder James Hibberd."It’s a day when people’s characters have got to shine through. We’ve got the ability to win – so let’s go and do it."Calmore lie 29 points behind Portsmouth, whose last match is at Havant. Calmore finish at Andover.The Hampshire Academy, one of three sides chasing third spot, have switched their match with Andover from the Rose Bowl to London Road.Teenager James France, who has taken 22 wickets in his debut season for Bashley (Rydal) 2nd XI, gets rare Premier 1 outing against South Wilts at Bemerton.Bashley’s aim is to finish in third spot for a third season in a row, but captain Matt King knows it’s far from straight-forward."It looks like we find ourselves in contesting third spot with Havant and the Hampshire Academy, so we have a mini-battle to focus on for the last fortnight of the season," he said.King remains top Premier 1 wicket-taker, with 36 victims, compared with Kevin Nash’s 31.

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Chasing under lights yet again in the second game of their one-day series against Pakistan, South Africa could not resist the pressure for long enough to make a realistic assault their target of 268, falling short by 42 runs. Pakistan’s second win in three days at Lahore gave them a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.The script followed that of the first match quite closely. After Yousuf Youhana missed another chance of a century, a late flurry brought Pakistan vital runs. Boeta Dippenaar then shepherded South Africa’s chase until it crumbled against some tight bowling and fielding.Tonight it was Mohammad Hafeez’s part-time offspin that derailed the chase. Hafeez had Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis and Jacques Rudolph all sweeping at deliveries too full for the stroke, bowling Dippenaar and trapping the other two lbw. Mohammad Sami, who had Graeme Smith caught at slip in the fifth over, returned to reverse-swing the old ball, knocking back the stumps of Robin Peterson and Andrew Hall with immaculate yorkers.The South African chase looked healthiest when, after Smith’s dismissal, Kallis and Dippenaar added 89 for the second wicket. Dippenaar played the sheet-anchor and rotated the strike well, while Kallis took advantage of Umar Gul’s discomfiture at the clouds of hovering insects. Despite the insecticide sprayed during the interval, Gul pulled up short more than once, turning to his team-mates to de-bug his eyes. His line and length became progressively more erratic, and Kallis capitalised. Off consecutive balls from Gul he flicked a four to square leg, cut him for four more, and then clipped one behind square to the fence.But Kallis’s eventual dismissal to Hafeez was the beginning of the end. Neil McKenzie survived a stumping chance but then pushed the ball to Sami at mid-off and went for a non-existent single. Sami got in another direct hit when Dippenaar called Mark Boucher for a run after dabbing it to backward point. Younis Khan ran out the final semblance of batting resistance in Shaun Pollock, and Pakistan had sealed the result long before Ntini smashed the final ball of the day over long-on for a huge six.Yousuf Youhana, captaining on the field after Inzamam-ul-Haq strained a leg muscle while batting (he’s in some doubt for the next game, at Faisalabad on Tuesday), led his side cannily. He could have used some of that judgment when he was batting earlier on: for the second match running, he squandered a splendid opportunity to get a century.Ntini and Pollock had got rid of Yasir Hameed and Hafeez, the openers, by keeping a strict rein on line and length. But things changed with Youhana’s arrival. Suddenly the bowling seemed to hold fewer demons, and the runs started to flow. That, apparently, was not to South Africa’s liking: after Youhana hit him for four, Hall elbowed him during a single. When Youhana objected, Hall eyeballed him and launched a verbal tirade. Only the intervention of the umpires and a stern warning to Smith, South Africa’s captain, prevented the incident from snowballing.Inzamam hobbled off in the 17th over, and Javed Miandad, Pakistan’s coach, signalled to Youhana to stay put. But almost immediately Youhana tried to tickle Kallis to third man and was caught behind – an almost identical dismissal to his one in the first game.Shoaib Malik, after his whirlwind assault on Friday, looked set for an encore, and indeed did thump fours off Kallis and Alan Dawson. But Ntini’s return for his second spell proved decisive. Bowling full and straight, he had Younis caught behind before inducing Shoaib and Abdul Razzaq to inside-edge into their stumps. Rashid Latif was adjudged run out by the third umpire – there was some doubt about the decision – and suddenly Pakistan were struggling to reach 250.They did eventually get there, courtesy of some big hitting from Inzamam, back with a runner and disdainfully punishing Hall in the final over of the innings. The over cost 16, most of them to Inzamam, but in the final analysis, they hardly mattered. Pakistan won the match easily enough, with 42 runs to spare, and they now need to win only one of the remaining three matches to take the one-day series.

All Today’s Yesterdays – October 26 down the yearsOctober 25 | October 271965
Few people have had as bad a start to their Test career as Ken Rutherford, who was born today. Rutherford was 19 when he was thrown in at the deep end in the Caribbean in 1984-85, and made only 12 runs in seven innings (and was run out without facing a ball to bag a pair on debut). He was out five times to Malcolm Marshall, who did to him what Curtly Ambrose would do to Graeme Hick six years later. But Rutherford eventually came of age, and at his best was an impressively assertive performer (he cracked 317 in four hours against Brian Close’s XI in 1986), undeniably better than an average of 27 suggests. He would surely have improved on that had his Test career not ended in 1995 when, aged only 29, he lost the captaincy and his place.1987
In a winner-takes-all showdown at Jaipur, England grabbed their second victory over West Indies in their World Cup group in a thrilling match that virtually clinched their semi-final place. Graham Gooch hit a controlled 92 before John Emburey and Phil DeFreitas helped add 83 off the last 10 overs to set West Indies a target of 270. Viv Richards raced to fifty at a run a ball, including three sixes, but the tide turned when he was bowled by Eddie Hemmings. After that the lower order fell away to DeFreitas (3 for 28) and England won by 34 runs, 22 of which came from West Indian wides.1890
Birth of perhaps the only Test player to be taken prisoner during the First World War. Harry Lee was erroneously reported dead after being captured by the Germans, though he did suffer a badly broken thigh, as a result of which he was told he would never play cricket again. This proved incorrect, although he was left with a permanent limp. Despite this Lee went on to make over 20,000 runs and take more than 400 wickets for Middlesex. His one Test came in South Africa in 1930-31, when he was called up after a series of injuries hit Percy Chapman’s team. He died in London in 1981.1952
Pakistan’s maiden Test victory. In only their second match, played on jute matting at Lucknow, they thrashed India by an innings and 43 runs. That master craftsman Fazal Mahmood was the star man, taking 5 for 52 and 7 for 42 (his best figures in Tests) as India were blown away for 106 and 182. Nazar Mohammad anchored Pakistan’s 331 with a painstaking unbeaten 124, carrying his bat after 515 minutes at the crease. He became the first man to be on the field throughout an entire Test match.1998
A historic day for Australia at Karachi. They drew the third Test to clinch their first series victory in Pakistan for 39 years. An outstanding performance from Glenn McGrath (5 for 66) gave them a first-innings lead of 28, and from there they were happy to bat Pakistan out of the match and the series. Justin Langer took almost four hours to make 51, and in all Australia’s 390 took 142.3 overs. There was only one winner after that. As the match petered out, there was another hundred for Ijaz Ahmed, half of whose 12 Test tons came against the Aussies.1961
England grabbed their first win in Pakistan at the first attempt with a five-wicket win at Lahore. Despite 139 from Ken Barrington and 99 from MJK Smith, England trailed by seven on first innings, but they whipped Pakistan out for 200 in their second knock and the captain Ted Dexter (66 not out) took them home comfortably. It was a bit of a false dawn though – England failed to win any of their next 19 Tests in Pakistan (17 of which were drawn) before Graham Thorpe’s Chinese cut off Saqlain Mushtaq sealed a famous victory in the Karachi gloom last December.Other birthdays
1950 TE Srinivasan (India)
1971 Ronnie Irani (England)

The Electrolux International Cricketer of the Year award was for the player who, in the eyes of the jury, was the most consistent performer during the period in question (September 2002 to August 2003). The results are:The winner
Ricky Ponting
Ponting’s season saw him make a profusion of runs in a variety of conditions, at a rate that, more often than not, exceeded the expectations of the world-beating team of which he is a part, and which he captains in the shorter version of the game. His seven Test centuries in the year came in clusters of red-hot form: two in a three-Test series against Pakistan, first in the sticky heat of Colombo and then in the inferno of Sharjah. Another two came in the first two Tests of the Ashes series to help Australia surge to an early lead. Then there were three in a row against West Indies in April and May, including his first double-century in Test cricket.The most spectacular of his knocks came on the greatest stage of them all when he battered India’s bowling in the World Cup final to make 140 not out, and made the game a virtual no-contest. He averaged over 75 in Test cricket and nearly 48 in one-day cricket, and made a staggering two-and-a-half thousand international runs in the year. Bowlers the world over can only hope that, when he does take over the Test match captaincy from Steve Waugh, it does something bad to his form.The other nominees
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Sarwan made only three centuries in the period under consideration – two of them against Bangladesh – but his influence on his team’s fortunes, particularly in the shorter version of the game, was remarkable, and he made a number of sterling contributions in both Tests and one-dayers, the worth of which cannot be measured by numbers alone. His third hundred, an innings of 105 against Australia, was one that will long be remembered, for it came when West Indies needed to make 418, a run-chase without precedent in Test history, to prevent their opponents from sweeping the series 4-0.Sarwan’s class as a Test player was never in doubt, but it was in a seven-match series of one-day internationals against India that he demonstrated that he had also come of age as a one-day batsman. He made four scores of over 80, and was instrumental in taking his side to a 4-3 victory. His commitment to the cause of West Indies cricket was never more evident than when, after being hit on the head by Sri Lanka’s Dilhara Fernando in a crucial World Cup game, he returned when his team’s run-chase began to fall apart, and took them to within six runs of victory. He revealed a talent, like Michael Bevan, for forcing the pace at the end of an innings without risking his wicket, and his ODI average for the year was a Bevan-like 60. One of the best young batsmen in the game – he is only 23 – he was rewarded towards the end of the year with the West Indies vice-captaincy.Michael Vaughan
Of all cricketers, Vaughan did the most to enhance his reputation in the period under consideration; indeed, he is so well-set now as one of the premier Test batsmen of his era that it is difficult to believe that only 18 months ago he averaged a little over 31 in Test cricket, and was being compared to Michael Atherton for his tenacity and grafting style.Early in 2002, Vaughan opened the innings for England for the first time, a move that was accompanied by a personal decision to bat with more freedom. It paid off immediately, as he made a hundred against Sri Lanka and then three more against India.But these countries possessed modest bowling attacks, and it was said everywhere that Vaughan’s real test would come against Australia in the Ashes. And how he responded! His 177 at Adelaide, 145 at Melbourne, and 183 at Sydney stand among the masterpieces of the age: he not only staged a lone battle against Australia’s marauding attack, but dominated it, with batting based on an impeccable technique given expression by attacking purpose and great elegance in execution. Another big hundred against South Africa this July provided further confirmation of his remarkable talents. His position at the forefront of English cricket was confirmed by his appointment, in quick succession, to the captaincy of England’s one-day and Test teams.

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A collective effort from Pakistan’s batsmen lifted them to anexciting win over New Zealand at Lahore. An inspired spell ofbatting, in which Abdul Razzaq clouted 47 from just 22 balls, helpedPakistan chase down a mammoth 292 with two overs to spare. Thisgave Pakistan the surge of confidence they have lacked in recenttimes. The three-wicket win gave Pakistan a 1-0 lead inthe five-match one-day series.When New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat, they needed toput a big total on the board. Having done that, they couldhardly believe their eyes as Pakistan ran away with the game.New Zealand handed debuts to six players: Craig Cumming, RichardJones, Hamish Marshall, Michael Mason, Matthew Walker and KerryWalmsley. With massive inexperience in the ranks, New Zealandneeded one of the seniors to step up and take charge. Cairns,leading the side in the absence of Stephen Fleming, played therole to perfection.After a shaky start, Mathew Sinclair and Marshall batted withcaution, and strung together a 99-run stand that kept thePakistan bowlers at bay. They kept the scoring rate ticking over,making their 99 runs from 21.2 overs.Against the run of play, Sinclair and Marshall were bothdismissed. Each had made 55, and their dismissals, with more thanten overs to go, brought Cairns and Jacob Oram together. Curiouslyenough, the fall of these two wickets close to the 40th overproved to be a blessing in disguise for New Zealand. Cairns andOram boosted the scoring rate with lusty blows and as many as 112runs were scored in the final ten overs, taking New Zealand to amassive 291.Cairns’s intent was obvious, even as he walked out to the middlewith the score on 178 and with more than 10 overs to go. Hecould make the difference between a merely healthy total and animposing one – and he did so in emphatic fashion. Cairns cut and drovethe medium-pacers with power, but reserved his most brutal effortfor the hapless Danish Kaneria.Kaneria’s last over, the 48th of the innings, went for 22 runs.The second, third and fourth balls of the over were alldespatched into the stands in style. After pulling the ball overmidwicket, Cairns showed he was no one-trick pony. He came downthe track and dumped one ball into the stands over long off, andfinished with a big heave over midwicket.Jacob Oram (35) provided Cairns with good support, and was onlydismissed off the first ball of the final over. By then, though,it hardly made a difference. Cairns’s 51-ball 84, inlcuding five fours and sixsixes took New Zealand to a strong position.Pakistan have chased down big totals in the past, and stillremain a dangerous, if incosistent, force in internationalcricket. They got off to the worst possible start, when they lostImran Farhat off only the third ball of the innings. Then, YousufYouhana (42) and Yasir Hameed (52) laid the foundation blocks toa famous win, adding 90 runs for the second wicket in 17 overs.

The fact that Pakistan scored 292 in 40 overs with no-one makingmore than 52 is testimony to the manner in which they builtpartnerships and always remained within striking distance of theasking rate. Inzamam-ul-Haq (49) played with characteristicfluency, mixing big hitting with careful defence. When he wastrapped lbw by Cairns in the 37th over (194 for 4), Pakistan werein deep trouble.Moin Khan (43), promoted to No. 5, used his experience togood effect, stealing runs from under the noses of the NewZealanders. He set himself up for a final charge, but could notresist cutting at a wide one from Daniel Vettori, and edged acatch to Brendon McCullum behind the stumps (196 for 5).Misbah-ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik fell without causing a flutter andPakistan looked dead and buried at 227 for 7 in 43.2 overs. Theystill needed 65 runs from 40 balls with only Razzaq and the tailto follow. In an innings that will long be remembered by thosefortunate enough to witness it, Razzaq hit the cover off the ballin a 22-ball display of power hitting. At 47 not out (three fours, twosixes), he found himself an unlikely hero. Pakistan were over theline, and New Zealand could scarcely believe it. The last 65 runshad come off only 28 balls. Things happened so fast, that NewZealand will need a day or two to recover.

Sri Lanka A 198 for 3 (Mubarak 61, Jayawardene 54) beat India A 197 (Sriram 65, Maharoof 4 for 30) by 7 wickets
Scorecard
Mohamed Maharoof lead the way with some accurate medium pace bowling as Sri Lanka A romped home in the final of the Kenstar tri-series tournament in Kolkata. Having restricted India A to a modest 197, Jehan Mubarak and Prasanna Jayawardene stroked their way to half-centuries and steered their team home.After losing the toss, the Sri Lanka A bowlers stuck to a nagging line that kept the batsmen, most of them in fine fettle, in a tight leash. Gautam Gambhir creamed five fours before Nuwan Zoysa, the left-arm medium-pacer, rattled his stumps. The run-rate was always kept under check and India A found partnerships of sizeable proportions hard to come by. Sridharan Sriram and Hemang Badani added 46 for the third wicket but both were tied down by some disciplined bowling.Badani spooned a catch back to Rangana Herath, the left-arm spinner, and things went downhill from then. Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Mongia perished trying to up the rate and only Sriram’s half-century prevented a collapse. Maharoof then got stuck into the lower order, fired in some incisive yorkers, and grabbed three wickets in the space of five balls.The Sri Lankans began as if they were chasing 280 and whipped everything that was a shade off line. Shantha Kalavitigoda, after hammering four boundaries, was out lbw when he was rapped on the pads by Amit Bhandari with one that jagged back at the last moment. That caused a huge uproar in Eden Gardens, which was packed for today’s game, but Mubarak and Jayawardene literally reduced the volume with some flourishing strokes. They added 104 in only 16.3 overs and Mubarak’s 61 came off 65 balls. Both fell in quick succession to the spinners, but Russel Arnold and Naveed Nawaz maintained the tempo and applied the varnish without panicking. Maharoof was adjudged the Man of the Match while Arnold was declared the Man of the Series.

This was the final that you could have predicted with eyes tight shut a month ago, with one flyweight – Zimbabwe – competing against two heavyweights. And despite a wobble or two against a plucky Zimbabwe team led with characteristic skill and bravery by Heath Streak, neither Australia nor India had to stretch too many sinews to get here. That said, three of the four league games they contested were humdingers, with only Australia’s romp in Perth interrupting the trend of fine contests that have defined this summer.The cavernous Melbourne Cricket Ground will dredge up mixed emotions in both camps. Until recently, it was the one venue where Australia appeared most vulnerable, with 40 wins and 34 defeats in their first 77 games there. But since then, in an era when they have boldly charted new waters in one-day cricket, Australia have reeled off 15 victories in 18 matches at the MCG.India’s Melbourne experience has followed a distinctly different route. Having won four of their first five one-day games there, they have now lost four on the trot and you have to go back to January 31, 1986 – when Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar were the batting heroes – for their last triumph.It’s impossible to separate the two teams in the batting stakes, though each will look to their marquee names to deliver more than they have thus far. In the league matches, you had Adam Gilchrist and VVS Laxman matching each other stroke for stroke, though Laxman reeled off three centuries to Gilchrist’s one. Both teams have also depended on middle-order effervescence in the shape of Andrew Symonds and Yuvraj Singh, the only Indian batsman to play Australia’s quick bowlers with confidence on a bouncy WACA pitch.Neither team distinguished itself overly with the ball, not helped by pitches made for batsmen’s pleasure. India can boast two of the highest wicket-takers in the tournament – Irfan Pathan has 14, and Ajit Agarkar 11 from just five matches – but neither has shown an inclination to be as economical as Scrooge.For Australia, Brett Lee – savaged for 83 runs in Brisbane – appears back to something like his rapid-fire best, while Jason Gillespie has struggled to live up to his billing as the world’s premier fast bowler. Symonds, with his innocuous offspin has taken more wickets (10) than either Lee (8) or Gillespie (6), but all of them have been eclipsed by the exceptional Brad Williams, who can point to 12 wickets at 16.66 and a superb economy rate of 4.12.

With a trophy at stake, Australia’s selectors have also been prompted to do what they should have done even before the Test series started – bring in Michael Kasprowicz. Now Queensland’s all-time leading wicket-taker, Kasprowicz has been one of the most consistent – and ignored – performers in world cricket for half a decade or more.His 48 wickets in the Pura Cup last season, and stellar displays for Glamorgan in the county championship, didn’t sway the selection panel, who persisted instead with those woefully out of form. The way he bowled against India when given a chance in the TVS Cup should have told them all they needed to know, but they still overlooked him. This call-up, however late, might just spare their blushes.The selectorial eyes will also be keenly trained on Damien Martyn – so out of sorts this season – and Simon Katich, competitors for a seat on the plane to Sri Lanka, with Darren Lehmann almost certain to be an automatic choice. Michael Clarke will also be under scrutiny, with the Hussey brothers forcing themselves into the picture through sheer weight of runs.As for India, they would do well to experiment with their bowling attack. L Balaji has been the most unflappable of their pace bowlers, and would be an ideal foil for Agarkar. At the moment, Pathan doesn’t have the raw pace, or the composure, to take on Gilchrist in full flight, and his enthusiasm and aggression would be best served as first change, Lee’s role not so long ago when Australia sensibly decided to keep the new ball with Glenn McGrath.A summer when runs have rained down should see many more scored on Friday, with the likes of Matthew Hayden and Sachin Tendulkar overdue a big score. India should welcome back their slow-bowling talisman, Anil Kumble, if he is fit in time, but even that might not be enough against an Australian side that have won 14 of 23 finals at the “G”, including four on the bounce.Australia (likely) 1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Simon Katich, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Jason Gillespie, 10 Brad Williams, 11 Michael Kasprowicz.India (likely) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Rahul Dravid (wk), 5 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Rohan Gavaskar, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 L Balaji.

Ricky Ponting has stressed that a patient approach against Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers, and an aggressive one against their batsmen hold the key to Australia’s chances of success when the one-day series starts off at Dambulla on Friday.The Australians expect a full hand of spinners to be in opposition, and had a meeting to discuss ways of combating Muttiah Muralitharan on Wednesday night. "We haven’t played him too badly in the past," Ponting said. “It’s been the other blokes, the part-timers, who have caused us more problems than him."In the past, Australia have paid for their eagerness to attack the part-time slow bowlers introduced early in the innings. “We’ve realised these bowlers have come on and it’s been a chance for us to get after them early but we’ve actually got out," he said. “That’s one area we’ve addressed and we’ll address it again before tomorrow’s game. One thing you don’t want to do is go too hard and lose too many wickets and put pressure on the middle order against their spinners."”The game plan … is to keep wickets in hand for as long as we can against their spinners and be a bit more patient through the middle of our innings. You know that on these grounds whatever you sacrifice through the middle you can pick up at the end of the innings with wickets in hand.”Such a wait-and-watch approach would be adopted by the bowlers though. They have been given license to target the Sri Lankan batsmen with short balls aimed at the rib-cage. Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s most potent one-day threat, has already suffered a broken arm and a broken finger in his tussles with Australia, and Ponting said that he could expect more on the same in the days to come.”That will still be a plan of ours for sure, especially with the new ball. There’s no doubt we’ll be testing them out that way. I think with someone like him it (short-pitched bowling) certainly is a bit of weakness. We want to bowl it short near the body – they don’t like that too much, the same with the Indian players."”That’s our biggest challenge: to identify weaknesses in opposition batsmen and be able to bowl accordingly. And that’s what we didn’t do well enough in Australia early on this summer, although we it well in the end. It’s important we do that straight away in this series.”On the team selection front, Australia will be forced to leave out either Michael Bevan or Simon Katich. Michael Clarke’s slow left-arm spin, and inventive batting have made him a near certainty for the middle order, and it has been suggested that Katich being a more regular bowler might tilt the scales in his favour.”The good thing about our side at the moment is that we’ve got a few guys we can rely on to bowl some pretty good part-time spin," said Ponting. "Symonds and Clarke do a pretty good job and I don’t think there’s any more pressure on Bevo’s spot for that reason.”

Sri Lanka 245 (Jayasuriya 55, Atapattu 47, Clarke 5-35) beat Australia 244 for 5 (Hayden 93, Ponting 69, Vaas 3-48) by one run
Scorecard

Chaminda Vaas grabbed three wickets, and kept his cool during anerve-jangling final over, as Sri Lanka snatched a thrilling one-run victoryagainst Australia at Dambulla. Needing just eight to win from the last six balls with five wickets in hand, Australia looked set for victory, but Vaas conceded only six runs to level the series at 1-1.For most of the afternoon, it had seemed as if Sri Lanka would pay for aspectacular late batting collapse. Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden added148 for the second wicket, and Australia were cruising – but the dismissal ofPonting precipitated a slump from 148 for 1 to 192 for 5.Andrew Symonds – the beneficiary of a bizarre and sportingrecall, after being adjudged lbw by Peter Manuel on 10 – and Michael Bevan carried Australia to the brink of victory, adding 52 in 58balls, but could not finish the job because of Vaas’s heroics.Sri Lanka’s top order had batted their team into a commanding positionin the morning with partnerships of 121 for the first wicket – between Sanath Jayasuriya (55) and Marvan Atapattu (47) – and 70 for the third between Mahela Jaywardene (38) and Kumar Sangakkara (39). But some reckless batting by the middle and lower order against Michael Clarke’s innocuous-looking left-arm spin squandered the initiative as the last sevenwickets fell for just 29. Sri Lanka, gliding along at 192 for 2 at one stage, were bowled out with one ball remaining.Nevertheless, the target was competitive on a dry, worn surface – the same pitch that was used on Friday – that offered plenty of assistance for Sri Lanka’s six spinners. Ironically, though, it was Vaas who grabbed the first wicket as Clarke, promoted from the middle order to counter the spinners, shelled the third ball of the innings straight to Upul Chandana at backward point (0 for 1).Ponting and Hayden took a couple of overs to settle. However, in the fifthover, Ponting cut loose, pulling a short one from Vaas over square leg for six, and then cracking a square cut to the point fence. Thereafter, Australia started to tick along smoothly with both batsmen mixing sharp singles and twos with calculated aggression.Atapattu rotated his bowlers with increasing desperation. Seven had been used by the 22nd over, and not one of them looked remotely threatening. Even Muttiah Muralitharan, who might have expected to be a major handful on this pitch, was unable to conjure up a breakthrough.But Sri Lanka finally broke through in the 32nd over as Ponting top-edged asweep to be caught at deep square leg. Vaas was recalled for a second spell, and he deceived Damien Martyn with a slower ball to put Sri Lanka right back inthe match (170 for 3).Australia started the final ten overs needing a modest 56 to win, but suffered amassive blow when Hayden miscued a lofted drive to be caught at wide long-off.In the same over, Dharmasena won an lbw decision against Symonds that was later overruled following discussions between Gilchrist, the non-striker, the umpires and Atapattu – after it became clear that Symonds had edged the ball on to his pads.Although Vaas clung on to a tumbling caught-and-bowled chance off Gilchristin the next over to leave Australia 192 for 5, Atapattu’s sportsmanship looked to have cost Sri Lanka victory as Symonds and Bevan steadily chipped away at the target. When Bevan smashed Muralitharan for six over midwicketin the 49th over, it looked all over.

But Vaas conceded just two singles off his first two balls, and then followedup with consecutive dot-balls to leave Australia needing six off two. Symonds could only scamper a single and Bevan was unable to hit a six off the last ball.Atapattu had started the day well, winning what appeared a crucial tossand then leading from the front with the bat. While Jayasuriya was unusuallynervy at the start, labouring for 32 balls before hitting his firstboundary, Atapattu played fluently, puncturing the infield with high-elboweddrives and clips.Both Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee struggled to find rhythm early on, though Gillespie was unlucky to not claim an early lbw against Jayasuriya, when he had made just 10. The arrival of Symonds into the attack finally shook Jayasuriya out of his slumber. His second ball, a medium-pacer, was clubbed over cover and his fourth delivery, an offbreak, was smashed over midwicket. Jayasuriya sprinted to his fifty, the 55th of his one-day career, as Atapattu settled back into a supporting role.It was Ponting who came to his side’s aid. Athletically flinging himself to his left at midwicket, he then broke the stumps at the non-striker’s end with a diving underarm flick. Atapattu had scored 47 from 68 balls. Next over, Symonds trapped Jayasuriya lbw with an offbreak that crept along the floor.The run rate slowed as Jayawardene and Sangakkara, who had added 121together in the first game, played themselves in. The spinners, Symonds and BradHogg, troubled both batsmen, and strokeplay was never easy on apitch that grew increasingly slow. But Jayawardene, who survived a run-out chance on 4 when Symonds’s throwmissed the stumps, settled – and runs started to flow. Sangakkara, who managed just a single boundary in his 58-ball 39, allowed his partner to take theinitiative as 70 were added in 98 balls.Ponting’s decision to replace Lee with Clarke paid dividends as Jayawardene wascaught at cover trying to loft over the infield (192 for 3). Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan then added 24 in 29 balls before the innings lurched into freefall – the last seven wickets fell for 29 courtesy of a rash of ambitiousstrokes. Luckily for Sri Lanka, Australia fluffed their final lines as well in the late-afternoon sunshine.

Darren Gough insists he never gave up hope of earning a recall to England’s one-day side, and has now set his sights on completing the double of 200 wickets in both forms of the game.”I’m just looking forward to being back among the lads again,” Gough told the Essex website, after being named in England’s squad for the seven-match series against West Indies that follows the Tests. “I just want to play international cricket again, because I think I still have a lot to offer. You never give up hope. As long as I’m fit then I still believe I am good enough.”Gough’s future had been in doubt when he was omitted from the one-day squad for the pre-Christmas trips to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but after sizing up their options the selectors realised there was no substitute for experience. “They looked at other players,” said Gough, “but I guess it’s flattering that they have come back to me for the West Indies series.”He went on: “If some of the youngsters can follow my lead in practice then I believe that will help them in the long run – that’s one of the reasons why they want me around the team. But from a selfish point of view I want to get 12 wickets to reach 200 [in one-day internationals].”Joining Gough in the one-day squad is Steve Harmison, whose stunning form in the Jamaica and Trinidad Tests virtually guaranteed his inclusion. He hopes to be able to make an impact this time around, after a stuttering start to his one-day career in Australia last winter, where he infamously bowled seven wides in an over in a warm-up match in Lilac Hill.”It would be nice to get rid of what happened in Australia and prove I can play one-day cricket,” he said. “But I’m going to take one step at a time and hopefully things will go as well as the Test matches.”