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by eight wicketsUpul Tharanga proved he can play the sheet anchor role for Sri Lanka as he carried his bat through the innings•AFP

Upul Tharanga’s ninth one-day century and his first against West Indies steered Sri Lanka to a convincing eight-wicket win and a 1-0 lead in the three-match one-day series.Tharanga paced his innings superbly, and batted out the entire length of the Sri Lanka innings, to remain unbeaten on 101 off 143 balls with the help of seven fours.The tall, lean left-hander is expected to play the sheet anchor role during Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign and bat out the entire 50 overs. On Thursday, he showed what he is capable of doing, as Sri Lanka chased down a rain-revised total of 197 off 47 overs in just 42.3, after West Indies had been dismissed for 203.Tharanga’s innings was chanceless, and on a slow pitch which suited his style of batting he was never in trouble despite West Indies using as many as seven bowlers, who managed to prize out only two wickets between them.Tillakaratne Dilshan left in the ninth over, attempting to cut a ball too close to his body and offering a catch behind the wicket. Captain Kumar Sangakkara managed 20 out of a second-wicket stand of 70 with Tharanga, before hitting a half volley from Dwayne Bravo to short extra cover.Mahela Jayawardene and Tharanga made sure West Indies didn’t make any further inroads into the batting by sharing an unbroken stand of 97. Jayawardene sealed the match with an inside-out drive to the boundary off Miller. He was unbeaten on 48 at the end of the match.Sri Lanka came up with a disciplined bowling performance to restrict West Indies to 203. Given the persistent rain over the previous two days, the toss was vital and Sri Lanka had no hesitation in inviting West Indies to bat on the same surface on which the first match was played three days ago. Openers Chris Gayle and Adrian Barath, who made a century in the first ODI, negotiated some testing overs from Lasith Malinga and Nuwana Kulasekara to add 45 runs within the first 10 overs, before Kulasekara trapped Barath lbw, playing across the line to a ball that pitched on off stump.Gayle, who had previously hit Kulasekara for a six and four in one over, then edged Muttiah Muralitharan to Thilan Samaraweera at second slip. Gayle came forward to a good length ball and was surprised by the bounce that Muralitharan got off the very first ball of his spell.The fall of the openers on 45 slowed West Indies’ run-rate and Sangakkara took advantage of it by getting a few overs from part-time offspinner Dilshan in. West Indies looked to be getting their innings back on track as Darren Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan added 49 runs off 96 balls. The stand ended when Sarwan, who was backing up too far at the non-striker’s end, was run out after a hard drive by Darren Bravo hit the stumps off bowler Rangana Herath’s hand.Darren was joined by his half-brother Dwayne Bravo and the duo put on 38 before Malinga, returning for his second spell, trapped Darren Bravo lbw with a reverse-swinging delivery. Another reverse-swinging delivery from Malinga soon accounted for the dangerous Kieron Pollard, who played down the wrong line, and had his off stump pegged back.Dwayne Bravo and Carlton Baugh added a further 37 runs to take West Indies to 175 for 5 before Herath, who had bowled a tight line and length, was finally rewarded with the wicket of Dwayne Bravo. The remaining West Indies batsmen failed to offer much resistance as the last four wickets fell for just 16 runs.It was an all-round bowling effort from the Sri Lankans, with Malinga the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 30. Sri Lanka’s fielders backed their bowlers with some excellent ground fielding and missed just one catch when Angelo Mathews dropped Baugh at long leg.

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Charles Coventry lines up a big shot during his 67 0ff 40 balls•Zimbabwe Cricket

Charles Coventry secured an honourable end to Matabeleland Tuskers’ Twenty20 campaign as his boundary-laden half-century took them to a nine-wicket win over Southern Rocks at Harare Sports Club and third place in the final standings. Entering after Neil Carter had been removed early in pursuit of Rocks’ 154 for 8, Coventry shared in an unbroken 126-run partnership with Paul Horton, who hit an unbeaten fifty of his own, as victory was achieved with 10 balls to spare.Carrying a niggling injury that has curtailed his bowling in this tournament, Carter has been used as a top-order pinch-hitter and launched Tuskers’ innings with three successive boundaries in left-arm seamer Tendai Chisoro’s second over. Elton Chigumbura struck back for Rocks with his very first ball as Carter gave himself room and slashed out to deep cover where Tendai Chitongo held a superb catch, diving to his left.Coventry got off to a fluent start, collecting boundaries off his national team-mates Chigumbura and Chamu Chibhabha. But where Coventry might often have been accused of throwing away his wicket too quickly, today he played himself in carefully as seven overs of careful accumulation passed before he broke free.When the charge did finally come, it was explosive, and successive sixes helped plunder 22 off Chigumbura’s final over. With Tuskers hurrying towards their target, former Zimbabwe Under-19 legspinner Chitongo was crunched for six over the cover boundary and offspinner Keith Kulinga’s second over was dismissed for 11. After Horton went to his fifty, Coventry finished the job two balls into the 19th over, slapping Chitongo to midwicket to seal the win and third place for Tuskers.It was a disappointing end for Rocks, who had a nightmare season in 2009-10 but came back strongly this time round and appeared to be the form team of this tournament. Their batting had been their most impressive facet, but today it was the batsmen that let the side down. With Sikandar Raza and Chigumbura both falling early, it was left to Tatenda Taibu to repair the innings with a typically enterprising half-century. But he found precious little support, with the middle order being skittled cheaply as medium-pacers Keegan Meth and Bradley Staddon picking up two wickets apiece.

England have named a full-strength squad for the first warm-up match of their Ashes tour, a three-day game against Western Australia in Perth, with Graeme Swann and James Anderson included after recovering from injury.Anderson suffered a cracked rib during the team’s pre-tour preparation camp in Germany, while Swann bruised a thumb earlier this week after being struck by a rising delivery from Tim Bresnan while batting in the nets.”We are obviously going to try to give the guys who are going to be in the Test XI as much cricket as possible,” said captain Andrew Strauss. “But there are still one or two places up for grabs in that team.”England’s second warm-up game is against South Australia in Adelaide, and their preparations ahead of the first Test in Brisbane on November 25 may also include resting their first-choice bowling attack for the third warm-up, against Australia A in Hobart. It emerged last week that England are intending to send their likely Test attack straight from Adelaide to Brisbane in order to allow them to acclimatise to the sub-tropical conditions of Queensland.”That was one of the options we are looking at,” said Strauss. “But nothing is clear enough for us to be able to say that categorically at this stage. I’m not 100% sure what the Test attack is going to be. Also, you may have guys who need another bowl or might be struggling with injuries. So for that to be said at this stage is jumping the gun.”We definitely want our bowling attack to be as acclimatised as possible to Brisbane. If we have an opportunity to do that, we’ll do it; if we don’t, then we won’t. I’m looking at giving our best XI as good a preparation as possible. Maybe one or two that don’t get as much cricket as they would like, I am sure they’ll understand the reasons for it.”England’s preparations in Perth stepped up in intensity with a four-hour inter-squad practice match in 36-degree heat on Wednesday, and Ian Bell welcomed the increased workload. ”It’s completely different practise really,” he said. “It’s more about getting out there in the game situation, not about how many balls we’re hitting.”It’s just about getting back into game-mode. I think we got about 50 overs in the field between us and that’s nice coming into Friday. All the talk that the WACA’s wicket is getting quicker and quicker again is obviously good [ahead] of going to Brisbane with a bit more pace and bounce. For us, it’s a great place to prepare.”England will be familiar with certain members of the Western Australia team they will face from November 5, although Mike Hussey, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Johnson are away on national one-day duty with Australia, but one player they won’t have seen before is Michael Hogan, the 29-year old right-arm seamer. Mickey Arthur, Hogan’s coach at the Warriors, believes Hogan “will trouble any batsman when he gets it right””He’s a quality performer and he’s bowled superbly well all year,” Arthur said of the 195cm fast bowler. “I expect him to trouble any batter. He’s the type of bowler – and I said this to him the other day – that wouldn’t be out of sorts at international level.”England squad Andrew Strauss (capt), Alistair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, James Anderson, Eoin Morgan, Chris Tremlett

England’s Michael Lumb, who has played seven Twenty20 internationals, will help Queensland’s push for a berth in the Champions League after agreeing to join them for this summer’s Big Bash. Lumb, a left-handed opener, was part of the World Twenty20 victory in the Caribbean in May and will aim to provide the Bulls with some much needed power hitting.”When we learned that Andrew Flintoff was not going to be able to take up his contract with us, we looked at a few players that we felt would bring something special to our group,” the Queensland coach Trevor Barsby said. “Having caught a few of his performances for England and Rajasthan Royals, Michael was pretty well at the top of the list as far as I was concerned.”Lumb, 30, has a strike-rate of more than 140 in both international and domestic T20 competition, and will be released by the state if he is called into England’s plans. “It’s going to be an amazing experience playing in Australia – I honestly can’t wait,” Lumb said.”I’ve come across lads like Ryan Harris and Andrew Symonds in the IPL and have had a good chat with Trevor Barsby, so the tournament can’t come soon enough.” He is the second English player to join the event, which starts in late December, after Sajid Mahmood was picked up by Western Australia on Tuesday.

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Ramond van Schoor top scored for Namibia in their 62-run win•Getty Images

Namibia steamrolled Uganda in a low-scoring encounter in the first of three List A games in the capital Windhoek. A four wicket-haul from seamer Louis Klazinga and left-arm spinner Louis van der Westhuizen’s three-for shut out Uganda from the game after the hosts had been bowled out for 156.Only two batsmen in Uganda’s chase – Arthur Kyobe and Frank Nsubuga – reached double-digits as the result failed to measure up to Namibia’s determined effort to compensate for their shortcomings with the bat. The only ray of hope in the Uganda innings was a second-wicket stand of 30 but the innings derailed from there on, as Namibia captured the remaining nine wickets for just 53. Klazinga uprooted the top order and van der Westhuizen mopped up the tail to knock out Uganda for 94.Opener and wicketkeeper Raymond van Schoor top scored for Namibia with a fluent 36 and even after his dismissal, with the score on 43, there were important contributions from Wian van Vuuren (26) and Gert Lotter (32) in the middle order and Christi Viljoen (23) further down that gave the Namibia bowlers a fighting target to defend. For Uganda, seamer Charles Waiswa starred with three wickets.

ScorecardKyle Hogg took 4 for 53 as Hampshire collapsed on the opening day•Getty Images

A total of 12 wickets fell on the opening day of the County Championship match between Lancashire and Hampshire at Liverpool but it is the hosts who will rest the easier. Kyle Hogg and Tom Smith shared seven wickets as they skittled former team-mate Dominic Cork’s men for 160.The seam duo were recently awarded their first-team caps at Old Trafford and were major players as Hampshire lost five wickets for just one run in 16 balls to slip from 62 for 1 to 63 for 6. Hogg, 27, finished with a season’s best 4 for 53 from 14 overs and Smith 3 for 40 from 12, taking advantage of some movement off the pitch after Glen Chapple had won the toss and elected to bowl.Conditions for batting were not treacherous by any means but there was pace and carry, uneven bounce at times and sideways movement. But, despite Cork trapping Paul Horton lbw early in Lancashire’s reply, the hosts responded with authority.Mark Chilton (47 not out) closed in on his fourth fifty in his last seven innings as the hosts reached 124 for 2 from 46 overs at close, 36 runs behind.Hampshire had made a commanding start thanks to Michael Carberry (30) and Australian Phil Hughes in particular. They put on 43 for the second wicket before the dramatic spell undid their good work.Carberry was caught behind by Gareth Cross off Hogg before Neil McKenzie was trapped lbw by the same bowler for a three-ball duck in the same over, the 23rd. Hughes then edged Smith to Horton at first slip in the next over. And it was the first of two in two balls for Smith because he also trapped Sean Ervine lbw for a golden duck.Wicketkeeper Michael Bates then completed the handful of wickets when he edged Hogg to Smith at second slip for the third duck of the innings. Smith later bowled James Vince and Hogg had James Tomlinson caught by Horton.But debutant Chris Wood top scored with 35, sharing crucial eighth and ninth wicket stands of 30 and 43 with Cork and Tomlinson, to at least bring some respectability. Chapple also claimed two wickets but struggled for much of the innings with an ankle problem.Lancashire opener Karl Brown was dropped on 14 by Hughes in the slips but edged Ervine behind to Bates after tea to leave Lancashire at 49 for 2 in the 21st over. Chilton, who hit eight fours, was particularly strong on the straight drive, while he also top edged a pull off Wood over long leg for six.

ScorecardShivnarine Chanderpaul was at his nuggety best to help lift Lancashire out of trouble•PA Photos

West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul saved Lancashire from embarrassmentwith an innings of 118 at the Rose Bowl, the 54th first-class century of adistinguished career.Lancashire captain Glen Chapple chose to bat first in overcast conditions whichoffered plenty of help to the Hampshire attack and at the close Lancashire hadmustered 262 for 8 from 96 overs and it could have been far worse but forChanderpaul.The experienced Guyanese left-hander was in complete control as wickets tumbledaround him. Chanderpaul came to the wicket when Lancashire were 35 for 2 in the 18th overhaving lost Tom Smith to a catch at the wicket and Paul Horton to another atsecond slip off David Balcombe.Chanderpaul received precious little support as the ball darted around in thefirst session and then again after lunch. Chanderpaul was involved in two substantial stands in an otherwisebowler-dominated day.Steven Croft helped him add 78 for the fourth wicket and Luke Sutton addedanother 77 for the sixth but without short-term signing Chanderpaul Lancashirewould have paid a heavy price for the decision to bat first.Mark Chilton was the third batsman to go with the score on 41 giving EnglandUnder-19 wicketkeeper Michael Bates a second catch on his debut. Lancashire lunched at 65 for 3 and Croft helped Chanderpaul take the score to 119 before he chopped the ball onto his stumps when facing left-arm spinner Danny Briggs. Gareth Cross departed at 127 to another catch at the wicket off Briggs butChanderpaul stood in Hampshire’s way.Sutton was a reliable ally during the sixth-wicket stand but pace bowlerBalcombe returned to dismiss Sutton to a smart catch at first slip by JamesVince.Chanderpaul reached his century soon afterwards with his 13th boundary, turningBalcombe to fine leg for another four. Chapple fell at 246 to give former Lancashire bowler Dominic Cork his first wicket of the innings and just before the close Chanderpaul’s resistance wasfinally broken. Again it was the durable Cork, 39 next week, who made the breakthrough havingChanderpaul caught at the wicket after more than 70 overs of defiance.Chanderpaul faced 217 balls and hit 16 fours to help Lancashire recover to aposition of parity. Sajid Mahmood got off the mark with a six off James Tomlinson and was nine notout at the close.Cork finished with 2 for 48, Balcombe took 2 for 63 and the promisingBriggs was credited with figures of 2 for 54 from 18 accurate overs.

ScorecardDarren Stevens registered a 26-ball fifty, but Essex prevailed at The Oval•Getty Images

Kent switched their home venue to The Oval but enjoyed no change in luck as Essex held their nerve to win a Friends Provident t20 South Group thriller by four wickets and with only two balls to spare. Chasing Kent’s useful total of 171 for 6, Essex appeared to be coasting to their ninth win of the campaign as they reached 146 for 3 courtesy of identical 36-ball innings of 51 by Alastair Cook and Mark Pettini.Opening bat Ravi Bopara had set them flying with a cameo 29 from 21 balls but, when Cook needlessly chipped to mid-on, the Eagles suffered a serious case of the jitters.Even when Matt Walker (one) fell leg before to Simon Cook, the pick of Kent’s attack with 2 for 21, Essex still only needed 23 from the last 18 balls. But a frugal over from Azhar Mahmood that leaked only three runs and accounted for Pettini, bowled by a yorker, set Essex nerves jangling again.It took a cameo 25 from 13 balls by Scott Styris, including 17 off the penultimate over of the night from Matt Coles, to set Essex back on course. Coles got his revenge by bowling the New Zealander with his last delivery and then Mahmood bowled James Foster, but with six needed off the last over Essex were once again favourites.Mahmood conceded a leg-side wide in the final over and, with nine of his fielders in the ring, could not prevent Tim Phillips from hitting the winning boundary.Batting first after winning the toss, Kent lost makeshift opener James Hockley in the fourth over when, in aiming to flick a leg-side wide Styris, he over-balanced and dragged his back foot allowing Foster to whip off the bails for a sharp stumping.Acting Kent captain Martin van Jaarsveld, their top-scorer in this season’s t20, had reached only three when he mistimed a lofted drive against Styris to clip a simple catch to midwicket and make it 41 for 2.Two run outs then left Kent deep in trouble at 73 for 4, 12 overs into their innings. Geraint Jones (11) was first to go after being called through for a suicidal single to Walker at mid-off.Four runs later Denly (35) also gifted away his wicket with foolish running. Having turned the ball firmly into the covers he pushed off only to be sent back by non-striker Darren Stevens, and finished well short of his ground once the throw from Styris arrived.Fresh from his success with England Lions, Stevens then teamed up with Alex Blake (17) to add 53 in 4.3 overs before Blake holed out to long-off against Chris Wright, who caused most problems with his slow-ball bouncer.Allrounder Azhar Mahmood (eight) nicked a Bopara long-hop to the keeper but with Stevens in full flight Kent added 91 in their final seven overs at 13 an over, Stevens finishing unbeaten on a 26-ball 50 with eight fours.

ScorecardEngland’s extra class was too much for Ireland as they eased to a 147-run victory at Kibworth. Laura Marsh’s career-best 67 backed up Charlotte Edwards’ 72 as England piled on 274 for 7 before the visitors crumbled in the chase with the wickets shared around to lift confidence ahead of the one-day series against New Zealand.The efforts of Edwards and Marsh were needed after England wobbled early in their innings and slipped to 69 for 3 when Sarah Taylor fell for a brisk 27 off 23 balls. Edwards added 56 with Lydia Greenway and 54 with Marsh before departing to Jill Whelan. Marsh then took charge to guide the latter part of the innings with her runs coming off 55 balls, putting on 60 alongside Danielle Hazell (24 off 17).Ireland’s reply began in difficult fashion when Clare Shillington was forced to retire injured after being hit on the arm and they never threatened the target. Laura Delany offered the main resistance with 43 off 90 balls until she was the last wicket to fall. Marsh followed her batting success with an economical nine overs and Holly Colvin bagged two wickets.”It was a great day today and personally nice to have scored my first one-day fifty,” Marsh said. “I have been working hard with [head coach] Mark Lane and Jack Birkenshaw on my technique and it’s paying off. Charlotte Edwards batted well up front and put in a good performance. We’ve now got to take this momentum into the one-day series against New Zealand.”The first ODI between England and New Zealand is at Taunton on July 10.

N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, has said a new member would be appointed to the disciplinary committee since Shashank Manohar had recused himself following Lalit Modi’s repeated requests for the same. The original panel comprised Chirayu Amin and Arun Jaitley, both members of the IPL governing council, along with Manohar. Incidentally Manohar, in a letter marked to Srinivasan on June 19, stepped down, saying that he would like to give Modi a “fair” trial during the enquiry.In his original reply to the first notice on May 15, Modi had also asked that Srinivasan be recused from the hearings against him but that was not granted. “Since Lalit Modi has also accused Mr Manohar [of being biased], he would be replaced by another member to be decided by the general body,” Srinivasan told PTI.Reacting to Manohar recusing himself, Mehmood Abdi, Modi’s legal counsel called the whole process “an eyewash”. “After having decided that Modi’s replies are not satisfactory, as being reported by a TV channel, Manohar has recused himself,” Abdi said. “And the man who is not part of the disciplinary committee, and whose recusal we had demanded, secretary N Srinvasan, is the man who has referred the matter to the disciplinary committee.”