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Guernsey secured their first ever title when they beat Jersey in the final of the European Under-15 Division 2 Championship in La Manga, Spain on Saturday.Jersey, who have already taken gold in both the U-19 and U-23 Division 2 Championships, could not overcome the 189-run target set by Guernsey, despite the side lacking Tim Ravenscroft, their star batsman who was in England scoring a century for Hampshire Under-17s.The two sides were the strongest throughout the competition, each winning all four group matches against the other eight teams. With the two islands being such close neighbours, the intense rivalry gave the encounter added spice, but one that did not detract from the excellent spirit in which a thoroughly competitive match was played at a truly impressive standard.Tim de la Haye, the Jersey captain, invited Guernsey to bat – a decision that paid instant dividends as Guernsey’s openers both fell, reducing them to 32 for 2. But then followed a championship-winning stand of 93 between Adam Hindle (48) and Thomas Kirk (29) who took Guernsey to 189 for 7 in their 35 overs.Jersey’s reply began poorly, with both their openers – Aidan McGuire and Bradley Rimeur – falling cheaply, and Joseph Mayes making only 11. The onus was on de la Haye, but he was left with a middle-order who had barely had any time in the middle over the past week – and had even less time to adapt to the match situation. Jersey fell short by 69 runs.Haye’s 46 was the highest score made against Guernsey in the whole tournament and included three massive sixes, two of which cleared the protective netting covering the ground’s straight boundaries. Guernsey’s bowlers did a great job, Matthew Renouf and Andrew Hutchinson bowled with immaculate lines and lengths. Thomas Kirk and Thomas Still both took three wickets.Meanwhile, Isle of Man beat Spain by seven wickets to take third place in the competition, reaching their target of 137 in 28.3 overs for the loss of three wickets. Belgium took fifth place, beating Italy by six wickets and in the seventh/eighth place play-off Germany beat Cyprus by 19 runs.In the match for ninth and 10th positions, Gibraltar beat France by 89 runs to take ninth place leaving France to claim the wooden spoon, but there was some consolation as the French took the MCC Spirit of Cricket Award.

A fortnight before he was due to take over as the chief executive of the West Indies Cricket Board, Roland Toppin has announced that he is no longer available to assume the role.Toppin was appointed on November 22 to fill a position that had been vacant since the resignation of Roger Brathwaite in April.In a statement, Tony Deyal, corporate services manager of the WICB, said that Toppin “could no longer take up the appointment for personal reasons”. He added that Toppin stressed he had been looking forward to the appointment and had been well advanced in his preparations to start on February 1.”Considerations that were previously unforeseen have now forced him to withdraw,” Deyal said.The WICB has accepted his reasons for withdrawing and will review the matter at its next meeting in Barbados on February 12.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has changed its selection policy, giving more powers to the selectors in picking the team for each match and effectively clipping the wings of coach and captain. Under the new system, which began with the current Test against West Indies at Multan, a touring selector will finalise the playing eleven after consulting the team management.”The new policy is in line with that adopted by other cricket-playing nations like Australia and England,” Saleem Altaf, the PCB’s director of cricket operations told Reuters. “A selector will now remain attached with the team on tours and home series.”A source with the PCB cited the example of the selection of an allrounder ahead of a specialist seamer for the Multan Test.”For the second test, coach Bob Woolmer wanted to play left arm pacer Samiullah Niazi,” the source said. “But the majority view prevailed, that allrounder Abdul Razzaq should be retained from the first test team.”The new PCB regime, under Dr Nasim Ashraf, has been taking steps to ensure more professionalism in overall governance and team selections. One of the major decisions last month was to appoint full-time paid selectors after the World Cup next year to replace the existing committee, which works on an honorary basis.

Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium has been confirmed as the venue of the final of the IPL on June 1. Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, said the match had to be shifted out the Wankhede Stadium because the capacity of the DY Patil Stadium is much higher.”That stadium has more capacity and also there are many ICC representatives who will be attending the final and Wankhede doesn’t have so much space to accomodate,” Pawar told reporters in Mumbai. “Wankhede can accommodate only around 32,000 and DY Patil can house around 55,000. It’s (difference) huge.”Originally the DY Patil stadium, which is in Nerul (about 40km from south Mumbai’s business district), was scheduled to host Mumbai’s five league games between April 27 and May 16. But the MCA told the DY Patil authorities that since Mumbai’s next two games – against Chennai and Kolkata – take place on weekdays, it would be difficult for the fans to travel such a distance late in the evening after their office hours. Both games were shifted to the Wankhede Stadium, in South Mumbai’s business district. Wankhede, however will host the two semi-finals as scheduled.With the Wankhede Stadium set to host the final of the 2011 World Cup, Pawar said plans were on to demolish the stadium and rebuild it from scratch to meet ICC standards.”We had a meeting with the Mumbai Hockey Association and they have given us in writing that one portion of their space can be utilised by us. There’s no way we can conduct the World Cup final in present conditions. ICC will not accept it. We need to build better facilities for all, including for the media.”We will start work in August. The whole structure will be razed down first and a fresh one built. The refurbished stadium will be ready by December 2010 and the World Cup is in March-April 2011.”

Four days after he went for the small matter of 87 from seven oversagainst West Indies, Stuart Clark has an immediate chance at redemption asAustralia take on India for a place in the DLF Cup final. Under normalcircumstances, it’s doubtful whether he would have played, but withAustralia having pencilled in their teams for the four league games longago, he gets this opportunity against an Indian side that will no doubt dotheir best to target him.Clark is a cool customer, and his decision to keep the match ball afterthe pounding he received on Monday said much about his unflappable nature,but with Shane Watson, who has had an outstanding tournament, and NathanBracken missing from the line-up, there will be immense pressure on himwhen he comes on as first change for Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.McGrath gave indications of being back to his best in the two matches heplayed, and Lee was into his stride straight away against West Indies. Ifthe Indian top order bat as they did against the gentle medium pace ofDwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo, they may as well not bother turning up.But India have a bit of a history when it comes to these sudden-deathcontests. And in Sachin Tendulkar, they have a man apparently anxious toprove that rumours of his decline are highly premature. What they don’thave is a batting order in any sort of form. Much will depend once againon what sort of start Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar can give them.Virender Sehwag needs to improve on his tournament aggregate of 18 runs,and Yuvraj Singh could do with a run or two. As for Mahendra Singh Dhoni,seemingly in superb touch until the most atrocious of hoicks against WestIndies, this is an opportunity to get back to the form of last season,when he slammed most attacks he faced to all corners. For these men, andothers like Suresh Raina, this is the ultimate test. West Indies may awaitin the final if they get through, but victory against a near full-strengthAustralian side is as good as it gets.Dravid and Greg Chappell will no doubt have taken a close look at footagefrom the last game they played against Australia. Watson and MichaelClarke, who made the bulk of the runs then, sit out this one, but therelentlessly consistent and prolific Michael Hussey will pose an entirelydifferent challenge. Once again, spin could hold the key, with Australiahaving struggled to eke out 68 runs in 20 overs against Harbhajan Singhand Sehwag in the previous match.That’s not to say that India lack firepower in the pace department. MunafPatel has improved with every game, while Ajit Agarkar has alliedconsistency to his skiddy pace and swing. There’s also Sreesanth, whosegenuinely quick spell on Wednesday prompted many to wonder why he had beenleft out of the squad for the Champions Trophy.These two teams usually don’t do dull games, and with Tendulkar andMcGrath on collision course once again, this has every ingredient requiredto be another tasty encounter. The winners will go into the final inconfident mood, leaving the losers to put salve on their wounded prideahead of the Champions Trophy.India (likely): 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Rahul Dravid (capt), 3Virender Sehwag, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni(wk), 7 Ajit Agarkar, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Rudra Pratap Singh, 10 SSreesanth, 11 Munaf Patel.Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt),4 Damien Martyn, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8Brad Hogg, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Send us your feedback on this storyThe first meeting of the interim board of Zimbabwe Cricket ended with a number of announcements in addition to the decision to suspend the country from Test cricket.Since a controversial AGM last September, the ZC board has not been able to meet as opponents of Peter Chingoka, the embattled chairman, boycotted all meetings. It took government involvement – the removal of most of those opposed to Chingoka on race and political grounds and their replacement with pro-Zanu-PF supporters – to enable the board to achieve a quorum. Given the less-than-democratic constitution of the new board, embarrassing questions or criticism were not going to be the order of the day.The main issue, that of the players, was the one that needed addressing but it was brushed aside “pending the finalisation of player issues”. The reality is that ZC remains aware that despite the end of the strike, there is every chance that many of those involved are ready to walk away. It had been speculated that a new captain would be named to replace Tatenda Taibu, but Andy Blignaut, the favourite, is not in the country and is rumoured to be about to quit anyway.The board did name Kevin Curran as coach, but that too will not go down well. The players have been training with Phil Simmons – sacked last year by ZC but fighting his dismissal in the courts – and are said to have little time for Curran who is seen as too closely allied to ZC officials. Andy Pycroft was appointed to run the A team and Walter Chawaguta the national Under-19 side.Bruce Makovah was named as head of the selection panel previously headed by Max Ebrahim – one of those culled on the basis of his race – with Curran and Zimbabwe Cricket Academy Manager Kudzai Shoko as the other two members. In September last year Makovah was accused of stopping a match in Harare and of racially abusing and threatening players.The board also appointed various sub-committees. Chingoka was named to chair the International Relations Committee; Wilson Manase the Constitution Review Committee with Sylvester Matshaka, Tavengwa Mukuhlani and Stanley Staddon as the members; Oliver Kanhukamwe the Development Committee with Levy Hombarume, Charles Maunze and Crispen Tsvarayi as members. Mike Weeden, who is involved with women’s cricket, will be an ex-officio committee member. Reading though the lists of other committees made the degree of the cleansing of almost all white and Asian people all too clear.The other issue which has attracted the most media attention – the financial affairs of the board – was also addressed with the board deciding to appoint “a firm of auditors of international repute”. Their brief will be to investigate alleged financial mismanagement and/or irregularities, if any, and to advise ZC on the way forward, and to audit ZC’s accounts for the period May-December 2005, because some of the allegations fall outside the period of the last audited accounts which was up to the year-end of April 2005.There was a passing reference to Ozias Bvute, the ZC managing director identified by many as being to blame more than anyone other than Chingoka for the current crisis, but that was enough to show that he was firmly in situ.But the creation of five new provinces – all expected to be pro-Chingoka – and the dissolution of the old County Districts – who have been leading the fight to have him removed – which was expected to be pushed through appears to have been delayed until the next meeting in February.

Sri Lanka A 171 for 3 (Tharanga 74*) beat West Indies A 168 (Ganga 52) by seven wickets
Upul Tharanga guided Sri Lanka A to a seven-wicket win over their West Indian counterparts in a rain-shortened match at Moratuwa.Opening the innings, Tharanga top-scored with an unbeaten 74 from 95 balls, after Sri Lanka had been set a target of 169 in 35 overs. He was helped to the finish by his captain, Russel Arnold, who played the sheet-anchor role with 39 not out from 76 balls after West Indies’ Darren Sammy had taken two early wickets to reduce the Sri Lankans to 39 for 3.Earlier, West Indies had been indebted to their own captain, Daren Ganga, whose brisk 52 enabled them to set a decent target in spite of a flimsy collapse from the tail. Sewnarine Chattergoon made 38, but no-one else topped 16 as the last nine wickets tumbled for 97 runs.&

With Graeme Smith suspended and Nicky Boje having returned home for health reasons, Shaun Pollock, who was sacked after South Africa’s failure at the 2003 World Cup, has been asked to lead the side for the final two one-day internationals against the West Indies.Smith earned himself a four-match suspension after repeatedly falling behind the over-rate. Having been docked 10 percent of his match fee in the second game at Jamaica, he was fined 30 percent in Barbados, and his failure to learn from past mistakes provoked the strictest response from Jeff Crowe, the ICC match referee.South Africa decided against an appeal after learning that the suspension could be extended to as many as eight matches.Smith has 24 hours in which to appeal but the team management decided not to lodge an appeal as the punishment could be increased to a suspension of eight games by the International Cricket Council. South Africa’s next assignment is a home series against New Zealand but Smith’s ban could kick in even during the ICC Super Series matches in Australia later this year, provided he gets selected for the World XI. Smith’s place at the top of the order will be taken by AB de Villiers, who was in magnificent form in the Test matches.

The ill fated South Zone under-22 game between Kerala and Andhra,badly affected by rain, ended in a tame draw at Kakinada on Saturday.The first two days were totally washed out because of inclementweather. On the final day play started only at 12.30 pm and in the 60overs possible, Kerala put in to bat, struggled to make 102 for fivewickets off 60 overs.KS Shahabuddin and Md Faiq each bagged two wickets as Kerala lostwickets at regular intervals. Symbolising Kerala’s struggle for runswas Vipin Lal. Coming in at No 3 after the first wicket had fallen at16, Vipin Lal remained unbeaten with 30 at the end for which he batted194 minutes and faced 150 balls without hitting a boundary. The teamsshared three points each.

Simon Jones has rejoined England’s one-day squad after undergoing a week of intensive rehabilitation on his knee problem. Jones was released from the squad after England’s opening match against Bangladesh, at The Oval, after suffering a sore right knee.He has been working at the academy in Loughborough and has now been cleared to take his place again for the remaining matches of the tournament. This began with training at Headingley ahead of tomorrow’s match against Bangladesh.Chris Tremlett, the Hampshire seamer, joined the squad in Jones’ absence and has performed well in the last two matches. He took 4 for 32, the second best figures by England player on one-day international debut, at Trent Bridge against Bangladesh, then took 1 for 53 against Australia at Durham.The England selectors will make a decision over the weekend as to whether Tremlett will remain with the squad now that Jones is fit again.