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Mahela Jayawardene, the former Sri Lanka batsman, will play for Central Districts in the upcoming Georgie Pie Super Smash, New Zealand’s domestic Twenty20 competition.Jayawardene, who retired from international cricket after the World Cup in March, has recently played domestic T20s for Sussex in England and Jamaica Tallawahs in the West Indies.While the tournament starts from November 5, Jayawardene will play his first match for Central Districts on November 19, against Wellington in Nelson.”Mahela’s incredible talent and vast experience will add enormous value to our already talented but still youthful team of players in the back half of the Super Smash,” Heinrich Malan, the Central Districts coach, said.The league stage of the tournament runs till December 6 with the final on December 13.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), at its extraordinary Board meeting last night in Barbados, decided not to appoint an interim chairman. Instead, the Board voted in favour of appointing an interim committee to run the affairs for the next seven weeks.The interim committee, which will be responsible for the administration of the Board’s affairs, is comprised of Richard De Souza (Trinidad), Stephen Alleyne (Barbados), Chetram Singh (Guyana), along with WICB’s CEO, Gregory Shillingford and WICB’s CFO, Richard Jodhan.The date for the election of the new WICB President and Vice President is Saturday, 21st July, 2001. However, no venue for the meeting was named. The WICB’s articles of association does not allow for the election or appointment of an interim chairman. The articles of association stipulates that there must be a nomination of candidates (complete with a seconder), along with the nominated person’s signature. These nominations must be lodged with the WICB’s Secretariat at least thirty (30) days prior to date for the elections.So far, several names have been touted to take over the top two positions in West Indies cricket. Among them is former West Indies fast bowler, and Barbados government minister, Wes Hall. Guyana’s cricket boss, Chetram Singh is also being named as a likely successor to Pat Rousseau, while Val Banks of the Leeward Islands is being named as a likely successor to Clarvis Joseph.Meanwhile, the recently re-appointed team manager Ricky Skerritt, rejoined the team in Trinidad today. The squad going to Zimbabwe and Kenya is expected to be named by Thursday.

Darren Lehmann spared Yorkshire’s blushing by steering them to a four-wicket victory over Bedfordshire at Luton in the third round of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.The Australian held the batting together with a faultless 88 off 98 balls with seven boundaries and he was only out when Yorkshire were nine runs short of their target.But it could have been a much different story without Lehmann’s expertise because Yorkshire were rocking on 62 for four at one stage and looked like plunging to a humiliating defeat at the hands of the plucky Minor Counties side.The man to do the early damage was paceman Shaun Rashid who took the first three wickets with only 41 scored and he later rounded off an excellent performance by clean bowling Lehmann.Yorkshire’s revival started when Lehmann found a reliable partner in fellow left-hander Vic Craven who helped him add 62 in 14 overs for the fifth wicket.When Craven was caught at mid-wicket off Will Sneath in came another left-hander in Gavin Hamilton who continued to ease the pressure with some well-executed shots.Lehmann’s 50 came when he cut Sneath for his third boundary and he increased the tempo until he went for a heave at Rashid and was bowled.Winning the toss, Bedfordshire chose to bat on a good pitch and played well for their 211 for nine but they were greatly assisted by a lot of inaccurate bowling which cost Yorkshire 24 runs in wides and 12 in no-balls.Skipper Andy Roberts and David Clarke laid a solid foundation with a 51 stand for the second wicket and James Knott and Andy Trott boosted the total later on with 48 in nine overs for the seventh wicket.Top scorer, with 34, was Oliver Clayson who was stumped going down the pitch to Lehmann while Ryan Sidebottom was Yorkshire’s best bowler with four for 39, despite sending down two legside wides which both sped to the boundary.Chris Silverwood and Lehmann each captured two wickets and there was a tidy 10 over stint from off-spinner Richard Dawson who went for just 39 runs in only his second competitive match.Yorkshire now look forward to a testing encounter with Surrey at Headingley in the next round.

The Air Force Station ground in Delhi witnessed a slow day of cricket from Delhi and Services, with Delhi reaching a score of 242/2 by the close of play.Delhi, winning the toss, opted to bat; they did not regret the decision as openers Akash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir put on 111 runs for the first wicket. Gambhir was dismissed for 75, made off 118 balls.Radhey Shyam Gupta and Chopra then collaborated on a 61-run stand before Gupta got out, having made 29. That was Services’ last wicket of the day; Chopra and Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas were unbeaten at the close of play, the former, having completed his century, had made a slow 106 off 274 balls.

Dorset were in dreamland at Bournemouth Sports after lifting their firstMinor Counties championship title – after 99 years of trying.They finally found the winning formula after losing out in both the previoustwo championship play-offs to gain some sweet revenge on Cumberland, theirconquerors at Netherfield last season, with a famous five wicket win.A sparkling 63 off 55 balls from Man-of-the-Match Darren Cowley was the keyto Dorset successfully chasing 193 to win. His third-wicket partnership of 80in 16.4 overs with Neil Thurgood (62) turned the challenge into a cakewalk,with Dorset clinching victory before tea on the final day in front of anotherhealthy Church Gate crowd.Cowley, the 23-year-old son of ex-Hampshire star Nigel and a South AfricanUnder 19 one-day international, hit seven fours and three sixes, and raced tohis half-century as anchor man Thurgood scored just nine at the other end.Dorset polished off the final Cumberland wicket in 21 balls at the start ofthe day, and though they lost Matt Swarbrick for just four, Glyn Treagus andThurgood added a watchful 67 in 40 overs to lay a solid platform.The departure of Treagus for 27 brought Cowley to the wicket, and the beefyleft-hander quickly launched a powerful assault on the Cumberland bowlers.His 57-minute stay at the crease dramatically raised the tempo. When he losthis leg stump to David Pennett, having made 63 off only 55 balls, Dorset were151 for three and victory was in sight.The Cumberland attack gained little assistance from the pitch and Tim Lambprovided a fitting conclusion to a memorable Dorset season by wrapping up thewin by hoisting leg spinner Simon Kippax for a straight six.Dorset skipper Stuart Rintoul said: “We have played some great cricket thisseason and it’s a wonderful feeling to lift the title.”It seems it’s been a long time coming after getting to the final threeyears on the trot but I think we deserved to win it the way we haveperformed.”We lost last year’s final at Netherfield in one bad session and we probablywon this year’s by having a good afternoon on the second day. We took wicketsand pegged Cumberland back. Darren Cowley then turned things in our favourwith a great innings.”A lot of this team has come through our colts side and they are still veryyoung. The future for Dorset cricket looks very rosy.”

Batsman Matt Machan, and allrounders Josh Davey and Rob Taylor have been included in the 13-member Scotland squad for the Intercontinental Cup game against Netherlands, starting September 8 in Voorburg.Andrew Umeed, Freddie Coleman and Calum MacLeod, who were part of the rain-hit drawn game against Afghanistan in June, have been left out.Machan has been in impressive form this season, striking 892 runs in 12 county games for Sussex; Davey and Taylor also carry with them good county form.Cricket Scotland’s Chairman of selectors Iain Kennedy believed that the trio, who have made 78 international appearances together for Scotland, would bolster an ‘already strong squad’: “We are looking forward to the challenge that the Netherlands provide us and we have selected a strong squad with the intention of adding to the positive results the team has achieved this year. We are delighted to welcome County players Matt, Rob and Josh to add experience and firepower to an already strong squad.”Scotland are placed fourth with 13 points, only one behind Papua New Guinea. Ireland and Namabia lead the table with 20 points each from their first Intercontinental Cup games.Squad: Preston Mommsen (c), Hamish Gardiner, Kyle Coetzer, Matt Machan, Richie Berrington, Josh Davey, Matthew Cross(wk), Rob Taylor, Con de Lange, Ali Evans, Gavin Main, Michael Leask, Safyaan Sharif.

ScorecardSteven Finn enjoyed a Middlesex outing ahead of joining up with the England squad next week•PA Photos

Surrey’s late charge for the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast stalled at Lord’s as they lost to Middlesex by 43 runs.Surrey had gone into the game with four wins out of their last five at a venue where they had won on their previous six visits.But chasing 186 in front of a crowd of 26,000, they never recovered from losing four wickets for 33 during the six-over Powerplay.Kumar Sangakkara top-scored with 32 but Surrey now need to beat Sussex at The Oval on Friday to have any chance of qualifying as they will be relying on results elsewhere.Steven Finn picked up the key wicket of Jason Roy in the first over when the England one-day player mistimed a pull to short fine leg. Finn also had Ben Foakes held at mid-off for six and was well backed up at the other end by Mitchell McClenaghan.The New Zealander removed Steven Davies and then bowled well outside off stump and tempted Rory Burns to drive to wide mid-off.Sangakkara was Surrey’s only remaining hope and the Sri Lankan seemed to be getting into his stride when he struck off-spinner Ollie Rayner for six.But when he holed out to long-on off Neil Dexter for 32 in the 11th over and Rayner took a tumbling catch in his follow through to remove the dangerous Azhar Mahmood there was no way back for Surrey.Finn finished with 3 for 17 while Dexter’s mix of cutters and slower balls proved highly effective on a slow pitch as he took 3 for 12.Middlesex’s total of 185 for 5 was built around a third half-century in this season’s Blast for John Simpson, who top-scored with 53, and a punishing fourth wicket stand of 77 from 39 balls between Eoin Morgan and James Franklin, who plundered 40 off the 18th and 19th overs.Nick Gubbins dragged a ball onto his stumps from Jade Dernbach in the fifth over but Simpson and Dawid Malan regrouped by adding 73 from 53 balls for the second wicket.Simpson swatted the first of six sixes in the innings over mid-wicket in Dernbach’s first over and then belted three fours in a row off Sam Curran as Middlesex took 57 during the Powerplay.Zafar Ansari broke the stand when Malan failed to clear the longest boundary at long-off and Middlesex were 97 for 3 when Simpson was held at deep midwicket off Sam Curran for 53 from 43 balls with seven fours and a six.However, Middlesex maintained the momentum in the second half of their innings as Morgan and Franklin played with increasing freedom.Franklin hit four successive boundaries off Sam Curran in the 18th over before Morgan cut loose in the next, striking two sixes off Dernbach through midwicket before Franklin belted two more boundaries.The veteran Mahmood picked up both in the final over as Morgan drove to long off and Franklin was caught at deep midwicket.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSri Lanka Under-19 captain Charith Asalanka and their pacers starred in a drawn Youth Test they dominated against Pakistan Under-19 in Hambantota. Asalanka’s double-hundred in the first innings helped his side take a first-innings lead of 138 runs to later set Pakistan a target of 350, and the visitors put up 142 for 3 in reply on the last day.Sri Lanka opted to bat and their score of 347 for 9 was built around Asalanka’s 200 as no other batsman scored more than 40. From the Pakistan side that fielded 11 debutants, Shadab Khan took 6 for 89 to put a check on Sri Lanka’s score. Pakistan’s reply was similar, led by a hundred from Umair Masood (102) as the next-best score was 29 in their total of 209. Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara and Thilan Nimesh took three wickets each.Sri Lanka then declared on 211 for 3 after 54 overs, with fifties from Avishka Fernando (63) and Shammu Ashan (54*), with hopes of bowling out Pakistan in less than two sessions but the visitors’ top order resisted with strong partnerships as opener Zeeshan Malik scored a brisk 55 off 63 and they batted for over 40 overs.

Almost a year on from engineering a landmark win against a Test-playing nation, Samiullah Shenwari was the architect of yet another historical step in the growth of Afghanistan cricket – their first World Cup win. Rewind to March 1, 2014 when Shenwari’s 69-ball 81 lifted Afghanistan from 90 for 5 to a match-winning 254 for 6 against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup and you might find an innings not very different to the one that stunned Scotland in Dunedin.Although the numbers may look different, they do follow the same pattern. Like then, Shenwari had been left with a job at hand. The top order had been bundled out and someone needed to take responsibility. Like then, he had to be careful with his choice of shots in the initial phase of his innings and like then, it was only in the last 10 overs that he ramped up the pace.”First of all, I would say I did my job, and my job was to stay on the wicket till the end,” Shenwari said. “The other players didn’t take responsibility, that’s why they were out. So I was just telling them [his partners] to just stay at the wicket, and the wicket was not doing anything.”I can hit it. I can stay on the wicket. They [the management] say if you can stay on the wicket, you can do anything.”Javed Ahmadi was doing his job well till he skipped out of the crease only to get a thick top-edge. He knew he was out way before the catch was taken. At 85 for 3, the rest perhaps thought the target was going to walk to them rather than them making an effort. And so started the collapse by the end of which Shenwari was left with only the last three batsmen to help him out.Shenwari had an indifferent World Cup before this match, him being taken off the attack against Bangladesh after only seven deliveries for running on the pitch being the only event of note. Today, he was not bowled at all and he was on 24 off 65 balls by the time he realised he had been left with a mess to clear. It’s hard enough to control just your own game, but Shenwari had to walk his partners along too. He tried to farm strike with some success, called for non-existent singles at times before changing his mind and created massive confusion once as he yelled ‘No’ while continuing for a single.It’s not the ideal way to go about a job but when all else has failed, a team can’t really complain. Shenwari continued to move Afghanistan ahead, running hard, biffing a few, and blocking a lot. Dawlat Zadran’s slog bewildered him; he hit the ground with his bat in irritation, once, then one more time, then went down on haunches. Next over, he reached his fifty in 113 balls, but he did not let the applause reach him. He had cocooned himself. The job was only getting interesting and there was no time for distraction.Shorter than Mohammad Nabi, stockier compared to Nowroz Mangal, Shenwari can be an irritating batsmen to bowl at. He is balanced at the crease, he moves forward or back quicker than others in his team, possesses a much neater defensive technique, and has the power game. When he wants to run, he doesn’t hit it hard; when he wants to hit a six, he prefers the leg side and he usually clears the ropes easily (one of his five sixes landed on the grand stand roof); serve him a half-volley, he will drive it like car in a drag race. But the most important facet of it all, he knows which one to pull out of the bag, and when.Majid Haq had dropped Shenwari and as if to rub salt, Shenwari took him on in his last over, hitting the bowler for three sixes before holing out on the fifth delivery. The shot was on but he picked up the only man at cow corner. “I had hit the shot properly, but I don’t know why it didn’t cross the boundary,” he said later with a beaming smile on his face, but at that moment, it was gutting. He trudged off the pitch slowly, came back briefly as umpires checked for the number of fielders outside the ring, then walked back again, distraught that he could not finish the job.After waiting at the edge of the boundary, he was the first one to let a roar out. “Yeah, when we won, we shouted,” he said. “Like one shout, but big shout. Then coach came to calm us down and said it’s just one match, and still have a few more matches.”Shenwari missed what would have been his maiden century by four runs. You could tell, though, that it hardly ever mattered. He was the Man of the Match in Dhaka last year and he was the Man of the Match in Dunedin. That big, beaming smile on his face would just not leave him. A sign of a job well done.

The Surrey fast bowler, Jade Dernbach, will be staying at The Oval until the end of the 2010 season, after signing an extension to his existing contract.Dernbach, 22, has been a regular in Surrey’s one-day team for the last couple of seasons and last week he broke into the County Championship side against Somerset at Whitgift School, where he produced a career-best performance of 6 for 72.”Jade’s contract was up at the end of this season,” said Surrey’s cricket manager, Alan Butcher, “and I said that I would be prepared to re-negotiate if he proved to me that his attitude, commitment and everything that goes with being a professional cricketer was right.”He has done that to my satisfaction, therefore we offered him a new contract from now, and his performance against Somerset has fully justified that. He has been knocking on the door all season and could have played at anytime. He has come on leaps and bounds and fully deserves his contract.”Dernbach was a product of the original intake of the Pemberton Greenish Surrey Academy, and became Surrey’s youngest debutant for 30 years when he was selected to play against India A in 2003. Two years later, he started to make regular first-team appearances, and featured in the 2005 Twenty20 semi-final against Lancashire, before going on to make his List A debut in the same year.In 31 one-day matches for Surrey, Dernbach has picked up 49 wickets at an average of 26.73 demonstrating that he is developing the sort of control required for the longer version of the game.