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The Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Daredevils have been fined US$1000 and $500 respectively by match referee Javagal Srinath for maintaining a slow over-rate during yesterday’s match at the DY Patil Stadium. According to the Indian Premier League’s regulations, a team will be docked $500 for each slow over.The regulations came into force on May 2, when Lalit Modi, the chairman and commissioner of the IPL, said that he had asked the match referees to keep an eye on the over-rate. “Match referees have been asked to ensure that over-rates go as per the stipulated time. From next match, there will also be a penalty of $500 dollar for every slow over.”The first teams to be docked for a slow over-rate were Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab, who were each fined $1000 on Friday.

Andrew Symonds is expected to play the first match of the Chappell-Hadlee Series in Adelaide on Friday despite injuring his right ankle while fielding in the Twenty20 victory. Symonds has iced the ankle and will have further physio but should make it, a Cricket Australia spokesman told .The problem is not as serious as when he first hurt it in the second Test against Sri Lanka and Michael Hussey said the allrounder’s condition was “pretty good”. “I know he will be getting physio over the next couple of days,” Hussey said in Adelaide. “We’ll see how he goes at training [on Thursday].”He seemed pretty confident this morning, he wasn’t too worried at all. He’s obviously in great form and we want him in our team.”Symonds’ problem was the only cloud surrounding Australia’s thumping 54-run victory against New Zealand on Tuesday. Symonds hit a typically entertaining 85, which came from 46 balls, and Australia will rely on his input if he can recover in time to take part in the three-match series.The Twenty20 was Michael Clarke’s first match in charge and his usual captain Ricky Ponting, who sat out the match, was impressed with the appointment. “He’s 26 now, so in a few years, when I’m finished, he’ll be perfect age-wise and experience-wise to fit into the leadership roles,” Ponting told the Australian.Justin Langer, Clarke’s former Test team-mate, also endorsed the view in the same paper. “I applaud the selectors for this short opportunity to give him a taste of it. It might just be the stepping stone for him to turn into the final product, as Steve [Waugh] and Punter have done.”Clarke has dismissed talk of future captaincy, especially with Ponting locked in for years, and he was ready to hand back the reins. “I will take one from one and give it back to Punter, I am quite happy with that,” Clarke told Nine after the match. “It was a pretty easy team to captain, the guys were fantastic, and our energy out in the field was spot on.”

Day 1
Scorecard

England Lions’ captain Michael Yardy struck an unbeaten 151 to lead his side to a healthy 273 for 4 at the end of the first day of their Duleep Trophy match against West Zone in Vadodara.After choosing to bat, the Lions got off to a poor start as the in-form Michael Carberry was trapped leg before by Gujarat medium-pacer Ashraf Makda in the second over. Yardy, who has represented the England national side in Twenty20s and ODIs, came in at No. 3 and forged a series of sizeable partnerships to ensure the Lions gained the upper hand.A brisk 50-run stand for the second wicket with Joe Denly (32) was ended when Denly was run-out by Siddharth Trivedi. Yardy was then joined by Ed Joyce (32), another player who was part of the national set-up, and they stitched together a patient 75 runs before Joyce was dismissed by Makda.With the Lions at 126 for 3, the usually aggressive Jonathan Trott (44) played a subdued knock and put on 141 for the fourth wicket as the Lions took control. With only three overs left in the day’s play, Trott became Makda’s third lbw victim. Graham Onions was sent in as the nightwatchman and the Lions saw out the remaining overs without any further casualties.Yardy, meanwhile, had brought up his 12th first-class century with the help of 20 boundaries to leave West, who need a win to make the finals, facing an uphill task.

Required to hit just 2 for a win Delhi finished the formalities withall their 10 wicket intact to register a facile win over Jammu andKashmir on the third and final day of the North Zone Ranji Trophymatch at the Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu on Saturday.Resuming at the score of 17 for no loss, J&K were guided by a fineunbeaten 117 by Kanwaljeet Singh. After the fall of the openers VidhyaBhaskar (28) and A Bhatti (4) in quick succession, Dhruv Mahajan (55)and Singh came together for a 85 run third wicket partnership.Thereafter, Though Kanwaljeet Singh held the fort on one end, he ranout of partners at regular intervals. By the time the J&K inningsfolded up at 269, Singh had remained at the crease for 259 minutes andfaced 204 deliveries during which he found the signboards on 13occasions.But with Delhi having scored a mamoth 466, the target was a paltry 2runs for a Delhi win. The openers were aided by a wide sent down byKanwaljeet in first over of the innings. The second over Ashu Danifound the boundary off the fourth ball to signal the end ofproceedings in favour of Delhi.

There is reason for concern but not alarm, not till we experience the pitch anyway. There is uncertainty in the air on a number of fronts, and rightly so, but National Stadium in Guyana is far from the construction site that some reports have made it out to be. Weather permitting, and in Guyana all you ever need for rain is a bit of cricket, the Super Eights will commence on Wednesday.Indeed the outfield has responded superbly to the rain of the past three days, a point noted by the Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody. The much lovelier Bourda, the former Test ground, would have become a lake by now. Built higher than the surrounding land, engineers claim that drainage at the new stadium here can empty two inches of water in half an hour.That is one of the bright spots at the moment. Virtually nothing is known about the virgin pitch, on which only a club 20/20 match has been played in the last few months. Presumably it will behave better that the practice pitches, which recently earned the censure of Andy Roberts, the pitch consultant for the tournament, some months ago, and frustrated the South Africans with their unreliability when they netted this morning. It’s been a familiar case of too little too late.The Local Organising Committee has been terribly tardy with all its commitments, and finally handed over the facility to the ICC last week almost a month after deadline. Three days ago, Rushmans, the British agency handling the media facilities for the tournament, had advised journalists “the LOC has been unable to provide fully operational facilities for us and despite out best efforts, there may be continuing challenges during matches at the stadium.” It added that a number of additional personnel, including power experts, IT technicians, had to be flown in to get things ready.On match eve the media centre appeared to be in reasonable order, and Rushmans staff anticipated no further trouble. Project managers from the Indian building firm, Shapoorji Pallonji, too, are confident that all aspects of the stadium proper are in perfect order. The same cannot be said for the approach and the parking lot, work on which was not just late but never completed.

ScorecardKenya opened their Intercontinental Cup campaign with a commanding nine-wicket win against Canada to take maximum points with a day to spare in Nairobi. Steve Tikolo claimed four wickets to leave Kenya chasing 100 for victory and they cruised home as Maurice Ouma helped himself to an unbeaten 68-ball 71.Canada began the day facing a first-innings deficit of 130, following Thomas Odoyo’s maiden first-class century on Saturday, and were in immediate trouble as Peter Ongondo removed both openers in the first over. Their main resistance came from a third-wicket stand of 113 between Trevin Bastiampillai (63) and 36-year-old debutant Arvind Kandappah (87). As they pushed Canada into a narrow lead there was a chance Kenya could be set a challenging target, but the home side stuck to their task.Bastiampillai became Tikolo’s first wicket when he was beaten by the turn and Asif Mulla soon followed as he edged an outswinger from Nehemiah Odhiambo. Kandappah, who clubbed three sixes in his 111-ball innings, miscued a sweep to square leg as Kenya tightened their grip leaving Odoyo to help his captain clean up the tail.Kenya began their chase with a flurry of boundaries and Ouma recovered from his first innings duck with a string of powerful blows. David Obuya fell with the target in sight, leaving Ouma to finish the match in emphatic style by launching Qaiser Ali over long-on for his second six.

Confusion surrounds the sudden resignation of Clive Howard, the chairman of the Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA).Howard quit with immediate effect in the middle of the week, but the brief statement from the board cited “family and work commitments”. However, a report in the South China Morning Press stated that he owed the HKCA around HK$210,000 (US$27,000)”During his time as chairman, cricket developed significantly, with the introduction of the “Challenge League” for players not able to find places in teams competing in the regular Saturday and Sunday League competitions run by the HKCA and the setting up of a women’s league competition,” Terry Smith, the board president, said. “He also played a significant part in developing the International Cricket Sixes into an event of true international stature.”Given the scale of the activities now being undertaken by the Association, we are now considering the appointment of a CEO to support the chairman and executive committee and implement all aspects of association policy.”

Jesse Ryder should have been happy at securing a New Zealand Cricket contract on Monday but instead the prospect of potentially missing the ODI tour of England was weighing him down. Ryder was one of the 20 men to be offered national deals for 2008-09 and although he said he was “stoked” to get the news, his ongoing hand injury remained a concern.Ryder sustained tendon damage around his thumb and forefinger when he punched a window in a bar in February. He was therefore unavailable for the Test series in England but was picked for the ODIs, which start in June, although even that could be too soon for a return. “My main worry is the hand, it’s going to be touch and go,” Ryder told the .He is hoping to start batting by the end of the month and, provided all goes well, he will warm up for the five-match contest with a club cricket stint in England. Peter Fulton is on standby to replace Ryder should his hand not recover in time.While there was restrained joy for Ryder at receiving a contract, there was no good news for Craig Cumming, Mathew Sinclair, Michael Papps or Matthew Bell, all of whom were axed. Bell said it was hard to go from being part of New Zealand’s most recent Test to not being in their top 20 players in the space of three weeks, especially after such a prolific domestic season.”I’m gutted, I’m not going on the tour and now I haven’t got a contract, it’s pretty disappointing,” Bell said. “I had a big year, not many people score 1000 first-class runs [1016 at 53.47]. I admit I had a bad last month and I’m paying a pretty big penalty for it. I’ve just got to take it on the chin I suppose. I’ve got a review on Thursday where I’ll ask a few questions.”However, Bell is considering playing club cricket in England to make himself available should injuries strike New Zealand during their tour. In his five Tests during the past season, Bell scored 245 runs at 30.62, although he also made three ducks in the home series against England.