Pakistan’s proposal to appoint neutral umpires and discuss the itinerary for the series against India early next year could not be discussed at the recent Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Kuala Lumpur because no representative from the Indian board was present.Saleem Altaf, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) director, who attended the meeting, told reporters that no official from the Indian board was present at the meeting. India are scheduled to tour Pakistan from January next year, although the itinerary is yet to be finalised. This, as well as a decision on neutral umpires for the ODI series, will now be taken after discussions on the phone between representatives of the two boards.Pakistan will be using two neutral umpires during the ODI series against England after they sought and received approval from the English board. Altaf also told reporters that an itinerary for the Asia Cup, to be held in Pakistan immediately after the series against India, will be finalised soon.

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England ended the third day of the only Test at Delhi on 3 for 0, and require another 308 runs to win this match after India declared on 175 for 4. India will be looking towards the impressive Jhulan Goswami – who took 5 for 25 in the first innings – to deliver as they attempt their first Test win against England.Charlotte Edwards and Laura Newton began England’s run chase in cautious mode, facing four overs against the new ball. No doubt they are waiting for the final day to attempt any acceleration. Earlier in the day, Beth Morgan and Jane Smit saved the follow-on by putting on 50 for the ninth wicket, which was also the last after Katherine Brunt retired hurt with a broken hand.Richard Bates, England’s coach, told Cricinfo that England will look to capitalize on a good batting track and seize the initiative early on. “Our first plan will be to see off the new ball and then we will assess where we are at tea,” he said. England only need to score at three an over to secure victory, and after a shocker of a day yesterday, Bates was feeling happier. “I’m a little bit better. Today wasn’t about trying to get ten wickets, it was about trying to restrict them as much as possible and they gave us a very sporting declaration.”Though no batsman passed 50, vital contributions from Karu Jain (35), Anjum Chopra (31*) and Goswami (34*) saw India extend their lead. After Monica Sumra’s early departure, Jain was joined by Mithali Raj, and the intent of the Indian captain was plain for all to see – to score fast. She wasted little time in taking advantage of a defensive field, and her drives through the off side were elegant. Edwards was the most testing of the bowlers, impressing with her variation and extracting decent turn with her swift leg-cutters. At 52 for 2 she had Jain caught and bowled going for a drive – Edwards smartly rolling her fingers over a slower one – and diving forward to hold a good catch. She could have had more success too – in her next over, Raj cut hard at a shorter delivery but the sharp chance was spilled at gully.Raj (24) and Rumeli Dhar took the score to 94 for 2 at tea, but shortly thereafter England fought back to stymie India’s progress, spinner Rosalie Birch dismissing both batsmen. Towards the end of the day Chopra and Goswami opened up with some lofty hits to the fence, and a dropped chance by Edwards, off her own bowling, signalled a tough afternoon session for England.Earlier in the day England had resumed at 103 for 7, but immediately lost Birch, leg before, as Goswami snared her fifth victim of the innings. Thanks to Smit and Morgan’s battling partnership, however, England were able to stretch their total to 154 and avoid batting again.A couple of loud appeals apart, little pressure was applied on Smit and Morgan as the bowlers continuously dropped it short. It didn’t help that the day three pitch was as lifeless as a bone in a museum case but, given Goswami’s fine showing on day two, you would have expected the bowlers to come in with guns blazing.

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Six wickets from Chetanya Nanda, the legspinner, helped Delhi dismiss Bengal for 211 – a lead of 63 – in the final session of day two, before Shikhar Dhawan and Aakash Chopra ensured that Delhi built on the advantage. Bengal managed to stretch its first-innings lead thanks primarily to a dogged fifty from Rohan Gavaskar and a useful contribution from Manoj Tiwari down the order. Earlier, Bengal had bowled the hosts out for a paltry 148, and Delhi will definitely need to make amends in the second innings if they wish to register their first points in the season.
ScorecardA fine hundred from Vinit Indulkar, his second in first-class cricket, helped Mumbai consolidate their position on the second day of the Ranji Trophy clash against Karnataka at Bangalore. After bowling out Karnataka for a modest 186 yesterday, Mumbai rode on a solid 62 from Wasim Jaffer before Indulkar, 21, dominated proceedings. He crashed 18 fours in his 209-ball unbeaten effort and his 119-run stand with Omkar Khanvilkar, who made a patient 23, strengthened their position at the end of the day.
ScorecardUseful contributions from the middle order enabled Tamil Nadu to gain the edge on the second day of the Ranji Trophy game against Railways in Delhi. Sridharan Sriram, Subramanium Badrinath and Hemang Badani ground out half-centuries as Tamil Nadu overcame an early slump, reduced to 32 for 2, to recover to 211 for 4 at stumps. Madan Yadav, the left-arm spinner, ended as the most successful bowler for Railways, the defending champions, and ended with 2 for 58.
ScorecardIt was a tense battle at Valsad as Gujarat and Maharashtra jostled for supremacy on the second day of the Ranji Trophy clash. The Maharashtra lower order managed to add just 40 more runs this morning as Siddharth Trivedi, the medium-pacer who finished with a five-wicket haul, led a Gujarat fightback. Their top-order batsmen then stole the initiative by laying a solid platform – with Nilesh Modi, Akash Christian and Niraj Patel crossing 30 – but a triple strike from Rohit Jadhav, the offspinner, enabled Maharashtra to claw back into the see-saw contest.
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Andhra were 50 for 1 at the close of the second day’s play at Anantapur, after Ibrahim Khaleel’s maiden first-class hundred took Hyderabad to an imposing 370. Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, dismissed MSK Prasad for just 9 to get the early breakthough, but Tirumal Suman, who shifted from Hyderabad this season, clubbed consecutive sixes off his – and the day’s – final over to signal Andhra’s intent. Hyderabad had began the day on 211 for 5 and lost two wickets before lunch, but staunch resistance from Khaleel, the wicketkeeper, and Inder Shekar Reddy turned a precarious situation into one of dominance.
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Centuries from Connor Williams and Jacob Martin took Baroda to a comfortable 268 for 2 on day two of the Elite group match-up against Uttar Pradesh at Kanpur, just 78 runs behind UP’s first-innings total. It was a day of struggle for UP as both Williams and Martin found the boundaries with ease and staved off any attempts of a fightback from the bowlers. Earlier, UP had extended its overnight of 303 for 6 to 346 thanks to some lower-order hitting.
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Joginder Sharma’s second consecutive five-wicket haul helped Haryana bowl out Punjab for 224, with only Ravneet Ricky’s 58 standing out amid the rubble, but two late wickets helped Punjab fight back at Mohali. Joginder’s decisive strikes with the new ball left Punjab reeling, before Ricky stemmed the rot with a gritty 161-ball knock. Dinesh Mongia, who fell for a golden duck, will hope for a much better showing from himself and his middle order as Punjab aim to push for victory in the game.

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Plate Group Points TableGoa made a good start to their final-round Plate Group match against Himachal Pradesh, finishing the first day’s play at Margao on 264 for 4 thanks to fifties from Swapnil Asnodkar and Mandar Phadke. After losing Nikhil Haldipur for just 4 – lbw to the impressive Rahul Panta – Goa made steady progress with a 66-run stand between Asnodkar and Sagun Kamat (37) who looked good for more but was removed by Panta. Following Asnodkar’s dismissal with Goa on 164 for 4, Phadke and Shadab Jakati added exactly 100 to stave off any further threat and leave the home side in a solid position.

ScorecardVineet Jain and Timir Chanda grabbed two wickets apiece to bowl out Himachal Pradesh for 156 to register a historic first win for Tripura in the Plate encounter at Agartala. This win ends a drought of 21 years; Tripura played their first Ranji game in the 1985-86 season. Jain removed Rajeev Nayyar, the overnight batsman, in the third over of the day before Chanda got rid of the next two batsmen. Appropriately, the final historic blow involved the two Tripura heroes of the game. Jain, who finished with a seven-wicket haul, combined with Rajib Dutta, who had earlier made a valiant 71 to set up a big target, to remove Rajinder Thakur and usher in their first victory.

The England & Wales Cricket Board today bowed to the inevitable and ruled Ashley Giles out of next week’s tour of India. Giles, 32, was forced to head home early from England’s pre-Christmas tour to Pakistan to undergo treatment on a long-standing hip injury, but has failed to recuperate in time. His place will now go to the Somerset allrounder, Ian Blackwell.The news is a big blow to England’s hopes of pulling off a series win in India, a country where they have not won a Test series since 1984-85. But David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, remains optimistic that Giles, who took five wickets at Ahmedabad on England’s last tour in 2001-02, could yet join the squad at a later date.”We are disappointed to lose a player of Ashley’s calibre but we wish him well with his recovery and remain hopeful that he will be able to play some part in the tour,” said Graveney. “Ian Blackwell is a talented player who performed well in the one-day series in Pakistan and this is a terrific opportunity for him to show that he can fulfil his potential against top-class opposition.”Blackwell, whose naggingly accurate spin bowling reaped its rewards with three key wickets in the final one-day international at Rawalpindi before Christmas, is a hard-hitting lower-middle-order batsman as well, and as such is more of a like-for-like replacement than the Northamptonshire spinner, Monty Panesar, who was drafted into the squad at the end of last month. Should the conditions favour two spinners, it is highly likely that he could make his Test debut at Nagpur in three weeks’ time, as a sidekick for Shaun Udal.Explaining the decision to replace Giles, the ECB’s chief medical officer, Dr Peter Gregory, said: “Ashley has been working extremely hard on his recovery programme and is making steady progress but he has not yet reached the stage where he is able to resume bowling again. The advice we received from Ashley’s specialist is that it will take time to derive full benefit from the surgery he underwent in December and the medical team is working closely with Ashley to achieve this end.”The operation Ashley required was more extensive than we originally anticipated which is why we are taking his rehabilitation steadily. At this stage, we cannot put a time frame on when Ashley might be able to join the England team. He will continue with his rehabilitation in the UK under the supervision of the Warwickshire medical team and a further assessment of his injury will be made in due course.”Blackwell had been preparing for a trip to the Caribbean with the England A squad, but Graveney added that no replacement would be called upon for that trip.

England kick off their tour of India tomorrow with a three-day warm-up game at Mumbai and Andrew Flintoff says he’s now better equipped to play spin than he was on his last tour here in 2001-02.Flintoff aggregated just 26 runs in five Test innings on his previous tour and was dismissed by a spinner each time. “When I came in 2002, I had just got back into the England side. My bowling improved no end but the batting didn’t quite go according to plan. I think now I’ve got a better knowledge of my game,” he told reporters at the team hotel in Mumbai.”I’ve got a basic technique and method of playing now which I trust, slightly more patient and my shot selection is a lot better than it used to be. It’s by no means perfect but I feel I approach an innings or even practice a lot better. Yes, I’ll be keen to score a few more runs than I did last time. Twenty six won’t be too hard to beat.”Though he failed with the bat, as a bowler Flintoff matured in India. Prior to the 2002 tour, Flintoff averaged 66.42 per wicket and though he took just six wickets in three Tests in India, he conceded just 2.05 runs an over and since then, he averages 30.42. “Before I used to just run in and bowl quite negatively, just trying to bowl maidens and keep the runs down. Although I did that a little bit out here, I think in Bangalore I came in and bowled and took wickets and from there I think I kicked on as a bowler.”Citing how England had a varied and complete pace attack, Flintoff downplayed the absence of a proven spinner in their squad. “There’s the swing of Hoggard, the pace, bounce and movement of Harmison. We’ve got Simon Jones who is able to swing the new ball and reverse the old one and then what I do. So I think on the seam front we’ve got most bases covered. And on the spin front, you know we’ll have to wait and see, we have got two left-arm spinners and an offspinner. We’ve got every confidence in them as a side. And so we’ll just have to see what happens over the next few weeks.”

England last toured India in December when it is relatively cooler across the country but this tour coincides with the onset of the summer. “Coming from England where it is minus 2 to 38-40 degrees, it’s a bit of a shock,” said Flintoff. “But if you look at the side, I think most of us have played in conditions like this before. We’ve played in Sri Lanka, where in places like Galle and Colombo it’s 40-45 degrees so after the initial shock you kind of get used to it. We have been training now for five to six weeks, getting ready for the tough conditions ahead of us. So it might be uncomfortable but I don’t see it as a major problem.”England lost Andrew Strauss for the third Test in Pakistan in December 2005 because his wife was giving birth and they could face a similar situation with Flintoff in India. “My wife is four weeks away from giving birth again. It’s something I intend to be home for. But as I said before, with Holly, she was a month early so there is no plan at this stage. It could happen anytime. If it is halfway through the first Test match there is not a great deal I can do. I am not making any major plans at this stage. I’m going to see what happens.”England take on the CCI President’s XI tomorrow and will return to Mumbai for the final Test against India. The city will remember Flintoff for his shirt-waving celebration after his three-wicket burst in the final ODI helped England level the series. “It’s an amazing place to play. It was a one-day game, the last of six. I think I had a ten-second moment of madness. Coming back out here is great. Playing in front of 70000 people in a ODI was a great thrill. It’s a great place to be. It’s a great place to play cricket.”

Two run-outs in successive deliveries in the last over proved costly for Tamil Nadu as Railways prevailed by one run in a thrilling encounter and advanced to the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy one-day tournament. Chasing 278, Tamil Nadu were in the contest after solid contributions from their middle order, particularly Hemang Badani (70) and S Badrinath (66), but collapsed shortly after. Sanjay Bangar, the Railways captain, swung it back in his team’s favour, bowling a tight penultimate over and running out G Vignesh, the last to be dismissed. A five-run penalty imposed on Tamil Nadu earlier also proved decisive, courtesy Badani, their captain. He left the field but made the fundamental error of failing to inform the umpires once he returned.Earlier, Railways chose to bat and put in a good performance after their openers got them off to a sound start. Amit Pagnis and JP Yadav scored half-centuries and added exactly 100 for the third wicket. Shreyas Khanolkar chipped in with 45 and got good support from the middle order which helped take the side past the 250 mark. Syed Mohammad was the most successful bowler for Tamil Nadu with 3 for 21.Uttar Pradesh easily beat Karnataka by seven wickets in a one-sided encounter at Kanpur and advanced to the semi-finals. The UP seamers were particularly impressive, with Shalabh Srivastava and Ali Murtaza taking three wickets each as Karnataka struggled throughout after choosing to bat. Srivastava took a wicket off the first ball of the match, bowling Gaurav Dhiman. UP easily overhauled the target of 124 in the 26th over. with Ravikanth Shukla remaining unbeaten on 42.

Steve Harmison, the England fast bowler, admits that he is unlikely to be fit for next month’s first Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s on May 11.Harmison, 27, was forced to fly home from India last month due to pain in his right shin and has yet to recover fully. He met with a specialist in Nottingham last week and admitted he had doubts over his availability for the first Test.”Before I saw the specialist I was hopeful of playing at Lord’s,” Harmison is quoted as saying in the . “But the way he was talking, my gut feeling is I’m not going to be fit. I thought he might let me start running again straight away, then if all went well I could play in the county championship match against Lancashire and be ready to play in the first Test. But Professor Batts believes it is better to be cautious.”Harmison suffered from shin problems earlier in his career, and in 2000-01 he was forced to withdraw from an England A tour to the Caribbean. He has taken 159 wickets from 41 matches, and has been a star performer for England over the past few seasons. Harmison said it was his aim to work out harder and begin running next week with the second Test at Edgbaston on May 25 firmly in mind.Sri Lanka tour England for five one-day internationals and three Tests.

More injury concerns have hit England’s side. This time it’s the turn of Andrew Strauss who has gone to hospital to have an x-ray on his ankle.Strauss, who hit 48 yesterday, went over on his ankle in practice this morning and the x-ray has been advised as a precaution.His condition will be reassessed tomorrow.