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Shiv Sunder Das completed 250 as India extended their total to an imposing 516 before being bowled out at Chelmsford. In reply Essex reached 173 for three by stumps on the second day.Das’s marathon effort included four sixes and 32 fours, and came off 380 balls. This morning he extended his partnership with Sourav Ganguly to 105 before Ganguly was stumped by Barry Hyam off James Middlebrook for 74 (two sixes, 10 fours).Das added another 78 with Ajit Agarkar before he was stumped for 20 off Timothy Phillips, who immediately added the scalp of Harbhajan Singh for a duck. Das was finally dismissed by the last ball of the innings, caught by Mark Ilott to become Phillips’ third wicket of the day.Tinu Yohannan took the first Essex wicket after Darren Robinson and Richard Clinton had put on 55, bowling Clinton for 23. Robinson was then caught by Wasim Jaffer off Harbhajan for 59, and the same combination accounted for Ravinder Bopara for 29. Andy Flower ended the day unbeaten on 45.

Kabir Ali has rounded off a memorable week by completing a hat trick of prestigious awards at the inaugural Worcestershire County Cricket Club Awards Dinner.The 21-year-old picked up the Hewett Recruitment Player of the Year Award and the Apollo 2000 Young Player of the Year, adding to the PCA Young Player of the Year title he was awarded earlier this week. Kabir was the County’s leading wicket taker in first class and one-day cricket this season and earned selection for ECB Academy this winter.He took 71 First Class wickets at an average of 25.08, becoming the third leading wicket taker in the country. During the season he took 5 five wicket hauls and had two ten wicket matches with a best bowling analysis of 7-43 v Oxford University and he also recorded best first class score with the bat with 51 not out v Northants.The Hewett Recruitment Player of the Year is awarded to the player who performed to the highest level over the course of the season. Performances in every First Class and One-Day fixture voted on by members of the media and Director of Cricket.The Apollo 2000 Yong Player of the Year is awarded to the outstanding young cricketer who has developed their talent and reached a consistently high level of performance during the season, as voted by the WCCC Coaching Staff.Vikram Solanki won the Premier Letting One-Day Player of the Year Award after a fine season in the abbreviated game scoring 929 runs at an average of 42.22 including two 100’s and 7 50’s.The Dick Lygon Award presented to the player who has made an outstanding contribution to the Club both on and off the field during the season, as voted by the Captain, Director of Cricket and President went to James Pipe.

Martin Crowe, Bangalore Royal Challengers’ chief cricket officer, has said that “everything went wrong” with their campaign in the first season of the IPL and that they have to start afresh next year.Crowe cited team composition, lack of preparation for key players coming out of a Test series, and poor practice facilities at the home ground as reasons for the poor performance. He also said that the team management, him included, had to share the blame and that the franchise had to bring in players with the skills required to excel in the Twenty20 format.”There is no one or particular area that deserves more blame than anyone else,” Crowe told Cricinfo. “People speculated at the start what type of team we were [a Test side] and that’s the way it has turned out. We didn’t have Twenty20 batsmen. The composition of the team, the fact that key players were coming out of a Test series and had just one day to prepare.”Our facilities at the home ground were poor – we got the worst practice facilities that I have ever seen in 25 years of international cricket so preparing was even harder. That was acknowledged after two or three practice sessions. Venkatesh Prasad was unplayable. It was up and down and doing things. It’s not the reason but it’s a reason. As for the wicket in the middle, you can see by the scores.”Crowe said that the think-tank tried all combinations but nothing worked. “We as management also have to take blame. I am sort of involved in the three-year plan but I understand that I have been long way away from the goal. I accept that, with the changes made, I could be one of them. We got off on the back end of a [Brendon] McCullum whirlwind in the opening game and we didn’t recover from it. We tried everything, every player in every combination simply because no one was putting the hand up. There is nothing to be proud of apart from, obviously, there has been some hard work that went in.”According to Crowe, the way forward was to recruit players who would be suitable to Twenty20 cricket. “Those in charge have a choice: They can start again, which is what I would do. I think you have to go in with a clean sheet and look at bringing players that would be suitable for IPL. Get as many new Twenty20 recruits as possible. Brijesh Patel is the CEO and it will be his responsibility to see who would be available and how he can build the resources within the side. We would get back Bracken but I guess we need to reduce the squad to 18 or 20, which most teams have realised.”Crowe felt Rahul Dravid grew as a Twenty20 cricketer, tried hard to adapt as a captain but “at the end of the day he had the seventh best side to work with”. Crowe said it was Dravid’s decision whether to continue as a captain next season.”Rahul was very open, he knew his limitations being a 35-year old, he wished he were ten years younger but he went out there and gave 110%. You can see that in his batting, he tried his best on the field and sometimes in this sort of the game, for someone like Shane Warne it [captaincy] comes naturally and for some others it doesn’t. Rahul is someone who would take due consideration of whether he is suited to continue or whether he needs it anymore. But I have no doubt that he would come back and make a contribution with the bat.”Crowe said franchise owner Vijay Mallya’s decision to sack the chief executive Charu Sharma was the reaction of a “disappointed owner”. “He was there from the start; he was fully involved and I think he ought to put it as a bad year and make a fresh start. I am sure he will make decisions accordingly to get us back into contention for the second year.”However, he said he didn’t understand the sacking of Sharma. “That was something we never understood inside the team. That’s a different issue. We don’t know what that was about.”Crowe also felt the initial focus was too much on entertainment rather than cricket and that hit the team hard. “There was lots of emphasis on the opening ceremony; we were not allowed inside the stadium. We were practising under the trees in the back portion, those were the things we were dealing at the time and they didn’t feel alright. It’s all about momentum and we never got any momentum.”

Marvan Atapattu chance’s of playing a part in the forthcoming NatWesttriangular series have been boosted by the news that his finger injury isnot as bad as expected.Atapattu, hit on the hand by a delivery from Andrew Flintoff, saw aspecialist on Tuesday, who revealed that he had merely aggravated an oldfracture in his right index finger and sustained severe bruising.Atapattu is attempting to get hold of the sort of finger protector worn by, among others, England’s Alec Stewart, in order to guard his damaged digit while batting.Team manager, Chandra Shaffter, described Atapattu’s chances of playing inone-day series starting 27th June at Trent Bridge as "good," although thedecision to play will be "left entirely to Marvan."Aravinda de Silva remains on stand-by and did not depart on Tuesday with theother Test specialists. However, is not currently touring with the team.Sri Lanka started a series of warm-up matches at Hove. They will alsoplay at Taunton, Bristol and Northampon before their first game againstEngland at Nottingham.

Ed: Maria Naureen is our correspondent from Karachi, a FM 101 radio talk-show host, cricket radio commentator and sports journalist

Sri Lanka’s wicket-keeper batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana and veteran batsmanAravinda de Silva have not been offered fresh contracts with the Board ofControl for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL).The BCCSL will offer 12-month contracts to 15 players this weekend beforeSri Lanka’s 10-week tour of England. Four players will be given their firstever contracts.Kaluwitharana, 32, played in three games of the recently concludedtriangular tournament in Sharjah, but he was not picked for the Test matchesin England, although he could still be added to the one-day squad.For De Silva, 36, it was the second consecutive year that he has not beenoffered a contract. When contracts were offered for 2001-2002, shortly afterEngland’s tour of Sri Lanka, officials had privately questioned thecommitment of De Silva and the value of providing a contract.De Silva spent the year on the sidelines before being recalled into thetraining in January and then the Test squad last month. He now needs toprove that he can still retains the hunger to perform consistently at thehighest level before he is awarded a new contract.Players who have not received contracts can still be picked to play for thecountry on a tour and match fee basis. Indeed, there are five non-contractedplayers in the England squad.The four new players to receive fresh contracts are Buddhika Fernando,Thilan Samaraweera, Hashan Tillakaratne and Avishka Gunawardene. The firstthree clearly gain their contracts on merit, after impressive performancesduring the past year, but Gunwardene’s contract was a surprise having beendropped from both the Test and one-day squad.That decision was apparently swayed by his young age (24) and the fact thatover 40 One-Day Internationals are scheduled over the next 12 months.One other surprise ommission is the talented Tillakaratne Dilshan. Just 25years old and now back in the one-day squad, he has clearly been told toprove his value before being offered a contract.Those that have been excluded still have a chance to secure a contract, asofficials have indicated that three more will be awarded over the comingmonths because of this year’s busy schedule.Officials were reluctant to reveal the value of the new contracts until theplayers have signed for them, but last year the top players received anannual fee of US $ 40,000 with provisions to go over US $ 50,000 by way ofbonuses and tour fees. Fringe players received significantly less.The contracted players:Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara Mahela Jayawardene,Russell Arnold, Hashan Tillakaratne, Thilan Samaraweera, Chaminda Vaas,Nuwan Zoysa, Buddika Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Dharmasena, DilharaFernando, Upul Chandana and Avishka Gunawardene.

Western Warriors recruit Paul Wilson has agreed to play club cricket with Melville for the next two seasons.Wilson, 29, concluded negotiations with Melville president Malik Mascarenhas today.The powerfully built fast-bowler, who has played one Test and limited-overs internationals for Australia, will arrive in Perth next week.He will commence training with the Warriors on Monday, July 22.Wilson will be a specialist fast-bowling coach at Melville in assistance to former England Test batsman Paul Terry.Mascarenhas said recruiting Wilson was a major coup for one of Perth’s leading league clubs.”We wanted an experienced senior bowler to assist the development of our young cricketers and in particular our bowlers,” Mascarenhas said.”Paul fits that role for us and he comes to Melville with a reputation as an extremely good club man and genuinely good bloke.”We have been very close to winning a premiership in recent seasons and we think that recruiting Paul Wilson could perhaps take a step further to achieving our goal to win a title.”

Orissa secured the first innings lead after a grim tussle and thenbowled their way into a winning position at stumps on the fourth dayof their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Madhya Pradesh at theCaptain Roop Singh stadium in Gwalior on Sunday. After gaining afirst innings lead of 42 runs, Orissa dismissed six MP batsmen for153 by close of play.The keen duel for the lead was the highlight of the penultimate day’splay. Orissa seemed to be better placed to take the lead when theyresumed in the morning, having made 369 for five in reply to MP’s 437.But they suffered an early blow when they lost Rashmi Ranjan Paridaearly. Resuming on 159, Parida was leg before to HS Sodhi for 162. Ina stay of 505 minutes at the crease, Parida faced 372 balls and hit 19of them past the ropes. Then in one over Jai P Yadav put MP in thefavourites circle by dismissing both P Jai Chandra (40) and RR Das(7). At this stage Orissa were 386 for eight, still 51 runs behind theMP first innings total.Wicketkeeper Gautam Gopal and Jagannath Das came together and theyproceeded to bring Orissa back in the game with some purposefulbatting. Amidst a lot of tension and excitement, they took Orissa pastthe MP total. Finally, after the two had added 82 runs for the ninthwicket off 36.4 overs, Das gave former India leg spinner NarendraHirwani a return catch. Das batted 2-1/2 hours, faced 113 balls andhit two fours. The innings did not last long thereafter but Gopalremained unbeaten with 63. He batted 155 minutes, faced 123 balls andhit four boundaries and two sixes. Hirwani and Yadav finished withthree wickets for 121 and 112 runs respectively.A dispirited MP side put up a poor show in their second innings. Theylost three wickets for 51 before a fourth wicket partnership of 81runs off 17.2 overs between Abbas Ali (37) and Jai P Yadav (46) pulledtheir total into the realms of respectibility. However towards theend, MP lost three quick wickets and at close of play, were ahead byonly 111 runs with four wickets in hand.

Zac Morris, Hampshire’s 22 year old left-arm pace bowler will not forget his National League debut in a hurry: three wickets including that of Graeme Hick and then the winning runs with just two balls remaining.In a low-scoring match Hampshire scraped home by three wickets in front of a crowd of around 1,500 for the inaugural National League match at the Rose Bowl.Morris, younger brother of first team regular Alex, dismissed PhilWeston in his first over after Worcestershire had chosen to bat first and then bowled the dangerous Hick between bat and pad for 13 at the end of his first spell. Later he returned to get rid of Nick Boulton to finish with creditable figures of three for 31.Worcestershire were never able to accelerate after a shaky start but Vikram Solanki and David Leatherdale propelled them to respectability with a stand of 65 for the fourth wicket, Solanki hitting five fours in his 38 and Leatherdale making an innings top score of 41 before both were out to spinner Shaun Udal.At 133 for seven Worcestershire were in danger of not being able to set Hampshire much of a total to chase. But then the reliable Steve Rhodes and Stuart Lampitt added an unbroken 50 in nine overs so that Worcestershire’s 183 for seven was at least a test.When Robin Smith departed for 46 to leave Hampshire 95 for four a real battle was about to unfold. Will Kendall and promising newcomer Lawrence Prittipaul appeared to swing the match Hampshire’s way in a stand of 73; the best of the day, but still Worcestershire were not done.Kendall, Prittipaul and Dimitri Mascarenhas were all out with victory in sight so that seven were needed from the last over of the game from Alamgir Sheriyar. There were three balls remaining when Morris straight drove for four to provide Hampshire with a winning total of 186 for seven.

The owners of the Deccan Chargers franchise, Deccan Chronicles Holdings Limited (DCHL), have asked for a three-day extension (till October 12) to raise Rs 100 crore as a bank guarantee, one of the conditions set by the Bombay High Court ruling of October 1 to avoid termination from the IPL. On Tuesday, the franchise’s owners also filed an application requesting permission to raise the guarantee from a privatised bank and not a nationalised one, as originally stipulated by the court.Immediately after the BCCI had terminated the Chargers on September 14 for failing to “cure various breaches” of their contract, DCHL had moved court, challenging the expulsion. Having heard both legal counsels over a few preliminary hearings, Justice SJ Kathawala passed a judgement where he asked DCHL to fulfil various undertakings, including paying a bank guarantee to the BCCI by October 9 from a nationalised bank. Kathawala also appointed the retired Supreme Court judge CK Thakkar as arbitrator to determine a solution to the dispute.Kathawala had said that in the event DCHL failed to raise the sum, the BCCI had the rights to revoke the termination order. The other conditions included clearing players’ dues immediately and all liabilities pertaining to IPL 5 by October 31. The other important condition was to pay IFCI, a private financial institution, who had filed a winding-up petition against the DCHL. “There is schedule set under the consent terms with IFCI, it will be paid accordingly,” Zal Andhyarujina, the DCHL legal counsel, told ESPNcricinfo.According to Andhyarujina, his client had already disbursed the payments to the players and team officials, and were also in the middle of clearing up all other dues. “Today at court we would be moving an application to have the condition of the raising the bank guarantee from a nationalised bank to a private bank – ICICI,” Andhyarujina said.Kathawala had already pulled up the BCCI for having acted in “haste” before passing the termination orders. On September 14, the board had convened an emergency IPL governing council meeting in Chennai, after which the decision was taken to terminate the Chargers. That was also the last day of the one-month deadline set by the BCCI for the Chargers to put their house in order. However, DCHL sent a notice through their lawyers stating they had not committed any “breaches.””The judge held that BCCI acted slightly in haste because they were worried about the prestige of the IPL,” a BCCI official said. “He pointed out that the dues were payable on May 1, so why did the board wait till August to send the notice to the Chargers…”