Ref Mahanama urges Windies, Australia to calm down

St John's (Antigua): After a series of umpiring bloopers marred day four of the second Test between Australia and the West Indies, match referee Roshan Mahanama told captains Ricky Ponting and Ramnaresh Sarwan to calm down their respective teams.

Zimbabwean umpire Russell Tiffin produced three shocking decisions in a short span of five minutes to rattle the West Indian batting line-up. It caused hostilities to bubble as Australia reached 244/6 to forge out a 371-run lead at stumps.

The flashpoint came when Andrew Symonds refused to walk after appearing to glove a ball to the wicketkeeper. Several Windies fielders confronted Symonds and the situation continued to fester, with Mahanama summoning rival captains after the end of the days play to ensure both teams avoided future conflict.

Former Sri Lankan batsman Mahanama did not hit either side with an official warning but spoke to both skippers to try to stamp out any lingering tension between the teams.

''They were told to be cool. The skippers were told that we wanted to finish the Test without having any problems. It was a preventative thing,'' Mahanama said

The situation was sparked when Tiffin's three mistakes ruined the Windies' hopes of a challenging first innings total.

The West Indies were bowled out for 352, losing their last six wickets for 38.

Right-arm pacer Brett Lee took 5-5 with reverse swing in an astonishing 18 balls, but he had Tiffin to thank for his figures.

Three of his victims appeared to be not out, with Dwayne Bravo ruled caught behind after the ball came off his hip and Denesh Ramdin and Darren Sammy being adjudged lbw after being hit outside the line of the off-stump.

It was reminiscent of some of Steve Bucknor's blunders in Australia last summer, which led to his sacking at the demand of a furious Indian side.

Australia call-up Watson for one-dayers

Melbourne: Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, who excelled in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament, has been named as the replacement for Matthew Hayden in Australia's one-day side to play the West Indies.

Hayden has been ruled out of the tour with an Achilles tendon injury.

"It is obviously disappointing for Matthew Hayden and the Australian side that injury has forced him out of the one-day tour of the West Indies ... however this does create an opportunity to reintroduce Shane Watson back into the Australian one-day side," Fox Sports quoted the Chairman of Selectors Andrew Hilditch, as saying.

"Approximately 18 months ago, we identified Shane as someone we thought could open the batting for Australia in one-day cricket. And in the opportunities he has had since, he has played that role extremely well. He also adds great flexibility to our bowling attack in this format of the game.

"Shane has had a disappointing run with injuries but finished our interstate season well and has sustained his fitness levels throughout the IPL tournament.

"Shane is an exciting young player and deserves his opportunity to return to the Australian side."

Watson, 26, last played for Australia in the 2007 Cricket World Cup final against Sri Lanka in Barbados.

He scored 472 runs at an average of 42 in the Indian Premier League, will join the Australia team together with rest of the one-day squad members in Barbados during the third Test.

Australia play one Twenty20 match and five one-dayers against West Indies.

PCB swings into action to bail out Asif

Efforts are on, in full swing, to assist Mohammed Asif and bail him out of his detention in Dubai for the possession of drugs. There is no charge sheet that has been filed against him yet but the PCB has already sent in legal help. The results of the blood tests are yet to be out after which a final decision is expected.

A few days back Mohammed Asif was bowling his heart out for the Delhi Dardevils in the IPL semi-final and now the pacer is cooling his heels in Dubai, caught in the net of a drug-scandal yet again.

He flew out from Mumbai on Sunday and that morning itself he was detained at the Dubai airport for possessing what sources confirmed to CNN-IBN was a small amount of opium.

"Our team which includes Nadeem Akram (Director, Human Resources) and our lawyers met Asif and told us that he is in a good spirit and is looking forward to return to Pakistan," said PCB’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Shafqat Naghmi.

According to sources Asif was carrying the contraband in his wallet. Asif also claims that he unaware that he was even carrying it and it was a medicine prescribed by a local doctor for his long-term elbow injury.

"Asif said that he was detained because he possessed a medicine, which the authorities are unsure about and hence will check on it," stated Naghmi.

Dubai authorities have conducted various drug tests on Asif and his fate now lies in those results. PCB and the Pakistan government it seems are trying hard to get Asif off the hook lightly.

"We are hopeful that the entire matter is a mistake or a harmless issue," said Naghmi.

But drug laws in UAE are some of the harshest in the world and it may not be an easy task for Asif to get out of the dock that easily.

Pakistan announce squad for triangular series

KARACHI: Pakistan selectors have named senior batsman Muhammad Yousuf in their 16-man squad for a triangular One-day series in Bangladesh from June 8.

India and Bangladesh are the other teams in the competition, which ends on June 14.

Yousuf had not been considered for recent Twenty20 events and was also rested for part of a series against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

"We have picked the best possible squad for what would be a tough tournament," said chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed.

"We have also picked a few young players to give them exposure."

Selectors have called up left arm pacer Wahab Riaz and batsman Nomanullah, who made their one-day debuts recently.

Squad:
Shoaib Malik (Capt), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Muhammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Muhammad Asif, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftkhar, Wahab Riaz, Nomanullah, Fawad Alam, Bazid Khan.

Final : Rajasthan Royals Vs Chennai Super Kings

Yusuf Again Shines with Bat & Ball

Attacking all-rounder Yusuf Pathan scripted a memorable last-ball victory for Jaipur against Chennai in a thrilling final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) that more than made up for the two lop-sided semi-finals.

Pathan grabbed three crucial wickets and then produced a belligerent half-century as Jaipur chased a challenging target of 164 to lift the trophy in the first edition of the championship, which brought several of the world’s top players together in a double-league format played among eight city teams.

The Jaipur team, by far the most consistent in the championship with 11 wins in 14 league matches, were deserving winners under Aussie great Shane Warne. Having thrashed Delhi on way to the final, they were on a roll with all-rounders Pathan and Shane Watson proving their match-winning capability time and again.

The two were once again in the thick of things and looked set to take the match away from Chennai with a useful partnership before some quick wickets set them back.

Pathan struck his fourth fifty of the tournament, his racy 56 off 39 balls studded with three fours and four sixes. Jaipur eventually won by three wickets, Warne seeing the team through in the company of Sohail Tanvir after they needed 18 off the last two overs and then eight off the last over bowled by Lakshmipathy Balaji. A wide ball followed by a fumble from wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel helped Jaipur breath easy in the final over and Tanvir drove through the leg side to get the one run needed off the last ball.

Jaipur did not have a good start chasing a challenging target as they fell to 42-3. But Pathan’s 65-run stand for the fourth wicket with in-form batsman Watson, who struck 28 off 19 balls with three fours, put them back on track.

Pathan continued to torment the bowling even after Watson’s departure, once carting Muttiah Muralitharan for two consecutive sixes. He was lucky to be let off twice, Suresh Raina dropping a skier off Muttiah Muralitharan when he was on 13, and then MS Gony failing to latch on to a return catch on 33. The all-rounder was also lucky to escape in a mix-up with Warne a little later.

A flurry of wickets just when Jaipur seemed to have the match in their grasp, made the proceedings interesting. Pathan was run out to a direct throw from Raina as Jaipur fell to 143-7 after cruising along at 107-3.

Pathan was not only lucky to get some chances while batting but also while bowling, because he was backed really well by some superb fielding earlier in the day. After a colourful opening ceremony delayed the match by 15 minutes, Pathan took centre-stage to return a fine bowling analysis of 3-22 that pegged the opposition back and prevented a free flow of runs despite a steady start provided by Parthiv Patel (38).

Pathan got his first wicket as Sidharth Trivedi took a lovely diving catch in the deep after Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan (16) pulled in an effort to clear the mid-wicket boundary. Pathan got success again when wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal pouched a fine catch on second attempt with Patel trying to cut the ball. Akmal also caught Albie Morkel (16) in a melee to give Pathan his third scalp.

Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni came up with brisk knocks later in the innings to keep the team’s hopes alive. Left-handed Raina scored a quick 43 off 30 balls and Dhoni 29 off 17 balls, both batsmen hitting two sixes and a four each.

Jaipur, who suffered a major blow before the match with the injury of Graeme Smith, brought in Akmal. The extremely impressive Niraj Patel also earned a comeback for the crucial clash.

Chennai, who decimated Mohali in their semi-final game on Saturday, made no changes to their playing eleven.

Toss won by: Jaipur Status : Match Ended Batted first : Chennai Batted Second: Jaipur

Match Result: Jaipur beat Chennai by 3 wickets
Man of the match: Yusuf Pathan
Man of the Series: Shane Watson

Chennai

Batsman	Status	Runs	Balls	4's	6's
Parthiv Patel (W)	c Kamran Akmal b Yusuf Pathan	38	33	5	0
Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan	c Ravindra Jadeja b Yusuf Pathan	16	14	1	1
Suresh Raina	c Ravindra Jadeja b Shane Watson	43	30	1	2
Albie Morkel	c Kamran Akmal b Yusuf Pathan	16	13	0	2
MS Dhoni (C)	not out	29	17	1	2
Chamara Kapugedera	c Swapnil Asnodkar b Sohail Tanvir	8	12	0	0
Subramaniam Badrinath	not out	6	2	1	0
Manpreet Gony
Lakshmipathy Balaji
Muttiah Muralidaran
Makhaya Ntini

Total: 163 for 5 in 20.0 overs Run Rate: 8.15 Extras : 7 (b - 1, w - 3, nb - 1, lb - 2, Penalty - 0)

Fall of wickets:1/39 (Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan 5.2 ov.), 2/64 (Parthiv Patel 9 ov.), 3/95 (Albie Morkel 12.4 ov.), 4/128 (Suresh Raina 16.2 ov.), 5/148 (Chamara Kapugedera 19.1 ov.)

Bowlers	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Wides	Noballs
Sohail Tanvir	4	0	40	1	1	0
Shane Watson	4	0	29	1	1	1
Munaf Patel	2	0	14	0	0	0
Yusuf Pathan	4	0	22	3	0	0
Siddharth Trivedi	2	0	21	0	0	0
Shane Warne	4	0	34	0	1	0

Jaipur

Batsman	Status	Runs	Balls	4's	6's
Niraj Patel	b Manpreet Gony	2	11	0	0
Swapnil Asnodkar	c Suresh Raina b Albie Morkel	28	20	4	0
Kamran Akmal (W)	run out (Makhaya Ntini)	6	7	1	0
Shane Watson	b Muttiah Muralidaran	28	19	3	0
Yusuf Pathan	run out (Suresh Raina)	56	39	3	4
Mohammad Kaif	c MS Dhoni b Muttiah Muralidaran	12	9	0	1
Ravindra Jadeja	c Chamara Kapugedera b Albie Morkel	0	1	0	0
Shane Warne (C)	not out	9	9	1	0
Sohail Tanvir	not out	9	7	0	0
Siddharth Trivedi
Munaf Patel

Total: 164 for 7 in 20.0 overs Run Rate: 8.2 Extras : 14 (b - 1, w - 5, nb - 2, lb - 6, Penalty - 0)

Fall of wickets:1/19 (Niraj Patel 3.1 ov.), 2/41 (Swapnil Asnodkar 6.1 ov.), 3/42 (Kamran Akmal 6.4 ov.), 4/107 (Shane Watson 14.1 ov.), 5/139 (Mohammad Kaif 17 ov.), 6/139 (Ravindra Jadeja 17.1 ov.), 7/143 (Yusuf Pathan 17.4 ov.)

Bowlers	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Wides	Noballs
Makhaya Ntini	4	1	21	0	0	0
Manpreet Gony	4	0	30	1	0	0
Albie Morkel	4	0	25	2	3	2
Lakshmipathy Balaji	4	0	42	0	1	0
Muttiah Muralidaran	4	0	39	2	0	0