Match ends in a draw, but UAE gains maximum points

The four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup match between Afghanistan and United Arab Emirates (UAE) ended in a draw at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium at Sharjah on Saturday.But UAE gained six points from the match for claiming a first-innings lead.On the final day, UAE began at its overnight score of 212 for five. But lost wickets at regular intervals to be bowled out for 228 in 73 overs. UAE had an overall lead of 362/The UAE tail did not wag like in the first innings. Swapnil Patil (79: 137b, 5x4, 2x6) held the innings together for a while, but was the first to fall on the day.The collapse proved to be a boon in disguise as UAE could push for a result.For Afghanistan the key wicket-takers were Dawlat Zadran (2-32), Mohammad NBabi (3-55) and Mirwais Ashraf (4-20).Set to chase an unlikely target of 363, Afghanistan began disastrously losing wickets at regular intervals.The side slipped to 30 for three. It required Javed Ahmadi's steady 49 off 84 balls to stem the rot. Ahmadi and Mirwais Ashraf added 40 runs for the fourth wicket. But there was a collapse again.The Afghans collapsed further to 96 for seven.It was then left to Nabi (35 not out: 153b, 3x4, 3x6) to once again play a key role for the Afghanistan side. Nabi added 35 runs with Samiullah Shenwari (6 not out) in 25.2 overs to stonewall UAE's attempts to force a win.For UAE, Amjad Javed (2-23) amnd Arshad Ali (3-30) picked up the wickets for the UAE side. Afghanistan ended at 131 for seven in 54.4 overs when the two sides settled for a draw.The two sides will now be locked in a two-game series in the 50-over Associate and Affiliate League on 10 and 12 October at the Sharjah ground.

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South Africa must work on choking problem: Kirsten

South Africa coach Gary Kirsten feels they need to work on a strategy to overcome the team's long standing problem of choking in crunch matches.South Africa have been struggling to shake off the 'chokers' tag, which they earned over a decade, since the 1999 World Cup semifinal tie against Australia.'You need to have some sort of a strategy around it,' Kirsten, named the coach in June, was quoted as saying You can't just be naive to think it's not a problem and doesn't exist. There's been a bit of scarring there, and it's been going on for a long time.'But then you need to think cleverly and think smart about how you manage that issue. I think it is something we'll focus on when we get to those events and work out ways in which we can strategise to cross the line.'The Proteas have given away matches from winning positions including in World Cup earlier this year when they went down to New Zealand in the quarter-final.Kirsten, who had a successful stint with India that culminated in a World Cup victory, believes South African has the potential to be at the top in world cricket.'We all believe that we're a good enough cricket team to be at the top of the pile,' he said.'That's where we're wanting to head. We've got to achieve some good results along the way, make sure that we're competitive in every series we play.'There's no doubt there's enough skill and ability in the team to vie for a position at the top of world cricket.'

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India sets up final clash with Sri Lanka

Kumar Deobrat Singh hit a breezy half-century to help India register a comprehensive 81-run victory over the West Indies in the Under-19 quadrangular one-day cricket series in Visakhapatnam on Friday.Deobrat scored 75 off 91 balls, inclusive of four boundaries and two sixes, as India posted a challenging 249 for 7 in their 50 overs after being sent in to bat by the West Indies' skipper Kraigg Brathwaite.In reply, the West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals and eventually folded for 168 in 40.5 overs.Baba Aparajith was the pick of India's bowlers, taking three wickets for 36, while Sandeep Sharma, Kamal Passi and Vikas Mishra scalped two wickets each.For the West Indies, Justin Greaves and Kyle Mayers accounted for two wickets each, while Amir Khan and Derone Davis snapped one each.Earlier, A Herwadkar (22) and skipper U Chand (28) opened the innings for India and put up 53 runs in 13.5 before the former lost his wicket to Mayers. Chand too was sent back to the dressing room soon by Khan. But Manan Vohra (44) and Deobrat joined hands to put up a crucial 91-run stand. Vohra though was sent packing by Davis.Then Deobrat, in the able company of Aparajith (34), hit 61 runs from 8.4 overs to take the team past 200-run mark.Even after he got out, India scored 36 off the last 32 balls to finish with 249.Chasing 250 for victory, the West Indies had a disastrous start, as they lost skipper Brathwaite (0) to the third ball of the very first over.Opener J Campbell (27) was then removed by Passi in the eighth over.A Alleyne (31) and KR Mayers (30), however, stitched 49 runs before Mishra had the former trapped in front of the wicket.Aparajith then dismissed Mayers, while Passi came back to get rid off SW Ambris (17) as the West Indies lost half their side for 121 in 29.2 overs.Greaves (9), Stephen Katwaroo (6), Davis (1) and Khan (11) were all dismissed cheaply. And once Hodge (31) was also back in the hut, it was all over for the Caribbean side Table toppers India will take on Sri Lanka in the final of the tournament on Sunday.In the other game of the day, Sri Lanka lost to Australia in a thrilling contest by just two wickets. Sri Lanka posted a mamoth 296 for eight its 50 overs. Australia overhauled the target with two wickets to spare with six balls still left to play.

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A bigger challenge awaits India in Australia: Ganguly

After the forgettable tour of England in the just-concluded series, Team India will face a bigger challenge when they travel to Australia in December, according to former captain Sourav Ganguly.He said the upcoming home series against England, that starts on October 14, will not pose a threat to the reigning world champions."England in India would not be a challenge. It will be a bit more than what it used to be in the past, when India played England in full strength," he told reporters at a promotional event in Mumbai on Saturday.India had a disastrous July-September tour of England, where they lost the Test series 0-4 to meekly surrender their numero uno Test status to the Andrew Strauss-led team.The reigning one-day international champions did no better in the shorter version of the game as they failed to win a single match in the rain-marred five-match ODI series I think the biggest challenge that will identify (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni as a leader in world cricket is the tour of Australia. If India does well then Dhoni will be terrific. We have to wait and see (for that to happen)," Ganguly said.He brushed aside the discussion on having a split captaincy for different formats of the game."It's early days to talk about split captaincy after one series loss. I don't think we should even think about it at this stage. We will have to wait and see how the team performs in Australia.England has Andrew Strauss leading the Test side, Alistair Cook for ODIs and Stuart Broad as the Twenty20 skipper.

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