Khurram leads from the front in UAE win

United Arab Emirates (UAE) registered a 69 run win over Afghanistan in the second and last 50-over League match at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium on Wednesday.Batting first, UAE was restricted to 221 for eight in its 50 overs. In its reply, Afghanistan was bowled out for 152 in 44.4 overs to hand UAE a handsome win.Earlier, UAE lost early wickets. The side was struggling at 127 for five. It required a fine rearguard action from skipper Khurram Khan (43: 49b, 4x4) to stem the rot.Khurram added a crucial 52 runs for the sixth wicket with Ahmed Raza (35). This partnership revived the innings and ensured that UAE have a decent total to work with.For Afghanistan the key wicket-takers were Hamza Hotak (3-43) and Samiullah Shenwari (2-35)In the chase, Afghanistan lost wickets at regular intervals. Opener Karim Sadiq (31) led the charge early on, but there were no partnerships in the Afghanistan line-up.Asghar Stanikzai (33) held the innings together in the middle-order but got no support from the lower-half of the line-up. For UAE, it was skipper Khurram who once again starred, this time with the ball with a spell of 3-24. The other key wicket-takers were Shadeep Silva (2-34), Ahmed Raza (2-12) and Vikrant Shetty (2-16).

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England and India resume battle for position on Reliance ICC ODI Championship table

ICC World Twenty20 champion England and world champion India resume their battle for position in the Reliance ICC ODI Championship table when they go head to head in the five-ODI series, which starts in Hyderabad on Friday.England is currently in fourth position, leading fifth-placed India by just a ratings point. However, all this can change depending how the series pans out. And with number-one ranked Australia also ready to lock horns with third-placed South Africa from next Wednesday at Centurion, there is the possibility of plenty of movement at the top of the order.In the second half of the table, Bangladesh hosts the West Indies in a three-ODI series from Thursday with the home side eyeing an upward movement.Eighth-ranked West Indies leads Bangladesh in ninth place by 15 ratings points but the team placings will reverse if Bangladesh wins all the three matches. If this happens, Bangladesh will gain a place on the table as it would earn a swing of 16 ratings.To find out exactly how the forthcoming matches will affect the team rankings, please click here. Unlike the Test Championship table, the ODI Championship table is updated after every match. Meanwhile, in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, England's Jonathan Trott, who won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Cricketer of the Year award at the LG ICC Awards in London last month, is in fourth position and will be aiming to improve his ranking further.The 30-year-old trails second-ranked AB de Villiers of South Africa by 54 ratings points and third-ranked Shane Watson of Australia by 10 ratings points. But given he is in a qualification period for batsmen*, it is likely that he will move even further up the ladder depending on how he performs in the series.Trott, who has scored 1,596 runs in 35 ODIs, including 1,113 runs from 24 matches this year, had also played an integral role in England's 3-0 win over India earlier this English summer when he scored 111 runs which had helped him gain two places in the rankings.The next highest-ranked England batsman after Trott is captain Alastair Cook who is in 42nd position while Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell are in 52nd and 55th positions, respectively with Ravi Bopara sitting in 65th spot.India boasts three batsmen inside the top 15 with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni leading from the front. He is in sixth position and will be keen to regain the coveted number-one position he surrendered to AB de Villiers after the tri-nation series in Sri Lanka last August. Dhoni trails fifth-ranked Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka by 13 ratings points while he is 16 ratings points behind Trott.The other India batsmen aiming to climb up the ladder include Virat Kohli (ninth), Gautam Gambhir (14th) and Suresh Raina (30th).The highest-ranked Bangladesh and West Indies batsmen are Shakib Al Hasan and Lendl Simmons in 23rd and 49th, respectively.In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, England's Graeme Swann will be hoping to strengthen his position on top of the tree. The off-spinner leads second-ranked New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori by 27 ratings points.In the absence of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan is England's highest-ranked bowler in 27th position.Likewise, India will also be without its four frontline bowlers - Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh. In their absence, Praveen Kumar is the highest-ranked India bowler in 21st position.Bangladesh left-arm spinners Abdur Razzak and Shakib Al Hasan are inside the top 20 in 14th and 17th positions, respectively, followed by West Indies' pace duo of Ravi Rampaul and Darren Sammy in 30th and 31st positions, respectively.

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Bairstow sizzles as England warn India

International novice Jonny Bairstow smashed an unbeaten 104 off 53 balls on Tuesday as England flaunted their all-round prowess ahead of the one-day series against world champions India.England piled up 367-4 in their 50 overs in a practice match against a Hyderabad XI and bowled the home team out for 114 in just 35.3 overs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.The massive 253-run win was a timely boost for the tourists with the first one-dayer against Mahendra Singh Dhoni's India at the same venue on Friday.Skipper Alastair Cook hit 85 off 74 balls and Craig Kieswetter made 71 during a rollicking opening stand of 151. Jonathan Trott chipped in with a quickfire 74, but it was the 22-year-old Bairstow who stole the show by pounding eight sixes and six boundaries.Bairstow, who has played a solitary one-day international, reached his century with a six off the last ball of the innings. Kevin Pietersen missed out in the run-hunt, falling for 10 Scott Borthwick, a 21-year-old leg-spinner from Durham, enhanced his claims for a full England debut with remarkable figures of 5-31 from his 10 overs in Hyderabad's innings.The tourists won the first practice match against the same opposition on Saturday by 56 runs with fast bowler Steven Finn grabbing a hat-trick in his 4-28.England took the field in the second game without frontline batsman Ian Bell, down with a stomach bug, and leading spinner Graeme Swann, who is recovering from a minor ankle injury.Fast bowlers Finn and Jade Dernbach, and batsman Ravi Bopara, were also rested. The other matches against India will be played in New Delhi (October 17), Mohali (Oct 20), Mumbai (Oct 23) and Kolkata (Oct 25), before England round off the tour with a lone Twenty20 game in Kolkata on Oct 29.

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Windies vow to bounce back in Bangladesh

DHAKA : West Indies captain Darren Sammy said Wednesday he was confident his team will come back strongly in the one-day series after opening the Bangladesh tour with a close defeat.The tourists lost the one-off Twenty20 international by three wickets in a thrilling finish in Dhaka on Tuesday, with Bangladesh's new captain Mushfiqur Rahim smashing a six off the penultimate ball."This is the start of the tour, so we will regroup and come back," Sammy said ahead of the first one-dayer in Dhaka on Thursday."We have three one-dayers and two Test matches, so there is a lot to play for. We will look at the areas where we went wrong and lift our game for the upcoming matches.Sammy was pleased with the form of Marlon Samuels who raised visions of a West Indies victory with a good all-round show before man-of-the-match Rahim (41 not out) snatched the game away from them.Samuels top-scored with a fighting 58, his best in Twenty20 internationals, to help his side post 132-8 and then dismissed key batsmen Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Ashraful with his off-spin to reduce the hosts to 71-5.It was good to see the way Marlon performed. He is playing very well at the moment and is doing his bit with the bat and ball," said Sammy."Hats off to Mushfiqur. We know Bangladesh are a good team and they held their nerve better than we did."Rahim lauded his team for delivering under pressure in his first match as captain."This was my first match as captain and I couldn't have asked for more. It was a team effort and I'm really happy," he said."In the last over, I had the confidence that if I got the ball in my zone then I could hit it for a four or six. Fortunately, that is what happened.The West Indies are likely to name leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo for the one-day series to be played on spin-friendly tracks.The hosts will be without vice-captain Mohammad Mahmudullah, who is suffering from a viral fever.Bangladesh have won just three of their 17 one-day internationals against the West Indies.West Indies (from): Darren Sammy (capt), Adrian Barath, Devendra Bishoo, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Danza Hyatt, Anthony Martin, Kieron Pollard, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons.angladesh (from): Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan, Alok Kapali, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Shahriar Nafees, Shuvagoto Hom.

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England ready to change script in India

HYDERABAD : England will look to improve on their dismal one-day record in India when they clash with the injury-ravaged world champions in a five-match series starting Friday.England have beaten India just once in their last 10 one-day internationals on Indian soil, which included a thrilling tie during the World Cup in Bangalore in March.Alastair Cook's side will be buoyant after a dominant home season when they beat India 4-0 in the Test series to take over as the world's number one team, and also won the one-dayers 3-0.Cook, however, refused to take victory for granted against a depleted home team missing key players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh due to injury or poor form."I don't see any relation between what happened in England and what's going to happen out here," Cook said ahead of the first one-dayer at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.India are historically very strong at home, and we have an extremely tough challenge on our hands. It's a great opportunity for an England side to play the world champions in their back yard.England, who arrived in India on October 4 to acclimatise to local conditions, warmed up for the series by winning both practice matches against Hyderabad teams.On Tuesday, they routed the local side by 253 runs after Jonny Bairstow smashed an unbeaten 104 off 53 balls and uncapped leg-spinner Scott Borthwick picked up five wickets.The new-look Indian team has just four survivors -- skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina from the side that beat Sri Lanka in the World Cup final in Mumbai on April 2.Tendulkar, Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel are recovering from injuries, while Harbhajan and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth were dropped due to poor form.India's 15-man squad for the first two one-dayers includes three players leg-spinner Rahul Sharma, 24, left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind, 27, and fast bowler Varun Aaron, 21 who have yet to play international cricket.Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Sharma are the three spin options, while Praveen Kumar will lead a new-ball attack that also includes Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar.Kevin Pietersen returns for England after being omitted for the one-dayers against India at home, but the tourists are without pace spearheads James Anderson who is being rested, and Stuart Broad who is injured.Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach and Steven Finn will head the tourists' pace attack, which also includes 22-year-old uncapped Surrey bowler Stuart Meaker.Despite injuries to star players and the humiliating defeats on English soil, India appeared unfazed."England played very well in England and deserved to win, but we will do well at home," said middle-order batsman Raina.The remaining four matches after the Hyderabad opener will be played in New Delhi on October 17, Mohali on the 20th, Mumbai on the 23rd and Kolkata on the 25th.England will round off the tour with a Twenty20 game in Kolkata on October 29

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