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Australia Under-19 captain Mitchell Marsh has commended the team effort that gave his side a narrow two-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the World Cup semi-final. After bowling Sri Lanka out for 205 in 48.2 overs, Australia faltered in the chase, losing regular wickets before getting across the line with nine balls to spare.”I think run-chases in finals are always pretty tough and they’re the sort of games you never win two or three down,” Marsh said. “It’s a credit to the boys at the end who stuck to their guns and got us over the line.”Marsh led from the front, scoring 97 of 110 balls, including twelve fours. Even as wickets fell around him, he continued to keep the score ticking over, eventually finding able support in wicketkeeper Tom Triffitt, who made 50. The two put on 78 for the sixth wicket and Marsh noted the importance of the crucial stand, which rescued them from 93 for 5.”When you get those sorts of scores you always want to go on and make hundreds but it was a pretty good catch and at the end of the day it was just important for us to get the win,” Marsh said. “Being 5 for 93 at one stage, I think we’ve done pretty well to win and my partnership with Triff [Triffitt] towards the end there was pivotal and that’s what you need in these sorts of games.”The form of the Australian fast bowlers through the tournament has been impressive and Marsh said he was pleased with their efforts to pin down Sri Lanka to 205. “You always want to bat first on tracks like that but credit to the way the boys came out and the attitude of the fielders and bowlers,” Marsh said. “In these sorts of games if you can bowl consistently good areas you’re always going to get wickets and that’s what the two big guys [Josh Hazlewood and Alister McDermott] did at the start.”Marsh also said he had set his sights on the final against Pakistan on Saturday. He said he was excited about the challenge ahead and hoped to return home with the big prize. “Pakistan’s going to be a tough encounter, they’re a very well-drilled side and if we can just keep doing the basics right then I think we’re in for a good day Saturday,” he said. “They’ve got a fair bit of experience at the top of the order and a few good spinners so we’ll look to counter them and hopefully we can do the job.”

Simon Katich doesn’t want to replace Ricky Ponting as captain and is happy supporting the current leader. After Australia’s draw with West Indies in Adelaide there has been some noise from former players about removing Ponting and Rodney Hogg, a vocal critic, wants Katich to be promoted.”It’s a shock to hear that sort of stuff,” Katich told AAP. “Ricky’s obviously done a fantastic job and I’m just happy being back in the team. It’s flattering to hear that sort of comment but at the same time I know what my role in the team is and that’s to open the batting and hopefully be a senior player to help Ricky out. From that point of view, I don’t buy into that at all.”Katich did not believe criticism of Ponting, who was in charge of the Ashes defeat in August, is warranted and wanted the team to take on extra responsibility to improve the results. “Whenever we don’t win a Test match there’s always speculation about why we didn’t win and the captain always comes under so much more heat than anyone else,” he said. “We did everything we could the other day to try and win the Test match, it didn’t work out. The West Indies deserve some credit for the way they played, they showed a lot of application.”There’s always some speculation about Ricky when the results don’t go to plan but there’s obviously 11 of us out there trying to help him out and win a game of cricket. It’s up to all of us to get a bit better at that.” The third Test against West Indies begins in Perth on Wednesday, with Australia holding a 1-0 advantage.

Indian fast bowler Irfan Pathan has blamed his lack of success at the international level on not getting the new ball, which he said compromised his natural ability to swing. He said bowling first change meant he never produced the swing which he could have generated with the new ball.”I’m not complaining that I should be given the new ball, but yes, if you are bowling first change, you are not going to get that much swing,” Irfan said. “Your wicket tally is going to reduce.”Irfan, who last played for India in the 2009 World Twenty20, against West indies at Lord’s in June, believed even in seamer-friendly pitches in England and South Africa, it was never easy for a first-change bowler to pick up wickets.”In terms of swing, I don’t think natural talent will die,” Pathan said. “Wherever you go, even places like England and South Africa, where the bowlers get help, even bowling there first change with white ball, especially with the Powerplays on, he [the bowler] is not going to get that many wickets. His economy rate is going to increase along with his wicket-taking average. Same happened with me.”However, he asserted that he was in good rhythm and primed for a comeback, given his impressive performances with Baroda in the Ranji Trophy Super League. He picked up 22 wickets in five matches at 18.54, as Baroda narrowly missed out on a quarter-final berth from Group B. When asked about his chances of a comeback into the Indian squad, Irfan said he had done his best and now it was upto the selectors to decide.”There was a phase when I came back after injury and struggled with the ball. But that phase is gone now. I am preparing well to make a comeback. It has been a good domestic season and I also scored close to 400 runs, besides captaining the side.”Captaining in domestic cricket was new to me. I came to know what happens in selection meetings, how to pick up different players. That experience is one of the few positives for me after injury.”As a player we expect a lot of things. I was expecting to be in the side for the Sri Lankan tour, but that is every player’s personal feeling and I had it as well.”Irfan believed it was because of his lack of performances which led to his ouster from the national team. “When you don’t perform well, you will get dropped,” he said. “People think that I should have been given more chances but I personally believe that if you are performing to the expectations of what your team wants, then you are not going to get dropped.”He also felt the advent of Twenty20 had helped turn the game into a global sport, but advised players that they should opt out of a tournament in case they were fatigued. “With more money getting involved in the sport, cricket is becoming more professional,” Irfan said. “Fitness will get affected. But it’s upto the individual. If he feels he will get injured and needs rest, he should let the team know how he’s feeling so that chances of him getting injured reduce.”

Tasmania 7 for 178 (Bailey 74*, Smith 3-43) beat New South Wales 177 (Henriques 37, Denton 3-19) by 3 wickets
ScorecardGeorge Bailey stayed composed as his side edged past the Blues•Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

The captain George Bailey controlled Tasmania’s tricky chase with an unbeaten 74 that sealed a tight win over New South Wales. A testing pitch in Launceston made life hard for the batsmen and it was Bailey’s innings that stood out as his side reached 7 for 178 in a three-wicket win.Chasing the Blues’ 177, Tasmania were looking comfortable at 3 for 87 following a stand of 51 between Brett Geeves (36), the makeshift opener, and Bailey. However, Steven Smith created some awkward moments with 3 for 43 before Bailey, who hit three sixes and four fours during his 89-ball stay, and Brendan Drew (31) guided them home.The Blues, who have lost three of their four games in the competition, relied on some late hitting from Stuart Clark and Simon Keen to reach their total on a pitch offering some unpredictable bounce. Gerard Denton caused the early damage with the prized wickets of Phillip Hughes (0) and Phil Jaques (0) in the first over before following up with David Warner (8) in a match he was not meant to play in. The late withdrawal of the opener Wade Irvine, who hurt his back in the warm-up, allowed Denton to take his place and he finished with 3 for 19.Moises Henriques started the recovery from 3 for 14 with a team-high 37 while Ben Rohrer’s 28 and Smith’s 25 avoided an embarrassing total. Clark and Keen both scrambled 29 to hold up the hosts while Geeves and Luke Butterworth collected two wickets each to keep the pressure on.

Injuries that have already eliminated Fidel Edwards from the imminent West Indies tour of Australia have now cost the fast bowler a retainer contract from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).Chief executive Ernest Hilaire confirmed on Wednesday that one-year contracts in four separate grades had been issued to 33 players but had been withheld for Edwards and opening batsman Dale Richards until their “medical status is cleared”.He noted that when Edwards returned to Barbados from the ICC World Twenty20 in England in June with a back injury, the WICB put him on a remedial programme. “He abandoned it and went to play in the Champions League in India (in October) and got injured there,” Hilaire said. “We now need to sort that out.”Like Edwards, Richards has been set back by a succession of injuries. Richards missed last season’s home series against England and the following series in England with knee and ankle problems. A dislocated shoulder during the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa ruled him out of the recent President’s Cup, the regional one-day tournament. “It’s not that they wouldn’t be offered contracts,” Hilaire said. “It’s just that we have to resolve their medical status.”Based on experience, record and potential, the contracts are graded at US$120,000, $80,000, $60,000 and $24,000. The last category is for what is called ‘developmental players’. Match, tour and sponsorship fees are additional and paid to those selected for West Indies, with or without contracts.Hilaire said the names already published in the Caribbean media were correct but he would not state which were in which group nor give the overall costs. An estimate of around US$2 million would not be short of the mark.As promised, contracts have been given to all those hurriedly called up for the first Test against Bangladesh in St Vincent in July after the selected 13 withdrew because of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) dispute with the WICB, mainly over contracts.”The board told them before the Test that it would offer all of them contracts because of their commitment and the sacrifices they were making to come and play,’ Hilaire said. Among them are teenagers Andre Creary of Jamaica and Kraigg Brathwaite of Barbados who were in the first Test squad but did not appear in the series. Ryan Hinds, Rawl Lewis and Devon Thomas are the only ones who played against Bangladesh not included in the deal as they only came in after the first Test.Of those originally chosen against Bangladesh and who have returned to the fold following the Caricom-brokered agreement between the WICB and the WIPA, only Runako Morton has not been contracted. Barbados allrounder Dwayne Smith, who last played for the West Indies more than two years ago, and the exciting 20-year-old Trinidad and Tobago left-hand batsman Darren Bravo, younger brother of Dwayne, are both on the list.A surprise omission is Kieron Pollard, the big, hard-hitting all-rounder who was one of the stars of Trinidad and Tobago’s outstanding performance in the Champions League in India last month. He has a modest record in 15 ODIs but his average of 37.46, with three hundreds, in regional first-class cricket is better than many of those chosen. He has now signed to turn out for South Australia in Australia’s Twenty20 competition in January.List of contracted players
Barbados: Sulieman Benn, Tino Best, Kraigg Brathwaite, Kemar Roach, Dwayne Smith.Combined Campuses and Colleges: Ryan Austin, Kevin McLean, Omar Phillips, Floyd Reifer, Chadwick Walton.Trinidad & Tobago: Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons.Guyana: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Ramnaresh Sarwan.Jamaica: Dave Bernard, Andre Creary, Chris Gayle, Nikita Miller, Brendan Nash, Jerome Taylor.Windward Islands: Andre Fletcher, Nelon Pascal, Darren Sammy, Devon Smith.Leeward Islands: Lionel Baker, Kieran Powell, Gavin Tonge.

Victoria have made a positive start in India with victory in their first warm-up match but the coach Greg Shipperd expects a tough fight to progress past the group stage of the Champions League Twenty20. The team’s international stars Cameron White, David Hussey and Peter Siddle join the squad on Thursday, a day before their opening game of the tournament, which features a first prize of US$2.5 million.”We have a tough draw, but we know if we stick to our plans and routines and play at the level we can, we will be very competitive,” Shipperd told the . “Some people may not be ranking this first tournament of the summer as seriously as us.”But the sheer prize-money on offer and pluses for our team and for cricket in Victoria generally are enormous. It is a tremendous opportunity both for us as a team and individually. We have prepared well and aren’t daunted by anything.”In their opening match on Friday, Victoria face Delhi Daredevils, the IPL side that was also coached by Shipperd this year, before taking on the Sri Lankan champions Wayamba. He has handed over the reins of the Daredevils to his assistant David Saker and Shipperd is firmly focused on guiding a Victorian side with a mix of youth and experience to success.”The excitement and expectation for us all in India is really something to experience,” he said. “We have a strong team here and there is a real sense of purpose among the group. While we are coming off an off-season, we had an excellent lead-up in Lismore and the early practices and trial games have produced some very promising results.”