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Points tableGuyana 270 (Deonarine 71, Dowlin 67, Emrit 5-48) and 67 for 3 beat Trinidad & Tobago 143 (Jan 73) and 193 (Bravo 68*) by 7 wickets
ScorecardGuyana pulled off a huge upset when they defeated second-placed Trinidad & Tobago by seven wickets in a low-scoring match at Berbice. The heroes for Guyana were Damodar Daesrath, who returned incredible figures of 4 for 17 from 18 overs to restrict Trinidad & Tobago to 143, and Narsingh Deonarine and Travis Dowlin, who struck vital half-centuries to ensure a first-innings lead of 127. Dowlin then struck with his offspinners as well, taking three second-innings wickets as T&T were bundled out for 193 despite a battling 68 not out from a batsman fittingly named Dwayne Bravo. Despite a couple of early setbacks, Guyana reached the victory target of 67 with ease.Barbados 221 (Odumbe 6-64) and 153 for 4 (Nurse 77) beat Kenya 171 (Collins 5-57) and 202 (Tikolo 76*, Best 5-54) by 6 wickets
ScorecardKenya slumped to their third defeat in five games, while Barbados further strengthened their position at the top of the table with their latest result. In another low-scoring match at St Philip, most of the Kenyan batsmen struggled against the Barbados pace attack. Pedro Collins and Tino Best served reminders to the West Indian selectors with five-wicket hauls, and took 16 between them. The only Kenyan batsmen who managed fifties in the match were Kennedy Otieno (51) and Steve Tikolo, the captain, who scored a defiant unbeaten 76 in the second innings even as the rest of the team crumbled. For Barbados, Martin Nurse struck 77 to make light of a fourth-innings target of 153.Leewards Islands 378 for 9 dec (Williams 74, Willett 65) and 153 for 6 (Tuckett 53*) drew with Windward Islands 435 (Smith 159, Lewis 82, Emmanuel 73)
ScorecardDevon Smith, the left-handed opener who had shown some promise in four Tests against Australia last season, gave himself a good chance of earning a recall with a timely 159 in Windward Islands’ drawn game against the Leewards at St Maarten. Smith’s hundred propelled his side to 435, a first-innings lead of 57, but Leeward Islands hung on to force a draw. The other player from Windwards who would have enjoyed the match was Rawl Lewis, their captain. His three Tests may have fetched him just one wicket at a rather high average of 318, but he had much more to celebrate here, returning match figures of 7 for 124 and scoring 82.West Indies B 242 (Hyatt 55) drew with Jamaica 299 for 9 (Baugh 115, Breese 72)
ScorecardRain played spoilsport at St John’s, as only two innings could be played in the match between Jamaica and West Indies B. Not a ball was bowled on the first day, and only 23 overs were sent down on the second, ensuring that the game was virtually a two-day affair. That was enough for Jamaica to wrest the crucial first-innings lead, which ensured that they scraped past the B team into third place in the overall points tally. The stars for Jamaica were Carlton Baugh (115) and Gareth Breese (72), who added 200 for the sixth wicket and rescued them from a precarious 61 for 5, in the process taking Jamaica past West Indies B’s total of 242.

Pakistan sprang a major surprise on Tuesday when the national selectors decided to gamble with the fitness of injured all-rounder Azhar Mahmood and named him in the 15-man World Cup squad.As widely expected, the vastly experienced 34-year-old opener Saeed Anwar was recalled for his third World Cup campaign largely on the basis of his 8605 runs in 242 One-day Internationals, including 19 centuries.Other than Saeed, 13 names were almost certain starters. Skipper Waqar Younis, vice-captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and coach Richard Pybus were consulted before releasing the names.Only four players – Salim Elahi, Younis Khan, Mohammad Sami and Taufiq Umar – have no previous World Cup experience while 10 of the squad were in the 1999 Wasim Akram-led side.Azhar on Monday was all but ruled out by a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman who officially informed Dawn that the 27-year-old was unlikely to be considered for selection since he was making a slow recovery in England from recurrence of a shoulder injury. But as usual, Wasim Bari, the chairman of national selectors, came with up a flimsy explanation while briefing the media at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore when he announced the squad: “Dale Naylor, Surrey’s physiotherapist has informed us that Azhar would be ready for South Africa where his track record is excellent.”But Bari failed to specify why the selectors had opted to take such a huge gamble for an event like the World Cup. Of late, Azhar has done nothing of note to merit inclusion.This year Azhar had played in just 12 One-day Internationals, scoring 103 runs (averaging 11.44) in 10 innings with 32 as highest score. With his medium-paced bowling, he took only four wickets in 2002 at 90.25 per scalp in 76.4 overs.The selectors also resisted the temptation of recalling former captain Moin Khan by retaining Rashid Latif, another player with injury problems, in the squad because they wanted to follow the policy of continuity.”Rashid has now been with the team for almost 18 months and has been playing very well. Plus he has the experience of 1996 World Cup behind him,” the ex-Test wicket-keeper remarked. “As regards Moin, he is an excellent batsman/wicket-keeper but then we had to back our instincts.”Bari also added that Kamran Akmal, the 20-year-old who made his international debut in Zimbabwe and is currently involved in the Test series against South Africa, is a future prospect.Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, with a history of injury worries behind him, was also included once given a clean bill of health when he appeared on Tuesday before PCB’s panel of doctors who examined his dodgy knees.”Shoaib was included after being given clearance by specialists in South Africa. A lot of investment has gone into Shoaib for this tournament, Now the onus is on him as to how he can repay,” Bari said.Opener Taufiq Umar was selected ahead of fellow 21-year-old Faisal Iqbal as a reserve batsman simply because of the fact that the left-hander could also be used as an emergency wicket-keeper if required. However, the selectors have gone for only four specialist fast bowlers in Waqar, Wasim, Shoaib and Sami. What will happen in case of injuries. Waqar, for example, has been playing Tests and one-dayers continuously since he assumed the mantle of captaincy in May 2001.Waqar remained Pakistan’s most successful one-day bowler in 2002 with a haul of 52 wickets but for the second year running he had conceded more than five runs an over. He is bound to face fitness problems as well as mental exhaustion but as captain he has to carry on playing.Wasim, for whom this will be his fifth and final World Cup, had sensibly preferred one-day games over Tests in the last 14 months. But like any other human being he is also prone to injury as is, the unpredictable Shoaib.Therefore, the selection of Azhar becomes more debatable as Pakistan in recent times had been plagued by fitness problems to key players. World Cup organizers are hardly going to be lenient to the 1992 winners and the runners-up in 1999 if the squad is afflicted by a horde of unfit players.Key batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq has played on by taking painkilling injections when it is clear that his heel requires surgery. Abdul Razzaq is struggling to regain confidence after his left wrist was fractured by a Brett Lee bouncer during Sharjah Test in October.What is the guarantee that some of the players in the squad are back to peak fitness? Pakistan’s chances of progressing to the Super Six stage will depend initially how the fittest survive to last through six preliminary round matches of Pool ‘A’.Pakistan start with a daunting tie in Johannesburg on Feb 11 against Australia, who thrashed them in the final in England more than three years ago.Pakistan contingent, whose average age is 27, flies out to their base in Johannesburg on Jan 24 where there will be a reconditioning camp before they become guests of the World Cup organizers from Feb 1 onwards.Full squad (current age and number of one-day appearances given in parenthesis): Waqar Younis (captain, 31, 256), Inzamam-ul-Haq (vice-captain, 32, 284), Saeed Anwar (34, 242), Salim Elahi (26, 36), Taufiq Umar (21, 6), Younis Khan (25, 70), Yousuf Youhana (28, 121), Shahid Afridi (22, 173), Abdul Razzaq (23, 119), Azhar Mahmood (27, 123), Wasim Akram (36, 350), Rashid Latif (wicket-keeper, 34, 143), Shoaib Akhtar (27, 75), Mohammad Sami (21, 18) and Saqlain Mushtaq (26, 165)

England coach Duncan Fletcher praised his two opening batsmen after they had taken the fight to the Pakistanis at Old Trafford.The home side had been set 370 to win after Pakistan had been dismissed for 323 and if England achieve their target the records will tumble.England’s best score to win a Test is 332 for seven against Australia in the 1928-29 Ashes series, and the highest to win at Old Trafford is only 145 for seven by South Africa in 1955.But Michael Atheron on his home ground and Marcus Trescothick gave them the perfect start in the final session of the fourth day, posting an unbroken opening stand of 85 from just 22 overs.Fletcher said: “Those two showed tremendous character; you look at innings like that and you must appreciate how well they batted,” said Fletcher.”All the Pakistan bowlers are threats – they are all world-class. Wasim Akramwas fired up and bowled exceptionally well and Waqar Younis swings it around.”Mike’s proved it on numerous occasions. He likes a good scrap and he hadshowed us again that he’s up for it. Although the wicket’s still playing well,you’ve got to look at the mental side of it.”When you add pressure and they are coming at you like that, it is not easyand those guys showed a lot of character.”Although it’s a nice wicket to bat on, the target will be pretty difficultto get – but having got 85, we’ve put ourselves back in with a chance.”It’s a pitch that produces positive cricket, we are well into the game, webatted well tonight to set it up. It should be an exciting last day.”It’s a big target, it’s not easy to chase anything over 200 in any match,you’ve got to bat properly. You’ve played four days of cricket, it gets to youand you’ve got to show you’ve got the mental strength to do it.”We’ll play every session as it comes by. We’ll look at the first session andtake it from there.”From the public’s point of view, it’s been a very good Test Match. There’sbeen a lot of runs, the rates have been above three all the time, there have been some good catches and run-outs.”

Aston Villa have always been rather active in the transfer market over the past number of years, whether they’ve been in the Premier League or Championship.

Numerous players have moved in and out of the Midlands club either on loan or permanent deals.

However, one player the Villans were linked with that didn’t end up donning a Villa shirt is Wesley Sneijder, someone they quite clearly made a huge mistake over.

Back in the 2009 summer transfer window, it was reported that the Midlands club were favourites to sign the Dutchman from Real Madrid after his agent revealed that Inter Milan, who were also after him at the time, were quite some way from offering the sort of money that the Spanish side were looking for.

Unfortunately for Villa, the midfielder did end up joining the Italian club that summer after racking up a total of 246 appearances for Madrid and his original club Ajax, scoring 69 goals and providing 57 assists along the way.

During his time with Inter, Sneijder found the back of the net 22 times in 116 appearances, delivering 35 assists in the process.

In the 2013 January transfer window, the 37-year-old, who has been described as a “monster” by journalist Grant Wahl, then moved to Turkey after signing with Galatasaray where he delivered 89 goal contributions in 175 games.

He then went on to have spells in France with OGC Nice and Al-Gharafa in Qatar before retiring in 2019 having won numerous trophies in Spain, Italy and Turkey.

Labelled as a “lethal” player in terms of his dead-ball ability by the official Copa90 Twitter account following his induction to Inter’s Hall of Fame, Sneijder ended his playing career with a total of 295 club goals and assists to his name.

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Having also racked up an accumulative transfer fee of £44.6m from his moves to Real, Inter and Galatasaray according to Transfermarkt, Villa and their then-owner Randy Lerner certainly made a mistake by not splashing the cash when they had the chance and bringing the Dutch maestro to England.

Bearing in mind this was a player that claimed he could have been on the same level as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of talent, having a figure of his footballing calibre in a Villa shirt could have been a sight to behold for the fans.

In other news: Huge boost: Gregg Evans reveals fresh Villa development, it’s great news for Gerrard

Tasmania 6 for 291 (Di Venuto 144) v New South Wales
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	Michael Di Venuto, who scored 176 against Queensland earlier in the season, picked up another century against New South Wales © Getty Images

Michael Di Venuto reminded his home state of his fine batting powers during a century that kept New South Wales relatively quiet on the opening day at Bellerive Oval. The Blues are trying to stay ahead of Victoria, who have also confirmed their finals place, and both teams sent in their opponents after winning the toss – and soon wished they hadn’t.The opener Di Venuto, who will retire from the Australian scene after next week’s match, fired against a young New South Wales bowling attack and his 144 was responsible for the Tigers making a strong start, but a lack of support led to them being 6 for 291 at stumps. While his partner Dane Anderson laboured over 96 deliveries for 28, Di Venuto sprinted towards his 45th first-class century in 121 balls.He has always been an aggressive batsman and he pounded 18 fours and two sixes in the 216-delivery stay, which ended when he pulled Beau Casson to short mid-on. A chance had come on 85 off Mark Cameron, but Di Venuto was not bothered by the lapse and continued to attack in an innings that was of vital importance for his team.Anderson went to Dominic Thornely shortly after lunch as the Blues started to hit back. Travis Birt (15) gave Burt Cockley his maiden first-class wicket and George Bailey (6) was run-out following a deflection from a straight Di Venuto drive, leaving the Tigers at 3 for 174. The captain Dan Marsh was bowled by Cameron for 15 and Luke Butterworth managed 13 before becoming Casson’s second wicket. Di Venuto left at 6 for 243 and Tim Paine and Jason Krejza ensured there would be no further damage in an unbroken stand of 48.

ScorecardNew Zealand suffered their first defeat of tournament as they failed to chase down 234 against Australia, falling 49 runs short in Chennai. Australia’s attack produced a team effort with Kirsten Pike claiming key middle-order wickets as they also earned a vital bonus point in their push for the final.The Kiwi batting had led them to victories in their first three matches, but this time came unstuck once Sarah Andrews removed both openers and Haidee Tiffin was run out by Cathryn Fitzpatrick. Rebecca Rolls and Sara McGlashan added 45 for the fourth wicket, but Rolls was caught behind off Pike just as she was looking dangerous. McGlashan and Aimee Mason then both fell with the score on 121 and Australia went for the kill.Lisa Sthalekar, who top-scored with 45 in Australia’s innings, said: “We had to win today to stay in the game and getting the bonus point means we are starting to get things right a bit. Where we still have to improve is the fielding. It has been dropping off a bit. I didn’t think 232 was a good enough score though in the end it proved to be much too many runs.”She praised New Zealand and said they are the best side on show. “Their bowlers have been really effective, it was fortunate for us that Sarah Tsukigawa was injured for this game,” she added. “Bowlers bring the fielders into the game by bowling right. New Zealand bowlers get their line and length right. And their batsmen have firepower. They are big girls who can easily go over the boundary.”New Zealand had made regular inroads into Australia’s batting, taking wickets each time a stand threatened to develop. However, the lower order scored at a decent rate with Fitzpatrick, Jodie Purves and Andrews hitting at more than a run-a-ball.Tiffen said missed chances cost her team: “We bowled well in the start but dropped catches and that let the Australian batsmen build partnerships. The score was not so high bit we just kept losing wickets and didn’t form any partnerships. The batsmen who have been doing well didn’t this time.”The tournament looks good. In international cricket you want the games to be challenging. You want to be tested in every aspect of the game and we want to go into the final winning the rest of the matches.”

England’s one-day squad will now go straight into the second stage of the Champions Trophy © Getty Images

England were given an extra reason to celebrate following their series-levelling win against India when the ICC confirmed they had qualified for the second stage of the Champions Trophy, due to be staged in India during October.Only sides in the top six of the ODI table on April 1 automatically reach that stage and England will now be at least sixth on that date thanks to Sri Lanka’s four-wicket loss to Pakistan in Colombo.They faced the prospect of an additional three one-day matches in India being crammed into an already congested fixture calendar had they finished outside the top six. Teams ranked seventh to tenth taking part in a round-robin series of matches before the Champions Trophy proper starts. England will now have a valuable extra couple of weeks break before the intensive period of the tournament followed straight afterwards by the Ashes series.Sri Lanka’s defeat in Colombo dropped them to 105 points and it means that even if England lose their two ODI matches against India before the cut-off date they cannot drop out of the top six. If that scenario happened, England would slip to 105 rating points but would still retain sixth place when the ratings were recalculated to three decimal places.

Moin Khan: in one day, out the next © Getty Images

Moin Khan has been omitted from the 17-man Pakistan squad for the tour of the West Indies. Moin had been picked by the selectors in the provisional squad announced on Saturday (April 30), but the squad was then sent for ratification to the Pakistan board, which decided to exclude him. The rest of the line-up remains the same.The PCB has opted instead for Bazid Khan, a 24-year-old opener who has played two one-dayers so far. Bazid, the son of the former Pakistan captain Majid Khan, was in excellent form for Pakistan A during their recent tour of Sri Lanka, scoring 336 runs in three innings, including two centuries and a half-century in the two Tests.Pakistan will play three one-day internationals and two Tests on the tour, with the first match to be held in St Vincent on May 18.Pakistan squad
Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Bazid Khan, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Yousuf Youhana, Asim Kamal, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wk), Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shabbir Ahmed, Shahid Nazir, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Arshad Khan, Danish Kaneria.

Close Australia 474 (Katich 125, Kumble 8-141) and 10 for 0 need 433 more runs to beat India 705 for 7 dec and 211 for 2 dec (Dravid 91*, Tendulkar 60*)
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When Australia needed help, Simon Katich was the man for the job ©Getty Images

Once again bat dominated ball at the Sydney Cricket Ground. First, Australia battled back doggedly and added 132 runs to their first-innings score, largely on the back of an assured, graceful 125 by Simon Katich. They were all out for 474 in the middle of the second session, with Anil Kumble taking 8 for 141. But although Australia had failed to avoid the follow-on, they had batted on long enough to tire India’s bowlers, and Sourav Ganguly, not surprisingly, opted to bat again. Virender Sehwag then blasted a quickfire 47, and Rahul Dravid (91 not out) and Sachin Tendulkar (60 not out) added 138 runs, to take India to 211 for 2. Ganguly then declared, with India 442 ahead, and Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden batted out the four overs left in the day.Australia began the day six wickets down, and 363 behind, in grave danger of being made to follow on with India’s bowlers still relatively fresh. But Ganguly’s strategy, of getting Katich off strike and bowling to the tail, backfired. With the field spread and the pressure eased, Katich flourished, using his feet superbly against the spinners, driving elegantly on either side of the wicket, milking the bowling at will. Even though Kumble got rid of Brett Lee – via a superb bat-pad catch by Chopra at short leg – early in the day, Jason Gillespie was a stoic foil to Katich, and the two added 117 crucial runs.The resistance ended shortly after lunch, when Katich stepped out to Kumble and hoicked to the long-on boundary, where Sehwag took a well-judged catch (467 for 8). Katich had made 125, a potentially matchsaving century.The tailenders were desperate after that, as was obvious when Gillespie swung wildly at Kumble, only to get a French cut down to the longstop boundary. A few balls later Gillespie stepped out to Kumble, missed, and was adroitly stumped by Parthiv Patel for 47 (473 for 9). Nathan Bracken perished shortly afterwards, hoisting Kumble towards the square-leg boundary, where Ajit Agarkar held on to a good running catch.India were 231 ahead, but their bowlers had looked a ragged lot. Kumble’s lion-hearted 8 for 141 was his best performance overseas, but he had bowled 47 overs, and clearly needed a break. India’s decision to bat again opened up that familiar fourth-day calculation, between the extent of the lead, the perceived time required to get the opposition out, and the time left in the match. The ideal scenario for India was to take the lead to the mid-400s and declare so that they bowled a few overs before close on the fourth day, and had the full fifth day to take the ten wickets required.That was just what happened. Chopra was out early for 2, guiding Gillespie off the back foot to Damien Martyn at gully (11 for 1). But Sehwag was in an almost comically belligerent mood, and fortune favoured the reckless, as Lee found out to his dismay in a remarkable nine-ball over.First ball, short and very wide, Sehwag slashed, edged, caught behind. But wait … no-ball. Then, a couple of well-directed short balls. Then wide again, Sehwag flashed again, straight into Ricky Ponting’s hands at second slip … and straight out. Then a back-foot punch through point for four. Then a flash and a miss off another no-ball. Then a single, and a handsomely cover-driven four from Dravid.That was, in a microcosm, the story of the rest of the second session. Sehwag took a few risks and got a few boundaries; Dravid batted elegantly and correctly, and hit some sparkling drives. Sehwag’s aggression made for fine entertainment, especially when MacGill came on to bowl, round the wicket, and Sehwag played an outrageous reverse-sweep, from well outside leg stump, for four. His delightful unorthodoxy was in superb contrast to Dravid’s immaculate classicism, both a treat for cricket lovers.The partnership ended after tea, when Sehwag slog-swept MacGill to Gillespie at deep midwicket (73 for 2). Tendulkar came out to bat, and the Indians had a suprisingly quiet period of play after that, as Tendulkar settled in and Dravid was circumspect, a few of his strokes going straight to fielders. At one stage, both were on 22, when Dravid suddenly found his touch and started playing some enthralling strokes.He straight-drove Bracken for six, pulled Lee to midwicket for four, straight-drove Lee to the sightscreen, glided Lee to the third-man boundary, smashed MacGill over his head for four, and was approaching his hundred at the rate of a boundary an over, while Tendulkar had just about made it to 50. Tendulkar played fluidly – a reverse-sweep off MacGill for four was particularly memorable – and was quite content to milk singles, as Dravid got about his business. Ganguly might have waited for Dravid’s hundred before declaring, but Dravid was hit on the ear while attempting a hook off Lee, and was going to come off for treatment anyway.Langer and Hayden played out the four overs they needed to sensibly, as Australia ended on 10 for no loss. Ninety more overs, 433 more runs; there is an unlikely chance that Australia will go for the runs, and give Waugh a farewell to remember. But it’s more likely that the pivot of attention, on the final day, will revolve around the frame of Anil Kumble, bowling relentlessly on, driven by years of unfulfilled desire.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.

The following players have been named by the WA Selectors to represent the Western Warriors in an ING Cup game v the NSW Blues next Wednesday evening (February 13) at the WACA ground.

• SIMON KATICH (Capt)
• JO ANGEL
• ROB BAKER
• RYAN CAMPBELL
• MICHAEL CLARK
• KADE HARVEY
• MICHAEL HUSSEY
• BRAD HOGG
• SCOTT MEULEMAN
• CHRIS ROGERS
• DARREN WATES
• BRAD WILLIAMS

SelectionsBrad Williams returns to the Warrior s line-up and will play his first senior game for the Warriors since suffering an injury to his right hand during his limited overs debut for Australia in the first game of the recent VB series.Brad Williams replaces Sean Cary who was named as an emergency replacement for Williams in the previous ING cup team v the Blues at the SCG on Sunday 3 February.Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist & Damien Martyn have been ruled unavailable for selection by the ACB due to the pending Australian tour of South Africa. Simon Katich will resume the Warrior s captaincy in the absence of Gilchrist and Langer and Chris Rogers returns to replace Justin Langer.NSW BluesThe NSW Blues team to play the Western Warriors is scheduled to be named on Saturday evening.

• MANAGER: DAVID SINCOCK
• COACH: STEVE RIXON
• TECHNICAL ANALYST: TREVOR BAYLISS
• PHYSIO: PATRICK FARHART

Match Information

• Gates Open: 1.30pm
• Match Times 2.30pm – 6.00pm, 6.45pm – 10.15pm
• Umpires: IAN LOCK, ANDREW CRAIG & BRUCE BENNETT (3RD)
• Match Referee: RIC EVANS

Tickets for the game are available from Ticketmaster7 on 1300 136 122 or visit the WACA web site at www.waca.com.au