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Kumar Sangakkara played a captain’s innings with 55 not out off 42 balls after Tillakaratne Dilshan (53 off 32 balls) gave his side a flying start in pursuit of 160.

Australia never fully recovered from a disastrous middle period of their innings when the slow bowlers pegged them back after a decent start.

An inspiring catch from David Warner lifted Australian hopes in reply when he took a fine leaping catch just inside the boundary rope to dismiss Sanath Jayasuriya for 2.

Dilshan and Sangakkara then saw their side to 62 off the six-over Powerplay as the runs flowed at a good rate.

Dilshan brought up his own 50 off 26 balls, when he flipped Watson over the head of the wicketkeeper for his 10th boundary, but he fell saw after when bowled by Michael Clarke.

Mahela Jayawardene (9) then took a wild swipe at Nathan Hauritz and got a top-edge to short third-man.

Two sixes off successive balls by Sangakkara off Hauritz then hastened the Sri Lankan victory although there was a slight stutter during Brett Lee’s third over when Silva pulled to short mid-wicket and three more dot balls followed. But Jehan Mubarak ended the over with a six just over the head of deep midwicket to leave the batting side with 24 to get off the last 18 balls.

Sangakkara reached his 50 off 40 with a delicate lap shot just wide of short fine-leg to help bring the equation down to 14 from 12 balls.

Mubarak brought the required rate down to less than a run a ball as Lee’s tournament ended as it had started and middle – by being hit into the stand for six.

Australia’s campaign was summed up when Mubarak (21 off 12 balls) smacked Lee to mid-off but the fielder could only palm the ball to the boundary as he leapt for what would have been a miraculous catch.

Mitchell Johnson’s wide to finish the match put the icing on the cake for Australia – not a sweet tasting one at that – as they bowed out of the tournament with an over to spare.

Australia’s total was much better than was expected at one time when they slumped to 94-6 towards the end of the 15th over.

David Warner (0) fell in the first over when he slashed Angelo Mathews to backward point but Shane Watson (22) and Ricky Ponting (25) steadied the Aussie ship in a stand of 48.

Spin then took hold as Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan (initially) put a block on the scoring. At that point Mendis had the exceptional analysis of 2-0-4-2.

Ponting was bowled by Mendis as he looked to make room to leg and then Watson was leg before during the off-spinner’s next over when he missed a sweep.

Brad Haddin went in embarrassing circumstances when he missed a slow full toss from Malinga and was bowled for 16.

Isuru Udana was another pace bowler to make full use of a slower ball when he deceived Michael Clarke, who could only send a leading edge back to the bowler who took a fine one-handed catch to his left.

Mendis and Muralitharan continued to put the squeeze on the batsmen and it was the former who struck for the third time when he trapped Mike Hussey in front of his stumps with a quicker ball.

From that point, however, the Aussie middle and lower order swung the match back towards parity with some lusty blows.

David Hussey and Johnson added 41 in 21 deliveries to destroy Muralitharan by taking 21 from his last over after the veteran spinner had conceded just eight from his first 18 balls.

Australia plundered 65 from their last five overs with Udana also suffering at the hands of Hussey and Johnson, although he did at least claim the wicket of the former, slicing a skier to backward point, during an over that cost 18.

Lasith Malinga’s final over of the innings encapsulated the whole batting effort at 12 were taken from it in between two wickets.

Lee was cleaned out by a yorker (but not before scoring 15 off five balls) and then a slower ball deceived Hauritz off the penultimate ball. An inside edge off the last delivery by Nathan Bracken meant Australia finished with all the momentum running their way.

Ireland beat Bangladesh by six wickets on Monday to advance to the Super 8 stage of the Twenty20 World Cup and knock their opponents out of the tournament.

Niall O’Brien hit 40 and his brother Kevin O’Brien made 39 not out as Ireland overhauled Bangladesh’s modest total of 137-8 with 10 balls to spare at Trent Bridge.

Ireland opening bowler Trent Johnston had earlier taken 3-20 from four overs. Mashrafe Mortaza, who smashed 20 runs off the final over, with 33 not out and Tamim Iqbal with 22 led the scoring for Bangladesh.

Niall O’Brien hit three sixes and shared in a 55-run stand with William Porterfield (23), while Kevin O’Brien cracked two sixes and four boundaries in 17 balls as he and John Mooney (17 not out) added 49 to steer Ireland home.

Ireland play India at Trent Bridge on Wednesday in a meaningless Group A match as both teams have now advanced.

Porterfield won the toss and sent in Bangladesh, a decision vindicated by a suffocating fielding display.

Bangladesh struck 10 off the first over but Junaid Siddique, having scored 13 from 4 balls, was out in the second after offering a high catch to Jeremy Bray off Johnston.

Kevin O’Brien then dropped Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful at first slip off Johnston, but he redeemed himself in Johnston’s next over by catching him for 14 to make it 40-2.

Johnston struck again in his final over, claiming the key wicket of Shakib Al Hasan, who was caught for 7 by Gary Wilson at long on with 10 more added to the total

Iqbal was unlucky to be run out on 22 when wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien fumbled the ball onto the stumps, but there was nothing fortunate about the way the gloveman then stumped Mahmudullah off Alex Cusack for 7 to leave Bangladesh on 66-5.

Raqibul Hasan was bowled for 13 by Kyle McCallan, and John Mooney caught Mushfiqur Rahim for 14 off Regan West.

Boyd Rankin bowled Naeem Islam with the final ball of his spell, until the final over gave Bangladesh’s score some respectability.

Mortaza struck early in the Irish innings, having Bray caught by Raqibul Hasan in the third over with the total on 6. That brought Niall O’Brien to the crease and he struck three sixes from five balls.

O’Brien was batting with a runner after injuring his knee during Bangladesh’s innings, but his stand with Porterfield came from only 33 balls.

O’Brien was caught by Rubel Hossain off Al Hasan in the 10th over with to make it 61-2. Two overs and 10 runs later, Abdur Razzak took a sharp return catch to dismiss Porterfield. Gary Wilson was caught by Ashraful for 10 off Mortaza in the 15th over.

Ricky Ponting’s Australia must perform or face an embarrassing early exit from the World Twenty20 when they take on emotionally-charged Sri Lanka on Monday.

The Australians, stunned by a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of the West Indies on Saturday following Chris Gayle’s explosive 88 off 50 balls, cannot afford another loss.

Even if they emerge victorious, Ponting’s men are not assured of advancing to the Super Eights because a Sri Lankan win over the West Indies on Wednesday will throw up a three-way tie to be decided by net run-rate.

The loss to the West Indies with 4.1 overs to spare could spell further disaster for Australia, who must not only beat Sri Lanka, but do so by a big margin to improve their net run-rate.

“It all lies ahead of us,” Ponting said ahead of the group C match at Trent Bridge.

“We know exactly what we have to do and if we are good enough, we we get it done.”

The defeat against the West Indies was Australia’s fourth Twenty20 loss in a row.

The shortest version of the game has not been particularly kind to the undisputed kings of Test and one-day cricket, who have won only 11 of their 22 games so far.

Ponting, however, was quick to stress that all was not lost for his team.

Australia suffered a shock defeat by Zimbabwe in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007, but still managed to reach the semi-finals where they lost to eventual champions India.

“This form of the game can change very quickly,” Ponting said. “We’re in exactly the same position as we were last time.

“I guess some of the guys that were in the tournament last time will know what we have to do. There is nowhere else where we can go now.”

Sri Lanka will be charged up for their first international match since the horrific terror attack on their team bus in the Pakistani city of Lahore in March while on their way to resume a Test match.

Seven Sri Lankan cricketers and an assistant coach were injured in the attack, which left eight Pakistanis dead.

Kumar Sangakkara, leading Sri Lanka for the first time after good friend Mahela Jayawardene quit the job after the Pakistan tour, said the team looked forward to the game against Australia.

“The pressure will be on them, but we are not taking victory for granted,” said Sangakkara. “They will come hard at us and we have to be ready to stand tall.

“We know a side must win at least one game to stay in the race. We have just got to take our chances.”

Sangakkara wanted his team to qualify for the semi-finals after being stuck in the Super Eights stage in 2007.

“We have a great mix in both batting and bowling, but at the end of the day it all depends on executing your plans well,” he said.

“I am not sure Twenty20 is only a slog. One still needs to plan an innings to ensure you get a good total on the board.”

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori is unlikely to play in the irinconsequential World Twenty20 group match against South Africa Wednesday due to a shoulder injury.

Vettori took a minor part in team training at Lord’s Monday but the spinner, who injured his bowling arm at practice on the eve of New Zealand’s seven-wicket win over Scotland, seems certain to be rested until the Super Eights.

Seamer Kyle Mills, who is returning from a back strain since arriving from South Africa, might get a place in the side.

New Zealand confirmed their progression from the group stage when a blazing batting performance atoned for some poor bowling against the unfancied Scots at the Oval Saturday night.

Vettori admitted the bowling effort against Scotland was “exceptionally poor”.

“We didn’t cope too well with the pressure of playing seven overs against a team we should beat,” he said.

“Theoretically our game against South Africa is a dead rubber but Twenty20 is all about momentum.”

Tennis ace Sania Mirza will get married to Sohrab Mirza of Hyderabad in the near future, Sania’s family confirmed after the news was broken by the media, here on Friday.

The exact date is yet to be finalised. The two families, although having the same surname, are not related but have known each other for several years.

The 23-year-old Sohrab, son of a businessman, is pursuing MBA.

The 22-year-old Sania became the first Indian woman to win a WTA tour title and break into the World’s top 50 in 2005. But thereafter, she has been plagued by injuries and fluctuating form.

However, she fought her way back and was able to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title along with Mahesh Bhupathi earlier this year.

The family has also confirmed that the marriage plans will not affect Sania’s tennis career and that she will continue to play in all major tournaments even after marriage.

Kevin Pietersen is on a serious mission after making his most shocking admission to date: “I’m not very good at Twenty20 cricket, am I?”

On the eve of the World Twenty20 in England, Pietersen made the searingly honest appraisal of his short form career so far, but has vowed to make amends next month.

Despite being one of the world’s finest batsmen in Test and one-day cricket, Pietersen’s Twenty20 career lags too far behind for his liking and he is determined to do something about it.

In fact, Twenty20 cricket hasn’t been particularly kind to him at all on the field and for a player of Pietersen’s talents and mindset, serial failure simply won’t do.

He has made just one Twenty20 50 for England, averaging just 26, and even though he became the most expensive player in the Indian Premier League his record there wasn’t much better.

Bangalore Royal Challengers paid $1.55million for him to be their inspirational batsman and captain, but he could only muster two wins from the six games he played, and when he returned home to resume England duties the team reached the final without him.

“I made a great captain didn’t I” chuckled Pietersen. “We won two out of six when I was there and then Anil Kumble took over and they got to the final.

“People are going to take pot shots at me over the IPL and the money I earned in two weeks, but it was such a great experience. I loved it.

“To captain the side four days after arriving and not knowing what some of the guys did and not knowing most of their names made it a huge task for me. I wasn’t as focused on my batting as I was on trying to learn guys names and what they did.

“The more you play T20 cricket the better you become and I haven’t played a lot of it, and I’m not very good at it.

“The more I play it though the more I’ll catch up with my records in Test and one-day cricket definitely. I just know that I will get much better at it. I’ve worked out some new theories about how to go about my batting in T20 and that will make a difference, hopefully starting next week!”

Thankfully for England fans it is rare for Pietersen to consistently fail and the World Twenty20 that begins a week today against Holland is the perfect time to put things right.

Usually when Pietersen puts his mind to something he succeeds, in fact he is probably guilty of switching off when the pressure and intensity is not great enough. He is a big match player and he knows this World Twenty20 will be as big as it gets.

It was less than two years ago that Pietersen called Twenty20 a ’silly game with silly shots’ but he admits his attitude to the game has since changed.

If he can start firing and the rest of the side can make their home advantage count, not even the missing Andrew Flintoff should dampen England’s chances of glory.

He added: “The way T20 has now turned into a huge, huge business and the way that it has grown into having World Cup T20 tournaments, playing for your country means that my opinion of it has changed hugely.

“You have to be serious about it. You’re playing for England in a World Cup at home, that is serious. It is no longer a silly game with silly shots, I want to win it full stop.

“The standard of cricket in the first tournament probably wasn’t as good, whereas now the seriousness with which the guys are putting their heads to it means that the standard is going to be really high.

“I’m so excited about this tournament, it is going to be huge. It is a massive event, and since we have never won one of these global tournaments, it is about time we did and that is why it is such a big thing for me.

“It is a shame that Fred is not available, but we can definitely win the T20 World Cup if we play good positive cricket consistently.”

PIETERSEN RECORD

Tests: 52 RUNS: 4494 AVE: 50.49 100s: 16 50s: 14

Odi: 92 RUNS: 3127 AVE: 46.67 100s: 7 50s: 20

T20: 15 RUNS: 379 AVE: 26.78 100s: 0 50s: 1

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s brilliant captaincy and Yuvraj Singh’s aggression make defending champion India the “strongest contender” to lift the Twenty20 World Championship title in England, feels former coach and Australian captain Greg Chappell.

“It is very hard to predict who will win the trophy. But I think India is the strongest contender to retain the title. Pakistan is unpredictable and Australia too has improved a lot in this format. It will be quite open this time,” Chappell told PTI from Brisbane.

“India has slight edge over other teams. It has trump cards like Dhoni and Yuvraj. Dhoni is among the best captains today. Yuvraj was out of colour in IPL but according to me he is one of the most dangerous batsmen in the shortest form of cricket. He will give headaches to rival captains,” opined the veteran.

Yuvraj smashed six sixes in an over of English pacer Stuart Broad in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa two years ago.

Chappell said the Indian Premier League experience will be an added advantage for Indian players.

“Indian players are very well prepared after the IPL. But I don’t think that performance of players like Yuvraj and Dhoni, who have performed in patches during IPL, will get affected by this so called lean patch.” PTI

Pakistan on Friday accepted the resignations of Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq from the rebel Indian Cricket League, clearing the way for them to be selected for the national team, an official said.

The pair were among 23 players who defected to the unrecognised ICL and were thus barred from playing in and for Pakistan at any level.

Following their resignations, they “are now eligible to be selected for Pakistan’s international series in future,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) director human resources Wasim Bari told AFP.

Twenty-one players had their bans suspended by Sindh High Court in February, making them eligible to play domestic cricket.Inzamam-ul-Haq, who is retired from international cricket and Saqlain Mushtaq, who now lives in England, did not seek to have their bans suspended.

The ICL, bankrolled by India’s largest media group Zee telefilms, said it would no objection if some players represent their country.

Several countries have announced an umbrella amnesty for players quitting the ICL by May 31, but the PCB said it would consider selecting players on a case by case basis.

Razzaq and Yousuf were part of Pakistan team until they were axed for the inaugural World Twenty20 held in South Africa in 2007.

As protest both signed for the ICL – which is not recognised by the ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India – and were immediately banned.

Yousuf rescinded his decision in 2007 but rejoined the ICL in November last year after developing differences with then captain Shoaib Malik.

Razzaq said he was delighted at the prospect of playing for Pakistan. “I am delighted,” said Razzaq. “I am keen to return for Pakistan and hope my performances at domestic level will earn me a recall,” Razzaq said.

Razzaq, 29, had played 46 Tests and 231 one-day internationals and was regarded as one of the leading all-rounders in the world.

The 34-year-old Yousuf had played 79 Tests and 269 one-day internationals and was declared ICC’s best batsman of the year in 2007. He scored a world record 1,788 runs – the most in a calendar year in Test cricket – in 2006.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni  retained number one position in the Reliance [Get Quote] Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after the West Indies’  big guns Chris Gayle  and Shivnarine Chanderpaul  failed to make an impression in the series against England , which ended at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

Gayle went into the series trailing Dhoni by 33 points but after aggregating just 42 runs from it, the Jamaican dropped one place to third while his team mate Chanderpaul moved to second spot after a series contribution of 95 runs.

Owais Shah, who was the leading run-getter in the series with 113 runs, climbed three places to 34th while Matt Prior, who scored 98 runs in the series, rocketed 22 places to 77th position.

However, former England captain Kevin Pietersen  dropped a place to 15th while Ramnaresh Sarwan slipped three places to 19.

There is no change in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders as Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh still leads the field.

Stuart Broad became England’s highest-ranked bowler in ODIs after a successful series against the West Indies.

Broad finished as the leading wicket-taker in the series with six wickets, including 4-46 in the second ODI at Bristol, and was rewarded with a jump of four places. The 22-year-old fast bowler now sits alongside Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi  in a career-best ninth position.

Broad replaced Andrew Flintoff  in the top 10; the Lancastrian dropped out after missing the series due to knee injury.

A player loses one per cent of his ratings for every match missed and, as such, Flintoff slipped two places to 11th.

Jerome Taylor , who was the most successful West Indies bowler in the series with four wickets, retained 14th place but three wickets apiece by James Anderson  and Paul Collingwood lifted the pair by two and seven places respectively.

Anderson is now placed 30th while Collingwood is 55th.

The bowling table is still headed by Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Kulasekara  while Kyle Mills  of New Zealand  is second and Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka third.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table, England’s 2-0 victory earned it one rating point and it is now on 109 rating points, just two behind fifth-placed Pakistan.

The defeat, however, cost the West Indies two ratings points and it has dropped to 90 rating points, 15 behind seventh-placed Sri Lanka.

Australia  will play six Tests, 10 one-dayers and three Twenty20 internationals on home soil against West Indies  and Pakistan as per the 2009-10 International Program announced by the Cricket Australia on Wednesday.

The 2009-10 schedule again sees two separate five-match, head-to-head Commonwealth Bank Series against the West Indies in January followed by a series against Pakistan in February.

There will be another three KFC Twenty20 Internationals this summer, one against Pakistan and two against the West Indies in February.

Australia will play Pakistan on home soil for the first time in a Test series since 2004-05, when they won 3-0.

The Aussies will start on November 26 in Brisbane against the West Indies, with the subsequent matches in Adelaide (December 4-8) and Perth (December 16-20).

The Test series against Pakistan will start from December 26 with the traditional Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, followed by the second Test in Sydney (January 3-7) and the third at Hobart (January 14-18).

“The last time Australia played Pakistan in Hobart it was a thrilling encounter that saw a magnificent partnership between Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist  steer Australia to victory on the final day. It was a fine example of Test cricket,” Cricket Australia chief executive officer James Sutherland said.

“In addition to the 3 Mobile Test, Hobart will also host their first KFC Twenty20 International against the West Indies in February.

“Melbourne hosts back-to-back international matches in early February. A KFC Twenty20 International against Pakistan is followed by the opening Commonwealth Bank Series match against the West Indies two days later,” he added.

After the Tests, Australia will play Pakistan and West Indies in back-to-back five-math ODI series starting January 22.