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Murali Karthik, the left-arm spinner, will lead a 15-member Railways squad in the upcoming Ranji Trophy season [November 2007 to January 2008], where his side will be competing in the Plate League.The news comes in the wake of Kartik’s comeback to the national side. Karthik, 31, had earned a recall to the Indian one-day team after consistent performances in the English county circuit playing for Middlesex, with whom he has signed on for the 2008 season.”It is always a great honour and pleasure to play for the country and I will enjoy the responsibility given to me by Railways,” Kartik told the . “We are all focussed to get back to the Elite League.”The new faces in the Railways squad are Mahesh Rawat, Sabir Ali and Musavir Khote. Rawat, a wicketkeeper, had represented Haryana in the previous Ranji season and represented India A in one game during the tour to Kenya. Ali, 22, is a right-arm medium pace bowler who has played for Tripura while Khote, an allrounder, has played for Mumbai.Railways have not yet named a coach. Jai Prakash Yadav, Tejinder Pal Singh and Shreyas Khanolkar have not been included after they had signed contracts with the Indian Cricket League.Railways start their Ranji Trophy campaign on November 3 when they take on Jammu & Kashmir in Delhi.Railways squad
Murali Kartik (capt), Sanjay Bangar (vice-captain), Amit Pagnis, Kulamani Parida, Harvinder Singh, Sanjib Sanyal, Rahul Deb, Raja Ali, Santosh Saxena, Musavir Khote, Mahesh Rawat (wk), Madan Yadav, Siddharth Joshi, Sabir Ali, Harshad Rawle

Virat Kohli

Phrases such as “most talented youngster” have followed him since his junior days and Kohli is doing his bit to live up to it. His 90 against Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy, an innings that helped Delhi avert the follow-on, was an illustration of his mental fortitude: his father had died in the wee hours of the morning, but he insisted on resuming his innings to guide his side to safety. The 2005-06 Ranji season, his first, produced 257 runs at 36.71, and he put together a string of good scores for India Under-19, against their England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka counterparts.Last season, Twenty20
Runs: 179, S/R: 131.61

Pinal Shah

Shah, the Baroda wicketkeeper, had scored a first-class double century before he represented India in the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka last year. Stable behind the stumps, Shah is an aggressive batsman, which gives him an edge over other young wicketkeepers. In the Challengers, though, with the presence of Mahesh Rawat in the India Red side, Shah might be looked at as a specialist batsman, if he plays. This will be the start of his third first-class season.Last season, List A
Runs: 249, Ave: 62.25Last season, Twenty20
Runs: 106, S/R: 147.22

Paresh Patel

Twenty20 is perceived as a bowlers’ graveyard, but Paresh, a left-arm spinner from Orissa, used this format to resurrect his career, which was threatening to peter out after a forgettable debut season in 2005-06. Paresh entered the first-class scene in late 2005, which was a reward for some consistent performances at the age-group levels, but ended the season with a solitary wicket in six games. He hadn’t been picked for 15 months since, but the inaugural domestic Twenty20 offered him a chance, which he grabbed gleefully. Seventeen wickets in eight games at 10.64 – the second-highest wiclets tally and the best average among the top eight wicket-takers – pushed him into the reckoning.Last season, Twenty20
28.3-0-181-17

Siddharth Trivedi

A member of the Under-19 team that reached the semi-final of the World Cup in New Zealand in 2002, Trivedi, the Gujarat medium-pacer, was an early starter in first-class cricket. In his first-class debut, in 2002-03, he took a five-for against UP. After an impressive first season, he was rewarded with the Border-Gavaskar scholarship and later a place in the Challengers next season, where he played only one match and ended with 1 for 34 in four overs.When Greg Chappell took over as the India coach in 2005, Trivedi was a part of the 30-member conditioning camp. He has since been part of the A team that played the Top End series in Australia and New Zealand in 2006.Last season, List A
Wickets: 9, Ave: 27.88, Economy: 4.32Last season, Twenty20
26-0-202-6

Karan Goel

Goel, 20, is an attacking opening batsman who was the leading run-getter in the inaugural domestic Twenty20 Championship last season, guiding Punjab to the final. A batsman who can bowl part-time offbreaks, Goel was chosen as the player of the year by the Punjab Cricket Association. Stronger on the off side, he rates the cover drive as his favourite shot. He started playing under the tutelage of his father, a university-grade cricketer, before chiseling his skills under coach Charanjit Singh. He is currently working with the Punjab coach Daljit Singh.Last season, List A
Runs: 406, Ave: 45.11Last season, Twenty20
Runs: 313, S/R: 107.93

Mahesh Rawat

Rawat is a wicketkeeper-batsman who played for Haryana before shifting to Railways this season. Solid both behind and in front of the stumps, he made his first-class debut in 2003-04. However, it was in 2006-07 season that he hit a purple patch, rattling two centuries and a half-century in the Duleep Trophy at an average of 93.66. He is an efficient wicketkeeper and a dependable lower-order batsman who has even opened in one-day games. He was a part of the India A team that toured Kenya.Last season, List A
Runs: 91, Ave: 91Last season, Twenty20
Runs: 110, S/R: 103.77

Shrikant Mundhe

Mundhe is a right-arm medium-pacer and a lower-order batsman who has played for Maharashtra and India Under-19. In his debut match for Maharashtra U-14s, in January 2002, Mundhe scored an unbeaten 59 batting at No. 10. In six first-class matches he has snared 16 wickets with a career-best match-winning 5 for 18 against Saurashtra during the Ranji One-Day Trophy in early 2007. He has represented India U-19s in just one game, against their Sri Lankan counterparts, also in 2007. But an impressive one-day season has brought him into the reckoning for the Challengers.Last season, List A
Wickets: 16, Ave: 13.06, Econ: 4.69Last season, Twenty20
14-0-105-5

Charlie Shreck justified Wellington‘s decision to sign him for a full season, collecting a second-innings 5 for 66 as his side beat the defending champions Northern Districts at Hamilton. Dewayne Bowden made 106 not out, his maiden first-class century, and Matthew Bell chipped in with 81 as Wellington declared their first innings at 360 for 9, with a healthy lead after Northern Districts were sent in and made 224. Shreck’s efforts then rattled Northern Districts for 217, and Wellington eased past the target of 82 with nine wickets to spare.Mathew Sinclair’s unbeaten 243 secured first-innings points for Central Districts as they played out a draw with Otago at Napier. Sinclair’s innings was the highest individual score in Central Districts’ first-class history and he could have gone further had they not declared at 405 for 5. Aaron Redmond (73) led Otago’s reply but they fell for 357 after Robbie Schaw’s spin earned him 4 for 57. Another dominant display from Central Districts followed, with Peter Ingram’s 140 not out guiding them to 305 for 4 declared. That gave Otago a chase of 354 and Redmond (102) and Leighton Morgan (82) put them on track with a 161-run opening stand before Schaw rattled them again. He claimed 5 for 130 as Otago made it to 314 for 6 before the umpires called time.Canterbury struggled without their former captain Chris Harris, conceding two points in a draw with Auckland at Christchurch. Andre Adams claimed 6 for 42 and was the danger man for Auckland, rattling through Canterbury’s top order, which fell to 27 for 5 in their first innings. After a lower-order fightback their new captain Kruger van Wyk declared at 180 for 8 – trailing by 237 after Richard Jones (80) top scored in Auckland’s 417 for 8 declared. Auckland’s second innings did not go quite as planned – they closed it at 93 for 5 – but the target of 331 was too steep for Canterbury. Their chase began badly as they fell to 0 for 2, and Todd Astle opted for defence after that, finishing on 75 from 207 balls as Canterbury reached 179 for 5.Player of the Week Mathew Sinclair
Sinclair built his reputation as a double-century specialist early in his Test career and his 243 not out again proved he likes long stays at the crease. He batted for nearly nine hours, broke the all-time Central Districts record for the highest score, and might have made a triple-hundred if given the chance. The timing was also spot on for Sinclair, who sneaked into New Zealand’s contract list this season, as the national team’s top order has been under fire in South Africa.

Scorecard

South Australia relied on their walking wounded to take first-innings points against Queensland before Shaun Tait floored them with three wickets in four overs. The visitors finished day two on a high after reducing the Bulls to 4 for 24 and holding a 34-run lead.Tait, who picked up 3 for 69 in the first innings, showed his elbow problem had well and truly healed by removing Nick Kruger (0), Jimmy Maher (1) and the nightwatchman Daniel Doran (4) in a brutal short spell. He was backed up by Ryan Harris, who claimed Shane Watson for 15 – he edged to first slip – after avoiding consecutive pairs.The flurry of wickets rewarded the gutsy South Australians after Graham Manou started the acts of bravery by striking 43 with a broken finger. Mark Cosgrove, who was batting at No. 8 due to illness, then added late impetus with 54 off 52 balls.The visitors were dismissed for 366 after Andy Delmont chipped in with a career-high 64 and the middle and lower orders built on the work done by the openers. They began the day strongly with Matthew Elliott and Shane Deitz recording half-centuries, but Queensland hit back through Ashely Noffke, who finished with 4 for 73.The pair had put on 141 when Elliott slashed at Noffke shortly before lunch, edging behind for 78, while Deitz followed for 58. Mitchell Johnson dismissed Callum Ferguson for 20 before Noffke captured Nathan Adcock, leaving South Australia at 4 for 184. Manou started the revival until he struck a catch back to the legspinner Doran, who hit again after tea when he had Harris caught for 6.Cosgrove’s innings was ended by Johnson, who did not have a fun day in collecting 2 for 127 off 26 overs, while Delmont became Michael Kasprowicz’s 950th first-class victim. Noffke returned to finish the innings with the wicket of Tait, who quickly gained revenge.

UAE and Oman ensured that they will both appear in Saturday’s final, regardless of the result when the two meet in the final round of matches. Both have four wins out of four and now cannot be caught. The main battle is for third and fourth places which guarantees a place in the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier.UAE remained top of the table with a superb chase to beat Namibia by five wickets at the Wanderers, chasing down 359 inside 46 overs. That Namibia even managed to set UAE such a huge total was due to Gerry Snyman’s blitzkrieg 196 from a mere 113 balls, in which he smacked 17 sixes and seven fours. Arshad Ali got UAE’s chase off to a solid start with 57 from 49, but the real injection of pace came from Saqib Ali (91 from 59) and Khurram Khan, whose fine form continued with 89 from 79.After their two-wicket win over Namibia yesterday, Oman recorded a six-wicket victory over Denmark. Hemal Mehta took 3 for 11 from six overs while Syed Ali grabbed 2 for 11 – both bowlers making up for the wayward efforts of Oman’s opening attack of Hemin Desai and Farhan Khan. Freddie Klokker continued his good form with 45 from 46 and Carsten Pedersen made a brisk 37, but there was little else and Oman were set 169 to win. Desai made up for his expensive bowling with 47 from 25 balls, and although Denmark took four wickets, Oman rattled off the runs inside 30 overs.

Uganda notched their first win of the tournament and kept their hopes of a place in the World Cup Qualifier alive with a nine-wicket thrashing of Argentina. Ronald Ssemanda bagged 3 for 29, but Frank Nsubuga outbowled him with 3 for 10 from his 10 overs to restrict Argentina to 150 for 8. Uganda raced to victory with Joel Olwenyi carving 62 from 51, sharing an opening stand of 101 with Arthur Kyobe (46). Kenneth Kamyuka took them home with 37 from just 11 balls with five sixes.

A fitness test is all that stands between Brian Lara and the opening Carib Beer Series contest against Guyana at the Queen’s Park Oval on Friday.Lara was named in the 14-man Trinidad and Tobago squad that will take on the Guyanese, pending a fitness test tomorrow concerning his shoulder injury. Once a decision has been made on his fitness, the squad will be trimmed to 13 players for the Guyana match.T&T will be led by allrounder Rayad Emrit in the absence of Daren Ganga, who is currently on tour with West Indies in South Africa.Noticeably absent from the T&T squad is veteran fast bowler Mervyn Dillon, but T&T Cricket Board chairman Dudnath Ramkessoon stressed yesterday that this does not mean the big pacer is out of the series. “We have Ravi Rampaul there, we have [Richard] Kelly there,” Ramkessoon told the . “There’s [only] so many players you can pick. It’s just for this game, because after the first game [against Guyana] we’ll pick for the second one [against Barbados].”Adrian Barath, the talented young opener, returns from an elbow injury to boost the T&T team. Coach Kelvin Williams will be buoyed by Barath’s robust 106 from a total of 266 for 6 for South against North in their limited-overs fixture, on Sunday. Atiba Alert, a fast bowler, is the only new face in the T&T squad.Richard Kelly returns to the fold after being excluded from the KFC Cup squad in October. Kelly was in sparkling form for North in the Pizza Hut Gerry Gomez North/South Classic, last weekend, his ten-wicket match haul earning him the accolades of Man of the Match, Best Bowler and North MVP.

ScorecardIt rained wickets in Savar as Bangladesh Under-19s scraped through to seal a three-wicket win in a low-scoring encounter against Nepal Under-19s. The victory was fashioned by all-round performances by Rubel Hossain and Suhrawadi Shuvo, who shared six wickets between them and later combined to guide Bangladesh home with a crucial 21-run stand.The match was reduced to 39-overs overs a side and Nepal’s captain, Paras Khadka, chose to give his batsmen the first use of the pitch. Rubel, the medium pacer, got the early breakthroughs before Nepal endured a middle-order collapse. Shuvo, the left-arm spinner and legspinner Mohammad Shakil took charge in a period where the opposition lost five wickets for the addition of only 11 runs. Shuvo bowled a particularly miserly spell, conceding just nine runs in eight overs while Shakil ended with 2 for 14 off eight overs. Puspa Thapa, who top scored with 25, was Rubel’s third victim and the innings ended soon after with the score on 109.Bangladesh’s top order crumbled with half their side back in the pavilion with the score on 37. A fifty-run stand between Mahmudul Hossain and wicketkeeper Mithun Ali put Bangladesh on course to victory before a double-strike by left-arm spinner Rahul Kumar pegged them back further. Rubel and Shuvo batted out six overs to ensure a 2-0 series win, after the second match was washed out.

Worcestershire have signed Steve Magoffin, the Western Australia quick bowler, as their overseas player for the first-half of the 2008 season.He was recommended by Tom Moody, the former Worcestershire coach, who is now in charge at Western Australia and has so far taken 29 wickets at 23 in the Pura Cup this season.”Steve is a tall and lively ‘hit the deck’ bowler who has excellent control,” said Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’s director of cricket. “This will make him a tough opponent to face on the early season English wickets. He is highly recommended by Tom Moody and we are delighted to give him an opportunity to make a name for himself in England.”Magoffin said: “I am delighted to be joining Worcestershire at the start of the season. Tom Moody, speaks very highly of the club, the squad and the set up at New Road and I can’t wait to join up with Steve Rhodes, Vikram Solanki and the rest of the team.”I am very eager to pull on the shirt for Worcestershire and get the ball in my hand for the season opener against Warwickshire”.Magoffin will join the club in April and will stay until June 9, when West Indies fast bowler Fidel Edwards arrives for the second-half of the season.

A Pakistan-Australia series in the lead-up to next year’s Ashes is looming as a possibility as the two countries juggle their calendars in an attempt to reschedule the cancelled three-Test tour. Creagh O’Connor, Cricket Australia’s chairman, has invited his PCB counterpart Nasim Ashraf to Australia to discuss possible dates.April or May of 2009 might give Australia a chance of visiting Pakistan, but it would be straight after a tour of South Africa and right before their Ashes visit to England. However, Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, said it was potentially the most suitable time.”We believe that would the best time for Australia to honour its commitment to tour,” he told the . “We have been saying again and again we don’t want to play in a neutral venue and our position has not changed. We hope that with a new democratic set-up in the country things will improve, the bombings cannot go on forever.”Australia were to visit Pakistan this month but fears over safety and security of the players led to a decision to postpone the tour. The last year was a turbulent one for Pakistan, with militant violence affecting several areas of the country. In November, a state of emergency was imposed and in December former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while campaigning for elections.This year has already seen several suicide attacks in Lahore and the NWFP. Though South Africa stayed in the country to complete their tour last October and Zimbabwe visited in January, Australia’s tour was put in doubt after players voiced their concerns. Australia haven’t toured Pakistan since 1998.”Dr Ashraf and I have taken the opportunity to catch up during the current ICC board meeting in Dubai and we have had a preliminary look at dates which might be suitable to reschedule the matches,” O’Connor said. “I have assured the PCB that Australia is committed to finding new dates, and we are committed to the ICC principle that cricket will only develop as a genuine global sport if all nations play each other away and at home on a regular basis.”It is clear from our initial discussion here in Dubai that we need to sit down and go through the technical issues on finding new dates with a fine tooth comb. To that end, I have suggested we meet in Melbourne as soon as possible and we will organise dates once the current ICC meetings are finalised.”

On paper it looks like a done deal. New South Wales should win the 2007-08 Pura Cup and they ought to do it comfortably. The Blues are hosting the final at the SCG, they need only a draw to secure the title, and seven members of their starting line-up have Test experience. Victoria have one man with a baggy green in his cupboard, although it’s only been worn five times and has not been dusted off in more than two years.But the script is not always followed in cricket, as Australia know after their unexpected defeat in the CB Series. The presence of the current and former internationals Brett Lee, Michael Clarke, Stuart Clark, Stuart MacGill, Nathan Bracken, Phil Jaques, Simon Katich and Brad Haddin only increases the expectation on New South Wales, and according to the Victoria batsman David Hussey, that plays into the visitors’ hands.”It’s looking very positive for the New South Wales team, full of stars,” Hussey said. “But I think it’s a good thing. All the pressure is basically on them. The whole of the Victorian squad, if we can prepare well, can sort of glide into Sydney like a shark. We’re such a tight-knit group I know we’ll all be playing for each other.”It’s as close to a Test match as you can possibly get. Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken – they’re all Test quality so for myself as a batsman I’m really looking forward to that challenge. We really can’t wait to take on their team because it really is going to be like a Test match experience.”It has been almost impossible to split the two sides all season, so much so that a first-innings tie in their previous match secured both their places in the decider with two rounds remaining. The sudden influx of international experience tilts things in the Blues’ favour, with Brad Hodge the only Victorian who has played Test cricket.The availability of the stars is a stroke of scheduling luck for New South Wales. Not since 1991-92 has the state final been blessed with the presence of so many current Australia players, and on that occasion the benefits were shared between New South Wales and Western Australia. Only in 1995-96 could the national representatives of the day appear in the decider but neither of the finalists, South Australia or Western Australia, had any internationals to call on.To make room for the returning men the Blues have been forced to squeeze out several men who have been integral in helping them get so close to the triumph: Matthew Nicholson, Peter Forrest and probably Grant Lambert and Mark Cameron, who are in the 13-man squad. Bracken has played five Pura Cup games this summer but has been in ODI mode for two months, and he said it was an awkward but inevitable situation.

“It’s never nice to walk in and basically take somebody’s spot but you’ve got to realise that a lot of the guys [coming back] were in the same boat,” Bracken said. “I know Stuart Clark was in the same position when he started, he’d be out depending on the Australian players.”We are used to being put in crunch situations where you basically do have to walk into something, sometimes a little bit cold and get ready to play. With Australian commitments you can go overseas and play over there when you haven’t done anything for what could be two or three months.”It means a very different looking New South Wales side to the one that lost last year’s final to Tasmania – only four men from that team are likely to be used in this decider. One of those players is Katich, the captain, who is the competition’s leading scorer with 1328 runs at 94.85 and needs a further 137 to break the all-time record.”I couldn’t have asked for anything better, except for perhaps a better showing from us in the one-dayers,” Katich said of his personal success and his team’s impressive 2007-08. “If we can win one of the three titles we can walk away pretty content with where we’re at.”For Victoria, one out of three is not enough. They already have the Twenty20 prize and lost the FR Cup to Tasmania, and they are desperate to secure the last Pura Cup before the competition changes names – the milk company is ending its sponsorship after this game. “It’s a great achievement for the whole of the Victorian Bushrangers squad of reaching three finals but there’s no point being in the finals unless you’re going to win it,” Hussey said. “Last year we played in two finals so we’re definitely improving.”The odds might be stacked against Victoria but they have reasons to be optimistic. Hussey is second only to Katich on the run tally, Hodge has had another strong season and Cameron White has found batting form at the right time. Peter Siddle’s bowling has improved immensely, Bryce McGain is one of the country’s top two spinners and Andrew McDonald’s all-round efforts have again been important. Win or lose, the Bushrangers can at least hope that by this time next year they, like their esteemed opponents, will have more than one Test player on their books.New South Wales squad Phil Jaques, Phillip Hughes, Simon Katich (capt), Michael Clarke, Dominic Thornely, Brad Haddin (wk), Grant Lambert, Beau Casson, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Stuart MacGill, Mark Cameron.Victoria squad Nick Jewell, Rob Quiney, Lloyd Mash, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Andrew McDonald, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Shane Harwood, Peter Siddle, Clint McKay, Bryce McGain, Dirk Nannes.