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Led by a century from their captain Sami Aslam and a fifty from Kamran Ghulam, Pakistan Under-19s held their nerve to secure a two-wicket win over India Under-19s. The win puts them on top of Group A, sealing a spot in the semi-finals. Faced with a target of 251, Aslam kept the chase under control with a well-paced 108 off 119 balls. Once he fell, Ghulam took over, guiding the lower order even as India pulled back with wickets. Two wickets in the 49th and 50th over put some pressure on Pakistan, who were seeking six runs off the last over, but Zafar Gohar hit two fours to seal the victory.Earlier, Ricky Bhui’s 64 helped India post 250 for 7 after regular strikes from the Pakistan bowlers prevented India’s top-order from making good on their starts. Bhui’s knock off 66 balls with three fours and two sixes.Riding on a hundred from Kusal Mendis and an unbeaten 62 from Priyamal Perera, Sri Lanka Under-19s stumbled to a two-wicket win over Bangladesh Under-19s in Abu Dhabi. The win helped them qualify for the semi-finals where they will play India. Set a target of 204, the 108-run fourth-wicket stand between Mendis and Perera put Sri Lanka in a comfortable position at 180 for 3. However, Sri Lanka lost their next five wickets for 13 runs, sliding to 193 for 8, before Perera and AK Tyronne got the required runs. Earlier, a fifty from Nazmul Hossain Shanto, and useful contributions from Mosaddek Hossain and Yasir Ali helped Bangladesh put up 203 for 6.Afghanistan Under-19s needed a total of just 26.4 overs to thump Malaysia Under-19s by 10 wickets in Abu Dhabi. Malaysia, who were bundled out for 50 and 32 in their previous two games, collapsed once again for 40 as medium-pacer Sayed Shirzad spearheaded an incisive bowling performance from Afghanistan. Malaysia’s captain Muhammad Ramli was the team’s top-scorer with 12, while their other 10 batsmen collectively contributed just 22 runs between them. Shirzad finished with 4 for 10, and Abdullah Adil picked up three scalps. to bowl Malaysia in 23.2 overs.Afghanistan’s openers Shahidullah and Ihsanullah completed the paltry chase in just 20 balls, hitting five fours and a six between them. Afghanistan will now play Pakistan in the semi-finals.A four-for from left-arm spinner Sushan Bhari and a knock of 48 from Aarif Sheikh helped Nepal Under-19s seal a four-wicket win over United Arab Emirates Under-19s in Sharjah. Nepal were struggling at 49 for 3 before Sheikh anchored the chase with useful partnerships. After Sheikh was out, Siddhant Lohani and Rahul Pratap Singh ensured Nepal ended up on the winning side, finishing the game in 33 overs. Earlier, Bhari and left-arm pacer Lalit Bhandari kept chipping away with wickets to restrict UAE to 159. Dan D’Souza was the top-scorer for UAE with 32, in an innings where a few other batsmen got starts but couldn’t play on. Bhari finished with 4 for 34, while Bhandari took 3 for 43.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
The year 2014 has just become a whole lot nicer for Bangladesh. After 10 months of losses, failures, suspensions, resignations and sackings, they have completed a 3-0 Test series win over Zimbabwe with a 186-run margin in Chittagong.The final wicket fell in the 85th over when Natsai M’shangwe was trapped lbw by Shafiul Islam. Craig Ervine, Richmond Mutumbami and Tinashe Panyangara also fell the same way while Shingi Masakadza had his off stump pegged back.File photo: Shuvagata Hom removed the two overnight batsmen before lunch•WICB Media

Regis Chakabva was the sole source of resistance, making 89 off 181 balls with seven fours and a six. He hardly played a false shot despite several leg-before appeals, surviving through two reviews, and a chance on 21 when Mushfiqur Rahim dropped a sharp chance.For Bangladesh, there were two wickets each for Shafiul, Rubel Hossain, Jubair Hossain and Shuvagata Hom.Zimbabwe’s eccentric start to the day gave Bangladesh early inroads. Through loud appeals and inside edges, Hamilton Masakadza and Sikandar Raza, having added 67 last evening, looked to play all sorts of shots against spin from both ends. In the fourth over, Raza completed his second fifty of the match with a four that he could easily have dragged on to his stumps. In the next over, Taijul Islam had a review denied after replays showed the ball was hitting him outside off stump. It was the ninth time in the series that Bangladesh had their review denied.Masakadza, having added just 12 runs in the morning and constricted with his drives, played a reverse sweep which was neither attempted nor executed correctly. He did not go down on his knees enough to lay into the shot as the delivery from Shuvagata took his glove and popped up for Mushfiqur Rahim. Soon after the 93-run second-wicket stand ended, Shuvagata got his second wicket. This time Raza hammered a full toss down Taijul’s throat at deep midwicket, ending his innings on 65 off 75 balls with nine fours and two sixes.Brendan Taylor also gave away his wicket, playing a loose drive to Jubair, getting out to him for the third time in the series, all to drives. This time he was caught at point for 24, ending a mediocre series for himself. Seven minutes before lunch, Jubair took his second wicket when Elton Chigumbura, who had top-scored with 88 in the first innings, cut a ball low to slip where Imrul Kayes took a sharp catch to his right.Almost everything went to plan for Bangladesh. Mushfiqur has had very little to worry about with Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal doing well and the bowling attack able to pick up 20 wickets in each of the three Tests. Zimbabwe’s lack of form also played into their hands, but ultimately the win will count. And for Bangladesh, it would count with much effect.

The ICC has begun the sale of tickets for the World T20 in India on its website, with less than two weeks for the event to begin. The first phase of the sale, which went live at 12 pm IST on February 24, made tickets available for matches in Bangalore, Chennai, Dharamsala, Kolkata and Mohali, but excluded those featuring India, the semi-finals and the final of the men’s and women’s events. The second phase of the sale – for matches in Mumbai, Delhi and Nagpur – will begin at 12pm IST on February 26.Tickets for seven “highly sought after” matches – four India games, the semi-finals and the final – will be sold online through a lottery system, where buyers need to indicate their preferred match after registering themselves. They will then be moved to a draw where the winners will be chosen through an automated process following which they will receive a payment link to complete the booking. The window to register for the lottery will be open only for seven days from February 25. Only two tickets can be purchased per person for India matches, the semi-finals and the final, while for other games a maximum of six tickets per person is allowed.The BCCI appointed as the ticketing agency for the event, and said the entire ticketing process was “monitored and audited by a reputed auditing agency.”A member of the organising committee told ESPNcricinfo that the schedule for the sale of tickets over-the-counter for all matches – including India’s and the knockouts – would be announced by the respective hosting centres. He said the lottery system was to streamline the high demand for tickets.”We had to do lottery system, otherwise when a traditional ticket counter opens up, some 20,000 people queue up,” the official said. “The first 10,000 get tickets and then there is a lathi charge. We have to move away from that culture.”If you put tickets online on first-come-first-serve basis, there will be some 10,000 people who click at 12. After 12:05 pm, the entire system becomes redundant. The traffic for these high-priority games is huge, so everyone must get a fair opportunity.”When ESPNcricinfo accessed the website at 12:01 pm there was a queue of 5907 and it took our staffer 12 minutes to reach the top of the queue. After she selected her match of choice there was another queue of 931 where the waiting time was about two minutes. The whole transaction was completed in 15 minutes.While ticket sales for previous World T20s had commenced three to six months ahead of the event, the current edition has had a number of delays. The ICC had earlier refused to be drawn into any criticism of the ticketing process, stating it would be “inappropriate” to make comparisons. The organising committee member attributed the delay to a combination of factors, including the uncertainty over the status of Delhi as a venue.”The schedule was launched only on December 19 (sic December 11), and only after that our work starts,” he said. “We have to start pricing separately for women’s games, men’s games, the semi-finals and final. Once the ticketing agency is finalised you will have to do backend mapping. Delhi has obviously been a contributing factor for the delay. Till 10 days ago I didn’t know if I had to push those games to some other venue.”The official said other hosting nations in the past had been able to put tickets up for sale early because of the ICC announcing the fixtures “well in advance.” He also pointed to the logistical issues of hosting matches at eight venues – previous editions of the World T20 had only three venues. “As much as it looks like a T20 format, look at the complexity of the whole tournament. This is the first time we are doing women’s and men’s matches together, and we have double-headers,” he said. However, the last three editions of the World T20 had men’s and women’s games together.While such delays hurt the travelling fan the most, the official said ticket sales were almost entirely driven by local public. “Look at this way, India as a destination … it has always been local sale which chews up into the entire volume than people coming from outside,” he said. “That’s not a reason [for the delay], but it’s a comfort in some way.”

Around 11,000 spectators created a festive atmosphere as Younis Khan made his fifth Test double century to leave Australia reeling in Abu Dhabi. It was his third hundred on the trot, and came against the backdrop of his exclusion from the one-day squad last month.The decision to axe him had prompted Younis to stridently question the selectors. He was retained in the Test squad though and while he has broken a slew of batting records, he insisted this wasn’t about showing up the selectors. “I am not here to prove anything to anyone,” he said after another productive day in Abu Dhabi. “I just wanted to show my character and wanted to win the games for my country after Pakistan lost four matches to Australia. So the intentions were never to prove a point but to help Pakistan.”Younis, though, said that the week after being dropped was an important period for him. “I still remember that one week that I spent with my family. I am not able to forget that moment. My family and friends were tense. The media was tense, the entire Pakistan was tense for me, wondering he could retire now, who knows what he could do now after having spoken out. The media has supported me a lot. Each and every moment from that week is with me and [I am] thinking positively from that.”He was also pleased with his preparation for the series. “It was my good luck that I landed here in UAE a week earlier and worked a lot on my batting with the help of the batting coach. The Australians would also practice nearby and whenever I got the opportunity, I would observe their body language and try to learn about them. So that week really made a difference.”During this series, Younis became Pakistan’s highest Test century maker, and reached 8000 Test runs, prompting debates over whether he is Pakistan’s greatest Test batsman. “I don’t think I can become a great… like Javed, Inzamam, Yousuf, Saeed Anwar, Zaheer Abbas, Hanif Mohammad … I can’t compare myself with them,” he said. “The era I am playing in, many things are easy for me compared to the time they have played their cricket. It was so difficult for them. I want to be remembered as a team man who served the team and as someone whose performances made his country proud.”He said he drew energy from the large holiday crowd in Abu Dhabi to complete his double century just before tea. “When I was around 160 or 170, my body’s response started to go down, but when I saw so many fans were coming in, I thought that if I push myself a little more, then I could get to 200…”When I saw so many people coming in for a Test, I felt very happy, I took motivation from the crowd, I wanted to hang in there and reach 200, so that all the people who have come to see me, I shouldn’t disappoint them.”The situation looks hopeless for Australia, but Younis, while hoping to win the Test, expected some tough days ahead. “Obviously when you score runs and contribute a lot in the game you want the team to win comprehensively so I hope we manage to pull off a whitewash.”But it isn’t going to be easy for us, we still have to put in the hard work. Though we have good spinners, Australia have been in this situation several times… they have Warner, Clarke, Smith and Haddin who had played a big role for them to win the Ashes. So it won’t be easy. We aren’t thinking that the contest will be over tomorrow or day after and I think the Australian team is capable of making a comeback.”

Sri Lanka Women West indies Women
ScorecardDilani Manodara top-scored for Sri Lanka with 28•WICB

Sri Lanka Women beat West Indies Women by five runs in a rain-affected game in Colombo to lead the three-match T20 series 1-0.West Indies, after being inserted to bat, put up 109 for 6 in 20 overs. They lost two wickets in the first over, as Sripali Weerakkody picked up Kycia Knight and Deandra Dottin. Stafanie Taylor top-scored with 40, sharing partnerships of 32 with Britney Cooper and 45 with Merissa Aguilleira (28). Other than Maduri Samuddika, all the bowlers took at least one wicket.In the chase, Sri Lanka lost Yasoda Mendis for a duck as she was run out in the second over, but a brisk stand of 46 in 39 balls between the captain Chamari Atapattu (17) and Dilani Manodara (28) got the chase back on track. The match turned again as Sri Lanka lost four wickets in 12 balls, to leave them at 60 for 5. Twenty-two runs were needed to win off 28 balls with four wickets in hand, when the match was interrupted by rain with Sri Lanka five runs ahead of the D/L score .

ScorecardPakistan Under-19’s bowling attack restricted England Under-19 to 168, before a 96-ball 63 from Saud Shakeel helped Pakistan to a three-wicket win in Abu Dhabi.Pacers Zia-ul-Haq and Irfanullah Shah led the attack for Pakistan, who after electing to field, bundled England out in 43 overs. The opener Ryan Higgins top-scored with 80 off 84 balls, but received little support from the rest of the batsmen. Zia finished with 3 for 32, while Shah and Karamat Ali chipped in with two wickets each to run through an England batting order in which seven of their players failed to get into double digits.England made a bright start during the chase as the seamer Josh Shaw picked up three early wickets to leave Pakistan rattling at 39 for 4 in the 11th over. But Imam-ul-Haq and Shakeel led the recovery, adding 71 for the fifth wicket, before the former fell for 49 in the 31st over. Saifullah Khan was immediately dismissed in the next over, but Shakeel and Zafar Gohar contributed 53 for the seventh wicket to all but seal Pakistan’s second straight win of the tournament.

ScorecardSteve Magoffin commanded respect from Yorkshire•Getty Images

From Ranjitsinhji to Mushtaq Ahmed, Sussex supporters have long been blessed by exotic overseas signings. Set against these, Steve Magoffin is a rather less alluring name. But he might just be the most valuable overseas player on the county circuit today.There is nothing demonstrative about him. Magoffin eschews histrionics and bounds in, harassing the off stump at a pace that is sprightly rather than express. But there is a wonderful rhythm to his bowling. Rangy and with a strong repeatable action, Magoffin’s energy is unrelenting even deep into his 35th year. He is still able to extract dangerous lift from wickets as docile as this Arundel track.Magoffin has enjoyed many triumphant days in his three seasons at Sussex, as his outstanding club record – 157 first-class wickets at 20 apiece – is testament to. “He’s as good as anybody there is that does what he does,” Sussex’s coach Mark Robinson says. “We wouldn’t swap him for anyone.”Though he snared only two wickets, few days will provide more emphatic affirmation of Magoffin’s worth.Only the wickets column betrayed him. For consistently defeating groping bats, he deserved plenty more than the two scalps – Alex Lees trapped lbw, and Adam Lyth well caught by Jon Lewis after misjudging a hook – he was restricted to.The absence of more wickets owed much to Yorkshire’s approach. In the absence of Chris Jordan, who may well be detained by England for almost the entirety of the summer, they recognised that Magoffin provided Sussex’s main threat. At times, it felt almost as if two games were being played out simultaneously: Yorkshire against Magoffin, in which maidens came more freely than runs; and Yorkshire against everyone else, when it looked rather more fun to be a batsman.Accord Magoffin respect -that 13 of his 23 overs were maidens shows that Yorkshire emphatically did so. The batsmen reckoned that runs would flow more freely elsewhere.New Zealand’s Test series in the Caribbean has deprived Yorkshire of their regular number three, Kane Williamson. In his absence, Jack Leaning showed the fortitude to excel in the role. Upright in defence, he also displayed the range of shots evident in the best keepers of number three.When Magoffin was given a break in the early afternoon, Yorkshire had reached only 61 for 1 from 33 overs: especially with the sun resplendent, spectators could have been forgiven for having a quiet siesta. Leaning recognised the opportunity to shake his side out of their torpor, hitting four exquisite boundaries – drives through midwicket and extra cover off James Tredwell, and a late cut and pull off Jon Lewis – in six balls. By the close he had reached 75, sailing past his previous highest first-class score, with the promise of more to come tomorrow.He found a fine ally in Lyth, with aggressive running a hallmark of their second wicket stand. Compact and particularly strong off the backfoot, Lyth may have aspirations of pinching Sam Robson’s Test place: his 66 takes his Division One tally for 2014 to 733 runs at 56 apiece.The most eye-catching moments of Lyth’s innings were a pair of sixes, both nonchalantly lofted down the ground, off Tredwell. But Tredwell could still be content with his first bowl in a Sussex shirt: he bowled with good flight and control, and, after having Andrew Gale dropped behind on nought, had the thrill of uprooting his leg stump as he attempted a sweep.After 29 worthy overs, plenty more beckon tomorrow, as Yorkshire look to inflict stress on Sussex’s flaky batting in the game’s third innings.

Injections, massage, exercise and no little motivation allowed Michael Clarke to fashion a remarkable hundred in the midst of a back flare-up at Adelaide Oval, but Australia’s selectors must now deliberate over how sustainable such a combination will be for the remainder of the Test series against India.Scarcely a ball went by without Clarke wincing in pain as he forged on to 128 on day two, more than doubling the 60 on which he had retired hurt. The hundred was believed to be the first ever by an Australian Test batsman having been forced from the field due to injury, but its courage is no substitute for the rest and strength work that Clarke has customarily leaned on whenever his back has complained in the past.Short-term salves for the issue, such as painkillers and constant movement, should be enough to ensure Australia do not go through the difficulties of being effectively a man down in this match, though it remains to be seen how much Clarke can field.Though he said it was unrelated to recent hamstring troubles on the opposite side of his body, the team physio Alex Kountouris conceded Clarke’s injury was a major one, leaving the chairman of selectors Rod Marsh and the team performance supremo Pat Howard to ponder wider plans.”As everyone knows, he has got a chronic back injury and he dived to get back into the crease when David Warner was on 99, he felt it a little bit there and then just tried to get out of the way of a bouncer and it really grabbed,” Kountouris said. “Unfortunately it is quite a significant back injury. He hasn’t had anything like this for 18 months. The last time he had this was in the Champions Trophy in England. It’s poor timing and he is struggling at the moment.”The hamstring injury is on the other side. He has been carrying a left hamstring injury and this is his right lower back. This is his old injury, it’s what he has had in the past with his back. I don’t think it is directly related to his hamstring. You don’t want to be a man down, so he is very determined to give it a go and see how he goes.”Steven Smith, who went on to an unbeaten 162 largely in Clarke’s company, said his captain had made the very best of a bad situation. “He was pretty keen to get out there this morning,” Smith said. “He had a good hit this morning and he just came out and played beautifully. A few shots hurt him but he got himself into as many good positions as he could and manipulated the field a little bit as well. He played beautifully under the circumstances.”In the breaks he was getting a bit of treatment, he was walking around, trying to stay as active as he could – sitting down’s probably the hardest thing for him with his back. He was trying to stay quite active.”Clarke has battled his back and hamstring troubles since he was a teenager, and has often worried about how long his body would allow him to play. Over the past few weeks he has shown extraordinary leadership capacity while staying close to the family of Phillip Hughes, underlining how much Australia’s players would dearly love him to be fit for the remainder of the summer.”He has done amazing over the last couple of weeks,” Smith said. “It has been tough for all of us but he spent the whole time by Hughesy’s family’s side. Just the strength and courage he has shown through those times was unbelievable. He must be mentally drained coming into this game but the way he played speaks the world of that guy. He came out here and tried to do something for Hughesy and he certainly did that.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:10

O’Brien: Very strange bowling plan from Royals

Despite producing a gaffe-ridden performance, Rajasthan Royals managed to beat Kolkata Knight Riders by nine runs and booked their spot in the playoffs. Knight Riders are all but out of contention.Chasing 200, Knight Riders needed 16 off the last over bowled by Chris Morris, but despite Umesh Yadav smashing an unbeaten 24 off 11 balls deep in the innings, they fell short. There were substantial cameos from Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell, but Royals’ seamers, led by Chris Morris, derailed their chase with wickets at critical junctures.Royals’ victory, though, was set up by Shane Watson’s unbeaten 104 off 59 balls, his second century in Twenty20 cricket.Knight Riders had a wobbly beginning, losing openers Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa inside the first three overs. But after a disciplined beginning, Royals’ seamers lost their bearings, registering the second most number of wides (18) in any IPL game.Pathan and Manish Pandey revived the innings with a 56-run stand, and after the latter departed, Pathan and Russell continued to target some patchy bowling. But, Morris’ dismissals of Russell and Suryakumar Yadav in the 14th over altered the course of the game.Knight Riders, though, weren’t down for the count yet, with their long batting line-up chipping in handy hits to reduce the margin. That the Royals bowling was erratic only contributed to their resurgence.With 36 required off 12 balls, Umesh threatened to snatch the game back by carting James Faulkner for 20 runs. Morris, however, dismissed Shakib Al Hasan off the first ball of the last over, and effectively killed off Knight Riders’ chase.When they opted to bat, Royals might have anticipated such a riposte from the opposition batsmen, having had an easy initiation into their innings themselves. Ajinkya Rahane and Watson delighted in whipping the ball through the off side off either foot. While Watson got into his low set-up to clatter drives through the cover, Rahane cracked a flat six over point. Together they went about knocking down a few records.Even as Rahane and Watson completed 3000 and 4000 runs respectively in T20 cricket, Royals zoomed to 66 in six overs, their highest score in the Powerplay this IPL. Some of the momentum was curtailed after Rahane was run-out after Watson bailed on a tight second run.Royals, nevertheless, reached their 100 inside 10 overs for the first time this season. Their innings suffered a middle-overs blip with Russell sending back Steven Smith, Sanju Samson and James Faulkner in the space of four overs. Watson, though, was unaffected by the goings on, and progressively got better.He kept hitting straight, not losing his shape all along. Azhar Mahmood came in for a lot of punishment, conceding 41 runs in three overs while Umesh, Morne Morkel and Shakib went for more than nine runs an over.Both teams made a few strange selections with Knight Riders replacing Sunil Narine with Mahmood for his first game in IPL 2015. Royals, for their part, chose to play debutant left-arm seamer Brainder Sran, while omitting Rajat Bhatia and Pravin Tambe. The lack of variety in their attack, with no spinner, nearly cost them, but they clung on when it mattered the most.

Aaron Finch was taken to hospital after been hit on the chest by a delivery while playing for Yorkshire’s 2nd XI on Monday.Finch, the Australia limited-overs opener, was part of the side taking on Worcestershire seconds in Barnt Green, south of Birmingham, when he was hit while attempting a pull shot off the seamer Chris Russell.While Finch walked from the pitch unaided, he was clearly in some pain and, after spitting up blood, was quickly taken to hospital. At hospital he underwent a series of tests and X-rays to ascertain the extent of the injuries, with Yorkshire suggesting that his condition had eased considerably. He was not required to stay in hospital.A club spokesperson later told ESPNcricinfo that he would take no further part in the game. He returned to Leeds on Monday evening and expects the result of the scans on Tuesday.While Finch had been expected to play for the Yorkshire first team in their fixture against Nottinghamshire starting on Monday, the club instead decided he could do with some red-ball cricket before coming into their Championship side.Finch was due to join Yorkshire immediately after a spell in the IPL but suffered a hamstring injury while playing for Mumbai Indians that kept him out for two months.