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Scorecard
Kumar Sangakkara began his tour on a high with 110 against Queensland•Getty Images

Sri Lanka rested four of their stars but Kumar Sangakkara’s century was enough to kick off their tour with a comprehensive win over Queensland. The visitors left out Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan, but still managed to register an imposing 7 for 301 after winning the toss at the Gabba.Sangakkara racked up a brisk 110 and had strong support from Chamara Silva (75) in a 100-run partnership, after he also combined with Chamara Kapugedera for an 87-run stand. He brought up his hundred with a six off the legspinner Cameron Boyce, before he eventually fell to Ben Laughlin, caught at midwicket off a full toss.It was an impressive effort given that Sangakkara shook off a hamstring strain to take part in the match, the first of three warm-ups before Sri Lanka begin their limited-overs series against Australia. The bowlers also enjoyed the outing and Dammika Prasad began the defence by running through the local top order.Prasad finished with 3 for 43, including two wickets in the 14th over, and from there Queensland were never in the contest. Craig Philipson held off the Sri Lankans with a run-a-ball 69 but Dilhara Fernando troubled the lower order with 4 for 41 and finished off the Bulls in the 37th over.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Richard Cameron was in sparkling form•AFP

Lions brushed aside an uninspired Guyana in front of a healthy Johannesburg home crowd to boost their chances of making the semi-finals. After Guyana’s batsmen showed a lack of nous, and put up an inadequate total, Richard Cameron and Alviro Petersen blunted their attack to pilot the Lions to victory with nearly five overs to spare. Guyana never looked like repeating the heart-warming run of Trinidad & Tobago, who powered their way to the final of the Champions League last year, and their slim chances of reaching the final four ended with this crushing defeat.Guyana’s batsman looked to thrash almost every delivery, and mistimed plenty of strokes, but never attempted to dab the ball around to rotate the strike when things weren’t going their way. A late flourish lifted them from the depths of 88 for 6 to the relative respectability of 148, which still proved too trifling a target.The express pace of Craig Alexander and the sideways movement extracted by some of the Lions other quick bowlers proved too much for Guyana. The trouble started in the very first delivery of the match when Travis Dowlin escaped an extremely close lbw call. His short stay foreshadowed the Guyana effort: filled with thrashes and flails for little reward, and one panicky piece of running before he fell in the second over.Ramnaresh Sarwan is the most important batsmen in the Guyana line-up and he came out firing, cracking four boundaries in five deliveries to kickstart the innings. However, his performance was cut short in the fifth over by a spectacular diving catch by John Symes, at backward point, off Craig Alexander’s first delivery. In the next over, their other experienced batsman, opener Sewnarine Chattergoon who had faced only three deliveries in the Powerplays, holed out to mid-on.From 42 for 3, debutant Steven Jacobs stepped up to push Guyana forward. He was often beaten by the movement, and his timing was mostly awry, but he slipped in some flamboyant boundaries to take Guyana to 77 after 11 overs.Lions were well on top soon after due to some muddled running that led to the run outs of Christopher Barnwell and Esuan Crandon. Jacobs also perished, one of his mistimed strokes finally carrying to long-off. Ethan O’Reilly bowled a pinpoint yorker and a low full toss to take out middle stump twice in the 17th over to end with career-best figures of 4 for 27 and put Guyana in further trouble.Guyana somehow managed to push their total close to 150, thanks to some free-swinging from Lennox Cush who finished on 19 off 10 including a massive six over long-off.The chase began brightly with both Petersen and Johnathan Vandiar picking a boundary each. Lions’ only moment of bother was when Vandiar nicked Esuan Crandon behind in the third over, bringing together Cameron and Petersen who bludgeoned the weak Guyana bowling to bring up Lions’ second win in three games.Petersen sparked the innings to life after a quiet spell following Vandiar’s exit by thumping Esuan Crandon over long-on for a 102-metre six and then cracking him past point for four. It was mayhem after that – only two of the remaining overs of the chase went for less than 11 runs as Cameron went into overdrive. Helped by a gift-wrapped bunch of short deliveries from the Guyana spinners, Cameron soon overtook his captain with a series of pulls and carves.Petersen was content to let Cameron take most of the strike, and quietly moved to his second consecutive half-century. Cameron more than doubled this previous career-best of 36 before the victory was completed in the 16th over, keeping Lions firmly in the mix for a semi-final spot.

ScorecardPlay was abandoned without a ball bowled in the County Championship match between Somerset and Durham for the second successive day at Taunton after a 2.30pm pitch inspection.Although the rain stopped during the morning, so much had fallen in the previous 24 hours that the outfield remained saturated.The umpires inspected at 12.30pm and 1.30pm, seeing little improvement, and when a further hour brought no significant change they decided there was no prospect of play. Somerset were due to resume their first innings on 287 for 4.

ScorecardAndre Adams started Warwickshire’s double demise with three early wickets•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire stepped closer to regaining the County Championship title they last won in 2005 with a ruthless two-day victory over desperate Warwickshire. It leaves Yorkshire under pressure to get the better of Durham at Chester-le-Street and Somerset needing a victory over Essex at Colchester if Chris Read’s side are not to open up a clear lead at the top of Division One.Warwickshire, whose return to Division Two looks almost inevitable now, were bowled out twice in the day after Nottinghamshire claimed the extra half-hour. Their principal destroyer was Ryan Sidebottom, whose eight wickets in the day will do him no harm in ongoing discussions with the county over a new contract.The 32-year-old England bowler, whose current arrangements at Trent Bridge run out at the end of this season, is looking for a new deal that compensates him for the likelihood that his central contract with the ECB will not be renewed.Other counties, including Sussex, are watching developments with interest and, while Nottinghamshire are keen to reach an agreement that suits them as well, Sidebottom left his supporters in no doubt that his commitment to the county is as strong as ever.Sidebottom took 3 for 37 as Warwickshire, 13 without loss overnight, collapsed to 121 all out in their first innings, their last nine wickets falling for 68 in an abject display that could not be explained away purely by the fact that the Trent Bridge swing factor came into play.In the event, it was Andre Adams who upstaged Sidebottom initially, the former New Zealand allrounder producing a masterclass in swing bowling, which began with him bowling a remarkable 53 deliveries without conceding a run while taking three wickets in the process.With the ball still getting purchase off a pitch that was offering bounce for good measure, Adams was virtually unplayable from the Radcliffe Road End. He claimed his first success when a frustrated Darren Maddy tried to cut him for four only to be caught low down at first slip, then saw off Jim Troughton and Varun Chopra leg before in successive overs.Four of the next five wickets fell to catches behind the wicket or in the slips, with the exception of Ateeq Javid, the 18-year-old in his sixth first-class match, who was bowled offering no stroke to a ball from Paul Franks. Adams wrapped the innings up when Sidebottom took a tumbling catch at mid-off to dismiss Boyd Rankin, leaving Chris Woakes, on 19 not out, as Warwickshire’s joint top scorer, although Rankin’s 13 was a career-best.If Sidebottom played second fiddle in the first innings, however, he roared back in style with 5 for 35 as Warwickshire subsided to 152 all out following on. The figures were his best for Nottinghamshire since he took 5 for 22 against Kent in August 2006 and rewarded bowling of the highest quality.Trailing by 207 on first innings, Warwickshire looked to be making a better stab at building a respectable total, reaching 87 for 1 as Chopra completed his first Championship half-century since his winter move from Essex but, after Adams had taken the second of his three second-innings wickets when Darren Maddy spooned a catch to mid-wicket, Sidebottom produced two brilliant yorkers in the space of three deliveries to bowl Chopra and Rikki Clarke.He then had Jim Troughton caught behind off a thin edge before another yorker trapped Tim Ambrose first ball as the former England wicketkeeper bagged a pair. He completed his five-for when Keith Barker edged a low catch to wicketkeeper Chris Read, who now has 51 victims for the season.Poor Javid suffered the embarrassment of being bowled without offering a stroke for the second time as Adams picked up his seventh wicket of the day.At 132 for 8 when the day’s allocated overs ran out, Nottinghamshire inevitably claimed the extra half-hour. With Woakes again showing some measure of resolve, it looked for a while as if Warwickshire might at least take the game into a third day.But Franks uprooted Imran Tahir’s middle stump with the fifth of the additional eight overs and completed the job with one over remaining as Woakes edged to David Hussey at second slip.Warwickshire’s dressing room door remained closed long after the players left the field and director of cricket Ashley Giles will find himself under pressure after seeing his side fail to win a single batting bonus point in six of their 13 matches.

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Essex’s hopes of securing a quarter-final place in the Friends Provident t20 competition received a boost when they earned a thrilling three-wicket victory over rivals Hampshire at Chelmsford. Replying to a total of 161 for 6 the hosts squeezed home with just one delivery to spare.They arrived at the final over sent down by Chris Wood with eight required and James Foster was run out from the first ball trying to scamper a single. But Jaik Mickleburgh kept a cool head to see Essex to the winning post with boundaries from the third and fifth deliveries.The foundation for success, however, had been laid by 39-year-old Grant Flower. He struck 10 boundaries while making 54 from 38 balls, Simon Jones finally breaching his defence to leave Essex 139 for 4 in the 17th over.Scott Styris quickly followed, caught in the deep attacking Dominic Cork after making 29 from 20 balls. Tim Phillips and Foster followed him back to the pavilion soon afterwards as Hampshire fought back but in the end Mickleburgh was to prove the match winner.When Hampshire batted, Liam Dawson and James Adams gave the innings a confident start with an opening stand of 51 in just under six overs. But once they were separated the visitors lost their way. They required another nine overs to send the total into three figures and it was only a sparkling knock from Nic Pothas that enabled them to set a target.He smashed six sixes and three fours while making 59 from just 27 balls before he was run out from the last ball of the innings. All those runs came during a partnership of 71 from 39 deliveries with Chris Benham.David Masters, who was to remove Dawson and Adams in the same over, finished with 2 for 19 from three overs while Pakistan legspinner Danish Kaneria claimed 2 for 21 during his four overs.For Hampshire, Cork, Jones and Danny Briggs each bagged a couple of wickets each – but it was not enough to save Hampshire from defeat.

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Ravi Bopara put his England snub behind him by hitting a superb half-century as the Essex Eagles cruised to a nine-wicket Clydesdale Bank 40 victory over the Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Wantage Road.Young opening batsman Rob Newton blasted his first half-century in senior cricket, making 66 off 78 balls, but some indifferent batting from his team-mates meant the Steelbacks could only reach 198 for 9 off their 40 overs.Bopara, who was left out of England’s Test squad this morning, then smashed an unbeaten 88 from 89 balls with former Essex captain Mark Pettini plundering 58 off 61 balls as the Eagles triumphed with 40 deliveries to spare. The hosts won the toss and chose to bat, but they started badly when Rob White (five) dragged a Chris Wright delivery onto his stumps in the fourth over.The second-wicket pair of Newton and Alex Wakely made 61 between them to stabilise Northamptonshire before Tom Westley bowled the latter for 29. Newton, 20, who was playing in only his third match in the first XI, then reached his 50 off 60 balls.David Sales made 23 before he went cheaply by launching Tim Phillips to Pettini, who took the catch at mid-off.Newton was next to go when he smashed former Zimbabwe international Grant Flower to David Masters at long-off before Stephen Peters (seven) was trapped lbw by Flower.The Steelbacks’ innings was starting to wilt when captain Andrew Hall (10) was trapped leg before by Nottinghamshire loanee Andy Carter. Wicketkeeper David Murphy made just four before he looped Masters to Pettini at mid-off before Elton Chigumbura (24) top-edged the same bowler high into the air to his countryman Flower at backward point.David Willey (six) was pinned lbw by Carter in the final over as Northamptonshire failed to reach 200. Essex’s chase started well, with openers Pettini and Bopara making 50 between them inside 10 overs. Pettini reached his half-century off 49 balls, including one six over mid-wicket.He made it to 58 before his powerful drive was superbly caught at backward point by Peters off the bowling of Chigumbura to finally break an opening stand of 99. Bopara made it to 50 off 58 balls with an enormous six over mid-on that landed in the top tier of the members’ area.He had been joined at the crease by Flower and the veteran made an unbeaten 35 as the Eagles coasted towards victory, with Flower hitting the winning run in the 34th over.

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Title holders Sussex chalked up their third successive win of the Friends Provident t20 South Group by edging a tense local derby against Kent by four wickets and with only two balls remaining in Tunbridge Wells. Visiting skipper Michael Yardy pulled a slower-ball bouncer from Azhar Mahmood to the ropes at deep backward square to spark a pitch invasion from a near-6,000 crowd at the Royal Spa Town club ground.Chasing Kent’s workmanlike if unspectacular total of 163 for 5, Sussex made the best of starts through New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum and Matt Prior, who raced to 55 inside eight overs before the Spitfires finally struck. McCullum, on 16 from 19 balls and with three fours, clipped one from James Tredwell high to deep midwicket where Joe Denly ran round from long-on to take the catch.Denly and Tredwell, who bagged 2 for 32, combined again in near-identical fashion to account for Murray Goodwin (nine) then Prior, having hit seven fours and a six from 34 balls, missed out on his 50 by three runs when mistiming a drive against Darren Stevens to be snaffled at short midwicket.Luke Wright misread one from wrist spinner Malinga Bandara to be bowled for 21 and with five overs remaining Sussex required a further 44 with six wickets in hand. Bandara also struck in his final over to finish with 2 for 34. Drawing Chris Nash down the pitch, he turned one through the gate to peg back off stump and send the right-hander packing for a useful 24 from 11 balls.Joe Gatting (eight) fell in the penultimate over but, with only four needed from the final over, Yardy wrapped up a man-of-the-match display by hitting the winning blow to finish unbeaten on 36 from 23 balls.After playing out a maiden from Robin Martin-Jenkins’ first over of the game, Kent lost their first wicket in the seamer’s second over, Denly bowled for five when he heaved across the line. Rob Key joined forces with Martin van Jaarsveld to add 47 for the second wicket inside six overs but then Key (23), in aiming to run a quicker delivery from Yardy down to third man for a single, missed the ball and dragged his back foot to be smartly stumped by Andrew Hodd.Van Jaarsveld also chipped and chased his way to 23, never appearing comfortable on a two-paced pitch. He finally hoisted Chris Nash to long-on where England keeper Prior – playing as an outfielder, like New Zealand counterpart McCullum – ran around the boundary edge and knocked the ball up before taking the catch at the second attempt.Kent formed a useful alliance between Geraint Jones (32) and in-form Stevens, who again top-scored for the hosts with an unbeaten 52 – having scored 197 here in last week’s championship fixture against Nottinghamshire. The fourth-wicket pair doubled the score and had reached 137 when Jones (32), in attempting to pull a length ball from Yasir Arafat, found a top edge to be caught by the bowler off a skier.Stevens and Azhar Mahmood maintained the momentum with a rash of late boundaries, Mahmood clattering three to the ropes in his 16 from eight balls while Stevens reached his half-century from the last ball of the innings with a back-foot carve through extra cover off Yasir Arafat for four. In all Stevens faced only 30 balls and hit two sixes to go with his four fours as Kent rattled along at 8.15 runs per over to set the Sharks a testing target.

The BCCI issued a tender notice today soliciting sponsors for four Indian teams. The notice, from board secretary N Srinivasan, invites bids for the men’s, women’s, India A and India Under-19 squads. According to PTI, the bid document is available for a non-refundable fee of Rs. 5 lakh.The notice requires all bidders to satisfy the eligibility criteria laid down by the board, which has also reserved the right to “cancel or amend the entire bidding process at any stage and to reject any and/or all bids without providing any reasons, including calling for a re-tender.”The board’s existing sponsorship deal with the Sahara Group ends on June 30. Sahara originally won the right to sponsor the Indian cricket team for a period of four years beginning in December 2005 for Rs 400 crore. But the BCCI was unable to find a new sponsor last year, failing to attract even a single bid. So Sahara agreed to continue its sponsorship of the team for an additional six months on the same terms.Since then, however, Sahara successfully bid a whopping Rs 1700 crore for the new Pune IPL franchise, leading their chairman Subroto Roy to say Sahara will review its sponsorship of the Indian cricket team.”Only thing we will see is our continuation of sponsorship to the Indian cricket team. We will sit on that and we will discuss on that. But on all other sports nothing will be affected,” Roy said when asked about the impact of the acquisition of the IPL franchise. At the time, he said Sahara would consider limiting its exposure to the BCCI and women’s cricket. Sahara also sponsors the Indian hockey team.

ScorecardRory Hamilton-Brown starred with 92 to deliver his first victory as Surrey captain•PA Photos

Surrey skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown hit 92 to lead his side to a thrillingtwo-wicket victory over Lancashire with one ball to spare in their ClydesdaleBank 40 opener. Lancashire had set Surrey a formidable target when Stephen Moore, playing in his first one-day game since joining them from Worcestershire, led them to atotal of 290 for 6 with 118 off 96 balls.Hamilton-Brown, who had never reached fifty in his 37 previous one-day games,responded by sharing a rousing opening partnership of 133 in only 15 overs withSteven Davies. Davies had made 59 off 43 balls with three sixes and seven fours when he played on heaving at Tom Smith but Hamilton-Brown, in his first one-day game as captain, kept Surrey on course in a second-wicket stand of 49 with Usman Afzaal.Then Hamilton-Brown was caught at wide long off trying to hit the ball out of the ground for a fourth time and Surrey began to lose their way. Afzaal was bowled trying to run Sajid Mahmood to third man and Mark Ramprakash was caught low down in the gully.A brief stoppage for rain, which meant that the target was revised to 283 off39 overs added to the tension and Surrey reached the final over still needingfive to win. Stewart Walters and Andre Nel scrambled three singles, Nel was run out tryingto steal a single to the wicketkeeper and in fading light Iftikhar Anjum edgedthe penultimate ball from Mahmood for four to bring Hamilton-Brown leaping downthe pavilion steps punching the air.Surrey put Lancashire in and were rewarded when Nel had Paul Horton brilliantlycaught in the gully in his first over but Moore and Tom Smith were soon takingadvantage of the short boundaries at the school ground.Smith helped Moore put on 63 for the second wicket and Ashwell Prince andSteven Croft joined him in successive stands of 89 in 15 overs and 87 in 11overs before he tried to hit Iftikhar for his fourth sixth and was caught infront of the sightscreen. He also struck 14 fours.Prince scored 48 off 46 balls, Croft 44 off 43 and Mark Chilton provided asting in the tail by hitting three sixes and a four off the penultimate overfrom Stuart Meaker to lift Lancashire to their highest score against Surrey inlimited-overs cricket.

South Africa’s women’s selection panel has included 16 year-old Chloe Tryon in the 14-member squad for the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in April and May. The call-up is a result of Tyron’s impressive form for KwaZulu-Natal in the CSA Women’s Provincial League this season.”Nobody’s place in the women’s squad is secure and Chloe has pushed some of the experienced campaigners this season. She has been superb for Gauteng and she can definitely play an important role in women’s cricket in the future,” national coach Noor Rhode said. “We have kept it consistent, with 12 of the 14 players having taken part in the last home series against West Indies, but have included some dynamic performers.”Tyron, an allrounder, is a powerful hitter of the ball, a skill that will come handy in Twenty20. “Bowling is my strong point but I can definitely bat as well,” she said. “The national women’s team has had disappointing runs at previous World Cups so hopefully I can help the team bring the trophy home.”The selectors also included experienced allrounder Susan Benade, who had been dropped for the series against West Indies. Cri-Zelda Brits was reappointed as captain, returning after a two year absence.Squad Cri-Zelda Brits (capt), Susan Benade, Trisha Chetty, Mignon du Preez, Shandre Fritz, Shabnum Ismail, Ashlyn Kilowan, Marcia Letsoalo, Sunette Loubser, Alicia Smith, Angelique Taai, Chloe Tryon, Charlize van der Westhuizen, Dane van Niekerk.Reserves Marizanne Kapp, Kirsty Thomson, Dinesha Devnarain, Masabata Klaas.