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Pakistan’s coach Waqar Younis was still in a state of shock soon after his team’s loss to Australia in the final over of their World Twenty20 semi-final. The Australians began the 20th over needing another 18 runs off Saeed Ajmal, but after three sixes and a four from Michael Hussey, the match finished with a ball to spare.It was a remarkable result given the nature of the chase; Australia were set 192 and slumped to 105 for 5 in the 13th over. That left Cameron White (43 off 31 balls) and Hussey in charge of the rescue, and Hussey’s unbeaten 60 from 24 deliveries was the key.”All you can do is just smile about it,” Waqar said. “I thought we did our best. What else can you do? I don’t think we went wrong anywhere. We did a good job, but you’ve just got to give credit to the Australians for the way they batted. They kept the momentum with them all the way, especially Cameron White’s innings.”I thought that set the tone, and then Hussey did the real damage. I still can’t believe it. It was an unbelievable innings; you just don’t see many like that around. I can’t really blame anyone. I thought we bowled pretty well and batted outstandingly. It’s just that the Australians were too good for us today.”The result eliminated Pakistan, the defending champions, from the tournament and set up an Australia-England final in Barbados on Sunday. Waqar said the depth of Australia’s batting – Hussey and Steven Smith have been coming in at No. 7 and 8 – made them a very fine side, although he felt there was room for improvement in their bowling.”We’ve seen a great game here, and I’m looking forward to another thriller in the final,” he said. “England are on top of their form. It’s just a matter of holding your nerves in the final. But the way Australia played today, they are very dangerous.”When you have such momentum with you it’s always handy. They played like champions. They haven’t won the Twenty20 yet, but this is their opportunity – and I think they’re going to come really hard at the English team.”

ScorecardSussex’s batsmen capitalised on the excellent job done by their seam attack to take control after two days of their County Championship second division match against Surrey at Hove. Murray Goodwin led the way with a stylish 74 while skipper Mike Yardy and Luke Wright both made half-centuries in their final match for the county before linking up with England’s squad for the Twenty20 World Cup.Surrey’s attack kept plugging away on a desperately slow pitch but by the closeSussex had reached 278 for 7, a lead of 73. It was tough going initially for Sussex and when Joe Gatting mistimed a drive at Rao Iftikhar in the 20th over they had only managed 26 runs.Chris Nash looked dumbfounded to be given out lbw to Andre Nel from a deliverywhich hit the top of the pad, but opening partner Yardy and Goodwin began toimpose themselves in a third-wicket stand of 117 in 33 overs.While the left-hander struggled with his timing, Goodwin continued in the formwhich had brought him 113 runs in Sussex’s opening win over Glamorgan. He struck 11 boundaries and it was a surprise when off-spinner Gareth Batty got one through his defences in the 54th over.Yardy was much more circumspect and needed 223 balls for his 50, 153 more thanGoodwin. He was badly dropped on 29 at second slip by Surrey skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown but gradually began to find his touch.The Sussex captain fell after tea, trapped in front sweeping, but Wright injected impetus into the innings with an entertaining 63 off 68 balls, including nine fours and a six off Batty, before he spliced a pull to give Iftikhar his second wicket. Sussex’s lead was just 36 at that stage but Michael Thornely and Andrew Hodd survived a testing period against the second new ball until Hodd was bowled by Jade Dernbach, who then uprooted Thornely’s off stump with the penultimate delivery of the day.Earlier, Sussex had wrapped up Surrey’s first innings in the space of 19 ballsas they were bowled out for 205, adding just six runs to their overnight score. Rana Naved made a sensational start with wickets with the first two balls of the day. Andre Nel was bowled off his pads and Iftikhar’s maiden innings for Surrey ended with a golden duck when he was yorked by his Pakistan compatriot.Robin Martin-Jenkins finished Surrey off when Chris Schofield padded up to an inswinger to complete only the eighth five-wicket haul of a first-class career spanning 177 matches. His 5 for 45 were also his best figures at Hove for nearly three years.

Rajasthan Royals have drafted Victoria batsman Aaron Finch into their squad for the 2010 IPL season. Rajasthan lost Graeme Smith and Dimitri Mascarenhas to injuries but Finch was included because they had an extra overseas slot free, and not as a replacement player.”Aaron is a sensational young player and he fits within the Royals values of promoting and selecting young talent,” Sean Morris, Rajasthan’s chief executive, said.Finch, who represented Victoria during the Champions League Twenty20 in October last year, has already joined the team in India. He strengthens the Australian presence in the Rajasthan outfit, joining Shane Warne, Adam Voges and Shaun Tait. The franchise is also awaiting the arrival of Shane Watson, who will head to India after the Test series in New Zealand. Finch’s inclusion came shortly after Rajasthan cut former Australian batsman Damien Martyn from their squad.Rajasthan’s campaign has experienced a revival in the last few days. The team, which was bottom of the league after losing its first three matches, is now third after winning the next three in a row.

The teenage batsman Kane Williamson is line for a potential Test debut after being named in New Zealand’s squad for the second Test against Australia starting in Hamilton on Saturday. Williamson, 19, has been in irresistible form in the Plunket Shield this summer, and will replace the injured Daryl Tuffey. Allrounder James Franklin has also been included in the squad.Williamson, a top-order batsman and offspinner, put in a brilliant all-round performance for Northern Districts against Auckland last week, when he made 192 and finished with match figures of 5 for 59. He has made 588 runs at 53.45 in the Plunket Shield this season and will be pushing for a Test debut at his home ground, Seddon Park, after the shaky efforts of the top order in Wellington.”I wasn’t expecting a call at all, but I was aware that I was probably getting looked at after past performances, I was absolutely thrilled,” Williamson said. “I had a bit of contact with [coach] Mark Greatbatch, not on a consistent basis, but once or twice he said ‘keep going’. I’m certainly excited to test myself at the next level and learn a lot.”Franklin’s ability to bowl left-arm seam won him the nod, as the selectors prepared for the possibility of overcast conditions in Hamilton.”There has been a lot of rain in Hamilton of late, and it is fair to say that the conditions we saw today at Seddon Park, at this stage, are far different to those we experienced earlier in the season,” Greatbatch said. “We thought it prudent to have all our bases covered, and James does that for us.”The squad also includes Mathew Sinclair, who was included as top-order cover in the squad at the Basin Reserve but did not make the side. The offspinner Jeetan Patel will feature strongly in the selection discussions on a pitch expected to take some turn, but most of the interest in the lead-up will surround the young Williamson.”He’s in the 13 so he’s a chance, there’s no doubt about that,” Greatbatch said. “We’ll have to look at the conditions at Seddon Park but he’s playing well. We resisted the temptation to bring him in earlier but we’ve decided with one Test left, he’s a young lad playing well, very talented and it’s an opportunity for him to be involved in our environment. If he does make the starting 11 I’m sure he’ll acquit himself well.”New Zealand squad Tim McIntosh, BJ Watling, Mathew Sinclair, Peter Ingram, Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Daniel Vettori (capt), Brendon McCullum (wk), Tim Southee, Brent Arnel, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin, James Franklin.

One of the major concerns for Kings XI Punjab ahead of the third season of the IPL is a long injury list, but they will be relieved that Yuvraj Singh, one of their most important players, is likely to be fit in time for the first game against Delhi Daredevils.Yuvraj tore a ligament in his left wrist in late January and missed the second Test against Bangladesh and the entire series against South Africa that ended two days ago. He had been to Australia last week for treatment and is now looking forward to resuming batting. “I will start batting in three days,” he told Cricinfo. “It’s been five weeks (since the injury), so yes, I should be good for the first game.”Punjab were one of the best teams in the inaugural IPL, cruising into the semi-finals, but had a tough time in the second season, affected by the injuries to fast bowlers Sreesanth and Jerome Taylor, and the unavailability of Australian players for much of the competition.Yuvraj has targeted at least a semi-final spot this year, and believes one of the keys to a strong performance will be having the entire squad fit and available for the tournament. “We had a good first year, made the semi-finals easily when we had our full bench of players,” he said. “So if we have our full bench of players not injured, we have a good chance of going through to the semi-finals.”They have several important players struggling for fitness, though. Australian batsman Shaun Marsh, their standout performer in the first IPL season, became the latest worry after he was ruled out of the upcoming one-day internationals against New Zealand due to a back problem.Their most expensive overseas player, fast bowler Brett Lee, is also beset with fitness problems. (However, IPL chairman Lalit Modi said in his Twitter page that Lee is arriving in India tomorrow). Lee is recovering from a painful elbow surgery that ruled him out of the entire Australian home summer campaign, and said a couple of weeks ago that he might never bowl again. He has only played two matches since spearheading New South Wales’ march to the Champions League title last October.”We have a few injuries but we still have a bit of time to get fit for the first game,” Yuvraj said. Besides fitness issues, the lack of quality Indian batting back-up for Yuvraj is another of Punjab’s drawbacks, which makes it vital that allrounder Irfan Pathan recovers from the back injury that has kept him out of the preliminary squad of the ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.

The ICC has asked Cricket Australia for a detailed report into the breach of security that allowed a spectator to rush onto the field during Australia’s fifth ODI against Pakistan in Perth on Sunday and tackle to the ground Pakistan opener Khalid Latif.The incident occurred in the 46th over as Australia were coming to the end of a tense run-chase. Latif was brought down from behind, but emerged unscathed; the spectator has been charged with assault and given a life ban from the ground.”Obviously the ICC is very disappointed by the incident,” an ICC spokesperson told Cricinfo. “There has been a clear security breach. We have asked CA to send us a detailed report on the incident before we can make any comment.”Given the ICC’s zero tolerance for such breaches, the matter is being viewed with some concern and it is possible it could be brought up at the ICC executive board meeting, due to take place in Dubai from February 9-11.Condemnation has come in from every quarter over the incident; WACA chief executive Graeme Wood has called for his state government to increase fines for pitch invaders; Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, said he would’ve considered taking his players off the field if it had happened to them.The PCB has also contacted the ICC over the incident. “We have decided to inform the ICC about it,” Nadeem Sarwar, PCB’s media manager, told Cricinfo. “Cricket Australia has also sent us a letter regarding the incident.”

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Bangladesh, all pumped up and incisive, roared back “extraordinarily”, taking eight Indian wickets for 130 runs and forcing Sachin Tendulkar to dig deep to try and take India towards a respectable total. Shakib Al Hasan, who bowled 25 overs unchanged for 48 runs, and Shahadat Hossain, who bowled in hostile spurts, were at the centre of the comeback, taking four wickets apiece for 103 runs between them, and proving the Indians “still are human beings”. Every wicket pumped Bangladesh up more, every wicket was met with wild celebrations, special one among those being Shahadat’s after Dinesh Karthik’s wicket – a finger on his lips, telling his opponents in no unsubtle terms to watch their mouth.Virender Sehwag, who had called Bangladesh an “ordinary” side in the lead-up to the Test, got off to an aggressive start in a curtailed first session after fog and murky light delayed the start of the match. When he went into lunch, despite the balls stopping and coming and the turn available for the spinners, Shakib would have wondered if he had made the right decision by putting India in. India had raced to 63 for 0 in 13 overs, and immediately after the break Sehwag hit Shahadat for three boundaries in one over, reaching his fifty at more than a run a ball.Yet, Sehwag wasn’t totally in control. He had hit Shakib for a first-ball four, but the turn had had Sehwag in an edgy frame of mind. Off 12 balls of spin, Sehwag was forced to abort attacking shots because he was beaten in flight, rapped on the pads by arm balls, and had one bat-pad fly wide of forward short leg. He eventually lost patience and hit a shortish delivery straight to short cover. Shakib 1, Sehwag 0.Sehwag’s dismissal kick-started a period of aggressive and smart bowling and captaincy, which eventually resulted in soft dismissals. Gautam Gambhir, who had been circumspect in playing outside off, went to cut a wide delivery from Shahadat and the extra bounce caught the edge. Rahul Dravid came to bat in a situation tailor-made for him, but played all around a swinging yorker, and 79 for 0 became 85 for 3 in a matter of 17 deliveries.Shakib then kept his fast bowlers fresh by rotating them from one end, and keeping the pressure up bowling unchanged until stumps. With Rubel Hossain getting reverse-swing from the other end, there were no free hits, boundaries were plugged away, and Laxman, especially, struggled to get off strike. For 13.4 overs not a single boundary came.Shakib mixed the offbreaks and the arm balls well, also varied the degree of the flight. After a series of near dismissals – leaving alone an arm ball that almost shaved the off stump, hitting uppishly one bounce to short cover, and scoring 7 off 29 balls, Laxman finally over-balanced when looking to drive Shakib. The ball went straight on, took the inside edge onto the pad, and then rolled along to an alert Mushfiqur Rahim, who found Laxman short of his crease.There was no counterattack forthcoming from Yuvraj, who prodded and nudged Shakib dangerously for 30 deliveries, before the lack of clarity of thought consumed him. Caught completely in the defensive frame of mind, Yuvraj could have done many things with a gentle leg-side fulltoss, but lobbing it down mid-on’s throat wouldn’t have been high on the agenda. Immediately Shakib got Shahadat back, and as if on cue, Karthik drove at a wide delivery and edged low to gully.All the batsmen who got out had a lesson to learn from the man they passed when they walked back. Tendulkar, dropped on 16 by Imrul Kayes at wide slip, respected that the pitch was not flat, Shakib and Shahadat were bowling really well, and cut out undue risks. He didn’t play away from the body, worked the singles, found the gaps for twos, and even the edge that flew to the left of slip came against the run of play. Tendulkar capitalised on that, and without taking risks, maintained a strike-rate of 50-plus in reaching his 98th score of 50 and above.The other end, though, remained vulnerable. The tea break came just at the right time, and Shakib and Shahadat came back fresh. Tendulkar and Amit Mishra added 32 for the seventh wicket, but Shahadat came back to produce a reversing low full-toss to Mishra. Unlike Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan couldn’t make the most of a dropped catch, and the 27-run eight wicket ended when an arm ball got him.Before bad light kept India’s first innings fighting for another day, two statements were made that suggested that Bangladesh were not as ordinary as India had thought. Tendulkar was forced to try and farm strike, and more often than not Shakib bowled smartly enough to keep him at the other end and expose the tailender for a complete over to Shahadat. And just before stumps, Shakib, not lacking in a sense of drama, bowled with three slips, a silly point, a forward short leg, and a leg gully to Ishant Sharma.