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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Meg Lanning top-scored with 43 off 38 that featured five fours•Getty Images

Meg Lanning’s 38-ball 43 and a disciplined performance from the Australia Women bowlers steered them to a comfortable 25-run win over Ireland Women in the first of the three T20Is in Dublin. After scoring 140 for 5, Australia reduced Ireland to 58 for 6, before the hosts hauled their score past 100 but the match had fallen out of their grasp by then.Opting to field, Ireland struck early with the wicket of in-form Jess Jonassen for 5 but Elyse Villani and Lanning stitched a crucial stand of 56 in 7.1 overs to lay a strong platform. Villani fell for 32 in the tenth over even as Lanning continued, to marshall the score past 100 in her 50th T20 international. Ireland fought back by taking three quick wickets of Lanning, Ellyse Perry and debutant Grace Harris, for a duck, within eight balls for only one run – two of those taken by 17-year-old legspinner Elena Tice. But Alex Blackwell and Jess Cameron smashed 36 runs off the last 23 balls to stage a comeback and post a competitive total. Tice finished with 2 for 35.Ireland went off track in their chase early when Perry and Jonassen removed the openers within the first three overs. Cecelia Joyce stalled the fall of wickets with a patient Laura Delany, 9 off 17, to take the score past 50, but medium-pacer Harris broke the stand by having Joyce stumped for a brisk 26. Fifty-one for 3 soon became 58 for 6 as Rene Farrell took a return catch, Harris struck again and a run-out added to Ireland’s woes.They needed another 83 from 52 from there, but with only four wickets in hand. Gaby Lewis, Kim Garth and Lucy O’Reilly chipped in with double-digit scores but could not avoid the loss as Australia inflicted two more run-outs. Harris made up for her two-ball duck with a spell of 3-0-15-2 and only one of Australia’s six bowlers conceded at more than six runs per over.”Nervous is probably an understatement,” Harris said of her debut. “I suppose because the nerves hit me early with the bat, by the time I got out to the field [to bowl], I was a bit fresher and over it. With the ball I just knew what my job was and went straight into it. I didn’t get hit for a boundary until the third over so I was just trying to bowl to the field the skipper had set me and Meg was happy with how I was going.”

A day after premier news agencies voiced their concern about the IPL’s media guidelines, the Editors Guild of India – an influential lobby group – has criticised what it calls “prohibitive conditions” that are “unprecedented and unacceptable to the Indian media.” The criticism, in a letter from the Guild to Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, and Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, comes on a day the league confirmed that websites would not be given accreditation for the tournament.The Sports Journalists’ Federation of India also issued a statement expressing “alarm and concern” over the IPL’s conditions and asked that the “unfair and unethical restrictions being placed on the media be withdrawn unconditionally”.The contentious conditions include the IPL’s right to use all pictures taken at its grounds for free and without restrictions; the commitment by news organisations to upload on the IPL site, within 24 hours, all images taken at the ground; and the restriction of web portals’ access to images without prior permission from the IPL.”The conditions described in the form stipulate, among other things, that the media cannot use any image or photograph in any other publication, even if it belongs to the same organisation. Indirectly, it is making a claim on the images taken by the media organisations as a property of the IPL,” the Guild’s letter said.”To say the least, this is a ridiculous claim, unheard of in the annals of free India’s media tradition. The IPL is even making a claim on the said property for future use. The rules also stipulate that still images, taken by accredited photographers cannot be used for online editions of the newspapers for which the photographers may be working. In an age when most newspapers are also available to online readers, this stipulation is extremelyuntenable.”On Thursday, the IPL had indicated it was open to negotiations on the contentious conditions. However, it came out with another condition on Friday: those working for websites will not be granted accreditation for the event. “We will not be granting accreditation to websites as we will be having a site of our own for IPL,” Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer and an ex-officio member of the IPL board, said.It is believed that a decision to this effect was taken during a meeting involving media accreditation officials on Thursday night. IS Bindra, a member of the IPL’s governing council, told Cricinfo on Thursday that the portal rights for the event had been sold to a US company for US$50 million.

The Indian Premier League released on Tuesday its revised guidelines for media coverage of the inaugural tournament, formally withdrawing some of the original contentious clauses but maintaining its hardline stand on websites – they will not have access to photographs and their representatives will not be allowed into the venue during matches.The new guidelines were made public late in the evening, so there were no immediatereactions from the media industry, which had strongly condemned the earlier version.That prompted a meeting on Monday between IPL officials and senior journalists, atwhich some of the revisions were discusses. The revisions include the following:a.. A newspaper or a news agency can carry stand-alone still pictures of theTwenty20 matches in the print media and their websites without changing ormorphing, and for editorial reporting purposes only
b.. The IPRs of any publication shall not be restricted in terms of the clausewhich says that the accredited party should not use material which could challengeand damage the IPR of IPL
c.. The images should not be used in direct association with any marks, names orlogos of any third party and no part or whole of the image should be superimposedon
d.. No online use or publication or syndication of any such still photographicimage is allowed except for the website of the publication
e.. In place of the original condition that the IPL was entitled to use andreproduce any and all photographs of the accredited party, which should beuploaded on the IPL website by the latter within 24 hours, the IPL now says it mayrequest publications to provide for use and reproduction, free of charge,photographs from the publications
However, the revised guidelines reiterate the IPL’s stand vis-à-vis websites – notincluding those that are online versions of print publications – on tournamentcoverage. Website reporters, though granted accreditation, will be given access tothe venue the day before the match and for post match press conferences only – notduring matches.They also bar photographers from news agencies or other organisations from supplyingphotographs to these websites. No alternative provision has been specified forwebsites to source their pictures from, though on Monday the IPL said it was settingup a databank that could be accessed by these sites.The IPL also extended the deadline for media accreditations by two days till Thursday.

Afghanistan’s climb up the world stage continued as they sealed promotion from World Cricket League Division 4, moving into the final alongside Hong Kong, in Dar-es-Salaam.Going into the final day of the group stage, three sides were in contention for promotion but Italy, knowing they needed victory over Afghanistan to finish in the top two of the table, lost by 93 runs, thereby ending their dreams of playing in the 2011 World Cup.Hong Kong defeated Jersey by 100 runs to seal second place in the group stage, while Fiji’s dramatic four-run win over Tanzania means that Jersey and Fiji will be relegated to Division 5 on net run-rate, as all three teams were tied on two points.For Afghanistan and Hong Kong the aim is to finish in the top two of the six-team Division 3 tournament in Argentina in January, which would mean they join 10 other sides at the World Cup Qualifier, where four Associate or Affiliate Members will qualify for the 2011 tournament in Asia.At Leaders Club, Afghanistan posted an imposing target of 235 for Italy to win after another solid, mature and at times flamboyant batting performance. Rais Ahmadzai led the way with an excellently paced innings, scored at more than a run-a-ball, and hit two of the seven sixes scored in the innings, while Ahmad Shah (52) also played an important role.In reply, Italy lost Thushara Kurukulasuriya to his first ball, before the Northcote brothers added 61 for the second wicket. But Italy’s hopes suffered a blow when Andy Northcote (29) was run out by an excellent throw from man-of-the-moment Ahmadzai.Then, Hamid Hassan changed the game permanently, first deceiving Nick Northcote with a cleverly disguised slower ball, and then earning the vital wicket of Joe Scuderi with a superb throw to gain a run out. When Hemantha Jayasena was also run out in the next over without facing as panic spread through the Italian batting line-up. In the end Afghanistan, were able to enjoy a comfortable victory.Ahmadzai, who was named the Man of the Match after his crucial 68, was delighted with his side’s promotion and said he was determined to win the final against Hong Kong.”We are very happy. It’s true that there was a little bit of tension amongst the guys last night, but the coach said we should go and play positive cricket,” Ahmadzai said. “I was just concentrating on reading the wicket when I came into bat and then hitting the bad balls. The boys have done very well with the bowling, batting and fielding. We will try our best to win the final – we’ve already beaten Hong Kong in this tournament and we will try our best to do it again.”Immediately after the game Scuderi announced his retirement as a player, although he said he would continue as a coach. “You can’t keep playing for ever – I’m 40 in December and my time has come now,” he said. “Perhaps it is time for Italian cricket not to rely on me as much as it has done for the past 10 years.”In the other key promotion game, Butt Hussain missed out on his century in agonizing circumstances, run out backing up on 99, but his innings was instrumental in securing Hong Kong’s passage to Division 3 with victory over Jersey. “It was a pleasure to play such an important innings at a crucial stage for our team. It was due as I was only scoring 30 or 40 runs in my innings – I wasn’t scoring big scores,” Hussain said.After some excellent opening bowling from Ryan Driver and Anthony Kay, Hong Kong stuttered their way through the early overs. But a 119-run partnership between Hussain and Skhawat (47) transformed the game as Hong Kong’s experience and class began to show as it made a challenging 234.Jersey needed a good start, but a fine bowling display, particularly from Irfan Ahmed (3 for 10), ended any hopes as they were reduced to 134 all out.In the other match of the day, Fiji finally registered their first win with a dramatic four-run defeat against Tanzania, with Simon Jepson’s five wickets helping him win the Man-of-the-Match award.

New Zealand judge John Hansen has been appointed commissioner for Harbhajan Singh’s appeal against the finding that he was guilty of making racist comments during the second Test against Australia in Sydney.Justice Hansen is a High Court Judge and New Zealand Cricket’s appointee on the ICC’s Code of Conduct Commission.Harbhajan was given a three-Test ban after match referee Mike Procter upheld a complaint from Ricky Ponting that he insulted allrounder Andrew Symonds by calling him a “monkey”. The finding and sanction enraged the Indians, who were already upset by several umpiring decisions that went against them in the Test.The ICC said it had received official notification of the appeal from the Indian board on Monday and appointed Justice Hansen in line with ICC Code of Conduct processes. No time, date or venue for the appeal have yet been fixed, but an ICC release said the process “indicates that the appeal should be heard within seven days of the commissioner being appointed.” This time period, it added, may be extended depending on circumstances.In the meantime, Harbhajan may continue to play pending the verdict of the appeal being given. The BCCI announced late Tuesday that the tour in Australia would go ahead.

Few players in the world currently undertake the variety of roles handed to Moeen Ali. In the recent Ashes he was bolstering England’s lower order at No. 8 then in the T20 against Australia he strode in at No. 3 to stroke a career-best unbeaten 72 from 46 balls to help set-up victory.Meanwhile, there is debate about whether he will open in the forthcoming one-day series then in the Tests against Pakistan in the UAE. Versatile is an understatement.As with most of his international career, which is still only 18 months old, he has taken it all in his stride, whether his job is to marshal the tail – something he did with significant success in the Ashes – chip out useful wickets with his offspin, go for broke in a T20 or to face the new ball at the top of a one-day innings which was his job at the World Cup earlier this year.Naturally, Moeen has said whatever task is handed to him he is happy to take – “I can bat from one to 11, really,” he said after the T20 – but there is no doubt his preference remains for being as high in the batting line-up as possible.Worcestershire have indicated they would accommodate him as an opener if England requested it ahead of the UAE tour. But it is still to be confirmed where he will slot back into the one-day side having missed the series against New Zealand when he was given red-ball cricket with Worcestershire ahead of the Ashes.”I love opening the batting but wherever the team wants me to bat, I will bat, and if that’s three then so be it,” Moeen said. “I have done it before so it is not a problem. Opening the batting is obviously a little bit different.””I think with the fielding restrictions it doesn’t really matter now but most of the time I enjoy the newer, harder ball because I don’t have to hit it as hard. I find it better if I open the batting but I am happy at three, four, five or wherever.”There are a couple of ways Moeen can return to the 50-over side. He could, as was the case in the T20, be a straight swap for the rested Joe Root at No. 3 or he could partner Alex Hales as an opener at the expense of Jason Roy who did not deliver a major innings against New Zealand.Moeen has opened in 20 of his 22 ODIs and scored two hundreds: 119 against Sri Lanka in Colombo – with his hundred coming off 72 balls, at the time England’s third fastest in ODIs – and 128 against Scotland in Christchurch during the World Cup. Moeen, though, remained modest about his capabilities.”The guys who are opening at the moment are very exciting players and hopefully if they both get in I am sure you will see more runs than if I was batting there,” he said.Moeen’s impressive performance in the T20, and the fact he provides another bowling option for Eoin Morgan, means that James Taylor could again be struggling to make the line-up against Australia at least at the start of the series.Taylor lost his place for the New Zealand series, having captained the side in the one-off match against Ireland in Dublin, having had a run at No. 3 during the triangular series in Australia and the World Cup where he made three half-centuries, including 98 against Australia at the MCG when he was controversially left stranded two runs short of his hundred.Taylor has enjoyed a strong Royal London Cup campaign with 401 runs at 66.83. His way back into the starting XI could be if Moeen opens and he returns at No. 3.

Sri Lanka’s top-order batsmen, blamed for the team’s dismal showing in the recently-concluded Commonwealth Bank Series, showed outstanding form ahead of their tour of the Caribbean in the Premier League competition matches played over the weekend.Leading the run parade was top-ranked Test batsman Kumar Sangakkara who carved out the season’s highest score of 285 for Nondescripts against Moors at Maitland Place. Sangakkara tore into the Moors bowling which comprised two bowlers in the national squad for the series against West Indies – Chanaka Welegedara and Rangana Herath – hitting 31 fours and three sixes in his 292-ball innings. His knock improved on team-mate Chanaka Wijesinghe’s 250 made against Tamil Union which had stood as the season’s highest since January. Thanks to Sangakkara’s exploits Nondescripts recorded their second win of the season beating Moors by ten wickets. Despite their second defeat of the season, Moors held onto second place.Tillakaratne Dilshan was the other in-form Sri Lanka batsman, stroking a run-a-ball 121 featuring nine fours and six sixes for Bloomfield in their drawn encounter against Tamil Union.Pace-setters Sinhalese were the only other club from Tier A to record a win on a rain-affected weekend. They trounced Chilaw Marians by eight wickets at the R Premadasa Stadium, their fifth win of the season to extend their lead at the top to 28 points. Left-arm fast bowler Thilan Thushara was Sinhalese’s match-winner with a haul of ten wickets – a performance that should give him a lot of confidence for the Caribbean tour.Two Test discards performed outstandingly for Ragama. Indika de Saram stroked a stylish 188 off 152 balls (19 fours, 12 sixes) and legspinner Malinga Bandara captured nine wickets in the match as Ragama forced Badureliya to follow-on, but had to be satisfied with a draw.Defending champions Colombo Cricket Club lost further ground to leaders Sinhalese when they were held to a draw by Colts despite a long-overdue century from Sri Lanka one-day batsman Chamara Kapugedera. Colombo remained in third slot just ahead.Army took another step towards winning Tier B, which would assure them of a promotion to the elite Tier A next season, when they beat Police by six wickets, the match ending inside two days. It was their seventh win in as many matches. Army’s spinner Ajantha Mendis picked up eight wickets in the match to become the first bowler this season to take 50 wickets.Player of the Week: Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara is reaping the benefits of the hard work that he’s put in at practice over the years. There was no cricketer who worked harder at his game than Aravinda de Silva when he was representing Nondescripts and Sri Lanka. Sangakkara seems to have taken over that mantle from the great man and last weekend carried the brilliant form he showed in Australia into the domestic scene by compiling the highest score of the season – 285 for Nondescripts against Moors.Success for Sangakkara has not come overnight. He has worked hard for it. One of his greatest attributes is that he works hard at practice to perfect every shot in the book.Sangakkara admitted that under coaches Tom Moody and Trevor Penney, and John Dyson and Shane Duff before them he had got a good understanding of what his strengths were, and how he could get better. “Moody and Penney always pushed us out of our comfort zone, and that made me want to raise my game,” said Sangakkara.”Penney would talk to me about practising every single shot I could possibly play so that I could use them in a game and have options. Everything from a forward defensive to a lofted drive to a sweep to a reverse-sweep was practised in the years leading up to this patch.”Not satisfied with working on his batting alone, Sangakkara has also talked to people like Sandy Gordon, the sports psychologist, on how to build an innings and improve his game.The secret to Sangakkara’s batting is he tries to keep everything as simple as possible. “I try and watch the ball and I try and make sure I am balanced. Those are the two most important things for me. Everything else I have is usually covered through practice.”

The contracts tussle between Cricket Australia and the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been resolved, ending weeks of uncertainty over the availability of top Australian players for the Twenty20 tournament.”The issue has been resolved,” IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi told Cricinfo. “Two or three Australian players have already signed up with IPL. Hopefully, in the next 24 hours, this will go down the line. The process has already begun. Now it’s just a matter of getting through to the Australian players and their agents,” Modi said.The dispute revolved round protecting the rights of the Australian team’s global sponsors during the tournament, which will be telecast live in Australia by Channel Ten. However, asked whether the compromise that has been worked out involved compensation or protection to Australia’s sponsors, Modi said: “No. We have made it clear.”A resolution to the issue was on the cards, given that the last day for players to sign up for the IPL – as indicated by Modi – was Sunday. On Thursday, a senior Indian cricket board official had told Cricinfo that the contracts tussle was nearing a resolution. “It’s not a conflict situation any longer. We are looking at a resolution now,” the official had said.The IPL organisers are now looking for some clarity to emerge on Australia’s impending Test tour of Pakistan before the deadline. Cricket Australia’s security advisors have warned against going ahead with the tour and a cancellation will enable the biggest names, including Ricky Ponting, the captain, and fast bowler Brett Lee, to appear for the IPL.

Ali Asghar Lobi, the former president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), has been sentenced to 13 years in prison after being found guilty of corruption by a Dhaka court.”Asghar will have to serve 10 years in jail for [ illegally] amassing wealth, and another three years for concealing the information in his wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission,” the state prosecutor told reporters. “The jail terms will commence one after another.”He was also ordered to pay a US$14,500 fine or face an additional six months in prison, and his wife, Khusnud, was sentenced to three years for abetting her husband.Asghar was president of the BCB between 2001 and 2006 when the BNP, of which he was a member, was in power. He was also president of the Asian Cricket Council for two years.In January, the government was overthrown by an army-backed interim government. Asghar was arrested the following month as part of a massive crackdown on corruption. In July he received an eight-year term after being found guilty of tax evasion.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul has insisted he has not retired from domestic cricket and intends to resume playing for Guyana within a couple of weeks.In an episode that sheds light on the sometimes toxic relationship between the West Indies Cricket Board and Caribbean players, Chanderpaul has expressed resentment at being obliged to announce his international retirement in order to gain a No Objection Certificate to play in the Masters Champions League currently taking place in the UAE.Chanderpaul, 41, has not played international cricket since May 2015 and was omitted from the list of contracted WICB players in December.”I was given a No Objection Certificate by WICB with a clause in it that I retire on the 23rd,” Chanderpaul told ESPNcricinfo. “If I didn’t announce my retirement they would have taken it back.”I have spoken to Guyana already. I know the chairman wants me to go back and play.”They have a game against Trinidad starting on February 12. Then Barbados, then Windward Islands, Leeward Islands and Jamaica. Those are games that I’ve talked to them already about going back to play. I’ve not retired from first-class matches. I’ve retired from international games.”I wasn’t being picked to play for West Indies anymore and there was nothing else for me to do. So I decided I would come out here to the UAE and play some cricket.”While Chanderpaul earns a modest fee per match for representing Guyana, it is dwarfed by the rewards on offer – around $30,000 for just over two weeks involvement – with the MCL.”I don’t have a contract with anybody. No local boards; no West Indies board. I’ve been playing for Guyana because the coach and chairman saw the value of having me around as a player. They pay me a match fee and I play and try and help the young fellas as much as I can.Shivnarine Chanderpaul is not ready to break links with Guyana•WICB Media/Randy Brooks of Brooks LaTouche Photo

“Anything is possible in life. You can go into retirement; you can come out of retirement. It is my choice. I’m definitely still hungry to play. It’s something I’ve done most of my life. There is still passion and hunger to play.”Criticising the “brute force and ignorance” of unspecified former players, Chanderpaul is currently enjoying the stress free – and lucrative – environment provided by the MCL.Irritation lingers, however, at the manner in which his international ‘retirement’ was handled, with no recognition given to his illustrious record for the West Indies or the fact that he is contracted neither to the board or Guyana.”You can’t [chose the way you go]; not with those guys,” he said. “It’s the way we’re being treated. It’s still going on and it’s not changing. We’re being treated like that and worse sometimes. That’s how it goes.”Some of the past players had better times in their career. They don’t want to change. They want to stay the same way; have the same attitude.”But you can’t bring the same thing to the table every time because you’re not going to go anywhere. We’re not going forward. We’re just going down. They’re creating some problems.”As much as you’re saying we have past players, they are the ones who are creating the problem because they have their ways – their old ways – and there’s brute force and ignorance and they’re still carrying it around and still expecting things to go the same way.”You feel much better just coming out here to play [in the MCL]; without all the stress, without all the other stuff that’s going on.”