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Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman, may not be available for the Indian Premier League’s auction on Wednesday because of a legal complication. Lawyers for the Indian Cricket League (ICL) have, in a letter to the owners of the IPL’s eight franchises, said Yousuf’s legal status is currently the subject of arbitration, under which his participation in the IPL has been stayed.”Mohammad Yousuf cannot participate in the tournament organised by the IPL or any other tournament organised by any other league in direct competition with the Indian Cricket League,” ALMT, the lawyers representing the ICL, said in the letter. “Such participation would amount to breach of the order and our client reserve their right to take such other legal recourse against all parties concerned.”Yousuf initially signed up with the ICL after being dropped from Pakistan’s squad for the World Twenty20 last September. Soon after, however, he was convinced by the PCB to turn his back on the ICL, represent Pakistan and also sign up with the IPL, the rival tournament officially sanctioned by the BCCI.The matter went into arbitration where Yousuf’s lawyer, Tafuzzal Rizvi, argued he had “no contract” with the ICL as the money [paid to Yousuf] was “received back by the ICL without any objection”. However the presiding judge passed an order on December 15, 2007, restraining Yousuf from appearing in the IPL or any league rivalling the ICL, and to maintain status quo till further orders.Wednesday’s high-profile auction in Mumbai will see the eight franchises bid for 80-odd players, including several top internationals. Yousuf’s name is included in the IPL’s roster but whether it will be there on Wednesday morning is a moot point.

Riding on a first-innings total of 531, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) dismissed Punjab for 259 and 215 to complete a rousing innings and 57-run victory at the National Stadium.Having reduced Punjab to 185 for 6 at stumps on day two, HBL bowled them out for 259 and gladly enforced the follow-on. Irfan Fazil, the right-arm fast medium with two international appearances, picked up 3 for 50, Danish Kaneria 3 for 90, and captain Shahid Afridi backed his 54-ball 86 with 2 for 35.In their second innings, Punjab fared worse. Only Mohammad Hafeez (40) and Kamran Akmal (37) managed decent scores out of a total of 215, as Pakistan hopeful Abdur Rehman, the left-arm spinner, finished with 5 for 72. Afridi was again in form, with figures of 2 for 32 from ten overs.* * * * * * *Having taken a first-innings lead of 131 on day two, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) extended it to 300 with a total of 521 for 7 on day three against the combined b>North West Frontier Province (NWFP)-Balochistan at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex. Saeed Bin Nasir extended his overnight 101 to 142 and captain and former international Mohammad Wasim made an unbeaten 108. Before stumps, KRL had nipped out three wickets to leave NWFP on 133 for 3, still 167 runs adrift.Bin Nasir and Wasim added 121 for the sixth wicket to extend their side’s lead. The duo had been in form last week, with half-centuries in a hard-fought draw against Habib Bank Limited. Jannisar Khan, the fight-arm medium-pacer, had the best figures of 2 for 56 from 16 overs.Yasir Arafat, the Pakistan allrounder, dismissed NWFP opener Shoaib Khan jnr for 0, but Yasir Hameed (65) and Umar Javed (38*) added 85 for the second wicket. Hameed was dismissed by Saeed Ajmal’s right-arm offspin, before Ajmal picked up Shoaib Khan snr for 15. NWFP have plenty to do to save this match.

Scotland have ODI fixtures against New Zealand, South Africa and Kenya in 2008 according to the Future Tours Program released by the International Cricket Council.Scotland are scheduled to visit South Africa in May 2008 for a tri-series which also involves Kenya, and in June the Kenyans will travel to Scotland for a return series in which New Zealand will replace South Africa.A spokesman for Cricket Scotland said that it was likely that matches would be played at several venues. At the moment, only Edinburgh has been approved by the ICC, but it was hoped that grounds in Aberdeen, Ayr and Glasgow could be brought into play.”We have a shed-load of cricket in 2008,” said outgoing chief executive Roddy Smith. “It all harks back to the fact that we and Kenya were promised twice as many games as the other World Cup qualifiers when we won the ICC Trophy.”Smith added that while no fixture had been inked in against England, “logic dictates that England should be coming to us in 2007. It’s not a scheduled event but we hope it will happen.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball
The hosts Nepal crashed out of the ICC Intercontinental Trophy despite crushing the UAE by 172 runs in their ICC Intercontinental Cup match in Kathmandu . Binod Das continued his outstanding form, but it was not enough for Nepal, who finished 0.5 points behind UAE in their group. The UAE, who were set 249 to win after Nepal’s second declaration of the match, were reduced to 29 for 6 by Das before eventually blundering to 76 all out – and yet still qualified for the semi-finals.Das, the medium-pacer, finished with 5 for 27, to go with the 6 for 29 he took against Hong Kong last week. Only Ahmed Nadeem, who punched four fours and a six in his defiant 32, and the opener Arshad Ali, who made 18, reached double figures. Victory moved Nepal to within 0.5 points of the UAE, but it was not enough.

Khalid Latif, the opening batsman, has been named as Pakistan’s captain for next month’s Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh.Khalid has played 10 first-class matches, as well as two U-19 `Tests’ against Sri Lanka in August last year. In junior one-day cricket, he has played eight matches, and he scored 98 in his first appearance for Allied Bank in this season’s inter-departmental qualifying round.He has some captaincy experience as well. He led Pakistan on three occasions – against Malaysia U-17 in 2000, Sri Lanka in August 2003, and in the Asian U-19 tournament at Lahore and Karachi.Squad Khalid Latif (capt), Adnan Zaheer, Abid Ali, Jahangir Mirza, Mohammad Asif Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Zulqarnain Haider (wk), Tariq Mahmood, Mansoor Amjad, Usman Saeed, Salman Qadir, Wahad Riaz, Mohammad Riaz Afridi, Ali Imran Pasha.

Queensland cricket captain Jimmy Maher conjured a memorable outright victory over South Australia today as the Bulls extended their lead on the Pura Cup table.Maher arrived at Adelaide Oval for the final day today perhaps the only person believing maximum points were possible to gain.After all, SA’s reply to the visitors’ first innings had not been completed.But in an astonishing turn of events, Maher today claimed first innings points, smashed a half-century from 38 balls and boldly declared before his bowlers routed the Redbacks in the afternoon.Maher set SA an enticing 239 from 60 overs to win and then watched paceman Ashley Noffke destroy the Redbacks by taking 5-31 as the home side was bundledout for 132.Queensland won by 106 runs and now enjoy an eight-point buffer from the chasing pack on the cup table.Today’s fluctuating fortunes began when Noffke completed a four-wicket haul in SA’s first innings of 392 – a total 111 behind the Bulls’ first innings of 5(dec)-503.Maher then led a brazen Bulls assault with the bat, blasting a half-century from 38 balls which included seven fours and a six – a timely reminder to national selectors of his strokeplay as speculation of Mark Waugh’s one-day demise continues.The acting Bulls skipper fell for 52 – the first victim in a stunning slump of 7-27 during a reckless quest for quick runs.During the chaotic collapse, Redbacks spinner Brad Young and medium pacer Greg Blewett were both on hat-tricks – and both were denied the feat.With Queensland’s overall lead of 238 and his side’s second innings at 7-127, Maher bravely declared with a minimum 60 overs remaining.He then unveiled an unexpected trick – he wanted to again use the ball which Queensland used for 144.2 overs in SA’s first innings.But Maher failed to ask his Redbacks counterpart Blewett and under cricket’s laws, both captains must permit the old ball to be used again.On this occasion Blewett refused, preferring a hard new ball for his batsmen on a wearing pitch.It mattered little.After reaching 2-98, SA lost 8-34 and was all out with two overs remaining.

Haryana were bowled out for 463 in 154.2 overs, shortly before the teainterval on the second day of the Cooch Behar Trophy final againstMadhya Pradesh at the Deccan Gymkhana grounds, Pune on Thursday. Inreply, MP weathered the fall of two early wickets to end the day at 86for two.Haryana resumed on a healthy overnight score of 316 for three. Themiddle order batsmen failed to capitalise on it and the remainingseven wickets fell for the addition of 147 runs. Skipper Ajay Ratrawas the first to be dismissed. He was adjudged leg before wicketgiving Omprakash Yadav his first wicket of the day. Ratra could addonly one run to his overnight score and fell to the last ball of thefirst over.Sumeet Sharma (71) soon followed and was in the pavilion, adding sevenruns to his overnight score. The fall of both the overnight batsmentriggered a collapse in the middle order. Haryana lost five wickets inthe first session of the day and went to lunch on 387 for eight off125 overs. The post lunch session saw a revival in the batting thanksto Amit Mishra and Gaurav Vasishta. Mishra and Vasishta added 49 runsfor the ninth wicket off 22 overs. Their stay at the wicket ensuredthat Haryana passed the 400-run mark. The partnership ended one shortof the fifty mark when Mishra edged an outswinger from OP Yadav tostumper Naman Ojha. Amit Mishra scored 31 off 87 balls with four hitsto the fence.Nitin Agarwal joined Vasishta at the fall of this wicket and the duoadded 50 runs for the last wicket off 16.4 overs. Gaurav Vasishtaplayed a fighting knock scoring 56 off 113 balls, hitting six of themto the fence. He was dismissed shortly before the tea interval. NitinAgarwal was unbeaten on 15 off 52 deliveries. OP Yadav picked up threewickets for 127 runs, Maninder Singh and Jitendar Likhar each baggedtwo wickets each for 93 and 74 runs respectively.MP were happy to have restricted Haryana to less than 500 runs buttheir joy was short lived. They lost Sachin Dholpure in the secondover. Dholpure flicked a delivery off his pads and called for thesecond run but was caught short of his ground by an excellent throwfrom the fine leg boundary by Joginder Sharma. The sad tale for MPcontinued when Nitin Agarwal penetrated the defences of Naman Ojhacastling him on 15. The tenth over saw both openers in the pavilionwith 35 runs on the board. One drop Mohnish Mishra (31 batting) andJatin Saxena (20 batting) prevented any further damage. They added 50runs for the unbroken third wicket off 16.2 overs.

Paul John Dykes has dropped a worrying claim on the future of Celtic winger Karamoko Dembele.

What’s been said?

In comments made on a recent episode of the A Celtic State of Mind podcast, Dykes stated his belief that – with the 19-year-old’s current contract at Parkhead set to expire at the end of the season, and, as yet, the winger being yet to agree a new deal with Ange Postecoglou’s side – the former England U18 international looks as if he will be on his way out of the club this summer.

Speaking about Dembele’s contractual situation, the podcaster said: “I think that Dembele – I feel as though he’s run his race at Celtic. I hope I’m wrong. I hope Ange Postecoglou can convince him to stay another two or three years.”

Disaster for Celtic

Considering how much expectation there has been regarding Dembele’s future ever since his debut for Celtic’s U20 side as a 13-year-old back in 2016, should the winger go on to leave on a free transfer at the end of the season, it would undoubtedly be a disaster for Postecoglou and his side.

Indeed, the £225k-rated sensation was named on the shortlist for the European Golden Boy award as recently as 2020, while, shortly after his arrival at Parkhead, the 56-year-old Bhoys boss also stated his excitement at the potential the £2k-per-week forward possessed, saying:

“He is obviously a hugely talented boy. He has been here for a while and I guess he gets an opportunity now. I think the way we play will suit him.”

However, despite recovering from an ankle injury that had kept him sidelined for the first half of the season towards the beginning of February, Dembele has since played just six minutes of Premiership football, as well as being completely left out of Postecoglou’s matchday squad for Celtic’s last two league fixtures – something that does not exactly appear to be the opportunity the Greek-Australian manager suggested the 19-year-old would receive.

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And, following the news that fellow Celtic prospect Ben Doak also appears extremely close to sealing a move to Liverpool, should Dembele indeed join the 16-year-old in moving onto pastures new this summer, it would certainly come as a huge blow to everyone involved with the club – with the Parkhead faithful surely being devastated at the thought of losing a talent as promising as the forward for free.

AND in other news: Ange can axe “infectious” ace as Celtic become “serious contenders” for “massive” deal

	Ricky Ponting: “To have a comprehensive victory like that at the start of a one-day series is always good and hopefully we can stay on top of them for the rest of the series.” © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting hopes one of Australia’s most comprehensive victories inrecent times can help them maintain their one-day hold over Sri Lanka, whohave won only one of the past eight meetings between the sides. NathanBracken’s best ODI figures confirmed the 128-run win but Ponting saidthere were no weak links anywhere in his side’s performance and his menhad adjusted ideally to the slow SCG pitch.Sri Lanka had plenty of regrets, however, and Mahela Jayawardene said theplayers faced some home truths in a lengthy team meeting after the game.”We had quite a few things to discuss, especially the way we battedtoday,” Jayawardene said. “It’s something that keeps happening to us thelast six months. In certain situations we haven’t adapted well.”Jayawardene was critical of his players’ shot selection and conceded hisown dismissal was one of the ugliest. However, Australia’s ability to varytheir attack was crucial as Sri Lanka lost their last seven wickets for51.Bracken came back with cutters after a short opening spell of swingbowling, which was important on a pitch that didn’t offer significantpace, and Ponting was also pleased with his other bowlers. “I knew thatNathan would do a good job through the middle of the innings,” Pontingsaid, “which is why he only bowled his three up the top.”Mitchell Johnson bowled probably as well as he has bowled for Australia.We’ve got lots and lots of options and a lot of those are moresuited to these sort of conditions that we’ve had here tonight.”Brett Lee picked up the important early wicket of Sanath Jayasuriya, whomisjudged the pace and played on, and Johnson’s five overs cost only nineruns and frustrated Jayawardene into a loose drive that he edgedbehind. Brad Hogg chipped in with a wicket and James Hopes kept thingstight, but Ponting also praised his batsmen after they posted 6 for 253.Michael Clarke did not lose his cool despite being denied boundaries andhe finished unbeaten on 73, while Adam Gilchrist was uncharacteristicallycautious in his 61. “That was a very complete performance,” Ponting said.”The wicket wasn’t easy to bat on, it was pretty two-paced and there was afew bouncing a bit more than expected so that sort of total I thought wasalways going to be competitive.”Jayawardene said Australia’s batsmen had simply adjusted to the conditionsbetter than Sri Lanka but he hoped they could put the thrashing behindthem before their next game against Australia at the WACA next Friday. “Wedon’t want the line-up to be too negative because we’ve got a verytalented group of players,” he said. “We just need to make sure they gettheir heads in the right place.”Ponting said it would be difficult for Sri Lanka to fight back after sucha one-sided game in the first match between the sides since the World Cupfinal. “We’ve dominated them a lot [recently] so tonight was another stepforward for us,” Ponting said. “To have a comprehensive victory like thatat the start of a one-day series is always good and hopefully we can stayon top of them for the rest of the series.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Michael Di Venuto looked good before he was run out for 64 © Getty Images

Matthew Nicholson bowled New South Wales back into contention but Michael Di Venuto and George Bailey ensured the Blues will have to chase well over 300 to take the Pura Cup title. Tasmania inched to 6 for 203 at the close of a low-scoring day with Luke Butterworth on 22 and Sean Clingeleffer on 8.The Blues trailed by 313 but would be satisfied with their fightback, having conceded a first-innings lead of 110 in the morning session. Tight bowling from Dominic Thornely and Nathan Hauritz – who each went for less than two an over – limited the home side’s progress but Di Venuto and Bailey eked out half-centuries.Nicholson claimed 3 for 52 to put Tasmania on the back foot and when Bailey was lbw to a Grant Lambert inswinger for 50 they looked shaky. Clingeleffer and Butterworth – the first-innings hero with 66 – survived Stuart MacGill’s late efforts and with Damien Wright, who also starred on day one, still to come the lead could yet balloon.Di Venuto was the most attacking of Tasmania’s watchful line-up, racing to his fifty from 51 balls and lifting Nicholson over square leg for two sixes. He was tied down after lunch, however, in a session that yielded only 51 runs, and was run out for 64 from 107 deliveries.Nicholson extracted good swing and having removed Tim Paine and Michael Dighton early, returned to end Dan Marsh’s scratchy innings when he clipped a ball to midwicket. Travis Birt uncharacteristically crawled to 28 before he drove a return catch to MacGill.On a pitch starting to offer assistance to the bowlers, the Blues will need a better batting effort than in their first attempt, having added only 23 to their overnight total. Lambert (61) made his fourth half-century of the season but Butterworth ended his resistance and finished with 4 for 33.Bailey said Tasmania took confidence from the fact the pitch was wearing, with some variable bounce. “The way we bowled in the first innings is the blueprint,” he said. “It is starting to keep a little low and if you bowl pretty straight I think it’s going to be hard to score on, so I think we’re in the box seat.”Nicholson believed the Blues had the batting depth to win but they needed to finish Tasmania off quickly. “Victoria’s shown in the last couple of years you can chase pretty much anything if you bat well,” he said. “This wicket’s a good wicket [but] we’ll have to contend probably with a bit of reverse swing.”