Hair stays adamant

Sydney: Banished Australian umpire Darrell Hair on Wednesday reiterated that he had correctly handled last year’s abandoned Test between England and Pakistan at the Oval, which became the first in history to be won by forfeit. While answering questions from presenters and callers on a Sydney radio station, Hair said he’s hopeful he will be reinstated and said he would be ready to umpire even in Pakistan.

Ricky move

Melbourne: Australia captain Ricky Ponting has decided to hand over the captaincy of Tasmania to deputy Daniel Marsh. Marsh led Tasmania to the Pura Cup final last season as Ponting was busy leading the country at the World Cup in the West Indies.

U-19 Cup

Calcutta: Defending champions Pakistan will get their U-19 World Cup campaign underway by playing hosts Malaysia on February 17 in Kuala Lumpur, the ICC confirmed on Wednesday, adds A Staff Reporter. The same date will see India face Papua New Guinea, Australia take on Namibia and England face Ireland. All 16 teams will be battling for a place in the final on March 2 in Kuala Lumpur.

Sandipan’s 109

Calcutta: Bengal earned three points from their drawn Polly Umrigar Trophy (under-15) match against Jharkhand in Jamshedpur on Wednesday. Earlier, Sandipan Das hit 109 as Bengal declared their second innings at 206 for five, adds A Staff Reporter.

BRIEF SCORES

Bengal 277 & 206/5 decl. (Sandipan Das 109, Writick Chatterjee 61). Jharkhand 173 & 233/6. Match drawn. Bengal 3 pts, Jharkhand 1 pt.

Bengal on top

Calcutta: Srivats Goswami (73), Writam Porel (70) and Rohan Banerjee (57) hit half-centuries to help Bengal gain a healthy first-innings lead over Vidarbha CA in the Under-19 match in Indore on Wednesday.

BRIEF SCORES

Vidarbha CA 171 & 6/0. Bengal 288 (S. Goswami 73, W. Porel 70, R. Banerjee 57; A. Purohit 4/59).

C.K. Nayudu

Calcutta: Bengal conceded first-innings lead to Orissa in a Col C.K. Nayudu (under-22) meet match in Cuttack on Wednesday. According to information received here, Orissa were 264 for five in reply to Bengal’s 227 at close on Day II.

BRIEF SCORES

Bengal 227. Orissa 264/5 (S. Mohanty batting 73, T. Sahu 47, A. Jena batting 40; K. Sarkar 3/83)