I scouted around the recent results on cricinfo to search for some noteworthy performances in domestic cricket for you to ponder on.

Pakistan’s domestic scene has come up with a couple of big scores in the past ten days. Fawad Alam of the National Bank of Pakistan has made the highest score I’ve seen for a while with an unbeaten 296 against Pakistan Customs (sporting Northants own Bilal Shafayat in their number as captain and keeper). This rout by an innings and 310 was about as dismissive as you could get. A chap called Irafnuddin could not guide Alam over the 300 line… The runs were made of 294 balls, which is Sehwag-esque. Mohammed Tahla also took 10 wickets for the Bank in this game.

Another 10 wicket match came for the gloriously named Abbottabad against Costelloisgood (sorry Karachi Blues) via Rashid Mansoor. Given top class internationals are going to be IPL bound, I wonder if any of these players could interest English eyes for the county teams?

Faisal Iqbal, a test player I saw at The Oval a few years back was another double centurion, making an unbeaten 200 for Pakistan International Airlines.

In this game the winners almost made a horlicks of chasing 92 to win. I have done some work on Pakistani banks, and I’ve never heard of this mob.

The star has to be Yasir Arafat, the famously named county stalwart, who returned remarkable figures for Khan Research Laboratories. 9 for 35. He had highly regarded one day bowler Sohail Tanvir at the other end as well.

Younis Khan made 99 and Mohammed Naved took 7/129 in the recently concluded game between Lahore Shalimar and Habib Bank (heard of them).

In the West Indies there was a big double ton for test cast off Ryan Hinds, who made 240 for Barbados against the Leeward Islands in St Maarten. Another test cast off, Runako Morton, made a ton for the hosts in that game and useless Surrey bowler Pedro Collins took 5 in the first for Barbados in their innings win. Nikita Miller took 8/41 for Jamaica against the Combined Campuses, whoever they may be and however strong they may be, at Bridgetown, in a low scoring game. Darren Bravo, elevated to the A team to play England, notched a century for Trinidad in their match against the Windward Islands.

In Australia, where Symonds got himself into trouble for questioning the motives behind New South Wales’s hiring of Brendon McCullum for the 20/20 competition, the Big Bash came to an end. And NSW beat Victoria in the final at Stadium Australia. Victoria made 166/4 with Rob Quiney making 91, but NSW got them off the last ball with Ben Rohrer top scoring with 44. More on that here….

I’ll start with my three contenders for Player of the Week first.

Martin Guptill for his century on debut for New Zealand and a well made 40 odd in the series clincher.

Chris Gayle for his imperious knock at Napier, even in a losing cause.

Rohit Sharma for his century in both innings in the Ranji Trophy final – the key man in Mumbai’s 38th triumph.

So to the weekend round-up, and I’ll come to the results at the end of this piece. Test matches have been put to rest for the time being, so the one day circus revolves around the globe. In Bangladesh the home country overcame a defeat by Zimbabwe to still make the final after defeating Sri Lanka, and indeed looked set to hoist whatever trophy they were playing for before Murali’s miracle. Australia are hosting the second ODI against South Africa in Hobart as I write, having lost the first and won the two preceding 20/20 internationals. The ODI in Melbourne was a pulsating clash and these two are playing exciting, competitive cricket. New Zealand won a rain-affected ODI series in Napier to win 2-1, but this was a Duckworth Lewis victory which spolied what looked like an exciting conclusion in the offing.

England’s Under 19s levelled their five match Youth ODI series in Paarl with a 13 run success in Game 4. Highly touted Sam Northeast top scored for England with 68, and left arm spinner Liam Dawson took three wickets. All in for the decider.

On the search for run scorers around the globe, Ijaz Ahmed, not to be confused with the experienced pro of the 80s and 90s, made 229 not out for Faisalabad against Quetta in the Pakistani domestic championship. Ijaz played two tests in 1995 and falls into the veteran category! Yasir Arafat, Kent and Sussex’s finest, took 7 for 45 for the brilliantly name team Khan Research Laboratories in a match against the similarly catchy Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd. Danish Kaneria took 8 for 59 against the Sui Southerners for Habib Bank, and then followed it up with 5 for 22. Shame he’s a Shotgun player.

In the West Indies domestic game, Gavin Wallace of Jamiaca, described as a leg break bowler, took 8 for 20 as the Leeward Islands were dismissed for 91 in St Kitts. That wasn’t mentioned in last week’s round-up…

So to player of the week. I think I’ll plump for a domestic cricketer. While the likes of JP Duminy, Muttiah Muralitharan and Albie Morkel played decent knocks this week, and Chris Gayle and Martin Guptill made eye-catching tons, to score two centuries in your tournament final is meritorious, so HDWLIA player of the week is Mumbai and India’s Rohit Sharma.

My apologies folks, but a day off work and the wife had me stripping wallpaper and marching round home improvement stores. Hence with the house in tumult, it was tricky to get at the computer yesterday – the photos of the day were pre-stored ready for dissemination. There will not be any today.

So today saw two pretty amazing one-day internationals. I find it hard to believe that a game not involving England could see a side plummet to 6 for 5 and still win. But that is the predicament Sri Lanka found themselves in chasing 153 to win in the Final of the Bangladeshi tri-series. Then again, this was Bangladesh they were playing and if any team other than England could blow it, then why not them? Having eked out a low total on what is obviously a cracking wicket for one day cricket in Mirpur, Bangladesh got rid of all bar one of the top guns, but then, once Sangakkara was out Bangladesh must have fancied their chances. However the unlikely batting hero was Muttiah Muralitharan who bashed 33 off 16 balls to take Sri Lanka from peril into the winner’s column. Maharoof stayed steady at the other end with a 76 ball 38, and Bangladesh may be left to rue what might have been.

In Melbourne, South Africa kept up their record at the “G” to defeat the Australians in a match that veered from one side to the other. Australia made a reasonable 271/8 in their 50 overs, which a few years ago would have been a score to inspire, but now looks ordinary in this day and age of emasculated bowlers, ridiculous field restrictions and smaller (although not so much for the MCG) boundaries. But usually at the MCG this is enough – however today it proved not to be.

The largest contribution to the Aussie cause was 79 by Shaun, son of Geoff, Marsh. The second fiddle in the opening combination to David Warner, the Aussies showed faith in him and he rewarded them. Ricky Ponting made 46, but I gather from Tony Grieg’s bumptious commentary this morning that he was fortunate to do so, and David, brother of the Incredible Shrinking Average, made 52. Australia sent the Incredible Shrinking Average in to open, and he made 6. Nice way to treat one of your better players. Who is next, Michael Clarke?

Anyway, when I woke up this morning South Africa were 22/1. When I left for work they’d added another 50 runs for the loss of Gibbs and were accelerating. Kallis went for 41, and then Duminy and McKenzie put on 123 before the collapse started. It commenced with JP’s dismissal – this tour has really been his party to shine at – for a 71 that contained no boundaries. Very Thorpe-esque. He was followed by Boucher for a first ball duck, and then Van Jaarsveld (not Martin) was run out for 4. 213/3 became 219/6, and worse was to follow when Neil McKenzie was caught by Ponting in the following over for 63.

With 51 runs needed from 38 balls, and Johan Botha joining Albie Morkel at the crease, the odds were stacked in the Aussie’s favour. Albie Morkel reckoned otherwise, and he took the visitors home with 3 balls to spare, courtesy of 40 runs in 18 balls, including four fours and a six. The lesser known Morkel has a reputation as a clean striker of the ball and he proved it in dragging out another South African win from difficult circumstances. Australia could usually turn to Brett Lee to dig them out of these holes, but not today. Mitchell Johnson has been rested and although Tait bowled lightning quick, and Bracken was not that expensive, the second string of Hilfenhaus and Hopes isn’t going to have world class batsmen perspiring at night trying to get to sleep. This best of five series continues on Saturday night / Sunday morning in Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land.

In the Ranji Trophy Mumbai completed their 38th triumph with a victory over Uttar Pradesh by 243 runs. The game was a triumph for Rohit Sharma, who hit centuries in both innings for Mumbai, and for Wasim Jaffer, as skipper and large run contributor throughout the series (he failed to get to three figures here, 85 in the second innings in support of Samant’s 113). Zaheer Khan’s 7 first innings wickets, giving Mumbai a healthy lead meant the game was all over unless Uttar Pradesh could dismiss the visitors cheaply. They did not – set 525 runs to win, UP made 281, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar making 80 to add to his first innings wickets in a decent all-round performance. Tendulkar made a low-key performance, scoring 0 and 4, and bowling one over. Mohammed Kaif made a second innings 72, but ended up as the losing skipper.

England’s Under 19s won the third ODI game against their South African counterparts in Paarl, to trail the series 2-1. Top score was James Taylor, who had a friend in Hamza Riazuddin, as England racked up a decent 273. South Africa fell 55 runs short with Hampshire’s Chris Wood taking three wickets. A weekend round-up, home decorating permitting, will be with you tomorrow, so until then, bye for now…..

Dmitri, Dmitri…. leave your cynicism at the doorstep.

OK, Bangladesh played Sri Lanka in a triangular tournament they are hosting in their own country. Today they needed to win, and quite comfortably, against one of the world’s one day powers, Sri Lanka to make the final. As Sri Lanka had disposed of Zimbabwe in much the same way that a fly could be swatted, and that Zimbabwe had reasonably comfortably despatched Bangladesh, the expectation was that Sri Lanka would be the winners, and play Zimbabwe in the final in front of virtually nobody.

To great joy, Bangladesh hammered Sri Lanka by 5 wickets in a game reduced to 31 overs a side in Mirpur, and picked up the bonus point to see them into the Final, thus ensuring a decent crowd, TV audiences and advertising revenue. Good job I’m not cynical…. Sri Lanka mafe 137 with Rubel Hossain taking four wickets, and Bangladesh knocked these runs off for 5 wickets in 23.5 overs, with Shakib Al Hasan making a 69 ball 92 to take the hosts home. And there was much rejoicing. Jayasuriya top scored for the visitors with 54. I can’t wait for the final….

With two days to go in Hyderabad there appears little to stop Mumbai taking the Ranji Trophy after they dismissed Uttar Pradesh for 245, and added to their lead of 157 by finishing 130/0 at the end of the day’s play. The hero of the day for the visitors was Zaheer Khan, who helped himself to figures of 7/54 as the hosts capitulated. Wasim Jaffer, first innings blip apart, continued his impressive form with 74 not out and Vinayak Samant is 53 not out going into the 4th day. It seems little can stop Mumbai save a collapse of monumental proportions and an impressive run chase under pressure by Uttar Pradesh. The host’s innings had the second 99 in the match – Shivakant Shukla, after 6 and a half hours and 266 balls of endeavour and effort, was LBW to Zaheer for that most frustrating of scores. He got little support elsewhere with Kumar, the bowling hero, the next best with 41. Mumbai all the way.

Tomorrow it is just the Ranji Trophy to report on here, before Friday sees the two one day fixtures – Australia’s first against South Africa (no Commonwealth Bank triangular series this winter) and the Final between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Keep up to date here – or better still cricinfo!!!!

Ajantha Mendis is the man of the day, as he became, by four matches, the quickest bowler to 50 wickets in one day internationals. I have never actually seen him play, which is a great help, but if the stories are to be believed about this new spinning phenomenon, it seems Sri Lanka will be more able to replace their aging great twirler than Australia have proved to be with their’s. Sri Lanka posted what looks on paper to be a disappointing 210/6 in their 50 overs, and it appears they were rescued by a half-century for the very un-Sri Lankan sounding Angelo Mathews (he is born and bred in Colombo, before anyone looks it up) in his 4^th ODI.

Sri Lanka had a positive start, with a half-century opening stand, but fell away to 97/5 before Mathews, allied by Mubarak (31) and Thushara (28) got them past 200. Zimbabwe’s 80 included one batsman in double figures and extras top scoring with 16, which is all you really need to know about this hiding. Kulasekara took the first three wickets (finishing with 3/13), while Mendis (3/15) and Murali (2/4) did most of the rest in this mauling in Mirpur.

The Ranji Trophy Final started in Hyderabad today and Mumbai are batting first. The big two, Wasim Jaffer and Sachin Tendulkar contributed 1 run between them (Jaffer) having been stuck in by the home team (Uttar Pradesh). The runs came from two sources – Rohit Sharma, who on the occasions I’ve seen him, has looked an assured, class player, who is unbeaten on 113, and Abhishek Nayar, who was LBW for 99 to end his 207 partnership for the 5^th wicket after Mumbai fell to 55/4.

18 year-old Bhuvneshwar Kumar did the most damage. Listed as right arm medium on cricinfo, he took 5 of the 6 wickets to fall, including the vital dismissal of Tendulkar for a 15 ball duck caught at short mid-wicket off an inside edge. There were 4 LBW decisions on the day, as it appears Kumar in particular was getting the ball to cut back, while RP Singh’s wicket is described as a pretty poor decision.

Much rests on Rohit Sharma continuing his good performance (although his innings hasn’t been chanceless this far) and the experienced head of Ajit Agarkar (who my mate maintains is the worst test centurion ever at Lord’s). I would also imagine Zaheer Khan is awaiting his turn to bowl on this pitch, and he is slated to come in at 11, which suggests that those before him (we know Ramesh Powar can bat) are no muppets.