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Saudi Arabia pulled off a massive upset with a five-wicket win over Hong Kong on the third day of the ACC Under-19 Elite Cup in Kuwait. There were also wins for Qatar and UAE.

Hong Kong crashed to 89 for 7 after winning the toss, but an eighth-wicket stand of 137 between Waqas Barkat (84) and Aizaz Khan (66) appeared to have got them out of jail and they finished on 241. The Saudis lost early wickets but then Abdul Salam (68) and Hasan Bukhari (57*) added 118 for the fifth wicket before Salam was run out. While Bukhari kept his end up, Waqas Khalid thumped 40 from 29 balls to the Saudi Arabia home with 25 balls to spare.

UAE bounced back from their opening-day loss to beat Bhutan, but again they were well below par as they squeezed to a three-wicket win. Qatar had no problems seeing off Oman, bowling them out for 107 and then easing to a seven-wicket victory with almost 20 overs in hand.

Ravi Bopara plays a shot during his match-winning 84. (AFP Photo)

The sight of a sibling celebrating your misfortune can be a heartbreaking, but what Jacques Kallis had to endure was much worse. Adding to the frustration of being caught off a beautifully executed cover-drive during Bangalore Royal Challengers' loss to Chennai Super Kings, Kallis had to bear the unsettling sight of his sister dancing as he trudged back to his team’s dugout.

"I hit one beautifully but it went straight to cover. A couple of feet either side of him and it was four, so I was feeling pretty fed up," Kallis said. "Then, as I started walking off, I looked around at the scoreboard and there was my sister Janine dancing to celebrate my wicket!"

However, it was all taken in good spirit, as Janine was signed up as a cheerleader for Chennai and just doing what she was expected to. Though Kallis still felt, that she could have made a bit of an exception in his case. "The Bangalore girls actually come from America so there was no chance of Janine being with us. I don't mind really...except she really did seem to be doing her job very well when I was out. She didn't have to look so pleased...!"

From John van der Westhuizen, South Africa

We all know how the game has become batsman-friendly over the last twenty years or so. Well Lalit Modi and the IPL marketing ponytails have finally found a measure to counteract the trend.

Without going into too much detail - lets look at random developments of late (the last twenty years) which favour the batsmen in ODI and T20 cricket : Anything down leg is immediately called a wide - any batsmen's real or perceived weakness in keeping a ball down while playing off the pads can't be exploited because there is no margin for error in delivering the ball. Powerplay 1 - first ten overs where only two fielders are allowed outside the ring. As long as he can hit the ball fifty feet, an absolute hacker could get away with murder during this period quite regularly, because the fielders are all in the circle.

DURBAN (Reuters) - A half-century by Herschelle Gibbs and Pragyan Ojha's three wickets helped Indian Premier League (IPL) leaders Deccan Chargers record a 12-run win over the Mumbai Indians on Saturday.

Adam Gilchrist was amongst the runs again as the Deccan Chargers claimed their third victory in a row in the IPL against the Mumbai Indians.

A brilliant spell of spin bowling by Pragyan Ojha (4-0-21-3) enabled Deccan Chargers beat Mumbai Indians by 12 runs in an Indian Premier League match at Durban on Saturday. The Hyderabad bowler took, amongst other, the crucial wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and JP Duminy, to play a starring role. Chasing 169 to win, having restricted the Hyderabad team with an impressive fightback, Mumbai finished at 156 for seven.

Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar on Saturday hailed Deccan Chargers' spinner Pragyan Ojha, who he believes took away the match from them with his brilliant spell. Ojha weaved his magic with the ball claiming three for 21 in his four overs to help Deccan win by 12 runs and was deservedly named the man of the match.

Bad weather continued to play spoilsport at the Newlands cricket ground in Cape Town as continuous rain washed out the Indian Premier League match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings, on Saturday. Brendon McCullum led Kolkata and Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Chennai got one point each after the abandonment of the tie.

Over the last couple of years Cricinfo has carried a number of articles criticising the approach of a number of the Bermuda players. These have been endorsed publicly by individuals within the country’s cricket fraternity and privately by many across the Associate world.

One of those criticisms has been the refusal of many involved to acknowledge their own responsibilities. An article by Clay Smith in the Royal Gazette sums that attitude up perfectly.

At the recent ICC World Cup Qualifiers, Bermuda not only failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup, they also lost their ODI status. So who’s fault was that? Well, according to Smith, the blame lies with the ICC and Cricinfo.

The ICC? Well, Smith argues that the entire process of selecting teams for ODIs and the Intercontinental Cup was devised to ensure that Bermuda did not meet the grade. The fact they finished ninth is immaterial. “In my opinion the new system was set up to make sure that we as a small country did not qualify again,” he claimed. The reality is that the process now is more transparent than ever. Bermuda failed to qualify because they were not good enough on the field.

And Cricinfo? Well, Smith insists that “Cricinfo have been awaiting our demise”. If he cares to read what has been written, Bermuda were seen as a breath of fresh air when they qualified for the 2007 World Cup. However, the on-field performances have been poor. More importantly, off the field, some of the activities have been nothing short of appalling for a team hoping to sit at cricket’s top table. We reported what we saw and did so honestly.

For the record, Bermuda have some excellent youngsters. If they can be brought on without adopting the attitude of some of their seniors, if the country’s infrastructure can be made robust, if the board can be purged of deadwood and populated by enthusiastic and forward-looking people, Bermuda can bounce back.

But until the likes of Smith sit back and admit to the real reasons Bermuda failed so badly in South Africa – and before – then nothing will change. Too many people are looking to blame anyone other than themselves. To accuse the ICC and the media of a conspiracy is daft. The reasons are there for all to see – just look in the mirror.

From Andrew Hughes, United Kingdom

Yesterday was a traumatic day for me, the first on which I have been unable to watch any IPL action. It happens to all of us, of course. However much we commit to a sporting event, sooner or later, we are always unfaithful, even if it’s only to nip into the kitchen to make a cup of tea (which is how I missed the very first ball of the opening game). But having tried life without Shilpa, Shane and Sunny, I didn’t like it.

Because, after a little coy toe-dipping and nervous anticipation, the IPL has finally plunged, carefree as a love-struck hippo, into the televisual waters of fate. (This is a metaphor. More accurately, it is a bad metaphor, of which more later). Week one has brought us balls bouncing from skulls, foul-mouthed Bollywood goddesses, fugitive dogs and lots of dancing. On occasions, a cricket match has broken out.

And in order to do justice to this spectacle, the commentators have clearly been told to up their game. There has been a marked increase in punnery; a run on similies and a veritable boom in witty badinage. Jeremy Coney led the way. A Hayden lob to mid-on was described as, “a chip shot...but not a blue chip shot.” In the background, Mark Nicholas and Harsha Bogle spontaneously combusted with mirth.

Puffing away on a cigarette to absorb the tension of the Indian Premier League has put Bollywood super star and owner of Kolkata Knight Riders team Shah Rukh Khan in a spot with the anti-smoking lobby. The National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE), on Saturday protested against the filmstar who was shown on television smoking during an IPL match against Kings XI Punjab in Durban, on April 21.