As England's male cricketers are left to reflect on their Stanford Twenty20 humiliation, one of their female counterparts has made a plea for her team not to be ignored as they prepare for a crucial year.

Sarah Taylor, the world's fourth best batter in the ICC rankings, says that next year's World Cup and Ashes series, along with the Twenty20 World Cup, could signal the start of a successful run for England's women.

"Realistically we have a great chance to win the World Cup," she says. " We have a strong side full of enthusiasm and belief, and though we are a young side we have a lot of experience."

England travel to Australia in March to compete in the tournament, and Taylor believes they will encounter some familiar foes: "New Zealand and Australia are definitely the teams to beat, and home advantage will help them."

Australia will then head for English soil to compete in the Twenty20 World Cup and the Ashes, which, after a period of Australian dominance, have been in English hands since 2005.

Taylor says that home advantage for both competitions should benefit her side: "Having the Twenty20 World Cup on home soil should be a definite advantage, yet there will be that added pressure of high expectations," she admits. "I am confident that we can deal with it and that our supporters will be behind us."

With the three biggest prizes in cricket up for grabs in such a short space of time, Taylor believes that the women's team have never had such an opportunity to gain recognition.

"To have three major events in one year can only be good for the women's game. I'm sure it will raise the profile of women's cricket and we hope that there will be bigger crowds for all the games."

The Sussex wicketkeeper, first called into the international fold in 2006 aged just 17, says that the team are hoping the Twenty20 tournament, where the women's matches will be curtain raisers to the men's games, will provide a platform to showcase their talents. "Playing before the men's games will make people aware of us and we hope to impress," she says. " Recognition is important for the women's game and success is what we are working hard to achieve."

** This story has been contibuted by Carly Baldwin.

Sri Lanka's mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis will play for Rajasthan in the upcoming Ranji Trophy season.

RCA sources confirmed that talks are on with Mendis and the deal is almost finalised, a rediff.com report said.

Australian paceman Stuart Clark has been ruled out of the second Test against India starting on Friday.

Clark failed to recover from an elbow injury.

Peter Siddle, a 23-year-old fast bowler from Victoria, will make his Test debut and replace Clark.

"Stuart Clark bowled about 30 balls, (but) he still has elbow pain," team spokesman Philip Pope told reporters on Thursday.

"He has been ruled out of this Test and Siddle will make his debut tomorrow."

Australia may miss paceman Stuart Clark due to elbow injury for the second Test against India in Mohali.

Clark missed the training session on Wednesday and team physio Alex Kountouris will assess him on Thursday to find out if he could be fit in time for the second Test starting on Friday.

Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar will practice in Sri Lanka to warm up for December's Test match series in India, stated coach Peter Moores.

"It's a great opportunity for him," Moores was quoted as saying to Reuters at Lord's.

"He will learn a lot. He's been there before, they're physically tough conditions, they are very good players of spin.

"Monty has not been in the England squad for a while but this will help him get ready for the first Test against India."

New Zealand beat Bangladesh by 75 runs to level the one-day series at
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, on Saturday.

New Zealand's Jacob Oram was named the man-of-the-match.

Bangladesh Innings
Tamim Iqbal lbw b K Mills 0
Junaid Siddique c D Vettori b T Southee 32
Mushfiqur Rahim (wk) b K Mills 11
Mohammad Ashraful (c) c B McCullum b J Oram 40
Shakib Al Hasan c J Oram b D Vettori 10
Naeem Islam run out (D Vettori) 0
Mohammad Mahmudullah run out (J Patel) 8
Mashrafe Mortaza c J Oram b K Mills 27
Abdur Razzak b J Oram 3
Shahadat Hossain run out (J Ryder) 0
Syed Rasel not out 0
Extras: b - 0, w - 1, nb - 0, lb - 5 6
Total:(137 for 10 in 42.4 overs) 137 Run Rate: 3.21

Fall Of Wickets
1/0 (Tamim Iqbal, 0.2 ov.), 2/18 (Mushfiqur Rahim, 8.4 ov.), 3/71 (Junaid Siddique, 26.6 ov.), 4/85 (Shakib Al Hasan, 31.5 ov.), 5/85 (Naeem Islam, 32 ov.), 6/105 (Mohammad Ashraful, 36.4 ov.), 7/110 (Mohammad Mahmudullah, 38.1 ov.), 8/114 (Abdur Razzak, 38.6 ov.), 9/131 (Shahadat Hossain, 41.3 ov.), 10/136 (Mashrafe Mortaza, 42.4 ov.)

Bowling: New Zealand
Kyle Mills 6.4 3 13 3
Tim Southee 9 0 33 1
Jacob Oram 8 2 23 2
Scott Styris 6 0 23 0
Jeetan Patel 4 0 15 0
Daniel Vettori 9 0 25 1

New Zealand Innings
Jesse Ryder c & b S Rasel 30
Brendon McCullum (wk) c J Siddique b S Rasel 12
Jamie How c M Ashraful b S Rasel 0
Ross Taylor c J Siddique b S Hasan 33
Scott Styris c J Siddique b M Mortaza 0
Daniel Flynn b N Islam 25
Jacob Oram not out 75
Daniel Vettori (c) c & b N Islam 1
Kyle Mills b S Hasan 17
Tim Southee run out (S Hossain) 0
Jeetan Patel not out 4
Extras: b - 0, w - 2, nb - 1, lb - 12 15
Total:(212 for 9 in 50 overs) 212 Run Rate: 4.24

Fall Of Wickets
1/31 (Brendon McCullum, 7.2 ov.), 2/43 (Jamie How, 11.4 ov.), 3/44 (Jesse Ryder, 13.1 ov.), 4/45 (Scott Styris, 14.4 ov.), 5/86 (Daniel Flynn, 27.2 ov.), 6/112 (Ross Taylor, 32.1 ov.), 7/115 (Daniel Vettori, 33.4 ov.), 8/156 (Kyle Mills, 43.3 ov.), 9/167 (Tim Southee, 44.5 ov.)

Bowling: Bangladesh
Mashrafe Mortaza 10 1 29 1
Syed Rasel 10 4 23 3
Abdur Razzak 9 0 67 0
Shahadat Hossain 7 0 41 0
Shakib Al Hasan 10 0 20 1
Naeem Islam 4 0 20 2

West Indies captain Chris Gayle will lead the Stanford Superstars in the forthcoming Super Series.

Antigua and Barbuda captain Sylvester Joseph will be Gayle's deputy.

Stanford Superstars squad: Chris Gayle (captain), Sylvester Joseph (vice captain), Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Lennox Cush, Travis Dowlin, Rayad Emrit, Andre Fletcher, Chad Hampson, Lindon James (wicketkeeper), Dave Mohammed, Kieron Pollard, Daren Powell, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said on Saturday that he never gave an interview to a Bengali news paper over matters pertaining to his ouster from Irani Trophy and the subsequent humiliation he faced from the erstwhile selection panel.

"The reports of the interview from the Bengali daily published in various newspapers are false. I have not given an interview of that sort to anyone and, hopefully, also in the future," Ganguly said in a statement, read out in the press box of the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore, on the third morning of the first Test between India and Australia.

"There is no point playing like this. I am not willing to play at their (selectors') mercy. They will pick you now and then dump you. Why should I be the sacrificial goat all the time? It was difficult to accept," Ganguly, who announced his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday, was quoted as saying by Bengali daily Aajkal.

"I would request you to clarify with me before publishing news from other sources," the statement added.

India reached 223-6 off 75 overs in reply to Australia’s 430 all out on the third day after tea in the first Test at Bangalore.

India 1st Innings
Gautam Gambhir lbw b B Lee 21
Virender Sehwag c M Hayden b M Johnson 45
Rahul Dravid lbw b S Watson 51
Sachin Tendulkar c C White b M Johnson 13
VVS Laxman c B Haddin b M Johnson 0
Saurav Ganguly batting 44
Mahendra Singh Dhoni b M Clarke 9
Harbhajan Singh batting 18
Extras: b - 11, w - 0, nb - 4, lb - 7 22
Total:(223 for 6 in 75 overs) 223 Run Rate: 2.97

Fall Of Wickets
1/70 (Gautam Gambhir, 19.2 ov.), 2/76 (Virender Sehwag, 22.6 ov.), 3/94 (Sachin Tendulkar, 28.4 ov.), 4/106 (VVS Laxman, 32.6 ov.), 5/155 (Rahul Dravid, 49.5 ov.), 6/195 (Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 65.4 ov.)

Bowling: Australia
Brett Lee 16 5 32 1
Stuart Clark 14 3 43 0
Mitchell Johnson 13 3 42 3
Shane Watson 12 2 28 1
Cameron White 9 1 31 0
Michael Clarke 11 2 29 1

Rain stopped play in the final session of the first Test as India ended day two on 68-0 in 18.1 overs in reply to Australia's 430 all out at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on Friday.

India 1st Innings
Gautam Gambhir batting 20
Virender Sehwag batting 43
Extras: b - 4, w - 0, nb - 1, lb - 0 5
Total:(68 for 0 in 18.1 overs) 68 Run Rate: 3.74

Bowling: Australia
Brett Lee 5 1 12 0
Stuart Clark 7 1 28 0
Mitchell Johnson 4.1 0 23 0
Shane Watson 2 1 1 0