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Central Districts 291 and 181 for 3 (How 108*) beat Otago 193 and 278 by 7 wickets
ScorecardCentral Districts joined Auckland with maximum points after the first round of the State Championship when they completed a seven-wicket win over Otago at the Queenstown Events Centre.Starting at 61 for 1, CD were guided to their success by Jamie How, their opener. He scored his second century of the match and left the field to learn that a continuation of the sort of form he has shown could find him in the running for Mark Richardson’s opening spot in the New Zealand team. It is only the second time that a CD player has scored a century in each innings – the only other batsman was Martin Crowe in the summer of 1986-87.CD lost Geoff Barnett for 36 when the total was on 95, and there was a slight wobble when Glen Sulzberger was out at 104. But Jarrod Englefield backed How up perfectly and was 22 not out when victory was achieved. How batted for 198 minutes during his innings and Otago sensibly decided to let their faster bowlers fight another day by having their spinners Aaron Redmond and Nathan McCullum bowl most of the overs during the day. Redmond took 1 for 66 and McCullum 1 for 47.Wellington 384 and 153 for 7 (Parlane 50*) drew withCanterbury 298
ScorecardWhat had been shaping up as a close contest at Hagley Oval petered out into a draw when heavy rain stopped play with Wellington enjoying a 249-run lead. That it had recovered from its perilous position of 84 for 6 was thanks largely to a fine defensive hand of 50 not out played over 237 minutes and 150 balls by Neal Parlane.He defied the best intentions of the Canterbury bowlers, of whom Chris Martin had early morning success when he claimed the wicket of Graham Murray. But with Parlane enjoying good support from Mark Gillespie, who batted for just over an hour to be 37 not out at close, the job was looking much tougher for Canterbury.Martin maintained the touch he showed in the first innings and ended with m,atch figures of 8 for 97. The match was abandoned at 3.40pm.

Pakistan allrounder Shoaib Malik has joined Gloucestershire on a short-term contract as cover for Ian Harvey who is on international duty with Australia.”I am excited by the prospect of signing an international spinning allrounder to replace Ian during the Cheltenham Festival and the C&G semi-finals," said John Bracewell, Gloucestershire’s director of cricket. “He will add a new and refreshing dimension to the squad as did Ian Butler, which is in keeping with our playing philosophy to both win and entertain."

Being set a total of 312 for victory, Services played for safetyrather than victory, reaching a total of 244/6 by the close of play onDay Four of their Ranji Trophy league match against Haryana atFaridabad.Haryana’s overnight unbeaten batsmen added valuable runs with theremaining tailenders, and their innings closed at 220 all out.Services started shakily, losing two wickets for the addition of 32runs. PMS Reddy and Yashpal Singh, however, stabilised the innings.Reddy departed with the score on 128, having made 53. His partner wasdismissed less than 30 runs later, caught by Shafiq Khan off AmitMishra for 64. CD Thomson made a fine unbeaten 44 lower down theorder, ensuring, along with skipper Sanjay Verma, that Services didnot lose the match.Haryana, by virtue of their first-innings total, pick up five pointsfrom this match, while Services get three.

A court-appointed arbitrator has upheld Nimbus Communications’ claim of almost Rs 12 crore ($1.8 million) against the BCCI for wrongful termination of various broadcast deals. The BCCI now finds itself on the wrong side of two of the three arbitration proceedings underway with Nimbus.On August 31, the sole arbitrator, retired chief justice of India SH Kapadia, ruled in favour of Nimbus after a drawn out procedure that began in October 2013.The arbitrator has asked the BCCI to settle Nimbus’ claims with interest and costs. The total amount of the claim is Rs 11.88 crore – Rs 9,81,09,800 as principal plus interest at 9% per annum from October 28, 2013, till the date of payment, and the charges for revoking bank guarantee commission.In December 2011, the BCCI had terminated its six-year broadcast deal with Nimbus, starting from 2009 and worth Rs 2000 crore, owing to payment issues. Nimbus had approached the court to overturn the decision soon after. The matter has since gone into arbitration and according to a Nimbus insider, the broadcaster could gain in excess of Rs 4000 crore ($600 million), including interest, if things go its way.Nimbus have already won the first arbitration hearing in August last year, and the BCCI was asked to pay Rs 10 crore ($ 1.5 million) in relation to hiring of equipment and technical services. The BCCI had challenged that ruling in the Bombay High Court but Justice RD Dhanuka had dismissed their appeal.After the latest verdict, a BCCI insider indicated that the board will again seek an appeal in the Bombay High Court.The arbitrator’s verdict in both the cases is a huge setback for the BCCI considering the biggest claim of the case is yet to be decided upon and is expected to be so in the coming months.The BCCI has suffered numerous financial setbacks in the recent past. Besides the Nimbus cases going against them, they recently lost arbitration proceedings in excess of Rs 550 crore for abruptly terminating IPL franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

The BCCI has banned Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf for five years on charges of corruption and misconduct. The ban prevents Rauf from umpiring or playing or representing cricket in any form or being associated with activities of the BCCI and its affiliates.

Articles under which Rauf was charged

2.2.2 Soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging, facilitating or authorising any other party to enter into a Bet for the direct or indirect benefit of the Participant in relation to the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any Match or Event.
2.3.2 Disclosing Inside Information to any person (with or without Reward) before or during any Match or Event where the Participant might reasonably be expected to know that disclosure of such information in such circumstances could be used in relation to Betting.
2.3.3 Soliciting, inducing, enticing, persuading, encouraging or facilitating (a) any Participant to commit an offence under any of the foregoing provisions of this Article 2.3 and/or (b) any other person to do any act that would be an offence if that person were a Participant.
2.4.1 Providing or receiving any gift, payment or other benefit (whether of a monetary value or otherwise) in circumstances that the Participant might reasonably have expected could bring him/her or the sport of cricket into disrepute.

Rauf was named as a “wanted accused” in the Mumbai Police’s chargesheet for the betting scandal in IPL 2013 after he had left India during the IPL even as the Mumbai Police wanted to question him in person.The BCCI’s disciplinary committee, in a meeting on Friday, found Rauf guilty of corruption and misconduct under articles 2.2.2, 2.3.2, 2.3.3 and 2.4.1 of the board’s Anti-corruption Code. Rauf did not appear before the committee but sent his preliminary submission on January 15 and a written statement responding to the allegations on February 8. These statements, along with a report by the Commissioner of Enquiry, were considered before the decision to ban him was taken.Rauf repeatedly denied allegations of corruption made against him in the chargesheet and asked for proof. After leaving India in May 2013, where he was officiating in the IPL, Rauf held a press conference and stressed that he had not engaged in any corrupt activities. When news had emerged that Rauf was wanted for questioning by police, the ICC issued a release saying that the umpire had been stood down from his duties in the Champions Trophy in England. Rauf was later dropped from the Elite Panel of Umpires, but the ICC clarified that the situation was not a factor in his exclusion.Rauf made his first international appearance as an umpire in 2000, officiating in an ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He was included in the Elite Panel in 2006 and has officiated in 49 Tests, 98 ODIs and 23 T20 internationals.

Hasan Raza, currently leading Karachi Urban against Mumbai in the Mohammad Nissar trophy, has been called up to the Pakistan A squad for the first Test against Australia A along with Asim Kamal, after the two had failed to make it to the one-day team.Pakistan won all three ODIs against Australia and were scheduled to play two Tests – in Faisalabad from September 12 to 15 and in Lahore from September 19 to 22.While internationals Yasir Hameed, who made two centuries in the one-day games, and Taufeeq Umar retained their place in the Test side, Tahir Khan, Shahid Yousuf, Rafatullah Mohmand and Junaid Zia missed out. Sohail Tanvir, the Rawalpindi allrounder who was named as Shoaib Akhtar’s replacement in Pakistan’s Twenty20 team, left the A squad for South Africa.Adnan Raza, Lahore’s left-hand batsman, and Rizwan Ahmed, the Hyderabad allrounder, were the new players in the side.Australia named an unchanged squad from the ODIs but Stuart MacGill, the legspinner, arrived in Pakistan only in time for the Tests and should boost his team’s chances.Pakistan A: Faisal Iqbal (capt), Taufeeq Umar, Hasan Raza, Khalid Latif, Yasir Hameed, Naved Latif, Adnan Raza, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mansoor Amjad, Atif Maqbool, Mohammad Khalil, Abdul Rauf, Mohammad Irshad, Najaf Shah and Rizwan Ahmed.Australia A: Phil Jaques, Chris Rogers, David Hussey, Adam Voges (capt), Cameron White, Luke Ronchi (wk), James Hopes, Jason Gillespie, Ashley Noffke, Cullen Bailey, Dan Cullen, Luke Butterworth, Doug Bollinger and Stuart MacGill.

Scorecard

Western Australia prevailed by 11 runs in a pulsating contest at Perth in their Ford Ranger Cup match against Victoria. Half centuries by Jon Moss and Grant Lindsay revived Victoria’s chase after a middle-order hiccup but eventually fell short, as the asking rate climbed towards the end of the innings.In pursuit of 261, Victoria didn’t get off to an ideal start, losing their first two wickets with 28 on board. Brad Hodge and David Hussey stabilised the innings, adding 60 for the third wicket, maintaining a rate of over four an over. Ben Edmundson, back into the attack after an expensive first spell, immediately accounted for Hussey, caught by Adam Voges at backward point. Hodge brought up his fifty in the next over, coming off only 52 balls. Voges was in action again, bowling the well-set Hodge.At 6 for 141, Victoria were in a spot of bother, before Moss and Lindsay then added exactly 100 for the seventh wicket, scoring at a healthy clip. Both scored 59, with Lindsay slamming three sixes in his knock which came at over a run a ball. However, Western Australia pulled things back in the 49th over, with the run out of Lindsay, still 20 runs adrift of the target.Earlier, Shane Harwood, the promising Victorian fast bowler, had a good outing with a five-wicket haul, which helped restrict the opposition to a more manageable total. Voges and Luke Ronchi both scored half centuries, threatening to push the score past 300 but were pegged back by Harwood, who bowled with good pace and bounce.Voges held the innings together once Ronchi departed with the score on 96, picking up singles regularly. His 82 included only four boundaries and he looked set for a century, but fell to Harwood’s inspired spell towards the end of the innings, in which he picked up three wickets in six balls. Harwood finished with figures of 5 for 40.

Ricky Ponting has called for more specialist coaches under John Buchanan after being overwhelmed by England’s list of support staff during the Ashes. “One of the big things that stood out to us was the resources they had available right through the series,” Ponting said in a lengthy interview with .”There’s no doubt they’ve sat back, had a look at us and studied what we’ve done over the last three or four years with the structure around our team and coaching staff. They had so many hands on deck with lots of specialist coaches.”One of Australia’s strengths since John Buchanan joined as coach in 1999 was their meticulous and successful planning, but Duncan Fletcher went even further and was rewarded with the 2-1 victory. “They were certainly very well managed, well planned and well skilled,” Ponting said. “If you look at the way some of our individuals struggled through the tour, it’s a pity we didn’t have any expert coaches there or available to help those guys out.”While Australia had Buchanan and Jamie Siddons, the assistant coach, England used the full-time batting and bowling coaches Troy Cooley and Matthew Maynard, the former first-class players. Buchanan’s contract expires next month and there has been much speculation about whether he will retain the position.”I’ve loved everything that Buck [Buchanan] has done as coach,” Ponting said. “He’s probably approached things a different way to some but he’s certainly taken the Australian cricket team to a place it has never been before. We can all get back there again with Buck as coach.”Ponting’s place has also been criticised, with Dennis Lillee calling for him to be sacked as captain, and he said he was hurt by the comments. “I’m doing everything right by my team-mates and by everyone concerned with Australian cricket, I will always feel I’m doing my job right,” he said. “For Dennis to sit back and say I should be sacked and be replaced by Shane Warne, it hurts to a certain degree.”Ponting predicted in the paper that there would not be many changes – if any – for next month’s Super Series Test and one-day matches, and he said they had learned lessons from the Ashes. “I and a lot of guys have found out how tough sport at the highest level can be,” he said. “We’ve had an unbelievably good run over a long period but it’s all changed fairly dramatically over the last few weeks.”

ScorecardThis match continued to go India A’s way. After bundling out Kenya for 116, powerful batting performances got them to 429 for 4 at the end of the second day. The only success for Kenya was the dismissal of Sridharan Sriram, who scored a century before Peter Ongondo did him in. It was a day that showcased India A’s batting might. Venugopal Rao ran up an unbeaten 157 to pile on the runs further, and he was helped in this cause by Ambati Rayudu, who remained not out on 61.Sriram’s dismissal ended a 199-run partnership on a hot day where Kenya toiled for few gains. His 220-ball innings ended two overs before tea. Rayudu and Venugopal then put up 147 runs.Admittedly, India A were up against a weakened Kenyan side, but clearly, no favours were granted. They raced along at nearly three-and-a-half an over, and with the lead they’ve built, a result in the next two days looks quite possible.

Fidel Edwards, a 21-year-old fast bowler from Barbados, was a surprise inclusion in the 14-member West Indies squad named for the second Test against Sri Lanka at Kingston, Jamaica.Edwards has played just one first-class match and taken a solitary wicket,but he has the unflinching support of Brian Lara. “I think young Fidel of course is going to be a surprise for the people of the Caribbean, but I think our cricket aficionados would understand that he’s been around,” said Lara after the drawn Test in St Lucia.Edwards replaced the reserve wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh in the squad from the first Test. He is the fifth fast bowler in the squad, joining Merv Dillon, Corey Collymore, Vasbert Drakes and Jerome Taylor.”Right now, we are looking to find the right set of guys to take West Indies up in the future,” said Lara. “Fidel just falls into that fold. He’s someone who weare going to be looking at [not only] over the next Test match but also over the next few weeks.”Edwards found it hard to fight his way into a Barbados side packed with fast bowling riches during the 2003 Carib Beer Series. Pedro Collins – Edwards’shalf-brother – Tino Best, Drakes, Collymore and Ian Bradshaw all play for Barbados. Lara, however, was apparently impressed with Edwards when he bowled inthe nets before the third Test against Australia last month.Squad
Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Daren Ganga, Devon Smith, Brian Lara (capt),Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Omari Banks,Corey Collymore, Merv Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor.