The Kent paceman Amjad Khan has been ruled out of the England tour of Bangladesh, leaving just 12 players available for selection ahead of the opening match.Khan arrived in Dhaka with a swollen knee after attending the MRF pace academy in Chennai and the management took the decision to send him back to England as a precaution ahead of the new season. The tour was going to be Khan’s first representative action for England – he was born in Denmark – having completed his qualification period.His withdrawal, along with Ravi Bopara’s selection for the World Cup squad, means Peter Moores, the coach, is down to the bare bones of a party. Two replacements will be named shortly, with Glen Chapple touted as one possibility. Ryan Sidebottom, the Nottinghamshire left-armer, might also come into the equation.With the options reduced, England are likely to name all their specialist batsmen for the first Test against Bangladesh A which starts on Thursday. That will hand an opportunity to the likes of Will Jefferson, Michael Carberry and Nick Compton who were preferred on the tour to the Test-capped pair of Robert Key and Owais Shah.

Alan Dawson managed to squeeze two runs off the last ball to follow top-class hitting by Rory Kleinveldt and Vernon Philander and guide the Cape Cobras to a thrilling two-wicket victory over the Warriors in their Pro20 semi-final at Newlands.Kleinveldt and Philander had raced the Cobras back into contention after they had staggered to 99 for six after 17 overs in search of 140 for victory. The duo scored freely in the 18th and 19th overs as 36 runs were scored off spinners Arno Jacobs and Johan Botha, before fast bowler Mario Olivier threatened to turn the tables once again with a brilliant final over.Olivier was defending a meagre five runs, but two fine yorkers removed Philander and Con de Lange with successive balls and the Cobras were left needing two runs off the last delivery. Olivier bowled a decent enough low full toss, but veteran Dawson managed to get it away to wide long-on and he and Kleinveldt raced through for the two runs required as Corbyn Dolley fumbled the pick-up.Philander (41 off 30 balls) and Kleinveldt (30 not out off 15 balls) each belted three sixes as they resurrected an innings which seemed terminally damaged by Zander de Bruyn’s four-wicket haul after a fine start by Adam Bacher and JP Duminy. De Bruyn’s top-class spell saw him finish with four for 18 as three wickets fell in his second over, including the run out of Benji Hector, who did not face a ball.The Warriors had to call on all the experience and skill of HD Ackerman to get to 139 for five after being sent in to bat. De Bruyn scored 35, but it was a sluggish innings lacking innovation or aggression, much like the rest of the Warriors batsmen, Ackerman excepted.Ackerman was practically the only batsman willing to come down the pitch and he charged to a 35-ball fifty with four fours and two sixes, eventually scoring 58 before being bowled by a superb Philander yorker in the final over, after facing 40 balls out in the middle. The Warriors batsmen always had a mountain to climb after Dawson’s brilliant new-ball spell that saw him finish with two for 15 in four overs, and the rest of the Cobras seamers also kept to a marvellous line and length, full and on or about off stump.

Michael Papps scored an unbeaten 143 to lift Canterbury to 279 for 5 against Otago at the Village Green in Christchurch. Papps, who has played six Tests for New Zealand, and fellow opener Todd Astle got the side off to a good start, adding 111. Otago struck twice, removing Shanan Stewart and Andrew Ellis with the score at 147. Chris Harris, the captain, joined Papps and the pair added 57. Kruger van Wyk, the overseas player from South Africa, was unbeaten on 13 at stumps.Seventeen wickets tumbled on the opening day at the Basin Reserve in Wellington with seamers Chris Martin and Iain O’Brien sharing the spoils for Auckland and Wellington respectively. Michael Parlane’s decision to bat first backfired as Wellington were bundled out for just 103 with Martin picking four wickets and Andre Adams chipping in with three. The middle order made starts but failed to convert any into bigger scores. O’Brien struck back for Wellington with a six-wicket haul to reduce the visitors to 157 for 7 at stumps with a lead of 54. Reece Young resisted with an unbeaten 51 with ten fours and his stand of 78 with Martin Guptill rescued the side after they were in trouble at 67 for 5.Mathew Sinclair and Greg Hay struck half centuries as Central Districts were bowled out for 305 against Northern Districts on the opening day at Gisborne. Sinclair walked in after Peter Ingram fell in the third over to seamer Graeme Aldridge and he proceeded to share half-century stands with Jamie How (worth 55) and Hay (worth 97). Sinclair fell for 78 and Hay made 66 but once they were dismissed, Northerns clawed back as they picked the last five wickets for 77 runs. Aldridge finished with figures of 4 for 65. In reply, Northern Districts batted out the final 15 minutes without losing a wicket.

Northerns selectors have completed their trials at the Westridge High School in Harare and announced a final squad of 15 players for the five-day Interprovincial tournament at KweKwe which starts on April 24. The squad has a surprise inclusion in the form of the ex-Westerns allrounder Sinikiwe Mpofu who is now playing for Takashinga in Harare after relocating to the capital for journalism studies.Mpofu will join up with her fellow Zimbabwean internationals, Julia Chibhabha, the allrounder Joanna Chanjack, who currently plays for Harare Sports Club, and Crystabel Chatora of Royal Harare.Chiedza Mafunga, the national women’s cricket manager, said on Thursday: “All is set for the one-day cricket showcase in KweKwe with all sides having sent in their team-lists. We are expecting some exciting action as national slots are at stake for the 30-member Zimbabwean provisional squad which is to be announced after the tournament. These 30 players will then go into the initial camp to prepare for the final round of qualifiers for the International Cricket Council Women’s World Cup in Pakistan later in the year.”SquadTsitsi Ali-John, Julia Chibhabha, Joanna Chanjack, Crystabel Chatora, Ruvarashe Chinyemba, Emily Jinjika, Chipo Kamuchedza, Susan Kudzibatira, Precious Marange, Sinikiwe Mpofu and Nonhlahla Nyathi.ReservesNyarai Manyande, Letwin Nyangoni, Evelyn Chisingarambwe and Virginia Nyazero

Ricky Ponting is hoping for a quick wicket in Wednesday’s semi-final because he believes Jacques Kallis will score more slowly than the openers. While admitting Kallis is one of the world’s best batsmen, Ponting wrote in his column in The Australian they have plans to restrict him in St Lucia.Kallis was criticised after scoring 48 from 63 balls in the group-stage loss to Australia in St Kitts after Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers swept South Africa to 160 in 21 overs. “We feel [the openers] are the key to their chances,” Ponting said. “But if we can get Kallis in there early, I don’t think they can get off to the same sort of start.”He is a very good player and has a great overall record, averaging 45.68 in one-day cricket, but against us it’s not so great. I feel we have also had the better of him in Tests. If we get our plans right to him, we can restrict him. We all know that if we bowl a certain way and put him under pressure, we can keep him reasonably quiet.”Ponting has noticed Kallis, who has 480 runs at 96 in the tournament, has been playing more shots since the Australia game, “which may have been the result of a rev-up from their coaching staff”. “Those runs, though, have come against bowling attacks that haven’t had the pace of a Shaun Tait reverse-swinging the ball,” he said. “The new ball is going to be key in this game.”Ponting also said Matthew Hayden might try a “repeat act” on Shaun Pollock, who went for 83 runs in ten overs in the previous encounter. “If we can take down the opposition’s experienced players, especially in their bowling line-up, like Matty took to Pollock, then that puts extra pressure on other guys around them,” he said.South Africa are deciding how they will use Pollock after he went for the worst figures of his career. “We have a plan with [Pollock],” the coach Mickey Arthur said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “I suspect he will take the new ball, but if there’s nothing happening, we will probably whip him off early and go for the pace of [Andre] Nel. It’s something we learnt from the last game.”Arthur hinted that Makhaya Ntini could sit out, owing to his ordinary form, with South Africa going in with an unchanged bowling line-up. “With Makhaya one knows what you are going to get because he bowls inswingers,” Arthur was quoted in Supercricket. “Therefore, there is no surprise element for the batsman. We have André Nel and his aggression, Shaun Pollock’s ability to limit the scoring and our two top wicket-takers, Charl [Langeveldt] and Andrew Hall.”Arthur said South Africa were “owed a bit of luck” after their previous near-misses in the World Cup, including the tied semi-final in 1999. He said there had been no discussion in the dressing room about the match, which included the key men Kallis, Pollock, Herschelle Gibbs and Mark Boucher.”When you get to the back end of these tournaments, you need your top players to have big games,” Arthur said. “The teams are going to be quite close so it’s going to be a bit of stability and a match-winning performance from one of them that could be the difference.”

Michael Vaughan has accused the England management of freezing him out of the Ashes dressing-room last winter, and that his offers to share his experience with the team were rebuffed.In an interview with The Guardian, Vaughan, who was in Australia with the England Academy side for the early stages of the tour, said: “I was never involved at all in the Ashes and I think we could have used me more. I’m an Ashes-winning captain with a huge amount of knowledge on a lot of things and I wasn’t used at all. It was made clear that I was to be kept away from the team, and I understood the reason, but there were times when I think I could have helped.”Although Vaughan did not mention Duncan Fletcher by name, the implication that he was at the heart of the decision to sideline him was evident. Vaughan, who misses the first Test at Lord’s with a broken finger, also made clear that he was looking forward to working with Peter Moores, Fletcher’s successor. “Obviously this is the start of a new regime and I think it’s crucial that I’m around just to get a feel for the new regime and the way it works.”And he explained that the 0-5 drubbing in Australia and the poor World Cup campaign may have dulled the appetite of some players. “When you get beat so heavily, losing every session, every day – losing, losing, losing – then it’s got to have an effect. I don’t know any team that stays together when you are getting battered.

“Then we went to the World Cup … didn’t start well, incidents happened, we really struggled and the coach went. The formula of the team started to get a little bit disgruntled. You talk about the wheels coming off … they’d fallen off at one point. It’s down to us to make sure we get those wheels back on and the only way we’ll do that is by getting together as a team, working hard and enjoying the game.”As for his own future, he said he was keen to carry on leading both Test and one-day sides. “It would be easy for me to sit here and say, ‘Right, you lot have got to me’, but I’m going to actually try and fight, take a few people on and see if I can prove a few people wrong. If I can I’ll be happy, if I can’t I’ll say, ‘You lot were right’, but at the minute I’m quite happy to have a fight. I really have a passion to try and play and my body feels fine. As long as I continue to go in the gym and get my leg stretch right, do the stretching, get in the pool, do the ice, I’ll be fine.”At the minute I’m desperate to do the work and play as much cricket as I can. I’d love to play for England for a few more years because I feel I’ve got a lot to offer.”

Viv Richards has called for the West Indies board and the players to put aside their differences so a full-strength team can be sent to Australia for the VB Series. Formerly a chairman of selectors, Richards had seen the beginning of the conflict during his time. The disagreements include the players’ sponsorship rights as well as their recent unexpected demand for US$500,000 as appearance money.”Something has to be sorted out, it has been going on too long. I really hope they do tour and that something can be finalised,” quoted him as saying. He mysteriously added: “I would not like to add any ammunition from what I saw during my time. But this will not be a win for cricket if this carries on. Both sides must work this out.”Relations between the board and WIPA, the players association, remained bitter as the confrontation dragged on dangerously close to the players scheduled departure date of December 29. Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of WIPA, criticised a board representative for publicly citing figures mentioned during a stressful round of negotiations. Such is the seriousness of the matter that the Prime Minister of Grenada, Keith Mitchell, appointed a judge to help resolve the dispute.But in case West Indies withdraw from the tour, Australian board officials have marked India as a likely replacement in the month-long series.

Colonel Cottari Kanakaiya Nayudu
C K Nayudu was India’s first superstar cricketer. Tall and well proportioned, Nayudu was especially strong in driving, bowled accurately at slow-medium pace and was a fine fielder. He also shone at hockey and association football. He led from the front in the inaugural Test when, despite a painful hand injury received when fielding, he top-scored with 40, in the first innings. With six centuries, the highest of which was 162 against Warwickshire, he headed the batting averages for all matches with 37.59 and took 79 wickets. He also played in three Tests against England in 1933-34 and three in the tour of 1936, when he again exceeded 1,000 runs and dismissed 51 batsmen in first-class fixtures. While still at Hislop Collegiate High School, Nagpur, he captained both the school team and Modi Club. In 1926-27 at Bombay, he gained prominence by hitting 153 (including 11 sixes and 13 fours) out of 187 in just over a hundred minutes for Hindus against AER Gilligan’s MCC team. Though never on the winning side in a Test match, he helped Vizianagram defeat DR Jardine’s powerful MCC side in 1933-34 – their only loss of the tour – by 14 runs, taking four wickets for 21 in the second innings. He died at Indore in 1967, aged 72.

Mohammed Nissar
Mohammed Nissar was India’s first pace bowler, possible one of the fastest they have ever produced, and one of the best too. A bull of a man, Nissar could swing and cut the ball with verve, but it was his express speed that marked him out from his peers. Of his 25 Test victims, 13 were bowled or leg-before, testimony enough to his sheer pace. Nissar’s partnership upfront with Amar Singh was as legendary as it was successful. In India’s maiden Test at Lord’s in 1932, he plunged the England innings into disarray by knocking over the stumps of Holmes and Sutcliffe, who only ten days earlier had added 555 for the first wicket for Yorkshire, and ended with 5 for 93. On that trip, he grabbed 71 wickets at 18.09 to head the averages. The MCC tour in 1933-34 provided the setting for more heroics as he took another innings bag of five in the inaugural Test in India at the Brabourne Stadium. The only defeat that was inflicted upon the visitors on that tour was also courtesy of Nissar, whose match figures of 9 for 117 helped Vizzy XI to a 14-run victory at Benares.Another compelling demonstration of his hostility came against Jack Ryder’s Australians on their tour of India in the winter of 1935. Thirty two wickets in four ‘Tests’ at 13 runs apiece spoke volumes for the damage he unleashed. On his final tour of England, Nissar departed the Test scene with a devastating spell that yielded four wickets in five overs to send England hurtling from 422 for 3 to 463 for 7. He continued to entertain domestic audiences for a while longer and helped Southern Punjab to the Ranji Trophy final in 1938-39 taking 17 wickets at 11.94, including a tour de force of 6 for 17 against Sind in the semis that sent them packing for 23.

Amar Singh
“There is no better bowler in the world today than Amar Singh,” said Len Hutton in an informal chat with pressmen at Madras in 1970. It was 34 years since the legendary England opening batsman had faced the Indian medium pace bowler while playing for Yorkshire. And it is the perfect tribute to Amar Singh that Hutton still remembered the hard time that the Indian, then a member of the 1936 Indian team, gave him. Another England great Wally Hammond described Amar Singh’s bowling as “he came off the pitch like the crack of doom”. Indeed, Amar Singh, along with Mohammad Nissar was the first great Indian bowler renowned for his accuracy, stamina and ability to make the ball move alarmingly off the air or cut it devastatingly off the pitch. He played in all the seven Tests before the war. In the first Test in 1932 he took four wickets and hit an attacking 51, coming in at No 9. Against England in 1933-34, he was the country’s best bowler taking 4 for 106 off 54.5 overs in the second Test at Calcutta. In the final Test at Madras, in the absence of Nissar, he had to work overtime and rose to the occasion with a bag of 7 for 86 off 44.4 overs in the first innings. Going in at No. 4, he scored a hard hitting 48. In 1932, he took 111 wickets (20.78) and made 641 runs (22.89) in the first-class matches.By 1936 he was a popular Lancashire League professional and was released only for a few games for the Indian touring team. In the first Test, he took 6 for 35 in the first innings. In the second Test he again displayed his batting prowess by hitting an unbeaten 48 to help India draw the game. In the final Test at the Oval he scored a valuable 44 going in at No. 4 thus proving beyond doubt that he could be classified as an allrounder. At home, he was at his best against Lord Tennyson’s team in 1937-38 when he bagged 36 wickets (16.66) in the five unofficial Tests. In a short but brilliant Ranji Trophy career for Western India and Nawanagar he took 105 wickets at 15.56 apiece.He died in 1940 at the age of 29 after a fever contracted after a long swim developed into typhoid.Janardhan Navle
India’s first Test wicketkeeper, JG Navle, put in a courtly display on the 1932 tour of England, Cardus being impressed by his “polished, quicksilver” work. According to Christopher Martin-Jenkins’ Who’s Who of Test Cricketers, Jack Hobbs rated Navle in the same league as George Duckworth and Bert Oldfield, which is high praise indeed. Forty-one dismissals came his way on that trip, only one of them (Douglas Jardine) in the one-off Test at Lord’s. He also doubled up as opening batsman, and faced the historic first delivery of India’s first Test innings from Bill Bowes.Navle’s only other Test appearance was at Bombay in 1933-34 after which he was dropped at the age of 31 to accommodate a younger man. Making his first-class debut in the Quadrangular at the age of 16, Navle kept wickets for Hindus for 16 straight years. He also played unofficial Tests against Arthur Gilligan’s team in 1926-27 and Jack Ryder’s team nine years later. However, he died a pauper, in 1979, after working as a watchman in a sugar mill in Pune.

Naoomal Jaoomal
The man who opened the batting for India, Jeoomal Naoomal was a cautious batsman – although he once drove the first ball of a Ranji Trophy match from Mohammad Nissar for six – making 33 and 25 in the Lord’s Test. When the All-India side returned there to play Middlesex, he batted for 6 1/4 hours for an unbeaten 164. Naoomal also scored a century against Derbyshire. He played in two more Test matches against England in 1933-34, making 2 and 43 at Calcutta but had a disastrous match at Madras, where a deep cut over the left eye forced him to retire for five and to miss the second innings. Besides his respectable total of 1297 runs (30.88) on the tour of England, Naoomal made his mark on Indian cricket with several centuries for Sind, 203 not out against Nawanagar in 1938 being the highest in a season when he averaged 104.50. He also made a century against Ceylon at Lahore in 1932-33. In the late 1950s he became Pakistan’s coach, and passed on the fruits of his experience to such players as Hanif, Nasim and Saeed. He died in Bombay on July 18 1980, aged 76.Syed Wazir Ali
Elder brother of S Nazir Ali, another Test player, Wazir Ali appeared in seven Test matches, all against England. He toured England in 1932 and 1936 and played against England in India in 1933. A fine batsman with a keen eye and a wide range of powerful strokes, Wazir Ali hit six hundreds during the 1932 tour and scored 1,725 in all matches. On his second visit to England he was handicapped by a finger injury. He missed a month’s cricket, but although unable to do himself justice he hit the highest score for the Indians during the tour – 155 not out against an England XI at Folkestone. He led the Indian team which won matches against visiting Australian sides in 1935 and 1936. He died in Karachi in 1950, aged 46, after an operation for appendicitis.Sorabji Colah
An attacking batsman, Colah was one of the automatic choices for the first tour of England in 1932. He did fairly well in the first-class matches but made 22 and 4 in this Test. A brilliant fielder, he picked up two catches. He also played against England at Bombay, India’s next Test and the first to be played on Indian soil. Coming in late in the order, he made 31 and 12 and that remained the extent of his Test career. Colah remained a pillar for Western India, Nawanagar and Bombay during a first-class career that stretched from 1922 to 1942, making 3578 runs at an average of almost 29.08 including six centuries.Nazir Ali
He did not enjoy much success, which was baffling, for he was a gifted attacking batsman. Besides, he was a medium-pace bowler, good enough to take 4 for 83 in the England second innings at Madras in the final Test of the 1933-34 series, and a splendid fielder. Nazir Ali first came into prominence with his allround efforts against Arthur Gilligan’s team which visited India in 1926-27. Gilligan in fact was so impressed that he suggested that Nazir Ali should qualify for Sussex. Subsequently, he represented the county once, besides playing much cricket in England, an experience that stood him in good stead during the 1932 tour, when he made 1020 runs (average 31.87) and took 23 wickets (average 21.78). A stalwart for many years for Southern Punjab, Nazir Ali in a first-class career that stretched for 25 years, scored almost 3500 runs at an average of a little over 30. He also took more than 150 wickets. The younger brother of Wazir Ali, Nazir Ali in later years was fairly prominent in the administration of the game in Pakistan. Phiroze Palia
Phiroze Edulji Palia played twice for India, each time at Lord’s, in 1932 and 1936. Having pulled a hamstring in the field in the 1932 match, he batted at number eleven in the second innings in a vain attempt to save the match for India. Palia was a left-hand batsman, wristy and attractive, and a useful bowler of the orthodox slow left-arm type. More was expected of him in England, certainly as a batsman, than he achieved. Despite batting high in the order, in 37 first-class innings his top score was 63 against Oxford University in 1936. His highest first-class score, 216, was in the Ranji Trophy for United Provinces against Maharashtra in 1939-40. After his retirement he kept in touch with the game as a Test selector and radio commentator. He died in Bangalore on September 9, 1981, aged 71,Lall Singh
Lall Singh’s chief claim to fame is that he was the first outstanding Indian fieldsman. On the tour of England in 1932 he stood out in a team in which the fielding was below average with some spectacular work in the field. An extraordinarily quick mover, it was said that “he glided over the ground like a snake”. In his only Test at Lord’s he scored 15 and 29 and held one catch. It was his brilliant anticipation, pick up and throw which ran out Frank Woolley in the first innings. In the second innings, with the game virtually lost, he and Amar Singh, in a thrilling counter attack, added 74 runs in 40 minutes for the eighth wicket. Singh had a short first-class career and then moved to Kuala Lumpur where he did much to foster talent and encourage the game.

Jahangir Khan
The man who bowled the ball that killed a sparrow at Lord’s, Dr Mohammad Jahangir Khan, 78, was a tall, fast-medium bowler and a useful right-hand batsman, Jahangir was born in Jullundur in 1910, and made his first-class debut in India for the Moslems in 1928-29. He was selected for India’s first Test tour of England, in 1932, taking 4 for 60 in the second innings of the only Test, at Lord’s, his distinguished victims being Holmes, Woolley, Hammond and Paynter. In all, he returned the respectable figures of 448 runs (19.47) and 53 wickets (29.05) on the tour, the highlight with the bat coming at Liverpool, where he scored 68 in adding 125 in 80 minutes for the ninth wicket with Amar Singh. He played in the three Tests of India’s 1936 tour of England, but failed to take another wicket, ending his four-Test career with 39 runs (5.57) and four wickets (63.75).From 1933 to 1936 he was up at Cambridge, winning Blues in all four years and taking 11 wickets in the 1933 match against Yorkshire. The famous ‘sparrow’ incident came in 1936 when he was playing for the university against MCC on July 3. Jahangir bowled to TN Pearce, and the ball struck and killed an unfortunate sparrow, which was stuffed and now occupies a display case in the Lord’s museum. He continued to play first-class cricket until 1955-56, captaining Northern India in 1940-41 and 1941-42 (in which season he scored 125 not out v NWFP at Lahore). He died in Lahore on July 23.

Tatenda Taibu’s return to the Zimbabwe cricket team is almost complete after he was included in a select side for two four-day matches against India A at home.Cricinfo revealed last month that Taibu’s comeback was imminent, although he was recently quoted saying his lawyers were still in negotiation with Zimbabwe Cricket, possibly over outstanding payments still owed to him by the board.The former captain however will now play under the current leader, Prosper Utseya.Wicketkeeper Brendan Taylor was also named in the side although he is yet to return from the Netherlands and may miss the first four-dayer at Harare Sports Club. Sean Williams, who is recovering from an injury which kept him out of training for six weeks, was also included.Allrounder Keith Dabengwa meanwhile misses out on selection, but will captain the A side on a tour of South Africa at the same time the Select will be facing India A. The batsmen Chamu Chibhabha has also been relegated to the A side, where the only other senior players are the pace bowler, Blessing Mahwire, and the former Zimbabwe A captain, Alester Maregwede.Zimbabwe Select Prosper Utseya (capt) Terry Duffin, Tatenda Taibu, Vusi Sibanda, Brendan Taylor (wk), Hamilton Masakadza, Sean Williams, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Tino Mawoyo, Elton Chigumbura, Graeme Cremer, Ed Rainsford, Chris Mpofu, Gary Brent, Trevor Garwe, Tawanda Mupariwa.Zimbabwe A Keith Dabengwa (cpat) Chamu Chibhabha, Eric Chauluka, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Bornaparte Mujuru, Forster Mutizwa, Alester Maregwede, Regis Chakabva, Alois Tichana, Taurai Muzarabani, Prosper Tsvanhu, Timycen Maruma, Admire Manyumwa, Tendai Chisoro, Blessing Mahwire, Patient Charumbira.

Zimbabwe Select 155 and 95 for 2 trail South Africa A 542 for 7 (Dippenaar 189, Amla 142, Ontong 70 ) by 292 runs
ScorecardPaul Harris’s five-wicket haul further compounded Zimbabwe Select’s misery on the third day at Bulawayo as they crumbled for 155 in reply to South Africa A’s 542 for 7. Following on, Zimbabwe reached 95 for 2, helped by Tatenda Taibu and the opener Hamilton Masakadza.Play resumed with Zimbabwe on 36 for 3 while Taibu and Timycen Maruma at the crease. Taibu could only add two runs to his overnight score of six before Andre Nel bowled him in the third over of the morning. Nel struck again when he trapped Maruma leg-before for eight.Stuart Matsikenyeri and Elton Chigumbura strived to restore the home side’s innings but they could only put up 26 for the sixth wicket before Chigumbura fell to left-arm seamer Yusuf Abdullah, caught behind by Thami Tsolekile for 18.Harris got his first wicket of the day when he had Matsikenyeri caught at first slip by Andrew Hall for 26. Harris, the left-arm spinner, dismissed Keith Dabengwa for nine.Prosper Utseya and Gary Brent frustrated the South Africans with some resolute batting in an ninth-wicket stand of 59 as they fended off a hostile spell from Nel. Utseya fell for 32 when he skied a Harris delivery and Nel ran in from mid-on to take the catch.Second time around, the openers Masakadza and Brendan Taylor put up 24 before Taylor fell lbw for 13. Vusi Sibanda’s struggle with the bat continued when Hall bowled him for seven.Taibu and Masakadza defended well but at the same time punished the South African bowlers. Taibu dispatched the offspinner Imraan Khan for two sixes in a row as he changed to offensive mode.Zimbabwe Select could still escape with a draw – but their slim hopes rest on some firm resistance from Taibu and Masakadza.