Scorecard

The two-day practice match between the University of West Indies Vice Chancellor’s XI and the South Africans ended in a tame draw, with the home team scoring 250 for 5 in their first innings. The South Africans, who resumed the day on 349 for 3, batted for an hour before declaring at 395 for 6. Boeta Dippenaar top-scored with 184, while Dave Mohammad, the left-arm wristspinner, claimed 5 for 115.UWI XI started poorly, losing Tishan Maraj for a duck, but Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh captain, was the star performer with an unbeaten 77 off 86 balls which included 15 fours. Shikhar Dhawan, the 19-year-old batsman from India, smashed 66 off 86 balls, hitting 15 fours. Charl Langeveldt, returning to the South African team after an injury, took 3 for 51. Dippenaar was named the Man of the Match for his superb century.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has denied reports that they are delaying the process of fixing dates for their South Africa tour, scheduled to begin in four months. Apparently, the official website of the United Cricket Board of South Africa has blamed NZC for stalling when it came to fixing the dates for the tour.”We’re not stalling,” said Martin Snedden, the NZC chief executive, quoted in The New Zealand Herald. “We have slightly different views on how this could work. The window we have makes it quite difficult and, not surprisingly, a solution that suits New Zealand doesn’t necessarily suit South Africa.”Snedden said that if the problems were not sorted out within a week, he would be meeting Gerald Majola, UCB chief executive, in London. “It has been a difficult issue but it’s not the case that there have been ultimatums,” he said. “We have had quite robust discussions but we do that with a lot of tours.”The problem occurs due to the scheduling of Super Series between Australia and the Rest of the World in October. The proposed three-Test series and five one-day internationals were likely to start around October 10, with warm-up matches coinciding with the Super Series. However, Snedden mentioned that it was unlikely that the tour would go ahead without the players engaged in the Super Series.”The available window has been reduced and we’ve been discussing with South Africa how we can sensibly structure the tour to fit all matches in and not create an unmanageable burden for players.”South Africa have seven players – Mark Boucher, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Andre Nel and Graeme Smith – in the preliminary 30-man squads for the Super Series, whereas New Zealand have only Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum.The official website of South African cricket said, “With the Super Series now in October and South Africa also owing India five one-day internationals, the pressure is on to try and fit these commitments in before South Africa leave for their Australian tour on December 6. The Kiwis have been resisting South Africa’s suggested dates, so there are still assorted scheduling possibilities.”Majola has suggested two alternatives: the Kiwis could play three Tests in South Africa after the Super Series and then return for their five limited-overs matches after the home-and-away series against Australia (March 2006). That would allow South Africa to meet their five-ODI obligation in India in November.Otherwise, New Zealand could cram their three Tests and five ODIs into October and November, with South Africa going to India at the end of the season. “There’s always issues when you split a tour with travel costs,” said Snedden. “It’s a possibility but, to be honest, it’s not something we’ve discussed with them.”

Tim Murtagh took 6 for 24, the best figures in Twenty20 cricket, as Surrey made it two wins out of two with a 23-run victory against Middlesex. A full house at Lord’s, for the second season running, enjoyed some exciting batting as Surrey totalled 200 for 3. Alistair Brown smacked 64 from 39 balls then Dominic Thornely hit 67 from 42. Ed Smith got Middlesex off to a flier with some savage cover drives, and then Owais Shah (78) and Scott Styris (40) kept them right on target with a stand of 109 in 10 overs. But Murtagh removed Shah, courtesy of a long-on catch from Brown, and from 146 for 1 in the 15th over Middlesex lost nine wickets for 31 runs to give Surrey their 15th win in 16 Twenty20 outings.Two ferocious innings lit up Somerset’s 15-run win against Worcestershire. Matthew Wood powered his way to 94 off 35 balls with 12 fours and four sixes to provide the bulk of Somerset’s 210 for 6. Graeme Hick replied with an equally impressive 87 from 45, clearing the ropes six times, but departed at a crucial time. He was one of two victims for Ian Blackwell, as his spell of left-arm spin went for only 20 runs, and proved the major difference between the sides.

Sourav Ganguly has, over the last few months, often stated that India are the second-best side in the world. Now, he has the opportunity to see his team climb to that position in the official ICC Test Championship table – all he needs is a series win against Australia.Even a victory by a one-Test margin (1-0 or 2-1) will help India, currently in fourth place with 104 points, gallop to 111, ahead of England, who are now in second place with 109. In such a scenario, Australia will still maintain their top spot, but will slip from 129 points to 123. In fact, Australia are so far ahead of the pack that even if they lose all four matches, they will have a four-point lead – 119 to 115 – over India at the top of the table. On the other hand, a 3-0 win will boost Australia’s tally to 131, their highest-ever rating in the Test table.In the event of a drawn series, India will move to third spot with 108 points, while Australia’s total will slip marginally to 126.

Scorecard

The decisive third Test between Sri Lanka A and West Indies A is heading for a close finish after a third day at the Saravanamuttu Stadium. West Indies ended the day with an overall lead of 126 runs and six wickets in hand. The slow left-armer Sajeewa Weerakoon tilted the scales slightly in favour of Sri Lanka when he snapped up the wickets of the opener Lendl Simmons for 52 and Marlon Samuels for 16 within nine runs of each shortly before the close for West Indies to finish on a shaky 114 for 4.If they are to make any headway towards winning, Sri Lanka will need rely on Weerakoon: he has captured 22 wickets in the series so far. Earlier in the day, West Indies bowlers kept the free-scoring Sri Lankan batsmen pegged down with some tight bowling to give their team a slender 12-run lead at the end of the first innings.Sri Lanka resumed at a promising 181 for 3 but failed to build on that total and were dismissed for 312 in reply to West Indies’ first innings of 324. Shantha Kalavitigoda added only one to his overnight score of 74 before edging a catch to Simmons behind the wicket off Washington in the third over of the morning.The captain Russel Arnold – who hit a match winning 159 in the second Test – and the vice-captain Prasanna Jayawardene followed in quick succession as Sri Lanka slid to 194 for 6 within 36 minutes of play in the morning. Washington grabbed two of the three wickets to fall at the end: he finished with figures of three for 31.The slide was halted by the fast bowlers Farveez Maharoof (16) and Danushka Lokuhettige (57) who figured in a seventh-wicket stand that produced 59 runs. Weerakoon chipped in with a useful 27 not out, sharing a last-wicket stand of 38 with Suraj Mohamed which took Sri Lanka past the 300-run mark. The series stands tied at one-all with West Indies winning a at Dambulla by 57 runs and Sri Lanka at Colts grounds by an innings and 16 runs.

Sourav Ganguly has been reinstated as India’s captain for the tour of Zimbabwe, which includes two Tests against the hosts, and a tri-series also involving New Zealand. While the selection of Ganguly had been perceived as little more than a formality, the shortness of tenure granted to him means that his form with the bat and the performance of the team under him will be under scrutiny.The five-man selection panel of the BCCI chose Ganguly after a meeting in Mumbai that lasted nearly two hours. Despite the lengthy duration of the meeting, the selectors insisted that there was no second option for the panel. “It was an unanimous decision by the selectors to bring back Ganguly,” SK Nair, the secretary of the Indian board said, while refusing to divulge any details. With 47 Test matches at the helm, Ganguly among three captains to have captained India the maximum number of times, with Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammad Azharuddin being the other two.Ganguly takes over from Rahul Dravid, who led the team in the recent tri-nation tournament in Sri Lanka while Ganguly served out a ban for slow over-rates in the one-day series against Pakistan. Ganguly joined the squad halfway through the tournament and scored a painstaking half century in his comeback match.”I hope it becomes a good partnership among Dravid, Greg and I so that we can get a winning combination,” Ganguly said after getting his job back. “We hope to do well in Zimbabwe. We need to improve our performance in the ODIs. We have not done well in the shorter version of the game in the past one year.”Dravid, India’s most consistent batsman in recent times, won both games against a weakened West Indies side, but lost all three matches to hosts Sri Lanka, including an 18-run loss in the final in Colombo on Tuesday night. However, Ganguly’s poor run of form with the bat has raised speculation about his future with the team. Ganguly has scored a mere 927 runs in his last 20 Test matches at an average of 33. Surprisingly enough, Ganguly’s recent record at home is even more dismal; he averages under 28, with two centuries against Zimbabwe and New Zealand.As captain, Ganguly has had a fairly ordinary run as well. While India have won eight matches out of the last 20 under his captaincy, that number drops to six out of 20 in overseas matches. And even that total doesn’t show up too well for Ganguly, considering that his last three away victories include two in Bangladesh, and one in Pakistan. At 33, age is also against him, as the selectors would look forward to the World Cup in 2007.

Kim Hughes, the former Australian captain, has said lack of match practice against world-class bowling is one of the main reasons for Australia’s batting problems on the current Ashes tour. Hughes felt the Australian batsmen had fattened their averages thanks to some ordinary bowling on the international scene and their tecniques were exposed when confronted with a quality attack.”Once you get to 32 or 33, the only time you’re exposed is against pace,” Hughes said in . “Our blokes could go back and play the rest of the Test countries over the next two or three years and still average 55, and they’d do that standing on their head, because there is no other decent attack. They [England] have exposed a lack of footwork and technique. The rest of the series will be a real test for them.”Hughes, who captained Australia in 28 Tests, said the pace of Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff, who consistently bowled at speeds of 150 kmh, highlighted an ageing Australian side with only three players below 30 – Michael Clarke (24), Lee (28) and Simon Katich (29). “Our batting has looked very, very ordinary,” he said. “Spear-headed by Harmison and Flintoff they’re a good attack but you certainly wouldn’t say they’re the West Indies of 20 years ago – far from it.”Hughes also pointed out that the general standard of world bowling over the past decade or so was “pathetic”. “Honestly, the standard of world cricket has been very, very ordinary for a number of years,” Hughes said. “As a former player you never want to say that because it always looks like sour grapes.”The West Indies are pathetic, Pakistan had half a bowler last season. The two sides out here last season [New Zealand and Pakistan] wouldn’t have won our Sheffield Shield.” Both New Zealand and Pakistan suffered humiliating whitewashes at the hands of the Australians last season and New Zealand received another thrashing in the home series that followed.The Australians have a one-day match against Scotland on Thursday and a two-day game against Northamptonshire beginning on Saturday before the fourth Test at Trent Bridge.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has finally agreed to play in the ICC Super Series one-off Test against Australia in October. The Pakistan Cricket Board released a statement saying Shaharyar Khan, chairman of the PCB, had spoken to Inzamam and explained the background of the genuine misunderstanding regarding his selection for the Super Series squads.According to the statement, Shaharyar told Inzamam that in the interests of Pakistan cricket he should participate in the Super Series. In turn, Inzamam responded positively to the chairman’s advice and agreed to play in the Test match at Sydney.An official at the PCB told Cricinfo that the whole situation was nothing more than a “minor misunderstanding” between Inzamam and the board.Inzamam said he agreed to feature in the Super Test to improve Pakistan’s image. He told reporters, “I did say that I would not go but after being convinced by the chairman that my participation is necessary for the better image of the country, I have decided to tour Australia.”The u-turn follows Inzamam’s decision to snub the Super Series yesterday, after he heard that he was selected only for the Test squad. The PCB had announced on Wednesday that Inzamam would be in both teams, but two days later the ICC said that he would feature in the six-day Super Test squad only, and that too as a replacement for Sachin Tendulkar. He was omitted from the one-dayers, with the ICC instead naming Chris Gayle and Rahul Dravid as replacements for Tendulkar and Herschelle Gibbs.Expressing disappointment over the earlier confusion, the ICC said there had been preliminary discussions between the ICC and PCB to find out whether Inzamam would be available for the Super Series selected.An ICC spokesman clarified to AFP, “Once it was understood that he was available… the selectors discussed replacements for Tendulkar and Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa and selected Inzamam for the Test squad only.”Inzamam said newspaper reports on Tuesday suggesting he was angry at the decision were incorrect. “Newspaper reports suggested that I was angry which is wrong. It was a principled stance that I should be treated with respect and that’s why I was disappointed.”

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.”

Andy Moles, the Scottish coach, has condemned the lack of fitness and dearth of mental toughness within the Scotland squad and claimed that the team will have to sharpen up their act to justify their inclusion to the one-day-international circuit.Until now, Moles has been diplomacy personified in analysing the efforts of his largely amateur squad. However, having missed out on the Warwickshire coaching role by New Zealand’s Mark Greatbatch, as the prelude to accepting a two-year deal with Scotland, he clearly feels that the time for honeyed words is over; a dismal second half of the season for his personnel in their final Totesport League campaign didn’t help, either.”It was a tired, listless group of players who finished the season, and it dawned on me how unfit they were, both physically and mentally, which is one of the reasons why I have struggled to emphasise to them the need to produce 90 overs of sustained good cricket in these games, but it never happened, and I have talked to Tony Judd [the previous national coach] and he suffered from the same deficiency,” said Moles, who is in South Africa, as part of an ICC initiative to improve 20 of the best young cricketers from the associate nations.”Alright, in basic terms, the ICC Trophy was the be-all and end-all in 2005 and we won the competition, which was a terrific achievement for the lads, but we went into reverse gear thereafter, and it isn’t good enough for us to take the field with the approach that we are engaged in damage limitation exercises.”That’s why, between now and the New Year, I will ramming home the message that the guys have to work on their fitness, and we will bringing a fitness trainer on board, because we have two matches against Pakistan next summer, we have Australia and South Africa in the World Cup, and these teams will quite rightly hand us nothing, without us behaving like terriers and snapping away at them. Craig Wright has had injury concerns, Ryan Watson needs to work on his fitness, Cedric English has struggled to complete a full game, Paul Hoffmann has contracted gout, and these are all key players, so we have to ensure that they are available for every big tussle. The same applies with the youngsters coming through the system, and I have been heartened by Omer Hussein and Ross Lyons, both of whom have taken to the Saltires like ducks to water.”As matters stand, my aim is to have chosen my best 15 for World Cup duty by the end of next August and I am nowhere close to drawing up that list. Craig is obviously Mr Fantastic, and his attitude has been exemplary, but we have to offer him time to mend his body, and I want to say to every ambitious Scottish cricketer that if they can score runs or take wickets regularly, they will be in contention for a Caribbean trip. The door has not been closed on anybody, and I am keen to go on the record and assure Majid Haq he hasn’t been shelved and figures very much in my plans. I will be talking to him, and telling him that he has to be as fit as possible and can’t expect special treatment, but the bottom line is I would love to see Majid and Ross bowling in tandem in the future.”As the Scots head into winter, where most of their leading talents will be engaged on peripatetic sojourns to the Southern Hemisphere, it is evident that Moles is no longer content to indulge in the excuse that his personnel are non-professionals and thus can’t be expected to lock horns with county or international opponents on an equal footing. When he returns to Scotland in January, he will focus on refining the technique of the likes of Fraser Watts (“the talent is there, but he gets out too often in the 20s and 30s”), yet freely admits he would be happier if he had a couple of extra batting stars.”As of 2006, we will have all our best guys, including Dougie Brown, John Blain and the other England-based players for the major matches, which will be an improvement on the current situation, but the lads need to realise they are taking a massive step up the ladder, and I am not interested in anybody who is happy with mediocrity,” said Moles. “The eight Scots coming out to the camp in Pretoria next week [amongst them Watts, Lyons and Gordon Goudie] better be aware this isn’t a holiday. On the contrary, they will be up at 6am three days a week, and it will be a very tough regime. Their future depends on them raising the bar and this will be the most gruelling time of their lives.”