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England’s build-up to next week’s opening Ashes Test has suffered another blow with Steve Harmison forced out of the tour match against South Australia with a side strain. Harmison was omitted from the three-day game, which is the final fixture before Thursday’s opening Test, as a precaution and replaced by Sajid Mahmood. Scans proved inconclusive and he had a painkilling injection.Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, said: “We’ll just have to see how this injection goes and what effect it has on him We’re not going to guarantee it, but we’re planning, if he’s fine tomorrow and it’s not as bad as it was, we’ll give him a bowl and see how he feels with it.”An England team spokesman said Harmison felt tightness in his side when he woke this morning and, although he bowled during the warm-up, team management decided to rest him. The news comes three days after Marcus Trescothick quit the tour and returned home citing a reoccurrence of a stress-related illness.Harmison’s withdrawal leaves him underdone in the lead-up to the Test series after he struggled through the Champions Trophy and bowled only 25 overs against New South Wales. Harmison also sat out the first match of the Australian tour against the Prime Minister’s XI last Friday.But with Simon Jones injured and captain Andrew Flintoff still regaining bowling fitness after ankle surgery, England desperately hope Harmison can play a major part in the series. “He had an effect in the Ashes last year,” added Fletcher. “He’s been an effective bowler for us and the other bowlers feed off him. We’ve just got to monitor the amount of balls he bowls because we’ve got to get some mileage in his legs.”

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.”

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.”