The Otago Cricket Association (OCA) has denied claims that security was heavy-handed during Wednesday’s one-dayer between New Zealand and South Africa at Dunedin. The problems arose with the way that the security guards dealt with people bringing alcohol into the ground.”There always seem to be some complaints but, overall, we thought security did an excellent job,” Graham Elliot, president of the OCA, told reporters. “But we had a blanket rule in place and we also advertised that no liquids would be allowed into the game.”I understand there were several instances where security were a bit heavy-handed. But it is very difficult when you’ve got this large number of security staff. You try to give people discretion, but it is sometimes difficult to get common sense.”The Otago Daily Times carried reports from disgruntled spectators. “I stood and watched for a while and it seemed to me, every time someone was trying to have a bit of fun, they stifled it,” one said. “The guy with a whistle who tried to get a Mexican wave going was told to settle down; I mean, what harm is that doing?”Another said he was told he could not enter the ground unless he either drank his thermos flask of milky coffee first or tipped it out, because of the ban on liquids. The man said he had gone home instead.Elliott said that he was unaware of these instances, although he revealed that student ingenuity was alive and well. One group arrived at the game with hollow plastic cricket bats filled with alcohol.Elliott admitted that he was disappointed with the small crowd, but inisisted that Carisbrook had underlined its claim to be a major venue. “It really proved again what a top-class cricket facility we have,” he said. “The New Zealand team love playing here. I think their success here really gives them a psychological edge.”

Fidel Edwards, who missed the second Test with a side strain, has been named in West Indies’ 14-man squad for the third Test in Barbados, which starts on Thursday (April 1).Edwards replaces Adam Sanford, and the likelihood is that West Indies will go into the Bridgetown Test with a four-man pace attack, all of them from Barbados. Indeed three of them – Edwards, his half-brother Pedro Collins and Corey Collymore – come from the tiny village of Boscabel. Tino Best is the fourth member of the Barbadian foursome.Daren Ganga, the Trinidad & Tobago opener who made two Test centuries against Australia last year, has been included in the squad as cover for Devon Smith, who has a finger injury.West Indies squad for third Test
Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Daren Ganga, Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith, Ricardo Powell, Ryan Hinds, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Corey Collymore, Tino Best, Fidel Edwards, Pedro Collins.

Western Province Boland 122 for 7 beat Eastern Cape 121 for 9 (Kleinveldt 3-18) by 3 wickets
ScorecardEastern Cape found it tough going in their first outing in theSeries, as Western Province Boland restricted them to 121 for 9 in 20 overs. Mark Boucher top-scored with 24, but they were always on the back foot as Rory Kleinveldt took 3 for 18. Two run-outs did help matters either.WPB made heavy work of the chase, however, scrambling a run off the final ball to win by three wickets. Both openers, Andrew Puttick and Herschelle Gibbs, were out without scoring, while Jacques Kallis, making his first appearance, received a painful blow to the hand from Monde Zondeki. He responded with two pointed boundaries, but when he fell for 30, the run-rate decreased and WPB were left needing five off the final over. A wicket for Makhaya Ntini increased the excitement, but WPB prevailed.

The International Cricket Council, in its firmest stand yet on the Zimbabwe cricket crisis, has set a 14-day deadline for the Zimbabwe Cricket Union to resolve its conflict with their disgruntled players, and has initiated an independent investigation into allegations of racism in selection policies. The announcements came on the last day of the ICC’s annual general meeting, during which a new vice-president was appointed, three new countries’ membership applications were accepted, and the new location of the ICC’s headquarters was discussed.The ICC has warned the ZCU that if significant progress is not made within two weeks, then Ehsan Mani, the president of the ICC, and Percy Sonn, the new vice-president, will decide to apply the Disputes Resolution process. Though the ZCU believes that the process has no legal jurisdiction, the ICC’s stand has been backed by its own legal team.Significantly, the ICC has also chosen to publicly acknowledge the racism factor, with Mani admitting that a large part of the dispute was race-related. “One of the most concerning aspects of this dispute has been the very serious allegations of racism that have been made,” he said. “The ICC will now proceed with the appointment of an eminent person or persons to deal with these claims and report to the Board on any findings and recommended actions. Candidates for this role have been identified and over the coming days the ICC will make the necessary approaches to finalise these arrangements. We are very mindful of the ICC’s responsibility to protect the game in Zimbabwe.”But the stick came with a carrot. Though, as expected, Zimbabwe’s participation in Test cricket remains suspended until early next year, they have been permitted to continue playing one-day internationals, as the ICC believes that Zimbabwe cricket needs all the help it can get. Mani said that by playing one-dayers, Zimbabwean players would develop the skills necessary for Tests, perhaps implying that with its current depleted side, Zimbabwe wouldn’t be dressed in whites for a while. “One-day international cricket is an important pathway in providing players with the skills and exposure to perform at the international level,” Mani said. “By providing the opportunity for Zimbabwe to continue at this level, the ICC is ensuring that cricket in Zimbabwe is given every opportunity to survive. It is important to recognise the efforts of the ZCU, which is operating in a very difficult environment. The ZCU has expanded the sport beyond its traditional narrow base, and is taking the game to 50,000 young cricketers every year.”The Indian and South African board have already planned A tours of Zimbabwe later this year, so though Zimbabwe will not be playing Test cricket, they will participate in first-class matches against near-international-standard opposition.Percy Sonn is the ICC’s new vice-presidentSonn, who was previously the president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, has been named as the ICC’s new vice-president, and will take over from Mani next year, when the presidency of the ICC moves from Pakistan to South Africa. The ICC’s presidency is passed on by rotation. Until a year ago, Australia’a Malcolm Gray was the president.Sonn served out most of his time with the South African board with distinction, barring an incident during a World Cup match last year, when he reportedly became abusive after a drink or two. He later offered an unconditional apology for his behaviour. He was also well-known for his benevolent stand on Hansie Cronje, who he publicly stated was “entitled to the freedom and liberties of all South Africans”, and there was a place for him in South African cricket.ICC’s three new membersChina, Mexico and Isle of Man have been accepted into the ICC, and are the newest affiliate members. This increases the number of ICC members to 92 countries. While ten can play Test cricket, 27 are associate members, and the other 55 are affiliate members.Pakistan has already offered assistance to China, with training and coaching facilities to prepare its national cricket team. Of late, the Chinese government has made a co-ordinated effort to make cricket a mandatory sport in certain regions of the country, and it plans to put China among the top rank of teams by 2020. China will also, in a few days’ time, become a part of the Asian Cricket Council.Decision on new headquarters delayedThe ICC has delayed a decision on shifting its headquarters to a new location because of a last-gasp move by the British government to keep it in England. Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, said that India was among the contenders for the new headquarters, but the decision would have to wait for a while.”A last-minute intervention by UK Sport, on behalf of the UK government, to keep the ICC headquarters in England has forced us to defer our decision,” Speed said. “We are flattered by the Indian offer but the choice of venues is between London, Dubai or Malaysia, as the ICC does not wish to relocate to a full-member country.”Mani added that the decision would take financial benefits into consideration and that because of the late offer, the decision would take more time. “To accurately assess this information, the ICC Board opted to defer the decision on the future location of the ICC headquarters to its October meeting.”

In the latest round of National League games, a lightning-fast 92 from Nick Knight meant that Lancashire were chasing 310 at Edgbaston. The Warwickshire bowlers combined well in the absence of the rested Heath Streak to seal a 112-run win. Four wickets from Graeme Swann saw Northants triumph over Gloucestershire, and despite a rare failure by Andrew Symonds, Kent beat Surrey by six wickets at the Brit Oval. In Division Two, Phil Jacques scored 62 to guide Yorkshire to victory over Worcestershire in a low-scoring game at Worcester, and Notts beat Middlesex by after a century from Jason Gallian. In a tense game that went down to the final over, Somerset beat Leicestershire by 3 wickets at Bath.

National League Division One

Scorecard
Swann and Brown turn tables on Spearman – The Times

Scorecard
Kent exploits Clarke’s malaise – The Guardian

Scorecard
Lancashire in freefall – The Telegraph

National League Division Two

Scorecard
Slipshod Middlesex lose way – The Times

Scorecard
Parsons gives Sabres the edge – The Times

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Jaques leads the way – The Telegraph

England today named their squad for the first Test against West Indies at Lord’s next week. Simon Jones returned after a foot injury, while Matthew Hoggard and Mark Butcher both kept their places despite being injury worries. Robert Key, whose last Test was against Zimbabwe last year, was also included as cover for Butcher.Jones’s foot injury forced him to miss the second and third Tests against New Zealand earlier this summer, but he, along with Matthew Hoggard, warmed up well in the recent MCC match against the West Indians at Arundel.Butcher was the only injury concern in the batting department after aggravating a thigh injury while playing for Surrey in the Twenty20 Cup. However, he has until Thursday to prove his fitness, with Key waiting in the wings if Butcher is forced to pull out.However, David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, was almost certain that Butcher would be fit to play: “We are confident he will be fit and available for selection, and the decision not to play him in Surrey’s Totesport League match is purely precautionary,” he said. “Key was included as cover only.”But one issue Graveney was not quite so sure on was whether Andrew Flintoff would be able to bowl. Flintoff was originally due to miss the recent NatWest Series due to a foot problem, but played in England’s last two matches as a batsman only – and scored two hundreds. “We will be closely monitoring Flintoff’s fitness in the run-up to Thursday,” Graveney said. “We feel that the more time he has to recover and receive treatment, the greater his chances of taking part in the game as an allrounder.”Meanwhile, Butcher said that with England on a winning streak, with six victories in their last seven matches, the side is a settled one. “The Test team virtually picks itself,” he said. “If you hit upon the right sort of formula, people’s roles become a lot more defined and you know what you are required to do. That all comes from developing a winning mentality, once you start winning, people trust in others to fulfil their jobs.”He also said that he expected to be fit in time to play in the first of the four-Test series: “I think the captain and coach would want me to be 100% by Tuesday night – but I am pretty confident I will be okay.”Meanwhile, Michael Vaughan, the captain, admitted his poor run of scores is something he needs to sort out. “You always have little peaks in your career where it goes well and troughs where it doesn’t go quite so well,” he told BBC Five Live. “I only average 33 as captain and that is a fact, but there is a time around the corner where these peaks will return again. It is not a major concern but it would be nice to get back to the fluency I know I can produce.”Squad
Michael Vaughan (capt), Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Mark Butcher, Graham Thorpe, Andrew Flintoff, Geraint Jones (wk), Robert Key, Ashley Giles, Stephen Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, James Anderson.

Grant Flower has agreed to join Essex from next season. Flower, 33, has agreed a two-year deal, and will play as a non-overseas player under the “Kolpak” ruling.Flower played 67 Tests and 219 one-dayers for Zimbabwe, and fared better in the one-day format, averaging a little over 33 with the bat, and taking 104 wickets with his flattish left-arm spin. He announced his retirement from international cricket last week after playing a leading role in the recent disputes between the so-called rebel players and the Zimbabwean board.He will join his elder brother Andy, who retired from the international game after the 2003 World Cup, and who has been with Essex for three years. It will be Grant’s second spell in county cricket, after a brief flirtation with Leicestershire in 2002.Flower’s arrival at Essex will mean that they will have three Zimbabwean-born players in the squad, providing Scott Brant, their overseas fast bowler, returns next season. Flower, like his brother, will qualify as a local player because Zimbabwe has a trade agreement with the European Union. The loophole arose when Maros Kolpak, a Slovakian handball player, went to the European Court in a bid to play in Germany without being classed as a foreigner because he came from a non-European Union country. His victory meant that workers from around 100 countries who have trade agreements with the EU are now protected by European employment laws.”Grant is a very talented cricketer who will bring an added dimension to our upper order,” said David East, Essex’s chief executive. “He is a brilliant fielder and provides us with another spin-bowling option in all forms of cricket. We very much look forward to him joining us in 2005.”

A Bhopal court has ordered the registration of a contempt-of-court case against the Indian board for appointing Jagmohan Dalmiya as its patron-in-chief. reported that PK Nigam, the judge, had given an order asking the BCCI not to proceed with the proposed appointment, and the contempt application charges the board with breaching this injunction.Yogesh Khattar, a former first-class cricketer, had approached the court in Bhopal to stop Dalmiya’s appointment, feeling that it was an inapproproate step. The plea was that there was no provision for the appointment of a patron with powers superior to that of the president.After hearing the case, the court had issued an order, saying that the defendants “will not act contrary to the rules and regulations framed by the BCCI in the Special General Meeting”. However, the BCCI went ahead with their scheduled meeting last Sunday and Dalmiya was made patron-in-chief.In the application, Khattar, has also asked that all properties of the BCCI be attached by the court and that all functionaries of the BCCI be “detained in civil prison for a term of three months”.

Sourav Ganguly was lost for words in trying to describe the effect such dead wickets have on a team’s performance, after the Kanpur Test had petered out into a dull draw. In the post-match press conference, both he and his South African counterpart, Graeme Smith, decided to move forward and expect a result at Eden Gardens.Sourav Ganguly
On the state of India’s pitch preparations
I don’t know. It’s the curator’s job to prepare the pitch and we play our game. I don’t want to make any statement on that. You see what happened at Nagpur. So we just have to forget what happened here and move on to the next game and try and win it.On the habit of picking three spinners and one fast bowler
This is only the second time we have done that. The first occasion was at Mumbai where it did prove to be the correct decision. Over the last four years at home we have played a two-and-two combination. When we looked at this surface, looking at the way it would have gone as the game progressed, we thought three spinners would come into play, but that didn’t happen. And until the third day I was the only seamer to have picked up a wicket, so you cannot say an extra fast bowler would have done a better job.On India’s strategy for Kolkata, in light of South Africa’s good performance
I don’t think strategy has anything to do with it. First of all, I lost the toss which was very crucial on this pitch. If the batting had been reversed, then we would have put more pressure on them and the result would probably have been a different one. We lost crucial time because of the early-morning fog on the last two days and that definitely affected the outcome on such a flat wicket. The other factor was the South African batsmen, who batted slowly on the first two days of the Test.On the negative approach adopted by the South Africans
I wouldn’t say that the South Africans went into the game with the mindset of playing out a draw. They put up a big score, and there is always pressure when you put a 500-plus total on the board, and obviously the wicket was flat on the first two days and everyone expected it to break up afterwards. So their gameplan was put up a big score and grab early wickets to put us under pressure. So I won’t blame them.On how Virender Sehwag prospered while others didn’t
You must realise that he was batting against the new ball and that is the best time to bat on this kind of a wicket. Even when Rahul [Dravid] and I were batting and the second new ball was taken, runs started coming very quickly. But you cannot take away anything from his innings, as he is always a positive player; that’s the way he plays his innings in both forms of the game. He plays only one way: attackingly. And after he got his hundred, and South Africa had set a tight field which was difficult to pierce with the old ball, he decided to go over the top and that worked.On his chances of overturning his ICC ban and playing in the second Test
I will get to know in the next two days.Graeme Smith
On South Africa’s performance
Considering that this was the first tour of India for lot of our guys, it was a pretty solid performance. I was impressed with the way a lot of the guys have handled things – the pressure, India’s discipline and the wickets. Not many people gave us a chance after the warm-up game in Jaipur, so I am happy with the way things have gone. Unfortunately there was no result in the Test, but we move on to Eden Gardens. It’s going to be a very stressful game for all of us and I am looking forward to us getting a result there.On the disappointment of failing to force victory
You always go into the match thinking about winning it, but Virender [Sehwag] played really well and put us under a lot of pressure. He was one guy who took the game to us. Apart from him, our bowlers bowled well to other batters and hopefully we can take a lot of the gains we took from this Test into the next one.On whether this draw has put psychological pressure on the Indians
I am not one for these big psychological edges. We got to make sure we keep our focus, and compete and improve on the areas that we missed out on.On India’s suggestions that South Africa had a negative approach to the game
That’s obviously their belief, but at the end of the day we believe we played pretty good. And when we get to Eden Gardens, we will play the same tough cricket we displayed here and put them under pressure.His overall assessment of South Africa’s performance
One thing that was very impressive was the way we reverse-swung the ball. It was something we really worked hard on, and something which we were not good at in the past. All our bowlers did well with that delivery. As for the disappointments, we missed a few run-outs, a few catches and maybe let them off the hook a bit; we missed Virender’s stumping and a few chances against [Gautam] Gambhir went down. All that can make a difference in a game, especially in the subcontinent where the chances are crucial and you got to take them. So that’s one area we’ve got to improve in the next game: we need to calm the nerves as there is a lot of energy playing a Test.

England 239 for 2 (Solanki 100, Bell 53, Vaughan 54*) beat Zimbabwe 238 for 7 (Matsikenyeri 73, Ebrahim 65) by 8 wickets, and lead series 3-0
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A blistering opening assault from Vikram Solanki and Ian Bell hurtled England towards a convincing eight-wicket victory at Bulawayo. Solanki was out for a round 100, his second one-day century, but although England finished more sedately they still won – and clinched the four-match series – with 41 balls to spare.The suspicion that Zimbabwe’s total of 238 was well below par on a good pitch was proved by England’s openers, who added 138 at breakneck speed, bewildering the inexperienced bowlers. After 15 overs, at which point Zimbabwe had pottered to 45 without loss, Solanki and Bell had piled on 119 runs.At first Solanki dealt almost entirely in boundaries. He reached 36 with nine fours, including four in a row in Elton Chigumbura’s first over. He was dismissive off his legs, but the pick of those fours was a classical cover-drive, hammered into the ground at such pace that it looped over the ring of fielders and arrowed to the rope. Later he bettered even that, by clobbering Christopher Mpofu back over his head for an effortless six.Solanki eventually slowed down, proceeding through the nineties with a succession of stately singles, but still reached his century from only 89 deliveries, with 14 fours and two sixes. He was out two balls later, lofting Stuart Matsikenyeri – the fifth bowler tried and the only one to take a wicket – to long-off. He did enjoy a little luck: when he had 38 he was dropped off successive balls from the despairing Tinashe Panyangara, by Mpofu at mid-off and then by Brendan Taylor at short midwicket. Neither chance was terribly difficult, and followed another clanger in the previous over, when Bell (17) chipped to mid-on but Prosper Utseya spilled the chance.Bell himself was no slouch with the bat. He got going with a flicked six over square leg off Panyangara, and later unrolled a textbook cover-driven four and a whipped square boundary off the bemused Mpofu. He had just passed his second half-century in three ODIs when he nicked an attempted cut through to Tatenda Taibu (138 for 1).In came Michael Vaughan, content to push the ball around and shepherd Solanki to his century. No heroics were needed, and although the run rate dipped as Matsikenyeri and Utseya bustled down their offspin, England were never in any danger – except perhaps from the weather, which was threatening all afternoon and delayed the restart for an hour.

Zimbabwe’s 238 earlier in the day was a solid effort, if well short of what was required on what turned out to be a perfect batting track. Noel Peck, the groundsman, and his staff probably deserved Solanki’s Man of the Match medal for their efforts – the track was a belter even though they weren’t able to mow it yesterday because of rain.Zimbabwe started slowly against some purposeful bowling, mindful of the need to avoid a familiar collapse. Alex Wharf – brisk and straight, with a dash of attitude – continued his impressive tour with a tight opening spell, once dumping Taylor on his backside as he tried a hook. James Anderson, although occasionally wayward wide-wise, was unlucky when Taylor’s edge flew through the untenanted slip area. But Taylor, having done the hard work while the field was up, fell to the first ball of the 16th over, feathering one Jones through to another – a maiden ODI wicket for shaven-headed Simon, who replaced Darren Gough for this match and became the latest member of England’s new-bald new-ball attack.Matsikenyeri reined in his natural aggression, only occasionally allowing himself his favourite cuts. A couple rasped through the covers early on – one, in Simon Jones’s first over, threatened to burn the grass – and shortly afterwards he leant back and larruped Jones over point for six. Impetuosity has often been Matsikenyeri’s downfall in the past – his highest score in 35 previous ODIs was 44 – but this time he stuck at it until, at 73, he top-edged a paddle-sweep off Vaughan to short backward square (143 for 2).The first over of Jones’s next spell was an eventful one, containing two run-outs which derailed the Zimbabwean innings just as they were threatening to cut loose. First Mark Vermeulen was guilty of ball-watching as Paul Collingwood scooted round from point and threw down the stumps, then a mix-up found Chigumbura stranded in mid-pitch before he’d even faced a ball (165 for 4).Matsikenyeri added 98 with Dion Ebrahim, who stuck fast at the crease, nudging and nurdling neatly, and occasionally trying to break up the field with reverse-sweeps out of the Andy Flower coaching book. He perished right at the end, but his 65 occupied 94 balls, suggesting an inability to rotate the strike.Lacking the big hitters who clattered 104 in England’s last ten overs in the previous game, Zimbabwe – for whom Taibu entered too low in the order at No. 7 – could collect only 73 in the same time to lift the total to 238. It never looked like being enough.The series concludes tomorrow, with the second of Bulawayo’s back-to-back matches.Steven Lynch is editor of Cricinfo.