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Fine centuries from Dheeraj Jadhav and Mohammad Kaif intensified the Seniors’ gloom as India A set an imposing target of 387 on the penultimate day of the warm-up game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, who could conceivably open against Australia next week, negotiated a tricky ten-over passage before stumps to ensure that the Seniors would need to score at a shade under four an over to win on the final day.The day belonged, however, to Jadhav and Kaif. Jadhav, who averages a staggering 62.66 over a five-year first-class career, made an unbeaten 260 against Kenya less than a month ago, and he carried on in the same vein against the best bowlers in the country. Having driven Irfan Pathan with panache on his way to 27 overnight, he unveiled some superb punched drives through cover and some ferocious pulls when the bowlers pitched too short. He also used the sweep shot to great effect against the slow bowlers, helped by the fact that neither Harbhajan Singh nor Anil Kumble settled into any rhythm.Jadhav and Kaif added 155 for the third wicket after Dinesh Mongia had departed early in the day, chasing a wide one from Siddharth Trivedi to put a full stop on any slim chance he may have had of making the Test squad. Kaif’s was another composed knock, characterised by typically athletic scampering between the wickets and nudges all around the park. When he got to the 90s, an edge off Kumble fell just short of slip, but his century – reached when he tonked Sehwag straight back down the ground – was otherwise a polished effort that might just pitchfork him into the slot likely to be vacated by Sachin Tendulkar.With the exception of Zaheer, who threatened sporadically, the bowling was desperately disappointing, lethargic and insipid enough to lull any watching Aussie into a sense of complacency. Kumble finally got Jadhav leg before, after he had stroked a confident 113, and then Mahendra Singh Dhoni (12) slogged one from Pathan to Harbhajan at deep square leg. Trivedi ended a brief cameo from yesterday’s hero, Joginder Sharma, but the way Kaif and Venugopal Rao set about adding 44 for the sixth wicket, they could’ve batted through the day and killed off the match as a contest.

Instead, Mongia called his lads in, and then watched as Yuvraj and Sehwag set about trying to play themselves back into form. Yuvraj treated both Amit Bhandari and Shib Sankar Paul with disdain, crashing a couple of sumptuous off-drives and whipping one down to the midwicket fence. Up on the players’ balcony, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid – padded up just in case disaster struck – watched, with the captain carefully sandpapering a new willow.They were soon joined by Pranab Roy, one of two men to be retained as national selector. And while he and Ganguly had a chat, Sehwag uncorked two magnificent on-drives to suggest that a corner might have been turned. Sadly, that was followed moments later by an atrocious hoick at Murali Kartik that, fortunately for him, fell out of reach of Rao at forward short leg.When he came back to the pavilion ten minutes later, Sehwag had the sort of beaming smile you normally associate with someone who ran into a ten-ton prop-forward and lived to tell the tale. Next to him, John Wright was shaking hands with Syed Kirmani, who had come to wish the team he had helped pick for the last one year the very best of luck. On this sort of showing, they might need it too.

Somerset’s Twenty20 win secured them their first trophy since 2001 as they toppled Lancashire, the favourites from the start of the season until the start of the final, with a clinically attacking performance. Their seamers reduced Lancashire to 41 for 5 and then Graeme Smith led Somerset home with an unbeaten 64.Somerset’s triumph was more extraordinary given the situation they found themselves in during the semi-final against Leicestershire, with the defending champions requiring 80 from 12 overs before their batting imploded against some superb bowling and livewire fielding from Somerset.For Smith, named man of the match, the trophy was a perfect way for him to leave Somerset, as he heads back to South Africa to prepare for the next international season. “It means a lot. I’ve come in and I feel I have been part of building towards the future. It’s just fantastic to finish off and see the guys perform so well. This is my last day with the team so to walk away with a trophy is special and I’ll get on that plane with a really good feeling.”It’s been good for my game as well being here. From a batting point of view Twenty20 has really benefited my game. I’ve been able to hit the ball out of the ground, which is something I’ve not done before and I’ve found a new type of game working over here on some good wickets.”Smith felt the key to Somerset’s success in both the semi-final and final was their efforts in the field. “First game, getting 157, I though we’d cooked ourselves and then especially when they got to 75 for 0 and I knew we were struggling. But the key thing was the guys never gave up. In these conditions, in front of big crowds, with big pressure, some of these guys who aren’t used to those types of conditions can crack if you keep going at them and they gave it to us.”Then, with the ball upfront [in the final], Andy Caddick was brilliant. You can see he has been on the big stage for a lot of his life, he just looks forward to the occasion and he took two big wickets and it really made the difference. He was backed up by Richard Johnson and some superb fielding.”Mark Chilton, Lancashire captain, was philosophical in defeat, and admitted that it was the batting which fell short of its usual standard. “We never quite put enough runs on the board. We’ve been so strong in the competition all year round that it’s just a shame that we fell at the final hurdle.”Twenty20 is the type of game where you just don’t quite catch the ball right, but I felt the big turning point was Andrew Symonds’s run out. He has been in great form and if he had been able to a build a partnership for us for four or five overs we would have been quite well placed.”We watched the second semi-final as we hadn’t seen much of Somerset but obviously it didn’t do us much good.”

Zimbabwe Cricket’s player contracts debate took a surprise turn after the board withdrew the contract offers to three players – Stuart Carlisle, Neil Ferreira and Barney Rogers.On Thursday, ZC announced that only three players – Heath Streak, Tatenda Taibu and Andy Blignaut – would get long-term contracts, but four other senior players, Trevor Gripper, DougMarillier, Mark Vermuelen and Mluleki Nkala, did not even make the initial list of 27 players to get the level-one performance-based contracts.The board said that the decision to give short-term performance-related contracts had resulted from recent poor displays. “It’s a strange decision,” one of the players made the offer said. “It’s completely taken everyone by surprise. It’s a body blow. We are not sure of the reasons why ZC had to resort to such a move. It hasn’t helped morale at all ahead of the next game (on Sunday against India).”The players feel strongly about the issue. The guys have discussed it and felt that they should just go on and play tomorrow to keep cricket going, but they are completely devastated by the decision.”Carlisle has been struggling with form since returning to the side following the rebel strike. But Ferreira and Rogers are two of the most talented and promising young players in Zimbabwe. Insiders suggest that the two might have had clashes with certain ZC board members. Rogers was a surprise omission from the Test series with New Zealand, and the Videocon one-day tri-series, raising rumours of a clash with the selectors. Ferreira was rather harshly discarded after his debut Test against New Zealand, and that followed a long period of him being inexplicably overlooked.Gripper, Marillier and Vermuelen, the other players cast into the wilderness, have previously fallen out with ZC, and Gripper’s father was identified by ZC officials as being one of the main figures in last year’s player strike. Nkala, one of the more experienced young players in the team, is the chairman of the Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers’ Association.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has reacted angrily to reports that Mohammad Yousuf’s – formerly Yousuf Youhana – conversion to Islam was influenced by religious elements within the team.In a statement the PCB said: “[We] categorically state that Yousuf’s decision was entirely personal and that no religious oriented pressure or influence was brought to bear on him by current or former players. The press report…is baseless and should be ignored.”Yousuf, 31, who has played 59 Tests and 202 ODIs for Pakistan, converted to Islam from Christianity earlier this week and it has caused tensions in his family. He is expected to play a crucial role in the Test series against England, starting in November.

England’s Ashes hero, Andrew Flintoff, had further cause for celebration today as the ICC short-listed him for the Player of the Year award. Flintoff was among seven cricketers nominated, including three other awards, to be announced in Sydney on October 11.The award only covers the period between August 1, 2004 and July 31, 2005, meaning Flintoff’s Ashes heroics aren’t taken into account. The other six nominated for the prestigious award were reigning player of the year Rahul Dravid of India, Australians Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath, Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq and South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis.The nominations for three other awards were also announced at a media conference by ICC official Jamie Stewart.There were 15 nominees for the Test Player of the Year, including leg-spin wizard Shane Warne of Australia, prolific batsman Brian Lara of the West Indies and Virender Sehwag of India. There were six nominees for the Emerging Player of the Year: Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell of England, Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik of India, Manjural Islam Rana of Bangladesh and A.B. De Villiers of South Africa.Nominees Rahul Dravid, Andrew Flintoff, Inzamam-ul Haq, Jacques Kallis, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, and Ricky Ponting. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Adam Gilchrist, Inzamam-ul Haq, Jacques Kallis, Younis Khan, Brian Lara, Damien Martyn, Anil Kumble, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Danish Kaneria, Kumar Sangakkara, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Shane Warne. Rahul Dravid, Andrew Flintoff, Herschelle Gibbs, Adam Gilchrist, Inzamam-ul Haq, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Justin Kemp, Shoaib Malik, Kevin Pietersen, Daniel Vettori, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, Graeme Smith, Andrew Symonds, Marcus Trescothick, Chaminda Vaas and Yousuf Youhana. Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Manjural Islam Rana and A.B. De Villiers.

Six of Mashonaland’s leading clubs are on the verge of ceding from the Mashonaland Cricket Association and forming their own splinter league as the long-running dispute between clubs and board rumbles on.The increasingly erratic Mashonaland board expelled the six clubs – Harare Sports Club, Old Hararians, Old Georgians, Alexandra, Takashinga and Universals – after they scrapped their opening league matches in protest at the way the MCA was being run. They were accused of bringing the game into disrepute. The MCA immediately revised the first division fixtures: of all the sides who played in the 2004-05 competition, only Uprising where included, with the rest made up from clubs in the second tier.The situation turned nasty last weekend when Cyprian Mandenge, the MCA chairman, and Bruce Makovah, the province’s head selector, backed by local policemen, walked onto the ground during the match between Harare Sports Club and Old Hararians at Harare Sports Club and refused to allow the game to proceed. It is alleged that players were racially abused and threatened with never playing for the province again.The MCA now face a real problem. While it has expelled the clubs, the six contain almost all the province’s regional and national players. An official of one of the clubs told the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper: “We have got most of the national team players, and nothing will stop us from playing cricket. We do not need quantity cricket, we need quality cricket. If it means the six top clubs in the country playing among themselves, then it’s actually a good thing for our cricket.”Ozias Bvute, Zimbabwe Cricket’s managing director, told reporters that the board would only get involved when a formal notification of events was presented to it. “What we have been hearing are just rumours and we do not work on the basis of rumours,” he said. “Mashonaland is an independent body and there has to be some level of autonomy. But it is certainly a cause for concern for us when our affiliates are squabbling.”The problem affects ZC more than those comments suggest. Mandenge, as chairman of the MCA, is on the board of ZC, and Makovah was named as a national selector, although the appointment is on hold because of procedural anomalies. If the pair, as a number of witnesses claim, did threaten and abuse players, it raises serious image issues for Zimbabwe Cricket at a time it has done much to publicly clean up its act.

South Africa have tasted success ahead of the first one-day match at Hyderabad, beginning November 16, as they raced to a comfortable eight-wicket victory in a warm-up match against the Hyderabad Board XI yesterday.Good performances from Andrel Nel (3 for 14) and Johan Botha, the offspinner, restricted the opposition to just 127. Botha took 3 for 34 in his 10 overs, impressing with the sharp bounce and turn he extracted from the pitch, and justifying the selectors’ decision to include him as their specialist spinner for the tour to India.Speaking to , Graeme Smith, the South African captain, said Botha’s performance, though against a weaker team, was just the start the team was looking for. “I was very satisfied with the spin Johan achieved. Even our opponents’ spinners did not get the same kind of movement. He changes his speed and also has good control. We don’t want to put too much pressure on him too soon and I think the tour will be valuable experience for him.” Botha is expected to make his debut in Wednesday’s match at Hyderabad as Smith and Mickey Arthur, the coach, have indicated that the same team could play.Smith himself scored 44 and AB de Villiers top scored with an unbeaten 56 as South Africa easily ran down the Hyderabad Board XI’s meager total. Speaking on de Villier’s knock, Smith said that it was good to see him among the runs, adding that he looked comfortable once settled in. “I think the time AB spent at the crease will do a lot for his self confidence. Net practice is just not the same,” he said.de Villiers, who struggled in the recent one-day series against New Zealand, remains unperturbed by his run of low scores in the shorter format of the game. “My form most of the time has been very good, in fact it’s been a while since I’ve been in such good form. (Unfortunately) the runs are just not coming, but… it’s just a question of time,” de Villiers told . “It’s just the nature of one-day cricket; if you’re a little bit unlucky then you can get five ducks in a row. If it’s your day you can get 150, if not, you get nothing.” South Africa will hope for the aggressive opener to fire as they look to continue their fine record of 19 matches without a loss.In the 12 one-day matches he has played in, de Villiers has yet to make a noteworthy score, and an average of just 17 seems way below what is expected of an audacious strokemaker. However, he is confident that a big score is around the corner, adding that adapting to Indian surfaces is not a major worry. “It’s just in the mind I think. There are a few small things, nothing major. You’re looking to play straight, the ball stays low and it swings for the first five overs.” With Irfan Pathan, the medium fast bowler, getting the ball to move a fair amount in India’s 6-1 drubbing of Sri Lanka, de Villiers is well aware of the threat that he poses at the start of the innings. “It swings more than in South Africa. So your technique needs to be perfect for the first five overs. But once you’re set it’s much easier.”In a surprise move, Justin Ontong was announced as replacement while Andrew Hall, Albie Morkel and Robbie Peterson did not make the team. Even though Ontong was included in the squad as batsman, Smith and the team management have decided to use him as an allrounder. “Onters can deliver a few overs as spinner, while we can also bat him at No.3 to get the most from him in the 20 overs when fielding restrictions apply,” Smith said. “To give guys exposure to the conditions here are exactly what we said we would do on this tour.”The first of five one-day matches begins November 16 at Hyderabad, and is the only day match.

Plate Group Points Table
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Sadagoppan Ramesh, the former Indian opener, scored his first century for his new team as Kerala drew with Jammu & Kashmir after the fourth day’s play of the Ranji Plate Group match at Jammu. J&K had declared its innings at 426 for 6 after centuries from Kavaljit Singh and Dhruv Mahajan, but with little time left in the match, Kerala were left to bat out the final two sessions of the day. J&K earned two points owing to their first innings total.
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An unbeaten 107 from Vijay Bharadwaj, who shifted from Karnataka this season, secured Jharkhand a draw against Rajasthan at Jaipur, the tourists scoring 370 for 6 after being forced to follow on. Shamsher Singh, the medium pacer, took his match tally to seven wickets in an attempt to bowl Jharkhand out, but Bharadwaj’s knock proved decisive and he was assisted by a vital 84 from Rajiv Kumar, the Jharkhand captain.
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The trio of Naman Ojha, Abbas Ali and B Tomar scored battling fifties to take Madhya Pradesh to 287 for 5 and ensure a draw with Assam at Indore. Resuming the day’s play on 57 for no loss, MP were consistently troubled by the left-arm spin of Anand Katti, whose lengthy spell of 4 for 90 from 50 overs gave him eight in the match. Assam also walked away with two points after scoring 358 in their first innings.
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Sandeep Singh and Madhusudhan Acharya snapped up six wickets between them as Vidharbha bundled out Goa for just 149 and chased the 54 required for victory to register their first win of the season at Nagpur. Goa’s inability to score more than 150 in both innings will be an uninspiring aspect for their captan and coach, and they will need to pick themselves up before their next match against Tripura.

Umpires Rudi Koertzen and Darrell Hair from the ICC Elite Panel have been appointed to officiate the first Test between India and Pakistan at Lahore starting January 13. Koertzen will be joined by Simon Taufel for the second Test at Faisalabad starting January 21 while Taufel will be joined by Daryl Harper for the third and final Test, at Karachi starting January 29. Ranjan Madugalle will be the match referee for the Tests and will be replaced by Chris Broad for the five-match ODI series.Taufel will stay on for the first three matches of the ODI series (at Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore) before Steve Bucknor takes over for the last two games, at Multan and Karachi.Apart from the India-Pakistan series, the ICC has also announced the Elite Panel and International Panel match referee and umpire appointments for all Tests and ODIs up to late March 2006.Jeff Crowe will be the match referee for the VB Series between Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. If the finals go to a third and deciding match (which would be played at Brisbane) that encounter would be Crowe’s 50th as a referee. The umpires for the VB Series are Aleem Dar and Mark Benson. Dar will stand in eight matches (if the third final is required) and Benson will officiate in seven matches.For the West Indies tour of New Zealand starting February, match referee Mike Procter will officiate in all matches. Rudi Koertzen and Daryl Harper will officiate the ODI series. Harper will then stand in the first two matches of the Test series alongside Koertzen at Auckland and Mark Benson at Wellington. Benson will stand alongside Ian Howell, in the final match at Napier.For Sri Lanka’s tour of Bangladesh, the match referee for the tour will be Clive Lloyd. Umpire K Hariharan will officiate in the ODIs. Asad Rauf will be joined by Steve Bucknor in the first Test at Chittagong and Hariharan in the second Test at Dhaka.Chris Broad will be the match referee for Australia’s five-ODI and three-Test tour of South Africa. Jeremy Lloyds will stand in the first four ODIs before Aleem Dar takes charge of the final match. Lloyds will stand in the first two Tests of the series, at Cape Town and Port Elizabeth respectively, alongside Dar and Steve Bucknor. Bucknor will stay on for the final match at Centurion where he will be joined by Tony Hill.Ranjan Madugalle will be the match referee for the Test series between India and England.The umpires for the first Test will be Aleem Dar and Ian Howell. Simon Taufel and Darrell Hair will then stand in the second and third Tests of the series at Mohali and Mumbai respectively. The appointments for the ODI series between India and England, together with other future series, will be made in due course.Full details of the umpires and refereeing appointments can be viewed at the umpires and referees section of the ICC website.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has again accepted a request by Inzamam-ul-Haq to appoint Mushtaq Ahmed, the veteran legspinner, as the bowling consultant of the senior team for the home series against India.A senior Board official confirmed that Mushtaq would continue in the role on the request of the team management. “We didn’t have time to call an ad-hoc committee meeting to discuss future appointments due to the Eid holidays and other problems. But because the team management made a request we decided to retain Mushtaq as consultant after speaking to the committee members.”Mushtaq, 35, was originally recalled to the Test squad for the series against England in November but didn’t play in any of the matches. He was dropped for the one-day series against England but retained as a bowling consultant by the Board. But he was released after the series.Mushtaq was seen working with the players at the nets and was confident he would be getting the nod once again. It is no secret that Inzamam and coach Bob Woolmer are both comfortable with him working with the other players and remaining attached with the team. “Mushtaq is a very experienced cricketer and knows all these players well,” Inzamam said. “He is a good communicator and they can discuss things with him without any problems. He is a big help which is why we wanted him as a bowling consultant.”Mushtaq, who has a contract with English county Sussex for this year, has taken 185 wickets in 52 Tests and 161 in 144 one-dayers. The official said this contract was a big hindrance in the Board appointing him as an assistant coach on a long-term basis. The official also said that a decision on the assistant coach would be taken after the Indian series now.In a statement to the press, the PCB revealed that it has also called upon three other former Pakistani bowlers to assist the current crop. “Shahryar Khan [PCB Chairman] has invited Pakistan legends Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis to help out the national team with their bowling whenever they are available to do so,” a PCB official said.