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Northerns’ win over Boland at Paarl took them well clear at the top of the Shield table:Shield – 4th day:Northerns 451 for 7 dec and 173 for 6 dec beat Boland 259and 218 (Strydom 52, Dros 5-17) by 147 runs
ScorecardBoland’s target of 366 proved to be far too high, as they were bowled out for 218 at Paarl. The last five wickets tumbled for 27, to spoil any cghance Boland might have had to force a draw. Gerald Dros, Northerns’ captain, who had bowled only 22 previous overs this season, brought himself on in the 69th over, and produced career-best figures of 5 for 17 in 4.1 overs as he ripped through the Boland tail. Gerard Strydom again top-scored for Boland, with 52.Gauteng 34 for 1 v Eastern Province
ScorecardFor the third day running no play was possible at the Wanderers. After just half-an-hour’s play on the first day neither team scored any points and had to be content with a soggy draw.

It’s been a rare good week for Zimbabwe cricket with their victory over West Indies in the opening ODI at Harare, but off the field things are not so rosy.A report by Malcolm Conn in today’s Australian newspaper claims that Peter Chingoka, the Zimbabwe cricket chairman, and Ozias Bvute, the board’s controversial managing director, could face charges under the ICC’s code of ethics next year.In the summer the ZC executive was slammed in a leaked private report from Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, although publicly the ICC maintained the same hands-off approach that it has for several years. However, Speed’s comments regarding the accounts were damning, concluding: “It is clear that the accounts of ZC have been deliberately falsified to mask various illegal transactions from the auditors and the government of Zimbabwe.”In June the ICC appointed KPMG to carry out an independent forensic audit, which has recently finished, and which Conn claims to have seen. It reveals “alarming but unsurprising irregularities in ZC’s finances, including millions of dollars in ICC dividends that remain unaccounted for,” the paper said. “There has been a lack of co-operation and documentation from ZC, with Chingoka and Bvute constantly changing their explanations for transactions. This includes numerous transactions involving UK bank accounts that have not been adequately justified.”Stakeholders inside Zimbabwe, almost all of whom have been removed from office in recent purges instigated by Chingoka, have long maintained there were glaring irregularities in the accounts but the board has steadfastly refused to address their concerns. The board’s recent AGM, the one forum where such matters could be raised, was by invitation only and ZC even struck off life vice-presidents to avoid them being able to attend.The ICC’s code of ethics states that “each director shall act in an honest and ethical manner. In order to facilitate the transparent operation of the ICC, conduct that gives the appearance of impropriety will also be unacceptable.”The ICC won’t comment other than to say the report will be considered when the ICC executive meets again in February, but the Australian suggests that there is enough evidence to have Bvute and Chingoka removed from their ICC positions.Chingoka has been ZC chairman since 1992 and as the senior member of the ICC’s executive has used his contacts and experience to deflect much of the criticism aimed at the running of the sport in the country. Bvute was brought in by Chingoka in 2002 and many critics maintain the rapid decline of the game can be traced to his arrival.

Sri Lanka have landed in Australia in a buoyant mood and are confident of posting their first Test win in the country during the two-match series. Despite losing a one-day contest to England already this month, Mahela Jayawardene, the captain, believes the squad is good enough to compete with the new-look hosts.”We’re confident we can play good cricket and if we play good cricket we will be in with a very good chance of winning some matches,” he said shortly after the team flew into Adelaide. “If I can finish 1-0, I will take that. If I can finish 2-0, I will take that, too. But the most important thing for us is how we compete. To beat Australia you need to be with them for four days. You can’t compete for one-and-a-half sessions and expect to win.”Sri Lanka have arrived during a debate in Australia about crowd behaviour and Jayawardene hoped racism would not overshadow the Test series, which begins in Brisbane on November 8. However, Trevor Bayliss, who coached New South Wales before accepting the Sri Lanka job, expected at least some racist taunts during the tour.”There are idiots in any crowd,” he said. “I don’t know whether you’re going to stop that 100%, but the majority of the crowd realise it’s the wrong thing to do. I think there will be one or two idiots, put it that way.” Sri Lanka had crowd problems in Adelaide the last time they toured and Muttiah Muralitharan is expected to be targeted by the home crowds as he looks for the nine wickets to overhaul Shane Warne’s record of 708.”Murali has not played here for ten years in a Test match and he’s geared up,” Jayawardene said. “He sees Australia as one of the places he has to challenge himself. For him to prove himself that he’s taken so many wickets around the world, he’s looking forward to the challenge.”Muralitharan will play in the tour-opener on Saturday, which is a hastily-arranged three-day warm-up against a Chairman’s XI at Adelaide. It is one of two practice matches before the first Test and Sri Lankan officials requested the extra game having learned from previous tourists who had come unstuck in Australia through insufficient practice.Sri Lanka certainly need the preparation after surprisingly losing at home to England. They recovered to win the last match of a close series, which finished 3-2, and gain some momentum heading to Australia. “The main positive thing was our bowling attack,” Jayawardene said. “All four fast bowlers bowled well.”But the disappointing factor was how we batted throughout that series. We learned a lot, we needed to brush up. But the guys have been working very hard. It was a very good series. We just couldn’t turn it around.”They won’t be underestimating Australia, even though they have lost Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer. “They probably lack a bit of experience and that’s an area we can look forward to,” Jayawardene said. “But we can’t take them lightly at all. They’ve got a very good batting side as well.”We have to be very aggressive against Australia. We want to concentrate to our strengths. We will be aggressive but not to the extent that we will get involved with any silly incidents.”Sri Lanka have been criticised for being unable to deal with the faster surfaces in Australia, but Jayawardene insisted this was in the past and they had shown they could compete here, in the one-dayers at least. “We’ve proved we can handle pace and bounce against quality opposition and it’s a good testing ground for us to see how far we’ve come.”He also warned that teams should not underestimate Sri Lanka as a Test side. “We’ve competed well in the last 18 months – beating New Zealand in New Zealand and England in England. This is another place for us to challenge ourselves and see how far we’ve come as a Test team. That’s a goal we set ourselves three years ago. We’re pretty strong at home but for us to compete away from home we have to be very strong.”

Women’s cricket is again at the forefront of innovation with the announcement that the first trial match for the new pink balls will be a state game in January. Women’s cricket paved the way for overarm bowling; it introduced the World Cup, and held the first international Twenty20 and now it is to help in important test situations.The first match will be Queensland and Western Australia on January 10, a curtain-raiser for the men’s Twenty20 between Queensland and Tasmania at the Gabba.The MCC is considering introducing fluorescent pink balls to county one-day cricket if trials are successful, according to a report in . The logic is that a pink ball may be seen more easily, and a fraction earlier, by a batsman than a white one.The new balls, made by Kookaburra, will also be tested at Lord’s indoor school this winter and will be used in university and 2nd XI matches next year. If scientists at Imperial College, London, can get the balls to keep their colour, they could be used in one-day county cricket next year and even eventually in one-day internationals.The MCC, which is responsible for the laws of cricket, has been testing different colours for the last year. Its head of cricket, John Stephenson, is responsible for the innovation and he told : “Paint tends to flake off white balls and we have asked Kookaburra to produce a batch of pink ones because these show up so much better.”The challenge is to produce a ball which retains its colour – I doubt it will be any more expensive to produce or buy. I have asked Mike Gatting, the ECB’s managing director of cricket partnerships, to use them in county second XI one-day matches, but we shall start by trying them in fixtures such as MCC v Europe and in the university matches we sponsor.”My aim would be to use the pink ball in Twenty20 cricket in 2009 and thereafter in one-day international cricket, but this will be dependent on trials and what the ECB thinks.”

Chasing a target of 380 in the fourth innings, Goa were 26/1 at stumpson the third day of their Ranji Trophy South Zone clash againstHyderabad at the Nuclear Fuel Complex ground in Hyderabad. Earlier thehosts declared their second knock at 239/8 thanks to half centuriesfrom Daniel Manohar and Vanka Pratap.In the morning Goa added just a solitary run to their overnight scoreof 174/9 before succumbing in the third over of the day and concedinga 140 run first innings deficit. Venkatapathy Raju took his inningstally to 5/16 with the last scalp.Hyderabad openers Daniel Manohar and Nanda Kishore gave a solidfoundation at the top of the order with a 65 run stand inside 15overs. The Goan attack intervened by capturing two quick wicketsbefore Manohar found another able ally in Vanka Pratap with whom hebuilt a 60 run fourth wicket stand.Manohar finally fell for 82 (131 balls, 6 fours) and although SayyadKhalid effected a middle order slump by taking four of the next fivewickets, Pratap guided Hyderabad safely through to the declarationfive minutes after tea. He remained undefeated on 77 (118 balls, 7fours).

Pakistan will be aiming to seal their first home series win in five years when they take on Bangladesh in the second Test, which starts on Wednesday in the north-western border city of Peshawar.Once invincible in their own backyard, Pakistan have not won a series onhome turf since whitewashing West Indies in 1997-98. “We are heading in the right direction,” Rashid Latif, Pakistan’s captain, said today. “What happened in the past is past, and now the young team is progressing well as we aim to build for the future.”Pakistan have lost four successive home series, to Australia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and England. Their first-round exit from this year’s World Cup prompted the selectors to induct fresh blood into the team, and one of those young players made a glorious debut in the first Test against Bangladesh at Karachi.Latif pinned the team’s hopes on new batting star Yasir Hameed, who marked his debut last week with a century in each innings. Latif said: “We have found a good batsman in Yasir Hameed to supplement the middle-order batting.”Hameed’s twin centuries led Pakistan to a seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh. Peshawar will present more of a problem for both sides, however. Both teams will have to battle oppressive monsoon heat and humidity, at a venue where Pakistan have lost two of their past three Tests.”Conditions are tough, but they should bring out the best from the tough,”Latif said. “Bowling long spells will be difficult. We hope to put up a big total and dictate the terms.” Latif also hinted that the 11 players from the first Test would be retained for the second Test.Dav Whatmore, Bangladesh’s coach, saw signs of improvement within his team’s loss in Karachi. “I hope the boys build further on that,” said Whatmore. Bangladesh, Test cricket’s 10th and newest nation, have lost 21 of their 22Tests, with one rained-off draw against Zimbabwe.Bangladesh are likely to bring in Mohammad Ashraful and Manjurul Islam in place of Sanwar Hossain and Tapash Baisya.Teams (from)Pakistan Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umer, Yasir Hameed, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Misbah-ul-Haq, Rashid Latif (capt, wk), Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed, Danish Kaneria, Umer Gul, Shoaib Malik.Bangladesh Hannan Sarkar, Javed Omar, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Sanwar Hossain, Razin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Khaled Mashud (wk), Khaled Mahmud (capt), Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Mortaza, Manjurul Islam, Alamgir Kabir, Tapash Baisya.Umpires Steve Bucknor (WI) and Russell Tiffin (Zim)TV umpire Asad Rauf (Pak)Match referee Mike Procter (SA)

Somerset 282 for 6 (Hildreth 98*, Gazzard 58, Phillips 4-43) beat Essex 278 (Bopara 91) by four wickets
ScorecardRavi Bopara sent the England selectors a timely reminder of his talents with a fine innings of 91 but Essex still fell to a four-wicket defeat to Somerset in the Pro-ARCH Trophy in Abu Dhabi.Bopara hit ten fours and a six during his 104-ball stay at the crease that was ended by a terrific stumping down the leg side by Craig Kieswetter off the bowling of Peter Trego. Essex were 93 for 4 at one stage before James Foster (40), Tim Phillips (41) and James Middlebrook (30) hauled them up to the respectability of 278 on a benign pitch at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.It was Somerset’s debut in the competition, having arrived in the Middle East without Marcus Trescothick on Saturday. But they hit the ground running with the bat and didn’t hesitate during the chase, even after falling to 151 for 5 with the required rate loitering around six per over.Trego (22) and Carl Gazzard (58) opened the innings superbly with an first-wicket partnership of 48 but after Phillips (4 for 43) had smashed through the middle order, Somerset’s aspirations of becoming the first team in the tournament to win a match batting second were only rescued by James Hildreth, whose unbeaten 98 not only clinched the match but will no doubt interest the England selectors as a sign of his growing maturity.Hildreth switched comfortably between nudger and blaster to steer Somerset home, enjoying the strong support of Omari Banks (27) and Steffan Jones (30*) but he was denied the century he so richly deserved when Jones thumped successive boundaries through extra cover off the bowling of Ryan ten Doeschate to seal victory with eight balls to spare.Defeat for Essex was their second in three nights, having also fallen to Lancashire, and they return to Sharjah for their final match in the PRO-Arch Trophy on Thursday, against Sussex.

The Christchurch Junior Cricket Association Draw for Saturday, November 8All matches to start at 9amSenior Traditional Two-day2-day MatchSection1Es1 v Bwu1 Burn10,Med1 v Stac1 Med1,Nb1 v Hals1 Halsd1,Oc1 v Es2 Burw3.Section 2Cagr1 v Hare1 Cagr1,Hals2 v Stac2 Stac2,Hh1 v Es3 Cla1,Oc2 v Syd1 Elm4.Senior Traditional One-daySection 1Bwu2 v Hals3 Halsd2,Es5 v Es4 Clare2,Bwu3 v Sum1 Bar1,Oc3 v Hsob1 Mal1,Oc4 v Med2 Mal2Horn1 v Syd5 Cash1.Section 2Bwu4 v Cagr2 Burn5,Syd7 v Lpw2 Syd2,Med3 v Syd6 Syd3a,Nb2 v Stac3 Stac3,Stc1 v Syd2 Beck2,Sum2 v Horn2 Ilam3,Pk4 v Sum3 Bar2.Section 3Bwu5 v Bwu7 Burn7,Lpw4 v Stc2 Ens2,Upr1 v Med4 Ilam,Mp1 v Bwu6 Emc1,Oc5 v Med6 Ilam1,Oc6 v Med5 Ilam2,Es6 v Oc8 Por1,Oc7 v Syd8 Cash2a.Junior Traditional One-daySection 1Es11 v Syd14 ChSouth1a,Med7 v Oc11 Ilam4,Es10 v Oc15 Ilam5,Pk5 v Oc10 Ilam6.Section 2Bwu9 v Cagr3 Cagr3,Syd15 v Hals4 Halsd3,Hals5 v Sum4 Halsd4,Horn3 v Oc12 Dent1,Oc13 v Nb3 Raw1,Es12 v Syd17 Por2,Hare2 v Lpw5 Red1.Section 3Heath1 v Hals6 Hd1,Oc14 v Stac4 Stac4a,Upr2 v Oc16 Rd1,Syd18 v Bwu8 Burn8,Lpw6 v Pk6 Ens3,Upr3 v Nb4 Southbd1a.Junior ModifiedZone 1Bwu10 v Hals8 West1a,Hals7 v Bwu11 Oak1a,Hsob3 v Oc20 Kirk1a,Oc21 v Oc24 Polo1a,Sum5 v Med8 Polo2a,Oc23 v Oc22 Fns1a.Zone 2Es14 v Es15 Sis1a,Es16 v Syd22 Thor1a,Mp2 v Mp3 Polo4a,Syd21 v Syd20 Polo3a.Junior AverageZone 1Sum7 v Hals12 Brgn1,Lpw9 v Hals10 Brgn4,Hals9 v Heath2 Brgn5,Hals11 v Lpw8 Walt5,Syd30 v Sum6 Walt6,Syd31 v Syd34 Brgn6,Syd32 v Syd35 Brgn7,Hh2 v Syd33 Brgn8.Zone2Stac5 v Es23 BurwN3,Nb6 v Cagr5 Walt4,Cagr4 v Stac6 Walt7,Pk7 v Nb5 Walt8,Es24 v Oc35 BurwN1,Es25 v Oc34 BurwN2,Syd37 v Hare3 Brgn2,Oc36 v Syd36 Brgn3.Zone3Med10 v Ricc1 Jel2,Horn4 v Hsob4 Jel3,Mp4 v Med9 Jel4,Oc30 v Oc32 Jel5,Oc33 v Mp5 Jel6,Oc31 v Oc37 Jel7.KiwiZone1Lpw10 v Syd42 Brad6,Syd41 v Syd40 Brad5,Syd43 v Heath3 Brad4,Sum9 v Hals14 Brad3,Hh3 v Sum8 Brad2Syd44 v Hals13 Brad1.Zone 2Cagr6 v Nb7 Walt1,Nb8 v Med11 Walt2,Cagr7 v Stac7 Walt3.Zone 3Pk8 v Oc43 Elm5,Horn5 v Upr4 Jel9,Oc40 v Horn6 Elm9,Ricc2 v Pk9 Jel8,Oc41 v Oc44 Elm6,Oc42 v Oc45 Elm7,Oc46 v Mp7 Elm8,Mp6 v Tait1 Jel1.

The fixture list for the 2004 Twenty20 Cup was announced by the ECB today. After the success of this year’s inaugural competition, the format has been expanded to include quarter-finals. There is also a designated “Derby Day” – when several local derby matches will be played – and the list also includes the first Twenty20 match at Lord’s (Middlesex v Surrey on July 15), and the first Twenty20 international, between the England and New Zealand women’s teams (at Hove on August 5).The main county competition will again start with three regional preliminary groups of six. The first matches are on Friday, July 2. Next year the top two counties in each of the three groups will progress to the quarter-finals, along with the two best-performed third-place teams. The semi-finals and finals will be played at Edgbaston on Saturday, August 7.The new “Derby Day”, on the evening of Friday, July 9, will feature five of English cricket’s major derby fixtures: Gloucestershire v Somerset, Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire, Surrey v Kent, Sussex v Hampshire, and Warwickshire v Worcestershire.The ECB undertook extensive research during the Twenty20 Cup in 2003. This suggested that the aim of reaching a new and younger audience was realised: 62% of the audience was under 34, and 23% were female, compared to 16% and 15% respectively at a typical Frizzell County Championship match. The research also showed that 32% of females were watching a cricket match for the first time. In addition, 36% of men, 58% of women, and 47% of under-25s stated that their image of cricket had changed in a positive way as a result of their Twenty20 Cup experiences.

Scorecard

Tom Plant and Callum Ferguson were hanging on for South Australia as they faced the almost impossible assignment of batting for more than two days to force a draw against New South Wales at the SCG. Plant was unbeaten on 64 and Ferguson had 41 as they tried to restore some pride to a team that had fallen to 3 for 33 after being dismissed for 29 yesterday.Phil Jaques, who resumed on 154, cruised to his double century as New South Wales built the intimidating lead. Nathan Bracken, who took 7 for 4 on day one, was unbeaten on 34, five more than the Redbacks’ first-innings total.Shaun Tait collected four wickets for South Australia but was slightly expensive through 34 overs while Dan Cullen claimed two victims.