The ultimatum set down by the England board, to finalise the itinerary for England’s tour of India early next year by October 31, appears to have had an impact on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).The BCCI had initially sent out a negative response to the ECB’s request, saying that it would not be possible to meet their demand and release the itinerary by October 31. But the announcement that the existing Tour, Programme and Fixtures Committee, led by Kamal Morarka, will meet on October 29, in Delhi, came as an about turn.Both the boards have agreed on a tentative schedule – with the Tests set to be played between March 8 and 29 and the ODIs from April 4 to 22 – for the series that will include three Tests and seven ODIs. But the announcement of the final itinerary was partly delayed owing to the postponement of the BCCI’s annual general meeting, which was set for September but is yet to be reconvened. The lack of a new set of office bearers has become an obstacle to the transaction of usual business.SK Nair, the secretary of the BCCI, said that the decision was reached after “extensive discussions”. “We are banking on the elections to form a new committee,” he told . “But since we will take time, it was agreed to take the present panel to decide on the venues.”The committee will also take a decision on the venues for the three Tests against Sri Lanka, beginning on December 2.

Salman Butt continued his impressive run in this series with another half-century, again made by eschewing his naturally aggressive game. But his dismissal, in contentious circumstances adding to a litany of such moments in this match, took the spotlight away from his third Test half-century.Just before he was dismissed by Shaun Udal, Butt had taken a single to point to what would have been the last ball of the over. But Darrell Hair called it a dead ball, after it appeared Butt had run on the pitch while completing his single. Pakistan had already been warned twice for running on the pitch during their innings, which prompted Hair to annul the delivery. Butt took guard again as the ball was replayed and was out leg-before.Speaking to reporters later, Butt was reluctant to talk about the incident. “I haven’t got much to say. It was the umpire’s decision. He was just trying to tell me to stay away from patches of the wicket in my running. He didn’t have a word with me before the first warning.”Butt pointed out that it wasn’t intentionally done as he was attempting to run down a different line. “I was just trying to run a different line this time. I had collided with Younis Khan while running with him earlier so I was running a different line.”His dismissal was part of a mini-collapse which saw Pakistan end the day at 183 for 6, having been at one stage, 104 for 1. Butt, however, refused to blame the incident for his subsequent dismissal. “I didn’t lose concentration after that. Things like that happen in cricket sometimes. The pitch has some uneven bounce in it and that was what beat me in the end.”Pakistan’s approach while batting, particularly after lunch when Younis and Butt were at the crease, seemed cautious at the time but Butt said it was part of the team plan. “I think fourth and fifth day pitches change, so it becomes difficult to bat on them anyway. There is uneven bounce and a little spin in it as well. It was the team plan to bat the way we did today.”With Pakistan now 199 runs ahead and four wickets in hand, both teams head into the final day knowing all results are still possible. Butt said: “I think a target of anything over 250 will be good to defend on this pitch. We still have four batsmen left including Inzamam so I think we can set that target.”

The dreadful form of the Marshall twins was brought into sharp relief after another rain-affected day at Auckland. After two days of this third-round match, Northern Districts laboured through to 234 for 9 against Auckland. James and Hamish Marshall, both trying to hold on to spots in the New Zealand team for the visit to Sri Lanka in the new year, again failed to impress, James battled through to 19 while his brother managed just 2. Chris Martin was the best of the bowlers with 3 for 59.Wellington look certain to face a fourth-innings chase of more than 300 against Central Districts at the Basin Reserve. Leading by 32 in the first innings Central was 263 for 7 in the second, after Jacob Oram and Ross Taylor led a batting revival after a low-scoring first innings. Oram posted 71 and Taylor 51. Mark Gillespie was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 51.Canterbury were staring at defeat against their southern rivals Otago after another bowler-dominated day at Carisbrook. Otago were 133 for 9 after trailing by 45 in the first innings. Canterbury’s lead was largely thanks to an unbelievable run-a-ball 80 by Brendon McCullum, who was the only batsman who looked comfortable on this pitch. Batting again, Otago struggled, with Chris Cairns snaring 3 for 18 off 14.4 overs.

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Praveen Kumar and Shalabh Srivastava shared seven wickets between them to rock Mumbai as Uttar Pradesh shot out the 36-times champions for a paltry 199 before playing out the two overs without any damage to take the honours at the end of the opening day in the semi-final clash at the Wankhede stadium. The last time the two teams met in a semi-final clash was in 1997-98 and UP – powered by Ashish Zaidi- had shot out Mumbai for a shocking 98 on the first day. Seven years later at the same venue, it appeared the story would repeat itself but a valiant effort from the tail – involving Avishkar Salvi and Swapnil Hazare – lifted Mumbai, one stage tottering at 153 for 9 in 63.1 overs, to a fighting total. However UP – which had bounced back under Mohammad Kaif’s leadership after a lackluster start to the season – will be quite happy with their day’s work.The Mumbai batting had been brittle all summer and especially with the absence of Wasim Jaffer- away on national duty – it would have been a slightly vulnerable Mumbai team that entered the Wankhede stadium today. “We look unsettled because the guys have not scored. We have failed to put a big score. It’s time people such as Nishit Shetty converted those 30s into something big. They have to take more responsibility,” Kharsan Ghavri, Mumbai’s coach, had said on the eve of the game. The events on the field would have left him disappointed as UP bowlers created a stranglehold on the opening day.The Mumbai innings was a crawl – the first fifty came in 27.5 overs at the cost of three wickets, the second took 17 overs but Mumbai lost two wickets and bled three more for the third fifty which came in 16 overs. Only Sahil Kukreja, the opener, offered any resistance with a 142-ball 49. But he once again failed to capitalise on his good start- the story of his season so far, averaging 30 with two fifties in 11 innings. The other batsmen however didn’t quite get even a start with only Ramesh Powar and Aavishkar Salvi going past the 20-mark.For UP, everything went according to their script. The young Kumar, who has scalped 27 wickets at 26.88 this season, combined well with Srivastava, eight wickets from three games, and hustled the batsmen. Piyush Chawla, the young legspinner who had castled Sachin Tendulkar with a googly in the Challenger series held a few months back, followed the good work, mopping up the tail.The onus is now on the UP batsmen, led by Kaif and Suresh Raina, to follow up on the good work of the bowlers and post a big first-innings score to establish a firm grip on the game. But they would be the last team to underestimate Mumbai – It took UP 40 years to register their first and only win against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. A fascinating battle is on cards on the second day

Looking to finish on top of the Group A table, Habib Bank batted strongly to reach 328 for 4, on the opening day of their four-day, fifth and final round Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship match against Pakistan Customs at the Karachi on Monday.Habib Bank’s happy position was mainly due to a brilliant unbeaten century by Younis Khan, the captain, and equally splendid batting by almost whoever came to the crease. Shahid Afridi let loose a run-blitz, as he hit 48 off a mere 47 balls with two fours and four sixes in a matter of just over an hour. Younis, 28, reached the 21st century of his first-class career in 91 matches. He was still at the crease at stumps with 115 runs to his name, scored off 180 deliveries in four minutes short of four and a half hours and sent the ball past the ropes 15 times.Electing to bat after Younis won the toss, Habib Bank were off to a useful start of 61 runs. Imran Farhat, the left-hand opener, contributed a quick 36 off 47 balls with eight fours. Taufeeq Umar, also a left-hander, faced 131 balls while scoring 60 runs that included seven boundaries. Taufeeq’s second-wicket stand with his captain produced 71 runs. Younis then went on to add 104 runs for the third-wicket partnership with Hasan Raza. Hasan made 46 runs, off 81 balls in just short of two hours with five fours and a six. Shahid Afridi was the dominant partner in the 81 runs stand for the fourth wicket with Younis. For Customs, Murtaza Hussain, the offspinner, and Jalat Khan, the left-arm spinner, equally shared the four Habib Bank wickets to fall.The two top teams from either group are looking for qualification to the tournament’s Quadrangular Stage round, that gets underway from January 15. Habib Bank, the record seven-time winners of the Patron’s Trophy, are currently placed second behind Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). They need a win in this match to stay as one of the two teams in their group. Customs are faced with the real danger of being demoted to next season’s non-first-class Patron’s Trophy Grade-II circuit. They have collected only six points from their three previous matches and find themselves placed at the bottom of the five-team points table.A fighting partnership for the sixth wicket lifted top-of-the-table Pakistan International Airlines(PIA) out of the doldrums, on the opening day of their crucial four-day, Group A, fifth and final round Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship match against Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) at Karachi on Monday.PIA had recovered by the day’s close, but their stumps score was a rather modest 226 for 6. At one stage, they were 125 for 5 on the board, following a useful start in the morning. Veteran Mahmood Hamid, fresh from an unbeaten 124 in PIA’s innings victory over Pakistan Customs in the previous round, came to his team’s rescue after half the side had returned to the pavilion. The 37-year-old got involved in a 98 run partnership for the sixth wicket with Ahmed Zeeshan Malik, the wicketkeeper. Malik made 40 runs off 141 balls in just short of two and three-quarter hours. Mahmood is still at the crease with 56 not out to his name, scored off 127 balls in a little over three hours with five fours. PIA were strengthened by the inclusion of Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan allrounder, who is playing his first match after an operation on his heels. He batted one-down and scored 34 runs off 50 balls with four fours and a six, in a 51-run third-wicket stand with Bazid Khan (28).PIA have been left fighting to retain their first position in the five-team Group A. The two top teams from either group will qualify for the Patron’s Trophy Quadrangular Stage round, that starts from January 15. SNGPL find themselves in an interesting situation. With nine points from their three previous matches, they need to win here to take their tally of 18, something which could even take them into the Quadrangular Stage ahead of PIA. PIA, who have never won the Patron’s Trophy but shared the title last season with Habib Bank after the final was rained off; currently have a total of 15 points. They too need an outright win to stay in contention for the next round.Rain played spoilsport, washing out the entire first day’s play between National Bank of Pakistan and Zarai Taraqiati Bank LimitedRain at Sheikhupura washed out the first day’s play between Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited and Water and Power Development Authority

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Mohammad Kaif guided the run chase, Suresh Raina charged it with a cameo performance, and Rizwan Shamshad and Jyoti Prasad Yadav chipped in with vital contributions that saw Uttar Pradesh, having resumed the day needing 175 runs to win, achieve the target with five wickets in hand to beat Mumbai on the way to their third Ranji Trophy final.In bitter-sweet irony the match winning shot – a square cut by the veteran Gyanendra Pandey – crashed against the Sunil Gavaskar pavilion at the Wankhede stadium. That said it all; Mumbai had been vanquished and in a manner that signalled as much Mumbai’s capitulation as it exhibited UP’s domination.In a setting which screamed that it was a domestic game – a handful of spectators, the unused main scoreboard, the desperate appeals echoing around an empty stadium, the blue cylindrical plastic drum which carried the drinking water – Kaif was a man on a mission. “A great chance to probably win a Ranji trophy,” he had said on the eve of the game and the onus was on him today to lead his side into the final.He held fort at one end, spending over three hours at the crease and facing 162 balls, while steering his partners on an assured march to the target. Kaif used his feet to the spinners, driving Ramesh Powar to distraction and cutting, sweeping and tapping Nilesh Kulkarni to vacant areas on the field. “Partnerships are the key when you chase a fourth-innings target,” he said at the end of the match, and in the middle he had done exactly that. A 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Raina, 43 with Shamshad for the fifth and 25 – that settled the nerves and killed any potential Mumbai fightback – with Yadav before falling 16 runs short of the target.Mumbai would be left ruing the reprieve for Kaif, when he was on 17, a simple chance grassed by Vinit Indulkar. “The guys who said, `Catches win matches’ are not stupid,” a disgruntled Kulkarni, the Mumbai captain, said at the end of the game. While UP had hustled the Mumbai team with brilliant fielding, the hosts proved a hospitable lot. “We lost because we didn’t have the overall package, we lacked the ability to deliver when it matters. Players should not be content just playing for Mumbai, they should aim higher and then the results will come,” a angry Kulkarni reflected later. – KaifWhile Kaif held firm, it was Suresh Raina who accelerated the run chase with calculated aggression in a fine breezy cameo of 44. Raina, who averages 72.40 this season with one hundred and a couple of fifties, continued with his rich vein of form, and caressed five hits to the fence and rotated the strike intelligently. The fifty of the partnership came in 45 minutes off 65 balls before Raina fell to Kulkarni at the score on 130.Shamshad entered the game at a critical phase – the 36-times champions had smelt a faint scent of blood at the fall of Raina’s wicket and also due to a mini-drama that a ball-change had brought about. The `new’ ball appeared to turn, spin and bounce more and an infuriated Kaif had a lengthy talk with the umpires, demanding a change which led to a brief halt in the play. Shamshad tackled the spinning cherry well – a wicket at that stage could have opened the doors to Mumbai – and he stroked his way to a valuable knock, a 33-ball 29, which tilted the chase in favour of the visitors before he fell to Powar.With no option but to attack, Mumbai crowded the next man in Yadav, the left-hand bat, with two slips, a silly point and a forward short leg. Powar kicked one up from a good length and saw the ball beat an attempted cut from Yadav but the edge flew over slip. Yadav decided to counter-attack; he slog swept Powar to the midwicket fence and square cut Kulkarni past point. Kaif caught the Yadav spirit but not its impact as he jumped down the track to Powar but was beaten by the flight and the direction – it was a floater, drifting away from the right-hand bat, and the nick was smartly caught by Vinayak Samant who also decided to whip off the bails, just to be safe.But by then the damage had been done by Kaif. Only 16 runs were required and Yadav and Gyanendra Pandey, a veteran of 114 first-class games, hastened the end with a dash of bravado. Pandey went down on his knees to hoick Kulkarni over midwicket while Yadav leant back and cut him to the square point fence before Pandey cut him to the cover fence to propel UP into the finals. The entire UP squad rushed to congratulate the batsmen and soak in the moment.Kaif was to gush on the bowling effort later – “taking 20 wickets on this track was special” – and said the bowling was the biggest plus that they would take into the final. It had been a great turnaround for UP ever since Kaif took over the reins. A rough start – two straight losses, two drawn games – had left UP wallowing before Kaif joined the squad to charge them to a place in the semi-final. He was part of the 1997-98 team that beat Mumbai in the semi-final before running into Karnataka led by Rahul Dravid, who bled them with a double-century. Twenty years before that too, they had been vanquished by Karnataka in a final. Will they be third time lucky this time? On form, you have to say yes but then …

England A have called up Stuart Broad, Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara to bolster their squad after three players left to join the senior party in India. Alastair Cook, James Anderson and Owais Shah have left West Indies over the last couple of days, meaning England have used three substitutes in their match against West Indies.Broad, 19, a promising right-arm seamer from Leicestershire, will provide cover for the fast bowling department. Wright, the Sussex allrounder, and Bopara from Essex, will provide useful all round options for the remaining matches of the tour.Broad is the most exciting talent out of three with England always searching for tall pace bowlers. The son of the former England opener, Chris, he has taken 30 wickets in first-class cricket at 27.The second Test starts in St Lucia on March 3 followed by a five-match one-day series.

ScorecardHundreds from Stephen Fleming and Brendon McCullum ensured the New Zealanders’ tour match at Benoni will go into the final day evenly poised. At the close, Rest of South Africa were 132 for 4, a lead of 155.Fleming, 96 not out overnight, completed his hundred in the first over, and made brisk progress along with Peter Fulton, who soon completed his fifty. Although Fulton fell for 73, it was Fleming’s dismissal for 118 which triggered a collapse in which the tourists lost five wickets for 44 runs, Monde Zondeki taking three of those in as many overs.With Shane Bond sidelined with a knee injury, New Zealanders were in deep trouble before McCullum finally found support in Chris Martin, one of the game’s real rabbits, the pair adding 95 for the ninth wicket to steer them to within 23 runs of Rest of South Africa’s total.When Rest of South Africa batted again, James Franklin struck an early blow, removing Alviro Petersen for 5, but Justin Ontong patiently guided them to a strong position before two late wickets gave the visitors renewed hope. Davey Jacobs’ 22 ended when he hit a return catch to Daniel Vettori, and two balls later Jean-Paul Duminy edged Martin to McCullum.

England’s injury crisis may be spreading from the winter into the start of the home season, but Kevin Pietersen is confident that the Ashes-winning team – which hasn’t played together since that momentous day at The Oval on September 12 – will be reunited on the field in the future. Michael Vaughan, Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison and Simon Jones all have injuries of varying seriousness, but Pietersen says they will be back.”I’m sure it will happen, I’m just not sure when,” he told reporters. “It is a worry but it gives opportunities to others and the guys who got a chance in India did really well. Owais [Shah] played well and Alastair Cook did well. They did fantastic jobs.”Now it is just the case of trying to get that Ashes team back on the field. Come November 23 in Brisbane we have to make sure we have a full-strength team to take on the Aussies.”The Ashes verbals, or probably more correctly, banter, considering how well the two teams get along, is already in full swing. In a recent interview with magazine, Matthew Hayden claimed how England are carried by Andrew Flintoff while Shane Warne, Pietersen’s team-mate at Hampshire, has not been shy at suggesting that England won’t be comfortable coming to Australia with the Ashes to defend.But Pietersen has never been one for listening to what other people say, whether it be barracking crowds in South Africa or confident Australians. He says the talk is nothing he didn’t expect and thinks it will only increase as the winter approaches.”I’ve heard that line about Freddie carrying the team before but you can name every player and they did a job for England in that series. It is probably the start of the banter they want to get going before the Ashes.”We know the Australian guys are great guys and we’re good mates with them, which means the series will be played in good spirits. We are just waiting for another Australian to make a comment now. It is all good banter adding to the build-up for what will be an amazing series.”And he was quick to get in a little jab of his own. “If it wasn’t for Shane Warne in that Australia team then we would have won the Ashes 4-1. He probably had a bigger influence on Australia than Freddie did on England.”Pietersen was speaking at the launch of Urban Cricket, a new joint initiative between the ECB and npower, the sponsor of England’s home Tests, aiming to distribute 60,000 cricket kits to youngsters around the UK. Pietersen – along with Charlotte Edwards, the England women’s captain, and the chairman of selectors, David Graveney – launched the event at a Peckham housing estate in South East London, accompanied by break-dancers that put even Pietersen’s quick feet to shame.The slogan for Urban Cricket is that ‘there are no rules’, a philosophy that Pietersen sometimes looks like taking when he dispatches the world’s best pacemen and spinners into the stands. His batting will be a vital cog in the England team this summer and he says he’s eager to get started.”Right here, right now, I’m as fit as I can be and raring to go. It’s been fantastic playing for Hampshire again and I can’t wait to get going with the internationals.” With England’s current injury catalogue mounting up that will be music to the selector’s ears.

Ethan Dube, on of Zimbabwe’s leading administrators, has quit as chairman of the Matabeleland Cricket Association, citing “confusion” in the structure of the game.Dube has been at loggerheads with Peter Chingoka and the interim Zimbabwe Cricket board, and in March he was one of the senior administrators who wrote to the ICC explaining their major grievances with the way the sport was being run. That letter was effectively ignored.”All structures have collapsed,” Dube told Zimbabwe’s Independent newspaper. “I do not want to be associated with that confusion. Cricket in Zimbabwe is in a sad state. The level of destruction has been alarming. We have lost our best players and our best administrators. This doesn’t bode well for Zimbabwe cricket.”Dube, a former national selector, became Matabeleland’s chairman last year when Ahmed Esat left for the USA. But his tenure has coincided with the collapse of the domestic game, and in March most of Matabeleland’s senior clubs split from Zimbabwe Cricket and decided to form their own breakaway league.”So many things have happened that we do not know what normal is anymore,” Dube said. “Domestic cricket has collapsed. Development programmes have gone to waste. Right now there is not even a first-class competition although we keep being told that it will be played before the end of the year.”The Logan Cup, which has been played for more than a century, has not been staged this season, although a Zimbabwe Cricket spokesman insisted that this would be held when the West Indies tour was over.”We need to sort out domestic structures,” Dube insisted. “We need to get back the players we have lost if we are to have any respectability on the international stage.”Elsewhere, as revealed by Cricinfo last week, Themba Mkhosana, ZC’s general manager, has also quit only a few months after returning from England where ZC had paid for him to study for a sports management degree.It is thought the ZC interim board initially refused to accept Mkhosana’s resignation, although ZC declined to comment when asked.