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Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, showed a welcome return to form as he guided Wellington to a four-wicket win in their State Shield one-day match against Auckland yesterday. Fleming, who returns to the Black Caps squad for tomorrow’s match in the one-day series against Sri Lanka at Wellington, hit 104 off 117 balls as Wellington eased past Auckland’s 252 for 8 in 47 overs. Following Fleming’s dismissal – caught by Tama Canning off the bowling of former Wellington representative Mayu Pasupati – with Wellington’s score on 235 for 6, Luke Woodcock hit 41 off 42 to see his side through to a comfortable victory. He was ably supported by Grant Elliot, the South African allrounder, who contributed an invaluable 11.For Auckland, Kerry Walmsley and Chris Martin picked up two wickets to send back Jesse Ryder and Chris Nevin, Wellington’s openers. Wellington were then left at 90 for 3 as Canning removed Rob Nicol for four, but Fleming was in supreme form, forming partnerships with Matthew Bell and Woodcock to help his side home. Martin was the best of the Auckland bowlers, picking up 2 for 44 runs off his 10 overs, while Pasupati managed 2 for 47. Struggling at 100 for 6 after being asked to bat, Auckland were rescued by Nicol’s fighting 88 not-out and some stern resistance from the lower order in Reece Young (40) and Pasupati (42). Iain O’Brien, with 3 for 46, and James Franklin, with 2 for 43, were the best of the Wellington bowlers.Michael Papps, the former New Zealand opener, steered Canterbury to a six-wicket win over Northern Districts to give the national selectors yet another reminder of his fine form. Papps was unbeaten on 137 when Canterbury cruised past Northern’s 272 for 8 in their 50 overs with 10 balls to spare at Owen Delany Park in Taupo. The other batsman not out was Chris Harris (24), Canterbury’s captain. Papps scored 92 in the first round of the competition last week but couldn’t stop Wellington winning that match. Yesterday, however, he brought up the three-figure mark off just 114 balls and forged a valuable 100-run partnership with Nixon McLean (38) before adding an unbeaten 50 with Harris. Fine innings from Alun Evans (89), BJ Watling (53) and James Marshall (33) had earlier seen Northern set a reasonable target, but Papps was too good on his day.Ross Taylor’s century was the only bright spot at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth as rain forced an early end to Central Districts’ match against Otago without a result. The match was abandoned with Otago on 36 for 1 in the seventh over, chasing a reduced target of 203 from 34 overs due to rain. Central scored 219 for 8 in 39 overs with Taylor hitting 107 off just 103 balls.

Azhar Ali has agreed to continue as Pakistan’s ODI captain after a request by him to resign, over the presence of Mohammad Amir at the training camp in Lahore for the national team, was rejected by the PCB.”Azhar Ali met the chairman PCB [Shaharyar Khan]. He tendered his resignation. The chairman didn’t accept his resignation, Azhar Ali agreed and he will continue as captain,” the PCB said in a statement.Azhar, along with Mohammad Hafeez, had refused to join the camp earlier, but had finally relented following a meeting with Shaharyar Khan. ESPNcricinfo understands that Azhar had agreed to join the camp, but had said he would need time to decide on his role as captain.Amir is in the selection mix for the first time after his five-year ban for spot-fixing in the 2010 Lord’s Test. He was one of the 26 probables named for Pakistan’s pre-season conditioning camp. Azhar and Hafeez were originally scheduled to join the camp after completing domestic matches, but they did not do so. Azhar went on to state that he would not attend the camp “as long as Amir is there”. After their meeting with Khan, though, the PCB chairman had said: “I do respect their concerns but some of them, I told them, are not acceptable. So they understood and confirmed that they are on the same page with us.”

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, described his team’s thumping innings and 234-run victory over Bangladesh in the first Test as a brilliant effort under tough conditions.”The important thing for us was to make sure we go very hard at them,” said Jayawardene after Sri Lanka had wrapped up the Test half an hour into the fourth morning to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. “We hadn’t played Test cricket for a while and we needed to back into things pretty quickly and maintain our standards. That’s the challenge we had.”The batsmen, the guys who got in made sure they made big hundreds. Everyone chipped in especially the lower middle order. The fast bowlers were brilliant. They were very aggressive in creating opportunities. Overall it was a brilliant performance but there are areas we can still improve. Our ground fielding was brilliant but we dropped chances.”Sri Lanka weren’t able to wrap up the innings on the third day and Jayawardene’s request to bring on the fast bowlers in the fading light was denied by the umpires. “I knew the light would be a concern and I asked them whether it was alright for me to bring on Lasith Malinga. The answer I got was that it was okay. After a couple of balls they changed their minds. That was the disappointment because if there was the slightest indication that it was not ideal, I wouldn’t have brought Malinga.”He praised the efforts of Prasanna Jayawardene and Chaminda Vaas who both scored their maiden Test hundreds.”For Prasanna I think it’s been coming for a while. He’s been very consistent with the bat for us and he knew the responsibility as a wicketkeeper that he had to make runs for us. It was good to see him getting those runs. It gives him a lot of confidence to build the batting line up around him.”For Vaas it was his dream to get a hundred in Test cricket for quite some time. When I saw he had the opportunity I had no hesitation in allowing him to go and get it. It’s always good to see that our lower order with the kind of determination we have is a very solid set up now.”Once again it was offspinner Muralitharan who picked up the Man-of-the-Match award when the consensus of opinion was on Prasanna with his hundred and six dismissals behind the stumps.”On a placid track the way Murali created opportunities especially on the first day to take five wickets actually changed the whole game for us,” said Jayawardene. “From that moment onwards we knew the Test was in our hands unless we made some silly mistakes. It’s brilliant to have a guy like Murali. Now we’ve got a bowling line-up which creates opportunities among themselves with Lasith, Dilhara [Fernando] and Vaas. Murali has less pressure now to run through teams.”For Mohammad Ashraful it was a tough beginning as Bangladesh captain. He admitted that he had a lot to learn sitting in the hot seat and also cited his side’s limited opportunities at the Test level as the reason for the defeat. He also took heart from the team’s improved showing in the second innings, posting a more respectable 254 after they were bundled out for 89 in the first.”I wouldn’t have played those irresponsible shots if I had a little bit of experience,” he said. “I will learn with every game. Our second innings performance proved that if we concentrate hard it is possible to play quality bowlers. For most of the second innings we actually stuck to our game plan and it came out pretty good. That is the confidence we will take going into the rest of the series.”When asked whether they missed the services of their former coach Dav Whatmore, Ashraful replied: “It’s very natural to miss someone like Whatmore because he has helped Bangladesh cricket a lot. The team hasn’t had any problem with the new management and the coaching staff.”

The Sheffield Shield final could soon become a thing of the past. Although there are no immediate plans to scrap the five-day decider from Australia’s domestic fixture, Cricket Australia has indicated that it might be squeezed out of the schedule in the coming years if the Big Bash League continues to thrive and expand.Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland and outgoing chairman Wally Edwards have both questioned the value of the Shield final, which was described by Edwards as being too often “a bad advertisement for the game”. The concept of the top two teams playing off in a final was introduced in 1982-83; until then the Shield was awarded to the team that finished on top of the table.While the final theoretically gives the second-placed team a chance of winning the title, the advantages given to the top team – home advantage and needing only to draw to win the Shield – have led to very few away wins. The last time the away team managed to claim the title was in 2004-05, when New South Wales scraped home by one wicket over Queensland at the Gabba.Not just that, the home side needing only to draw has often meant dull, defensive batting and ridiculously long innings. At the Gabba in 2005-06, Queensland finally declared their first innings at 6 for 900, with Victoria, who bowled 242 overs, having no hope of winning. Edwards said he would prefer a return to the old system, which was in place when he had been a state player.”I don’t think it plays any real part in our season,” Edwards said about the final after Cricket Australia’s AGM in Melbourne. “I think, and this is just me, when I played Shield cricket, we didn’t have a Shield final. The games were played in two rounds – home and away. The best side wins. It seems to be the fairest way.”And to me, it feels the Shield final over many years has proven itself to be a bit of a non-event to be honest. There have only been three or four good Shield finals, the rest of them have been shockers; a bad advertisement for the game. I think it confuses the back end of our season. I think the best team should win in Shield cricket. We play ten games, which should sort it out.”The final is still very much part of the schedule for this season but how long it can remain so will likely depend on whether Cricket Australia looks to expand the BBL in coming years. Should the BBL add extra teams or rounds, its schedule may well swell into February, and if any other cricket had to make way, the Shield final would likely be first on the chopping block.”I think Wally is right, if you do have a look through history the Shield finals have been absolutely dominated by the home team or a long draw,” Sutherland said. “I think it is very rare – maybe 5% of the time or something – that the away team has actually won. So, from that point of view, it has never been a great spectacle. And I think that’s part of where we continue to review and assess the mix of content.”At the moment it is there and I don’t think we’d change it unless there was a good reason to change that. But at the same time, we’re in a very fortunate position at the moment of having a burgeoning domestic Twenty20 competition which is in big demand. At some stage in the future, we’ll be looking at ways in which we can expand that, whether that’s expansion in the number of matches or teams or what have you, and that might put pressure on other parts of our program.”

Kenya 302 and 161 for 2 (Ouma 63, D Obuya 70, C Obuya 14*) beat Bermuda 281 (Hemp 97, Varaiya 5-56) and 178 (Hemp 68*, Varaiya 5-77) by 8 wickets
ScorecardKenya knocked off the final 79 runs to beat Bermuda in their Intercontinental Cup match at the Nairobi Gymkhana, easing to an eight-wicket win.Maurice Ouma brought up a slick fifty from 49 balls, but he couldn’t replicate the blistering strokeplay of yesterday afternoon, scooping Malachi Jones straight to mid-off for 63.But David Obuya, the slower of the two yesterday, opened his shoulders – clubbing Jones over long-on before dispatching Rodney Trott over the same boundary for six. Trott got his man, however, when Obuya stepped to the leg-side and was beaten by a quicker delivery. Obuya’s namesake, Collins, together with Tony Suji knocked off the required runs with the minimum of fuss to inflict yet another defeat on Bermuda.Kenya now top the Intercontinental Cup table with 40 points, six ahead of Netherlands. Bermuda, though, have won just a single game on their forgettable tour of Kenya, beating Uganda in their opening match. They now travel to Sharjah to face UAE on November 8.

In 2006-07 Victoria nearly made the Pura Cup final, but not quite. They nearly won the FR Cup decider, but not quite. Two of their best players nearly established themselves in the national one-day team, but not quite. In many ways it was a frustrating summer for the Bushrangers as the major honours teased and then eluded them.Greg Shipperd, the state’s coach, does not see it that way. “All in all we thought we had a very good season,” he says. “Until the last day of our last Pura Cup match we were still in with a chance to make all three finals.”That disheartening conclusion – the 101-run loss to Queensland handed New South Wales a place in the decider – meant their only prize was a second consecutive Twenty20 title. “We’re disappointed that we didn’t win more that we qualified for,” Shipperd says. “From a one-day point of view, we were very happy with our seven wins and hosting the final [against Queensland].”Their success was impressive considering that all eight of their contracted fast bowlers were out injured at one point early in the season. Victoria scoured Melbourne’s club cricket and displayed their depth when Clinton McKay and Darren Pattinson filled the gaps admirably.Things are looking better for 2007-08. Pattinson will miss the first couple of games with an ankle injury but the key strike bowlers should be ready from day one. There were fears that Shane Harwood’s latest shoulder problem could require major surgery but Shipperd now expects that will not be the case. Andrew McDonald also has a shoulder injury and might initially be unable to bowl, but he will be chosen as a batsman regardless.The legspinner Bryce McGain, 35, took six seasons to register his first five Pura Cup games as he waited patiently behind Cameron White and Shane Warne. With Warne’s retirement and White seemingly focusing more on his batting, McGain will be an important part of the Bushrangers’ attack.The batting remains a strength – four players scored more than 700 Pura Cup runs last year – and Shipperd expects strong competition between Lloyd Mash, Michael Klinger, Aiden Blizzard and Rob Quiney for what could be only one vacancy. Jon Moss has gone home to New South Wales and another Sydney signing, John Hastings, may fill that gap when he recovers from ankle problems.

There will also be a healthy rivalry between the incumbent wicketkeeper Adam Crosthwaite and Matthew Wade, who Victoria recruited from Tasmania during the off-season. Wade, 19, is highly rated as a batsman and Shipperd hinted Crosthwaite would have a challenge on his hands.”We’re not locked into thinking one keeper will do all forms of the game,” Shipperd says. “We’ll give opportunities to whoever’s in the right place at the right time. Crosthwaite started last season well and dropped away a bit, but he was an aggressive and innovative one-day batsman. He has some credits on the board.”Shipperd hopes White and Brad Hodge earn more national call-ups this summer and he believes the selectors cannot keep overlooking the prolific David Hussey, who made 911 Pura Cup runs in 2006-07 followed by 1259 at 83.93 for Nottinghamshire. “I would be bemused if he’s not given a chance, he’s in a rare streak of form,” Shipperd says. “If we can get one or two other players apart from Brad Hodge into a good, strong Australian team it would be a massive plus for our group.”Captain Cameron White
Coach Greg Shipperd
Squad Aiden Blizzard, Adam Crosthwaite, Gerard Denton, Shane Harwood, John Hastings, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Nick Jewell, Michael Klinger, Mick Lewis, Lloyd Mash, Andrew McDonald, Bryce McGain, Clinton McKay, Dirk Nannes, Darren Pattinson, Rob Quiney, Peter Siddle, Matthew Wade, Cameron White, Allan Wise. Rookies Grant Baldwin, Aaron Finch, Michael Hill, Jon Holland, Peter Nevill, James Pattinson.2006-07 results Pura Cup 3rd, FR Cup 2nd, Twenty20 1st.

Ken Gordon, the president of the West Indies board, says the region acted in its best interests in throwing its support behind the Asian bloc’s bid to secure the International Cricket Council’s 2011 World Cup.Furthermore, the 76-year-old administrator said the West Indies did not sell their vote at the April meeting in Dubai and defended allegations of a deal with India that helped a joint bid with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh gain approval.”We live in the real world and we must understand that when people want to achieve an objective, they try to get support for that objective. Clearly, the India Board of Control wanted to have support for their objective and we did speak. We made it clear that our position was that we were interested in building a relationship with India,” Gordon told CMC’s Cricket Plus Friday.”We didn’t have a vote for sale. We were interested in building a relationship and they indicated that they would like to do the same and our position as far as the vote was concerned was, ‘look if your bid is a fully competitive bid and if it is on par with all things being equal, we will support your bid because friends support each other’.”Other people in other parts of the world support each other as well but [we said] ‘if your bid is not in our view, comparable, we cannot support you because we don’t think that would be acting in the interest of cricket’.”Reports following the ICC meeting in Dubai in April indicated the West Indies had thrown their support behind the Asian bloc’s vote, in return for a lucrative financial arrangement.The WICB’s vote helped the Asian bloc beat out a joint bid by Australia and New Zealand to host cricket’s major showpiece. Gordon said their decision to support the Asian bloc, once the bid was in the best interest of cricket, was communicated to Australia before the voting process.”That was the position we took. We made that clear to India before the vote was taken [and] they understood our position and they said they respected it,” Gordon continued.”We also made that position clear to the Australian side before the vote was taken. We said, ‘we feel we want to develop a relationship with India and there are lots of reasons for that, including our impecunious state and if we can work together, it would be a good thing’.”‘If the bids are competitive and we see everything being equal, we will vote for India. If they are not, we will vote for you’.”He added: “That’s our position, so all this talk about deal and so on, if you call that a deal, that’s fine, but as far as I am concerned we acted in the way that anyone who is concerned about their self-interest, would want to act.”The WICB recently announced they had signed a bilateral deal with India which would see the staging of a three to five-match One Day Internationals series in United States and Canada later this year.With the West Indies experiencing dire financial problems, India is expected to fund the series with the understanding that this would be repaid out of the WICB’s share of the profits. While not revealing financial details of the arrangement, Gordon said it was a move that would help the West Indies financially.”I am very cautious about a financial boost for the moment. I know positively there will be a financial boost but until we have completed our negotiations on the terms of the arrangement, I would rather not go there,” Gordon said.”What I would say is that it is going to be a positive factor in terms of taking us forward. Our Indian friends have indicated that they have a strong desire to assist wherever they can and we will try to ensure that happens. “The bottom line is that I am optimistic.”

The last time Mahela Jayawardene left Sri Lanka for a South African summer, the cricketing gods were not smiling on him and the 2003 World Cup was the low point of his fine career as he scored just 21 runs in nine matches.Jayawardene returned to Johannesburg on Thursday but this time it was with a typically cheery Sri Lankan smile. The captain has had much to be pleased about in the last 18 months – his personal form was stunning as he led his team to the World Cup final, he was nominated alongside Ricky Ponting for the ICC’s Captain of the Year award and he can still bask in the glory of the record 374 he scored in a Test against South Africa just over a year ago.However, he was still reluctant to describe Sri Lanka as one of the favourites for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 title. “It’s going to be a challenge because we haven’t played much Twenty20 cricket. And the shorter the version of the game, the more open it becomes for other teams. We will need to play to our strengths, apply all our skills and try different things depending on the situation. We will need a lot of cool heads because the game is very fast. If you panic, you will lose the battle.”Jayawardene was happy with his squad which is basically the same as the one that thrilled so many people in the Caribbean. Even without the injured Muttiah Muralitharan, the bowling attack is experienced and there are batsmen to cover most situations.So no wonder the Sri Lankans are even more sunnily dispositioned than usual, which has helped new coach Trevor Bayliss enjoy a seamless settling-in period.”The people have made it very easy, it’s been a great three weeks. They are a fun-loving people and they really enjoy each other’s company, which is an ingredient in any successful team,” Bayliss said. “I haven’t had much to do in that department then and the team is in good spirits.”And what of the challenges ahead for the former New South Wales coach?”It’s not just a new challenge coaching at international level, but coaching one of the most successful teams of the last three years. If they are going to have another two years of good results then, at this level, it’s all about hard work. You also need to get things like the mental and physical preparation right and even the diets. You also rely on your support staff to fulfill an important role as well.”Bayliss was asked whether he was wishing for another Australia versus Sri Lanka final. “I’d like to see Sri Lanka in the final and I don’t really mind who we play there. But Australia are obviously right up there to make the final, just because of the calibre of players they have. I think England and South Africa will do well too because they have the experience of playing lots of domestic Twenty20.”

Scorecard

New South Wales scraped home by one run in a thrilling Ford Ranger Cup match against Western Australia at the SCG. A blistering century from Brad Haddin set up the Blues’ win before Brett Dorey holed out from the final delivery of the Warriors’ 50 overs with two runs still needed for victory.Chasing 268 to win, Western Australia looked out of the game with 24 balls remaining, needing 35 with two wickets in hand. But Dorey smashed 25 from 12 deliveries and with nine required off the last over the New South Wales captain Simon Katich threw the ball to Dominic Thornely, who had not bowled all night. Thornely took 1 for 1 from his first four balls before Dorey slogged a six over midwicket to make the equation two runs from the last ball. When he skied it to deep square leg, Daniel Christian held his nerve and took the catch to win the game for the Blues.Five days after Adam Gilchrist scored the second-fastest hundred in Australian domestic one-day history, Haddin reminded the nation that should Gilchrist, 35, decide to retire any time soon Australia will not need to look far for a replacement. Haddin’s 115 – his fifth century in domestic limited-overs games – came from 102 balls and included nine fours and three sixes.His 146-run partnership with Thornely, who made 60, gave the Blues hope of reaching of 300 but the Warriors staged a late fightback, taking 7 for 18 in 30 balls as New South Wales were all out for 267 in the 50th over. Steve Magoffin took 3 for 43 and together with Sean Ervine (4 for 51) bowled Western Australia back into the game, helped by two run-outs from Chris Rogers.Adam Voges made 68 for Western Australia but they lost wickets at regular intervals as the offspinners Jason Krejza (3 for 41) and Nathan Hauritz (3 for 42) extracted plenty of turn from the SCG pitch. Voges and Brad Hogg worked Western Australia into a winnable position before Hogg was adjudged stumped for 38, despite the fact that Haddin appeared to break the stumps without the ball in his gloves. Krejza, who bamboozled the Warriors’ middle order, had only come into the New South Wales squad after the allrounder Moises Henriques was ruled out with a leg injury.

India’s new selection committee opted for consolidation, naming the same 15-man squad for the second Test at Delhi, starting on December 10. The panel, led by Kiran More, and comprising new faces like Bhupinder Singh and Ranjib Biswal, said that there had been no discussions about players on the fringes during the meeting.”The selection committee met today, and there is no change for second Test. The same team is retained,” said Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary. “The selectors agreed that rather than watching the Test fully, we will spend more time in watching Ranji Trophy. Will come only on the last two days of the [Delhi] Test match and select the team for the last one.””We didn’t discuss anyone’s name at this point, with hardly any game played here,” said Kiran More, chairman of the selection panel. “We discussed how to go about domestic cricket. The selectors will watch Elite and Plate as well, good teams are playing there.”With rain having wiped away any chance of a contest at Chennai, the decision to go with the same 15 was no surprise. Despite the constant innuendo over Sourav Ganguly’s inclusion, it was unthinkable that he would be jettisoned without being given at least a couple of chances at the batting crease.Squad
Rahul Dravid (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh, Murali Kartik.