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Nashua WP all-rounder Neil Johnson will miss WP’s opening Supersport Series match against Free State starting in Bloemfontein on Friday. Johnson plays his last county match for Hampshire on Saturday before returning to Cape Town.The WP selectors have included two spinners, Claude Henderson ans Paul Adams in their 13 man squad. Lloyd Ferreira returns to the four day game after missing last season’s Supersport Series due to work commitments. SA under 19 player Rory Kleinveldt could earn his first senior cap while Roger Telemachus is fully fit. The full squad is;NASHUA WESTERN PROVINCEVS FREE STATE EAGLESSUPERSPORT SERIESGoodyear Park20,21,22,23 September 20021)Gary Kirsten2)Andrew Puttick3)Ashwell Prince4)Hylton Ackerman (C )5)Lloyd Ferreira6)Renier Munnik7)Thami Tsolekile8)Claude Henderson9)Paul Adams10)Roger Telemachus11)Charl Willoughby12)Quinton Friend13)Rory KleinveldtCricket Manager:Peter Kirsten

The Punjab Government has honoured one of its most famous sportingsons, Harbhajan Singh with a cash award of Rs 5 lakhs, a plot of landand offered him a job in the State Police in recognition of hisoutstanding performance in the recent Test series against Australia.At a function in Chandigarh on Wednesday night, Chief Minister PrakashSingh Badal handed over to Harbhajan Singh a draft for Rs 5 lakhs andan allotment letter for a 500 square yard plot of land in his hometown Jalandhar and offered him a job as Deputy Superintendant inPunjab Police.The appointment of Harbhajan Singh as DSP will be taken up and clearedin the next cabinet meeting after a consent in this regard wasreceived from him, according to an official press release here today.The off spinner is already an employee of Indian Airlines for which heturns out in various tournaments.

Sussex are in a strong position going into the final day of their Cricinfo Championship match against Nottinghamshire after establishing a lead of more than 300 at Hove yesterday.After bowling out Notts for 332 to take a first innings lead of 72, Michael Yardy and Richard Montgomerie both made half-centuries as Sussex closed on 237-5, a lead of 309.Yardy’s 68 was his maiden first-class half-century and the left-hander certainly looked the part, playing some superb off side shots as he shared a second-wicket stand of 128 in 28 overs with Montgomerie.Yardy was eventually caught behind off Greg Blewett, but Montgomerie went on to make 66 before he became the second of three wickets for South African Greg Smith who was again the pick of the Notts’ attack.Smith had earlier claimed the wicket of Murray Goodwin and in an impressive second spell he also removed Will House for a duck as Sussex lost three middle-order wickets in the space of five overs.Robin Martin-Jenkins and Umer Rashid re-asserted Sussex supremacy and will be there this morning before the declaration.Earlier Jason Lewry must have impressed watching chairman of selectors David Graveney by taking 5-95 as the last six Notts wickets fell for 118 in the morning session.Kevin Pietersen and Read both made half-centuries and six Notts batsmen got past 29. But no one went on to score the big innings which might have made their last-day run chase less challenging.

Former Mumbai captain Amol Muzumdar will join the Andhra Pradesh squad for the upcoming domestic season after he was advised to look for opportunities elsewhere by Mumbai selection committee chariman Abey Kuruvilla. Muzumdar, who spent a season playing domestic cricket for Assam, returned to Mumbai last year but had to spend the season playing local leagues as part of his ‘cooling-off period’.”It was almost like a co-incidence. Just 10 days ago I spoke with the MCA’s chairman of selectors, and he conveyed the team’s plans to me,” Muzumdar told the . “And a few days later, I receive a call from MSK Prasad asking me whether I would be interested in joining Andhra. The answer was obviously a resounding yes. I want to play cricket for as long as I’m motivated. For now the next two years I’m with Andhra.””The MCA had told me that my chances were not great for this season,” he said. “I’m thankful to the MCA because they let me know the reality well in advance so that I still had other options to go to.”A veteran of 158 first-class games, Muzumdar has 10,202 runs with 25 centuries. He held the record for most runs in Ranji Trophy till last year before being overtaken by his former Mumbai team-mate Wasim Jaffer. He has also scored 3168 runs from 108 List A matches.

If the Redbacks were disappointed about their performance yesterday, they’d be advised to try and forget completely about today’s events in the Pura Cup matchbetween South Australia and Queensland here at the Adelaide Oval. After a lacklustre first innings batting performance that yielded the modest score of 215 on atrue pitch, the bowlers have suffered badly at the hands of centurions Stuart Law (121*) and Clinton Perren (112) to only add to coach Greg Chappell’s woes.It was a day’s play – one that has already delivered competition pacesetter Queensland a lead of eighty-four runs with five first innings wickets still in tact – thatessentially never went right for the South Australians. By contrast, it went swimmingly well for the Bulls given that it generated two vital points which push them, forthe moment at least, that precise margin clear of second-placed Victoria and eight points in front of third-placed New South Wales.Take nothing away from the Bulls, today’s was a batting performance of which coach Bennett King and his team could be very proud.The batting of Law and Perren – especially during their match-shaping partnership of 185 runs for the third wicket – was of the highest quality. Perren, in particular,took a genuine liking to the South Australian bowling attack. While he never at any stage looked overly aggressive, it was instructive that he had already struckseventeen boundaries by the time that he notched a well-deserved second century in first-class cricket.South Australian captain Darren Lehmann literally tried almost everything to break the partnership. Late in the day, he even resorted to bowling his own left armorthodox spin and gave medium pacer Greg Blewett (0/11) a workout too. In the end, it was the eventual reintroduction of the leg spin of Peter McIntyre (1/68) thatfinally allowed the Redbacks to remove Perren, who was trapped on his crease as he played down the wrong line at a delivery which did not spin all that much.While the Redbacks would have been relieved at finally ending that stand, however, they needed only to see the incoming batsman, the hard-hitting AndrewSymonds, to realise the job was far from over.Shortly after Perren’s dismissal, Law raised his own three-figure milestone to compound the home team’s agony. The fiftieth century of his first-class career, it was asimilarly impressive hundred – one full of elegant strokes.In the field and with the ball, the Redbacks continued to toil manfully. And, late in the day, at least a small form of reward came – the wickets of Symonds (0), to adirect hit from Shane Deitz at mid off, and Brendan Nash (2), to a loose drive at the hard-working Mark Harrity (2/57), both falling against the general run of play.But it didn’t prevent Queensland from assuming a very significant upper hand by the scheduled halfway stage of the match.The loss of Paul Wilson to injury, the exclusion of swing bowler Brett Swain and, critically, three dropped catches – Jimmy Maher (47) was missed before he hadscored; Jerry Cassell (4) was grassed on 2; and Law on 118 – proved very costly in the end for the Redbacks. At no real stage today did they look like breakingthrough in anything but sporadic bursts. And at no stage today did they ever look like seizing effectively upon anything that did happen to come their way.

Misbah-ul-Haq said that the run-outs of Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams, were the turning points during the third and final ODI which Pakistan won by 108 runs to take series 2-1 in Harare. Led by another fifty from Misbah, Pakistan set the hosts a target of 261 after they were put in to bat. But only four Zimbabwe batsmen could reach double figures as they were all out for 152. While Taylor made a 29-ball 26, Williams scored two.”I think the two run-outs were very crucial,” Misbah said. “After the run-out of Taylor, we were very much in the game and when Williams got run-out, that was the crucial stage. After that, the game was in our control.”Misbah, often criticised for his strike rate, stated that the conditions were not easy to bat on and admitted that he was also struggling to middle the ball before unleashing a few boundaries toward the end of the innings.”It was really difficult to score runs,” he said. “I think they were bowling well, they were utilising the conditions well and we were unable to score runs. All their bowlers bowled really well, especially the way they utilised the new ball in the first 20 overs. Chatara bowled particularly well.”I was just not middling the ball, not getting the timing right, so you can say [there was] a bit of pressure, because we lost two wickets and Hafeez got injured. But after that, Umar Amin came in and he gave us momentum and finished it well.”Even though they were outplayed in the series opener, Pakistan came back and won the next two games, scoring nearly 300 in the second ODI and then dismissing Zimbabwe for 152 in the decider to seal the series.”I’m really happy to win this series especially after losing the first game and the way they played,” Misbah said. “The biggest lesson we have learnt is: don’t take any opposition lightly, especially Zimbabwe because they have some experienced players who have been playing international cricket for such a long time. Even in our team, most of the guys have played less games than Zimbabwean players. We should be giving our 100% all the time and pushing ourselves if we want to win against them [in Tests].”The Pakistani selectors were criticised before the start of the tour for picking a full-strength squad and not using the opportunity to test new talent. Unlike India, who toured Zimbabwe with a stand-in captain, Virat Kohli, and handed ODI debuts to four players, Pakistan came with their frontline pacers and spinners and only gave a T20 debut to Sohaib Maqsood. Misbah defended the selectors’ decision and said their current squad was already full of youngsters.”The way we played after the first match, I think the critics who kept saying, ‘youngsters should have been sent’ would have got their answers,” Misbah said. “We have players like Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Umar Amin, Junaid Khan, who have played 15-20 matches. You can’t have all your 11 players making their debut. Our team is already new and we have to give this team more exposure and experience. We have three-four players who have been playing consistently and have played over a 100 matches. Otherwise all our players are new. Even when we played with our full strength, they [Zimbabwe] gave us a tough time.”Misbah also spoke about Mohammad Hafeez, who injured his left hamstring while batting and had to walk off the field before coming back to bat again later. He also bowled nine overs and picked up two wickets and was named Man of the Series.”He’s feeling well, it’s a little bit of strain,” Misbah said. “Let’s see how the next two days go and I think he will be okay in two days.”The teams will now play two Tests, beginning on September 3, and Misbah said they will have to work on their fast bowling and fielding to perform better. With changes to the team for the longer format, Misbah said their performances will get better with specialist bowlers and better fielders coming in.”We will have a new team for the Tests after a lot of changes and we want to improve in our fast bowling, our lengths we are bowling on in these conditions,” he said. “We especially need to improve our fielding. With some of the specialist bowlers and fielders coming in, I hope we will get better.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAdrian Barath’s 38 helped setup a strong target for Antigua•Getty Images

Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel prevailed in a tense last-over victory against Antigua Hawksbills in Port-of-Spain to move to fourth place in the points table after their second successive win. Antigua needed 33 off the last two overs and 19 off the last but they fell short by a run despite hitting three fours and two sixes in the last two overs in the rain-affected match.After T&T scored 169, Antigua’s innings was interrupted by rain in their first over and the revised target was 134 from 15 overs. They lost two wickets, of Kieran Powell and Rahkeem Cornwall, within six overs but Johnson Charles smashed three consecutive sixes in the fourth over off Samuel Badree to hoist their run-rate to 10. However, Dwayne Bravo counterattacked with a slower delivery and dismissed Charles for 46 in the eighth over which conceded only three runs. Sulieman Benn followed it with another parsimonious over by giving two runs in the next and Antigua now needed 66 from 36.Benn then removed Marlon Samuels and Devon Thomas in three balls in the 11th over despite being hit for a six in the same over. Out walked Ricky Ponting at No. 7 but he was soon caught and bowled for 1 by Kevon Cooper in the 12th over at the end of which Antigua needed 45 from 18. A six from Ben Rohrer and a few singles helped them score 12 in the next over. Cooper started the penultimate over with a wide and a four but struck with Kemar Roach’s wicket on the third ball. But Roher and Sheldon Cotterrell struck a four each to still keep them in the game.Now needing 19 form six, Cotterrell smashed a six on the first ball and took three byes on the next but Rohrer fell for 28 on the third ball. Ten required from three and Delorn Johnson gave only two runs in the next two balls to seal another thrilling win for T&T despite being hit for a six on the last ball.When T&T chose to bat earlier, they lost Kevin O’Brien in the second over but Adrian Barath and Ross Taylor put on 54 from 45 before Taylor departed for 25, and Barath was run-out in the 12th over for a quick 38. The Bravo brothers took on the Antigua bowlers from there, Dwayne being more aggressive hitting two fours and four sixes during his 25-ball 46. Darren scored 38 from 30 in the 73-run stand which they put on in 44 balls. Three wickets and only five runs in the last over gave some consolation to Antigua, but T&T had amassed 101 runs in the last 10 overs by then.

Match facts

Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)AB de Villiers would want a much better South Africa performance•AFP

Big picture

After Saturday’s 180-run opening loss, South Africa captain AB de Villiers said his side would not spend time dissecting their performance, but would instead attempt to forget the match ever happened. With so many of their best players unavailable, perhaps that is not so bad a ploy. If South Africa’s touring party did not seem outmatched in these conditions when they landed, they certainly do now. It will take a great deal of belief and a little luck to overcome an opponent, who has their measure in skill and technical proficiency.The batsmen will reason they simply had a poor outing, and could not make their risks pay off with such a large total to chase, but foremost among the visitors’ woes must be their bowling at the death. The last 12 overs of Sri Lanka’s innings not only cost 137, but the South Africa attack also seemed incapable of adhering to any semblance of a plan. Yorkers were missed, often by a distance, and the fast men reverted to a puzzling Plan B of digging the ball in short, despite Kumar Sangakkara having clobbered plenty to the square-leg boundary throughout his innings.Before the match de Villiers spoke of the potential he saw in Chris Morris and Rory Kleinveldt, but with all his fast bowlers available for the second game, experience may mark the route to success.South Africa’s fielding was also uncharacteristically poor, with a straightforward chance at slip going down early in the innings, before a slew of ground-fielding errors surrendered free runs. Colombo’s sticky heat was blamed for the visitors’ general raggedness, but in 2013, an unfamiliar climate hardly serves as an adequate excuse for top-level sportsmen. South Africa are capable of being the best fielding side in the world on their day, and de Villiers will hope they have adapted to the heat after a week on the island.Sri Lanka are not without their own troubles, and for many spectators, Lahiru Thirimanne’s unease at the crease even as Sangakkara unleashed mayhem at the other end, epitomised the gulf in class between Sri Lanka’s senior players and its youngsters. Thirimanne is batting out of position and lacks the power to perform the finishing role, but he and Dinesh Chandimal must take quickly to the roles they have been assigned, because it is unlikely they will bat in the top order as long as the veterans still take guard.

Form guide

(most recent first, last five completed matches)
Sri Lanka: WLLWW
South Africa: LLTWL

Players to watch

Rangana Herath has not always been a part of Sri Lanka’s limited-overs plans in the last two years, but he struck thrice for 25 runs in the first match and has asserted himself as his team’s best option in ODIs as well as Tests, in the last five months. He has a good record against South Africa, and with Sri Lanka opting for only one frontline slow-bowling option, he needs his spells to be impactful ones.Morne Morkel had been in doubt for the first match, but took two wickets for 32 from ten overs, while his quick-bowling colleagues traveled at almost seven and nine an over. De Villiers bowled Morkel out in the 44th over, but may hold him back for the final melee on Tuesday, and perhaps Morkel can provide some respite at the death for South Africa.

Pitch and conditions

Unseasonal rain continues to douse Colombo, and South Africa’s training session on the eve of the match was interrupted by a downpour. More rain is expected early afternoon on Tuesday, but should clear off in time to allow a match, if only a curtailed one. The pitch is the same strip that saw just under 82 overs on Saturday, and is likely to play slower, particularly as the evening wears on.

Team news

Sri Lanka are unlikely to make any changes, with most of their team having fired. Having not been required with the bat on Saturday, Jehan Mubarak will likely get another game.Sri Lanka (probable): 1. Upul Tharanga, 2. Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3. Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4. Mahela Jayawardene, 5. Lahiru Thirimanne, 6. Dinesh Chandimal (capt), 7. Jehan Mubarak, 8. Thisara Perera, 9. Rangana Herath, 10. Lasith Malinga, 11. Shaminda ErangaHashim Amla has not been fully cleared of neck spasms, but de Villiers was hopeful he would play, while Lonwabo Tsotsobe is said to be fully fit. Chris Morris will likely make way for Tsotsobe, while Colin Ingram may make room atop the order for Amla. Both frontline spinners are also likely to get another game.South Africa (probable): 1. Hashim Amla, 2. Alviro Petersen. 3. JP Duminy, 4. AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 5. Faf du Plessis, 6. David Miller, 7. Robin Peterson, 8. Ryan McLaren, 9. Aaron Phangiso, 10. Morne Morkel, 11. Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Stats and trivia

• Rangana Herath, set to play his 50th ODI, is two short of 50 wickets
• South Africa have now lost their last 10 ODIs against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka – a dry spell that stretches all the way back to 1993
  

  Quotes

  “We’re certainly not the best fielding team in the world yet. I’d like us to be and we’ve got the potential, but it’s frustrating to see us field like we did in the first match. The heat is not an excuse, but it was something new to the guys. In this game they will know what to expect.”
  “I was successful as a captain in the last match , but you can’t judge a captain by just one game. There are more matches to come.”

ScorecardJames Tomlinson took five wickets as Hampshire defended 221•Getty Images

James Tomlinson finished with figures of 5 for 44 to guide Hampshire totheir second County Championship win of the season as they beatGlamorgan by 43 runs in a close-fought game in Cardiff.After leaving Glamorgan 215 to win in 90 overs, Tomlinson claimed the first fourwickets to fall as the home side subsided to 58 for 5. Although Murray Goodwin and Mark Wallace put on 80 for the sixth wicket the damage had been done.At the start of the day Marcus North completed his five-wicket haul asGlamorgan wrapped up the Hampshire innings in the space of 22 balls. Hampshire were only able to add six more runs to their overnight total of 173for nine before Danny Briggs gave a bat-pad catch to Gareth Rees at short-leg. That gave North only his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket givinghim figures of 5 for 30 from 15.1 overs.Glamorgan made a dreadful start to their victory quest being reduced to 42 for3 inside 10 overs by Tomlinson. He had Ben Wright and Stewart Walters both caught in the slips by LiamDawson and Sean Ervine respectively. And Tomlinson claimed his third wicket to have first innings century-maker Reescaught at second slip.Left-armer Tomlinson made it four straight victims when he trapped North lbw asthe home side slipped to 55 for four. Before lunch David Balcombe chipped in with the fifth wicket when Jim Allenby edged to Dawson at slip.But either side of lunch Goodwin and Wallace launched their impressiverecovery, steering them from 64 for 5 at the break, still 157 runs adrift of their victorytarget.Glamorgan were looking comfortable until Wallace was trapped leg beforehalf-forward to give Tomlinson his fifth wicket to leave the hosts 138for six at tea. At that stage Glamorgan needed 83 to win from 35.3 overs with Goodwin stillthere on 38 not out.Though Goodwin lost Dean Cosker to a leg-side stumping off Danny Briggs he wentto his 50 from 156 balls with six fours despite being rapped on the thumb byTomlinson when he was 39.Michael Hogan made a breezy 18, including 11 off a Briggs over, before he wascaught trying to clear Neil McKenzie at mid-off off Sohail Tanvir. It leftGlamorgan on 172 – needing a further 49 to win.And an over later Will Owen played on to Briggs making it 177 for 9, whileMike Reed lasted only two balls as Hampshire wrapped up the win with 22 oversremaining.

George Bailey, Australia’s stand-in captain, has called the alleged altercation involving David Warner as a “minor” incident and though it was “disappointing” he felt the issue had been dealt with properly by Cricket Australia.Even before persistent showers in Birmingham had forced the Australia-New Zealand match to be abandoned, the Warner issue had taken centre stage.Later in the evening Bailey, whose deputising for an injured Michael Clarke, walked into the media conference room with smile that never left his face during the eight minutes his questioning lasted. He knew cricket was the last thing the media was interested in. He did not look nervous. He went about his job in the seamless fashion he had in the morning while repairing the early damage inflicted on the Australia top order by New Zealand. Regardless of what his critics might say, Bailey is your blue collar worker, who will report to work every day, put up a smile, no matter how grave the situation.And Wednesday was a grave one even if Bailey tried to impress that it was nothing like that. Kate Hutchison, the Australia media manager, alerted the media in a brief and direct message that Bailey would not be allowed to speak publicly on the Warner issue considering the matter was going to be heard at a Cricket Australia’s code of conduct hearing soon.Although it was an expected first line of defence, a brief moment of silence ensued after Hutchison had tried hard to draw the curtain to protect Bailey from making any unwanted comment. Smile intact still, Bailey looked around in anticipation for a reaction as the flash lights dazzled on him. Ian O’Brien, the former New Zealand fast bowler, covering the tournament as a radio commentator, broke the intrigue as he mocked a walkout by saying “right, no questions then,” making everyone in the room including Bailey, but barring Hutchsion, erupt into loud laughter.With everyone at ease, Bailey was asked if the Warner incident had disturbed the team in any point before or during the New Zealand match, considering the news was made public by both Cricket Australia and the ECB on the morning before the game. Bailey said it had not affected the team in any way since the alleged incident had occurred “a few days” ago, which is when he was made aware of it. “It’s been dealt with from my point of view,” Bailey said. “It’s disappointing, but a very minor incident and it’s been dealt with in house and that’s it.”According to Bailey, it was not at all difficult to arrive at Edgbaston to play what was an important match for Australia, who had lost their first match of the Champions Trophy against England last Saturday: “Very comfortable. Very easy. The situation for us, believe it or not, was bigger than this – it was about making sure we won this game to stay in the tournament and play some better cricket than we had against England. And with this sort of a result I am still not sure if we have done that.”

Brendon McCullum on the Warner issue

As the day wore along, cricket became insignificant. Even Brendon McCullum, the New Zealand captain admitted that the Warner issue would be the “first question” he would have to address after the match. Although he had heard “whispers” McCullum decided the leave the difficult questions aside.
“I don’t really want to speak on what is going on with no concrete evidence,” McCullum said. “We knew that Australia were a good team regardless whether Dave Warner was opening the batting or not. Our foucs was very much on how we were going to go about playing our game rather than worry about what was going on in the other team.”
New Zealand are no strangers to off-field incidents. McCullum did not want to play the role of a counselor, but said such incidents did not necessarily destabalise teams, but instead strengthen the unit. “We’ve had some issues in the past as well. It is never great. It depends on how good your team spirit is and how good your structure is to be able to fight your way through. And sometimes things like these can galvanise the team.”

Asked to describe the kind of team-mate Warner was, Bailey gave a positive appraisal. “I love playing cricket with him,” he said. “I love his enthusiasm. Love his energy around the group. Love the way he plays. Wish I had the talent that he does. He is a particularly generous team-mate, very giving. I’m looking forward to playing lot more cricket with him in whatever cricket I have.”Even if Hutchison shook her head in annoyance, the questions did not stop. Does Warner have a short fuse? “No, not at all,” Bailey said. Were there any occasions where he crossed what Bailey regarded as acceptable line? “No, I don’t think so, no. No, not at all. This is the best defense I’ve got,” Bailey said cheekily.To the surprise of many, Warner had come to the ground despite an early morning CA release which had indicated that he had been dropped for the New Zealand match. He joined the team-mates in the warm-up and acted as twelfth man generously while being pleasant to everyone around.Bailey ruled out the suggestion about whether the team management had decided to leave Warner back at the hotel instead of asking him to carry the drinks. “No, certainly not from the team perspective. It’s been dealt with. I thought he took it on the chin, and he’s had a cheer around the group, so it was outstanding. No pun intended. Sorry about that,” Bailey said, insisting the fact the the mood in the Australian dressing room was “very normal”.The absence of Clarke has taken its toll in both the batting and the leadership areas despite the honest work of Bailey. Bailey said that having “Pup” would no doubt inject a heavy dose of inspiration but said there was no point speculating considering he was not yet ready to play.”Well, as a balance, we’d love to have him around, no doubt about that,” Bailey said. “But there’s no point in having him around if it’s not beneficial to A, his back, or B, him getting into a situation where he cannot play for us, so, not really. I think we’re at the stage now where, as a growing team, having one person there or not there shouldn’t make or break how we play.”