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Lance Klusener, the former South African allrounder, has been left out of the Dolphins squad set to play the Eagles in the season-opener at Kingsmead from Thursday.Cassim Docrat, CEO of the KZN Cricket Union, said there was a “hitch” regarding Klusener’s eligibility to play, the Natal-based reported. This comes in the wake of Cricket South Africa’s decision to ban players involved with the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Cricket South Africa’s chief executive officer Gerald Majola had said anyone who joined the ICL would not be allowed to play in matches organised by the board.Klusener, who signed for the ICL, an unofficial league that intends to stage Twenty20 games across India, had lashed out at the board’s stand. Tony Irish, the CEO of the SA Cricketers’ Association, has taken up the matter with the board on Klusener’s behalf.Another star Dolphins cricketer, Dale Benkenstein, will also miss the four-day match. Docrat said Benkenstein is still in England but will be available for the second round of the competition.Meanwhile, the Inland selectors have named the squad from which the XI will be chosen for the opening SA Airways Challenge round against Boland at the Maritzburg Oval from Thursday. The Durban-based KZN Coastal side was also selected for their match in East London.TeamsKZN Dolphins Imraan Khan, Doug Watson, Wayne Madsen, Ahmed Amla (capt), Jon Kent, Daryn Smit, Johann Louw, Morné van Vuuren, Yusuf Abdullah, Quinton Friend, Saidi Mhlongo, Mafinki Serame. Coach: Yashin Ebrahim.KZN Inland André van Vuuren (capt), Ross McMillan, Clint Bowyer, Brad Moses, Lyndon Brown, Kivershan Padayachee, Michael Matika, Sashen Dorasamy, Garry Hampson, Murray Hampson, Lennox Lwana, Qasim Khurshid, Olly Humphries, Mbasa Gqadushe, Glen Addicott. Coach: Robbie Coutts.KZN Coastal Rivash Gobind (capt), Kyle Smit, Fabian Lazarus, Martin Bekker, Calvin Flowers, Cedric Mabuya, Chad Hauptfleisch, Viyaash Gobind, Andrew Tweedie, Dan Horsfall, Tyron Pillay, Keegan Africa. Coach: Sakele Simon.

Bangladesh have called up Abdur Razzak, the young left-arm spinner, for the upcoming tours of Zimbabwe and Kenya. Impressive performances for Bangladesh A in Zimbabwe recently were the main reason for his selection, said Faruk Ahmed, Bangladesh’s chairman of selectors.Razzak, 24, has played 14 one-day internationals for the senior side. He has taken 18 wickets at an average of 26.77 with best bowling figures of 3 for 17 against Sri Lanka in 2004.Bangladesh are due to play five one-day internationals in Zimbabwe starting on July 29 followed by three one-day internationals in Kenya starting on August 12. Habibul Bashar, the national captain, remained confident of picking up a first overseas victory. “We have displayed a lot of improvement in recent times, so it is fair to say we are favourites for both series,” he told reporters. “We know it won’t be as easy as when we played at home. But we still believe we have enough fire power to beat them under their conditions.”Added Dav Whatmore, the coach: “We are very confident that we can win the series, but we do need to adjust [to the conditions] as quickly as possible.”Last year, Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe 3-2 in a one-day series before going on to rout Kenya 4-0 in March to register their two home series victories to date.

Chris Martin, the New Zealand seamer, has expressed surprise at being selected for the Twenty20 World Championship but hoped he would excel in the tournament. “I’d scheduled this time of the year to do a few university studies,” Martin told the .Martin, who will share the new ball with Shane Bond, was picked as John Bracewell, New Zealand’s coach, wanted specialists to play in the tournament. “The likelihood of me having to bat is quite minimal and you need to have specialists at either end, I think,” Martin said.Martin said the Twenty20 format would be harsh on the bowlers. “I’m leaving the country without my ego, I think,” he said. “If I can go at under ten an over then I’ll be happy, so it’s not usual for any type of cricket I’ve played in the past.”Martin said he had only played about half a dozen games of Twenty20, but had enjoyed them. “It’s got a nice speed to it, which you sort of get used to – performing under quite intense pressure,” he said. “And the crowds come along to watch as well which is quite a bonus.”People are still learning how to play it and there are some countries around the world that have played it a lot more than New Zealand. So for us to arrive with the right game plan and the right philosophy will be quite important to us doing well. It’s also one that I’ll hopefully look back on as being a highlight.”Meanwhile, Brendon McCullum, the wicketkeeper, hopes to bat up the order and take charge of the innings with some big-hitting. McCullum started his international career as an opener before dropping down the order.”I have a little bit of responsibility to try to score a big innings somewhere along the line,” he said. McCullum was looking forward to play with his brother Nathan McCullum, who was picked for the tournament for his all-round skills. “It’ll be good,” Brendon said. “I caught up with him last week and I know he’s pretty excited.”The offspinner Jeetan Patel, who is suffering from flu, has been working on pitching the ball in the blockhole at the indoor nets. “Being able to hit the hole is a big part of Twenty20 so I’ve been working on that, but it seems a little bit fake doing it indoors so I can’t wait to get away and start doing some real work,” Patel said.

Younis Khan, the Pakistan vice-captain, believes that the possible comeback of three key fast bowlers including Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif would make Pakistan the best bowling team in the world, even ahead of world champions Australia.Younis said that his team would gain a huge pace advantage once Shoaib, Asif and Shabbir Ahmed – whose action has been cleared by the ICC – return to international cricket during next month’s tour of South Africa. The trio have been included in a list of 25 probables invited for a conditioning camp starting in Lahore from tomorrow in preparation for the tour of South Africa.”We would have a bowling attack stronger than Australia’s if Shoaib, Asif and Shabbir return to the squad,” Younis told at the National Stadium in Karachi. “We are already equipped with some good bowlers but once these three are back our attack would be awesome. All these three are valuable bowlers for their wicket-taking abilities and you need such players to win Tests against strong opponents.”Shoaib and Asif are available for selection for the tour of South Africa starting from January 4 after being cleared of doping offences by a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appeals committee earlier this month.Pakistan rode on a good showing from pacers Umar Gul, Shahid Nazir, Abdul Razzaq and legspinner Danish Kaneria to beat West Indies 2-0 in a home Test series this season.”The one thing that makes me very optimistic about our team’s future is that bowlers like Umar Gul, Shahid Nazir and Mohammad Sami have been performing impressively in recent times and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan is also regaining good form,” he remarked. “I must say that once we have all our pacers ready for national duty we would be better off than even Australia in this department of the game.”Younis, who led Peshawar Panthers into the semifinals of the ongoing Twenty20 Cup believes Pakistan would be in a good position to win the series in South Africa but was quick to add that the players will have to really apply themselves in what would be demanding playing conditions in South Africa. He played down fears that the Pakistan batsmen would flop on bouncy South African wickets.”The South Africans are a top side but we are good enough to beat them. By applying ourselves and showing self belief we can do it. The going would be tough but I am confident we would be ready for the challenge.”

November 27, 1992 – At 21, he replaces Dean Jones in the Australia middle order and makes his Test debut against West Indies at Brisbane, scoring 36 and 15 in a drawn match.December 8, 1992 – Makes his one-day international debut, also against West Indies, but scores 0 in a 14-run win.December 29, 1992 – Curtly Ambrose gets him a third consecutive time in Tests, but he scores an unbeaten 67 in the second innings at Melbourne.May 23, 1993 – Hits his maiden ODI half-century, an unbeaten 43-ball 51, against England at Lords to help Australia to a 3-0 sweep.January 6, 1994 – Scores his third Test half-century at Sydney against South Africa, but a rash cover-drive in the second innings when Australia needed seven runs to win costs him his place in the Test team for six years. Australia lose by five runs.March 3, 2000 – Opening the innings in an ODI against New Zealand at Auckland, he scores an unbeaten 116 – his first ODI hundred.March 11, 2000 – Returns to the Test team to replace an injured Ricky Ponting at Auckland. In a series that Australia win 3-0, he scores two half-centuries.July 7, 2001 – Gets his maiden Test hundred against England at Edgbaston. Despite 382 runs in the series the Man-of-the-Match awards continue to elude him.March 23, 2003 – Batting with a broken finger that will rule him out of the West Indies tour, he strikes an unbeaten 88 as Australia win the World Cup final.March 2004 – Posts two marathon second-innings centuries – the 161 at Kandy taking almost seven hours – as Australia complete their first series whitewash in Sri Lanka.

October 2004 – He continues his great form in the subcontinent with back-to-back centuries on his first visit to India – 104 in the dehydration-inducing conditions of Chennai and 114 and 97 on the bouncy pitch at Nagpur.November 2005 – Dropped for the home series against West Indies after a poor Ashes series. He returns when Australia tour South Africa in March 2006 and picks up his final century in Johannesburg.October 29, 2006 – Under pressure, Martyn takes Australia into the semi-final stage of the Champions Trophy with a classy, unbeaten 73 in a six-wicket win over India at Mohali.November 5, 2006 – In what turns out to be his final ODI, his unbeaten 47 steers Australia to their first Champions Trophy title. The celebrations are marred slightly over Martyn’s pushing of Sharad Pawar, the Indian board president.December 8, 2006 – Low scores in the first two Tests of the Ashes lead to his mid-series retirement.

Barbados-born Mark Lavine turned on a bit of Caribbean style on Saturday to entertain fans in a one of the backwaters of the cricket world with a all-round performance that continues to have the fancied Highveld Strikers on the back foot against North West.After taking career-best figures of six for 55 in the the Strikers’ first innings, Lavine held the North West reply together with a hard-hitting 85, before taking the one Strikers wicket to fall before stumps on day two.Lavine’s knock came off just 97 balls and included ten fours and three sixes, helping to hold together a North West innigs that at one stage looked as if it was on the point of imploding dramatically.When Lavine strode to the wicket, North West had just lost their fourth wicket with just 109 on the board. Despite a useful start from the openers, wickets fell at irritatingly regular intervals for North West as they looked to establish a healthy first innings lead.That they earned an advantage of 53 runs was as much a result of some fine batting for the tenth wicket as it was the product of Lavine’s brilliance. Roe and Jordaan rode their luck in a partnership of 49, frustrating the Strikers attack with a succession of unorthodox strokes.The sense that Lavine was the beneficiary of some divine assistance was only enhanced when he raced in to take the only Strikers wicket to fall before bad light stopped play – Bacher caught behind by Poole for just nine. If North West can continue to prise such spectacular performances from Lavine and play with the kind of collective commitment they have already shown this season, they may have a surprise in store for some of the other traditional powerhouses on their visits to Potchefstrom.

Only two results were possible at the start of the final day’s play: a draw or a South Africa win. Well, that’s what we thought at any rate. Michael Vaughan, on the other hand, thought very differently, and said as much afterwards, once England had wrapped up an astonishing 77-run victory with eight overs of the match to spare.”That was the opinion of a number of so-called experts,” Vaughan retorted. “The opinion of our team was that, if we came and batted well for first hour and half, the game was there for us to win. We’ve had some great wins in the last year, but this is very, very special indeed. To bowl the South African team out in two sessions, when they usually have nine batters, was truly amazing.”Though the hero of the final day was Matthew Hoggard, who grabbed all six of the first wickets to fall en route to career-best figures of 7 for 61, it was Marcus Trescothick who established the tone for the day, with a buccaneering 180 in the morning session. “Trescothick’s innings was very special,” said Vaughan. “It was so free scoring that it allowed us to declare in a fashion where we could set attacking fields and put them under pressure.”England’s prospects of victory had been dented by the calf injury that Steve Harmison endured in the first innings, and there had been some doubt as to whether he could take any further part in the match. In the end, he produced a lengthy but luckless stint, although Vaughan admitted that his fitness worries had affected the timing of England’s declaration.”We wanted quite a few runs [this morning],” said Vaughan, “because we didn’t know what we’d get from our bowlers. Hoggy’s tired, Freddie’s tired, and Jimmy’s young, but all I asked at the start was that they gave it their all for 60 overs or more, and see where we are at the end of it. It was a very tough game mentally, with its ups and downs and lengthy interruptions, so to come back and win showed great mental resolve.It’s been a hard trip,” Vaughan conceded. “I’m tired, so I dread to think how the bowlers are feeling. But they’ve kept running in and giving it their all, and once we had our lead, that allowed us to set attacking fields with six slips, and we knew that if we put the ball in the right areas, we’d get our opportunities. Hoggy did that superbly, and though didn’t take all our opportunities, we took enough to win the game.”Hoggard set England up for victory by grabbing two wickets in two balls at the top of the innings, including the vital scalp of Jacques Kallis for a first-ball duck. “To get their best player first ball is what you need in these situations,” said Vaughan. “It was a tremendous effort for Hoggy to keep running in as he has done for the whole tour. He’d be the first to admit that he didn’t bowl as well as he had in the first innings, but he still picked up a five-fer.”It was a return to familiar territory for Hoggard, who played two years of club cricket in Johannesburg in the mid-1990s, before moving on to Free State for two seasons. “I’ve had four years of international cricket since I last played here,” he said, when asked how his game had changed in the intervening years. “I’ve been bowling on different wickets all around the world, and coming into a balanced squad helps me as well. It’s taken me a while to realise my role, but now I’ve found a niche, I hope to continue.”I didn’t really think I was due a big one,” he said, despite having been England’s most reliable bowler all tour. “Obviously the wicket did a little and the cracks are opening up, but I just put ball in the right areas and thankfully I came out on top. I’m pretty tired now, but I’d have been more tired if we’d lost or drawn. The victory has given me a boost.”I’ll take some special memories from today,” he added. “This is definitely up there with the best of them. Michael’s got me a stump as a souvenir, so I’ll be sure to get it signed and put it up on the wall.”

In relaxed yet sporty clothes, shy grin plastered across his face, under the glare of numerous television-camera spotlights, Sachin Tendulkar was calm and collected, but you could sense the excitement and sheer joy as he answered a volley of questions after reaching his 35th Test hundred. “Landmarks happen. You just go and bat because you want to bat well and get runs for your team. If you chase landmarks then it becomes a problem,” said Tendulkar. “The wait was more for the people than for me. After the Bangladesh hundred we have played only four Test matches. It was not that it was 25 Tests and everyone had run out of patience.”More emotional than most people have ever seen him on a cricket field, Tendulkar reacted with a long look up to the heavens when he reached hundred, and admitted it was different from what he had felt before. “That was for my father. I miss my father very much. I’m sure he would have enjoyed every moment of this if he were here. There have been very few moments in my life when I have got emotional. But this time I felt very different.”Soon after, though, Tendulkar raised his bat a second time. “It was for the team. This was a special occasion for me. They appreciated it so I acknowledged them. Everyone came downstairs [from the dressing-room] to congratulate me. I didn’t say anything, I was finding it difficult to talk. I was feeling shy.”From his first Test century in Manchester, way back in 1990, it has been a long journey. “The first century I made when we had to save a Test match. This one was played in a very different situation,” said Tendulkar. “It was a very emotional one for me. It is difficult to say whether the first one is important or the last one is important but if I didn’t get the ones in the middle I wouldn’t have got to this stage.” Some batsmen insist that picking a favourite out of centuries is like choosing between your children, but Tendulkar was able to put his finger on his best. “Every century is important. But the hundred against Australia at Perth in 1992 was probably my best.”This was a very important hundred for me, four-and-a-half months after elbow surgery. Mentally it [the break because of injury] was very tough on me but physically I could cope. I got frustrated and impatient, so getting out of it was not a singular effort – my family, physio, trainer … they all helped.”There was a time in the day when it seemed unlikely that Tendulkar would reach his century before stumps were drawn. But a sudden spurt of runs, spurred on by three consecutive boundaries off Muttiah Muralitharan, ensured that he got the monkey off his back. But getting it over with was never on his mind. “No I did not think of that. But when they changed the ball, the new one was harder,” he said. “I could hit it easier because it came onto the bat well.” Yet he did admit that he had, in his mind’s eye, lived out this moment already. “One visualises before every Test the moment of getting a hundred. Similarly I did last night. It is part of my pre-match preparation.”On the eve of the match there was plenty of advice for Tendulkar. What did the coach have to say to him? “All we were discussing was not thinking about No. 35 – that it was just another innings, just another century. Coincidentally I got the same advice from my wife. It’s to listen to words like these. It helps.”And even though he was the man of the moment, Tendulkar still had time to remember an approaching milestone for another giant in Indian cricket. “It [This ground] was always remembered for Anil Kumble’s ten wickets, now there are two reasons to remember it. We hope there will be similar reason to remember the Ahmedabad Test, where Anil is playing his 100th match.”With No. 35 out of the way, the question of where to next popped up, and Tendulkar’s reply was spontaneous. “Back to the hotel!” On a more serious note, when asked what could be expected of him, Tendulkar said, “I can’t say what heights I am going to achieve. But what you can expect from me, what is in my hands, is 100% commitment and sincerity and playing for the cause of the team.”In all the adulation, Tendulkar has somehow managed to remain remarkably humble. On the day when he broke Gavaskar’s 22-year-old record, he said, referring to the little man with the title Mr, “Heroes will always be heroes. Mr. Gavaskar will always be a hero of mine. I would say to him, `Thank you for the support you have given us. Not only me but other batsmen as well. It really helps to have senior cricketers who can speak to you about your game.’ I have often gone to him for advice and he has set such benchmarks and standards for us that you needed to have a disciplined and dedicated life to get to a landmark like this.”And in that moment there was a hint of how Tendulkar had managed to stay on the straight an narrow path through 20,000-plus international runs, virtually every batting record in the book, the adulation of millions, multi-crore sponsorship deals … Because at the end of it all, when he goes out to bat, Tendulkar is still just that curly-haired little boy who loves to bat.

Scorecard
Bangladesh’s struggle on their tour of Sri Lanka continued as they were bowled out for a meagre 195 in a warm-up game against the Sri Lanka Cricket Development Squad XI in Colombo.Gayan Wijekoon, the seam bowler, and Gihan Rupasinghe, the legspinner, bagged three wickets each for the home side and it was mainly Javed Omar’s defiant 81 that saved the Bangladeshis from humiliation. Omar struck 11 fours off 109 deliveries while Tapash Baisya made a quick 54 off 76 balls with six fours and a six. Aftab Ahmed was the only other batsman to reach double-figures.The Sri Lankans were 109 for 2 in reply when bad light forced an early closure on the opening day. Shantha Kalavithigoda, who was recently included in the Test squad, got them off to a steady start – after a 67-run opening stand with Harsha Vithana – and was unbeaten on 54 at stumps.This is the only practice game ahead of a two-Test series that begins at the Premdasa Stadium on Monday. Bangladesh were whitewashed 3-0 by Sri Lanka in a preceding one-day series.

Graeme Smith has said that his South African team will not be taking Zimbabwe lightly when their two-Test series gets underway at Cape Town tomorrow (March 4). The Zimbabweans have been bolstered by the return of Heath Streak and Andy Blignaut and Smith wants his side to build some momentum ahead of their tour to West Indies, which begins at the end of the month.”You could see the difference Heath made to the Zimbabwe team in the last Standard Bank match on Wednesday,” Smith told the press agency. “And Andy Blignaut is back in the squad too. That will lift the Zimbabwe team’s spirits as well as their game. It’s crucial that we get into good nick ahead of the West Indies tour. We will approach this series as we would a series against any other country. We want to be clinical and ruthless, and dominate from the start.”But while Zimbabwe are looking stronger with the return of their two allrounders, the South Africans also welcome back the players who missed out on various parts of the one-day series. Jacques Kallis will resume his place in the top order having sat out all three matches while Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Smith himself are returning after breaks of various lengths.Kallis will be looking to continue his amazing run of form, after making 625 runs in the Test series against England. That included 149 at Newlands, his home ground, where Kallis has an unquenchable thirst for runs – 956 in nine matches. He will have a great opportunity to pass the 1000-run mark, but more significantly is just 167 runs short of becoming the second South African, after Gary Kirsten, to join the 7000 Test runs club. Ntini is also approaching a landmark; he requires one more wicket to join Allan Donald and Pollock as South Africans with over 200 Test wickets.Pollock and Ntini will form a three-pronged pace attack with the returning Charl Langeveldt, who will make his second Test appearance on the same ground as his first after taking 5 for 46 against England at the start of January. South Africa suddenly have some riches in the quick bowling department and have been able to omit the fiery Andre Nel, who took a career best 6 for 81 in his last Test appearance against England at Centurion Park.AB de Villiers looks likely to continue opening the batting with Herschelle Gibbs slotting into the middle-order after his recent good run in one-day cricket, where he has made 490 runs in nine innings since moving down to No. 4 and No. 5. Ashwell Prince will get his latest stab at Test cricket at No. 6 as South Africa try to settle on their best batting order.South Africa are overwhelming favourites and they will be looking forward to fine-tuning their game before the Caribbean, but at least the return of Streak and Blignaut – which boosts the Zimbabwean’s morale as much as their ability – might mean that it won’t be all one-way traffic.South Africa team 1 Graeme Smith (capt) 2 AB de Villers 3 Jacques Rudolph 4 Jacques Kallis 5 Herschelle Gibbs 6 Ashwell Prince 7 Mark Boucher (wk) 8 Shaun Pollock 9 Nicky Boje 10 Makhaya Ntini 11 Charl Langeveldt.Zimbabwe team (possible) 1 Stuart Matsikenyeri 2 Barney Rogers 3 Hamilton Masakadza 4 Dion Ebrahim 5 Sean Williams 6 Tatenda Taibu (capt and wk) 7 Heath Streak 8 Andy Blignaut 9 Elton Chigumbura 10 Christopher Mpofu 11 Douglas Hondo.