Zimbabwe 259 for 7 (Sibanda 116, Taylor 55) beat Bermuda 176 (Mupariwa 3-19, Mahwire 3-29) by 83 runs
Scorecard

As expected, Zimbabwe cruised to victory over Bermuda in the final of the Tri-Nation tournament at Queen’s Park Oval, Vusi Sibanda’s hundred giving them a total that was never likely to be overtaken. These sides met two days ago when Zimbabwe recorded a crushing 194-run win, and while Bermuda had rested a couple of key players for that game, few expected anything else today.Zimbabwe won the toss and batted, making a sprightly start thanks to Sibanda who looked in good form from the off. For a batsman who has been given a long run in the side, he has largely disappointed – as an average of 16.12 from 32 innings before this game indicates – but he did little wrong against far less threatening bowlers than he faced against West Indies.Chamu Chibhabha, who was the batting star in the early part of that series, struggled for his 18, but his dismissal brought in Brendan Taylor who cracked a typically bellicose run-a-ball half-century, adding 88 in under 14 overs with Sibanda.At 200 for 2 with 11 overs remaining, Zimbabwe were looking at another post-300 score, but the innings hiccoughed as they then lost three wickets in seven balls, two to Irvine Romaine. A tiring Sibanda finally fell for 116 as the innings ended with a thud rather than a bang.Why Tawanda Mupariwa was not entrusted with the new ball against West Indies was a mystery, and his initial burst today, when he removed both Bermuda’s openers, only added to the bewilderment. Equally bemusing was Bermuda’s decision to send in Treadwell Gibbons at the top of the order. On Thursday, he ground out an 85-ball 33; today he faced 13 balls for 0.Saleem Mukuddem and Romaine ensured there were no more setbacks, but by the time Mukuddem went with the score 59 for 3, Bermuda had used almost half their allocation of overs and were out of the hunt. Dean Minors and Lionel Cann injected some sense of urgency spirited cameos, but by then the bird had flown.Prosper Utseya ended his Caribbean trip showing the same control that he had throughout, taking 2 for 21 from his ten overs, and even the ever wayward Blessing Mahwire grabbed three and Bermuda pressed for runs that were only ever going to change the margin of defeat rather than the result.Zimbabwe, however, deserved their victory and it has to give their young side a boost after a frankly disappointing series against West Indies. Their next opposition are Bangladesh in two or three months, and that will be an altogether different proposition.Bermuda came out of the competition with a realisation of how much work they have to do. But they have $11 million of government investment injected into the sport and an enthusiastic local population. Zimbabwe have the money, courtesy of the ICC, but their other problems are weighty, and it will be interesting to see where these two countries stand in three or four years time.The third participants – Canada – were terribly unimpressive, and they do not have the money or widespread support for the game; nor do they have the time to make major advances before the World Cup in 10 months’ time. They face Bermuda and Kenya in another tri-series in July where they will need to be several notches better than they were here to even compete.

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.

The process of naming an Indian umpire in the ICC’s Elite Panel has been pushed back by at least a year, after the Indian board requested more time for settling on likely candidates.The board faced criticism in the recent past for the fact that not a single Indian umpire is represented in the Panel, with the ICC urging the BCCI to raise the quality of umpiring in the country. This prompted the board to take assistance from Microsoft to provide software solutions and device effective methods of judging the umpires’ decisions starting from the Indian domestic season this October.A three-member sub-committee, which was formed to nominate the umpires for the Panel, too requested more time saying that the domestic season will be crucial in their decision. Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, was hopeful of nominating at least one umpire by early next year.”Right now we are continuing with what we have”, Shah told . “We scrapped the system of 13 elite domestic umpires, and the overhaul being planned by the BCCI’s umpiring committee means we might need even more time. But hopefully, we will have an umpire in the Elite Panel by early next year.”The ICC’s International Panel currently has three Indians – AV Jayaprakash, I Shivram and K Hariharan, who are unlikely to make it to the Elite Panel as the ICC hasn’t promised any big assignments for them. The board is now considering giving more opportunities to young umpires, provided they prove their worth in the examination for the Ranji Trophy panel on August 20. “The board might even fast-track a young umpire from the Ranji panel to the All India Panel if they feel he is top grade”, said MP Pandove, the BCCI joint secretary.S Venkataraghavan, who retired from umpiring in March 2004, is the only Indian umpire to have made it to the Elite Panel.

Lalchand Rajput, the former Indian opener who recently coached the Under-19 side on their successful England tour, was pleased with the way some young players developed and was optimistic of a few of them stepping up to the higher grade.”It was a very good trip and a successful one too as we won both the series,” Rajput told the Press Trust of India. “We should have won the first Test too after having swept the one-day series, but England managed to bat out the final day and earn a draw.”Singling out a few players as the most impressive ones on the trip, Rajput said they all needed to keep working hard on their game. “The batsmen to impress the most were Delhi’s Viraj Kohli, captain Tanmay Srivastava of Uttar Pradesh, opener Parvez Aziz of Assam and Bodapati Sumanth of Andhra. In bowling, the medium-pace trio of Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh (TN), Abu Nacheem (Assam) and Ishan Sharma (Delhi), along with left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem caught the eye.”Rajput, 44, who played two Tests and four ODIs for India in the mid-eighties, spoke about the strengths of some of the young batsmen on tour. He described Aziz as an attacking opening batsman who provided the team with brisk starts. “He used to stroke his way to quick 60s and 70s and batted aggressively in the Tests too,” he added. “Kohli showed strong technical skills against both pace and spin while captain Srivastava impressed with his sound temperament and willingness to play long innings. Sumanth could hit the spinners out of the attack easily and showed fine finishing instincts in the one dayers by making a very impressive 97 not out in the last match.”He had special praise for his medium-pacers. “I was very impressed with medium pacer Ishant Sharma who, at 17, worked up good pace in excess of 135 kph. I see him improving much more in two years’ time,” he continued. “Both Yo Mahesh, who got a hat-trick in one of the one-dayers, and Nacheem also bowled well, keeping a good line and length.”The Under-19 side are scheduled to tour Pakistan next month. They are also set to visit New Zealand in the end of the year.

Anil Kumble and Sreesanth, the fast bowler, have been left out of the Champions Trophy squad. RP Singh, on the back of his recent performance for India A in Australia, has been included in the 14-man squad. The ODI squad for both the Champions Trophy and for the Malaysia tri-series were announced in Mumbai today.Sreesanth’s exclusion has raised a few eyebrows as he was in the forefront of the action when India last toured West Indies, starring in the Tests as well as three of the five one-dayers. He has been expensive in one-dayers, something that could have gone against him when the selectors had to prune the 15-man squad for the Malaysia tri-series to 14 for the Champions Trophy.”Sreesanth definitely figures in our scheme of things but we need to give pacemen like Rudra Pratap Singh enough chances as he has been looking good recently,” Kiran More, the chairman of selectors, said. For the Malaysia tri-series, which precedes the Champions Trophy, the 15-man squad that toured Sri Lanka for the aborted series has been retained.RP Singh will consider himself lucky to make the cut ahead of Sreesanth, as he has not quite been in the thick of action of late. He played in just one ODI in the West Indies, bowling seven wicketless overs for 45 runs. Before that he played three matches against England, and failed to pick up a wicket in any. What’s more, his economy rate for the last four matches is an unflattering 6.5. It has been suggested that RP Singh got the nod because he bowls left-handed, and that this would add variety. In that case, however, it’s not clear why Zaheer Khan, who is performing well in county cricket, was not given a look in.Kumble’s exclusion is more straightforward. He is recovering from an injury, and although in the process of rehabilitation, the selectors thought it wise not to rush him back into the side, especially with India having a busy season ahead.”According to the report from physio John Gloster, Kumble was likely to be fit for the tournament but we were not sure and hence decided not to select him,” More said. Further, once India announced a final squad to the ICC there would be no opportunity to make changes should Kumble break down. “We have other series coming up and are looking at his long-term rehabilitation,” More added.Sourav Ganguly, the former captain, who had been included in the 30 probables for the Champions Trophy also couldn’t make it to the squad. The Malaysia tri-series starts on September 12 in Kuala Lumpur and include Australia and West Indies. The Champions Trophy will start with the qualifiers on October 7.India, who have been placed in group A along with world champions Australia, England and one of the qualifying teams, take on England in their first match at Jaipur on October 15.Group B comprises Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and the other qualifier from the qualifying league in which the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe will fight it out.Squad for Champions Trophy
Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh, Dinesh Mongia.Squad for Malaysia tri-series
Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Sreesanth.

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.”

Michael Hussey craves another opportunity to bat higher up the order but admits it is unlikely he will win regular elevations in the near future. Despite being the world’s top-ranked one-day batsman, Hussey is usually Australia’s No. 7 and only a last-minute decision gave him a chance at five during the six-wicket win over England on Saturday.The patient partner as Damien Martyn cruised to 78, Hussey accumulated 32 from 85 balls in a successful rescue mission from the trouble of 3 for 34. “If that situation arises again I’d love to do it, but I don’t think it’s going to be a common thing,” Hussey said in the . “We are just going to have to be very flexible and adapt to how the game is going. That’s one way we can improve as a team. If we are going well then Andrew Symonds would be perfect in that situation.”Hussey has to juggle his batting outlook in ODIs as the situation varies from recovery to attacking mode, but he has shown his incredible versatility by reaching an average of 79.58 in 45 games. There is also a feeling from many supporters that he is wasted batting so low. At midday on Wednesday almost 85% of voters in a www.baggygreen.com.au poll felt he should always enter higher than No. 7.”It was nice, a good opportunity to get some good time in the middle,” he said of his move to five. “It’s something I’ve been craving, really. The scoring rate was still pretty good at that stage so I didn’t have to rush. I could take my time and just hang in there for a while.”Quite often I have to come in and try to tee off straight away. That’s good fun as well. But I quite enjoy coming in when we are in a bit of trouble and trying to resurrect the innings. That’s very satisfying.”Hussey said Australia had been slow starters and he was confident the side would improve during the tournament. “We are going to get better each game because of the fact we haven’t had a lot of cricket after a long break,” he said. “Hopefully the rustiness will keep getting out of our system as we go along. Generally we’ve been slow starters.”

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.

Former England batsman turned ICC match referee Chris Broad has laid into Kevin Shine, England’s bowling coach, accusing him of trying to turn his son Stuart into a “bowling clone”.Speaking to BBC Leicester, Broad lambasted Shine after suggestions were made to Stuart Broad that he should make some changes to his action.The aim was to try to lessen the chances of injury, but Broad senior was unimpressed. “I don’t believe you should have a whole host of clones playing in an England side so that they don’t get injured.”I can understand where Kevin Shine is coming from in that biomechanics are saying as far as injuries go you have to open up a little bit more save your back,” he continued. “But Stuart’s is a very natural action, it’s a very easy action and it’s a wicket-taking action. Injury is part and parcel of any game. A coach should work with the talent they have got in front of them, not change them into something that we see in a coaching manual.”I hope Stuart sticks to his guns and I hope the England set-up realise the talent they have and work with it.”

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.”