Points Table

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East Zone salvaged some pride at the end of a disappointing Deodhar Trophy campaign with a high-voltage batting performance and hunted down a mammoth target of 347 at Rajkot. Mahendra Singh Dhoni got them off to a fantastic start with a fiery 87 off 67 balls before Rohan Gavaskar and Sanjib Sanyal carried on the momentum and took them closer to victory. Gavaskar’s unbeaten 89 piloted them towards the target and East stunningly got home with an over to spare. Earlier, Suresh Raina and Syed Abbas Ali had propelled Central Zone to the massive total with both notching up splendid centuries. They added an exact 200 for the fourth-wicket stand as Central gave themselves a great chance of staying in contention for the trophy. The defeat, though, meant thatthey had no chance of winning the title.
Scorecard
A fine allround batting effort saw North Zone register their second win of the tournament, with a bonus point to boot, and head the points table at the end of the penultimate round of matches. Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Ajay Jadeja produced half-centuries and a surge towards the end boosted North to a healthy 288 at the end of their innings. West Zone, who could have sealed the championship with a victory, began solidly as Parthiv Patel anchored the chase with a cheeky 56. But a middle-order collapse, when they slumped from 160 for 3 to 201 all out, thwarted their hopes and North snapped up the bonus point and sneaked to the top of the table.North now take on South Zone in the final league match on February 4 and a victory there will ensure them the title. West will need to beat Central on the same day at Rajkot and hope that North slip up in their encounter at Valsad. If West fail, though, South Zone could beat North and sneak the title through the back door.

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.

Belinda Clark, the Australian captain, has said that her side will target the Indian batting sensation, Mithali Raj, when the two sides clash in the final of the Women’s World Cup at Centurion Park on Sunday. Raj’s superb 91 in the semi-finals had helped India skip past New Zealand into their first-ever World Cup final.”We’ll be looking at seeing the back of her as soon as possible,” Clark was reported as saying in the . The two sides haven’t met since December 2004, when Australia narrowly won a seven-match one-day series 4-3. The two teams were scheduled to meet during the league phase of the World Cup but the match was washed out without a ball being bowled. “They really rely on their opening bowlers and the spinners,” she added, “and we’ll need to be disciplined to survive them.”Steve Jenkin, the Australian coach, warned against underestimating India and spoke about their improvement in recent months. “They’ve beaten us more than any other side in the past four years,” he said. “They’re a better team now than they’ve ever been, they’re a lot fitter, a lot more agile, and it’s going to be a tough game.”The game will be broadcast live from Centurion Park, Pretoria, on Main Event, free of charge to all Foxtel, Austar and Optus subscribers from 6pm (AEST).

Division One
Glamorgan v Surrey at Cardiff
Matthew Maynard has been ruled out of Glamorgan’s match against Surrey at Sophia Gardens with bronchitis. He could be sidelined for up to a month. Jonathan Hughes has taken his place at No 5. Surrey are struggling with injuries to their bowling attack: Martin Bicknell has a hamstring strain, Azhar Mahmood is suffering from shin problems and Ian Salisbury has a torn left abdominal muscle.Gloucestershire v Kent at Bristol
Upul Chandana could make his first-class debut for Gloucestershire when Kent head to Bristol. Carl Greenidge is also in contention for a place. Martin Saggers is set to return for Kent after missing the tense draw against Warwickshire, while they may also spring a surprise after including Johan Malcolm, an offspinner who will play for Denmark in the ICC Trophy, in their squad. Simon Willis, Kent’s coach, says he wants all bases covered.Nottinghamshire v Sussex at Trent Bridge
Johannes van der Wath, the Eagles’ fast-medium opening bowler, is set to make his debut for Sussex against Nottinghamshire. He has been signed as a replacement for Pakistan’s Rana Naved-ul-Hasan until the middle of June. Sussex are unbeaten in the last ten first-class matches between the two sides. Nottinghamshire are still without Charlie Shreck (stress fracture) and AJ Harris (groin strain) while Anurag Singh is preferred to Russell Warren.Warwickshire v Middlesex at Edgbaston
Scott Styris will make his first-class debut for Middlesex when they travel to Edgbaston. Styris appeared in Middlesex’s National League 69-run defeat against Lancashire at the weekend after recovering from knee surgery. The left-arm spinner Chris Peploe has been added to the 13-man squad, but a final decision on the team will not be taken until the pitch has been inspected. The South African fast bowler Dewald Pretorius could play for Warwickshire after recovering from a thigh injury.Division Two
Derbyshire v Northamptonshire at Derby
The Derbyshire coach David Houghton has a full squad to choose from, while Northamptonshire report no fresh injury concerns. The match looks set to be a battle of the seamers with both teams having four-strong pace attacks.Somerset v Essex at Taunton
Marcus Trescothick will return to action after leaving Somerset’s game against Yorkshire early to attend the birth of his baby daughter. However, he may bat at No 3 to allow John Francis, who carried his bat for an unbeaten 125 against Yorkshire, to open with Sanath Jayasuriya. James Middlebrook returns to Essex’s squad after recovering from an ankle problem.Worcestershire v Lancashire at Worcester
Andrew Flintoff will play his first Championship match for nearly two years when Lancashire travel to New Road, although he will play as a batsman only as he continues to recover from an operation on a bone spur. Muttiah Muralitharan could also play and a final decision on the make-up of the Lancashire attack will be made in the morning. Worcestershire a boosted by the return of Kabir Ali while Alamgir Sheriyar continues his loan spell.

Cambridge University 191 for 5 (Timms 58) beat Oxford University 190 (Stearn 56*, Savill 4-28) by five wickets
ScorecardA sixth-wicket stand of 92 between James Chervak and Tom Savill guided Cambridge University to a five-wicket win with four balls to spare in the one-day Varsity match at Lord’s.The pair came together with Cambridge struggling on 199 for 5 chasing Oxford’s 190 after Richard Timms (58) had given them a solid base. But from 72 for 1, they lost four quick wickets before Chervak (39*) and Savill (33*) saw them home. The decisive over was the 46trh wne Savill took 18 off four balls to swing the match Cambridge’s way, two successive sixes, one over deep square-leg and the other over a short Tavern boundary.Oxford had Daniel Fox (49) to thank from helping them recover from a shaky start, and then Christopher Stearn chipped in with a 77-ball unbeaten 56. Savill was also the pick of the bowlers for Cambridge, claiming 4 for 28 with Vikram Banerjee taking 3 for 29.

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Hampshire pulled off another extraordinary win under the captaincy of Shane Warne as Nottinghamshire collapsed in startling fashion from 250 for 4 to 261 all out. Warne had set Nottinghamshire 276 after Hampshire and scored some easy runs off the part-time bowlers following Stephen Fleming’s overnight declaration. A stand of 132 between Fleming and David Hussey took Nottinghamshire to within touching distance of their target, and even the loss of Hussey for 64 should not have dented their hopes. However, Warne always likes a challenge and rallied his team mates for one final effort. Chris Tremlett took it upon himself to do the bulk of the damage, as he surged through the Nottinghamshire batting with 5 for 80, including a hat trick. Three of the lower order failed to score as the pressure got to them and fittingly Warne claimed the final wicket, bowling Ryan Sidebottom, to show that nothing is ever impossible.
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Glamorgan comfortably achieved a draw at Swansea, despite being asked to follow-on, as Matthew Elliott struck 162. Mushtaq Ahmed had wrapped up Glamorgan’s first innings – 198 runs adrift of Sussex’s 497 – with David Hemp dismissed for 128. However, this pitch has produced plenty of runs for the batsmen and Elliott and Daniel Cherry set about proving it was still excellent for batting. The pair added 214 for the first wicket, to erase Glamorgan’s deficit before Cherry fell 13 runs short of a maiden century. But Elliott powered on, and put on 84 with Hemp, who followed up his first-innings with 56. By the time the occasional left-arm spin of Michael Yardy removed them both the game was safe and Sussex were just using up time by giving their batsmen a rare trundle.
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A partnership of 131 between Michael Powell and Alex Loudon salvaged a draw for Warwickshire at Whitgift School. The top order put in a much more resilient performance second time around with the overnight batsmen, Nick Knight and Jonathan Trott, prevented any immediate breakthroughs for Surrey. Harbhajan Singh grabbed the first wicket of the day, removing Trott, and Jimmy Ormond extracted Knight to leave Warwickshire 91 for 3. But the fifth wicket pair of Powell and Loudon survived the rest of the day, with Loudon striking 12 boundaries in his 61.

The ECB have confirmed this week’s worst-kept secret – David Collier, who is currently in charge at Nottinghamshire, is Tim Lamb’s replacement as its chief executive.Collier, 49, has considerable domestic experience, having worked at four counties – Essex, Gloucestershire and Leicestershire – before moving to Trent Bridge. He also has worked in sports marketing, and the leisure industry for Sema, a Cheshire-based computer-systems company..He’s also a hockey referee, and in 2002 played an important part in organising a rescue package which bailed out the England Hockey Association.”I am delighted to have been offered the wonderful opportunity to lead the ECB into what I hope will be an era that’s always recognised as one of the most successful in the game’s history,” said a visibly nervous Collier in front of a packed press conference at Lord’s today. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to complete a full review and strategic plan for the game before the start of next season and to build upon the positive changes which the ECB has implemented during the past year.”But he recognised that taking over at the ECB would not be without its inherited problems. “I am fully aware there are still a number of issues to address,” he said. Collier was asked his opinion of the abundance of non-English-qualified county players. “I wouldn’t say there were too many. What I would say is that we have to get the balance right. We are concerned about the profileration of certain unqualified players. Clearly, we have to operate within the law, within EC law. So we are hamstrung by one or two guidelines. But, as part of our strategic plan, we will find the best way of engaging the maximum number of English-qualified players.”Collier was also asked if he thought there would be a long-term future for 18 first-class counties. “Yes. There is a very strong marketing arm of the game. The fact that English cricket has one of the most vibrant international audiences is no coincidence.”Turning to England’s tour of Zimbabwe, Collier said he believed that England should go ahead with the planned five one-day games. “The board took the best possible legal advice over the Zimbabwe situation,” he stated. “There were only two forms of acceptable non-compliance – safety and security, and the board will look at these in great depth before we do go.”Collier’s starting date at Lord’s has yet to be worked out, although he indicated it is likely to be at the end of the year. Meanwhile, Hugh Morris will continue in the role of acting chief executive.David Morgan, the ECB chairman, explained the thinking behind the appointment: “We were looking for someone with a strong business background coupled with a knowledge and love of cricket. David has both qualities. Not only has he successfully led Nottinghamshire for the past five years, continuing to develop the ground into one of the most attractive cricket venues in the country, but he also has significant business experience both within and outside of cricket.”The search for the new chief executive was an extensive and competitiveone. The recruitment consultants, Norman Broadbent, received a hugenumber of CVs and they subsequently interviewed close to 40 candidatesbefore drawing up a short-list of eight highly qualified people. I amdelighted that David has accepted the role, and I look forward to workingwith him as we continue to develop ECB and the game as a whole.”

England’s squad for the controversial tour of Zimbabwe in November will be revealed this afternoon, and it is likely that the names of several senior players will be absent, some for political reasons, others because they need their batteries recharging. But the announcement follows a day of heated telephone discussions.On one side was Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, who has been arguing that some of his big-name players need to take time off, and missing a five-match series against a dire Zimbabwe side would provide just that break. On the other hand, the officials of the ECB, who suddenly became involved in the selection of the squad and, if reports are to be believed, attempted to force Fletcher’s hand.It appears that Fletcher’s arguments were challenged by the ECB’s management, including David Morgan, the chairman, and Tim Lamb, the outgoing chief executive, who wanted a full-strength squad chosen. Morgan came under pressure to compromise, but it is thought that he demanded that Michael Vaughan lead the side in return for allowing some senior players to stay at home.Forgetting the political background, Fletcher is reported to have argued that after a gruelling six months in which England have played 11 Tests and numerous one-dayers with little respite, some key players were jaded. Steve Harmison said last week that he would not be touring for moral reasons, and Fletcher named Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Flintoff and Ashley Giles as others who needed a rest.The financial penalties facing England were they not to tour made the trip inevitable. But the make-up of the squad should have been left to the selectors. The ECB will probably argue that had it sent a weakened side then it would have faced punishment, but that it highly unlikely. Given the increasingly punishing schedules of international cricket, the resting of exhausted players for series against weaker opponents will become more common. But the ECB is running scared.There were further complications with the final selection as David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, scrambled to ensure that those picked were actually willing to go.

Ricky PontingOn the pitch
Disappointing. It’s fair to say that the wicket was nowhere near even being close to Test-match standard: that’s pretty obvious given what we’ve seen over the last two days. 40 wickets falling in just over two days of a Test is pretty much unheard of. It’s disappointing that the series has ended this way. It’s been such a fantastic series, from the first ball bowled till the start of this match. It puts a bit of a sour taste in the mouth.On whether the ICC will have an enquiry over the pitch
I’m not sure if there’ll be an enquiry, but I know that lots of questions will be asked and lots of reports will be written. I guess the match referee will write a report about this wicket, and obviously that’ll be sent to the ICC. Let’s hope there is an enquiry, just because it’s so disappointing. As a player you want to be tested under different conditions and in different countries, but that’s just going a little bit too far. We have played in three venues other than this one in this Test series, and the conditions have been different in each one, which is the beauty of playing cricket in India. But in all the matches other than Nagpur the match was going into a fifth day, which is what you want. Unfortunately this one didn’t even finish two.On whether they relaxed a bit in this match
I think we’ve tried extremely hard in this game. We’ve come 14 runs short, but if you take a look at the faces of the guys during the presentation you could understand that this game meant a lot to us. Unfortunately we weren’t good enough today. India played very well, particularly the way they batted. Sachin [Tendulkar] and [VVS] Laxman played very well, and I think there was a five-over period which cost 58 runs – looking back it’s a pretty big number considering the margin of the game. Full credit to the way they played. Full credit to us as well – we fought till the last ball but we weren’t good enough today. We were pretty confident that we’d chase 107 today. We knew if we put a couple of partnerships together we’d have a very good chance. But I don’t think you can say anything against any batsman who had to bat out there today. Michael Clarke, a part-time spinner, took 6 for 9 on that surface. That would suggest that it’s not a great wicket.On his return from injury
It was a disappointing return for me. Having missed the first three Tests, I was looking forward to coming to Mumbai, playing a good long five-day Test, and hoping that I would personally score some runs and the team would perform in the same vein as they did throughout the series. That didn’t work out at all. It was a disappointing way for the tour to end for us.On losing Shane Warne
Losing Shane was a blow for us. It would have been very interesting to see him bowl on that wicket. Being such a big spinner of the ball, even on wickets that don’t turn much, it would have been interesting to see what he would have done here. However, that would have meant one of the fast bowlers would have missed out, and the fast bowlers did a pretty good job for us here.On VVS Laxman’s return to form
I think it was very important for his career. He hadn’t made a lot of runs in this series, and there were murmurs that he was going to be dropped. But they showed some faith in him and promoted him to No. 3, and I thought he played really well. He was a little scratchy early on, but every batsman was on that wicket. Once he got in he looked like the VVS of old, and I’m sure he’ll make some runs in the series against South Africa.Rahul DravidOn winning the Test
It was very satisfying. To go out and defend only 107 in the last innings against probably the best batting side in the world was a great effort.On the pitch
It’s probably one of the toughest wickets I’ve played a match on. It was interesting and it produced a great Test match. I’ll admit it’s not an ideal Test match, but it was a fantastic game of cricket, on what was definitely not an ideal Test wicket.On what he told the team before they came out to defend 107
I just spoke about believing in ourselves. I knew that if we got a couple of wickets early we could put them under pressure. I couldn’t be prouder of the guys – they showed some amazing fight and they just kept going. I couldn’t have asked for more, right from the morning. Not only when we bowled, but also the kind of gumption we showed when we batted in the morning. You don’t win many Test matches against any opposition, leave alone Australia, when you get bowled out on any wicket for around 100 in the first innings.On his tactic of using Murali Kartik early in the innings
I just bowled him according the situation – the way the wicket was, the batsmen at the crease. We knew Kartik would be a handful on this wicket – if he hit the deck the ball was always going to spin. Watching Michael Clarke bowl and get the kind of spin he did when he hit the deck gave me a fair idea of what Kartik could achieve, especially when the ball was hard. Zaheer Khan did a great job getting an early wicket so that we could get the right-handers in early, and Kartik did the job for us when the right-handers came in. A quality bowler like Anil Kumble didn’t get a bowl till the opposition had scored around 70, but I just played it according to what I saw at that point of time, and who I felt should be bowling to which batsman.On the decision to promote VVS Laxman to No. 3
After I finished batting in the first innings and when we were fielding I decided that I’d send Laxman at No. 3 simply because when the ball is hard it’s the best time to be batting. VVS is a positive player. He’s been going through a tough time but he showed why we must always back quality. The partnership between him and [Sachin] Tendulkar in difficult conditions was a great exhibition of quality batsmanship.On the gains and losses from the series
Zaheer Khan coming back was a great gain for us, Kartik bowled well. All the spinners have bowled really well, Virender Sehwag’s been good with the bat, and we’ve shown a bit of fight right towards the end of the series. The loss, obviously, is the series. The Australians came well prepared: we must give them credit. They played some tough cricket and were deserving winners.

Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, has said that Sachin Tendulkar’s decision to withdraw from the Test series against Zimbabwe was a wise one.”I think he’s [Tendulkar] made the right decision if he’s not fully fit,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by Reuters. “I don’t think he should risk it. It’s his injury and he knows best. We’ll miss him, obviously, but we want him fit for the bigger games.”Ganguly said that he hoped Tendulkar would be completely fit in time for tougher series that India were scheduled to play in the coming months. “We have a lot of cricket coming up against Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and England. That’s going to be tough, so I think it’s good that he’s taking a break now and he can come back completely healed.”Greg Chappell, the India coach, also said that he was disappointed at Tendulkar’s withdrawal but added that it was important for him to recover completely before making a return to the side,”I am disappointed that Tendulkar wouldn’t be seen on this tour, but it is important that he recovers completely and is fit for India’s future engagements,” Chappell was quoted as saying by PTI.He was confident of India performing well in the remaining games of the tri-series. “We are looking for three good games. I am not panicking as it is an experienced line-up; at least most of them are for sure. They all have had good starts at one time or other and, hopefully, we can go back to India with the batting order ticking along nicely.”