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Zimbabweans 206 and 138 for 6 (Matsikenyeri 45, Maregwede 44, Morkel 4-26) lead Combined Easterns/Northerns XI 275 (Seymore 82, Harris 46) by 69 runs
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A collapse late in the day left the Zimbabweans in danger of losing their tour match against the Easterns/Northerns XI at Willowmoore Park in Benoni. By the close of the second day the Zimbabweans, who trailed by 69 on first innings, had turned that round into a lead of 69 – but only had four wickets remaining.There was an early wobble when Barney Rogers and Hamilton Masakadza both fell to Morne Morkel for ducks, but then Stuart Matiskenyeri and Alester Maregwede combined in a stand of 76 that took Zimbabwe into the lead. However, then disaster struck: first Matsikenyeri fell to the slow left-armer Paul Harris for 45 after hitting eight fours, and then next ball Brendan Taylor was also bowled (86 for 4).Maregwede ploughed on to 44, but then Morkel returned to have him caught behind by Heino Kuhn for 44. Elton Chigumbura also fell to Morkel for 3, and although Tatenda Taibu and Sean Williams survived until the close they will have a lot to do if what is scheduled to be a four-day match is not to end early on the third day.Earlier the combined XI took their score from 132 for 2 to 275. Andre Seymore, the captain, added only five to his overnight 77, and was the first to go as his team slipped to 209 for 8. But a handy 46 from Harris, who hit five fours and a six and put on 63 for the ninth wicket with Reeze Telling (28) gave their side what could be a crucial advantage.

Imran Khan, former Pakistan captain, said he doubted England would ever emulate Australia’s success and become the world’s top team because they lacked a quality spinner like Shane Warne.Imran told AFP, “England is a young emerging side and exudes the confidence of Australia but for them to emulate Australia-like success is difficult because they do not have a spinner of Warne’s quality.”Michael Vaughan’s team closed the gap on world champions Australia when they regained the Ashes with a 2-1 victory on Monday, their first win over Australia since 1986-87.Imran praised Vaughan and allrounder Andrew Flintoff for their roles in England’s success. “Flintoff is the pivot around which the England team revolves. He is a genuine allrounder,” he said. He added that in Vaughan, “England has a very determined sort of character as captain, quite unpretentious.”Following the conquest of Australia, Vaughan said his side would only achieve the top ranking if they beat Pakistan in the November-December series and India early next year.But Imran, who took 362 wickets in 88 Tests and led Pakistan to their first series win over England in 1987, said England would struggle on the subcontinent’s slow pitches.Imran added, “They have a fast-maturing pace attack but when they come up on wickets which do not have support for pace then they do not have the variety that Warne provides.” Warne led the Australian attack with 40 Ashes wickets.”I do not see them attaining the consistent success rate of Australia until they have a matchwinning spinner.”But he also had reservations about Australia’s future at the top, saying the side was on the decline because their players were ageing and the Ashes had shown that their batting could collapse under sustained pace pressure.”Australia is in decline… the most notable thing of the Ashes was that the Australian batting was exposed for the first time against a sustained pace attack.”The myth of Australian batting’s invincibility was broken, except for one innings at Lord’s when they did well after the England team was completely demoralised by a Glenn McGrath spell,” said Imran.He also said Jason Gillespie’s lack of form was also throwing the Australian attack out of balance.Pakistan, Imran said, could match England’s attack if they had fit bowlers but their batsmen need to improve their form. “They need a fully fit Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul and an in-form legspinner, Danish Kaneria. But for me the concern will be Pakistan’s batting.”Pakistan hosts England for three Tests and five one-day matches starting in Multan from November 12.

The Duleep Trophy, the Indian domestic competetion between zonal teams, has been advanced so that the national players can participate in the tournament. It will now be held from February 15 to March 12. The Indian board also announced that Bangladesh would take part in the tournament.According to Ratnakar Shetty, the joint secretary of the board, the dates had been brought forward “in order to give the Indian players better exposure to the longer version of the game prior to the Test matches against Pakistan.”The Duleep Trophy was previously scheduled to be held from February 25 to March 22 in various venues across central zone. Pakistan are scheduled to visit India in the last week of February to play three Tests and five one-day internationals.The Ranji Trophy one-day knock-out tournament has been postponed by two months and will now be held in Mumbai from April 8 to 14. The other domestic ODI tournaments – the league phase of the one-day tournament, the Deodhar Trophy and the Challenger Trophy – remain the same. However, the dates of the Ranji Trophy semi-finals will now be held between March 18 to 22 while the final is scheduled for March 30 to April 3.Click here for revised Duleep Trophy schedule

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Graham Thorpe, with one of his greatest innings, not only kept England in the third Test, but shifted the momentum of the match their way on another absorbing day at Bridgetown. Thorpe scored a magnificent 119 not out, and dug his side out of a big hole to help them to a slender first-innings lead of two. West Indies then lost Chris Gayle shortly before stumps, and closed with a lead of just 19.England didn’t find the going easy for most of the day, and the only man who stood up to the impressive Bajan barrage of fast bowling was the dependable Thorpe, who rolled up his sleeves up and gritted it out. He can’t have played many more important innings in his long career. He used all his street-fighting savvy to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and drag England past West Indies’ modest 224.While his team-mates played uncharacteristically sloppy shots, Thorpe was prepared to wait for the bad balls. Placement and timing were the features of his innings, and he collected 13 fours in all, most of them behind square. Just as importantly, though, he hung in there for over five hours. At tea, England were tottering at 162 for 8, and Michael Vaughan would probably have settled for somewhere around 200. However, Thorpe slowly changed the whole mood of the game. He added 32 with a watchful Simon Jones, and then an even more priceless 39 with Stephen Harmison for the last wicket.In that time, he notched up his richly deserved century – England’s first of the series, but his 13th overall, in his 86th Test – by stepping down the track and crunching Fidel Edwards on the up past mid-on and to the rope. Thorpe punched the air in delight, and received rapturous applause from all quarters of the Kensington Oval. The adoring Barmy Army, along with the England balcony, appreciated just what a critical knock it was.Thorpe guided England to a two-run lead, and his vigil overshadowed what was West Indies’ most impressive allround bowling display of the series so far. Edwards, the youngest of the quartet, led the way with four wickets, two of them in the first ten minutes of the day, as England, bar Thorpe and the tailenders, failed to keep cool heads under the sustained pressure.England’s first casualty was Mark Butcher, in the fourth over of the day. He flashed at a wide, lifting ball from Edwards, and Gayle pouched it in front of his face at first slip (24 for 2). Vaughan was never at ease, and he perished trying to pull Edwards, caught behind by Ridley Jacobs for 17 (33 for 3).England had scored only 13 runs in the first 45 minutes, and it was up to the old heads of Thorpe and Nasser Hussain to drag them out of trouble again. They managed to ride out the storm for the majority of the morning session, but just as they seemed to be guiding England to lunch with no further flutters, Corey Collymore finally had his first success of the series when he bowled Hussain through the gate (65 for 4).

The wickets kept on coming in the afternoon. Andrew Flintoff was again out to a soft shot. He tamely patted Tino Best off the back foot straight to mid-off for 15 (90 for 5). Chris Read, under pressure to make runs, hit a couple of handsome drives, but was trapped in front by Edwards for 13 (119 for 6). Ashley Giles played an inelegant swat at Pedro Collins and was gobbled up by the substitute, Barbados’s Antonio Mayers, at third slip (147 for 7). Matthew Hoggard then stuck around for 13 balls until he was leg-before to that effective Collins inswinger (155 for 8).All this meant that Thorpe was fast running out of partners, but Jones and Harmison stuck around for the ride as England won that crucial last session. Jones bravely kept Thorpe company for 37 balls until he was spectacularly caught by Ramnaresh Sarwan at short leg off Best. Jones clipped the ball off his toes, and Sarwan flung up his hands more in hope than anything else, but the ball miraculously stuck in his palms (187 for 9). Harmison then again proved he can hang around when he needs to, and he shut up shop for 29 balls until he was bowled by Collins. But Thorpe had kept the huge British contingent happy, with his magical hundred at the other end.West Indies then had a tricky ten overs to face before the close, in which time Gayle was done up like a kipper. He slammed three short ones from Harmison to the boundary, but was then bowled all ends up by a yorker, which he swished at optimistically without moving his feet at all (19 for 1). Gayle won’t want to see the replay.Bad light forced the players off shortly afterwards, frustrating England’s hopes of removing Lara as well, but Gayle’s wicket has put them fractionally ahead. Early wickets tomorrow will make them strong favourites to remove that 36-year-old monkey from their backs.Freddie Auld is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo.

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South Africa continued their string of emphatic victories in the warm-up games ahead of the Champions Tophy with a 125-run win against MCA President’s XI in Mumbai. Graeme Smith scored his third consecutive half-century since his return from injury and Jacques Kallis smashed 71 off 57 balls to take South Africa to 303 for 6, their third consecutive 300-plus score. They used as many as eight bowlers in their defence and restricted MCA to 178 for 8 with only Amol Muzumdar offering resistance during his 67.Smith had scored 73 against a local side and 90 off 54 balls against Saurashtra and today he needed just 68 balls to score 76. He added 52 for the first wicket with Herschelle Gibbs and 86 for the second with Boeta Dippenaar. South Africa then lost four wickets for 22 runs and when Mark Boucher departed for 49, they were on an unconvincing 215 for 6.However Kallis, who batted at No 7, launched a fierce counter attack with Andrew Hall during the slog overs. Kallis smashed five sixes in his innings and the 88-run partnership for the eighth wicket came off just 8.3 overs.Charl Langeveldt led the bowling effort with an incisive opening spell that reaped two wickets. Ntini bowled a tight line and length but went wicketless during his eight-over spell that cost just 16 runs. Justin Kemp chipped in with two wickets although his continuing poor form with the bat will be a concern for the management. Andrew Hall and Andre Nel also bowled miserly spells as MCA were kept under wraps.

ScorecardBangladesh completed a hat-trick of victories in Group Two of the Plate Championship with an eight-wicket demolition of Ireland at Chittagong.Both sides were already through to the semi-finals before today’s match, but the incentive for the winners was a match against Scotland, while the losers knew they would have the stiffer task of facing Australia.Ireland chose to bat first, knowing that Bangladesh have stuttered when chasing small totals in the tournament so far, against Canada and Uganda. But Ireland were unable to set any sort of challenging target, crashing to 141 all out in the 47th over with Nadif Chowdhury, the left-arm seamer, the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 14.This time Bangladesh’s batsmen made few mistakes in their reply. Opener Nafis Iqbal at last found form with the bat, hitting 86 not out to guide his side to victory for the loss of only two wickets in 30 overs.Iqbal was named Man of the Match and said he was pleased to have made some runs for his team. He said, "It is not about scoring centuries, it is all about winning the match for the team. It was just important today that we won the match."Adrian Birrell, Ireland’s coach, singled out Iqbal for his batting performance. "All credit to Nafis for a very good innings, he batted very well against us," he said."I’m not too disappointed with our performance, we just came up against a better team on the day. We will now turn our efforts towards beating Australia and hopefully we may even meet Bangladesh in the final."

Gloucestershire 221 for 9 (Malik 74) beat Derbyshire 219 (Kaif 72) by one wicket
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Dominic Cork put a disappointing first spell behind him to bowl Derbyshire to the brink of a famous comeback, but Gloucestershire’s final pair kept their nerve to secure a one-wicket victory and secure their path to the final at Lord’s, where they will play either Lancashire or Worcestershire.At one stage, Gloucestershire were cruising to victory. They had restricted Derbyshire to a sub-par total of 219, and after a few early wobbles, had progressed serenely to 193 for 5, with Mark Alleyne playing the supporting role to Shoaib Malik’s well-crafted half-century. But when Lian Wharton picked up Alleyne and Jack Russell in the space of three balls, the innings was turned on its head.Cork, whose first three overs had been pasted for 31 runs, now rose to the occasion. With two runs still required for victory, Shoaib hoisted a short ball to Kevin Dean at backward square-leg, before Martyn Ball was spectacularly caught at gully by a diving Michael di Venuto (217 for 9). Cork, however, was unable to make it three in the over, and James Averis bided his time before clipping Graeme Welch through square-leg for four.Shoaib was deservedly named Man of the Match for a fine allround performance. His offspinners had earlier played a major part in Gloucestershire’s success in the field, Although Mohammad Kaif top-scored with a brisk 72 from 83 balls, Derbyshire’s total was undermined by some sloppy running between the wickets, and eventually fell several runs short of a par score.Mike Smith had given Gloucestershire the perfect start by removing both openers, di Venuto and Steven Selwood, in a typically thrifty opening spell. He had been doubtful ahead of the match after picking up a back injury, but his influence set the tone for the innings. Averis and Alleyne helped to apply the pressure, before the spinners Ball and Shoaib chipped in with three wickets.Derbyshire were nevertheless well-placed for a good score when Dominic Hewson and Luke Sutton were run out by direct hits. Hewson was the most culpable, failing to run his bat in as he was beaten by Matt Windows’s shy from the deep. His dismissal brought an end to a 75-run partnership with Kaif (134 for 4), and the rest of the batting didn’t hang around.After cracking a car windscreen with a straight six, Kaif was eventually beaten in flight by Ball and holed out to Windows at mid-off (193 for 7), and fittingly, the innings ended with a third run-out in a frenetic final over, as Welch failed to make his ground.

Rameez Raja, the chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has said that he will use his visit to Mumbai next month for an International Cricket Council committee meeting to press for a restoration in ties between the two countries.”The matter of cricket revival with India will definitely be the issue,” Rameez explained. “The world is waiting for the standoff to be broken. Pakistan have been willing to play India and we believe that ties should be resumed as early as next year.”Rameez admitted that initially he was not going to travel to the meeting. “I was reluctant to attend because of matches in Pakistan, and also because normally cricket officials from Pakistan have not been issued visas to visit India for any purpose,” he told the News. “But now I have changed my mind and we have sent the visa application for processing. I believe given the media interest that will surround the meeting it is the best time to get across Pakistan’s point of view to Indians in India on cricket relations.”Raja added that the ICC has also hinted at the possibility of matches between Pakistan and India in the United States and Canada next year. He said that the proposal “would give a huge boost to the sport in that part of the world”.

Close India 523 (Dravid 233, Laxman 148) and 37 for 0 need 193 more runs to beat Australia 556 and 196 (Agarkar 6-41)
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An enthralling day’s cricket ended with India requiring just 193 more – with all ten wickets in hands – to pull off a stunning victory over Australia at the Adelaide Oval. After Rahul Dravid, with his 233, had steered the Indians to within 33 of Australia’s first-innings total, Ajit Agarkar turned in his career-best performance, taking 6 for 41 to bundle Australia out for 196. By close of play, the Indian openers had knocked off 37 from the original target of 230.On an increasingly wearing pitch, the Indian bowlers profited from bowling a good line and length, and allowing the footholds at the other end do the rest. The Australian batsmen responded to the challenge as they always do – coming hard at the bowlers and looking to dominate. However, the fourth-day track was no longer the batting beauty it was on days one and two – every time the ball pitched on the rough, it stopped, which made playing on the up fraught with danger. Four of the top six got starts, but they all fell playing one attacking stroke too many.India were helped by the start that Agarkar gave them with the new ball: Justin Langer was trapped in front by one which nipped back – a replica of his first-innings dismissal at the Gabba – while Ricky Ponting followed up his double-hundred with a duck, as Akash Chopra at gully snapped up an uppish back-foot drive (18 for 2). When Matthew Hayden scooped a drive to cover soon after lunch for 17, Australia were struggling at 44 for 3, and the lead was a mere 77.Then came the first of the two substantial partnerships in Australia’s innings, as Damien Martyn and Steve Waugh put together 55. Martyn uncorked some glorious cover-drives in another commanding display, and with Waugh overcoming a scratchy start and playing his trademark rasping square-drives, the Australian innings was back on track.Noticing that the drying track was increasingly aiding spin – even Anil Kumble’s legbreaks turned a great deal when they pitched on the rough – Sourav Ganguly brought on Sachin Tendulkar, and the move paid off spectacularly, as both Martyn (38) and Waugh (42) chased wide ones which spun off the footholds. Dravid held both catches – Martyn’s was a spectacular, one-handed effort, while Waugh’s was more straightforward – and suddenly Australia had slumped to 112 for 5 at tea.Adam Gilchrist then starred in the second mini-revival, bludgeoning a typically thunderous 43, off 45 balls. He survived a stumping chance off Kumble on 13, and made the Indians pay for it, tonking both Kumble and Tendulkar for sixes. His partnership with Simon Katich, who tackled the spinners and the pitch with plenty of confidence, had mounted 71 from a mere 15 overs when Gilchrist’s overconfidence did him in. Attempting to sweep a straight delivery from Kumble, he moved too far inside the line and found his leg stump knocked back (183 for 6).Agarkar then moved in for the kill, with a wicket in each of his last four overs, as Australia added just 13 more. The short ball, so profitable for Agarkar in this series, brought him more success when Katich holed out to Ashish Nehra at fine leg for 31, while the tail succumbed to old-fashioned line-and-length stuff.The Indian openers survived the ten overs left in the day with scarcely a scare, as Virender Sehwag thumped a couple of fours square of the wicket off the seamers, and clunked Stuart MacGill’s first ball – a full toss – to the midwicket fence. Chopra didn’t show any signs of nerves either, cover-driving Jason Gillespie and MacGill with superb timing.The events through the day completely overshadowed Dravid’s achievement earlier in the morning. Resuming on 199, he reached his double-hundred with the first ball of the day, cutting MacGill for four, and then pushed the Indian innings along to 523. He was the last man to fall, top-edging a catch to Andy Bichel off Gillespie, whose figures of 1 for 106 was scant reward for some lion-hearted bowling. It seemed then that Dravid’s innings would, at best, be a match-saving one. Now, it could well be a matchwinning effort.

West Indies’ hopes of salvaging the third Test have been dealt a huge blow, after Brian Lara was laid low with a suspected case of chickenpox. Lara, who turned 34 on Friday, spent much of his birthday in the dressing-room, supposedly with a touch of `flu.

If confirmed, Lara would be the second West Indian in the series to contract chickenpox. Jermaine Lawson was forced to withdraw from last week’s second Test, and Ricardo Powell has also suffered the illness recently.

It is terrible bad luck for Lara, who spent several months out of the game last year after contracting hepatitis, but has been in prime form in this series, with two centuries and a 91 in four innings.