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After the third day’s play in the match between Manicaland and Matabelelandat Mutare Sports Club, Manicaland found themselves on the back foot afterhaving taken a first-innings lead of 149. A greatly improved second-inningsby Matabeleland left Manicaland with a target of 268, but negative battingsaw them lose three wickets for only 45 runs by the close.The overnight Matabeleland pair of Mark Vermeulen and Gavin Rennie battedwith great responsibility to add 143 altogether. Manicaland hopes wereraised when three wickets fell with the total on 260, two of them to AlecTaylor, but Andre Hoffman, positive as ever, and Mluleki Nkala, playing aresponsible innings, led a recovery that took Matabeleland to a total of416. Gary Brent as usual was the most consistent of the bowlers, whileRichie Sims took three wickets but was expensive.With 26 overs to be bowled until the close, Manicaland decided to play forthe next day, and lived to regret it. This enabled the visitors to controlthe proceedings and snatch three wickets before the close. Manicaland wentinto the final day facing an uphill task.

Simon Katich will become Australia’s 384th Test cricketer against England at Headingley, starting Thursday.Katich, 25, was today named to replace injured Steve Waugh, who has a torn calf, in the Australia middle order for the fourth Ashes Test.”I’m ecstatic,” said Katich.”When you first start you have a dream of playing for Australia but you never think it will happen.”It was a nice big surprise to be given the nod.”Katich had a restless night’s sleep, knowing he was heavily favoured to earn selection ahead of fellow West Australian Justin Langer.His parents, sister, girlfriend, manager and university mates are all heading for Leeds to watch him play.Katich was told of his promotion to the XI by Waugh and interim captain Adam Gilchrist at the ground this morning.”I found out just before we had a huddle at the start of practice, Gilly and Tugger called me over and said, ‘good news, you’re in,'” said Katich.”I still consider myself fortunate – if Stephen was right I would not be playing.”Katich will be Australia’s first batting debutant in three years and 37 Tests since Darren Lehmann versus India in March, 1998.He missed out on a certain Test debut when Waugh played against doctor’s orders with a fractured nose against Sri Lanka in September, 1999.The following Australian summer, Katich was struck down by chicken pox, glandular fever and a mystery virus which sidelined for two-and-half months.He became so fatigued that he fell asleep while padded up in the West Australian dressing room during a Pura Cup game had to be woken by team-mates when itwas his turn to bat.”I used my illness as a big positive,” said Katich.”It was disappointing at the time but I learned a lot.”It makes you more determined when you come back.”It’s a positive, it’s a test of character.”Katich has scored 273 runs at an average of 91 on tour.Last summer, he made a century against every State and scored 1,145 runs in the Pura Cup, beating Langer’s WA record by eight runs.Katich handed back his baggy green cap after touring Sri Lanka in 1999 without playing a Test and vowed to use Damien Fleming’s if required to field earlier in the series.He will receive his cap before play on Thursday.AUSTRALIA: Adam Gilchrist (c), Ricky Ponting (vc), Matthew Hayden, Michael Slater, Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Shane Warne,Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath (12th man to be confirmed).

Western Australian left handers Adam Gilchrist (109*) and Simon Katich (105*) have scored twin centuries to help avert outright defeat for their team on the final day of the Pura Cup match against Queensland in Perth. Displaying icy-cool temperaments on a warm afternoon, the duo forged a vital, unbroken sixth wicket partnership of 166 against a tiring Bulls attack after they had been joined with their side deep in trouble twenty minutes before lunch.Having been part of a side that had been out-thought, out-batted and out-bowled for the majority of this match, the sterling efforts of Gilchrist and Katich effected quite a transformation. Indeed, in defying the near-inevitable, the pair probably ensured that it will be the Warriors rather than the Bulls who will be leaving the WACA tonight in the happier frame of mind.In short, this was a day which featured some excellent, iron-willed batting from the two highly regarded Western Australians. Katich dropped anchor and was content to act as the mainstay of the innings, displaying an impeccable understanding of which deliveries to play and which to leave. In the way of attractive strokemaking, there was nothing particularly appealing in itself about his ninth first-class century. But the twenty-five year old’s concentration and discipline were without fault. In an unusually dour exhibition, Gilchrist matched his partner – initially at least – for circumspection before exploding into scoring life late in the post-lunch session with a flurry of boundaries.By contrast, it was a lacklustre finish to the match from the Bulls who, strangely enough, not only looked listless but also delayed taking the second new ball for as long as eighty minutes. Before finally electing to do this, they had attempted to prise the Western Australians out with a succession of overs of spin from Matthew Anderson (0/90) and Andrew Symonds (0/38) at the Members End. But, although they were able to almost completely dry up the flow of runs, neither of the two slow bowlers genuinely beat the bat very often.On the lifeless pitch, amid the enervating conditions, and with their energy levels continuing to be sapped by their long unbroken stint in the field, the Bulls’ predicament was exacerbated as Gilchrist slammed the normally miserly Adam Dale (0/65) down the ground for four stunning boundaries in succession twenty-five minutes before tea. To add insult to the havoc wreaked upon the medium pacer’s figures, he then repeated the dose with another three consecutive shots to the fence two Dale overs later. It was a measure of the extent to which the wicketkeeper-batsman had assumed command of the situation – not to mention the differing styles of the two players’ innings – that he ultimately beat Katich to his century despite having conceded more than a three hour long start.In many ways, the two points that were achieved for a first innings win seemed like an inadequate reward for close to three days of sheer domination from the Bulls. Inspired by a pair of centuries of their own from Jimmy Maher (175) and Stuart Law (128), they had been able to establish domination from early on the first day as they racked up 442 with the bat before dismissing the Western Australians for 195 and then reducing them quickly to 3/43 a second time around.From there, though, it has to be said that they uncharacteristically squandered their opportunity – something which they barely even looked like doing at any stage of a record-breaking run last summer. Martin Love’s dropped catch at slip on the stroke of tea yesterday – when he allowed Damien Martyn (then at 25 on his way to 78) to escape a tightening Queensland noose – assumed very expensive proportions. Law’s tactics in frequently setting defensive fields today and resisting the chance to take the new ball immediately also provoked some consternation. Paceman Andy Bichel (4/54) continued to bowl excellently, gaining the only two wickets to fall on the final day, but did not receive quite enough support in conditions that continued to favour batting. In the final analysis, the Queenslanders left themselves the arduous task of snaring five wickets in the final session and, by then, even the presence of some more attacking field settings had the whiff of bolting horses and open stable doors about it.

The coach John Dyson has defended his bowlers after they let Sri Lanka off the hook in the second Test, leaving West Indies needing 253 to level the two-match series. The visitors were struggling at 32 for 4 before recovering through Thilan Samaraweera’s 125 and boosting their chances of a 2-0 cleansweep.The West Indies bowlers gave away too many opportunities to score and struggled to maintain their line and length when Samaraweera and Chaminda Vaas completed a 138-run partnership. “In talking about patience, when I watch Caribbean cricket all round, that’s an aspect that’s not there in any Caribbean cricket,” Dyson said. “So to suddenly take these players and put them in the Test arena against some very good teams and expect them to have that patience is a tall order.”Dyson said the players have talked about the zones they need to hit, but the changes “don’t happen overnight”. “It takes time for people to get confidence in bowling plans,” Dyson said. “Maybe my ideas are different to the people who were there before, but we’re consistently working on the areas we bowl and the patience involved in the whole game.”The guys do work hard in the net sessions we have, I’ve seen consistency with that. In the middle sometimes we bowl some brilliant stuff, at times perhaps too good, where players just can’t nick them. We need to achieve more consistency throughout the whole innings. We tend to bowl some really good spells and then let ourselves down with bowling a bad hour that cost us a lot of runs.”Jerome Taylor was the best of the home attack, picking up 4 for 52, and Dyson was pleased with his progress. “Jerome is a very good cricketer,” Dyson said. “If you look at him as a total package he is a bit like ‘Vassy’. He has the ability to bat and I’ve seen him change his approach in his batting, and his bowling is always very, very good.”The performances of Taylor have also impressed Samaraweera. “The most difficult right through this series has been Jerome Taylor,” Samaraweera said. “He bowled well, lovely line and length, and his balls move both ways.”West Indies have a tough challenge to level the series and Dyson was hopeful of a successful chase. “What I’d like to see,” he said, “is some good sensible batting over the whole day.”

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has decided to bring forward the start of the next domestic season to October to accommodate the Stanford 20/20 tournament. The season could also be extended to make up for the hectic regional and international schedule.According to the WICB’s draft itinerary the Carib Beer Series, West Indies’ first-class competition, will start on October 8 and run simultaneously with the KFC Cup, the limited-overs tournament. The two competitions are expected to close by December and the Stanford 20/20 will be played in January-February 2008. Last season the Carib Beer Series and the KFC Cup were held in January-February.In 2008 West Indies first tour South Africa in January and then play Sri Lanka and Australia at home. Tony Deyal, WICB corporate communications manager, said that the first-class championship was being reviewed as the board was concerned about players not playing enough first-class cricket. “We are looking at options and may have to split the season in two and extend the matches on a home and away basis,” Deyal told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). According to CMC Allen Stanford, the main backer of the Stanford 20/20 tournament, has reportedly offered the WICB up to US$121 million over 10 years for satellite rights for the tournament.

Having got their body clocks into some sort of rhythm, and having enjoyed a pleasant evening at the High Commission, the Indians finally began their first full training session of the tour in a pastoral setting on the outskirts of Kingston. A light open net session was the main highlight of a largely muted stint, with the pitch going from bouncy to dopey within two hours.Chedwin Park, home ground of the Catherine Cricket Club, is located 30 kilometres from the city. It is home to Jermaine Lawson, the West Indian fast bowler, and currently boasts six players in the Jamaica team. Part of the club was destroyed by the hurricanes in 2004, but recently required de-sanitisation of another kind. The International Cricket Council decreed that none of the grounds should be used for practice, keeping in mind the World Cup in 2007, and the authorities were required to specially de-sanitise a couple to enable India and West Indies to gear up for the series. When civil engineering terms are generously floated in cricketing discussions, you know something is cooking.The small size of the ground and the fact that it was a Sunday meant that the Indians had to pretty much fend for themselves. They used their own practice balls and didn’t get too much help from net bowlers (except near the end when two locals caused the batsmen some minor problems). Greg Chappell spent a considerable portion of the time retrieving balls that the batsmen were bludgeoning while Greg King tossed up a few deliveries for the batsmen to rehearse coming down the track.In a corner of the field, on a concrete practice pitch, Ian Frazer, the biomechanics expert, used differently shaped balls – square, hexagonal etc – and tested the batsmen with some rapid chucking. It’s a routine that helps batsmen watch the ball closely, from when it is delivered to when it reaches them, and Robin Uthappa and Mohammad Kaif were occasionally confounded by the bounce.The Indians are set to practice here again tomorrow before flying to Montego Bay for the game against the Jamaican side. No practice pitches at Sabina Park, which is under construction, means that they will go into the first one-dayer without any idea about the pitch, outfield and conditions. But nobody’s complaining, publicly at least. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, sporting a new shorter haircut, felt they had come to expect such circumstances, and preferred to use it as a challenge instead. “Travelling to different grounds means we spend more time with each other. It builds team spirit. We need to look at it as an advantage.” Away in Trinidad, West Indies had just completed their 5-0 blanking of Zimbabwe and chants of “We will murder you, maan” began to fill the air.

Ricky Ponting, whose team have stumbled at the start of the Ashes tour, has expressed the wish that Shane Warne will be able to concentrate on the forthcoming Test series despite the distractions engendered by the separation from his wife, Simone. In a joint statement earlier on Saturday, the Warnes had announced that there were parting ways after 10 years of marriage.Warne retired from one-day international cricket two years ago, and after his team’s emphatic 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh on Saturday, Ponting was moved to comment on the man who Australia still expects to be a matchwinner in the Ashes series. “That’s awful news for anybody, to be separated from your wife,” he said. “There’s no doubt that everyone in our squad will be in touch with Shane at some stage.”As far as it being a distraction when the Tests come around, hopefully it’s not. It’s obviously going to be a tough thing for Shane to deal with and cope with but hopefully he can do that as well as he can leading into the Test matches.”The Warne marriage had not been helped by relentless intrusion from the tabloids. As recently as last weekend, the Sunday Mirror carried lurid details of Warne’s alleged affair with a 25-year-old Englishwoman. Past indiscretions involving mobile phones and text messages had also been extensively documented.The statement issued by the couple said: “It is with regret that we inform you that we have decided to separate. We remain the best of friends and we will continue to be there for our three beautiful children. Please respect our privacy at this difficult and tough time.”It was on an Ashes tour, back in 1993, that Warne first proposed to his wife. They were married two years later, and have three children.

Zimbabwe’s capitulation in Sunday’s third one-day international against Sri Lanka, in which they were bowled out for a new record-low of 35, could have far-reaching consequences in the corridors of the ICC, according to Mihir Bose, the Daily Telegraph reporter who was deported from Zimbabwe last week.For most of the winter, it has been England, not Zimbabwe, that has been threatened with suspension from the ICC, for their unwillingness to fulfil their tour obligations in October. But, ever since the sacking of 15 white Zimbabwean cricketers – including the captain Heath Streak – the ICC has been concerned about the devaluing of international cricket. If yesterday’s humiliating result is compounded by a farcical first Test in Harare next week, the clamour for their removal will grow ever louder.Meanwhile, the escalating crisis in Zimbabwe cricket is something of a deus ex machine for the England & Wales Cricket Board, which had been bracing itself for an inevitable backlash, whatever the outcome of their deliberations. To tour would have flown in the face of government and public opinion; to stay away would have invited the wrath of the ICC, and might have resulted in a year’s suspension from international cricket, the cancellation of next summer’s Ashes series and up to £50 million losses.Instead, the prospects of an England suspension have receded dramatically. Senior sources within the ICC told the Daily Telegraph that it would require the backing of seven of the ten Test-playing nations to implement such a course of action. If England can present a good case for staying away, they are likely to escape punishment.That outcome, however, cannot be taken for granted, given the clumsiness with which the ECB have so far approached the issue. An emergency meeting of the First-Class Forum has been called in Gloucestershire today, which will be attended by the chairman, Mike Soper, as well as Tim Lamb and David Morgan of the ECB. One of the topics on the agenda is the role of Des Wilson, whose paper arguing for a moral stand against Zimbabwe yesterday received the support from the anti-apartheid campaigner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Support has been less apparent on the home front, however, and Wilson is contemplating resignation.

SYDNEY, March 6 AAP – Stuart MacGill’s spin almost cancelled out Ashley Noffke’s pace as NSW and Queensland found contrasting ways to humiliate each other on the opening day of their Pura Cup match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.On a day in which 20 wickets fell for less than 300 runs, Queensland led by 88 after dismissing NSW for 102 only to be bowled out for 190 in turn, with MacGill taking 5-52.While NSW was well behind, Steve Waugh’s men were not totally out of a contest which should end in a positive result one way or the other.NSW, searching for a place in the Cup final against the Bulls starting next week in Brisbane, looked like they’d lost the map this morning as Noffke scythed through the world-class line-up.Removing Michael Slater, Steve Waugh and Michael Clarke for ducks inside the first half-hour with a series of deliveries which swung and cut off the seam, Noffke finished with 6-24.It was his best bowling for Queensland but not quite as good as hauls of seven and eight wickets for Middlesex in English county cricket.He expected things to be tougher tomorrow when NSW bats to save its season.”Tomorrow’s probably going to the most important day of the year for them,” Noffke said.”Their future’s going to be determined by how they play tomorrow.”Having ripped through NSW so easily, Noffke wasn’t keen to nominate NSW as his preferred opponent for the final.”We’re not too worried about who we play. If we play good cricket we’re going to be pretty hard to beat.”Queensland did just that today but Noffke said the Bulls were disappointed they “took their foot off the throat a bit” to allow NSW a glimmer of hope with three days to play.Queensland attained first innings points about midway through the opening day and at 2-105 shortly after tea, the Bulls were well on their way to an outright victory.However, MacGill and fellow wrist-spinner Simon Katich (3-55) soon brought their side back into the contest.MacGill, on a hat-trick at one stage, also took two wickets in his final over of the day to wrap up Queensland’s innings, the Bulls losing their last nine wickets for 95 runs.While Noffke was happy with his own haul he put some blame on the batsmen from both sides for the day’s proceedings.”It wasn’t a 20-wickets-in-a-day pitch,” Noffke confessed.”Play from both sides was a little bit poor at times.”It was a timely effort from Noffke after Queensland suffered a tough blow on the morning of the match with pace bowler Joe Dawes ruled out with a back strain.Dawes, the second-leading wicket-taker in the competition, flew home for scans while the Bulls sent down Damien MacKenzie to act as 12th man.Dawes’ absence left the Bulls with only two specialist pace bowlers – Noffke and Michael Kasprowicz – and with two spinners, including debutant Chris Simpson.

Gloucestershire batsman Matt Windows and Hampshire spinner Shaun Udal tookthe honours on an intriguing first day of the CricInfo Championship seconddivision match at Cheltenham.The visitors had to do without skipper Robin Smith and all-rounder DimitriMascarenhas, both late withdrawals through injury, and it looked as if theywould have an unproductive day in the field until Udal instigated a collapsewhich saw six wickets fall for 62 runs.Neil Johnson was the only Hampshire bowler to enjoy success in the morningsession, after Gloucestershire captain Mark Alleyne had won the toss.Johnson had Dominic Hewson caught behind by Adrian Aymes, as he tried towithdraw the bat, and Kim Barnett was dismissed in the same manner as hedrove at a wide delivery.But Windows and Chris Taylor regained control for Gloucestershire with athird-wicket stand of 137. Both players cut and drove the majority of theirboundaries through the off-side and it was good entertainment for the 3,000festival crowd.Taylor had moved smoothly to 56 before he was well caught by acting captainWill Kendall at mid off, and then Windows departed when he holed out to AlexMorris in the deep.His 91 came from 181 balls, contained 16 fours and a six, and signalled awelcome return to form for the England A batsman, who went into the gamewith a meagre average of 19.Alleyne, Jeremy Snape and Ian Harvey all got out after making a start andwhen Jack Russell also departed, it looked as if Gloucestershire would fallbelow 300.However, they were indebted to a ninth-wicket stand of 62 between MartynBall and Alastair Bressington, who is making hs first appearance of theseason after finishing his studies at university in Cardiff.Ball struck four boundaries in his 40 before he was caught by Johnson at second slip off Chris Tremlett, who promptly wrapped up the innings by dismissing Ben Gannon for a duck.