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Usman Khawaja believes Sydney Thunder are reaping the rewards of the work of Michael Hussey and general manager Nick Cummins, following his quickfire hundred in the semi-final against Adelaide Strikers. After a horror run in the early years of the BBL, Thunder made their first final, and Khawaja admitted he had once considered his future with the franchise.”It was tough because you play cricket to win and you’re trying your best and that’s still not happening,” Khawaja said. “It was a bit of a helpless feeling and there were times when I thought ‘do I want to be in this team still?’ But when Huss came on board I thought we had a really good chance of picking the team up from the bottom. I talked to Huss when he first came on, and I said the Thunder was close to my heart, having grown up in Western Sydney and that we could do this, but it might take a bit of time.”I think the overall roster has seen a big change and is a lot more balanced now. We have hitters, batsman, pace and spin. A lot has gone on behind the scenes too – Nick Cummins, our GM – has done a lot over the last three years, hiring good people, and there’s a good vibe. That’s helped the guys on the field – there are a lot of hidden heroes behind the scenes who don’t get the congratulations that we do.”Saturday’s final, against either Melbourne Stars or Perth Scorchers, will be Hussey’s final game in Australia.

Lancashire‘s hopes of their first outright Championship title since 1934 are fading with every passing day at The Oval. Surrey declined to enforce the follow-on after dismissing them for 234 before extending their lead to 214.Surrey bowled tidily as a collective, with Matt Nicholson and Chris Jordan particularly impressing. Nicholson exploited the early swinging conditions, and a lifting pitch, to remove Steven Croft for a duck and to trap Mark Chilton for 4. Stuart Law and Paul Horton rallied with 45 and 48 respectively, and it was left to VVS Laxman (53) and latterly Dominic Cork (46 not out) to limit the first-innings deficit.Laxman batted with his customary authority until he fell, pulling hard to long leg off the rapidly emerging talent Jordan, who has slotted right into first-team cricket. Those in the know are already tipping him as Young Cricketer of the Year for 2008.Like Nicholson, Jordan used the conditions to bowl with pace and hostility; his last two victims – Oliver Newby (0) and Gary Keedy (2) – were both beaten for pace and fended through to the keeper, although replays showed the ball had brushed Newby’s arm. Cork was the lone battler and he enjoyed the challenge, even smacking an audacious six for good measure. But not for fun: Lancashire badly want this title.It’s not of their reach yet, however, although if they do prosper it will be in spite of Mark Ramprakash’s gleaming best efforts. He fell short of his double-hundred, making 196. Still, it could prove ultimately costly, given he could have been run out on nought, and was also dropped on 4.Sussex had another excellent day against Worcestershire at Hove as they continued to press their own title claims. They gained maximum batting points thanks to Robin Martin-Jenkins, who will at once rue, and be delighted with, his 99 and Chris Liddle, who demonstrated an eye for the big occasion with his maiden first-class half-century.Following Mushtaq Ahmed’s dismissal (382 for 8), Sussex needed a further 118 for five points; Martin-Jenkins and Liddle duly delivered, with a ninth-wicket partnership of 120. Worcestershire showed heart with an opening stand of 79 and they had reached 93 for 2 by stumps; Moeen Ali (1) soon following Stephen Moore (48) to the hutch.Michael Carberry’s unbeaten century for Hampshire was the highlight against Yorkshire on day two at Headingley. After finishing off Yorkshire’s first innings for 195, Hampshire drew level with four wickets down. John Crawley also contributed a fifty.Dale Benkenstein struck a century to hand Durham the lead following another tidy day against Kent at Canterbury. By the close, Kent had come close to erasing the deficit in their second innings; they now trail by ten with seven wickets left.

Shane Bond, the New Zealand fast bowler, has been ruled out of his team’s opening match of the Champions Trophy, against South Africa, in Mumbai on Monday with a “stiffness and restriction” in the back. This is the latest setback in a long line of back trouble that Bond has suffered.”Shane Bond won’t be considered for tomorrow’s match,” said Linsay Crocker, the New Zealand manager, at a pre-match press conference. “Shane suffered some stiffness and restriction of movement in his back in the warm-up match against Baroda at MIG Club on Friday.”He was keen to bowl today in preparation for tomorrow but we’ve taken a long-term view with Shane and decided it’s best he doesn’t bowl today or tomorrow and begins preparations for the next match on Tuesday.”The news came as a blow to New Zealand ahead of their crucial match against South Africa, but Stephen Fleming, the captain, was as unruffled as ever, and took the news in his stride. “It’s disappointing. It’s not good news before a big game, but it’s news we’ve had in the pastand we’ve been able to deal with before,” said Fleming. “While the team is extremely disappointed for Shane, we still think that, given the nature of the pitch, we have opportunities with our bowlers to still be competitive.”Fleming underscored the need to take a long-term view in the case of recurring injuries with key players, and explained New Zealand’s stance on Bond. “When you have a player who has long-term back problems it is always a concern when that back problem gives restrictions. What we’ve tried to do with Shane is be conservative,” he said. “We’re not looking at just this tournament, we’re looking at ones after this, especially the World Cup. If we can get him through to that, that would be nice. That is the long-term aim which is part of the reason why we’re not playing him tomorrow.”With Scott Styris also not 100 % fit – he suffered a hamstring twinge during a warm-up match – New Zealand have not got off to the start they wanted off the field. However, Styris was still in contention for a place in the final eleven, and depending on how his fitness held up in practiceon the day before the match, he could still make the cut and play a part.

Football heartthrob David Beckham and rugby hunk Jonny Wilkinson have been caught out this summer by England’s cricket team whose skill against Australia and good looks have won a bevy of female fans. The whole country has gone cricket mad over the past few weeks as England battles to beat Australia in an Ashes series for the first time in nearly 20 years, with a nail biting climax set for the final Test.For a sport that is traditionally worshipped by men, cricket is also attracting more women thanks to the success of the England team and the appeal of certain members, such as charming allrounder Andrew Flintoff, chiselled fast bowler Simon Jones and cheeky blue-haired batsman Kevin Pietersen. “The players look good and they are charismatic, which is partly why the game is spreading to new audiences,” said Clare Connor, captain of the England women’s cricket team, which won its own Ashes against Australia last month. “Everyone male or female gets interested as soon as the team starts doing really well against the top side which is Australia,” she told AFP.England will go into the final Test 2-1 up and needing just a draw to win the overall contest – a feat that will turn the squad into national heroes. “Everyone is talking about cricket,” said a spokesman for the England and Wales Cricket Board. “The fact that the team is potentially in line for an Ashes victory is something that has swept the country.” Asked how the players were handling their heightened fame and adoring throng of female fans, the spokesman said: “They are coping very well. Essentially they don’t have time to do much else other than concentrate on the job at hand – and that is trying to win the Ashes.”Despite their gruelling training regime, some of the team have found time to pose for photo-shoots and give interviews. Their pictures dominate the sports sections of newspapers and also appear increasingly in glossy men’s magazines. They even feature as pin-ups inside women’s monthly magazines. Cosmopolitan magazine sent female hearts racing when it published a naked, smouldering photograph of 26-year-old Jones, who will miss the last Test with an ankle injury, in its August edition. “We were the first people to identify the sexual appeal of the England cricket players,” said a spokeswoman for the magazine. “Suddenly cricket is sexy for young women,” she told AFP, noting that the picture of Jones – which is part of a monthly feature to raise awareness about male cancer – triggered a flood of emails and phone calls from readers wanting a poster-size copy of the tanned, muscle-bound cricketer.The Barmy Army, a colourful group of cricket fans who typically wear fancy dress and sing funny songs at matches, said they welcomed the influx of women who were travelling to the games or watching them on television. “I think the girls like coming along now that there are a few sex symbols on the pitch,” said Paul Burnham, one of the founders of the fan club. “The more girls who get into it the better for cricket,” he said, adding: “The more girls who like cricket, the more times their husbands and boyfriends will be allowed to play or go and watch it.”Highlighting the sport’s popularity, Channel 4, which broadcasts live coverage of cricket in Britain, enjoyed a 21% share of the country’s television audience on August 28 when England clinched the fourth Test at Trent Bridge. The figure was more than double its normal rating and higher than the other stations – ironically it comes in the last season that terrestrial television broadcasts home test matches after the ECB judged it better to move it to BSkyB who offered a lot more money.In addition, one supermarket chain is selling more replica England cricket shirts than football shirts, according to the series sponsor. England captain Michael Vaughan said last month: “We can’t go anywhere without people wishing us luck. It’s great to know that the nation will be right behind us when we take on the Aussies.”With the football and rugby seasons up and running, however, the sponsor’s spokeswoman Sue Newton said it would be naive to think cricket’s new-found popularity will last throughout the winter months when the sport is not played in Britain. At the same time, she hoped enough momentum had been generated to see cricket once more in the headlines when the new season starts next year. As for the female fans, their passion for the game – and in particular the players – shows no sign of fading. “I like the appeal of the characters and personalities who are playing, and the fact that they are doing well,” said Hannah Mervis, 25, a policewoman who lives in a flat overlooking The Oval.

Western Australia lost a cricketing icon when Ken Meuleman passed away on Friday night at Hollywood Private Hospital in Perth after a battle with bone cancer.Meuleman, who turned 81 last Sunday, is synonymous with Western Australian cricket as three generations of Meulemans represented the state. Ken, his son Robert and grandson Scott all played for them over seven decades.Ken Meuleman began his cricketing career in Victoria where he played six seasons of first-class cricket and one Test match, against New Zealand in 1946 where he made a duck in his only innings.He moved to Western Australia in 1952 and immediately became a star in the team. In 48 matches, he made 3398 runs at an average of 51.48 with 11 centuries, 13 half-centuries and a top score of 234 not out.Meuleman was a strong supporter of grass roots cricket and coached for many years after his retirement. He had a direct hand in the development in many of Western Australia’s finest Test cricketers including current Australian opener Justin Langer.

Abdul Razzaq has joined Shoaib Akhtar in skipping the home series against Bangladesh next month, said Aamir Sohail, Pakistan’s chief selector.”Shoaib Akhtar has already been given permission by the Board to skip the Bangladesh series. And Razzaq will also not be available,” said Aamir.He also said that the two vacancies would give Pakistan a chance to try out some new cricketers. “The series against Bangladesh will give us a good opportunity to try out some young and new players in our rebuilding process,” Aamir said. “We are planning to rest some senior players and try out the fringe players.”Pakistan, however, will field its strongest squad in the home series against South Africa, which starts in September.The series, beginning on August 20, consists of three Tests and five one-day internationals.

Australian captain Steve Waugh has today defended match referee Mike Denness’ decision to fine and place a suspended Test ban on Indian star Sachin Tendulkar.Speaking on the eve of the Second Test against New Zealand in Hobart, Waugh declared his support for all initiatives aimed at freeing the sport from on-field misconduct. Misconduct, he said, which clearly extended to include altering the condition of the ball.”If he’s picked the seam, then he’s got to pay the penalty just like everyone else,” said Waugh of Tendulkar’s appearance before Denness during this week’s highly-charged Second Test between South Africa and India in Port Elizabeth.”There shouldn’t be any favours just because of your reputation or the way you play the game.”If you do something wrong then you’ve got to get pulled up for it.”After viewing footage of an incident on the third day of play in the Port Elizabeth Test, Denness imposed a one-match ban on Tendulkar – suspending the penalty until the end of the year – and also fined the star Indian batsman 75% of his match fee.Five other Indian players – including captain Sourav Ganguly and star spin bowler Harbhajan Singh – were also heavily punished for other breaches of the code of conduct, primarily for excessive appealing.They were decisions which sparked outrage among officials, commentators and fans across India, as well as a number of the country’s past and present players.But Waugh vowed that stricter sanctions for such practices were long overdue.”I think it’s been going on too long,” he said, in reference to ball tampering.”It’s about time people started paying the penalty.”More consistency is what we’re after, and that’s what (the International Cricket Council) is trying to do. If someone does something wrong, they’re going to be penalised.”We’re looking for consistency … and if they give you that, then you know where you stand. If you go the wrong side of the line, you know you’re going to get penalised. As long as they’re consistent, then that’s fine by the players.”Waugh conceded that it was his own players’ custom not to walk after knowingly being dismissed, but claimed a “tough but fair” approach should prevail among all teams.”We made a conscious effort from last year to accept every decision. If you’re given out when it’s not out, then bad luck. If you’re given not out when it’s out, then it’s your good luck.”But you accept all decisions.”Asked to clarify the reason why altering the state of the ball should be seen as such a sin, Waugh was quickly on to the front foot.”I wouldn’t mind my bat being a bit wider as well,” he quipped.”There’s a ball and a bat there and it’s a contest. If you alter either of those, then you shouldn’t be playing.”

They don’t make them like Chris Rogers any more, batsmen who can dig in, bat ugly, occupy the crease for hours upon hours, days upon days. So went the prevailing wisdom when Rogers retired last month. But was it right? Cameron Bancroft’s record suggests that he boasts more than a little bit of the Rogers mentality. Sixty-nine fewer first-class hundreds, yes, but a hint of the dogged Rogers patience.At 22, Bancroft could become Australia’s newest Test opener after being named in the squad to tour Bangladesh next month. He is certainly more Rogers than David Warner, with only one Twenty20 match to his name. Four times over the past year, Bancroft has played first-class innings of around the six-hour mark, including a 150 against India A in Chennai in July.If your weakness is losing focus as you approach six hours at the crease, that’s no bad thing. But he can go longer – much longer – as he displayed in an epic 13-hour innings of 211 against New South Wales at the WACA, an immense feat of concentration that helped secure Western Australia a place in the Sheffield Shield final.”I think it was really, really big,” Bancroft said of that innings after being picked in the Test squad on Monday. “We had to win that game to make it into a Shield final. So I think the belief I’ve got in myself that I was able to concentrate and stay sharp for as long as I did in that innings was probably the biggest belief I got out of that.”I think it’s important that if I do get an opportunity that you absolutely take it and believe that you have what it takes and do everything in your power and in your own game to be successful. That’s all you can do.”National selector Rod Marsh said Bancroft’s 150 against an India A attack featuring Test bowlers Varun Aaron and Pragyan Ojha was a key reason he was chosen for a Test series in Asia. Asked whether Bancroft’s youth had also played a part when he was weighed against older candidates such as the in-form Michael Klinger, Marsh said it could not be ignored.”He was preferred because we are looking for a young player,” Marsh said. “He had a very good season last year. He got a very good 150 against a strong India A attack, which contained two or three very good spinners. That in itself probably got him chosen ahead of some more senior players, shall we say.”In Bangladesh, Bancroft will be vying for Test selection with Joe Burns, who played two Tests against India last summer, and Usman Khawaja, who last played Test cricket on the 2013 Ashes tour of England. Marsh said the departure of Rogers and Michael Clarke meant that it was time for some of the younger batsmen in Australia to grab their opportunities.”We’ve got to develop a young batsman or two,” Marsh said. “Now it’s time these young blokes grab hold of their opportunity, take it up and do well. That’s what we’re after. Rogers has retired, we have to find someone else at the top of the order. Whether [Steven] Smith will bat at 3 or 4 going forward, that’s his decision, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he bats at No.4. So there could be two spots we have to fill at the top.”Should Bancroft win a chance in Bangladesh, it will come largely as the result of a breakthrough 2014-15 in which he was the third leading run scorer in the Sheffield Shield with 896 runs at 47.15. It was quite a turnaround from the 2013-14 summer in which he struggled and managed only 450 runs at 22.50 without a century, despite playing all 11 Shield games of the year.”I’m actually kind of glad and kind of blessed that I was able to go through something like that,” Bancroft said. “I probably felt that I was depressed at that stage. It’s certainly not nice to go through things like that, but that’s cricket, that’s the ups and downs and things you deal with in elite sport.”So to go through that and work out for myself what I needed to work on to get better and work with mentors and coaches and things like that, is something I am really glad I went through. It can only make you a better player.”

Scorecard
MS Dhoni waged a lone struggle for Jharkhand•PTI

MS Dhoni showed glimpses of his best during his 70 not out on the burning deck, but opening bursts from Navdeep Saini and Ishant Sharma helped Delhi comfortably defend what looked like a modest score of 225 in the second quarter-final of Vijay Hazare Trophy, played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. It wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on, but Delhi would have been disappointed with the score, especially after an opening stand of 53. Saini and Ishant, though, made full use of variable bounce and pace in the pitch by running through the Jharkhand top order. Dhoni waged a lone struggle from 9 for 4, looking to bat deep into the innings, but ran out of partners.Varun Aaron had won the toss and asked Delhi to bat in a bid to exploit the 9am start, but the batting seemed the easiest in the morning. Debutant wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who will be India’s vice-captain in the Under-19 World Cup, set a foundation with Shikhar Dhawan as both the Jharkhand new bowlers erred in line often to allow the openers easy boundaries. In contrast to Dhawan, Pant showed favour for the on side, and struggled to play forcefully on the off. The two, however, struggled to rotate the strike, as a result of which they went at only four an over, despite all the big shots.With the introduction of spin the variable pace began to show, and although Aaron went out for the toss, Dhoni took charge of the team. Five wickets fell for 47 runs including that of Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir who was caught sleeping while taking a single, and was left stunned by a throw at his end. Nitish Rana then repaired the innings in the company of Manan Sharma. The pair added 74 in 18 overs, but more importantly provided Pawan Negi the license to hit in the end. The three spinners used by Jharkhand gave away only 85 runs in 23 overs, but Rana, who scored 44 off 76, made sure Delhi could go after the quicks.Negi did that with aplomb as the wides and the extras mounted. Negi hit three fours and three sixes in his 16-ball 38 as Delhi struck 51 in the last five overs. The total, though, would have begun to look paltry if Jharkhand had put together one decent partnership at the top. However, their top order couldn’t handle the pace of Delhi’s opening bowlers and trickery of the pitch. Ishank Jaggi fell in the first over, playing all around a full ball from Saini. In the second over, Ishan Kishan, who will lead India in the Under-19 World Cup, did the same to one short-of-a- length ball from Ishant Sharma.It wasn’t the wicket-taking deliveries that represented the true nature of the pitch. Instead, it was the ones in between that would either fly through to the keeper or bounce well short. Even in the first innings Dhoni had to repeatedly pull out his famous legs-together stops. However, the exits of Saurabh Tiwary and Kumar Deobrat were meek. Tiwary drove to extra cover, giving a head-high catch, and Deobrat fended awkwardly at Ishant to get caught at short leg.Then it seemed clear that Dhoni wanted to take the game as deep as possible. He found some support from Kaushal Singh and Ankit Dabas through 23-run partnerships, but their resistance didn’t last long enough. At 55 for 6 Dhoni began to farm the strike a bit, but wickets kept falling. He brought out the big hits in the end, sending left-arm spinner Manan twice into the stands, reaching the highest individual score of the match.Dhoni’s blows brought some entertainment to the sparse Chinnaswamy faithfuls in the P4 Stand. In isolation, the cat-and-mouse game between Dhoni’s advances and Manan’s darts made for good fun. Despite just the last man for company, Dhoni kept clearing the field, hitting Ishant for two sixes and a four in one over.A shrewd Gambhir then reacted by bringing on Negi to bowl darts into the pads from over the wicket. The 25-year-old Suboth Bhati, who took three lower-order wickets, went on to impress by not letting Dhoni get under his slowish yorkers. He ended the match with an lbw verdict against Vikash Singh, although the batsman had hit the ball. Dhoni was left stranded, with a teasing thought in the mind: what if there had been some more support from the other end.

Day 2
ScorecardThe left-arm spin duo of Ravi Jadeja and KP Appanna shared nine wickets between them to dismiss Sri Lanka Under-19 for 247 and help India Under-19 gain a first-innings lead of 54 on the second day in Colombo.Jadeja finished with figures of 5 for 28 in 17 miserly overs, while Appanna sent down 25 overs and finished with 4 for 74. The resistance from the home side came from Mathurage Perera and Tissara Perera who both scored half centuries when the chips were down. Mathurage walked in with his side wobbling at 8 for 3, and added 78 for the fifth wicket with Roshen Silva. His knock of 74 included seven boundaries. Tissara, who walked in after Mathurage was dismissed, did the bulk of the scoring from thereon and pushed the score close to the 250 mark. His 64 included five fours and three sixes.In reply, Abhinav Mukund and captain Tanmay Srivastava built on the lead of 54 and added a quick 82 in 16 overs to strengthen their position in the first Test.