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Central Districts embarked on a long process of trying to overhaul Northern Districts’ first-innings total of 450 at McLean Park with Jamie How, the captain and opener, leading the way. The home side ended the day at 120 for 3 with How, who failed twice in round one against Auckland, not out on 79. Jarrod Engelfield was with him on 13 as the pair went on a rescue mission after Central fell to 72 for 3 with Peter Ingram and Mathew Sinclair dismissed for ducks. All the plaudits went to the Northern pair of Mark Orchard and Joseph Yovich who combined for a sixth-wicket partnership of 322, a New Zealand record. Yovich (144) was first to go, followed by Orchard (175). The in-form Peter McGlashan ended unbeaten on 61. Apart from those three there was just 36 runs scored from the other eight Northern bats as extras totalled 34. Ewen Thompson was the best of the bowlers with 3 for 85.No play was possible between Canterbury and Auckland on the second day at the Village Green because of rain. Canterbury remain on 92 for 3.Wellington was in complete control against Otago after another weather-affected day at University Oval. Chasing Wellington’s 292 for first-innings points, the home side capitulated to be all out for 73. Iain O’Brien, a former national bowler, finished with remarkable figures of 4 for 12 from 11 overs. James Franklin also took four wickets, his at a cost of 30, while Mark Gillespie snared the other two. Following on, Otago was in a much better position at 114 for 1, with Jordan Sheed (57*) and Aaron Redmond battling away.

Worcestershire have agreed terms with Shoaib Akhtar as one of their overseas players for 2005, subject to clearance from the Pakistan Cricket Board.Shoaib, 29, who was the first bowler to break the 100mph barrier when he bowled to Nick Knight in Pakistan’s World Cup match against England in 2003, won’t be available for the whole season because Pakistan are scheduled to play two Tests and three one-day internationals in West Indies in May and June.”I’ll be rested and raring to go when I start in July,” he said, “and, from looking at the players Worcestershire have in their side, [I’m] confident we’ll have a successful season.” Shoaib played for Durham for the last two seasons, and Somerset in one first-class match in 2001.”I love playing county cricket in England and I’m really looking forward to helping Worcestershire get straight back into Division One of the Championship and challenge for honours in the one-day game.”Tom Moody, Worcestershire’s director of cricket, was excited by the news. “Shoaib creates a huge buzz wherever he bowls,” he said, “and I have no doubt he will be a popular member of the squad both on and off the field. He is a world-class strike bowler in both forms of the game, and he will spearhead our drive for success.”

Javed Miandad has finally signed a contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board, more than 11 weeks after taking over for his fourth stint as national coach.The contract, reported to be worth R10 million (US$175,000) per annum, was signed on the eve of the Pakistan team’s departure for their short tour of England.Miandad had delayed agreeing the new deal while issues regarding salary and perks were sorted out. "He was not pushed to sign the contract," a PCB spokesman told the local News newspaper. "He knew whenever he did sign it the contract would be valid from the date he took over as Pakistan coach and he would receive all backdated payments.”

Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya said there was no cause for alarm after the team’s five-wicket defeat to Pakistan in the Sharjah final on Sunday.Sri Lanka were gunning for their third successive Sharjah triumph, but Jayasuriya maintained that the side were entitled to their odd bad day."It was an off day for us," he admitted. "But everyday the players can’t perform and go on to score 270. The batting let us down in the final, but apart from that I thought we did really well.""We had been batting well throughout the series and only failed in the last game. The players all realise what went wrong."Pakistan stacked their side with fast bowlers in the final and bowled out Sri Lanka for their lowest score of the tournament."They have got a very good bowling attack and Wasim (Akram) was outstanding throughout the series," said Jayasuriya. "I think they were the best bowling side throughout the series."Sri Lanka bravely picked two rookie pacemen in their squad and when Dilhara Fernando was ruled out because of a back injury they were left with an inexperienced bowling attack.Jayasuriya, however, paid tribute to both Prabath Nissanka and Charitha Buddhika, who picked up five wickets on his debut against Zimbabwe."We played two young fast bowlers and they did pretty well," he said. "We have to groom them for the future and when they get the experience it will be for the good of Sri Lanka’s cricket."Charitha (Buddhika) has been in the fast bowlers clinic for sometime now and having worked with Champika (Ramanayake) he knows what to do.""Prabath (Nissanka) is one of the quickest bowlers we have in Sri Lanka with Dilhara (Fernando). He has a couple of things to correct and on times he bowled both sides of the wicket, but he clearly has a good future."Sri Lanka’s injury list is a concern for the management, with serious injuries to wicket-keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana and fast bowler Fernando."Dilhara (Fernando) is out with a hairline fracture in his back and Romesh (Kaluwitharana) has a fractured finger. It is a problem for the team and as a captain I miss them. But it is part of the game and we have to go with what we have."Perhaps of greater concern is the news that champion off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is suffering from a persistent shoulder injury."Murali has being having this problem (sore shoulder) for quite a while," he revealed. "Day-by-day he is getting better and we didn’t want to risk him for the finals so we rested him."

ScorecardKarl Brown scored his first century for over four years•Getty Images

Karl Brown scored his first century for over four years but Alex Davies fell five short of a maiden hundred as Lancashire’s batsmen dominated the second day of their Division Two game against Glamorgan.Lancashire amassed 462 in their first innings before being dismissed 13 overs after tea and Glamorgan were 48 for 1 off 16 overs in reply at the close of play.However, the morning session will remain memorable for Brown, who reached his first century in 96 first-class innings stretching back to April 2011 when he clipped Michael Hogan through midwicket for four. Having got to three figures off 217 balls with 13 fours, Brown went on to make 132, his highest score for Lancashire’s first team before pulling David Lloyd to Chris Cooke at midwicket five overs into the afternoon’s play.Steven Croft, who helped Brown add 132 for the fourth wicket, departed half an hour later for a 164-ball 67 when a rather wild cut off Craig Meschede only edged the ball to Mark Wallace behind the stumps.However, Lancashire’s attacking intentions were not so much maintained as intensified by Alex Davies and James Faulkner, who put on 128 for the sixth wicket in 22 overs before Faulkner’s pull-drive off Meschede found the safe hands of Lloyd at long on when he had made 63 off 70 balls.That dismissal began a period of less than seven overs in which Lancashire lost their last five wickets for 27 runs, the chief beneficiary of the home side’s brief and cheerful slog being Meschede, who finished the innings with four for 101. Part-time legspinner Colin Ingram also enjoyed himself, picking up the wickets of Davies and Arron Lilley in a 3.1 over spell.The departure of Davies occurred when, having made 95 off 104 balls with 11 fours and two sixes, the 20-year-old came down the wicket to the slow bowler but only skied the ball to Wagg running round to cover from point.The successes of Meschede and Ingram were hard on Michael Hogan, who had battled against a groin strain to bowl 30 good but wicketless overs, and they were particularly tough on Graham Wagg, whose figures of 2 for 82 off 30 overs did him no justice whatsoever. However, it was not a particularly good day for Glamorgan’s fielders, at least four catches going down on a day when the bowlers both needed and deserved more support.In the 16 overs of Glamorgan’s first innings, Jacques Rudolph and Will Bragg added 40 for the first wicket before Bragg was leg before to off-spinner Lilley’s second ball for 27, umpire Rob Bailey judging that the ball had straightened sufficiently to beat the left-hander’s forward push.At the close Rudolph was 18 not out and nightwatchman Andrew Salter was unbeaten on a single. By that stage the spinners, Lilley and Simon Kerrigan, were bowling in tandem, a combination the Old Trafford spectators may have further opportunities to observe over the final two days of this game.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was relieved to be fronting a press conference after India had won, and the smiles and jokes appeared more natural and less forced.”Well of course it was a tight match. They [Australia] got 200 [193] runs [batting first]. Personally I thought it was a good wicket though it does a bit under lights,” said Dhoni. “There was plenty of bounce and seam movement. So I knew it would be a tough match but I thought we would win comfortably, but I would take it [the two-wicket win] with an open heart.”When asked if it was a tough decision to leave Rahul Dravid out of the XI, Dhoni flashed his widest smile. “Well he was rested,” was all Dhoni would say before getting quite animated when speaking about Murali Kartik, a player he backed and who has delivered for him.”I think he was really excited specially if you look at the stage when he was called back into the side. He needed to perform, he was quite determined to perform,” said Dhoni. “He even had an injury on his right thumb, but still he was quite eager to play. The way he bowled I think it was brilliant. If a bowler keeps bowling in one place, you can set up an aggressive field. I think that was not the case in the previous matches. I think we bowled well, apart from the initial start when we were a bit erratic and gave too many runs with the new ball.”Kartik’s ten-over spell of 6 for 27 also came in for praise from Ricky Ponting. “Kartik bowled well today. He bowled well even in his first game [in Chandigarh],” Ponting said. “The wicket here was different because the top was a bit soft. Still you have to execute the skills and he did extremely well and deserved every wicket he got.”Like in Chandigarh, Australia had a firm grasp on the game before India made a winning fightback, something Ponting wasn’t pleased about. “Whenever we lose, it’s disappointing and more so when we lose from winning position.”I thought 193 was defendable because of the conditions as the ball was swinging and seaming. We wanted early wickets which we got but we could not get wickets in the middle and that’s why we lost.”Dhoni said it was not merely about backing Kartik. All players needed the backing of their captain. “Well of course I believe in each and every player. If you look at RP [Singh], the way he started [the series] he would have been sidelined and he would have never got to play,” said Dhoni. “You have to keep the confidence in the players and that’s how you gain their confidence. I want 14 players in my team whom I want to stand in front of a truck and they are willing to do it.”

Even with the series gone, well before this game began, Dhoni stressed that this match was a big one for his side. If anything, he said India were in a strong position in the Nagpur game, and should have won that one.”Well of course even if you see the last match, I think we were into the match and we could have won. But unfortunately we couldn’t, in between we made a few mistakes,” said Dhoni. “But we knew this was a very crucial match for us, we didn’t start the series well, but at least we wanted to end it on a positive note. We know we didn’t bat well, but as a team we played really well to win this match. With the new ball we got initial breakthroughs, but more accidentally. I thought the Australians bowled brilliantly. They made the batsmen play each and every delivery and that was very crucial.”Despite the defeat, Ponting agreed it had been an exciting contest. “It was a very entertaining game though it was low-scoring. The ball was swinging all day, which made it a pretty-even contest,” Ponting said. “It showed that even low-scoring matches can be entertaining because of the intensity right through the match.”Dhoni also counted quite a few positives from this series despite losing 2-4. “If you see Robin [Uthappa] he has matured a lot as a player. Although he is an opener he is the kind of batsman you can shuffle around to play at any place,” said Dhoni. “He is a big asset for the team. He plays positively and fielded well through the series. It was a good series for him.”At the end of his first ODI series as captain, Dhoni conceded there were differences in handling a young Twenty20 unit and a side like this one. “Well it’s a lot different. If look at Twenty20, we had a very young side so keeping the intensity going through out the 20 overs was never a problem,” he said. “But over here you have to keep the guys on their toes. At times you have to take help from people like Yuvraj and Robin Uthappa who are on the field and tell them ‘No boss, you have to pick things up, your intensity is going down.’ And that was one of things that we did really well today.”

Mohammad Khalil, the Pakistan left-arm seamer, has been officially cleared of charges of ball-tampering in a Patrons Trophy match between his team, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and Pakistan Customs at Karachi, due to lack of sufficient evidence. Rao Iftikhar Anjum, ZTBL’s captain, was instead held responsible and imposed a fine of Rs 5000.The incident occurred in the second day’s play, during the 29th over of Customs’ innings, when the umpires Riazuddin and Shakeel Khan suspected that the condition of the ball had changed. They called for a replacement and awarded five penalty runs to the batting side. Khalil was bowling at the moment, and it was reported in the Pakistan media that he was found guilty and slapped a fine by Khalid Niazi, the match referee. However, Niazi clarified the actual version of the events in an official verdict today.”According to the laws of the game, when no one is caught red-handed, the captain is responsible,” said Niazi. “So a fine of Rs 5000 has been imposed on Rao Iftikhar Anjum on behalf of ZTBL. Mohammad Khalil was called in for the hearing just because he was bowling at the time but no evidence or proof was found against him so he has been cleared gracefully from this matter.”

ScorecardSandeep Singh and Pritam Gandhe grabbed seven wickets between them to bundle out Tripura, chasing a target of 263, for 124 as Vidarbha registered an outright win at Agartala. Subhrajit Roy, the opener, offered the lone resistance with 49 and was the ninth wicket to fall. Singh, the medium pacer, removed two top order wickets before coming back to pick up two in the tail to fold up the Tripura innings. Earlier, Timir Chanda removed the two overnight batsmen – Samir Khare and Vikrant Gonnade – to trigger a mini-collapse and Jayanta Debnath picked up two wickets to finish with a five-wicket haul. With this win, Vidarbha, already comfortably placed at second on the Group A table, enter the semi-finals stage of the tournament.ScorecardPowered by 74 from Ratan Kumar and three 30-plus scores from the middle order Jharkhand, following on, reached 252 for 6, 42 runs ahead, in their second innings by the end of the third day’s play against Kerala at Palakkad. Ratan Kumar was ably assisted by Manoj Joglekar, who hit 49, and 30s from Rajiv Kumar, the captain, and Mohan Jha. Kerala will be looking to remove the last four wickets quickly to set up small target to chase as they have to win by 10 wickets to secure a bonus point which would give them a chance to end up in top two and qualify for the semi-final. Their hopes lie on Somasetty Suresh and Sadgaoppan Ramesh, the two batsmen who shifted from Tamil Nadu.
ScorecardGoa, asked to follow on after Sandip Maniar’s seven-wicket haul blew them away for a paltry 144 in the first innings, rode on an unbeaten half-century from Swapnil Asnodkar to reach 133 for 2, 162 runs in arrears, at stumps on the third day that was completely dominated by Saurashtra at Rajkot. Maniar tore Goa apart and picked five of the six wickets that fell to the bowlers today after Jobanputra had removed the overnight batsman Nikhil Haldipur early in the day.
ScorecardA combined disciplined bowling performance from Rajasthan put them on the brink of victory against Assam at stumps on the third day at Udaipur. Four bowlers picked two wickets apiece to shot out Assam for 110 before Rajasthan, set a target of 70, reached 16 for 0 at close. Earlier 30s from Ajay Jadeja, the captain, and Sanjay Gill lifted Rajasthan, overnight at 172 for 4, to 281 in their first innings, gaining a 41-run lead.
ScorecardA 151-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Monish Mishra (83) and Devendra Bundela (76 not out) lifted Madhya Pradesh from a wobbly 58 for 5 to 221 for 6, 93 runs in arrears, by the end of the second day’s play against Jammu & Kashmir at Indore. Abid Nabi, the medium pacer, rocked the MP top order with a three wicket burst before Bundela and Mishra came together to pull MP out of trouble before the pair were separated by a run-out. Earlier, Dhruv Mahajan extended his score from the overnight 42 to 59 as J&K reached 314 in their first innings. Madhya Pradesh will have to get the first-innings lead to get two points and qualify for the semi-finals.
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Subit Biswal’ maiden first-class century and Pravanjan Mullick’s unbeaten 93 powered Orissa to a commanding 312 for 3, 150 runs ahead, by the end of the second day’s play against Himachal Pradesh at Cuttack. Biswal and Mullick shared a unbroken 198-run stand for the fourth wicket in 63 overs to grind out the Himachal Pradesh attack. Orissa sit pretty on top of the pool having already qualified for the semi-finals.Owing to bad weather and problems in flight connectivity the match between Orissa and HP was postponed by a day.

A Warwickshire player is to appear before an ECB disciplinary panel on Monday (Sept 20) after reportedly failing a drugs test. Warwickshire and the ECB declined to confirm the identity of the player concerned, but a report in the Daily Telegraph alleged that it was Graham Wagg, the 21-year-old allrounder who has also played for England A.Wagg, who has been struggling with a back injury that has stopped him playing Championship cricket this year, reportedly gave a positive sample after a random drug test after Warwickshire’s final National League match of the season, against Gloucestershire.The ECB confirmed that a disciplinary hearing had been set up in accordance with their anti-doping regulations.According to the Telegraph the drug involved is recreational, rather than performance-enhancing. The English authorities have always pursued a hard line on drug abuse, of whatever kind: in 1996 Ed Giddins was suspended for 18 months after traces of cocaine were found in his systen.

Dropped catches cost Minor Counties dearly, together with some wayward seam bowling on a pitch of variable bounce and slow pace, enabling Northants to score 271 for 8 in their 50 overs. Chris Brown was again on top form, taking 2-13 from his 10 overs.This was always going to be a stiff target especially when Howitt was caught at cover off his first ball. Adshead and Dawson batted aggressively, adding 54 for the second wicket in just 6 overs. Trower again showed his class and together with Mann proceeded to keep up with the clock. When Trower(45) was well held driving uppishly to fly gully and Mann(29) spooned a catch to extra cover, the target proved out of reach, in spite of some determined batting from Brown(30) and Kidner.