Zimbabwe A 18 for 0 trail South Africa A 272 (Morkel 94, Hondo 4-46) by 254 runs
Scorecard

Douglas Hondo was the star performer for Zimbabwe A, taking 4 for 46 as South Africa A were bowled out for 272 on the first day of the four-day game at Bulawayo. Had it not been for some spirited resistance from Albie Morkel, who made 94 from 141 balls, and his 102-run last-wicket partnership with Charl Langeveldt, it could have been much worse for the South Africans.Hondo rocked them early in the piece, taking four of the first five wickets. He started the slide by dismissing Abraham de Villiers, who had scored 91 and 84 in the first match, which South Africa A had won by seven wickets. de Villiers made just 8 this time before being bowled (20 for 1). Hondo then got rid of Loots Bosman, the other opener, for 23, before nailing two crucial middle-order wickets – Ashwell Prince (5) and Neil McKenzie (25) were both bowled as South Africa A slumped to 105 for 5.Worse was to follow as three more wickets went cheaply, reducing them to 137 for 8, before Albie Morkel stepped in. He added 32 for the eighth wicket with Paul Adams, but the partnership which really frustrated Zimbabwe A was his last-wicket stand with Langeveldt, who remained unbeaten on 37. Morkel was finally dismissed by Tinashe Panyangara just six short of a hundred. His innings included 14 fours and a six.Stuart Matsikenyeri and Brendan Taylor, the Zimbabwean openers, saw off the seven overs in the evening, ensuring that they had all ten wickets in hand going into the second 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.

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.”

West Indies’ tour of Australia has suffered another jolt, with the players demanding US$500,000 as appearance fees and the board subsequently rejecting that demand. The West Indies Players’ Association wanted the money for the 14-member team in addition to match fees, tour fees and incentives, according to Chetram Singh, a board official.According to an Associated Press report, Singh, who is also the president of the Guyana Cricket Board, said that the demand “puts the tour in jeopardy”. Singh also termed it as “absolute madness”, hours after the players’ representative, Dinanath Ramnarine, lay it in front of the board. The players were paid a total of US$390,000 in appearance fees for 2004, which included four Tests and seven one-dayers against England before two Tests and five one-dayers against Bangladesh.West Indies’ tour of Australia was almost called off last month after most of the senior players, including Brian Lara, stayed away from a training camp because of a conflict over personal endorsements. The players felt that they risked losing their image rights because of their contracts with Cable & Wireless, the rival company of Digicel, the board’s new sponsor.The board barred the players from the camp but both parties soon agreed, after mediation, to resume the camp on November 29 and allow an arbitrator to sort out the issue.

Sri Lanka will finish their two-Test tour of New Zealand in April, after the original trip was cancelled following the Boxing Day tsunami. Martin Snedden, the chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, said he was also working to reschedule the four one-day matches that were abandoned when the Sri Lankan squad returned home to assist with their nation’s recovery.The Tests will begin on April 4 and April 11, and the venues are expected to be confirmed in two weeks. “The climatic conditions in early April are normally similar to those in March,” said Snedden, “and we are confident that Test cricket can be played at that time of year.”Shane Warne, who played his first one-day international since December 2002 last night, will captain a FICA World XI in three limited-overs matches against New Zealand in a hastily arranged replacement series to raise money for the tsunami victims. Warne will be joined by Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya and Andy Flower at Christchurch on January 22, Wellington on January 24 and Hamilton on January 26.Warne has also refused to shut the door on a possible one-day return after he showed his value in the limited-overs arena during the charity match. “I definitely enjoyed it,” he told ABC Online. “It’s something I speak to Ricky [Ponting] about a fair bit and chat about it, but at this stage I’m still retired. But I do enjoy playing it and who knows, down the track, you never know.”Snedden said that NZC hoped to break even from the series, or to run at a manageable loss. “It will be expensive to hold, but the benefits for the home cricket season and the Black Caps, as well as those who benefit from our fund-raising activities, will make the series more than worthwhile. The series is an important initiative.” Snedden said funds from the matches would go to World Vision and Sri Lanka’s Cricket-Aid, which is providing emergency relief for the homeless.FICA World XIsGame 1 Shane Warne (capt), Andy Flower, Ian Harvey, Graeme Hick, Sanath Jayasuriya, Lance Klusener, Nick Knight, Muttiah Muralitharan, Jonty Rhodes, Kumar Sangakkara, Heath Streak, Chaminda Vaas.Game 2 Shane Warne (capt), Andy Bichel, Matthew Elliott, Andy Flower, Ian Harvey, Graeme Hick, Sanath Jayasuriya, Lance Klusener, Nick Knight, Muttiah Muralitharan, Jonty Rhodes, Kumar Sangakkara, Heath Streak, Chaminda Vaas.Game 3 Shane Warne (capt), Michael Bevan, Andy Bichel, Matthew Elliott, Andy Flower, Ian Harvey, Graeme Hick, Sanath Jayasuriya, Justin Langer, Muttiah Muralitharan, Jonty Rhodes, Kumar Sangakkara, Heath Streak, Chaminda Vaas.

Steve Harmison has been enduring a rough time on England’s tour of South Africa, but in the very week that he admitted he would have happily returned to his family in the North-East if given the chance, he has been on the receiving end of some timely home comforts.At the North-East Sports Awards, held last night at the Seaburn Centre in Sunderland, Harmison picked up two accolades: "Performance of the Year", for his outstanding 7 for 12 in the first Test against West Indies in Kingston, and "Sports Personality of the Year", for his spectacular rise to the position of No. 1 bowler in the world, and for taking an English-record 67 wickets in the year.Ian Botham, whose record Harmison overhauled, presented the "Performance of the Year" award to him before the second one-day international at Bloemfontein last week. Durham’s director of cricket, Geoff Cook, and the chief executive, David Harker, attended the ceremony to collect the Sports Personality Award on Harmison’s behalf.”This North Eastern Award will mean so much to Stephen and his family," said Cook. "No-one is more proud of the region than him. The England fixture list does not allow for too many county appearances for contracted players but we are looking forward to seeing him back in a Durham shirt this season.”

For a man who was on the threshold of scoring 10000 runs in both forms of the game, Sachin Tendulkar looked remarkably subdued when he first came out to bat. Virender Sehwag had already brutalised the Pakistan attack, and was especially severe on Danish Kaneria, the bowler who posed the most problems for India in the first the first Test. The score was 156 for 1 from just 38.3 overs and the stage was perfectly set for Tendulkar to take full toll. And yet, he could not score off the first 18 balls he faced.When he did get moving, though, it was a delectable cover-drive, crunched magnificently off the quick legspin of Shahid Afridi. A repeat of that shot came soon after, as if to prove the first was no freak occurrence, and then suddenly the shutters came down again. For a time it appeared that Tendulkar was fighting a tough battle, but not against Pakistan’s bowlers, or even the conditions. It was the milestones that beckoned – the 10000th Test run, and the 35th Test hundred – that were creating confusion in his mind about how freely to bat.Tendulkar insisted it was nothing of the sort. "It’s not all about getting to 35 hundreds," he told reporters at the end of the day. "There is more to cricket and life than that. If I keep on thinking about it, it will never happen. I will go out and try as hard as I have been for the last 15 years, and if it happens, it will be a great feeling, for sure. My aim is to go out and score a hundred in each and every innings, but that doesn’t happen all the time, does it?"It certainly doesn’t happen every time, and there are days when Tendulkar, for all his abundant gifts, has had to tough it out, buckle down and search for the runs. Today, as he neared the target of 27 needed to get to 10000 runs, the countdown began on the electronic scoreboard, and this set the crowd off, chearing and slow-hand-clapping. Bemused, Tendulkar walked up to Dravid. "There was a lot of noise and Sachin came to me and asked, `What’s happening?’ He knew basically that he was close to 10000, but not exactly how close," Dravid revealed at the end of the day. "I think he was at 9998 at that stage, and I told him, `2 more to go, but 15,000 is the real target’."In that sense the Eden Gardens provided a fitting stage for a feat that would set Tendulkar alongside Allan Border, Sunil Gavaskar, Steve Waugh and Brian Lara in the 10000-club. "The Eden is a special spot. I’d have been very happy to have got 10,000 anywhere, but the crowd response here is quite different, so it was good to get it here," Tendulkar said, and displayed refreshing humility at being in that elite bracket. "They are all in a different league altogether, those names, and it’s nice to join that club."But, the greatest run-accumulator the game has seen since Sir Don Bradman did not see passing 10000 as an end in itself. "It’s a reflection of the type of cricket I have played all these years," he said – and there was not a person in the room who could disagree. Perhaps there are a few who wish he would show more of his old self, the daring destroyer of attacks. And that may well come when the next milestone falls. For, after getting to 10000 runs, Tendulkar’s range of strokes, even in his innings of 52, increased appreciably. The cut was aggressive and dominating once more, the drive booming, and importantly, the restrictive line from the legspinner outside the leg stump was not kicked away. It was paddle-swept so fine that the ball eventually ended up crossing the ropes closer to third man than fine-leg. That was a sign that Tendulkar was back in the hunt for runs, and not merely safeguarding his wicket till a milestone went by.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Ricky Ponting blazed a thrilling hundred as the series-deciding Test roared into life at Auckland. Australia hacked the first-innings target to 73 in a drastic reversal of the slow but absorbing first day, with Ponting piloting them at almost five an over during his stay.New Zealand took four sessions to reach 292; Australia ran to 219 for 4 in two. Ponting chased like it was a one-day total and, with him in a blistering flow, they sprinted to 143 for 2 in the session before tea. Despite rearranging his spinners and medium-pacers, Stephen Fleming found no way to stop the scoring until Nathan Astle prised out Ponting for 105.Opening with a hooked six over fine-leg, Ponting raced to his half-century from 58 balls with seven fours and a second slap into the grandstand behind square leg. It was an emphatic reply to the Kiwis’ grafting, which included 199 from 90 overs yesterday, as he greedily attacked his 22nd century.Ponting enjoyed a chance when Tama Canning, standing at gully as a replacement, let a wild drive slice through his hands and the other disruption was a delay to cover glare from a grandstand rail. An awkward swipe – his only ugly streak – brought him three figures, as the ball narrowly sailed over midwicket. He had been held up slightly in the 90s, was desperate to move forward and raised his bat on his 104th ball.It was an innings that Adam Gilchrist has matched – but few others. The short boundaries looked even smaller with Ponting’s glances, off-drives and swings through midwicket. His third six came from James Franklin and his fourth was a powerful sweep off Daniel Vettori, but he was at his best when driving. A fine piece of work by Brendon McCullum standing up to Astle ended the jaw-dropping.The rate quickly slowed on Ponting’s departure and Damien Martyn contributed 38 until he was deceived by a sharp-turning offspinner. Paul Wiseman had waited two Tests for his chance and, with Astle and Daniel Vettori, turned Australia’s attack into defence. Michael Clarke was carefully trying to play his way into form and Jason Gillespie was sent in as nightwatchman with 7.2 overs remaining. At stumps Clarke was 18 and Gillespie 1.Clarke has scored 106 runs in his last seven innings and Hayden will also be pleased the season is coming to a close after a disjointed summer. His early stages were a struggle before he unleashed some punishing boundaries and a big, fast score seemed a formality until he missed an angling Franklin delivery heading for the stumps. The mood of Langer was upbeat, but he was also undone by Franklin. The left-arm angle was again the problem and he played on for the second time in the series.

It was a poor start but Australia rebounded after Glenn McGrath ordered the tail-end charge as they wrapped up New Zealand’s innings by lunch. Setting up his figures with 17 runs in 24 overs on day one, McGrath stepped in to diffuse the dangers of Nathan Astle and Brendon McCullum, making sure of a medium-sized chase.The unrelenting accuracy pushed Astle into an edge and McCullum fell in a similar way 19 runs later, becoming Adam Gilchrist’s 74th catch off McGrath, who collected 3 for 49 from 34 overs. Shane Warne struck in his first over with a fortunate decision from Jeremy Lloyds against Franklin, and the three wickets set Australia up for a swift conclusion. Wiseman delayed proceedings for 26 runs with Vettori before rushing at Warne and being caught by Gillespie.Vettori has been New Zealand’s shining light during many dark moments on this tour and he again showed his all-round value with an energetic display. Adept at lifting his tail-end team-mates, Vettori sprinkled eight fours around Eden Park and was unbeaten on 41 from 50 balls when the innings ended. New Zealand deserved to be pleased with their efforts until Ponting grabbed the controls.How they were out
New Zealand
Astle c Langer b McGrath 19 (228 for 6)
Nibbled at a good-length ball and went to a two-handed diving catch at third slip.McCullum c Gilchrist b McGrath 19 (247 for 7)
Played slightly ahead of his pad and Gilchrist snapped a clever catch low and to his right.Franklin c Katich b Warne 3 (262 for 8)
Bat-pad decision that didn’t hit wood.Wiseman c Gillespie b Warne 8 (288 for 9)
Down the wicket and skewed a lofted drive to mid-off.Martin c Clarke b Kasprowicz 0 (292)
Defended to point for an easy offering.Australia
Langer b Martin 6 (8 for 1)
Attempted back-foot forcing shot cover but inside-edged on to thigh and stumps.Hayden lbw Franklin 38 (84 for 2)
Hit adjacent and suffered a painfully slow finger raise from Rudi Koertzen.Ponting c McCullum b Astle 105 (187 for 3)
Fired a ball down legside that caught his edge for the sharpest of chances.Martyn b Wiseman 38 (215 for 4)
Leaned back to give himself room, beaten by the spin, under-edged the ball and lost leg bail.

Brian Lara has been given permission by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to miss the one-day internationals on the forthcoming tour of Sri Lanka. Lara, 36, is intent on extending his scintillating Test career and said that a reduction in the amount of one-day cricket might give him “a little more time in the Test arena”.”That’s what I enjoy a lot, the five-day game,” he told the BBC and added that he had already informed the WICB of his decision. Leonard Robertson, the West Indies communications manager, confirmed that the WICB had complied. Lara was among the 13 players picked for the Sri Lankan tour, which will include two Tests, in Colombo and Kandy, and a triangular one-day tournament also involving India.Early hints of Lara’s reluctance to play one-dayers were provided when he was “rested” for the three ODIs against Pakistan at home last month. Bennett King, the side’s coach, hinted at a change in Lara’s attitude as far back as the VB Series in Australia in January. “I think we’ve got to be mindful of his longevity in the game and how we manage him so that we can get the best out of Brian for as long as he wants to play,” King said then.Lara has amassed 9,354 runs in 256 ODIs, including 19 hundreds, and has been one of the most thrilling batsmen in both forms of the game for more than a decade. But Lara’s move might not mean an end to his one-day career as he has already publicly said that he is keen to play the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. West Indies are not scheduled to play any more ODIs until they visit New Zealand next February and March and Lara will get a chance to concentrate solely on Tests in the intervening period.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has abandoned tentative plans to start its own TV channel in the wake of the broadcast-rights dispute that cast such an unwelcome shadow over the last Indian season. The channel had been proposed by IS Bindra, president of the Punjab Cricket Association, and Lalit Modi of the Rajasthan Cricket Association.The Khaleej Times quoted Jyoti Bajpai, the BCCI treasurer, as saying: “We can’t see such a thing happening for a long time. Not in the near future anyway.”With ESPN-Star, Zee and the BCCI fighting pitched battles in the courts, Bindra and Modi had suggested that having a channel run by the board would prevent such controversies and also allow cricketers to earn even more as a result of increased TV revenue.According to Bajpai, last season’s fiasco has resulted in the board taking fresh stock of the whole tender process. This will now be done in two stages, with the first stage considering whether the said TV channel had a pedigree when it came to cricket telecasts.”There would be an initial screening of interested companies where it would be ascertained if they are technically qualified to telecast the matches,” said Bajpai. “Only once they clear the specifications spelled out by us would be they considered for telecasting rights.”According to the new criteria, only the likes of ESPN, Star Sports, Ten Sports, Doordarshan and Set Max would be eligible to bid for telecast rights. Zee, which outbid ESPN-Star before the matter ended up in the courts last year, would be an outsider, even though they have recently launched a sports channel.The biggest gainer from the telecast-rights fallout ahead of the Australia series last season was Doordarshan, who got to telecast high-profile matches involving Australia, Pakistan and South Africa. In addition to the loss of revenue that resulted from hurriedly putting together a deal with the national broadcaster, the BCCI were said to be far from satisfied with the quality of the finished product – viewers became quite accustomed to overs being a five-ball affair as commercials took centre-stage.