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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Cyclone Komen ruined another day of Test cricket•AFP

There has now been as much play in this Test series as there has been waiting for clearer skies; the second successive abandoned day in Mirpur because of cyclone Komen taking the total number of washouts to four.With the forecast improving, prospects for play appear brighter on the remaining two days of the second Test, though that may not be enough to force any result other than a draw.Things could have been different had there been some action on the third day. The rain abated for a brief period in the afternoon and the ground staff was able to dry the surface. Play was due to start at 2:15 pm local time with 45 overs to be bowled, but the rain returned half-an-hour before the resumption.The amount of time lost in the series made the chance of any result other than a draw unlikely. In that case South Africa, who are currently at the top of the Test rankings on 130 points, will lose five points, while Bangladesh, who sit at No.9, will gain six points.

Leicestershire have defended their use of Kolpak players and insist they won’t mean that young English cricketers will be kept out of the first team.There have been plenty of arrivals at Grace Road during the off season with South African quicks Garnett Kruger and Dillion du Preez along with Jermaine Lawson, the West Indies fast bowler, joining on Kolpak deals. They join HD Ackerman and Claude Henderson, while the official overseas player is Boeta Dippenaar.However, chief executive David Smith told the that the club’s aim is to push forward young talent. “Our medium-term plan is to develop Leicestershire and Rutland-born cricketers,” he said. “This will help us engage the local business community as the team will reflect the multi-cultural diversity of our city. This is vital if we are to underpin the financial stability of the club over the coming years.”He says that the Kolpak route isn’t one that the county takes lightly, but draws on the example of Durham to prove how it can be successful.”Kolpak cricketers are not popular but we have used the Durham blueprint for success in an effort to develop our team in the mid-term and hopefully provide England with some international cricketers.”However, Durham have produced a number of England players in the last five years – Paul Collingwood, Steve Harmison, Liam Plunkett and Phil Mustard – while Leicestershire’s only major success story is Stuart Broad who has now moved to Nottinghamshire.

Jacques Kallis, the South Africa vice-captain, has warned that Australia’s unbeaten record in the World Cup will count for nothing when the sides meet in the semi-final in St Lucia on Wednesday.”They’ve played some very good cricket in this tournament, being unbeaten, while we’ve had a few hiccups along the way,” Kallis said. “But now it all doesn’t mean much. There’s all the hype before the game but carrying your points through doesn’t count for anything in a semi-final. It’s a game where whoever produces the goods on the day will win.”Kallis said both teams would go into the match with high expectations. “They’ll carry a lot of confidence through because of the way they’ve played but we’re also confident after a massive win against England,” he said.”There’s no need to stress the importance of the game. It’s important that we stay relaxed and calm. From our perspective the trip to the Caribbean has been a positive thing. We’ve had some pressure situations, like when we faced possible elimination in the match against England. We’ve had some other close calls to deal with and we’ve managed to stay calm throughout.”Kallis is one of four survivors from the dramatic tied semi-final against Australia in the 1999 World Cup at Edgbaston, along with Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher and Herschelle Gibbs. All four said after a team practice on Saturday that they believed the experience of playing in that game would have positive benefits.”From our side we gained a lot of experience in that game,” Kallis said. “Looking back there are a few things that we might have tried to do differently so the experience we’ve carried around for all these years will probably stand us in good stead.”Pollock said he was looking forward to the challenge of trying to contain or dismiss Australia’s hard-hitting top-order batsmen. “We’ve had some close encounters against Australia and we’ve learnt from those,” Pollock said. “It’s the kind of challenge that you want to play cricket for. You want to come up against the best and if you can win the battle it gives you real satisfaction. “Gibbs said there was no pressure on the South Africans. “Our backs were against the wall [before the game against England]. Now we’re just going to go out there and enjoy it.”

Surrey have announced what they claim is “the biggest sponsorship deal in English club cricket history”. Although no specific figures have been released, the five-year deal with Brit Insurance will run until the end of the 2010 season.”These are exciting times for Surrey County Cricket Club,” said Paul Sheldon, the county’s chief executive. “With the completion of the redevelopment of the Vauxhall End we can proudly boast one of the finest arenas in world cricket.”The support of Brit Insurance will be absolutely crucial in helping us to achieve our objectives both on and off the pitch.”Aside from naming rights over the ground, which will officially continue to be called The Brit Oval, the company will also sponsor Surrey’s first-class and one-day strips.

The England Cricket Board has refused to play a Test match at Karachi on England’s winter tour of Pakistan owing to security reasons. While confirming this Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan board, said that England didn’t want to spend a week in Karachi but added that there was a possibility of staging a one-day international there.Karachi has been a contentious venue on several teams’ itineraries in the recent past, and the suicide bomb attack earlier this week and subsequent rioting by angry protesters might well have exacerbated England’s concerns. Australia, West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand and India had all declined to play a Test match in Karachi earlier, and since the 2002 bombing outside the New Zealand team’s hotel, which forced the tour to be abandoned midway, the only two countries to have played a Test there are Bangladesh (2003) and Sri Lanka (2004).Shaharyar, who met David Morgan, the ECB chairman, in London, admitted that it would be difficult to convince England to play a Test at Karachi. “They have conveyed to us that while they don’t feel there is any direct threat to their players in Karachi, they don’t want to be caught in a crossfire as they have reservations over the atmosphere in the city,” he was quoted as saying in , a Pakistan-based daily. “Their main concern is that if they play a Test it would mean they would have to stay for a week in Karachi and they are not comfortable with that prospect. We have started looking at the possibility of just hosting a one-day International against them in the city.”England’s tour to Pakistan, which includes three Tests and five one-day internationals, is scheduled to start from October 22 and the Pakistan board had sent the ECB a proposed itinerary in which they had suggested a Test and an ODI in Karachi but had left out Peshawar, another venue that several teams have shown reluctance to tour, out of the schedule. “The proposed venues were discussed with Morgan,” said Shaharyar, “and what we have suggested to them is they send a security delegation to Pakistan to see for themselves there should be no security concerns for their players while in Pakistan.”He added that the ECB would confirm dates of the delegation’s visit to Pakistan by Monday and said he had given all security assurances to the ECB about playing in Karachi. Shaharyar said that if Karachi was ruled out as a Test centre, the board would then choose from Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Multan to host the three Tests against England.

Gauteng have called into question the spirit of cricket by choosing to field a second-string side for their first-class SuperSport Series game against Easterns, while sending their first team off to Potchefstroom to prepare for the forthcoming Pro20 series. It is a major snub, not only to the opposition and South Africa’s United Cricket Board, but also to their own fans and sponsors.The decision also has serious ramifications for the Shield table. At the start of the match, Easterns had an almost unassailable lead at the top of the table, while Gauteng were cut adrift at the bottom. The decision to field such a weak side, with four players making their first-class debuts, has effectively wrecked any hopes second-placed Boland might have had of taking the title.”It is not an ideal situation,” said a UCB spokesman. “We are not happy with it, but there is nothing in the laws or rules that says we can tell them who to pick.”But Ray Jennings, Easterns’ coach, was less conciliatory. “To what depth have the values and principles of the game fallen?” he asked. “In my long career I have never seen something like this happen. A team placing practice ahead of a committed first-class fixture just does not make any sense.”Gauteng’s coach, Jimmy Cook, was initially opposed to the move as well, but with the new franchise system coming into effect from April 1, he discovered his hands were tied, and says the team playing at Benoni is “the best available”. The senior players are already contracted to the newly created Highveld Strikers team – a ludicrous situation, given that the current South African first-class season hasn’t ended yet.If Gauteng had been in the running for the SuperSport Shield, one suspects an alternative solution might have been found.

A World Cup record low score against Australia did nothing to harden New Zealand’s batting resolve in their last-chance Super Six match with India at Centurion yesterday and summed up the failings of this side not only at the World Cup but in recent One-Day International history.At a time when it might normally have been expected that circumstances demanded extra vigilance, New Zealand collectively showed the attention span of an American diplomat listening to opponents of their plans for Iraq.The result was just as explosive as far as New Zealand was concerned.This collective failing was an unmitigated disaster which sadly has been all too symptomatic of New Zealand’s preparation for this tournament.New Zealand’s effort lacked for basic intelligence at times. Surely the situation for the New Zealanders attempting to come back from their record-low effort in the Australian match demanded that at least a look be taken at the bowling before launching into shots.Craig McMillan went into the match with the selection chairman Sir Richard Hadlee stating that McMillan had been asked to take more time in establishing his innings. A second-ball dismissal did nothing to suggest the request had registered.That preparation for South Africa started after the last tour of England in 1999, where New Zealand had made the semi-finals.It was apparent even then that New Zealand needed to establish an opening partnership.Nothing has worked.The situation got so bad that Craig McMillan and Daniel Vettori were press-ganged into opening during this tournament. Yet Mathew Sinclair was never given a chance.Has there been a clearer admittance of failure in New Zealand’s one-day history?The whole campaign has smacked of an ad hoc policy in regard to the vital opening role. Opening the batting is the most crucial area of influence in the one-day game. That is why Australia have Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist, why India have Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag and Sri Lanka have Sanath Jayarsuriya.The opening game which saw McMillan opening, Lou Vincent ‘keeping and Nathan Astle at No 3 for the first time this summer, seemed a strange place to be trying something so radical. That’s not to forget the decision not to play Daniel Vettori.This was more worrying given the job confronting New Zealand in their pool which demanded they win as many games as possible, knowing they were going to lose four points to Kenya.Stephen Fleming addressed the shortcomings of his game to be the dominant batsman in the side in South Africa, and all credit to him for doing that.But why was it necessary to “protect” Astle by having a makeshift opener in McMillan fill a role where Astle had developed into an opener regarded as one of the world’s leading one-day batsmen? What suddenly changed?And if there was a compelling reason, why was it not tried in New Zealand beforehand?Against the West Indies and South Africa, New Zealand seemed to get it right. They were under pressure and responded. It was a team batting performance in the West Indies game, and the superb effort of Stephen Fleming in the South African match, that spelled the difference.McMillan did score 75 against Bangladesh, but the opposition had to be put into context while Astle paced himself well to a century against Zimbabwe.But the fact of the matter is that the only two players who scored anything like the number of runs New Zealand needed during the tournament were Fleming and Scott Styris, who achieved his century in the first round loss to Sri Lanka.Chris Cairns never produced when it was required. His scoreline read: 32, 37, 33no, 31, 54, 16 and 20 – hardly the sort of return that could be expected of a player of his stature.What was most infuriating about his return was the number of times he got himself out to soft options. It was typified by his dismissal to Harbhajan Singh against India and that against Andy Bichel in the earlier match against Australia.Cairns also had an unfortunate tendency to be quoted before the last two matches especially about what was possibly going to happen.The words were not matched by actions and, quite frankly, they were embarrassing.That word probably best sums up New Zealand’s campaign, embarrassing.The claims before the Australian game that McMillan was being dropped because he was out of form came back to haunt chairman Sir Richard Hadlee, and the team, when Lou Vincent’s inability to produce the form expected of him at the World Cup, required McMillan to be tried again against India.He lasted two balls.That’s embarrassing.Too often in the early stages of the tournament, New Zealand’s bowling was indisciplined with wides and no-balls too prevalent.These are fundamental requirements that should have been ingrained into players long before they landed on South African soil.Shane Bond was outstanding. He was one of the tournament’s personalities and a rare asset. The quality of the batsmen he removed at the top of the order was testimony to his touch.But in reviewing the bowling options New Zealand again had a fatal flaw as bad as that which has developed over the opening batting position – their bowling at the death.New Zealand consistently have failed to bowl sides out. It is not a new problem and even the player selected with the idea of bowling at the death, Andre Adams, was rarely in a position where his skills could be put to the test.And that was because he was suddenly drafted into being an opening bowler. That was surely the role for which Daryl Tuffey and Kyle Mills were selected. The haste with which Tuffey was discarded after the first game was embarrassing, a point he at least reacted to by bowling 10 overs in the final game against India for 41 runs, a more than reasonable effort given the 12 runs taken in the three balls before he dismissed Tendulkar.It says something too, that for all the pre-series talk about pitches with pace and bounce from which New Zealand’s big men, Tuffey, Mills and Jacob Oram would benefit, the opposite was more the case. Matches were more like those from New Zealand in the early 1990s which allowed Chris Harris to revive a career that looked to be on the ropes.Having at least had the good sense to have selected him was one thing in the selectors’ favour in the final outcome of it all.Upon reflection it was probably New Zealand’s worst World Cup since 1987. At least when the 1996 campaign foundered in the quarter-final stages, the side went down fighting with an outstanding effort against Australia.Similar qualities were far from evident in the capitulations to Australia and India at the business end of this tournament.Still, in Bond, Styris, Oram, Vincent (when his role is finally decided upon), Vettori, Adams, McCullum, Mills, Tuffey there is a core around which a side can start to be developed with the West Indies in 2007 in mind.Whether McMillan is part of that will depend on how he responds to the clear problems he has had this summer, a similar situation for Sinclair, while longevity of service and avoiding the ravages of time will determine the fates of Fleming, Cairns, Harris and Astle.

Mark Wagh and David Hemp gave Warwickshire hope of reaching a target of 375 to avoid following on after a mammoth total of 524 by Worcestershire at Edgbaston.They put on 120 for the third wicket until Wagh fell for 83 and Hemp went on to make an unbeaten 89 as they cut their overall deficit to 301 by reaching 223 for 4 at the close.Worcestershire may have scented a chance to press for an emphatic victory when the home side faltered at 30 for 2. Michael Powell was caught at slip – a 50th Championship wicket of the season for Alamgir Sheriyar – and Ian Bell was lbw to Chris Liptrot.But Wagh timed his shots well from the outset in a 56-ball half-century and hit 11 fours in all before a good delivery from Litptrot moved away for a diving catch by wicket-keeper Steve Rhodes.Any danger of a further slump was avoided as Hemp put on 65 with Jim Troughton, a left-hander whose thespian grandfather, Patrick, played Doctor Who. The 22-year-old was eventually caught at point off Sheriyar after taking a good foothold on his Championship debut.Worcestershire had reached their highest Championship total for two years despite losing their overnight batsmen in three balls – including a wide – from South African-born Neil Carter.Andy Bichel was caught from a top-edge after making 42 in a stand of 90 and Hick, who added only five runs to reach 201 – his 12th double century – hoisted a catch to long leg.The left-arm Carter took one more wicket for a Championship-best 5 for 78 and Steve Rhodes was unbeaten with 28 when Worcestershire finally capitulated following a short break for rain.

First-Class debutants Kurt Wilkinson and Corey Glasgow engineered amiddle-order recovery which helped Barbados earn a creditable drawagainst South Africa `A’ as the historic match ended at the WindwardClub, Lucas Street, St. Philip, yesterday.Wilkinson scored an unbeaten 48 and Glasgow a solid 31. The pair cametogether in the 18th of the 42 overs which Barbados had available toscore 224 for victory after South Africa declared.Any possibility of an unlikely Barbados run-hunt totally disappearedin the first over when captain Philo Wallace was bowled by left-armpacer Charl Willough by without a run on the board.Despite the setback for Barbados, hardly anyone could have predictedthe early drama in the final session after Barbados went to tea at 22for one, with Shirley Clarke and Rondell Yearwood together.Immediately on resumption, Clarke drove at Mfuneko Ngam’s firstdelivery and keeper Marc Bruyns pouched the catch.Ryan Hinds, who scored a discipline half-century in the first innings,swung at his first ball, an apparently harmless delivery outside legstump only to see the alert and athletic Bruyns diving to his right tohaul in another catch.All of a sudden a game which seemed destined for a tame draw sprung tolife as Barbados declined to 22 for three with Dale Richards, whobatted impressively in the first innings, unable to bat because of aninjured hand.Wilkinson opened his first-class account following his first inningsduck with a confident cut to the backward point boundary and thendoubled his score with an exquisite cover drive, both off therampaging Ngam.At the other end, Yearwood snicked another catch to Bruyns to leaveBarbados 34 for four.Dale Mason added 33 for the fifth wicket with Wilkinson, but with justover 24 overs remaining he appeared to take his eyes off an attemptedhook, which landed in the hands of Ngam at square-leg off CharlLangeveldt at 60 for five.Glasgow played fluently and with Wilkinson put together a valuable 60for the sixth wicket.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, believes Ishant Sharma was provoked by Andrew Symonds into the reaction that earned the young bowler an ICC reprimand and fine. Dhoni also said the Australians had turned this kind of incident into an art form and that India would need to catch up.”It’s an art and they are good at it, but the Indians will learn soon,” Dhoni said after India’s comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Hobart that booked them a place in the finals against Australia, which start on Sunday.Ishant was fined 15% of his game fee by Jeff Crowe, the match referee, for sending Symonds off with words after dismissing him in Sunday’s game at the SCG. Though the Indian team management accepted Crowe’s verdict, they also asked him to speak to the Australians about their provocative behaviour in the field. They even cited as evidence specific instances in the previous two CB Series clashes between the teams.Dhoni, who wasn’t in close proximity to either Ishant or Symonds when the incident occurred, felt Ishant had every right to do what he did, adding it was Symonds who started it. Television cameras showed Dhoni pacifying Ishant after the umpire Daryl Harper had cautioned him about the bowler.”It’s (provocation) been going on for a long time,” Dhoni said. “We have to be careful about it and if they provoke us we need to mind what we say. Ishant just reacted to what Symonds said.”Dhoni, who had double the reason to celebrate today’s win – his side’s entry into the finals was confirmed as well as him completing 100 ODI catches – defended a series that has never been too far from reaching boiling point. “Cricket can never be friendly. As long as the rivalry never crosses the line it’s fine.”Dhoni himself avoided an ICC rap after he was found wearing gloves that weren’t within the regulations. The pair of white ones he sported came with a loop-like webbing that had been reinforced at the edges.Law 40.2 states that “if the wicketkeeper wears gloves, they shall have no webbing between the fingers except joining index finger and thumb, where webbing may be inserted as a means of support…”Dhoni said he had obeyed the laws and didn’t want any further controversy. “It was close to the line of ‘if the gloves were legal or illegal’. In the 100 catches I’ve taken only three or four might have been caught in the webbing. Otherwise, the rest I’ve claimed out of my glovework and my skill.”