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New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCullum believes a fighting draw in Perth has provided his side a platform from which to beat Australia – not just in the third Test in Adelaide, but the return series across the Tasman next year.As McCullum noted, many a team have squandered the comforts of a flat pitch when asked to reply to a mammoth total in the region of 550, made over two days of high temperatures. That New Zealand did not was a major tick for their resilience as cricketers, and a vindication of McCullum’s view before the match that Brisbane’s lopsided result did not reflect the gap in quality between the teams as much as it did his side’s underdone state.”It’s satisfying when you fight your way back to come out with not just a draw but encouraging signs of the steel and resolve and backbone in this line-up,” he said. “It would have been easy to fall over in the first innings, we’ve seen it time and time again but two leaders stood up in the group and played incredibly important innings.”For a while they gave us the ability to believe we could pull off an against-the-odds Test win. We came over here with ambitions and expectations of winning a series but if we can’t win, the next best thing is to draw so that’s firmly on our minds. We head to Adelaide chasing a result and if we play better, tidying up certain areas, we’ll give ourselves an opportunity.”New Zealand have shown a tendency to begin series slowly before improving as they go on, particularly on the road. McCullum said he was no closer to working out why this was so, but felt sure that Australian respect for his side had grown over the past four days.”Still can’t put finger on that,” he said. “We’re a pretty young side, sometimes there’s so much anticipation and excitement in series that until you get your feet under the desk in the series that’s when you start to feel completely comfortable, without inhibitions.”Australia respect us as a cricket team and what we’ve achieved over a period. The margin in the first Test was reflective of that match but not the gulf between the teams. Perth has shown the teams are a lot closer. It’s important for us to win respect for how we play and the skill and tenacity we have.”We still want Ws in our column, or at least drawing series, but if we continue playing with as much resilience with the bat and periods [like today] with ball we will earn that respect.”McCullum’s team dictated terms on the final day by offering nothing for Steven Smith and Adam Voges to latch onto and get themselves into a strong position to declare. Many will wonder how the match might have panned out had they bowled that precisely on the first morning.”We started impeccably with the ball,” he said. “When you bowl as well as we did this morning, I kept thinking if we’d bowled that well on day one how things could be different. We had hopes of winning, I wouldn’t say they were high hopes, because it was always going to take something miraculous to come on top, but a draw is a fair result.”Now New Zealand turn towards preparing for the pink ball of Adelaide and the day/night Test. They are playing a warm-up match under lights this week against a Western Australia XI, also at the WACA Ground.”Obviously there was hesitancy from both sides heading into the announcement of the pink ball, but now we’re going to embrace the challenge,” he said. “It’s going to go ahead, a couple of days to prepare under lights. Hopefully it goes brilliantly in front of a big crowd, broadcast around the world. The reluctance going in has disappeared.”Finally, McCullum offered his view of Mitchell Johnson, who retired at game’s end. “Every cricketer comes to a stage where enough is enough, it’s important to focus on what an incredible difference he made to the game,” he said. “Brett Lee’s record is phenomenal but look at him [Johnson], he has gone better. He has taken a bit of criticism, so to withstand that and stay strong to his values and go out and take wickets is a testament to the bloke.”A lot is made of how nasty he can be on the field. I’ve played against him a number of years and it’s healthy competition. Ultimately he’s a great bloke. From our point of view hopefully we were able to add a touch of class being able to give him that welcome to the crease. I wish him the best, but I’m pleased he’s not playing in Adelaide.”

Australian captain Steve Waugh carried out his threat to lead his playersoff the field on Tuesday after a fan threw a firework onto the field duringthe Australia-Pakistan Tri-Nations game at Trent Bridge.With Pakistan at 250 for six off 45 overs, a number of fireworks went off inthe stands. Supporters scrambled away and stewards and police moved in.But one of the fireworks, which didn’t appear to go off, landed on the fieldclose to fielder Brett Lee and Waugh, who had threatened before the game hewould take his players off the field if there was any further misbehaviourafter Sunday’s crowd invasion at Headingley, led them off.After an 18 minute delay, during the which the Australians agreed to resumeprovided there was no further trouble, the match resumed.The security at Trent Bridge had been beefed to prevent a repeat of Sunday’sscenes at Headingley where stampeding Pakistan fans left a steward withbroken ribs, a broken nose and a damaged spleen.More than 350 stewards were on alert and temporary, plastic fences just hungover the advertising hoardings in case anyone decided to run on the field.The measures have been taken by the local club to avoid a repeat of the twopitch invasions that have marred this 10-match series. After celebratingPakistan fans ran onto the field at Headingley on Sunday and the steward layinjured on the field, England skipper Alec Stewart took the unprecedentedstep of conceding the match to Pakistan to for safety reasons.Steward Stephen Speight, 31, said he had been trying to hold on to thestumps when he was kicked in the face and chest by a group of fans.”My head felt like it had just been kicked around a football field,” Speightsaid.In an emergency the plastic fences will be hoisted by the stewards to stopthe invading spectators and anyone caught running into the field will bearrested, according to the local chief executive David Collier.Thousands of Pakistan fans, who appear to have outnumbered the Australiansupport, made it virtually a home match for their side, sounding horns andcreating the sort of atmosphere that has become a typical Pakistan games inthis series.There had been no trouble until the fireworks went off in the Radcliffe Roadstand housing most of the Pakistan fans. Most of the fans moved away fromthe area where they were going off and some were cowering in their seats.Waugh took his players off while the two Pakistan batsmen, Rashid Latif andAzhar Mahmood, initially stayed out on the field before they also left thefield.

LONDON – England today recalled batsman Mark Ramprakash as an injurycover for left-hander Graham Thorpe in a 14-man squad named for thefirst Ashes cricket Test against Australia starting at Edgbaston onThursday.Thorpe, England’s most successful batsman during the winter in Pakistanand Sri Lanka and in the two Tests against Pakistan, is very doubtfulfor the game because of a lingering calf muscle injury.England will be strengthened by the availability of skipper NasserHussain, who has recovered from a broken thumb, allrounder Craig White,left-arm spinner Ashley Giles and maybe Thorpe, who missed theTri-Nations one-day series.While Hussain missed the second Test defeat against Pakistan at OldTrafford and then the one-dayers, White and Giles both missed thetwo-Test series and the one-dayers due to long-suffering injuries.Giles, England’s series-winning bowler in Pakistan last year, has beenhampered by a sore Achilles tendon.Also causing a headache for the selectors is Michael Vaughan’s knee cystwhich ruled him out of the last one-dayer against Australia at The Oval.”We currently have injury concerns about three players, Michael Vaughan,Ashley Giles and Graham Thorpe,” said chairman of selectors DavidGraveney.”Graham is the most serious concern at present and we will need to checkthe fitness of all three players at Edgbaston.”While the selectors did consider the worst case scenario in relation toinjuries, we have decided to call up only one extra player as cover atthis stage. We will review the situation, however, once the players areat Edgbaston and their injuries have been assessed by (physiotherapist)Dean Conway.”Mark Ramprakash is an experienced test player with a good recordagainst Australia and he has been in excellent form for his county thisseason. We feel he represents the best option as a cover player giventhe doubts about Graham’s fitness.”Ramprakash, 31, played the last of his 42 Tests against the West Indiesat Lord’s last year before losing his place with scores of 18, 0, 0 and2 in the first two Tests when he opened the batting.But in eight Tests against Australia, the right-hander, who moved thisseason from Middlesex to Surrey, has scored 615 runs at an average of43.93 inclusive of six half centuries.In all he has scored 1,796 runs at an average of 26.41 with a solitarycentury against the West Indies at Barbados in 1998 when he score 154runs.England has failed to beat Australia in the last seven Ashes seriessince winning it under Mike Gatting’s captaincy in the 1986-87 series inAustralia. Despite winning four series in a row, it was held 1-1 byPakistan and confidence going into the Ashes tests is low after a poorperformance in the one-dayers when the team lost all six games againstAustralia and Pakistan.England squad: Nasser Hussain (captain), Michael Atherton, MarcusTrescothick, Michael Vaughan, Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart, Ian Ward,Craig White, Mark Ramprakash, Dominic Cork, Ashley Giles, Andy Caddick,Darren Gough and Matthew Hoggard.

ASHISH BAGAICaptain Right hand high order bat and wicket keeper. The most experienced player in the squad with previous trips to U15 Challenge Cup ( England 1996), WICB U19 Championship in 1998 and 1999 , Bermuda U18 , 1998 and 1999 . Captain of the Americas Youth Team in Sri Lanka World Youth Cup 2000. Captain of Canadian team at the Americas Championship in Bermuda 2001.Wicket keeper for Canada’s Senior Team . Most recent appearance in the ICC Trophy 2001 in Toronto .NATHAN RICHARDSVice Captain Right hand all rounder, middle order bat, medium pacer. Previous International experience includes 1999 Nortel WICB U19 Championship (Barbados) and the Americas U19 Championship in Bermuda 2001.CHRISTOPHER ARGUNENLeft arm leg spinner. Toured with Ontario Schools (Sir Garfield Sobers tournament , Barbados 2000) and with the Americas Championship U19 team , Bermuda 2001.SOHAM ANJARIAOne of the youngest members of the squad , Soham is making his first International tour. Left arm leg spinner and right hand bat.UMAR BHATTILeft arm fast bowler , left hand bat. Umar toured previously with the Ontario Schools team , Sir Garfield Tournament ( Barbados 1999) at the young age of fifteen. First appearance for Canada.TRAVIS GANGARight arm medium pacer, and left hand middle order bat.Previous tours include the Sir Garfield Sobers Tournament 2000 and the WICB U19 Championship.AJAY MINHASRight arm leg spinner , right hand middle order bat. Previous tours include Barbados and Bermuda. Captained the Ontario Schools U19 at the Sir Garfield Sobers tournament in Barbados (2000).ANEEL NAUTHRight hand opening bat, right arm medium pacer. Tour Bermuda U18 1999, Sir Garfield Sobers Tournament 2000 and the Americas Championship ( Bermuda 2001).DEVIN PERSAUDLeft hand opening bat , right arm medium pacer. Previous tours to Bermuda and Guyana 2000 and the Americas U19 Championship (Bermuda 2001)GIBRAN RAHAMANRight hand opening bat. Previous experience 1999 U18 tour to Bermuda. Sir Garfield Sobers tournament 2000 (Barbados) and the Americas U19 Championship 2001 in Bermuda.GLEN ROBERTSRight hand opening bat and reserve wicket keeper.International tours WICB U19 Championship in Guyana 2000 and the Americas U19 Championship in Bermuda 2001.JONATHAN ROBERTSRight hand bat / Wicket keeper/ right arm medium pacer . Jon’s first cap for Canada was last year at the Americas U19 Championship where he took 7/21 against Argentine to break the Canadian Youth record for best bowling performance.JASON SANDHERRight hand bat , right arm off spinner. Jason has previous tours to the WICB U19 Championship in Guyana and the Americas U19 Championship in Bermuda.PAUL ZIESMANNRight hand all rounder , middle order bat , off spinner. Toured Bermuda U18 in 1999 as the vice captain. Member of the 2001 U19 Americas Championship Team.MANAGER – O. (RON) DIPCHANDRon is the Executive Director for Manitoba Cricket and has been active with junior projects in that province. He is also the National Coaching Coordinator and served as the youth team’s coach for over ten years before taking on the manager’s job for the Americas Championship. He is a former member of Canada’s Senior National Team.JEFF THOMASJeff had a very successful year in 2001 coaching the Senior Canadian Squad to a third place finish in the ICC Trophy , thus qualifying for the 2003 World Cup. He followed that up by guiding the Youth team to the Americas Championship in Bermuda and a place in the 2002 YWC in New Zealand.Jeff is a native of Australia playing and coaching in Queensland. In the off season he has played and coached for the Toronto Cricket Club

Bihar Under-19 scored a comfortable innings and 29 runs victory overAssam in their East Zone Cooch Behar Trophy Under-19 tie at the NFRSAStadium in Maligaon, Assam on Sunday.Resuming at the overnight score of 136 for 8, Assam lost their lasttwo wickets for the addtion of just 13 runs. The first to be dismissedwas B Baruah (0) bowled by Mihir Diwakar. Three overs later the finalAssam wicket fell, that of M Barman (15) when he ran himself out. Byvirtue of this outright win, Bihar earned eight points.

New Bangladesh Premier League franchise Comilla Victorians have appointed Mohammad Salahuddin as their head coach and became the first team from this year’s competition to appoint a team official.Salahuddin is a former assistant coach of the Bangladesh national team and was also the head coach of Sylhet Royals in the 2013 BPL when they made it to the to Race to the Final stage.”I feel energetic to team up with Comilla Victorians,” Salahuddin said. “It came to me as an honour as I’ll get the privilege to serve the team that is representing Comilla, my home district. I have experience of working with [Comilla Victorians chairman] Nafeesa Kamal during the last episode of BPL. Hope this understanding will help us manage the team more fluently this season.”Meanwhile, the BPL governing council on Monday proposed a ceiling of USD 70,000 and minimum amount of USD 30,000 for foreign players. For Bangladeshi players, the payment range would be BDT 500,000 (approx USD 6,400) to BDT 3,500,000 (approx USD 44,800).Once these proposals are approved by the BCB in their October 7 meeting, the players-by-choice programme is likely to be held on October 31, where the six franchises will get to choose their players through a draft.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee is considering beginning the upcoming Test series against West Indies in Colombo instead of Galle, which has been the customary venue for a tour opener, because of the cost factor. West Indies, who last played a series in Sri Lanka in 2011, are set to tour again around mid-October.With the West Indies tour not generating big revenue for the SLC, chances are the interim committee would prefer playing the two Tests at the P Sara Oval and the SSC or R Premadasa Stadium to cut costs.”In terms of TV broadcasting rights, we will receive [Sri Lankan] Rs 45 million for the West Indies tour, whereas for the tour by Pakistan we received Rs 55 million and the tour by India Rs 300 million,” vice-president of the SLC interim committee, Kushil Gunasekera, said.Gunasekera said that although SLC owns the ground at Galle, it still has to pay the Galle Municipality taxes when a Test match is staged there. “We have to pay the municipality Rs 125,000 per day in addition to other overhead costs. We’ll need to seriously consider the cost factor especially for this tour,” he said.Gunasekera said a final decision on Galle as a Test venue for the West Indies series will be taken at the interim committee meeting on August 31, after consultation with team members and officials.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsWellington Masakadza picked up 4 for 21 and was adjudged the Man of the Match•AFP

Wellington Masakadza’s best ODI figures of 4 for 21, and three-fors from debutant Tendai Chisoro and Luke Jongwe helped Zimbabwe crush Afghanistan by eight wickets in the first ODI in Bulawayo. Afghanistan were bundled out for 122 and the hosts chased it down with rather ease within 24 overs with a fifty from Chamu Chibhabha.Afghanistan elected to bat on a typically flat Queens Sports Club pitch and were rocked by Jongwe’s double-wicket maiden in the sixth over. He had Noor Ali Zadran sky a catch to midwicket and Nawroz Mangal edge one to Craig Ervine in the slips, leaving them on 15 for 2. No. 3 Mohammad Shahzad counterattacked by smashing three consecutive fours off Tinashe Panyangara in the next over and got a reprieve when he was dropped by John Nyumbu in the slips in the same over.However, Jongwe struck again, in the tenth over, when captain Asghar Stanikzai also edged one to Ervine in the slips to finish his first spell with 6-2-10-3. Shahzad buckled down for a few overs and broke free with a six off left-arm spinner Masakadza but was trapped lbw on the very next ball and to deepen Afghanistan’s problems, Mohammad Nabi edged his first ball to the slips, Ervine taking his third catch, to leave Masakadza on a hat-trick.Najibullah Zadran survived the hat-trick ball and nearly fell in Masakadza’s next over when he drove the ball at a catchable height to Chisoro at mid-off, but the chance was spilled. Masakadza didn’t have to wait long for his third wicket – Samiullah Shenwari also offered a catch to Chisoro at mid-off and this time the debutant held on to it.Afghanistan were 71 for 6 now and Najibullah unleashed a four and a six off Nyumbu’s consecutive overs to give them some hope of a revival. But Chisoro dashed those aspirations by dismissing Amir Hamza and Najibullah in consecutive overs before they could reach 100. Tailenders Dawlat Zadran and Aftab Alam did rescue the innings a little bit. They combined for the innings’ biggest partnership of 27 runs which featured three fours and a six from Dawlat. Chisoro came back to break the stand and Masakadza finished things off in his seventh over to wrap the innings in the 35th over.Zimbabwe came out to bat an hour before lunch, and Chibhabha got going with a whip off his pads for four in the second over. The opening pair of Chibhabha and Richmond Mutumbami had the chase in a cruise with a fifty stand which saw frequent fours from both batsmen. The partnership of 53 was broken by medium-pacer Aftab Alam as Mutumbami edged him behind for 30.Chibhabha then reached his 15th ODI fifty in style with a six off Amir Hamza in the 19th over and followed it with a four in the next over, but fell in the over after that for a brisk 58.Tinotenda Mutombodzi finished things off three overs later with a four and a six to hand his team a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA six-wicket haul from Varun Aaron, his first in first-class cricket, restricted Karnataka to 244 after Rest of India sent them in at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Karnataka could have ended with even less had RoI not offered their batsmen three lives.Two of them came in the middle session, after Karun Nair and debutant Abhishek Reddy had come together with the scorecard reading 107 for 4. First, Rishi Dhawan bowled a peach of an outswinger to Reddy, close to off stump and forcing him to play and edge to the keeper, only for replays to confirm he had overstepped.In his next over, Reddy nicked a wider, fuller outswinger, only for Manoj Tiwary, the RoI captain, to spill a simple catch at first slip. Reddy was on 18 when the catch went down, and he went on to score 54 and put on 113 for the fifth wicket with Nair.RoI might yet come to regret allowing that partnership to flourish. Left with five overs to bat out at the end of the day, they lost Unmukt Chand – who inexplicably shouldered arms to a straight ball from Vinay Kumar that was angling into his stumps – and played and missed at enough balls from Karnataka’s new-ball pair to suggest they will face quite a test, on a still greenish pitch, when play resumes on the second morning.Having picked up 11 wickets in three Ranji Trophy matches after returning from India’s tour of Australia, Aaron looked in excellent rhythm. While he didn’t strain the speed gun needle to its limit, he was still sharp, hovering around the high 130s and low 140s, and picked up most of his wickets by simply hitting a good length on a fourth-stump line. There was a decent amount of bounce on offer when he bent his back, which meant driving or punching him with an angled bat was fraught with risk.RoI began with the medium-fast duo of Shardul Thakur and Rishi Dhawan, and both were guilty of bowling too full or too straight in an effort to find new-ball swing. Robin Uthappa and Mayank Agarwal had picked up five boundaries – all via drives down the ground or clips off the legs – when Aaron came on to bowl the eighth over of the morning.By then, the umpires had already changed the ball twice for going out of shape – they would do so again after the 26th over. Aaron struck with his fifth ball, which Uthappa poked at outside off, his front foot a critical fraction late in moving across, and edged to the keeper.In his next over, Aaron induced R Samarth to edge an attempted drive, only for Paras Dogra to spill the low chance diving to his left from third slip.Runs came freely for Agarwal and Samarth, with the bowlers continuing to feed them balls to drive, and Karnataka were 58 for 1 after 15 overs. Aaron and Pragyan Ojha restored some control, giving away only eight runs in the first six overs after the drinks interval, before Dhawan struck to remove Samarth in the first over of his second spell. It was the same recipe that had brought Aaron his success – fourth-stump line, not quite up there for the drive – with the added ingredient of away-swing.Having survived through to lunch, Agarwal and Manish Pandey were both back in the dressing room five overs after lunch. Aaron dismissed both of them, his line catching an unusually tentative Pandey in two minds between playing and leaving, and forcing Agarwal into edging one that was too close to force off the back foot. Both edges came to rest within Naman Ojha’s gloves. They were his third and fourth catches of the morning.He had to wait a while for his fifth, and it came after tea, via a tactical switch from Thakur, who had till then had a poor day with the ball. With Reddy on 49, he went around the wicket and banged the ball in short, with a short leg, a leg gully, a long leg and a deepish square leg in place. Reddy gloved an attempted pull to the keeper on 49 itself, but the umpire didn’t spot it, but there was to be no such luck when the same thing happened four balls later.Aaron struck twice in the next over, getting Nair caught at second slip for the mistake of throwing his bat at a wide-ish ball, and slipping in the straighter one to trap Vinay in front to bring up the five-for.Pragyan Ojha, who had till then looked pedestrian bowling with a remodelled, round-arm-ish action, then picked up two lower-order wickets – the second giving Naman his sixth catch of the innings to equal Nayan Mongia’s Irani Trophy record – before Aaron returned to finish things off. This wicket was a departure from Aaron’s usual modus operandi, and involved a touch of artistry, a back-of-the-hand slower ball that froze Abhimanyu Mithun’s feet and spun like a googly to smack him on the front pad.

Wide-brim sunhat wearer of the dayThere were plenty of Shreks, Green Giants and lifeguards paradingunselfconsciously around Trent Bridge today, but one of the fewsunhats was found on Michael Vaughan’s head. In fact, curiously, evenwith all the rain and gloomy conditions to have blighted this series,Vaughan has worn a hat throughout while his team-mates don thestandard England caps. It was easy, therefore, to spot him lurking atthe unlikely position of deep backward point towards the end of play,his fielding orders falling on deaf ears.Bowling change of the day
Ten overs into a day which was delayed by gloom, the spotlight waswell and truly on James Anderson. With six wickets to his name, therewas the enticing prospect that he might become only the third bowlerin history to take all ten in an innings. Unfortunately, his radar wasfor the most part lacking, as was Ryan Sidebottom’s at the other end.Into the attack strode Stuart Broad and, with his third ball, sent onea little wider of the off stump to lure Kyle Mills into slapping himstraight to Kevin Pietersen at backward point. Two balls later, Broadfound one to move off the seam to Iain O’Brien, knocking over his offstump – a delivery that would have accounted for far more accomplishedbatsmen – to complete a superb double-wicket maiden and, soon after,New Zealand were dismissed for 123 and forced to follow on.Tough chance of the dayBroad’s first ball in New Zealand’s second innings was wide yetspooned by How off a thick outside edge. Paul Collingwood leaptspectacularly high at second slip, somehow getting a hand on it, butnot enough of a hand. It was reminiscent of his gravity-defying leapat backward point to pluck a scorching Matthew Hayden drive, duringthe one-day series prior to the 2005 Ashes. Collingwood had anotherhalf-chance at second slip towards the end of New Zealand’s firstinnings when Gareth Hopkins edged Anderson just short.Snorter of the dayWhile Anderson and Sidebottom both struggled with theirlines, Broad rarely strayed from a probing off-stump line, anda length which had batsman unsure whether to lunge forward or creepbackwards. He saved his best for Brendon McCullum, though, the ball rearing upoff a length and leaving the batsman’s fishy waft outside the offstump. All of England begged Darrell Hair to raise his finger but theAustralian refused to oblige. In fact, Hair has been very much anot-outer since his return to top-flight umpiring in the second Testat Old Trafford, and has again officiated withShowmanship of the dayAt 33 for 2, out strode Ross Taylor to join McCullum – NewZealand’s two star batsmen. After stepping over the boundary rope, hemarched to the crease by shadowing a lofted drive, playing a savagepull and flashing several apparently wide balls through the covers.New Zealand were in dire straits, still trailing England by 208, butTaylor is no shrinking violet, even before reaching the crease. It wasa brief but entertaining insight into the mind of New Zealand’s youngdazzler who soon departed for an undazzling 14.Lucky misjudgement of the dayNew Zealand had slipped to 58 for 3. Only McCullum stood in England’sway, but a near-fatal misjudgement almost cost him his wicket on 20.Facing Anderson and expecting an outswinger, the bowler produced a bigindipper to which McCullum shouldered arms. The slips barely botheredappealing, racing forward in anticipatory expectation of Steve Bucknorraising his finger. Famously slow to lift his right arm, the playersand crowd waited and waited, while McCullum shuffled nervously withhis bat under his arm. But Bucknor remained unmoved, and New Zealandcontinued to defy England’s attack.