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The Natal Dolphins retained the Discovery Knockout Challenge Trophy with a last ball tie against The Strikers at Newlands on Wednesday evening.Needing five runs off the last ball, Dolphins batsman John Kent pulled a delivery from the Strikers’ Grant Elliot to the deep mid-wicket boundary for four thereby forcing a tie. The Dolphins retained the title having lost fewer wickets in the final.Earlier the Dolphins scored a 7 run win over the Titans. The Dolphins batted first and totalled 180 for four in their 20 overs. The Titans came within 7 runs of a victory thanks to a fine 80 from captain Gerald Dros.The Strikers caused a major upset when they easily beat the fancied WP side by 36 runs to reach the final. The Strikers totalled 157 for seven in their alloted 20 overs. WP totalled a measly 121 for nine wickets in their 20 overs.

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.”

All the arguments about whether fast bowler Darren Gough should have stayed with the England team for the Test series in New Zealand have been rendered academic by the fact that he is undergoing an operation to repair cartilage damage to his right knee.When Gough made himself unavailable for the Test tour to India, the England management made it plain that such a decision would also disbar him from the New Zealand series as well. However, with Gough showing such impressive form during the one-day internationals in both India and New Zealand, there was a clamour in the press for Gough to stay on for the duration of the tour.The selectors were not to be moved and stuck by their original policy, but now news has emerged that the bowler sustained his injury during the final one-dayer in Dunedin where he bowled his full quota of ten overs, taking 2 for 42. He is expected to be out of action for a month, but should be fit for the start of the domestic season.Commenting on the situation as far as Yorkshire is concerned, Liz Sutcliffe said: “Fingers crossed he will be back in action at the start of April when the players are returning from overseas duty. It’s not that serious, it’s key-hole surgery on a small tear in his cartilage and we expect him back, if all goes to plan, for the start of the season.”Gough only played in two CricInfo Championship matches for Yorkshire last season as they won the title and he attracted a certain amount of adverse publicity because he was spending so much time on international duty during a lucrative benefit year. There was some talk that he might leave the county, but he decided to stay and will now be keen to get back into action with a view to reclaiming his Test place.

England XI 314 for 4 (Bell 131*, Cook 66) beat Sri Lanka Board XI 234 (Kapugedera 75, Anderson 3-43) by 80 runs
Scorecard

Ian Bell scored England’s first century of their one-day tour of Sri Lanka, and James Anderson starred with three wickets, as the team warmed up for their five-match one-day series by defeating a Sri Lanka Board XI by 80 runs at Colombo’s P.Saravanamuttu Stadium.Bell eventually finished unbeaten on 131 from 121 balls, an innings that demonstrated how valuable his level-headed strokeplay would have been to their disappointing Twenty20 campaign in South Africa last week. He cracked 12 fours and four sixes in all, and was joined in the runs by Alastair Cook, who made a steady 66, and Kevin Pietersen, who needed just 29 balls for his even 50.Despite a flu bug that has swept through the camp, England managed to field a full-strength side with Collingwood winning the toss and batting first. Phil Mustard, Matt Prior’s replacement as wicketkeeper, made a shaky start and required 15 balls to get off the mark, and when he fell for 17 after eight overs, England were struggling for momentum on 33 for 1.But Cook and Bell then took the attack to the bowlers in a second-wicket stand of 89, Cook batting with increasing freedom before he holed out to long-on after an 88-ball stay. That brought Pietersen to the crease, and he wasted no time in picking up the same form he had shown in South Africa last week, cracking 17 in a single over to push England up towards the 300 mark.Pietersen fell immediately after reaching his half-century, caught by Viraj Perera off the legspin of Gihan Rupasinghe, but Bell took up the cudgels in the closing overs, with Ravi Bopara chipping in with a run-a-ball 22 before he became a second victim for the legspinner, Gihan Rupasinghe.In reply, the Sri Lankan innings was never able to get going. Ryan Sidebottom, restored to the side after a side strain, was handed the new ball ahead of Stuart Broad, and struck with the first ball of his second over to remove Viraj Perera for 12. When Anderson followed up with the opposition captain, Avishka Gunawardene (11), England never looked back.The young Test batsman, Chamara Kapugedera, held the innings together with an attractive 75, but wickets fell all around him on a slow and low pitch. Broad had Indika de Saram caught and bowled for 25, before Collingwood removed Thilina Kandamby and Gihan de Silva in quick succession – the latter was caught behind to give Mustard his first catch in England colours.At 150 for 5 with 22 overs remaining, the Sri Lankans still had an outside chance of mounting a challenge, but the return of the new-ball bowlers did the trick. Anderson removed Ranga Dias for 20 before claiming the key wicket of Kapugedera, caught behind after an 87-ball stay, and six balls later Sidebottom accounted for Rupasinghe for 1. The ninth-wicket pair of Ashan Priyanjan and Malinga Bandara kept England waiting with a 54-run stand, but Broad bagged Bandara lbw for 27, and Monty Panesar wrapped up the game with his first wicket of the tour.

Pakistan fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and his Sussex team-mate Mushtaq Ahmed guided Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) to an emphatic ten-wicket win inside three days against Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in their second-round Patrons Trophy match at the Sheikhupura Stadium on Monday.After Naved had taken five wickets in PIA’s first innings and then hammered a brilliant 124, legspinner Mushtaq just sliced through PIA’s second innings, taking eight wickets for 53 runs in 17.2 overs. WAPDA, resuming their overnight score of 238 for 7, extended their first innings lead to 163.Then, they had PIA bowled out for a poor 181 the second time round and, reached their target in a matter of 4.5 overs.Unbeaten at 62 on the second afternoon, Naved raced to his third first-class century, his 124 coming in less than three and a half hours with 12 fours and five sixes. With Kashif Raza (12), his eighth-wicket stand was worth 72 runs. Mushtaq, fresh from his haul of over a 100 wickets with Sussex, completed his 94th five-wicket haul. He took 10 wickets in the match, for 84 runs. PIA, who have incidentally never won the Patrons Trophy title outright, have virtually been eliminated from for a spot in the Quadrangular Stage from Pool B after two straight defeats.Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) gained a slim but important ten-run first innings lead over Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) on the penultimate day of their Patrons Trophy match at Rawalpindi.Just like the previous two days, when the proceedings were interrupted by poor visibility, the last 11.5 overs of the third day’s play were also lost to bad light. Resuming their first innings at the overnight 28 for no loss, KRL made 197 in reply to SNGPL’s 187. The latter reached 20 for 2 in their second innings before bad light halted play.Opener Saeed Anwar Jnr made 34 with four boundaries while Jaffer Nazir hammered 43 with three fours and two sixes in the KRL first innings. Umpire Iqbal Butt also gave KRL five penalty runs. Should there be no result on the last day, KRL will collect three points on the basis of the first innings lead.National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) were pushed to the edge of defeat by Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), on the third day of their four-day Patrons Trophy match at Karachi on Monday. Forced to follow-on, National Bank were 134 for three wickets in their second innings, thanks to a fighting knock of 70 by Salman Butt.Naeem Anjum, the left-arm spinner, took the key wickets of Butt and captain Naumanullah to put NBP under great pressure. NBP were still 104 behind in order to avoid an innings defeat with seven second innings wickets in hand. Salman’s knock contained 11 fours while Naumanullah scored a fine 48 off just 47 balls with nine well-timed boundaries.Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 83 for 5, National Bank were bowled out for 202 mainly because of a defiant 56 by Fawad Alam in 183 minutes and a marathon 39 in 222 minutes by Qaiser Abbas that came off 141 balls. Mohammad Sami blasted three fours and a six in his 36 at No.10 that saw 62 being added for the ninth wicket with Qaiser. Rao Iftikhar was the pick of the ZTBL bowling attack with four wickets for only 41 runs.Pervez Aziz compiled a patient unbeaten century to help Attock Group stage a fightback against Pakistan Customs, on the third day of their Patrons Trophy match at Karachi.Aziz finished the day at 113 as Attock Group made 305 for 9 in reply to the Customs’ total of 379. Attock Group were still 74 runs behind with their last pair in. Aziz with Asim Butt had added 61 runs for the tenth wicket. Butt was 17 not out at stumps yesterday. Opener Imran Ali cracked a fine 61 earlier, with six boundaries in 244 minutes. The Customs’ pace duo of Uzair-ul-Haq and Rizwan Akbar caused much of the damage by sharing three wickets each.

Latest rankingsFollowing their demolition job against the World XI in Sydney, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne have taken over the top two spots in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings. Between them, the pair have now taken 1150 Test wickets, and have moved up a slot each from their previous ranking, with McGrath taking over from Muttiah Muralitharan as World No. 1.Warne, in second spot, is now on 874 points, his highest ranking since the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka in December 1995 when he stood at 876. Those three are well clear of the chasing pack, but No. 4 on the list is closing fast, if his recent performances are anything to go by. Andrew Flintoff’s seven wickets for the World XI have lifted him to a career-best rating of 793, and he is now officially the leading allrounder in the world game, ahead of South Africa’s Jacques Kallis.Kallis remains the world No. 1 batsman, but Ricky Ponting has drawn level with Brian Lara in second spot, with Matthew Hayden returning to the top six following his resurgence of form in his last two Tests at The Oval and Sydney. Adam Gilchrist’s 94 against the World XI helps him move back up the rankings after a subdued Ashes series, and he now sits at No. 11 following a rise of three spots.The biggest mover in the bowling rankings has happened outside the top ten, with Stuart MacGill rising ten places to No. 20 on the list, following his nine-wicket haul at Sydney.

The Zimbabwean authorities’ decision to refuse to admit 13 journalists to Zimbabwe to cover the one-day series has thrown the tour into doubt. “Bona fide media organisations in the UK have been cleared, those that are political have not,” said George Charamba, secretary for the Zimbabwean information ministry, said. “This is a game of cricket, not politics. Those that want to bowl us out of politics will have to do so in the political arena.”So why have some organisations been granted permission and other not? We list the breakdown of who’s in and who’s not.Allowed in
The Guardian – The most surprising inclusion given its long-standing record of exposing the Mugabe regime’s excesses. In 2003 Andrew Meldrum, its correspondent in Zimbabwe, was physically deported after being found guilty of “publishing falsehoods” and now reports on the country from Johannesburg.
The Independent – Has been critical of regime.
Press Association – Supplies copy to numerous media organisations and adopts a fairly middle-of-the-road approach to coverage.
Reuters – One of its freelance contributors – Telford Vice – was refused access to Zimbabwe in May for no credible reason while attempting to cover cricket. But as with Press Association, fairly mild criticism.
Daily Mail – Has been fairly strident in highlighting abuses of Mugabe government.
Daily Express – No major coverage of Zimbabwe.Refused Access
BBC – Banned since June 2000 for alleged bias in election coverage.
The Daily Telegraph – Described at various times by the regime as an agent for MI5, the paper has repeatedly highlighted political abuses inside Zimbabwe. In April, Mihir Bose was deported from the country for what he claimed were fabricated accreditation reasons.
The Times – Has highlighted political excesses of the Mugabe regime for some time.
The Sun/News of the World – Its Zimbabwe coverage has been sparse but damning.
The Mirror – Has taken irregular pot-shots at Mugabe and reacted to the news with the headline “Butcher of Africa bans Mirror …we couldn’t be more proud”.Did Not Apply
Sky Sports – declined to bid for rights to an England overseas tour for the first time since 1989-90. In April a crew from Sky News was expelled from Zimbabwe for not getting government permission to film.
Wisden Cricinfo – Advised earlier in the year that it was not welcome, enquiries to Zimbabwe cricket whether that situation still applied went unanswered.

A high class innings of 85 from Matthew Maynard, plus an elegant 64* from David Hemp put Glamorganinto a promising position on the opening day of their County Championship match against Gloucestershireat Bristol, as the Welsh county made 314-6.Maynard was in vintage form, hitting 13 fours and a six to come within 11 runs of passing 1,000 runs forthe 13th time in his career. He was also just 15 runs short of recording his 10th hundred againstGloucestershire, and to equal the feats of Sir Jack Hobbs and Frank Woolley who jointly hold the recordfor the most number of centuries against the West Country side.Glamorgan had begun the match in third place of Division Two, 10 points ahead of theiropponents who badly need to win this game to maintain their own promotion hopes. Thehome team suffered an early blow when captain Mark Alleyne and Mike Smith, their experiencedbowler, both failed fitness tests, whilst Glamorgan were also without Dean Cosker,following a family bereavement.After winning the toss, Robert Croft had little hesistation in deciding to bat first, and Glamorgan`sopeners, Jimmy Maher and Ian Thomas, then made a sedate start against the accurate Gloucestershireseamers. With the score on 33, Glamorgan lost their first wicket when Jimmy Maher was brilliantlystumped down the legside by Jack Russell as the opener slightly overbalanced trying to glance Ian Harvey off his legs.Ian Thomas continued to play watchfully, and with Adrian Dale also batting with care, they took the score to75 when, ten minutes before lunch, Thomas drove a ball firmly back to Martyn Ball and was caught and bowled for 24.Powell began with some firm drives either side of the wicket, but in the tenth over after lunch, he lost hispartner as Dale was caught at mid-wicket for 32 with the score on 105.Dale`s departure saw Maynard arrive at the crease and he was soon on the attack,dispatching anything offline or short, and dealt almost exclusively in fours as he and Powellquickly shared a half century partnership, with Maynard taking his side past the 150 mark with ahandsome cover drive off Ball.Maynard, who scored centuries in both innings when Glamorgan played at Cheltenham last year, was indismissive mood, with one rasping straight drive off Ball nearly removing the off-spinner`s hand as hetried in vain to catch the ball. Despite losing Powell for 42, Maynard continued in attacking vein hittingBall back over his head for a straight six to reach his half-century from 69 balls, which also included 10 fours.David Hemp came in to play a fine supporting role with some sweetly timed off-drives, as Maynard continued hisassault after tea, but on 85 Maynard pulled a delivery from Martyn Ball into Jon Lewis` hands at mid-wicket.Shortly afterwards Lewis dismissed Mark Wallace as the Glamorgan wicket-keeper chipped to mid-on,but Croft gave Hemp useful support and the left-hander reached a well deserved half-century from 120 balls with 7 fours.The pair were still there at the close with Glamorgan looking to add at least a further hundred runs when thematch resumes tomorrow morning.

Paceman Brett Lee will be the only Australian Test player turning out for his state this weekend as his battle-weary team-mates rest ahead of the world championship showdown against South Africa.Captain Steve Waugh admitted his team lacked intensity in the Third Test against New Zealand and it is hoped that a few days off will allow several key players to overcome injury and put spark back in the side.Lee is keen to play and will get an early look at the Adelaide Oval ahead of the first Test against the world No.2 South Africa starting Friday week.But while he turns out for NSW in an ING Cup match against South Australia fellow Blues, Steve and Mark Waugh, and Glenn McGrath will sit it out along with SA quick Jason Gillespie.West Australian batsmen Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist have passed up the chance of a hit-out against the Proteas’ attack in the four-day tour match at the WACA starting Friday.And Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting will skip Sunday’s one-day match between Victoria and Tasmania at Bellerive Oval.National chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns today said there had been no direction from his panel to rest players and it was left up to the individuals and their states.”Brett’s fit to play and he feels an extra bowl won’t hurt him,” Hohns said.”He’s (Gillespie) done a lot of work, he may well be in that category (that needs a rest).”But, despite Australia’s failure to capture the rain-affected series against New Zealand, captain Steve Waugh believes the team only needs to lift five per cent to return to its winning ways.”We could have been better. It’s just a small thing – it’s only a five per cent thing that we need to lift,” Waugh said.And he predicted that Australia’s premier bowlers Warne and McGrath would bounce back against South Africa after misfiring so far this summer.Warne returned just six wickets at 71.66 while McGrath took five at 65.4 as Australia failed to bowl New Zealand out once in the three Tests.Waugh said Australia’s middle order had failed to perform in the summer’s opening Test series pointing the finger at himself, brother Mark and No.6 Damien Martyn.”They (Warne and McGrath) are human, like the batsmen, and we can’t perform in every Test match,” the skipper said.”There’s been a few things written saying the guys are off the boil and that.”But it’s hard to play at your peak in every Test match.”We dominated the first two Tests (but) here we didn’t play as well as we could have.”I’m quite confident they’ll do well against South Africa. We just have to make sure we lift for South Africa because if we don’t we’ll get beaten.”

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.