Scorecard

Justin Langer kept Western Australia’s Pura Cup campaign alive and narrowly missed his second century of the match as the Warriors set up a challenging fourth-day chase for Victoria. Langer’s 99 earned the Warriors a lead of 285 as they reached 6 for 211 at the close.Chris Rogers and Langer made their intentions clear as soon as they began, hammering a 159-run partnership from 37 overs. Rogers’ 128-ball 75 ended when he was bowled by Shane Harwood and although Langer struggled to find another willing ally, he did not seem to need one.His innings took 129 deliveries as he displayed the kind of aggression Victoria must rediscover to live up to their reputation as destructive chasers. Langer edged Andrew McDonald to Adam Crosthwaite from the last ball of the day as the Bushrangers did what they could to minimise the damage.The visitors started their second innings with a 74-run advantage after bustling Victoria out for 298. Danny McLauchlan, the left-arm fast bowler, impressed on debut with 4 for 76 and Aaron Heal finished with 4 for 46.McDonald ground out an unbeaten 64 but ran out of partners as Victoria tried to steal two points. Both sides are desperate for a win to stay in touch with table leaders Tasmania and New South Wales ahead of the last round of matches next week.

Expensive change: He may be a destructive hitter, butJustin Kemp’s medium pace has never looked international class. And whenGraeme Smith called on him for the 36th over, Bangladesh seized themoment. Aftab Ahmed sent one sailing over long leg, and then pounded outanother magnificent stroke over midwicket. The run rate jumped over four,and Bangladesh rarely had a chance to look back.Pump up the volume: After routing India at Durban with a spell of 4for 13, Andrè Nel had played only five more times for South Africa. Whenthrown the ball today, his impact was immediate. Javed Omar slashed one togully, and Nel’s frenzied pumped-fist celebrations – you sometimes fearhe’ll burst a vein – were typical of a man who should be playing everygame.Paddle away into the distance: Mohammad Ashraful played somescintillating strokes in his 87, but none more so than the paddle sweepswhere he walked across outside off stump and sent the ball to the fine-legfence with a deft twirl of the wrists. To pull it off once was audacious,to repeat it just stupendous.Beaten for pace?: Most new-ball bowlers revel in pushing batsmen onto the back foot with pace. Syed Rasel does the opposite. At times onSaturday, he was so slow through the air that the batsmen could havechanged strokes twice. Smith almost did before getting bowled, and Kallislofted one straight to mid-on. As Neil Manthorp said on the radio, “He’sperhaps the only new-ball bowler who gets batsmen out with his lack ofpace.”Bullseye: As long as Shaun Pollock and Herschelle Gibbs, SouthAfrica’s most accomplished players of spin, were at the crease, there wasalways a faint glimmer of hope. That was extinguished when Tamim Iqbalpounced at mid-off and arrowed in a throw at the bowler’s end to catchPollock a few inches short. Indians and Pakistanis, with their geriatric,useless fielders, watched and wept.Forty love: Iqbal’s tendency to give bowlers the charge cost himeventually, but there was still the shot of the day to savour – a forehandsmash over Charl Langeveldt’s head that would have put Steffi Graf or JimCourier to shame.“Please God, Let Bangladesh Win” So said a banner in the stands aswe walked across for the presentation. “It’s great for the tournament,man, it’s great” yelled the man holding it. “We weren’t the only ones tolose,” shouted another dressed in Indian colours. The locals seemed tothink that this opened up their path to the semi-finals. But they have toget past mighty Bangladesh first!

Glenn McGrath, who is usually so certain of Australia’s ability to beat all opposition, said their match against Sri Lanka on Monday would be a “big test” and the conditions would favour Sri Lanka. His comments came as Mahela Jayawardene also talked up his side’s chances despite the absence of Lasith Malinga, their strike bowler.McGrath said Australia’s first game at Grenada – where Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand on Thursday – would be a challenge. “From what we’ve seen, the pitch in Grenada is slower and takes some turn,” McGrath told . “It will be a big test for us and probably suit Sri Lanka.”Australia will target Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s leading run-scorer in the tournament, and they hope his below-par record against Australia continues. “There is no doubt he is a great player and we’d like to get on top of him early and knock him over,” McGrath said.Jayawardene said Sri Lanka believed they had the form and ability to become the first team to beat Australia in a World Cup match since 1999. “I think we have a very good record against Australia,” he said. “Why? Because we play our brand of cricket and we are not afraid of doing that.”They will have to produce that brand of cricket without the destructive Malinga, who has 15 wickets in the tournament but is likely to miss the game with an ankle injury. He has never lined up against Australia in a one-day match – although he played two Tests against them in 2004 – and Jayawardene said it was unclear whether keeping him “hidden” until a possible meeting in the semi-finals or final would be a bonus. “That’s one way to look at it but there are so many other ways to look at it,” he said.Without Malinga, strong efforts from Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas have become even more important. Jayawardene was confident his attack had what it took to dismantle the dangerous Australia batting line-up. “Australia are getting good starts and there hasn’t been that much emphasis on their middle order so that’s one area we’ll be thinking about,” he said.McGrath, however, was confident that Australia’s own veterans – including himself, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting – would lift their game as the business-end of the event drew closer. “The next two weeks for us is the showcase time for the whole tournament,” he said. “Our senior players, who have been in World Cups before, I think that’s when you’ll see them stand up and start enjoying the tournament for what it is.”

Shane Watson, the Australian allrounder, is hopeful that a new training routine will help put an end to the spate of injuries he has suffered in recent times and help establish his place in the Test team.”It’s been a pretty up and down couple of years with injuries,” Watson told . “I will be sitting down over the next month or so with our fitness trainer and also our physio to tinker with a few little things at training. We want to do everything we can possibly do to have a good run over the next couple of years. It would be amazing to be able to do that.”Watson, who’s played only three Tests since his debut in 2005, was sidelined during the World Cup with a calf strain. He returned for the Super Eights match against New Zealand and scored an unbeaten 65 and took 1 for 20.Although he’s taken only two Test wickets at 61.50 apiece and hasn’t made his mark as a bowler in one-day internationals, Watson was confident of improving his bowling.”I am confident I would be able to hold a spot down as a batter and a bowler as well. I have been lucky enough in the last eight months to be able to get to know Glenn [McGrath] well and rack his brain.”I have been lucky to be associated with him and get some of the knowledge that he has got out of him before he retired – it will continue to improve my cricket. That’s my goal, to be able to be a big part of the future of Australian cricket. It’s sad to see Glenn go but hopefully I can continue on his knowledge.”

Accrington Cricket Club, one of the stalwarts of the Lancashire League, are facing the real prospect of folding after the club’s management revealed they have debts of more than £10,000.Last week Peter Barratt, the president, wrote to members warning them that the club could go out of business unless they were able to raise funds”We are determined to overcome these problems but they are very real problems that need to be confronted,” Barratt told the Burnley News. “It has gone on too long where we have tried to struggle through. “It’s been creeping up on us for a while and it has got to the situation where we have to make it public and ask for help.”The club is losing money and it needs to be halted and turned around. As it is there is a very real prospect that we will go out of business.”Accrington were formed in 1864 and have won the league five times, most recently in 1975. Many famous overseas players have turned out for the club, including Wes Hall, Bobby Simpson, Eddie Barlow and Mohsin Khan, while home-grown cricketers included David Lloyd and Graham Fowler.But in the last 16 seasons they have finished in the bottom two ten times, and the ground has also been subjected to repeated vandalism. Two years ago a substantial refurbishment was undertaken but it has not produced the expected increase in returns.

Marcus Trescothick has spoken of his “pain” and frustration in watching his team-mates beat West Indies this summer, but remains satisfied of his decision to delay his comeback from the stress-related illness which forced him home from England’s tours of India and Australia last year. Encouragingly though, he is equally confident that his international career isn’t yet over.”Of course I’d love to be playing for England again and watching them this summer has sometimes been painful for me,” he told the . “I’ve seen every Test on TV and it’s been ‘God, I miss this, I miss this a lot’. When the first Test started at Lord’s I was very twitchy. It was so tough because I felt so desperate to get back into it.”If you had asked me the day before that match: ‘Could you play here?’ I’d have said yes. But just because I wanted to do it, didn’t make it the right thing to do. It’s hard. I’m not stupid. I’m 31, coming up to 32 on Christmas Day and I’ve got to be realistic. Thirty two is no age to finish an international career.”Of course I want to get back in the side as soon as possible, because of the timescale. But I mustn’t start to worry about it. I understand the big dilemma: can the selectors take the risk of picking me to go abroad on tour? Can they invest in me after what has happened?In his absence, Alastair Cook has stroked his way into the sort of form that even Trescothick, in his most ebullient days, would be envious of. In 18 Tests, he has hit six hundreds, over 1400 runs and averages 46.29, at the tender age of 22. Clearly he is the future, and Trescothick is aware that his England record, though impressive, amounts to little when challenging for a place.

“Clearly, if I want to continue my career I have to undertake another tour,” he said. “But for now, if and when I get back to full fitness and I think I am OK and ready to play, I’ll make myself available for England. If they don’t pick me, that is just tough.”Encouragingly, his form for Somerset this season has been impressive – especially for someone who, a few months ago, was found slumped in tears on the dressing room floor at Sydney.”I believe the turning point for me was when I finally came clean about my problems. It wasn’t easy, but being open and honest with the public was the best thing I could have done and it began the process of me being open and honest with myself,” he said.”I have learned techniques to help me cope with what has happened and to make sure that if the problems come back I know exactly how to deal with them. There are certain things, certain procedures, I’ll probably have to do for the rest of my life.”It is not a question of saying ‘I’m cured’ but at least I’m forewarned now. And maybe, after going to hell and back, I can help someone else avoid the journey.”

It was Geoff Lawson’s fast-bowling background that won him the coaching job for the Pakistan team, the Pakistan Cricket Board revealed while formally announcing the decision at a press conference in Karachi.Lawson’s appointment ended a lengthy wait without a coach since the death of Bob Woolmer during the World Cup. Lawson, the former Australia fast bowler, has been appointed for two years and edged out compatriots Dav Whatmore and Richard Done in the race for the job.”Pakistan has many pace bowlers and we win matches with them,” Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, said. “Having a former fast bowler on board is an advantage for that definitely.”We weighed all our options and, though all three were highly qualified, we felt Lawson was most suitable to our needs. Dav Whatmore and Richard Done were not any less candidates, just that Lawson was what we needed.”Ashraf dismissed claims that Arjuna Ranatunga’s comments regarding Whatmore played a part in the decision, or that the players, many of whom were in favour of Lawson, had exercised their influence unduly.Ashraf described Lawson, who picked up 180 wickets in 46 Tests, as “a very educated man” and said the PCB liked “his approach and his attention to detail and so we opted for him”.Lawson, a level three coach, will arrive in Pakistan on August 15 and is expected to be on a similar financial package as Woolmer. He is likely to bring his own management support team with him and Ashraf said Pakistan might appoint a specialist batting coach, given their brittleness in that department. “We will definitely have a fielding coach and we want world-class trainers and physiotherapists as well,” he said. “We want to have a streamlined management team and Lawson has his ideas on that.”Lawson told the prospect of bringing out the best talent in Pakistan lured him to the job. “It is such a talented team that you have to be excited working with them,” he said. “A series of events essentially led me to the job. Two months ago, this was a long way from my mind. I got a call asking whether I would be interested and I waited on the findings of the Bob Woolmer case because that was important.”I came over and met with the board and the players and I have to say I was very impressed with the set-up, their ideas and vision. The chief [chairman Nasim Ashraf] was very impressive.”This will be Lawson’s first international assignment though he has been head coach with New South Wales and is currently involved officially with the state. But his state experience and his media work, he says, will help him adjust.”It’s a different level, no doubt,” he said. “But I’ve worked with high-performance players at NSW. Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clark are sort of my pupils and I’ve worked with Glenn McGrath as well, so I have that experience. Also my media work has taken me round the world as an analyst so I haven’t been too far from the game ever.”

Lawson is also a rarity in that he is an ex-fast bowler, a breed not renowned much for their coaching abilities. Pakistan, with an abundance of fast bowling talent, is a fitting first job. “They have some terrific talent. Shoaib [Akhtar] – we have to make sure he is fit and consistent. Rao Iftikhar, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Asif – these guys make up a quality pace attack. And there’s more beyond them, big guys who bowl fast. Quality fast bowlers basically help you win Tests and I am excited about working with them.”Pakistan have busy times ahead, the Twenty20 World Championship is a precursor to an international season that includes visits by South Africa and Australia with a tour to India sandwiched in between for good measure. “We hit the ground running really, as there are some big series coming up. I know what I want to do with the team and where we should go. History will judge my move here but I hope, ultimately, that Pakistan will remember me as one of the best coaches they ever had.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board completed its out-of-competition dope tests on 26 leading players, including Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, almost a week before naming the final 15-man squad for September’s Twenty20 World Championship.Sohail Salim, the PCB’s medical officer, said urine samples had been collected from all players featuring in the Karachi-leg of the training camp. The samples will be sent to a WADA-accredited laboratory in Malaysia.”All the samples have been collected and we hope to get the results of the tests in about a week’s time,” Salim told the .Four players from the probables haven’t yet given samples as they are currently playing county cricket in England, though Salim said a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) representative will collect their samples on behalf of the board soon.Results of the tests will be available with the board before the national selectors name the final squad on August 6, thus avoiding the situation that arose during the Champions Trophy last year when Shoaib and Asif were included in the squad only to pull out a day before the first match because their positive results came late. This is the third time that the board has opted for out-of-competition dope tests on the country’s leading players in less than a year.The tests weren’t without controversy as it emerged later that the board may not have adhered strictly to WADA regulations during its testing, despite claims that its policy was now fully WADA-compliant.Doubts were raised in a radio report because samples from some of the players were taken on Monday evening while others were asked to be available for the procedure on Tuesday. The WADA code says that an athlete must present himself for testing within one hour after being notified in writing.The code reads: “The players have a maximum of one hour to present themselves at the Doping Control Room for testing. During this time, they will be free to attend any post-match commitments, such as a presentation or press conference, but they will always be accompanied (albeit discreetly) by Sampling Officers, including inside the dressing rooms. All Team Managers and the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit are aware of these protocols.”Dr. Danish Zaheer, a WADA accredited officer told Voice of America that if the one-hour notice protocol has been done away with, WADA can challenge the collection of players’ samples.

Australia have altered their focus from swing to Twenty20 as they try to find a way for their bowlers to cope at the World Championship in South Africa. Troy Cooley is hosting a camp for the fast men at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane this week to prepare for the two-week tournament in South Africa.This time last year the bowlers were working on traditional and reverse-swing in a bid to tackle England, but the unforgiving nature of Twenty20 has forced some experimenting. “We are really trying to develop plans to help the bowlers survive in the game,” Cooley said in the Courier-Mail. “It’s a pretty tough one for bowlers to survive in.”We have been doing a lot of talking about that and we are working on some technical things as well. Last year we worked on swing bowling, this year we are working on Twenty20.” Bruce Reid, the former Australia bowler who was a part-time coach with India, is also at the camp where Brett Lee is continuing his return from ankle surgery.

Shoaib Malik has admitted Pakistan had been unaware that their match against India would be decided on the basis of a bowl-out in case of a tie. “When the match ended in a tie, only then we came to know that this [bowl out] would happen,” he said at the post-match press conference. “I just told my bowlers not to take pressure and try and hit the wickets but they were not successful”.When Misbah-ul-Haq was run out off the last ball with the scores level, some confusion prevailed among the players with regard to the result of the match. The bowl-out followed, which India won 3-0.”The match ended in a tie, so none of my players should be blamed [for losing],” Malik said. “He also dismissed the notion that Pakistan would have been better served using the big-hitting Shahid Afridi higher up in the order. “We needed one off the last two balls. Anyway he’s more useful to us after 12 overs.”Meanwhile, Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he doesn’t want to see matches ending in a bowl-out though the concept helped him win his first international match as captain.”I won’t want to see a cricket match decided on a bowl out,” Dhoni said. “The team plays so hard to get a result and it should always be decided on the field.”Dhoni wasn’t expecting the match to end with a football scoreline of 3-0. “It really amuses you. Winning a cricket match 3-0, it doesn’t happen every time,” he said. “But it is in the record books now. I can tell my friends, when I was captain my team won 3-0.”The choice of using three slow bowlers for the bowl-out, including two part-timers, Dhoni said, was made based on the players’ performance at bowl-outs during team practice. “Whatever they [the bowlers] did, they were picked for that. They had practised a lot for such an eventuality,” he said. “Actually, Rohit Sharma is the best when it comes to bowl-out, he has a 100% record – but since he was not playing we had to rely on the other specialists.”Asked what advice he gave Sreesanth before the last ball of the match, Dhoni said, “I told him to be free, and control his mind. He’s like a computer, he just has to bowl one ball but he might be thinking of bowling 100 different deliveries.”Dhoni said he was pleased that India kept up their record of never losing to Pakistan in a World Cup match. “We might have to play them again in this tournament but, if we do, we would like to keep that record going.”As for the pressure of a match against arch-rivals Pakistan, he said, “I never take pressure whether it’s India-Pakistan or any other game.” He also had words of praise for his team-mates’ performance in the crunch match. “As for my players they responded well. They were determined. They were focused. The intensity was good.”Dhoni praised his bowlers for defending a low total. “We needed a good start with the ball. The bowlers kept getting wickets at regular intervals. In the end, they managed to push the run-rate up to 12 per over and that is not easy.” He also felt the Indian batsmen should have taken a more circumspect approach as the wicket was helping the Pakistan bowlers initially.India’s next engagement is their Super Eights match against New Zealand on Sunday at Johannesburg. Pakistan play Sri Lanka at the same venue on the following day.