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David Hussey, the Australian batsman and Nottinghamshire overseas player, became the fourth player this season to be wrapped on the knuckles by the ECB.Hussey’s misdemeanour occurred during Notts’ Championship clash against Hampshire last week when he was reported by Mark Benson, one of the umpires, for showing dissent after a decision went against him. A Level One breach of the ECB’s code, the penalty will be on his record for a year.Hussey, 26, plays for Victoria in Australia with a first-class average of over 50. In his first season of county cricket, he has so far scored 650 runs this season for Notts, and currently heads the batting averages at just over 70.

Holland have opted for a youthful look to their squad for the Intercontinental Cup match against Scotland at Mannofield, Aberdeen, starting on June 11.Emmerson Trotman, the national coach, has chosen Maurits van Nierop (20) and Tom de Grooth (21) to replace Dutch team stalwarts such as Tim de Leede, who is unavailable due to family commitments, Darron Reekers, and Feiko Kloppenburg, who are both injured. Kloppenburg has been playing in the local one-day league but has been advised not to play in the three-day game against Scotland, as his back would take too much strain.Van Nierop and de Grooth both have three-day experience, having played in the Western Cape league in South Africa for several years after coming through the Dutch Cricket Academy, which is based in Cape Town. They will be well supported by Bas Zuiderent, who was released by Sussex last season after a four year stint, and Daan van Bunge, who is currently captaining the MCC youth team.Walter Schiferli and Gokke will probably take the new ball, with van Troost providing support with his medium pace. Holland have the luxury of two spinners, Esmeijer and Raja, in the squad. Trotman believes he has a well-balanced team and it will be a good contest between Holland and Scotland as they enter the first-class arena for the first time.Holland L.van Troost (captain), J.Smits (vice captain and wicket keeper), D.van Bunge, J.J.Esmeijer, S.Gokke, T.de Grooth, H.J.Mol, M.van Nierop, A.Raja, E.Schiferli, C.Smith, B.Zuiderent.

New Zealand Cricket has decided that Hamilton will not host a one-day international during Australia’s tour which starts next month. Westpac Park was scheduled to host the fourth match of the series on March 2, but following criticism of the pitch there during New Zealand’s match against the FICA World XI on January 26, the board decided that an alternative venue would be sought.Martin Snedden, NZC’s chief executive, said that the pitch had probably not settled completely since being laid in April 2004, and indicated that it might not match up to international standards. “We have decided to move the Australian ODI as we can’t afford to risk the pitch for that match not being up to international standard. We need to ensure the match is played on a good-quality surface.” The match is likely to shift to Auckland, Christchurch or Wellington.”The Hamilton City Council has done tremendous work improving facilities and upgrading the quality of the ground at Westpac Park,” said Snedden. “The issue with the wicket block is likely to be short term. With the exception of the pitch issues there were a large number of positives from the day [the January 26 match] which showed that the venue has the ability to successfully host ODIs.”We made the decision to play Wednesday’s match at Westpac Park based on previous experience with Waikari wicket-blocks. We had expected that the block would have settled enough to allow an acceptable playing surface to be prepared. That wasn’t the case, and ultimately the responsibility for that decision rests with NZC.”I am happy with the efforts of the Westpac Park turf-management team. The issue appears to be one with the block not settling as quickly as would be expected, rather than with the preparation of the playing surface.”The pitch at Hamilton came in for severe criticism, with Shane Warne, the World XI captain, suggesting that it wasn’t upto international standards. The World team was bundled out for 81 in that game, and the match finished in just more than 35 overs, forcing the sides to play a ten-overs-a-side game.

Brendon Kuruppu, a former opening batsman and selector for Sri Lanka, has been appointed interim team manager for Sri Lanka’s forthcoming tour to Pakistan. Kuruppu takes over on a temporary basis after Ajit Jayasekera, the manager for most of the last four years, requested a break.Sri Lanka Cricket is set to start a recruitment process for a two-year contract starting with Sri Lanka’s tour of New Zealand, and Jayasekera has not ruled out reapplying for the position. Jayasekera had excelled in the job, earning the respect of the team and the media, but the constant travel had become an increasing burden and he decided to spend more time at home with his six-year-old son.Kuruppu takes over having just returned to the island after a coaching stint in Singapore. Anura Tennekoon and Michael Tissera, both former Sri Lanka captains, had been the frontrunners to stand-in for Jayasekera. A senior board official has confirmed that Kuruppu’s name has been sent to the Minister of Sports for ratification.

Genes, even impeccable ones, can be a cursed thing and Faisal Iqbal may know it better than most. Ever since he made his debut for Pakistan, ever since he even emerged onto domestic cricket’s consciousness, people have included, in the same breath as him, his maternal uncle, Javed Miandad. His debut tour was the famously cantankerous one to New Zealand in 2000-01; Miandad was coach only to be removed immediately after it amidst stories of player indiscipline and an atmosphere of such fractiousness, that Moin Khan was relieved of his captaincy. Amidst the ruckus, an accomplished debut was almost forgotten.Since then and until today, he has hovered on the fringes of the national squad. Five years, only ten Tests, one briefly glittering comeback is all he has had to show for it. His return to the side for this Test, three years after his last appearance, was less contentious and more stirring and he marked it with a punchy maiden Test hundred. You can argue that at 281 for 3, the situation when he walked in, little pressure was on, but with his background, it isn’t a credible theory.”The pressure was there as I was making a comeback and I hadn’t scored in the first innings. I didn’t look at anything else just at what I needed to do and how to score. I concentrated only on myself and every ball I was facing,” he said later.He concentrated enough to push the first ball he faced from Sourav Ganguly to square leg for two and then began his second comeback properly. The first boundary arrived in the next Ganguly over, the balance shifted to his front foot and the ball was driven through extra cover. Many of his subsequent shots came from a backfoot base; a push through covers off Anil Kumble, a hoick over midwicket from off stump. He tackled Kumble particularly well, slicing him through third man and then feigning a charge before leaning back to push square of cover.Until tea and after Shahid Afridi’s dismissal soon after the break, he was subdued though not perturbed. His fifty came off 116 balls, but he celebrated it buoyantly soon after, moving back, rising up and spanking Zaheer Khan on the up through cover again for four. It was dismissive and neither the delivery nor the bowler deserved it. In the last over of the day, he pulled Kumble to midwicket for his 12th boundary to bring up his hundred.So assured was he in his innings over four hours, it could have been mistaken for cockiness, a trait that he has been accused of in the past, and if true, shares with his uncle. Possibly, his strokeplay holds a greater aesthetic appeal. “Javed Miandad is my uncle and has taught me through my childhood. I have learnt a lot from him. But I have only ever wanted to do one thing and that is to make a name for myself, to make a name for Faisal Iqbal.”Judgements shouldn’t be rushed for he has had a false and spectacular dawn before. Against Australia in Colombo, October 2002, he made a silky 83 off only 85 balls when Pakistan were 75 for 4 against an attack some might call one of the greatest: Warne, McGrath, Gillespie and Lee. “Both times it was my comeback and that was a good innings as well. But this one was a comeback and it was also against India so I prefer this one I guess. While I was out of the squad my only aim was to get back into it. I wanted to be a part of this excellent team and I now want to play for as long as possible for Pakistan.”He came into the squad on the back of an impressive domestic season – this was his ninth century this season – and although he only played because of Inzamam’s rickety back, he was pushing in any case. “My performance in the domestic season was good enough to be picked for the squad. Inzamam is a big player and a great batsman but my only aim was to get an opportunity and then make the most of it.”Rahul Dravid can’t be too bad a judge of a batsman and after Iqbal had scored 87 against India in the pre-series warm-up match in Lahore, he was impressed enough to offer him some advice. “It’s a really good feeling when a big player like Rahul Dravid praises you and gives you tips for the future. It really boosted my confidence.”Inzamam’s back and age are both fighting the onset of time now. Hasan Raza and Asim Kamal are quietly receding from the limelight. As a litmus test for Pakistan’s middle order post-Inzamam, a more appropriate situation couldn’t be found here. Iqbal has now presented his case. And if he continues, we might not need to refer to you-know-who for much longer.

Looking for a definition of bitter-sweet? Try Simon Katich.Katich, proclaimed the unluckiest man in the world by Ricky Ponting when he lost his Test place to Andrew Symonds, has been trying to enjoy Australia’s Test series triumph over Sri Lanka. “It is so good to see the boys having success and win,” he said. “But you have that feeling that you haven’t contributed if you haven’t physically been out there.”Unlike players who are dropped at home, Katich cannot disappear off the radar.Where he’d like to be at the beach or finding consolation among friends and family, instead he has to watch Australia winning without him. “It has been hard because I have been at the cricket all the time,” he explained. “But it has still been a big thrill being here for the first time when we have actually won.”Katich has a Test average of 60 and was dropped despite scoring a match-saving century in his last Test against India at the SCG. He realises Symonds was picked purely for the conditions here, given his offspin bowling and batting prowess against spin. But that doesn’t make it any easier for a player who was in hot touch throughout the summer.”I felt this tour would be a big one for me,” Katich continued. “The summer was great but I was planning to kick on and make that spot my own but that is the way it has gone and I cannot do much about it. I felt pretty disappointed because I knew I had made improvements to my game and felt I was in the best form of my career and I planned to play in the Test series. That’s what made it so disappointing and frustrating.”The instant you find out you have been dropped is probably the worst feeling you can imagine as a cricketer, particularly when you know you are playing well … that’s when it’s hardest to take.”But he’s also had plenty of support from an Australian side full of players who have been dropped and have fought their way back into the side. “I have seen it happen to a few of the guys. They have done their time. I got a nice letter from Matthew Hayden explaining to hang in there. He has been through it himself a few years ago. Punter [Ponting] had a chat as well before the first Test.”The guys have been really good about it. They make you feel a part of it all but when you are not playing you don’t feel as if you are contributing because you are not out there.”Katich said a hand injury, caused when a ball hit him on the end of his left ring finger, has affected his wrist-spin bowling which hasn’t helped his selection cause. “I have been trying with my bowling but I have not been bowling as much as I would have liked because of my hand.”While the Symonds experiment hasn’t been a grand success, the likelihood of another spinners’ paradise for the final Test of the series at the Sinhalese Sports Club starting on Wednesday means Australia will most likely keep the same team which won the first two matches. At this stage Katich hasn’t heard otherwise, but as he admitted: “I have kept a pretty low profile.”

Australia found the ideal bowling balance at Cape Town and the three fast men should be confident of playing in Friday’s second Test at Durban, according to Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist, the vice-captain, said the attack now had “fantastic variety”, and the superb performance has not helped Stuart MacGill’s prospects of making a strong impact on the series.MacGill was expected to play at Cape Town, but Stuart Clark was a late inclusion and picked up 9 for 89 on debut while Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz also performed well as Australia won by seven wickets. “When previously we had three quick bowlers in the group there were question marks or perhaps slight criticism that, other than Brett, the other two or three were very similar and much the same as each other,” Gilchrist told . “But it seems that the balance of this bowling line-up had fantastic variety.”Gilchrist said on the evidence of the first Test the seam bowlers should arrive in Durban in an upbeat mood. “We’re well-stocked, well-balanced and hoping to carry this momentum into the rest of the series,” Gilchrist said. “It was line ball whether we played three and one or two spinners, and I think we got it right with the selections.”Six catches helped Gilchrist stay ahead of Mark Boucher on the all-time wicketkeeper’s list and move him to within 12 dismissals of Rod Marsh’s 355. “To walk off with a keeping performance that I took every chance that came my way really, that’s as pleasing as anything I can do in the game of cricket,” Gilchrist said. Marsh sits second behind Ian Healy’s 395, which is made up of 366 catches and 29 stumpings in 119 Tests.Two days after the match the bowler-friendly surface is still being discussed and Gilchrist said it “wasn’t particularly great”. “We would all like one that offers a bit to bowlers early on and then plays well through the middle and breaks up towards the end,” he said. “There was a lot of movement off the wicket and it made for exciting cricket, I guess. But I hope, from a batting point of view, we get something a bit flatter and without so much sideways movement.”Micky Arthur, the South Africa coach, had asked before the match for the pitch to suit the seamers, but he agreed the surface was “not ideal”. “It was very dry when we arrived and Christo [Erasmus] obviously wet it,” Arthur said. “I think he might have put too much moisture in it. Ultimately, it didn’t play as we wanted.” South Africa were dismissed for 205 and 197 and lost the Test in three days.

Lunch England 83 for 4 (Vaughan 10*, Flintoff 4*) vSouth Africa A
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsCharl Langeveldt grabbed three wickets in six overs to give South Africa Athe upper hand at lunch on the first day at Potchefstroom, as England weregiven a timely reminder of the step-up in class that awaits them ahead ofnext week’s first Test at Port Elizabeth. After being asked to bat first,Andrew Strauss gave England some early momentum by cracking an even 50,but two quick wickets just before lunch left Michael Vaughan and AndrewFlintoff needing to engage in some damage limitation.By lunch, England had reached 83 for 4, in a session that posed morequestions than answers, especially after Mark Butcher had missed out forthe second innings running.Butcher missed much of last summer through injury, but was preferred inthis match to Robert Key on the strength of his international performancesover the past three years. But, following his 6 from 12 balls atRandjesfontein on Wednesday, he lasted just seven more deliveries, beforewafting a simple catch to Mark Boucher behind the stumps, to giveLangeveldt a wicket with his sixth ball of the morning.Boucher was another man with much to prove after his omission from SouthAfrica’s Test squad, but he enjoyed a far more auspicious morning, with ahand in both wickets to fall. His first victim was Marcus Trescothick, whotook 11 balls to get off the mark and had scratched his way to 7 from 43deliveries by the time he fenced a lifting delivery high to Boucher’sleft, to give Ethy Mbhalati a deserved first wicket.Strauss, however, was in fine fettle and needed little time to get intohis stride. He opened his account with two flowing cover-drives, andfollowed up with a square-drive and a pull for four, all off Mbhalati. Hehad one scare on 25, when a inswinging bouncer from Charl Willoughby allbut brushed his gloves, but he responded with a high and handsome cut forfour, and reached his fifty from 68 balls with a push for two through thecovers off Langeveldt.But with lunch approaching, England’s innings floundered dramatically.Strauss was served up a juicy wide delivery, which should have been his11th four of the morning, but was instead plucked at point by JustinOntong. And then, after facing three just three balls, Graham Thorpe wasadjudged lbw to a full delivery, again off Langeveldt. It could have beeneven worse, but Flintoff somehow managed to edge his first delivery cleanthrough the gap between the keeper and Andrew Puttick at first slip.England 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Michael Vaughan (capt), 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Simon Jones, 10 Matthew Hoggard, 11 Steve Harmison.South Africa A 1 Andrew Puttick, 2 Martin van Jaarsveld, 3 Ashwell Prince (capt), 4 JP Duminy, 5 Justin Ontong, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Alfonso Thomas, 9 Charl Langeveldt, 10 Ethy Mbhalati, 11 Charl Willoughby.

Samir Inamdar, Cricket Kenya’s chairman, has spoken of the difference that qualifying for the final of the World Cricket League will make to Kenyan cricket.Both Kenya and Scotland, who meet on Wednesday, are set to receive US$250,000 from the ICC as their reward for finishing in the top two of the round-robin stage, as well as a place in September’s inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa. That is the real reward, and while winning the final would be the icing on the cake, it is actually of only significance as far as local bragging rights are concerned.Kenya has been strapped for cash for years, and Inamdar inherited debts of $500,000 from the old regime when his new board took over in May 2005. Since then, they have had to manage on their annual ICC Associate grant of $70,000 and a high-performance grant, earned by a top-six finish in the 2005 ICC Trophy, of $125,000.”It’s enormously significant,” Inamdar, who admitted he was so nervous before the final round of matches that he didn’t sleep, told Cricinfo. “It will enable us to give the player some incentives for winning it and will give them and us some medium to long-term security.”This gives us a chance to structure something for the medium-term at least. It enables us to look at our infrastructure and development, which is very important. We simply haven’t had the resources or the manpower to deal with it until now.”All in all, this is a sizable advance made by Cricket Kenya. It enables us not to have to worry about how we pay people and how to keep the national team going. It will mean the players know where the next pay cheque and the next meal is going to come from.”He added that he hoped to persuade Scotland to travel to Kenya ahead of the September Twenty20 tournament to give both countries exposure to a format that neither has played at international level. He also would be speaking to South Africa to see if the Kenyans could participate in their domestic Twenty20 competition.

Australia’s selectors must decide whether to backflip to a traditional line-up or plough ahead in search of another allrounder following the shoulder injury that ended Shane Watson’s Test summer. Trevor Hohns has enjoyed the balance of the side with Watson covering duel roles, but he told the problem with similar replacements was “there weren’t too many of them around”.The disruption has forced the selectors to delay naming the squad for the second Test against West Indies at Hobart, which begins on November 17, and reports have also suggested Justin Langer’s fractured rib was not healing as well as planned. If Langer is unfit Mike Hussey will stay in the side after making his debut in Brisbane while Brad Hodge and Andrew Symonds are in contention to replace Watson.Hohns told Watson’s injury had upset his plans. “We were certainly making progress in that direction,” he said. “We may have to change the balance of the side again.” The selectors also have the problem of an underperforming middle order with Michael Clarke and Simon Katich failing to register decent scores in Brisbane.Watson suffered a partial dislocation while fielding on Sunday and has had trouble keeping the “terrible noise” on impact out of his mind. “I was actually thinking ‘that can’t be my body,” he told the paper, “it must be the ground or something’.”The surgeon Greg Hoy was due to operate on Watson’s left shoulder today but he felt the injury was less serious than the back stress fractures that ruled him out of the 2003 World Cup. “The good thing is it wasn’t technique or anything to do with my bowling action so I don’t really have to remodel anything,” he said. “It’s just a freak thing.”Watson was playing his third Test at the Gabba and had just taken his second career wicket when he had Chris Gayle caught by Shane Warne at first slip. “It’s hard to set a goal at the moment,” he said in . “Hopefully it will just be a couple of months and I’ll be able to get back without risking it.”