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Cold, and sometimes wet, weather struck the second one-day match between New Zealand’s Cricket Academy and the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy of Australia at Lincoln University today.The game was originally reduced to a 42-over match, starting at 1pm, but three overs into Australia’s innings it rained briefly and the game was further reduced to 41 overs.New Zealand’s injury worries for its bowlers continued and Cleighten Cornelius joined James Franklin as ring-ins for the home team.They were both soon among the wickets which saw the Australians, such impressive winners in the first game, faltering at 26 for four wickets.But George Bailey and Cameron Borgas got the train back on the rails before Bailey departed at 74 for 32 when he attempted a high drive from Luke Woodcock’s bowling only to be caught by Shanan Stewart at long on.Fifty-three runs were added by Borgas and Mark Cosgrove for the sixth wicket in 32 minutes off 52 balls.Cosgrove was particularly severe on Aaron Redmond, striking him for 26 runs off nine balls (including three huge sixes), before holing out to a fine low catch to Nathan McCullum for an aggressive 36 off 28 balls. Redmond’s three expensive overs cost 34 runs.Xavier Doherty was run out after Borgas turned him back when mid-pitch, beaten by the throw to the wicket-keeper from Cornelius.Daniel Christian and Borgas worked the gaps between the batsmen and the fielders as they accumulated singles with positive communication and running.Taraia Robin bowled Christian with the second ball of his new spell and two balls later he removed the in-form Borgas, caught behind by wicket-keeper Reece Young for a well compiled 74 off 93 deliveries. Borgas provided the backbone of the Australian innings.Tail-enders Adam Crosthwaite and Steven Crook assisted the total to 209/9 with their undefeated 10th wicket partnership of 35 off 26 balls.Cornelius proved the best of the NZCA bowlers especially with his work into the strong southerly wind to record the parsimonious figures of 2-27 off his nine overs.The NZCA openers took their time to settle on a pitch that was becoming slower and lower as the game progressed. Jamie How and Brendon McCullum put on 86 runs in 81 minutes off 123 balls, looking to work the ball into the gaps.McCullum was the first to depart when he walked past a flighted delivery from left-arm spinner Doherty to be stumped untidily by a scrambling Crosthwaite for 41 off 58 balls.How was next out for 43 from 78 balls, when he was trapped leg before wicket by Doherty and a disappointing run out so Nick Horsley follow soon after.Suddenly from the competitive position of 86 without loss, New Zealand were 100 for three wickets off 25 overs. The pressure soon went on from the Australians and the run rate required by the home team mounted. Stewart was another victim of the pressure when he was run out.Redmond was bowled for a duck while Nathan McCullum was run out at the bowler’s end from a deflection onto the stumps.With five overs left, and four wickets in hand, New Zealand’s required rate was up to 12. Jonathan McNamee then departed and with four overs left 55 were required.And with three overs left, and Cornelius out, 47 were required off three overs.There was little option but for Franklin and Young to hit out in an attempt to narrow the widening gap. Young was severe on Crook taking 14 runs off his solitary over and 20 runs were then required off the last over.Young was run out off the third to last ball of the innings and that effectively shut the gate on New Zealand’s hopes. He scored an impressive 18 runs off only eight balls.The NZCA finally brought up the 200 but remained 10 runs short of victory. Franklin was 18 not out from 12 balls.The teams have a day off tomorrow then play two more one-day games on Friday and Saturday.

Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid have been backed to give England the spin resources they need to challenge Pakistan, with the bowling partnership set to have a new nickname.Moeen claimed 3 for 41 from 22 overs during a hot day’s work in Sharjah as England completed their first two-day match against Pakistan A. Rashid, who is closing in on a Test debut, was wicketless but conceded under three runs an over during 20 overs as the spinners were given a lengthy outing by Alastair Cook.Mark Wood, who claimed one of the two wickets to fall to the pace bowlers, believes the pairing can flourish in tandem – a role they had during the one-day series against Australia last month – and a recent film night for the squad has inspired a moniker for them.”‘Tweedledee and Tweedledum’ are going to be perfect together in these conditions,” Wood said. “We watched [the film] last night, and there was a midfield partnership of ‘Tweedledee and Tweedledum’ – so I think they’re going to get that nickname now.”The spinners showed today they’re going to be vital. Moeen Ali, I thought, assessed the conditions really well and bowled a great pace. Then Adil Rashid, if chances had been taken off him, I think he’s proved he’s a wicket-taking bowler.”I thought they were excellent. I think, if we need to break a partnership, those two are going to be vital.”The 90 overs in the field reinforced what England will face when the Test starts next week in Abu Dhabi. The catching was far from faultless, with two chances doing down and another missed in the slips, and Wood is well aware that every opportunity will have to be grabbed when it really matters.”If we’d taken our half-chances, I think it would have been a brilliant day – but it’s still been a good one,” he said. “That’s how we we’re going to win the series, by taking those half-chances.”Wood also conceded that England are going to have to adapt their gameplan from the often gung-ho approach which paid dividends during home series against New Zealand and Australia. Large totals will have to be ground out then wickets chiselled away in Tests that are likely to move at a very different pace.”We found out it’s pretty hot here and you have to dig in and that patient cricket is going to do the business here,” he said. “I tried a few different things, tried to be aggressive at times but I have to be patient at times as well. We got used, during the summer, to playing this attacking brand of cricket – where we’ve been trying to blast teams out. That aggressive style is what we want to play at home [but this] is totally different.”One key element to England’s attack will be trying to get the ball to reverse swing once the small window of opportunity with the new ball has passed and Wood was pleased to see a hint of movement as the day wore on in Sharjah.”The ball reversed a little bit which is key for us. It’s going to be vital during the series that we get the ball moving off the straight – and we managed to do that today.”

Lancashire and Surrey have retained their female players on their Academy schemes. Kathryn Cross, of Lancashire, and the two Surrey players Ebony Rainford-Brent and Anna Stevenson, will embark upon their second year as academy players.Competition for places is fierce, with Lancashire offering 11 spots in all, while Surrey have cut their places from 14 to ten for this year.Meanwhile, the MCC has come on board to sponsor ‘ Young Sportswoman of the Year award. The three-year deal also includes an arrangement for Lord’s to host the annual event.Keith Bradshaw, MCC’s secretary and chief executive, said: “Women’s sport continues to grow in stature, popularity and excellence.  These awards are the ultimate recognition of excellence. We are extremely proud that Lord’s will play host to this prestigious event.”This year’s Sportswomen of the Year awards take place at Lord’s on November 20.

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As many as 22 wickets tumbled on a sensational opening day of the four-day Quadrangular Stage Patron’s Trophy Cicket Championship match, between Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), in Karachi.Shabbir Ahmed, the fast bowler, captured 5 for 32 runs in 12.1 overs and fellow medium pacer Kashif Raza managed 3 for 52 as HBL, inserted to bat first, were bowled out for 125 on a seaming and bouncy track in Karachi. The WAPDA batsmen fared worse, being shot out for a 72 in reply. When play ended for the day, HBL were 80 for 2 in the second innings with an overall lead of 133.Shahid Afridi, leading HBL, was the star of the day. Fahad Masood caused the early damage in the WAPDA’s innings while Afridi polished off the tail with three wickets. Afridi then slammed 51 off 55 balls, including four fours and two sixes. Aftab Khan (24) and Azhar Mahmood (14*) were the other batsmen to reach double figures.At one stage HBL were reeling at 33 for 5 but Afridi and Aftab added 55 for the sixth wicket. Afridi also held two catches in the WAPDA first innings.
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Only 65 overs of play were possible on the opening day owing to fading light but Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) ran up an impressive score of 220 for 2 in the Quadrangular Stage Patron’s Trophy Cricket Championship match in Karachi.After they were put in to bat first by Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), KRL lost two wickets for 48. Then, wicketkeeper Zulfiqar Jan and left-hander Saeed Anwar jnr joined hands in a magnificent 172-run unbroken stand for the third wicket.The 28-year-old Saeed from Burewala is nearing his first-class career’s ninth hundred, as he ended the day at 92 not out. His runs have come off 169 balls with the help of 15 fours and a six. Zulfiqar, who has two previous first-class tons to his credit, was unbeaten on 75.

Peter Chingoka, the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, and Ozias Bvute, the managing director, were arrested late on Monday after surrendering themselves at Harare Central police station. The pair are understood to have arrived accompanied by their lawyer, Wilton Manashe.The news was confirmed by Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka who said: “They have been charged with contravening sections of the Exchange Control Act, and they will appear in court soon.” He added that more arrests could follow in the coming days.A source close to Zimbabwe Cricket said that the charges relate to the ongoing investigation being carried out by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. It is thought that the pair were charged with several offences.The ZC board is now expected to meet as a matter of urgency and it is widely rumoured that Chingoka and Bvute will be removed from office. An insider said that the first move would then be to gain entrance to their heavily-locked offices, and hand over all the books and accounts to a forensic auditor.It is known that ZC is in deep financial trouble. Harare Sports Club has not been paid rent for office space by ZC for two months, and many players have not had their match fees from the New Zealand and India series almost three months ago. The full scale of the financial predicament is not yet known.The forensic audit will include investigation into alleged importation of many top of the range vehicles for resale in Harare and unexplained cash withdrawals.If Chingoka and Bvute are ousted then it will pave the way for the striking players to return. Tatenda Taibu, who quit as Zimbabwe’s captain last week, is likely to resume and other players who retired because of the Chingoka-led ZC’s conduct might also be persuaded to reconsider.Lovemore Banda, the ZC media manager, repeatedly denied he knew anything about the arrests but failed to respond when asked several times to clarify the situation.In a letter to the ICC last week, the seven provincial chairmen asked for a freeze on all foreign income pending investigation of transactions through an account in London, income and expenditure accounts for TV companies and “other allegations of several instances of impropriety in ZC”.

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Amit Mishra, the legspinner, claimed a five-wicket haul and helped Haryana ease to a comfortable nine-wicket win over Rajasthan at Udaipur. Having bundled Rajasthan out for 202, Haryana hunted down the 92 in just 21.3 overs and ensured their spot in the semi-finals. Chetan Sharma and Sunny Singh shared a 67-run stand and set up the emphatic win.
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The two points that Services snapped up from the drawn encounter was enough to take them to the last-four stage. Services didn’t attempt to push for a result at any stage and even their tailenders, Arun Sharma and Fazil Mohammad, cashed in with 51 apiece. Vidarbha got a chance to bat for only 12.2 overs in their second innings as the game meandered towards a dull draw.
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Jharkhand fell 22 run-short in a nail-biting chase against Himachal Pradesh at the Keena Stadium in Jamshedpur. Chasing 155 for victory, Jharkhand resumed the final day on 110 for 6 but only Santosh Lal managed to cross 20 and they were tottering at 120 for 9. A 35-run stand for the last wicket, between Mihir Diwakar and Shankar Rao, gave them hope but Ashok Thakur, the left-arm medium pacer, sealed HP’s triumph in the 21st over of the day. Despite this loss, Jharkhand got through to the last-four stage due to their superior net-run-quotient compared to Orissa.
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Keraa completed a consolation victory in their last league game against Jammu & Kashmir at Palaghat. Both teams had no chance of qualifying for the semis and J&K’s brave bid to reach 461 was thwarted by Ananthapadmanabhan, the legpinner, and he finished with 5 for 51. Most of the J&K batsmen managed starts but none could stay there too long to force a draw.
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The dead rubber between Goa and Tripura, where both teams had no chance of qualifying for the semis petered out to a tepid draw. Even three innings weren’t completed and Goa ended their second innings on 190 for 8. Tushar Saha, the left-arm medium pacer, finished with 5 for 65 but by then the game was over as a contest.

Geoffrey Boycott has launched a scathing and wide-ranging attack on the state of English cricket, in an interview on Radio Five Live. He called England’s performance against South Africa “pathetic'”. He also strongly criticised the selectors for looking to the future instead of the present, and called Nasser Hussain “stupid'” for the resigning from the captaincy when he did. The strongest criticism however, was reserved for Duncan Fletcher.Boycott has been forced to watch most of England’s recent matches on television, as he has fought throat cancer from which he is now in remission. In this interview, however, he showed that he has not become any softer.”I don’t take much notice of their wins against Zimbabwe,” he began. “Quite frankly they [Zimbabwe] weren’t up for it. A club side could have beaten Zimbabwe, so saying England have had a good summer so far is nonsense. We’ve not been tested until South Africa came here, and we’ve not only been found wanting – we’ve been pathetic.”Boycott believes that the selectors should not pick young cricketers simply because they’re looking to build a team for the future. He insists that Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart still have roles to play. “Every time we have a bad match, the selectors come up with the old chestnut of `sack the older players, bring on youth, build for the future’.””Well to hell with the future – what about now? What the public could do with is a tonic now – they could could do with England whacking South Africa at Trent Bridge. So I wouldn’t sack Alec and I wouldn’t sack Hussain – I think they’ve got it right.”Fletcher, who prefers to work quietly from the sidelines, is not spared either: “Whenever there’s any publicity, it’s shove the captain forward. When the team plays well, he [the coach] takes a lot of the plaudits. I think you’ve got to take some of the pressure off Michael (Vaughan) and stand up a bit.”Boycott suggested that England needed someone who properly recognised the importance of County cricket: “He [Fletcher] hasn’t played county cricket and he doesn’t understand the passion we have for it, and resting all the players all the time is killing county cricket. I just feel that it would be better if we had an Englishman who understands that we have a professional county game to support, as well as Test matches to win. You have to marry the two.”Hussain might have got the Boycott vote as player, but the timing of his resignation comes under fire: “Stupid – not good for English cricket. I accept that maybe he was mentally shot – but he should have known that before he went on the field. He did a lot of talking before that first Test match and I thought ‘this guy’s talking himself out of a job’.”

The Konica Queensland Fire will embark on their quest to win theState’s first national women’s championship this weekend when theycommence their Women’s National Cricket League season with two matchesagainst Victoria at Allan Border Field.The Fire reached the Final of the WNCL last season for the first timeonly to lose to five-time champions NSW, but will begin the 2001-2002season full of confidence.The team for the opening round includes Australian players Julia Priceand Sally Cooper, members of the undefeated Southern Stars team thatwon the Ashes in England in July, national squad members Melissa Bulowand Tricia Brown and former Australian allrounder Megan White.White has returned to Brisbane after a season playing with Victoriaand is joined in the team by pace bowler Renee Lee, who missed lastseason to concentrate on indoor cricket.The Fire team also contains three members of the Konica QueenslandUnder-19 team in Gold Coast off-spinner Belinda Matheson, SunshineCoast pace bowler Kirsten Pike and Toowoomba bat Jodie Purves.Victoria will include Australian pace-bowling spearhead CathrynFitzpatrick, the fastest bowler in world women’s cricket, and SouthernStars captain Belinda Clark, who has relocated from Sydney toMelbourne to assist with the integration of Women’s Cricket Australiawith the ACB.The teams will play limited over matches on Saturday and Sunday. Entryis free, with play commencing at 10am.KONICA QUEENSLAND FIRE v Victorian Spirit, Allan Border Field,Saturday and Sunday: Julia Price (Captain), Bronwyn Buckley(vice-captain), Melissa Bulow, Belinda Matheson, Sally Cooper, TriciaBrown, Megan White, Jodie Purves, Leonie Shields, Cindy Kross, ReneeLee, Kirsten Pike.

The Delhi Police special cell has moved Delhi High Court to appeal against a trial court’s order that let off all those accused by Delhi Police in the spot-fixing case of 2013. On July 25, the trial court had acquitted all 42 chargesheeted, including the three Rajasthan Royals cricketers Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, on the basis of lack of evidence.On Wednesday evening, Delhi Police challenged the trial court order on grounds that it had “failed” to properly appreciate the evidence before it, the reported. The cell in its appeal has also said the trial court should not have discharged all accused at the stage of framing of charges, and should have considered all evidence after a proper trial.The court had dismissed the case saying there was no prime facie case under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), the law under which Delhi Police sought sentences against those accused. Betting is not legal in India, which meant there was no prima facie victim even if the spot-fixing charges were proved, which basically means there is no provision in the Indian legal system to deal with fixing.Delhi Police tried to get around it by filing the case under MCOCA, but the court said there was not enough evidence for charges to be framed under that act, a special law passed by the Maharashtra state government to tackle organised crime syndicates and terrorism which contains far stricter provisions relating to bail and admissibility of confessions compared to the Indian Penal Code.The court’s order had no bearing on the BCCI’s sanctions on the three players. Sreesanth and Chavan remained banned for life. “Any disciplinary proceeding or decision taken by the BCCI is independent to any criminal proceeding and has no bearing,” the BCCI had said in response to the trial court’s order. “The decisions of the BCCI, based on its independent disciplinary action, shall remain unaltered.”

Andrew Hall, South Africa allrounder who recently retired from international cricket, has signed for Northamptonshire on a three-year deal.Hall, 32, was omitted from South Africa’s World Twenty20 squad this month, a decision which ultimately prompted him to retire from internationals.”A number of counties have been after Andrew’s signature,” Mark Tagg, the Northants chief executive said, “and we are very pleased that he has seen the potential in our club over the next few years and has decided that he would like to be a part of our plans.”Hall had a stint at a brief stint at Worcestershire before joining Kent in 2005 where he enjoyed far greater success. In 61 matches he took 122 wickets, also notching three hundreds and 11 fifties.”I feel confident that the addition of Andrew’s vast experience combined with his proven qualities of being a combative, competitive team man in all departments of the game will have a significant impact in all competitions,” the Northamptonshire coach, David Capel, said.”His pedigree and enthusiastic approach to the game is likely to lead to him having a positive impact at the club in all aspects during the next three years. His bowling ability in all forms of the game is the primary reason for his addition to the squad but it is also recognised that he is a player that has great versatility with his batting roles, making him a him an even more valuable asset to the club.””The opportunity to join Northants and play my role both on and off the field in achieving success and being part of the development plans over the next three years is an exciting one for me,” Hall said. “Before making my decision I have spoken in depth with David Capel, Nicky Boje and Lance Klusener who have given me a useful insight and convinced me about the style, potential and ambition that the club have in progressing and working towards achieving lasting success.”They have assured me regarding the clubs will to compete and enthused about some young talent coming through the ranks and I hope to support their development and help create a strong all round competitive team for many years to come.”