Western Province overpowered Eastern Province in the Bay while Justin Kemp’s maiden Standard Bank Cup hundred could not have come at a better time, as he smashed Northerns to an exciting win in Centurion. Gauteng completed the weekend fixtures with a convincing win over Griqualand West.PointsTableWestern Province 194 for 3 (Gibbs 47, Smith 51) beat EasternProvince 193 for 8 (Wingfield 39, Mitchell 39, de Stadler 4-35, Kallis3-42) by 7 wickets.
ScorecardEastern Province fought hard to score 193 for 8, but it was the young swing bowler, Mark de Stadler, with a career best 4 for 35, and Jacques Kallis, taking 3 for 42, who walked away with the laurels.Once again the top-heavy Western Province batting made easy pickings of the bowling. Graeme Smith scored 51, Herschelle Gibbs hit 47 and Kallis made 30 not out as the tournament leaders won comfortably in 32 overs.Gauteng 168 for 1 (Bacher 67, Cook 62*) beat North West 166 for 7 (Grace 50, Bailey 53, Terbrugge 3-20) by 9 wickets.
ScorecardAfter winning the toss and batting, North West could not have wished for a worse start: 15 for 4 in the ninth over. David Terbrugge, back in the Gauteng side, took 3 for 6 in his first five overs. Graham Grace and Ryan Bailey fashioned a revival with a half-century apiece, and North West finished on 166 for 7.Gauteng made the best possible start to their innings with Adam Bacher (67) and Stephen Cook (62 not out) creating the ideal platform for what turned out to be a nine-wicket win. The only hiccup in the Gauteng innings was a 30-minute rain interruption.Northerns 225 for 8 (Kemp 107*, McKenzie 61, Abrahim 3-36) beatGriqualand West 221 for 9 (Bosman 58, Gidley 47 Bossenger 33*) by 2 wickets.
ScorecardGriqualand West made things difficult for Northerns, scoring 221 for 9, with Loots Bosman (58), Martin Gidley (47), Wendell Bossenger (33) and Jason Brooker (27) being the major contributors.A magnificent hundred from Justin Kemp, in 70 balls, with six fours and seven sixes, took Northerns to an exciting two-wicket win with two balls to spare. Northerns had earlier lost two wickets in the first two overs but Neil McKenzie (61) and Kemp got the innings back on track before Kemp unleashed his onslaught.

Scorecard

After a series of insipid matches, the VB Series finally came to life with a pulsating contest at Brisbane. There were two centuries of widely contrasting styles, plenty of other classy innings and almost 600 runs scored in the match. In the end, India’s total of 303 – the highest ever in a one-day international at the Gabba – was just enough to eke out a 19-run victory and take their points tally to 12 from three games.On a superb pitch, India’s much-vaunted batting line-up came to the fore once again: Sachin Tendulkar overcame a circumspect start and an ankle injury to score 86, VVS Laxman stroked a delightful unbeaten 103, his third ODI century – all of them against Australia – and Rahul Dravid contributed an elegant 74.Australia responded with a typically spirited effort, but despite a 107-ball 109 from Matthew Hayden, fell short. There was some cheer for the young Indian seamers as well, as Lakshmipathy Balaji (4 for 48) and Irfan Pathan (3 for 64) held their nerve under mounting pressure and bowled with exceptional control.Needing to score at over a run a ball, Adam Gilchrist and Hayden got the Australian run-chase off to a furious start, driving, pulling or just plain slogging almost every ball. Gilchrist’s luck ran out early, though, when he top-edged an attempted swing to leg and was caught by Balaji at mid-on (46 for 1). Hayden’s contest against Pathan and Ashish Nehra was enthralling – every once in a while, they pushed him back with well-directed bouncers, but whenever the ball was pitched up, Hayden, already batting out of his crease, plonked his front foot further forward and clunked powerful drives over mid-off and mid-on.However, wickets kept falling at the other end – Laxman held on to a swirling skier when Ricky Ponting top-edged a hoick (86 for 2), and Damien Martyn guided a swinging half-volley to Yuvraj Singh at point (94 for 3). Balaji, whose performance was a huge improvement on his previous displays, picked up both wickets.Andrew Symonds threatened a revival, but Rohan Gavaskar – in the team for the injured Virender Sehwag -got his maiden ODI wicket off his fifth ball when he brought off a fine diving return catch to dismiss Symonds (141 for 4).Then came the period when Australia looked most likely to pull off their run-chase. Michael Clarke, displaying all the calm of a Zen monk, coolly tapped the ball around to keep the score ticking over, while Hayden, after a manic start, settled down to play sensibly, ensuring that the asking rate was kept within striking range.With Australia requiring only a run-a-ball for their last 100, Ganguly turned to Pathan, and he responded immediately. Balaji dropped a clanger to let off Hayden off the first ball of Pathan’s spell, but two balls later Pathan nailed his man, when Hayden nicked to Dravid (204 for 5). Four overs later, Clarke, who once again demonstrated just why he is rated so highly in Australia, threw it away chasing a wide one from Pathan (224 for 6). Ian Harvey lashed at a few, then clipped a half-volley from Nehra to Gavaskar at midwicket (249 for 7). Meanwhile, Bevan kept the fight going, but with only the tail for company, and an asking rate that kept climbing, the target proved just too much against an Indian attack that refused to bowl four-balls.India’s huge total was dominated by two prominent partnerships – Tendulkar and Laxman added 110 for the second wicket, and then Dravid joined Laxman to put together 133 for the third.For much of his innings, Tendulkar was hampered by an injury to his right ankle, which he twisted while playing a ball to leg. However, that only galvanised him into action, as he uncorked some glorious drives to get India off to a rousing start after they won the toss. Despite Sourav Ganguly’s early dismissal, India raced to 89 off the first 15 overs.Both Tendulkar and Laxman were especially severe on Brett Lee, driving down the ground or pulling whenever he erred in length. Ten runs came in each of Lee’s first three overs, and he ended up with 1 for 83 from 10 overs – the second-most expensive figures by an Australian in an ODI (the most expensive figures, incidentally, were by Lee as well, against Pakistan at Cardiff in 2001.)The boundaries gave way to singles and twos as the fielding restrictions were lifted and the slower bowlers came on, but Tendulkar, despite clearly being hampered by his ankle injury, refused the option of taking a runner – Ganguly came out fully padded up and was promptly sent back. Like the Indians later in the evening, the Australians missed a handful of run-out opportunities, but apart from that, there were few chances that came their way.The partnership finally ended in rather tame fashion, when Tendulkar slapped a short ball from Symonds straight back to the bowler (147 for 2). Dravid ensured that the momentum didn’t fall away, working the ball around superbly from the outset, and immediately showing the rich vein of form he was in. His fifty contained just one four, and yet it came off a mere 49 balls. It was a batting masterclass, from a player at the peak of his form and confidence.Laxman, meanwhile, played with a calmness he has often struggled to find in one-dayers. He located the boundaries when the field was in, and then settled down to nurdle the ones and twos effortlessly. Dravid was dismissed in the search for quick runs, but Laxman carried on, and reached a well-deserved hundred off the last ball of the innings, tonking a full toss from Harvey over midwicket. In the end, the total turned out to be just enough.

Surrey have ended their search for a replacement for Keith Medlycott with the announcement that Steve Rixon has signed a two-year deal to be the county’s manager.Rixon, 49, who played 13 Tests for Australia between 1977 and 1985, is currently coaching New South Wales and will move to England in late March when his current contract expires.”Having been offered roles in English cricket before, I feel this is the opportunity and challenge that really excites me the most," Rixon said. "Working for what I see as the premier county, I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen of Surrey so far. It’s clearly a squad with high quality players who I am looking forward to working with. I believe we will continue to build on the winning ways of the past few years.””We have searched the world of cricket to find the best person for this crucial position within the club," Paul Sheldon, Surrey’s chief executive, explained. "Having spent time with him last week in Australia I am convinced that we have found the right man to lead the team into a new era."

The England and Wales Cricket Board has finally received a letter from the Foreign Office outlining the government’s position regarding October’s scheduled tour of Zimbabwe.As was widely expected, the government has stopped short of actually saying that the tour cannot go ahead, but at least it has recommended that it doesn’t – albeit in phrases carefully constructed so as not to offer anything which could be construed as direct advice – and so the ECB now has to hope that will be enough for them to be able to pull out without incurring any sanction from the ICC.In the aftermath of the news about its new criteria for deciding whether tours should proceed, the ECB has been firmly reminded by the ICC that it has responsibilities and that moral objections are not a valid reason for scrapping a series. But governmental intervention is, as in the situation regarding India and Pakistan. There, it is at governmental level that a ban on the two sides has been made, and so the ICC has not interfered.The ECB is now being squeezed from both sides. Its own escape route – Des Wilson’s report – means that it has little choice but to call off the tour, unless it wants to attract a stinging public and sponsorship backlash; on the other hand the ICC are threatening financial penalties if it does pull out. The ECB ideally wanted the government to come down off the fence and give it firm direction, but the likelihood of that was always remote.Yesterday, the ICC upped the ante, with a source suggesting that an England boycott would not only result in fines, but that it would also mean that the ECB would be liable for consequential loss. So, if as a result of not touring Zimbabwe four countries boycotted the ICC Champions Trophy, then the ECB would also be liable to pay for the cost of that.

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.”

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.

Bangladesh’s captain, Habibul Bashar, will miss next month’s ICC Champions Trophy in England, after it was revealed that he would be requiring surgery to repair his right thumb, which he injured during practice last week.Bashar received the news on Monday, after the Bangladesh Cricket Board had examined medical reports sent through by doctors in Australia. "We have received a verbal message that the thumb needs to be operated upon," said the BCB’s cricket committee chairman, Mahbub Anam. "We are still waiting for the written report which is expected by Tuesday morning."The news is a hammer-blow for Bangladesh’s already slim prospects in the competition, and it is widely rumoured that Khaled Mahmud, the deposed former captain, may be asked to fill the breach because of his previous experience of English conditions. Mahmud captained the Bangladesh Under-19 side in a month-long unofficial tour of England in 1989, and was later a star performer for Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup, when he was named Man of the Match for his part in the historic victory over Pakistan.Other names in contention include Bangladesh’s vice-captain, Rajin Saleh, and the wicketkeeper and former captain, Khaled Mashud. Justin Cordy, the team trainer, said that Bashar would be out of action for at least three weeks after the operation, but should be back in time for the start of a hectic home schedule beginning from October with New Zealand’s tour.Bashar himself was philosophical about the news. "It is just one tournament," he said. "If missing it makes the future better for me, I have no problems with it. Injuries are natural for cricketers and we have to accept it as a part of life." His replacement has been named as Faisal Hossain, the left-hander who had been dropped from the side after a miserable Asia Cup campaign. There had been speculation that the unachieving young star, Alok Kapali, would be recalled, but he has been kept on the sidelines to work on his form.It is just the latest disruption to Bangladesh’s preparations. Earlier this month, the team returned from Colombo to find two-thirds of the country submerged by the heaviest floods for a decade, while the team’s final nets sessions were cancelled following a grenade attack at a political rally in Dhaka, in which 18 people were killed. But through it all, Dav Whatmore, the coach, is determined to remain upbeat."We won’t go on the field thinking we are going to lose," he insisted. "We’ll go out there thinking of doing our best. And if we continue to do that and if the players give their personal best performances, we are in a good shape to really push the opposition and take some wins. We have never changed that philosophy. All we all want is the right result, and that result is a win."Rabeed Imam is senior sub-editor at the Daily Star in Dhaka.

This one-sided game added fuel to the debate. Not whether the Champions Trophy should be scheduled for the last half of September in a small, damp north-European island, but whether the Rose Bowl should be hosting international cricket. (And, given that its stands were painted sky blue with great swathes of fans wearing the Indian one-day kit, delphinium or gentian somehow seemed more appropriate than rose.)The new Southampton ground, make no mistake, is a magnificent venue. Everyone has a cracking view even when wandering round or queuing for beer, it sits beneath attractive wooded slopes, the pavilion is light and graceful, and it’s a stone’s throw from the motorway network. With the extra seating brought in for the occasion, it can seat a respectable 16,000, so what’s the problem?Maybe there isn’t one, but a key ingredient of international cricket is still missing. The Rose Bowl doesn’t yet have an international-standard pitch. Even India, arguably the finest batting line-up in the game (admittedly without Sachin Tendulkar), and facing Kenya’s modest attack, could not ignite this match.The Southampton wicket remains a grudging, curmudgeonly pitch that tends to suffocate an innings. One-day internationals thrive on harder, faster surfaces than here, and this fixture suffered.Despite the best efforts of the most partisan and enthusiastic set of fans the Rose Bowl can have seen in its short history – if you looked very carefully, you could just make out the odd pocket of Kenyan leaf-green in the fervent light-blue sea – onfield sparkle was in short supply.With play beginning at 10.15 on a dewy autumnal morning, the Indian top order were justified in playing safe, and in the first 15 overs the crowd had to content themselves with more Mexican waves than boundaries. Virender Sehwag, though, can do only so much playing safe, and he had already gone to an ugly heave across the line that would have caused a wince or two on the village green.Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman looked secure, if not at home. They prospered against largely innocuous bowling, but the stodgy pitch and treacly outfield prevented any fireworks. Both managed just four fours in their fifties as India hit only ten boundaries in their first 30 overs.Against far sharper bowling, Kenya naturally found it even harder going. India’s effervescent supporters, clanging, cheering, shouting and klaxoning their team towards the rout, probably wouldn’t complain, but it could all have been so much more entertaining. And as the Kenyans’ strength remains their batting, it should also have produced a closer game.It might seem churlish to complain when the Indians totalled 290, but the Rose Bowl is due to host Test cricket in the near future. It has excellent facilities, it just needs the pitch to go with them.Hugh Chevallier is deputy editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.

Ahead of Sri Lanka’s match against England at the Rose Bowl, Marvan Atapattu advised his batsmen: “play your natural game. That has been your success.” Atapattu seemed relaxed and quietly confident when he spoke to the media on the eve of the England match.Atapattu gave England their due, and when asked whether they were a team Sri Lanka feared in the Champions Trophy, he replied: “Definitely. England have been playing well, and now they are playing at home. They’ll have that advantage but sometimes when you are on top, and playing at home, the expectations are too high.”Atapattu added that his team were not particularly overawed by Steve Harmison. “He’s bowling well and is on top of his game at the moment. But we don’t face Steve Harmison, we just face the ball that is coming from his hand. So we have to play accordingly.”The gap between Sri Lanka’s performances at home and away has drawn plenty of attention, but Atapattu felt the problem was not unique to his team. “It happens to every country. Sri Lanka is no exception. Any country playing away is not as comfortable as playing at home. To call yourself a good cricketer you have to adapt to any sort of conditions and wickets. That’s the beauty of cricket – you don’t get to play in similar conditions every day.”Muttiah Muralitharan’s absence has not hurt Sri Lanka as much as it used to a few years back, and Atapattu drew attention to this. “I’m sure any team is pleased to see a Sri Lankan team without Murali. After all, we all know what Muralitharan is capable of. But to perform this well without him has been a good team effort. Obviously when Murali is there everyone is looking to him to pick up wickets. So much pressure is put on him by everybody, including the press. But when he’s not there everybody has to chip in and get the job done.”Atapattu also expressed his desire for more Sri Lankan cricketers to be called up by counties, as the experience of playing in England would hold them in good stead when they played international cricket. “It helps if players have played a bit of cricket here. It’s surprising to see some of our guys not being offered or being asked to come over and play here. It would’ve been an honour to be asked by one of the counties, and some of the guys would definitely have considered playing here.”Friday’s weather forecastEngland (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Vikram Solanki, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Andrew Strauss, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Geraint Jones (wkt), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Alex Wharf, 10 Darren Gough, 11 Steve Harmison.Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Avishka Gunawardene, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 4 Saman Jayantha, 5 Kumar Sangakkara (wkt), 6 Mahela Jayawardene, 7 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 8 Upul Chandana, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Zoysa.