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New Zealand waved goodbye to the prospect of a third placing in the ICC Test Championship when failing to win the second National Bank Series Test at the Basin Reserve against England but a win in Auckland could still see them claim fourth ahead of England.Already England have secured the William Jordan Rosebowl for another term – the trophy is awarded to the winner of home series between the two countries. The only time New Zealand has won it remains the summer of 1983/84.The third Test starts in Auckland on Saturday. The New Zealand team for the Test will be named tomorrow.It won’t be remembered as a match of accurate umpiring and if it proves to be the last of Steve Dunne’s career it will not be the most shining example of efficiency, a point that should have been brought home to him by the on-field responses of both sides to some decisions – muted as the responses may have been under requirements of the International Code of Conduct.The message was plain, the players were not happy, and the all-seeing television eye would suggest they had good cause.New Zealand batted through 84 overs on the last day today, having been left a target of 356 in 86 overs, but under the conditions it was never on. When play ended two overs early, New Zealand were 158/4 with Nathan Astle (11) and Craig McMillan (17) unbeaten.It was always going to be a fine balancing act for England captain Nasser Hussain. He was always conscious of the threat posed by Astle after the Christchurch onslaught, but in reality the prospect of a repeat here in Wellington was always going to be unlikely.A different pitch, different circumstances, and different needs for Astle’s team.Ten years ago in Christchurch Phil Tufnell went through the New Zealand side in an afternoon as the home team lost seven wickets for 53 runs.But Ashley Giles did not offer the same problems to the New Zealand top order that Tufnell managed.And while the Basin Reserve came under scrutiny in the match, one thing has generally remained constant about the ground since the mid-1980s, at least, it doesn’t quickly deteriorate and, in fact, gets better the further the match goes.Losing the first day and most of the second helped ensure there would be no dramatic break up of the pitch on this occasion.It was at best one of those days which provides frustration for all but the most fervent admirer of Test cricket.England came out and went for the bash to add 97 runs in 18 overs, courtesy largely of 75 runs blasted by Andrew Flintoff who was let off the leash and given free rein to pummel the New Zealand attack, which he did.The one disappointment for England had to be the failure of Marcus Trescothick to achieve his third Test century in a situation made for him. He was out for 88 to Daniel Vettori’s bowling.At one stage Flintoff was in danger of setting the world record for the fastest 50 in Test matches although the actual amount appears to be in some dispute. Some claim Ian Botham’s 26-ball effort at Delhi in 1981/82 is the record while others say Kapil Dev’s 30-ball effort at Karachi in 1982/83 is the fastest.Whatever the record, Flintoff didn’t make it as his 50 came off 33 balls. He was eventually out, offering a simple return leading edge to Vettori when on 75, scored off 44 balls. He hit two sixes and nine fours.If there was any satisfaction for New Zealand’s bowlers it was that Vettori stayed composed under the circumstances and took three for 90.In New Zealand’s response Mark Richardson fell to a good, over-the-shoulder catch by Graham Thorpe from Giles’ bowling at fine leg, at least by the time he caught it, for four.Lou Vincent then came and played an applied innings, although he was given a huge stay of execution when Dunne failed to give him out caught off his gloves by Mark Butcher at silly mid-off.Vincent scored his second half century of the match and was 71, from 181 minutes and 170 balls, before he was trapped leg before wicket by Matthew Hoggard.Earlier, Matt Horne had played a more compelling innings, and one that should probably see him retained for the third Test, of 38 in 109 minutes.Stephen Fleming provided a crease occupation intent on saving the Test with 11 runs scored in 143 minutes.Hoggard did cause a minor flutter of expectation with Vincent and Fleming’s wicket but Astle and McMillan batted without error to keep the series alive.New Zealand knew what they had to do to win the Test in terms of bowling, and they failed. Some change seems likely for the last Test, probably the selection of Daryl Tuffey for Chris Martin.But the home side also need to remember that their two first inning batting efforts in the Tests to date have been poor when they are capable of much better and without those runs they are never going to put the pressure on England in the later stages of the game.

Attempts to finalise a tour of Kenya by Zimbabwe continue to stall because of claims by Zimbabwe Cricket that their itinerary is too busy to allow them to fit in with dates offered by the Kenyans.A source inside Zimbabwe Cricket told Cricinfo that while Cricket Kenya had offered two alternatives for a one-day series in Nairobi and Mombasa, the Zimbabwe board had countered that the only time they had free was a small window in late October, at the same time the Kenyans are hosting Ireland in the Intercontinental Cup and then a one-day series.It is possible that the Ireland series could be replaced with a triangular tournament including Zimbabwe, but that could throw up political issues in asking Ireland to take the field against Zimbabwe.Zimbabwe have not played an international match since February, when they were whitewashed in a five ODI series. They have repeatedly put obstacles in the way of playing Kenya away from home, much to the frustration of both Cricket Kenya and, increasingly, the ICC, who have put Zimbabwe Cricket under increasing pressure to play the lower-ranked Test countries as well as the leading Associates.Zimbabwe’s schedule is hardly packed. They are down to play one-day series with Sri Lanka at home and away during the next year, and they are also hosting a Pakistan Academy side next month. Last season they played a large number of matches in South Africa’s domestic competitions, but with relations between ZC and Cricket South Africa now frozen, there appear to be big gaps in their itinerary.”It’s as much about not wanting to be seen losing to Kenya than anything else,” the ZC source told Cricinfo. “It would be easy to arrange the tour if the will was there. The players want to play. It’s the administrators who are running scared as they worry that a defeat by them [Kenya] would make people inside the ICC sit up and start asking more questions about funding.”

The review of umpiring decisions, being trialled in the series, has already generated a lot of attention and did so again on Saturday, when a confident appeal by India for an lbw against Thilan Samaraweera was turned down initially by the on-field umpire and then on review.Samaraweera was struck on the pad by a ball from Anil Kumble but it appeared as if he might have got an inside edge. However, replays showed ball hitting pad before bat, and it appeared as though the ball would have gone on to hit the middle stump three-fourths of the way up. The decision, though, was upheld and Samaraweera, then on 5, went on to score 35.Mark Benson was the on-field umpire involved in that decision, and he admitted it had been a hard day at work. “It has been a tough day for the umpires; there have been three decisions overturned but in the end of the day the correct decision has been made and we have to live with it,” he told broadcaster Ten Sports after the day’s play. “It’s not easy with all these bat-pads and these mystery spinners (read Ajantha Mendis). It’s a trial and the review system has got to be for the obvious mistakes. It can only be for good if we get rid of the obvious mistake”There were seven review calls made by both teams on Saturday. Benson and Rudi Koertzen were the two on-field umpires, with Billy Doctrove standing as the third umpire. Benson had a few suggestions for improving the system.”The review system needs to get the HotSpot in,” he said. Benson also said perhaps the review should check if the entire ball pitched outside the line of leg stump in case of leg-before decisions, instead of looking at percentages. Currently, the rule states that more than 50% of the ball must pitch in line with the leg stump, whereas for the impact of the ball on pad, as long as a part of the ball is in line with the stumps the batsman can be given out.The present review system uses the Virtual Eye technology, which maps where the ball pitched and the point where it hit the pad, and predicts where the ball will hit the stumps (though this is not available to the third umpire due to doubts over its accuracy). However, the system produced a gaffe when it failed to detect a deflection from Virender Sehwag’s front pad onto the back pad in India’s second innings at the SSC, and showed the impact of the ball in line with where it hit the back pad, but at a distance from the stumps where his front pad was. Third umpire Rudi Koertzen too failed to point out the glaring error to the on-field umpire.Sri Lanka have had the better of the review system so far in the series, with captain Mahela Jayawardene particularly making some superb calls in the field on the first day of the Test, with lbw shouts against Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir, initially given not-out by the on-field umpire, were upheld on review. Trevor Bayliss, the Sri Lanka coach, was for the system. “We’ve had a number decisions turned around in our favour. The other way of looking at it is sitting here and complaining about seven or eight wrong ones,” he said on Saturday. “In fact we had those turned around. I think it’s doing its job. There are one or two areas that have to be cleaned up a little bit. But from our point of view we are reasonably happy the way it has gone.”Bayliss felt the review system would balance the contest between bat and ball. “Everyone says the game is a batsman’s game. I think the review system might be a little bit of a comeback for the bowlers. There will be more outs than not outs. All the bowlers should be pretty happy that the review system is in place.”

BRISBANE – Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist has been hospitalisedwith an infected elbow just three days before the opening Ashes cricketTest at the Gabba.Gilchrist was today hooked up to an intravenous antibiotic drip and willremain in St Andrew’s Hospital in Brisbane until tomorrow.Australian team physiotherapist Errol Alcott said the treatment wasprecautionary and Gilchrist was still expected to be fit for the firstTest against England starting on Thursday.”It’s a hot swollen, very tender elbow and it hurts a little bit to moveit,” Alcott said as the Australians trained at the Gabba.”So we figure rather than being down here and landing on it andaggravating it and exciting the inflammation we’ll put him on bed restand some antibiotic treatment.”We’re confident he’ll be back on deck shortly, we’re planning to leavehim overnight and review him tomorrow around mid-morning and see how wego from there.”Alcott said at this stage no replacement had been called for.Gilchrist noticed tenderness around his right elbow on Saturday and thearea become more troublesome yesterday when he joined teammates inBrisbane.”It’s frustrating not being able to train straight away and interruptthe build up to the Test match but I’m working on the basis this is afrustration and nothing more,” he said.”I’m keen to get back on deck as soon as possible and my expectation atthis stage is that I will be fully fit and ready to play in the Testmatch come Thursday morning.”Australia now has two injury problems leading into the Test with pacebowler Jason Gillespie battling a calf strain.Gillespie trained lightly in the nets today and will have an extendedworkout tomorrow.Alcott said Gillespie had felt “a bit stiff” from his 10 overs for SouthAustralia in Saturday’s ING Cup match against NSW in Adelaide.”Tomorrow we’ll have a good session and we’ll review him then,” saidAlcott, who rated Gillespie’s chances of playing as “pretty good”.Gillespie’s inclusion would leave selectors a difficult choice betweenBrett Lee and Andy Bichel to be 12th man for the first Test.Former Australian fast bowler Merv Hughes believes Lee should retain hisTest spot because English batsmen are scared of the paceman.”If you have a look at Brett Lee at the Gabba, when he comes in to bowlthe crowd just lifts and if you watch the English batsmen they just seema little bit more nervous,” said Hughes.”He’s there for the fear factor.”Australia’s other matter to sort out this week is some changes tofielding positions.Mark Waugh’s retirement from international cricket means a new secondslip will have to be found with Ricky Ponting or Damien Martyn favouredfor the job.Australia may also be looking for another candidate to field at shortleg with Justin Langer reportedly wanting a change due to medical adviceafter five blows to the head in the past 12 months.”Hopefully my prowess in the gully could perhaps have me overlooked forthat position,” said Langer’s close friend and opening partner MatthewHayden.”I guess the versatility shows that most of the side can field anywherethough.”Late today it looked as if Darren Lehmann, recalled to the Test side toreplace Mark Waugh, could be asked to take over from Langer in thebat-pad catching position

Sri Lanka spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan will resume training after ahernia operation in two and a half weeks time, according to Sri Lanka coachDav Whatmore.Muralitharan was flown to Melbourne, Australia for surgery straight afterthe second Test at Centurion and could now be available for Sri Lanka’s tourof Australia in December."We have spoken to him in Australia and he is coming along well," saidWhatmore. "He will probably resume training in two and a half weeks."Muralitharan’s previous two visits to Australia have been marred bycontroversy over his bowling action. There has been concern that he would besubjected to similar scrutiny on this tour.Sri Lanka will take on Australia and England in the annual one-day roundrobin before the World Cup which starts on February 8.

Lancashire County Cricket Club is delighted to announce that John Stanworth has been appointed as the first Director of LCCC’s new ECB Academy at Old Trafford. Cricket Manager Mike Watkinson commented: Wicketkeeper Stanworth played for Lancashire from 1983 to 1992 and later acted as second team coach before becoming the Club’s Player Development Manager.Lancashire was one of four counties selected to earn Academy status from the ECB last April and Mike Watkinson sees it as a major step forward in the development of the region’s youth talent:

ADELAIDE, Oct 17 AAP – South Australia continued to build a commanding lead despite losing three wickets before lunch in its second innings on day three of its Pura Cup cricket match against Victoria at Adelaide Oval today.After starting the day at 1-268, SA was 4-377 at lunch, a lead of 373 runs with six wickets in hand after trailing Victoria by four runs on the first innings.SA skipper Greg Blewett was the first batsman out today, caught at first slip off Michael Lewis for 103, ending a partnership of 260 with opener Ben Johnson, the highest-ever second-wicket stand for SA against Victoria.It took a brilliant left-handed reflex catch from paceman Mathew Inness off his own bowling to dismiss Johnson, who was out three overs later for 165.Chris Davies (14) was the other batsman out today, adjudged lbw to leg-spinner Cameron White despite being well forward.But all-rounder Mark Higgs ensured SA continued to amass a big lead, with an unbeaten 56 from 64 balls before lunch.Michael Miller, on three, was the other not out batsman, while Inness had the best figures of 2-46 for the Bushrangers.

Gold Award winner Ronnie Irani was full of praise for his Essex side after scoring a run-a-ball 57 and three for 30 in his team’s 138-run win over Worcestershire that secured a place in the last-ever Benson & Hedges Cup Final at Lord’s on June 22.”It was a great team performance, everyone contributed and I thought we were excellent,” Irani said.”If you want to be successful and be the best you have to adapt to playing in these pressure games. And it has been an absolute joy to see how some of these guys have played.”Essex are playing as well as they have since I have been involved withthem. Yesterday, it wasn’t easy at the start but we took the initiative and never let it go.”Asked whether he had hopes of an England recall for the triangular series with Sri Lanka and India, he said: “I don’t look further than Essex County Cricket Club. They are my club and these are my boys and I can’t look beyond that.”Worcestershire’s captain Graeme Hick admitted they didn’t make the most of their opportunity after putting the hosts in to bat.”Generally we are a side that likes to bat first but both of us would havebowled on winning the toss here,” Hick said.”We have played some good cricket this year and this is only our second defeat in the one-day game. We came into it with confidence but Essex played well, got the momentum going, and we didn’t play as well we can in all three departments.”

AGAINST ODIs Won Lost NR Tied Success%WEST INDIES 13 9 4 0 0 69.23SRI LANKA 20 10 9 0 1 52.50INDIA 7 5 2 0 0 71.42AUSTRALIA 9 2 7 0 0 22.22SOUTH AFRICA 7 3 4 0 0 42.85BANGLADESH 4 4 0 0 0 100.00NEW ZEALAND 14 10 4 0 0 71.42ENGLAND 6 5 1 0 0 83.33ZIMBABWE 4 4 0 0 0 100.00TOTAL 84 52 31 0 1 62.50Individual Performers in ODIBattingPlayer Inns NO 50s 100s HS Runs Ave Ct StInzamam-ul-Haq 69 12 18 2 *121 2,373 41.63 26 0Shoaib Malik 14 4 0 2 115 408 40.80 9 0Yousuf Youhana 78 11 12 5 129 2,627 39.21 19 0Saeed Anwar 49 2 11 2 *105 1,808 38.47 5 0Rashid Latif 18 6 2 0 79 424 35.33 33 4Abdul Razzaq 68 19 10 0 86 1,622 33.10 9 0Saleem Elahi 10 1 2 0 79 296 32.89 4 0Hasan Raza 4 0 1 0 77 120 30.00 0 0Ijaz Ahmed 14 0 4 0 85 402 28.71 4 0Naved Latif 9 0 0 1 113 255 28.33 2 0Younis Khan 46 5 8 0 73 1,156 28.20 20 0Misbah-ul-Haq 1 0 0 0 28 28 28.00 0 0Shahid Afridi 60 4 10 1 *108 1503 26.84 25 0Imran Nazir 39 1 6 1 *105 983 25.87 10 0Humayun Farhat 3 0 0 0 39 60 20.00 4 3Azhar Mahmood 33 8 1 0 67 497 19.88 15 0Wasim Akram 44 11 0 0 *42 632 19.15 10 0Moin Khan 43 5 2 0 *56 716 18.84 63 17Aamer Sohail 7 0 0 0 47 129 18.43 1 0Atiq-Uz-Zaman 3 1 0 0 18 34 17.00 3 1Faisal Iqbal 3 1 0 0 *17 33 16.50 0 0Wajahatullah Wasti 7 0 0 0 40 112 16.00 4 0Imran Farhat 5 0 0 0 33 80 16.00 1 0Irfan Fazil 1 0 0 0 15 15 15.00 0 0Imran Abbas 2 0 0 0 28 29 14.50 1 0Mushtaq Ahmed 7 3 0 0 *34 56 14.00 2 0Taufeeq Umar 2 0 0 0 18 28 14.00 2 0Waqar Younis 36 10 0 0 37 314 12.08 8 0Mohammad Wasim 4 0 0 0 44 44 11.00 3 0Saqlain Mushtaq 25 9 0 0 *37 158 9.88 10 0Mohammad Sami 4 3 0 0 *4 6 6.00 2 0Shoaib Akhtar 16 9 0 0 *9 37 5.29 6 0Yasir Arafat 2 0 0 0 6 10 5.00 0 0Arshad Khan 12 6 0 0 *11 27 4.50 5 0Kabir Khan 2 2 0 0 *3 3 – 0 0Mohammad Akram 1 1 0 0 *1 1 – 3 0Shahid Nazir 2 2 0 0 *0 0 – 0 0Fazl-e-Akbar 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 0Danish Kaneria 1 1 0 0 *3 3 – 0 0Shabbir Ahmed 0 0 0 0 0 – 2 0Kashif Raza 1 1 0 0 *2 2 – 0 0BowlingPlayer O M R W 4w Best Ave S/R E/RInzamam-ul-Haq 3 1 12 1 0 1/0 12.00 18.00 3.99Imran Nazir 4.1 0 19 1 0 1/3 19.00 25.00 4.63Shoaib Akhtar 265.2 21 1219 62 2 6/16 19.66 25.68 4.60Kabir Khan 22 0 106 5 0 2/27 21.20 26.40 4.82Shabbir Ahmed 39 3 182 8 0 3/52 22.75 29.25 4.67Abdul Razzaq 622.1 47 2681 111 6 6/35 24.15 33.63 4.31Waqar Younis 480 31 2275 91 5 7/36 25.00 31.65 4.74Saqlain Mushtaq 405.2 14 1701 67 2 5/20 25.39 36.30 4.20Wasim Akram 471.1 53 1909 73 0 3/10 26.15 38.73 4.05Mushtaq Ahmed 126.4 8 454 17 1 4/22 26.71 44.71 3.59Shahid Afridi 310.4 19 1384 48 1 5/40 28.83 38.83 4.46Mohammad Sami 62.2 2 312 10 1 4/44 31.20 37.40 5.02Arshad Khan 235.3 19 929 29 0 3/45 32.03 48.72 3.95Yasir Arafat 12 0 65 2 0 1/28 32.50 36.00 5.42Shoaib Malik 167.1 3 751 22 0 3/37 34.14 45.59 4.49Shahid Nazir 20 0 106 3 0 3/58 35.33 40.00 5.30Azhar Mahmood 322.2 15 1509 42 3 6/18 35.93 46.05 4.68Kashif Raza 5 0 36 1 0 1/36 36.00 30.00 7.20Mohammad Akram 77.5 4 356 7 0 2/31 50.86 66.71 4.59Aamer Sohail 27.4 2 155 3 0 1/3 51.67 55.33 5.66Ijaz Ahmed 0.5 0 2 0 0 – – – 3.99Fazl-e-Akbar 10 2 29 0 0 – – – 2.90Wajahatullah Wasti 4 0 29 0 0 – – – 7.25Younis Khan 6 0 29 0 0 – – – 4.83Irfan Fazil 6 0 46 0 0 – – – 7.67Danish Kaneria 7 0 43 0 0 – – – 6.14Imran Farhat 1.3 0 12 0 0 – – – 9.23Faisal Iqbal 2 0 16 0 0 – – – 8.00Naved Latif 8 0 51 0 0 – – – 6.37

Manicaland were still batting at close of play on Day One as captain and opening batsman Neil Ferreira led from the front with a defiant 135 not out. Thevisitors were 247/8 in their first innings after 99 overs on a relatively slow match at Alexandra Sports Club.Ferreira held the Manicaland innings together with a defiant knock, which lasted the entire day. He faced 307 balls in 390 minutes, smashing 13 sixes.The day began with the surprise inclusion of pace bowler Henry Olonga as the Mashonaland A captain. Olonga had been in India with the national as acommentator and he arrived in the country late Thursday while the rest of the squad arrived midday Friday.Tired from the long flight back home, Olonga did not bowl until the 90th over.With a heavy Alex outfield, the Manicaland batsmen were content with getting singles and at close of play there had only been 23 fours.The biggest partnership of the day was 132 off 47.1 overs for the third wicket between Ferreira and former national team vice-captain Guy Whittall. Whittalldeparted for 53 off 138 balls as Manicaland had moved from 46/2 to 178/3.Olonga’s decision to introduce Gavin Rennie after lunch sparked a Manicaland middle-order collapse as the in-out national team player grabbed threeconsecutive wickets in five overs. Manicaland blooded two players Greg Sims, 23, and Michael John Robinson, 17.Greg is young brother to all-rounder Richie and batted at number three where he made eight off 23 balls while Robinson was unbeaten on the same score off 24 balls having batted at number 10.