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Hopes that the Zimbabwe Cricket Union was serious that it was willing to accept the return of the rebel players appeared to be dashed with the response of the board to news that Heath Streak was helping out Matabeleland in an unpaid capacity.Streak, a former Matabeleland captain, had accepted an invitation to help Pommie Mbangwa, their bowling coach, on a voluntary basis. But as soon as ZCU officials became aware of the situation, they demanded that Streak withdraw. They were probably further irked by the excellent reception Streak received from spectators of all colours when he was spotted on the ground at Bulawayo.Peter Chingoka, the ZCU’s chairman, has been at the forefront of those making conciliatory comments. But he claimed that Matabeleland had acted inappropriately and that the Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s domestic first-class competition, depended “on adherence to appointments within existing structures otherwise one risks having those who should benefit not being in place at the right time.”The appointments of the four provincial coaches were well-structured and done in consultation with the national team coach and national selectors,” Chingoka told the government-controlled Herald newspaper. “Streak’s involvement was irregular as it did not go through this process. The protocol was breached and the person who made the ad hoc appointment has since apologised to the Union for the breach. Because of the irregularity, we did ask Heath not to be involved but he was not replaced by Phil Simmons.” Coincidently, Chingoka added that the ZCU was about to appoint an assistant coach to Mbangwa.The ZCU’s action is unlikely to do anything to smooth the way to a settlement, nor is Zimbabwe cricket is a position that it can afford to shut out players of Streak’s calibre.ZCU officials were not available for comment. They refuse to speak to Cricinfo as they do not approve of our coverage of cricket inside Zimbabwe.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is planning to revamp first-class cricket in Pakistan, and to generate more funds for their players. According to The News, Shaharyar Khan and Rameez Raja, the men in charge of the PCB, made a presentation before their advisory council in which they proposed an overhaul of the domestic game. They said that the new system would ensure that the top 50 players in the game would earn an annual salary in the region of Pakistani Rs 500,000 (approx. US$8500).In the context of what Pakistan’s players earn currently, this is a significant step. The highest-paid current Pakistan cricketer is reputed to be Yousuf Youhana, who makes around Rs 350,000 (approx. US$6000). Many of Pakistan’s international cricketers do not play domestic cricket purely because it is not lucrative enough, and Rameez said that he hoped to change that with the new system.Rameez also clarified that the banks and organisations that currently play in Pakistan’s first-class tournaments will not be affected. “Even the National Bank President,” he said, “who is on the Advisory Council, said [that] while he supports organisational cricket, the support of cricket teams and players in organisations and banks these days depended on individuals at the top and there is no clear-cut direction on maintaining cricket teams.”We are preparing an outstanding module on regional cricket and we are looking at signing on around 50 top players for the season to play regional cricket while those outside this list would get match fees. I can promise you that these players would make more [money] than they are making right now from organisations.”Rameez said that the PCB had already had talks with several broadcasters, including Pakistan Television (PTV) and a foreign network, on the subject of television rights, especially for the Twenty20 tournament.Rameez and Shaharyar will present a detailed version of their report to the council on June 16.

It’s been characteristic of this tour that the two three-day matches have been affected by bad light both in Adelaide and Perth. South Africa A came within five runs of victory today on the third and final day of the second match against Australia A at the WACA Ground in Perth only to be denied by bad light. Martin van Jaarsveld was in sublime form for the South Africans.By declaring their second innings at 307 for 2, Australia A set the South Africans a target of 306 in 75 overs. The declaration came half an hour to lunch after a superb innings by Michael Hussey and his captain, Simon Katich, who scored 145 and an unbeaten 134 respectively. This pair shared a 274-run partnership for the second wicket after resuming on 163 for one this morning. Hussey fell to part-time medium bowler, Adam Bacher. Thereafter, Katich who was then partnered by Andrew Symonds called an end to the proceedings.South Africa A were off to a confident start, with the opening pair of Ahmed Amla and Adam Bacher setting the tone with 42 runs for the first wicket. But Amla was out for 20 and Bacher followed him shortly afterwards with the total on 49. Then Martin van Jaarsveld lost the company of Ashwell Prince for four. When he was joined by Morne van Wyk, they piled up 129 runs for the fourth wicket before Van Wyk was out for 56 which he scored off 59 balls with 6 fours and a six. Justin Kemp made a quickfire 27 before he departed. Nicky Boje made 24, but together with Van Jaarsveld they shared a sixth wicket stand of 73 runs. Boje was out for 24. However, Van Jaarsveld continued unabated to score his second century of the tour in 107 balls, hitting 16 boundaries and two sixes. He later departed for 140.The South Africans reached 301 for 7 – just five runs short of victory before bad light stopped play.Van Jaarsveld was ecstatic for his effort. “I’m over the moon. There was a lot of moisture in the wicket especially with the new ball. But I’m quite happy that I managed to see it through before the wicket became brilliant to bat on later in the day,” he said.Stand in skipper Nicky Boje said the match was played in good spirit after the two sides declared their innings. “To leave us 306 in 75 overs was a good declaration from them since we had declared our first innings and we gave it all in reaching that target.”Coach Vincent Barnes was content with the overall performance although some players were out with niggling injuries. Quinton Friend, Gerald Dros (both hamstring) and Dewald Pretorius (broken right middle finger nail) and Justin Kemp’s bruised left wrist. “We put the ball in Australia’s court to make a game of it, knowing that we would lose ten overs a day due to bad light,” he said.The remaining one day match is scheduled for Wednesday at the WACA, starting form 12:30 (WA time). Australia lead the five-match series 2-1.

Yorkshire powered on at the top of the Cricinfo Championship first divisionby crushing Lancashire by an innings and 37 runs at Old Trafford.They bowled Lancashire out for 188 in their second innings to completetheir first Roses double since 1978.Richard Dawson was the Yorkshire hero with four for 29, although GavinHamilton made the early inroads after Lancashire had resumed on 74 for oneand ended with three for 33.Only Mark Chilton offered much resistance with a patient 74 as Lancashireslumped to their fourth defeat in five Championship matches.Andy Flintoff was the first to go, missing out on his third consecutivehalf-century as he was bowled through the gate by Hamilton.Joe Scuderi was trapped lbw for a duck three balls later, and Graham Lloydgifted Hamilton his third wicket when he slashed a long hop to Gary Fellowsat backward point.Chilton and Warren Hegg then held up Yorkshire for 17 overs with a fifthwicket stand of 50 but it was broken by Dawson who lured Chilton down thepitch and had him stumped after a 159-ball innings which included ninefours.After that the Lancashire tail crumbled with a minimum of resistance, astheir last five wickets fell for 16 runs in only 12 overs after lunch.Chris Schofield hit a full toss back to Darren Lehmann and Hegg edged Dawson toslip where David Byas took a simple catch.Then John Wood skied a catch to Craig White off Dawson, Glen Chapple wasstumped and finally White splayed Gary Keedy’s stumps – a fittingly emphaticend to the match.Yorkshire’s performance even surprised their own skipper, David Byas, who thought that they would be unable to force a victory, ahving lost four full sessions to the weather.”When you lose that much time you just think you are playing for bonuspoints,” he said.”But White and Wood played brilliantly and they scored at such a pace that wecould sacrifice nine wickets just to get as close to 500 as we could as quicklyas possible.”We have ended up with twice as many points as I thought we would get threedays ago. I just never thought for a minute that this would happen.”But we have had a bit of luck, missed a lot of rain and we have made themost of it.”

Here is a case of crash and then crash through. Travis Head first made headlines when he was hit by a car in North Adelaide and spent a night in hospital after a rare Sheffield Shield victory for South Australia over Victoria in early 2013.On Monday, Head came through with the sort of innings that will be remembered rather longer than his accident outside the Lion Hotel. A bold and brazen yet also calculated 202 helped South Australia reel in Western Australia’s seemingly distant 350. They therefore started the competition in a fashion that leaves all members of the squad feeling validated in pursuing a punishing pre-season under the tutelage of new coach Jamie Siddons and Stephen Schwerdt, an AFL fitness coach of note.”There’s a range of reasons why we’ve started as we have,” Head said the day after his blizzard of boundaries. “Stephen Schwerdt was a great appointment, getting someone from football over we’ve changed a lot up with fitness, GPS and recovery, so blokes are in great nick, we’ve got great belief and Schwerdty’s brought that to the group.”Jamie’s brought that belief, being aggressive and playing as positively as we can – I think we showed that yesterday in the way we played our cricket. That’s how we want to play through the season, it’s not going to work every time, but if we can play that sort of brand we’ll hopefully win more time than not.”I think that just gets us off to a great start, gives us the confidence that what we’re doing in pre-season has worked a little bit hopefully, and again in this tournament situation if we can get momentum and take it to Thursday [against New South Wales] we can do anything.”Head has been the subject of rave reviews from Ricky Ponting and Darren Lehmann, among others, who believe he has what it takes to be a formidable international batsman. His elevation to lead the Redbacks at the end of last summer was a decision made prior to the arrival of Siddons and over the raised eyebrows of numerous judges – it was a lot of expectation to place on one so young.But it was telling that his Hurstville innings was played alongside the Redbacks’ senior batting pro Callum Ferguson, who has already provided valuable leavening to Head’s instinctive power by showing how to look for gaps and singles in addition to fours and sixes. Their relationship as young captain and older subordinate will be pivotal to the team’s hopes of seeking some rare silverware for the state. Both can benefit each other.”It’s hopefully going to be a big season for me and Callum,” Head enthused of a player he declared would be pushing for higher honours this summer. “Coming into the season we want our senior players to get the runs. Callum showed that last year and was fantastic but probably didn’t have the support from the others that was necessary, so hopefully this is a starting point for a big season for a few blokes.”I’ve been trying to up-skill I guess and Callum’s really good at using his feet, finding gaps and always been good at getting twos. For my game personally trying to be a bit more powerful and aggressive, I’ve definitely learned a bit from Callum about one-day cricket, manipulating fields and things like that.”I used that in periods yesterday to get to 100. After I got to 100 Callum gave me the opportunity to take the game on a bit. But definitely to 100 Callum and I have worked really hard on picking gaps and that showed again yesterday, how good he is – he went under the radar and just kept getting ones and hitting the gaps. He’s great through the middle.”Hurstville Oval’s dimensions are highly favourable to batsmen, and it was in the closing overs of WA’s innings that Head and his bowlers laid the foundation for a successful afternoon chase. At 1 for 246 with 10 overs remaining it was quite possible they could have been chasing anything up to 400, but a serviceable death display prevented the Warriors from launching into orbit. Training at the similarly small Adelaide Oval No. 2 had steeled the Redbacks for the chase to come.Similarly, Head has been helped in his limited-overs development by a background with the Tea Tree Gully grade club, which in recent years has more or less made a monopoly of the Adelaide Twenty20 and one-day competitions. In that environment, Head has commonly been a younger man surrounded by others nearer to 30 years old. He duly showed composure beyond his years on Monday.”It all started with about 15 overs to go,” Head said. “At the drinks break I think we mentioned it was a big moment in the game, if we could restrict them in the last 10. Coming into the game we knew with the small field what we’d be in for, we’d been practising on Adelaide No. 2 a lot and working on match scenarios. Our batters had been batting fantastically well in those scenarios so we knew the batting was going to be great.”Adam Zampa bowled amazingly to have 0 for 43 off 10, to do that probably put us in a good position to win the game. A couple of early wickets would be nice, we can probably attack a bit more at the front end and get ourselves an opportunity. Kane Richardson is one of the best death bowlers in the country, so if we can get him in bowling at the middle to lower order I think we’ll restrict them more than having to bowl at the top five.”Next up is a full-strength New South Wales, who showed their keenness for the new season by obliterating the under-aged Cricket Australia XI in Bankstown. At the start of a season in which he wants to achieve the dual goals of lifting silverware and guiding numerous SA players into the national team, Head was in no doubt that a meeting with the Blues at North Sydney Oval would provide an ideal test of that resolve.”It’s a great challenge for us, it’s the time you want to get runs and take wickets,” he said. “Our boys are really looking forward to the opportunity to play a really strong outfit, and to win this tournament we’re going to have to beat the best side.”So we’ll go in the same way we went into this [WA] game, we’ll try to play the same way, take the game on and hopefully get the result. It’d be great to get two wins on the board. Jamie and I want to get players playing for Australia and want to get silverware. That’s what we’re there to do.”

England compled a convincing win over Sri Lanka in the Under-19 `Test’at Trent Bridge with a day and an innings to spare thanks in the mainto Kabir Ali’s accurate seam bowling.Kabir was backed up by slow left-armer Monty Panesar, who collectedthree wickets as the Sri Lankans collapsed for 184 in their secondinnings.Jehan Mubarak, who top-scored on the first day, was again the main rungetter with 44.But after he was fifth out, the Sri Lankan tail added just 47 moreruns before England won by an innings and 22 runs.Resuming on 325 for five and a big lead of 114, England’s Kadeer Ali,who had steadied the innings superbly the previous day, fell soonafter the start to a juggling catch at slip having made 59. Hisovernight partner Peter Trego, continued however with the sameaggressive strokeplay that had brought him a half century the previousevening.After hitting 13 fours and a six, Trego seemed headed for a centurybut he was bowled attempting to cut a ball from spinner RanilDhammika. But by now England were 180 runs in front and Kabir hit abreezy 28 before the innings ended on 417, a lead of 206.In the second innings, Sri Lanka raced to 25 before Kabir uprootedopener Ian Daniels’ off-stump in his third over. The 19-year-old thendismissed the other opener, Nimesh Perera, caught at backward pointand Sri Lanka were 42 for two.The third and fourth wickets also fell before 100 had been registeredbut the batsmen continued to adopt aggressive tactics.Panesar then removed three left-handers, all to edges caught at slipor by the wicketkeeper and at 156 for eight it was just a matter ofhow long it would take England to seal the win.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Mehedi Hasan Miraz led Bangladesh Under-19s from the front with three top-order wickets and a steady 53•Getty Images

A knock of 53 from captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz and an unbeaten 31 from Jaker Ali helped Bangladesh Under-19s seal a tense chase of 215 against Sri Lanka Under-19s to secure a third-place finish at the Under-19 World Cup.Having dismissed Sri Lanka for 214, Bangladesh were progressing steadily during the course of an 88-run third-wicket partnership between Miraz and Nazmul Hossain Shanto. Sri Lanka bowlers had tied down the big shots early in the chase – Bangladesh went 105 balls without a boundary between 8th and 25th over – but the low target meant that the batsmen could rely on singles and keep the equation in check.Sri Lanka, however, began turning the match around in the 36th over when Miraz was run-out for a 66-ball 53, his fourth successive half-century in the tournament. Two overs later, they lost a well-set Nazmul for 40 in the same fashion. Shafiul Hayet and Mosabbek Hossain consumed 8.1 overs for a partnership of 28 for the sixth wicket and once they fell quickly, Bangladesh were left needing 15 runs off the last two overs.With the score at 200 for 6, Jaker, who had retired earlier in the innings due to cramps, returned to the crease and hit a crucial four in the penultimate over, playing a lap-scoop off Asitha Fernando to ease some pressure. Bangladesh went into the final over needing four runs and sealed the win off the third ball, through another four from Jaker, this time over midwicket.Earlier, Sri Lanka lost their way in the middle overs after a promising start and were held together by captain Charith Asalanka’s 76. Openers Kamindu Mendis and Salindu Ushan, got starts in their 60-run stand, but Miraz dismissed the top three batsmen with his offspin to leave Sri Lanka in trouble at 70 for 3 in the 18th over.That score turned to 131 for 5 before Asalanka rebuilt in the company of Wanidu Hasaranga; the pair adding 55 runs for the sixth wicket. Once the latter was dismissed however, another collapse ensued and it was only Asalanka’s third fifty of the tournament that pushed the score to 214. Miraz had returns of 3 for 28 and won the Man-of-the-Match award for his all-round performance.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsOn a slow Harare surface, India wrapped up the ODI series with a performance that was pragmatic if never thrilling. The batting struggled to get out of third gear, but an opening partnership of 112 between Ajinkya Rahane and M Vijay ensured the bowlers had a solid total to defend. A target of 272 may have produced a tighter contest against a stronger batting side, even on a pitch as sluggish as this one, but it was more than sufficient to beat this Zimbabwe side by a handy margin.The approach of Rahane and Vijay looked dour, even dull at various points during their partnership, but the reasoning behind it was sound. The wisdom of it became apparent when Zimbabwe batted. At the 20-over mark, they were 79 for 3. India had been 78 for 0.Chamu Chibhabha had batted like the India openers, playing the percentages and going after only the loose balls – such as when he cut and flicked a wayward Dhawal Kulkarni for three successive fours. Three other top-order batsmen had fallen to unwise shots – Vusi Sibanda had driven away from his body; Hamilton Masakadza and Elton Chigumbura had pushed hard at the ball outside off stump.Bhuvneshwar Kumar had dismissed the latter two, finding a bit of away nibble and a bit of extra bounce. He hadn’t swung the ball as extravagantly as he sometimes does, and had mostly only moved it away from the right-handers, but he had probed insistently in the corridor in a first spell that produced figures of 6-3-19-2. He came back and took the last two wickets to finish with his second four-wicket haul in ODIs. The wicket of Masakadza was his 50th.Needing close to six-and-a-half runs at the 20-over mark, Zimbabwe’s chase slowly fell away. Chibhabha went on to make 72, but there was little else that genuinely challenged India. The biggest partnerships of the innings were both worth 52 – the first between Chibhabha and Sean Williams when Zimbabwe needed to recover from 43 for 3; the second between Richmond Mutumbami and Graeme Cremer for the seventh wicket when the match was already lost, more or less.After being sent in to bat, Rahane had expected early help for the fast bowlers. “There will be slight movement initially and if we take our time [the pitch] will be good to bat on,” he said.The conditions partly explained India’s slow start, as perhaps did their fear of avoiding a collapse like the one that had left them 87 for 5 in the first ODI. But Rahane and Vijay also seemed to be finding their feet against the new ODI field regulations.The removal of the batting Powerplay and the addition of an extra deep fielder in the last 10 overs have added more pressure on openers to score quickly, but it has become more difficult for them to do so, with catching fielders no longer mandatory and fewer gaps to pierce in the 30-yard circle in the first 10 overs.Zimbabwe’s new-ball attack posed little threat to the well-being of India’s openers, but they were accurate, and with Rahane and Vijay showing no inclination to take risks, the scoring-rate remained sedate. Vijay kept playing good-looking drives and punches straight to off-side fielders: till the 10th over, he only scored one run on that side of the pitch.Rahane was a little more brisk early on – he creamed Brian Vitori and Neville Madziva for three fours through the covers in the first seven overs, capitalising whenever he was given width – but he grew becalmed as his innings progressed. Having scored 18 off his first 21 balls, Rahane only scored 45 off his next 62.After Chibhabha dismissed Rahane in the 26th over, finding his leading edge as he looked to work him across the line, Vijay and Ambati Rayudu gave the innings a bit of urgency. Rayudu whipped the legspinner Cremer wide of mid-on and hoicked Vitori to the midwicket boundary; Vijay lifted Chibhabha and Vitori for effortless sixes down the ground in successive overs.The partnership gave India 47 off 45 balls, and the next one, between Rayudu and Manoj Tiwary, 44 off 51. India entered the last 10 with eight wickets in hand, but both set batsmen went within four balls of each other.Rayudu had been lucky to survive so long, having been given not-out to a very good lbw shout from Chibhabha on 16 and dropped at long-on off Masakadza on 26. In the 41st over, he came down the track to Sikandar Raza and holed out at deep midwicket. In the next over, Tiwary flicked Donald Tiripano straight to short fine leg.With seven-and-a-half overs left to play, Robin Uthappa, Stuart Binny and Kedar Jadhav found the boundary with enough frequency to ensure India crossed 250 with wind in their sails, but the momentum fizzled out right at the end, with the last two overs producing only 15 runs for the loss of three wickets.

The Malaysian city of Johor is all geared up to host the Asian Cricket Council’s women’s tournament, which begins tomorrow with eight countries including the hosts participating. The week-long tournament will see sides playing 30-over matches at the Johor Cricket Academy in Mutiara Rini in Skudai and the Temengong Ibrahim Teachers’ College.The squads have already embarked on what, for many, will be their first tournament at this level. The UAE team left for Malaysia on Sunday, a day after a farewell organised by their board the previous day at the Sharjah cricket stadium. Smitha Harikrishna, the former India player and current UAE coach, said, “There is a bit of pressure as it is the team’s maiden appearance in an international event. However, the players are confident and they can gain a lot from this experience.””We picked a team that can sustain the pressures of nearly four hours play. Some of the players have played basketball and rugby and hence are agile.”The team captain is 13-year-old Natasha Michael. “The selectors picked the team with an eye for the future”, Harikrishna said about her. “Natasha is the most experienced among the youngsters. She has an excellent brain and has toughened herself by playing with boys. We are confident she can guide the team.”The Nepal team left on Sunday night, with Nary Thapa, the captain, excited about the side’s first international cricket event. “This is a historic tour and it will be more memorable if we return victorious.”LB Chhetri, the team’s manager and a former men’s national team captain, sounded confident as well. “We are heading there with hopes of returning victorious. All the teams are rookies so the event is wide open and we believe we have a chance.”Bangladesh and Thailand have already begun their preparations, with Bangladesh beating Thailand convincingly in two practice matches at Bangkok.Favourites Hong Kong, China and Singapore are the other teams taking part in the tournament.Aziz Kaprawi, the Johor state youth and sports executive councillor, said Johor was “proud to be he hosts of the first international women’s cricket tournament in Asia” and said the tournament would give a boost to tourism.

Division Two

Shane Warne led from the front for Hampshire, picking up 4 for 14 to edge past Kent by 18 runs at Canterbury. Chasing 201 for a win, Kent lost the openers in quick succession before Martin van Jaarsveld threatened to take the initiative with a quick 42. But Warne and Sean Ervine tore through the middle order to dismiss the hosts for 182.Despite a brilliant 152 from Darren Maddy Leicestershire fell to a 33-run defeat to Surrey at The Oval. Maddy received scant support from any of his team-mates; the next highest score after Maddy’s valiant effort was Darren Robinson with 32 as Leicestershire were bowled out for 242. Nayan Doshi (4 for 63) was the pick of the bowlers after Surrey’s innings had been given a powerful injection at the top of the order from James Benning, who smashed 70 from 43 balls.An excellent 72 from Chris Taylor led Gloucestershire to an easy four-wicket win over Somerset at Cheltenham. Set the tricky target of 245, the hosts lost Phil Weston for a duck and were struggling on 76 for 3. Taylor smashed nine fours in his 59-ball knock and, thanks to an equally brisk 41 from Steve Adshead, guided them home with 41 balls to spare.

Division One</p?Sussex got the better of their C&G final opponents, Lancashire, thanks to a brilliant 132 not out from Chris Adams as they squeezed home by two wickets, with two balls to spare, at Hove. After the frustration of having Lancashire nine wickets down at the end of yesterday’s Championship, Adams played a stunning hand as his team chased down a testing 278, based on four Lancashire half-centuries. He added 124 with Ollie Rayer after Sussex had slipped to 5 for 2. Steven Croft grabbed four wickets to take the match down to the wire but Adams had just enough in the tank.Essex cantered to a nine-wicket win against Middlesex at Garon’s Park as a second-wicket stand of 117 between Mark Pettini and Darren Gough made mincemeat of a target of 145. Gough hit a 49-ball 53 with ten fours and Pettini faced 48 balls for his 60. Gough had earlier taken 3 for 16 as Middlesex fell to 29 for 5 and Scott Styris’s 50 didn’t give Middlesex anywhere near enough.A fourth-wicket stand of 133 between Dale Benkenstein and Gary Scott put Durham on course for a four-wicket win over Northamptonshire at Chester-le-Street. The pair hit six sixes between them as Usman Afzaal’s earlier 108 proved in vain. Afzaal had added 100 with Lance Klusener to pull Northants around from 112 for 4.Glamorgan‘s match with Warwickshire at Colwyn Bay was rained off after just 29 overs with the visitors having reached 120 for 6. Navdeep Poonia was the top scorer at that point, with 47