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In his first interview since Zimbabwe’s rebels announced that they were ending their protest against the board (ZC), Heath Streak has said that little has changed inside Zimbabwe despite the ICC’s recommendations which formed part of the findings of the racism hearing.Although the ICC ruled there was no evidence of racism inside Zimbabwe Cricket, it made a number of recommendations as to the way the board should operate. "The irony is that at the end it gave the stamp of approval to the recommendations we had been making all along," Streak told Australia’s Radio Sport 927. "I think that if the ICC wants to be what it is meant to be, it should be policing these because we haven’t seen any changes."Streak said that two of the major issues had not been addressed – "The restructuring of the selection panel, so it has people of knowledge and experience, and outstanding issues concerning some of the board members who have been involved in accusations of racism." He might have to wait. Although the ICC’s recommendations were a key part of the report, it appears that it has no powers to enforce them.And Streak was particularly critical of Peter Chingoka, the board’s chairman. "The irony is that he is a weak character," he explained. "I put a lot of blame on him for allowing this to go as far as it has. If he had cricket at heart then he wouldn’t be accepting gratuities of £50,000 when grass-level cricket is in crisis and clubs are collapsing. He needs to wake up and smell the coffee."Chingoka admitted taking a bonus payment during the last financial year, a revelation that caused anger at the board’s AGM in August. There have been reports, as yet unconfirmed, that he has been paid another bonus in recent weeks.Streak told Radio Sport 927 that he had been offered a new contract by the board, albeit on a lower salary and conditional on him dropping his complaints. "I was offered a contract but the fact that nothing had changed. They wanted me to pull out of the racism enquiry which was just about to happen … since then I have heard nothing."I do see myself playing for Zimbabwe again but there need to be changes. I think those recommendations need to be put in place and then maybe there is a future for not only myself but others to return to the fold in a situation where there is no racism."But Streak’s relationship with the board remains strained. Earlier this month he agreed to coach Mashonaland, his province, free of charge only for the board to angrily intervene and demand that he stand down.As it is, Streak has only one match penciled in before he resumes playing for Warwickshire next April – against England. "I have a game on December 8 playing for Nicky Oppenheimer’s XI in a warm-up match in South Africa," he said. "But who knows?"

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ScorecardClaire Taylor led the way for England in their healthy first-innings reply against South Africa with an unbeaten 89 on the second day of the first Test at Shenley. Taylor hit 13 fours and shared a 103-run partnership with Clare Connor to guide England to within 107 runs of South Africa.But England still had to wait a while as South Africa continued their careful progress in the morning. After 14-year-old Johmari Logtenberg added just four runs to her overnight 70, Cri-Zelda Brits (32) and Sune van Zyl (37) put on a useful 59 to keep England’s bowlers on the field, of who Lucy Pearson and Helen Wardlaw took three wickets apiece.In their reply, England faltered to 34 for 2 when openers Charlotte Edwards (18) and Laura Edwards (7) both fell early. However, Taylor and Connor, who scored 61, put England back on course and a first-innings lead is now in their sights.

Chris Cairns unleashed one of his cyclonic knocks today to lift the chins of a New Zealand touring squad which still believes it can knock over Steve Waugh’s Australians next week.Cairns hammered an unbeaten 119 in 81 balls in a drawn match against the Queensland Academy of Sport, proving he is ready to dish out similar punishment to an Australian team he tortured in New Zealand last year.Craig McMillan also warmed up for the first Test on Thursday week with an unbeaten 116 at Allan Border Field, as New Zealand reached 8-498 in its first innings in reply to the Academy’s 6-477 declared.Cairns was outstanding, blasting seven sixes in his 67-ball century, but the batting hasn’t been a problem since the New Zealanders arrived two weeks ago.The bowling is causing pain, and the Black Caps have just one match to get it right.So far, the visitors have been thrashed by batsmen who don’t play regular state cricket, leaving a huge doubt over whether they can dismiss Australia twice in five days.The QAS treated them like net bowlers yesterday and the ACT Invitation XI were hardly bothered by them last weekend, knocking up a combined score of 12-955.The Black Caps have been unable to maintain pressure without topline spinner Daniel Vettori, whose injury left a huge hole in the bowling attack, but captainStephen Fleming was positive heading into Thursday’s opening first-class match against Queensland.”It would be wrong to say we weren’t concerned with yesterday’s performance but we have to keep it in perspective,” Fleming said.”We would have liked to bowl sides out and we haven’t made inroads into any side and as long as that continues it develops anxieties but you just push on.”But we are a lot further down the track than the results would suggest.”Chris Cairns won’t bowl like that again because he is too good a player and it’s great to have Dion Nash back. I’m very satisfied with where he’s at.”Cairns and Nash are the key hopes for the Black Caps and both are returning from injury breaks.Cairns conceded 25 boundaries from his 25 overs yesterday while Nash showed promise, escaping significant punishment from the bats of Lee Carseldine (200 not out from 188 balls) and Jerry Cassell (163).But paceman Daryl Tuffey didn’t help with an erratic performance and the spinners were in danger of hurting their necks as they watched their deliveries dispatched across the ground.Paul Wiseman went for 36 runs from six overs and Glen Sulzberger, whose name read G.S.Berger on the scoreboard, almost had to go to the nearby McDonald’soutlet to retrieve a six during his four overs for 43 runs.”We’re under no illusions about what we need to do,” Fleming said.”It was a big hammer blow when Dan went down but we can’t do much about that.The Black Caps had a much better day at Border Field today, with young batsman Lou Vincent (136) joining the list of century-makers.His careful knock was almost buried beneath the Cairns-McMillan avalanche but it gave tour selectors another player to consider for the three Test series.

ScorecardFile photo – Ish Sodhi’s late wickets meant he finished with the best figures for New Zealand•AFP

New Zealand A claimed the unofficial ODI series against Sri Lanka A with a dominant 117-run victory in Lincoln. No. 3 batsman Will Young’s 85 from 98 deliveries anchored the hosts’ total of 302 for 9, while George Worker, Mitchell Santner and Adam Milne provided supporting innings. Sri Lanka A managed only 185 in response, and were all out in the 41st over. The hosts now lead the four-match series 3-0.Spinners Shehan Jayasuriya and Dhananjaya de Silva had made regular breakthroughs in the first half of New Zealand A’s innings, taking two wickets apiece to have the opposition 111 for four in the 25th over. But Young struck up two fifty-run stands with Santner and Milne, to steady his team’s innings. The tail provided the death-over aggression after Young departed in the 44th over. Jayasuriya finished with figures of 3 for 52.Milne dismissed both Sri Lanka A openers for single-digit scores, and the visitors continued to bleed wickets to both seam and spin. Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella was the only batsman to register a fifty. None of his team-mates crossed 30, as the chase continued to falter. Ish Sodhi took two late wickets to finish with the game’s best figures of 3 for 39.

ScorecardJamie Overton produced an impressive opening spell•Getty Images

If you were to judge by the statistics, Jamie Overton shouldn’t enter into the thoughts of the England selectors. He went into this game averaging 37.19 for his first-class wickets, after all. Will Gidman, by comparison, has taken his first-class wickets at an average of 23.28.But who is more likely to win England an Ashes Test? And there are moments, just moments, when everything clicks together and Overton looks a terrific prospect. Blessed with height and pace, he also has the ability to gain movement. Put that together and you have a bowler who can overcome flat surfaces and good line-ups; the sort of bowler who might have been made for Australian surfaces.He enjoyed such a moment on the first day of this Championship match at Taunton. His five-over spell accounted for both Warwickshire openers and contained a number of all but unplayable deliveries that pitched on off and straightened to beat the bat of Jonathan Trott.While it’s true that Warwickshire’s openers – Ian Westwood and Andy Umeed – are not quite up the standard of those England will face in Australia, the balls that dismissed them were reward for fine bowling. Westwood, hit on the body earlier in the over as he attempted to pull one that was on him quicker than he anticipated, played on as he attempted to force one on off stump that may have bounced a little more than he expected, before Umeed was yorked – and perhaps beaten for pace – by one that may have left the batsman just a little in the air.The only boundaries he conceded – two of them – came off the edge of the bat: the first when Trott played one down and past the slips and the second when Ian Bell cut over the cordon. While there were still a couple of leg stump deliveries that, another day, might have been punished, it was a spell – albeit a relatively short one – that hinted at improving consistency.Somerset would, no doubt, have wanted Overton to bowl a bit more at Trott and Bell when they came to the crease. But a five-over spell is probably plenty for a bowler of such pace and, in a side containing only three seamers (and Peter Trego has yet to take a Championship wicket this season), they wouldn’t have wanted to exhaust him too early in the game.His brother, Craig, soon accounted for Bell, anyway. A demanding spell, not as quick as Jamie but perhaps more consistent, brought an attempted back-foot force that flew high to second slip where Marcus Trescothick plucked down a sharp catch.But it was, not for the first time, Jamie who had caught the eye. And, with James Anderson injured again – and those injuries are starting to come with ominous frequency – Overton’s performance will not have gone unnoticed by the selectors.He impressed Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, last year. Bayliss was at Edgbaston last May when Overton utilised a slightly uneven surface – it was rated poor by the umpires – to such an extent that there was talk of the match being abandoned for a while.Presented by an England bowler offering the skills that Australia have in abundance – pace, height and aggression – Bayliss was said to be much taken with what he saw and, had Overton not suffered a stress fracture, he might have pushed for further recognition already. These are early days and slim pickings on which to judge – rain washed out most of the first day here – but Jamie Overton’s attributes are not common and he certainly has the potential to go a long way in the game.”That has to be one of the best spells that I have bowled since I came back from injury,” Overton said afterwards. “I want to bowl in short, sharp spells and as long as I don’t go for 10 an over, I’m pretty happy. Today I think I went for less than four an over so I was pleased with that.”I’ve worked hard on my control and today I think I made the batsmen have to play me. I’m using my bouncer sensibly now – and batsmen now know that I have got one to bowl – so it’s a very handy weapon to have.”While Somerset will have been delighted with his performance, they might have been a little concerned at the lack of spin. Despite playing this match on a surface used in a couple of limited-overs games, there was little if any assistance for Jack Leach (who was presented his count cap by former Somerset and England spinner Vic Marks during the day) and Dominic Bess. Bess dismissed Bell and Trott in successive deliveries on Championship debut last year but here was taken for three boundaries – two cover drives and a pull – from Trott as he struggled to find the appropriate length.It’s an important game for both sides. Currently at the foot of the table – Somerset have played one game fewer – it may well prove to have a bearing on the relegation situation at the end of the season. Warwickshire, anticipating a spinning surface, awarded a Championship debut to left-arm spinner Sunny Singh and a first-class debut to seamer Grant Thornton, who is only on a three-month contract with the club but who impressed in white ball cricket. Chris Wright is recovering from injury.Sam Hain and Umeed were also recalled with William Porterfield on international duty and Ateeq Javid dropped. Warwickshire also announced they have signed a 17-year-old seamer, Henry Brookes, on a three-season deal.While nobody could argue with the early decision to abandon play – there has been torrential rain and hail in Taunton – there was an odd disruption earlier in the day. It transpires that there is an ECB directive that strongly advises umpires to ensure the playing area is vacated by everyone – including the groundstaff – should there be any thunder and lightning in the vicinity.So, despite sunshine, play was delayed in early afternoon as the directive suggests that, once the gap between thunder and lightning becomes more frequent than 40 seconds, the playing surface should be cleared for a minimum of 30 minutes. The fact that the stands at Taunton were well populated by bemused spectators who are, presumably, equally at risk of lightning strikes, appears to have escaped the attention of which ever official came up with the guidelines.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, the Guyana captain, is likely to miss out his team’s KFC Cup semi-final match against Jamaica on October 25 after he injured his ankle and is expected to be out of action for six weeks.Sarwan had pulled out of Guyana’s previous match against Trinidad and Trinidad on October 20 after he was injured during training. Expressing his disappointment over possibly missing the semi-final, Sarwan told the , “I trained very hard for this tournament after being out for a while with the shoulder injury and I was hoping to make a big contribution towards Guyana retaining the title.”Earlier this year, Sarwan missed most of West Indies’ tour of England – his first series as the national captain – when he injured his shoulder during the second Test at Headingley. “In a game like cricket you expect to pick up an injury here and there but today [Saturday] I was not even playing a match … just warming up with some touch rugby which I guess is just bad luck for me.”I am now hoping for some good news from the doctor regarding how soon I can resume training for the Zimbabwe and South Africa tours at year end.”

Cricket Kenya has named a 14-man squad for the Intercontinental Cup tie against Bermuda which starts this Sunday at the Nairobi Gymkhana.The main surprise is the recall of 33-year-old Lameck Onyango who has been sidelined by a knee injury. His international record hardly warrants another chance – in five ODIs he has made 30 runs and taken one wicket, and his last appearance was four years ago when he batted at No. 11 and was not asked to bowl.Morris Ouma and David Obuya are likely to open the innings in place of Kennedy Otieno, who is playing club cricket in Australia.There is a youthful look to the side, however. Tanmay Mishra, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Maurice Ouma and Hiren Varaiya will return from South Africa, where they have been attending a four-week Winter Training Camp in Durban, in time for the match.Nairobi has been hit by heavy storms and flooding all week, but the groundsman at the Gymkhana said the match was not in doubt. “It’s been very dry underground and that is why the outfield is still dry. I will only be worried if there is heavy rain for five days. As for the square, we have enough covers to protect it.”

It has been one of the poorer aspects of South African cricket that for sometime they have been getting nothing out of their legendary former fastbowler Allan Donald. All that is set to change, however, following his appointment on Sunday as a specialist coach for the high performance programme, alongsidethe record-breaking batsman and former team-mate, Gary Kirsten.Donald, who was South Africa’s highest wicket-taker with 330 in 72 Tests,has been auctioning his considerable expertise mostly in England with hisformer county, Warwickshire. But now he will be ploughing his considerableexperience back into South African cricket.”It’s not nice working in another country, especially with the talent wehave here,” Donald said during the first one-day international between SouthAfrica and New Zealand in Bloemfontein on Sunday.According to Vintcent van der Bijl, the former Natal, Transvaal andMiddlesex bowling hero who is now Cricket South Africa’s general manager ofprofessional cricket, Donald’s role will be “coaching our young aspirants toensure they are Test-ready”.”I’ll be placing an unbelievable emphasis on intensity,” Donald said. “The intensity needsto be lifted in our franchises by some notches. It’s not true that our conveyor belt of fast bowlers has stopped. We have a list of 15 potential guys who I will be working really hard with. Especially fringe guys like Dale Steyn and Monde Zondeki, they can come up a notch or two.””We now have a balance between a batting and bowling focus in the highperformance programme and it’s great to have people who have just come outof the game,” Van der Bijl said. “We are delighted that one of the trulygreat fast bowlers, with all his expertise and, most importantly, Testexperience, is joining Gary Kirsten, who has an equally impressiveinternational pedigree. Allan is a master at his trade.”

15 overs
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

The more things change, the more things stay the same so far as Pakistan are concerned. For all the talk of a brave new era under Bob Woolmer’s stewardship, their essential unpredictability is never far from the surface. And so it proved in the opening exchanges of the first one-day international against Zimbabwe at Harare, as Tinashe Panyangara and Doug Hondo obliterated Pakistan’s top-order inside the first 15 overs.The last time Panyangara took the new ball at the start of a series, against England at Edgbaston in the recent Champions Trophy, he very nearly failed to get his first over, which included seven wides. Today, on the other hand, he was right on the spot from the very first delivery, which Yasir Hameed edged straight through to Tatenda Taibu behind the stumps (0 for 1).Hondo didn’t make quite such an instant impact – he required all of four deliveries of his first over to make his first incision, as Shoaib Malik attempted to whip across the line and was adjudged lbw by an inducker for 1. And when Yousuf Youhana, who amassed 405 runs in five matches (average: 405) on Pakistan’s previous trip to Zimbabwe, feathered a good-length ball through to Taibu, Hondo had struck for the second time in two overs to reduce Pakistan to 6 for 3.At least Inzamam-ul-Haq, who had been a doubt because of a back injury, could not be blamed this time for choosing to bat first on winning the toss. But, together with the debutant, Bazid Khan (son of Majid) he faced a delicate rebuilding process. He nearly perished in the process as well, as Taibu dropped a leg-side chance while Inzamam was on 7, but Taibu made no such mistake when Panyangara sent down a wide one, for Bazid to chase and edge for 12.

The second day of the first Test between Australia and Bangladesh was significant for the centuries by Steve Waugh and Darren Lehmann, and Bangladesh’s spirited display in the field and with the bat. Here’s what Waugh, Lehmann and Dav Whatmore, the Bangladesh coach, had to say after the day’s play. Steve Waugh
On becoming only the second batsman to score a hundred against all nine Test-playing nations “If you play long enough you are going to reach milestones and records are going to be passed and I’m sure someone down the track will beat those. But it is nice to achieve things and to score a hundred against every country is something I’m proud of. I’m not too concerned about records. I just want to go out there and play well and I’ve said if I don’t think I can improve then I shouldn’t be there.”On the difficult days last season when there were calls for him to retire “It is nice to overcome those tough times. Every cricketer has them in their career and it’s probably a bit harder as you get older – but I’m just happy with the way I’m playing. I’m enjoying the game and being positive.”Darren Lehmann
On conditions in the middle “It was hard work out there. They stuck to their guns pretty well, they put it in the right areas and made it tough to score runs. To be the first one to score 100 here – it was a good day.”Dav Whatmore
On his bowlers “The bowlers did a pretty good job. I felt that against other sides there was enough good balls and sustained effort to perhaps bowl another opposition out. But we are playing against Australia, the number-one ranked team, and we’ve seen what they are capable of today, even though they had to sustain some fairly good pressure in terms of the way our guys bowled at them.”On what the batsmen need to do on the third day “It’s only just the start, really. It’s a long day tomorrow and we’ll be tested greatly when we have to bat the day out. This really isn’t about winning or losing for us, this is all about being able to improve.”After yesterday’s performance we are really behind the eight-ball, youcan’t win a game in a session, but you can sure go a long way to losing it and that opening session when we were six for 60-odd, it’s very difficult to come back from that.”But we have a really good opportunity to work on one or two things asbatsmen and get out there and really compete. We’ve just started, it’s 15 overs and it’s nice to see the 70 runs, but there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us.”