KwaZulu-Natal’s hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of theStandard Bank Cup are hanging by the slenderest of threads afteryesterday’s 17-run defeat against Border.The Dolphins will almost certainly have to win both theirremaining matches – no easy task – against Gauteng at home onFriday, and Eastern Province away on Sunday, if they are to sneakinto the semis.The home form of the Dolphins in this competition has beendisappointing, to say the least, with Dale Benkenstein’s menlosing their last two matches against Easterns and Border whenthey should have won both encounters. If the bowling let theDolphins down against Easterns, it was their much-vaunted battingthat failed them at Kingsmead yesterday. Having restricted Borderto a very gettable 221-7 on the flattest of tracks, the hometeam’s top order got themselves into all sorts of bother as theyquickly plunged to 50-4 in their reply. Admittedly, the Borderbowlers bowled well, particularly up front, with the excellentVasbert Drakes and Makhaya Ntini keeping a tight line and length.However too many batsmen got themselves out with Doug Watson,holing out to deep midwicket, and skipper Dale Benkenstein,rashly trying to drive his second ball over the top, particularlyguilty of giving it away. It was left to young Jon Kent to savethe Dolphins’s blushes with an excellent 71 in 86 balls (sixfours). He received useful help from Errol Stewart, EldineBaptiste and Ross Veenstra as the home team just about managed tomaintain the required run rate. Unfortunately, they lost wicketsfar too regularly in the process. Nevertheless, the fact thatthey got as close as they did, emphasised how comfortably victorycould have been achieved with a more sensible, measured approachearlier on.In that sense, the Border opening pair of Man of the Match PietBotha (55) and Justin Kreusch (59) showed how it should have beendone. The two, who were rarely troubled, put on 125 for the firstwicket, giving the visitors the perfect platform for a reasonabletotal . As it turned out, Border lost the plot a little afterthat start with only a half-century partnership between StevenPope and Tyrone Henderson enabling them to get past the 200-mark.One dispiriting note was struck by the decision of Jonty Rhodesto not make himself available for yesterday’s match. In the lightof his wife Kate giving birth to their first child last week, itwas understandable that he decided not to tour India, or, forthat matter, not to play in the Dolphins’s away matches againstNortherns and North West last week. But surely playing in a oneday match in Durban yesterday would not have upset his domesticarrangements? The Dolphins surely needed his experience andexpertise, and morale in the dressing-room could not have beenboosted by his absence.With Benkenstein – on national duty in India – unavailable forFriday’s must-win match against Gauteng and Sunday’s equallyvital away clash against Eastern Province, Rhodes needs to raisehis hand for his province this week.

Sachin Tendulkar carried Mumbai’s hopes on the third day of the RanjiTrophy semifinal against Tamil Nadu at the Wankhede stadium onThursday. Moving from 34 to 213, he anchored the home team to a scoreof 470 for eight at close of play. This was in reply to Tamil Nadu’sfirst innings total of 485.Old school chums Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli batted throughout themorning as Mumbai progressed from 141 for four to 262. The partnershipthat took Mumbai towards safety ended abruptly when Kambli top edged apull shot just after lunch. Mediumpacer Mahesh surprised him with aquick bouncer. A shade late on the shot, Kambli ended up skying theball straight up in the air. Waving everyone else away, Maheshcompleted the catch himself. The left hander made 75 and the fifthwicket partnership had added 139.The Tamil Nadu seam attack was ineffective on a pitch that grewincreasingly slower. Aashish Kapoor who got the ball to a do a bityesterday was used sparingly and he too could not break through.After Kambli was dismissed, Amol Muzumdar kept Tendulkar goodcompany. Though he did not go after the bowling in the same manner asTendulkar, Muzumdar played his role to perfection. His silken drivesthrough the off side were a perfect foil to Tendulkar’s power andtiming.Tendulkar crossed landmark after landmark in his stay at thewicket. Smashing Gokulkrishna for two consecutive sixes over fine leg,Tendulkar stamped his domination over the Tamil Nadu bowlers. When hebrought up his first double hundred in Ranji Trophy cricket, theMumbai crowd was on their feet. Tendulkar has so far played 313 balls,and has hit 19 fours and four sixes.However, the loss of quick wickets at the other end dampened thespirits of the crowd. Ajit Agarkar was given a life when he wasdropped by Mahesh at cover point off the bowling off Kumaran.However, that was not the costly miss of the day. Madanagopal atsecond slip dropped a catch that certainly should have been held offthe bowling of Mahesh. Tendulkar then was only 42. Abey Kuruvilla, yetto get off the mark, was at the crease with Mumbai 16 runs short ofthat all important first innings lead mark. The first half hour ofplay tomorrow will, in all likelihood, decide who goes through to thefinal.

The third and final day’s play of the Goa-Tamil Nadu Under-22 matchin the P Ramachandra Rao Trophy tournament at the Railway Stadiumin Vasco da Gama was called off at 10 am due to heavy rain. On the firstday, only 15 overs play was possible. The second day wasalso washed out due to heavy rain. Each team got three points.

Good knocks from Vinit Saxena and Rahul Kanwat helped Rajasthan to285/3 on the third day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy league tieagainst Madhya Pradesh at Gwalior. The first innings lead is stillhanging very much in the balance but Rajasthan should fancy themselvessince they trail by just 123 with seven wickets in hand.Resuming at 57 without loss, the visitors lost an early wicket whenNational Cricket Academy product Anshu Jain was bowled by SanjayPandey for 21 in the third over of the day. Kanwat now joined Saxenaand the two held a fairly decent Madhya Pradesh attack, including legspinner Narendra Hirwani, left arm spinner Sunil Lahore and pacemanHarvinder Sodhi, at bay for the next four and a quarter hours.With the partnership worth 154, Kanwat was held by Nikhil Patwardhanoff Abbas Ali for 81 (136 balls, 8 fours). Saxena’s patient vigilended at 256 when he offered a catch to the same fieldsman to givePandey his second wicket. The opener fell nine runs short of hiscentury. His 302 balls fetched just four boundaries. Skipper GaganKhoda (31), batting down the order, and PK Krishnakumar (15) tookRajasthan safely through to stumps.

Sampath Bank suffered their second successive defeat of the weekend when they lost by 26 runs to Access Group in a Mercantile ‘A’ division cricket match played at Moors SC grounds on Sunday.Having bowled out Access for 196 in a rain restricted match reduced to 30 overs, Samapth were on course to pull off a comfortable win being placed at 143 for 3 in the 24th over. However, a remarkable batting collapse saw them lose the remaining seven wickets for just 27 runs and be all out for 170 in the 28th over.Two former Sri Lanka bowlers caused the Sampath batting collapse. Fast bowler Pramodya Wickremasinghe took three for 22 and off-spinner Ruwan Kalpage had figures of three for 24.Indika de Saram struck three sixes in his 33 ball knock for 39 for Access while W.M.G. Ramyakumara (42 off 36 balls) and Anil Rideegammanagedera (31 off 31 balls) also contributed substantially.In another rain-curtailed match played at the Bloomfield grounds, Ranga Dias slammed the fastest fifty of the present tournament to help Janashakthi coast home to a comfortable 125-run win over Singer.Dias slammed five sixes and two fours in reaching his unbeaten half-century off 23 balls as Janashakthi rattled up 193 for 6 off 39 overs. M.S. Sampan made a top score of 78 off 119 balls.Singer provided little opposition as they were shot out for 68 in 33 overs with medium-pace bowlers Mohamed Abdeen (3/18) and Malintha Warnapura (3/5 off five overs) turning the screws.John Keells gave an improved display to recover from their 173-run defeat at the hands of HNB on Saturday, to beat East West by six wickets at the NCC grounds.Jehan Mubarak, the Sri Lanka under 19 cricketer hit a sparkling 77 of 78 balls inclusive of two sixes and six fours to steer John Keells past the required target of 163.Poor ground conditions at Colts, prevented a ball being bowled in the match between Hatton National Bank and Seylan Bank which ended in a no-result.

Dominic Ostler rescued Warwickshire with his second Championship hundred of the season against Durham at Chester-le-Street today.When a five-minute shower interrupted play at 5pm the visitors had crawled to 185 for six in the 81st over but at the close they were 270 for six with Ostler on 110.Against a depleted attack on an easy-paced pitch, Ostler spent 113 balls over his 50 but needed only a further 68 deliveries to complete his hundred, which included 18 fours.Keith Piper contributed 30 to an unbroken stand of 91 as Durham’s bowlers finally began to suffer after Jon Lewis lost the toss for the sixth successive Championship match.There was a scare for Durham when Simon Brown limped off in the afternoon. But he returned to become the only bowler to take a second wicket when Neil Smith edged a fourth catch to wicket-keeper Andrew Pratt.Nick Knight scored 75 before he was fourth out with the total on 117, reaching for a wide ball from Danny Law only to be well caught by Nicky Phillips at third man.Knight had ten fours, mainly behind square, in his 149-ball knock. Michael Powell made 12 before edging a drive in the 19th over, and Mark Wagh spent 16 overs making six before he gloved a leg-side catch to Pratt just before lunch.One of the few balls from Phillips which turned defeated David Hemp’s forward push to hit off stump, while Dougie Brown edged an out-swinger from Paul Collingwood to Pratt.

The Indian cricket administration is awaiting the report of itsVigilance Commissioner, K Madhavan in connection with thecontroversial Ahmedabad Test match in 1999, when India did not enforcethe follow on against New Zealand, despite being in a position to doso.AC Muthiah, President, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)told pressmen in Chennai on Sunday night that Madhavan had completedhis inquiry with batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar in this connection.Muthiah said Tendulkar was the third person to be questioned byMadhavan, who has been asked by the BCCI to probe into thecontroversial Test match. “But the officer has not completed hiqinvestigation yet," Muthiah said.According to Muthiah, Madhavan is to question two more persons beforesubmitting his report to the Board. He said that Madhavan’s reportwould be placed before the next Working Committee for a decision.Tendulkar, who was examined as a witness only by Madhavan before heleft for Zimbabwe along with the Indian team, was leading the team inthe controversial Test. The CBI also conducted a probe into the matchduring its investigations into the betting and match fixing scandal.Earlier, Madhavan had said that he would be submitting his report tothe Board by this month end after examining another person.

Australian all-rounder Ian Harvey bowled Gloucestershire to the brink ofvictory over Sussex on day three of the CricInfo Championship seconddivision match at Cheltenham.Harvey claimed all three of his second innings wickets in a fiery, four-overpost-tea spell of 3-4 as the visitors went from 213-2 to 244-6.But Chris Adams, with 122 not out, and Mark Davis, with 32 not out, then puton an unbroken 71 for the seventh wicket as Sussex, 353 behind on first innings,­ closed on 315-6.Sussex had resumed the day on 160-8 in their first innings and the last twowickets fell for just seven runs as Billy Taylor and James Kirtley fell toslip catches off Martyn Ball and Harvey respectively.Harvey’s figures of 18.5-13-13-3 were exemplary on a ground with shortsquare-side boundaries, and the Australian was just as effective in thesecond innings.Home captain Mark Alleyne provided the initial breakthrough when he hadMurray Godwin lbw for 12, but Richard Montgomerie and Adams then shared asecond-wicket stand of 125 before the former was caught and bowled by Ball.Montgomerie’s 107 was his sixth Championship hundred of the season and his173-ball innings contained 19 fours.Adams played equally well, but he could only look on in despair as wicketstumbled after tea.Harvey struck twice in three balls in his opening over after the interval,as Bas Zuiderent and Michael Yardy fell to catches by Alleyne at second slip.Umer Rashid then edged James Averis to wicket-keeper Jack Russell, as heattempted to cut, and Matt Prior was caught by Jeremy Snape at gully off Harvey.Gloucestershire appeared set for a three-day victory, but Adams and Davisresponded with some determined batting.Adams reached his 194-ball century with a cut for four through the coversoff Ben Gannon and has so far struck 19 fours and three sixes.

Kenya are 208 for 6 at the end of the first day of their four-day match against the West Indies at the Mombasa Sports Ground on Thursday.Kenya’s most experienced batsman, thirty year-old Steve Tikolo, was the top scorer for the day against a tight West Indian pace attack. He reached 75, an innings which included eleven boundaries, before being bowled by Colin Stuart. His fourth wicket partnership of 86 with Hitesh Modi (36) was the centrepiece of the Kenyan innings.Reon King was the most successful of the West Indian bowlers on Thursday, taking the wickets of the Otieno brothers, Kennedy and David. He finished the day with the figures of 2-30.Thomas Odoyo (24) and Martin Suji (7) are the not-out batsmen overnight. Kenyan captain Maurice Odumbe was run out for 5, the result of an abortive attempt at a quick single. Neil McGarrell and David Mohammed were the remaining wicket-takers for the West Indies.The Kenyans were sent into bat after acting West Indian captain Courtney Browne won the toss. Wicketkeeper Browne has taken over the captaincy for this game because of the unavailability through illness of tour captain Carl Hooper (influenza) and vice-captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul (high blood pressure).This match is Kenya’s first four-day game against a major Test entity. In recent years they have played first-class matches against ‘A’ teams from England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, while earlier this week they lost by an innings to the West Indies in a match scheduled for three days.Kenya, who were admitted to permanent one-day international status in 1997, have lodged an application for Test status with the ICC, but it is expected to be several years before this is granted.

Australian batsman Stuart Law has intimated that it is unlikely he will be playing for Essex next season.There have been ongoing differences between him and the club this season and it now looks as if these are irreconcilable.Speaking at Darren Gough’s benefit match, Law said: “I’ll be back here (in England) next year but whether it’s with Essex I’m not sure.”It’s got to the stage I didn’t want it to get to. When people who select the team don’t want you around you find it very hard to stay.”I put a proposal to the club. I don’t want huge chunks of money, I just wantto see some changes.”But if Essex don’t want to increase their standing in cricket then maybe it’stime to move on.”Other people are determined to see me as a bad egg but the Essex membersknow its a complete fabrication. I’m only guilty of telling the truth.”Law seems resigned to leaving Essex after five years but wants to stay on the county circuit and rumours of a move to Lancashire sound very appealing to the Queenslander.”There is nothing concrete. I’ve heard rumours about Lancashire and thatwould be perfect. My wife is from that way but I haven’t spoken to anyone,” hesaid.”My contract runs out at the end of the year.”