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Jason Gillespie is on track to force his way back into the national side, according to South Australia’s coach Wayne Phillips, but he admitted that next month’s Test series against South Africa might come too soon. Gillespie grabbed 7 for 35 against Victoria at the weekend to give the selectors a timely reminder that he is not finished despite being written off by many after a dreadful Ashes series.Nathan Bracken is expected to claim the third quick-bowling berth at the WACA, but Gillespie’s nine-wicket haul in the match put him back in the frame along with Michael Kasprowicz. “Bracken probably has the inside running and that is probably fair enough, but what Gillespie brings is different, but pretty exciting too,” Phillips told AAP. “I never thought the national selectors had written him off at all, but they do need him if he continues to provide the selectors and team management with these sorts of performances, there is no reason why he can’t force his way back.””I don’t expect to get any call up to the Australian side anytime soon,” Gillespie admitted. “I think the selectors have shown their cards and basically put me at the back of the queue, I know that, I acknowledge that and I have no problem with that.”I am not seen as one of the best seven or eight fast bowlers in the country at the moment because there is a team going to New Zealand today and they have rested Glenn McGrath from that trip and picked four fast bowlers and I am not among them.”But there was encouragement from Ricky Ponting. “Dizzy’s done nothing wrong since he’s been back,” he said. “It’s great to see him back bowling well and taking the wickets, and being the sort of bowler that we know he can be.”

A magnificent 162 from Jacques Kallis lifted South Africa from a dicey 116 for 6 at the midpoint of their innings, to give them control of the second Test at Kingsmead and leave England with everything to do if they are to preserve their unbeaten record in 2004. Afterwards, Kallis agreed that hisperformance was one of the finest of his career.”It’s definitely up there with the best,” said a contented Kallis, whostill maintained that his maiden Test century, against Australia in1997-98 was his all-time favourite. “England are right up thereat the moment and it’s good to perform against the best.”Even so, Kallis could not have turned South Africa’s innings around had itnot been for a concerted effort from the tail, and he was quick to sharethe praise, in particular with Shaun Pollock who made 43 in a vital 87-runstand for the seventh wicket. “You can’t buy that sort of experience atthe supermarket,” said Kallis. “But the bowlers did their bit as well.There were a lot of bumpers flying around, but they stayed in line, showeda lot of guts and determination, and we can be proud of ourselves.”Though the conditions eased up as the day progressed, it was tough goingearly on, as England made three quick breakthroughs to put the match backin the balance. “It did do a little this morning,” said Kallis. “Our planwas to come out this morning and not lose too many, but unfortunately thatdidn’t happen. But Shaun was magnificent and tomorrow’s early session willbe crucial.”Kallis acknowledged that England had been badly hampered by the loss ofAshley Giles, who tweaked his back while batting and took no part in theday’s play. “It’s aways hard when you lose a bowler,” he admitted. “It washard on them and they tired towards the end of day, which was why themorning was crucial. But we stuck to our task well.”It was hugely important to bounce back after Port Elizabeth,” addedKallis. “To go 2-0 down was not an option – it would have been the seriesover. Maybe we let ourselves down a bit this evening by not quite landingenough balls in the right area, but it could be the wake-up call weneeded. If we get a few wickets tomorrow, we could make our lives easier.”It has been a stellar year for Kallis’s batting. He has made 1278 runs at85.20 in 11 Tests, a South African record, including five centuries. “I’veworked hard on the technical side of my game, and mentally off the fieldas well, because I don’t premeditate so much now, and play all balls ontheir merits.”And also, following a traumatic 2003 in which he suffered the death of hisfather, Kallis admitted the enjoyment of the game had returned as well.”Last year was tough, but I learned a lot and matured a lot as well, whichwas maybe what I needed.”Matthew Hoggard, by contrast, was a drained man at the close, after beinggiven a long hard day in the field. “That wasn’t a 139 wicket, or a 116for 6 wicket,” Hoggard admitted, “but Kallis was tremendous. He’s aworld-class player at the top of his game.The England bowlers came in for some criticism for their consistentshort-pitched approach, but Hoggard insisted that it was a deliberatetactic. “The short balls were difficult to play, because you didn’t knowif they were going to come through or stick in the wicket, so that make itdifficult to duck and difficult to hook. Obviously, we didn’t get anywickets that way until the last one, but I thought with a spinner down, westuck to our task well.”Giles’s absence was crucial, seeing as he would have bowled a good 20overs, but Hoggard was hopeful he might yet play a part in the secondinnings. “Ashley’s standing up straight again which is an improvement.He’s been on the physio’s table all day, so with a good night’s rest,he’ll have a chance of bowling in the second innings.”

Gallant Calmore Sports have missed ECB Southern Electric Premier League survival by just three runs.Two wickets off the last two balls of Roger Miller’s final over of the season left Calmore 164 all out – two runs adrift of Andover, whose batsmen had ground out 166-7 on a poor London Road surface."Another three runs and we’d have been safe," sighed Calmore skipper Tom Pegler, whose side had won only two of its previous 16 matches. "But we weren’t relegated on Saturday night – more like 15 weeks ago."Survival was firmly in Calmore’s hands as they approached their critical finale to the season in the knowledge that Havant had already beaten relegation rivals Portsmouth by five wickets.A win would have meant safety for Calmore – but it didn’t happen.The prospects looked good all the time James Hibberd (41) remained at the crease, but his dismissal at 119-6 proved crucial."All the time Hibbo was in, we fancied ourselves, but we still blew it in the end," Pegler groaned.Clive Surry (16) and Dave Rouse lifted Calmore to within nine runs of victory off the last ten balls of the match.They got four of the six runs they needed off Miller’s final over – only to have Surry trapped leg before and John Wall bowled off the last two balls of the season.It left Calmore 164 all out – and bottom of the Premier League.Andover battled hard to reach 166-7 after being put into bat on a damp surface clearly affected by the previous day’s heavy rain.Toby Radford top scored with 27 – but took almost 40 overs to do it – while Roger Miller (25) and Ian Langdown (23) made what proved vital contributions.Havant beat Portsmouth by five wickets with seven balls to spare at St Helen’s, Southsea, where Michael Barnes (43), Naqeeb Ali Mohammed (36) and Ben Thane (32) top scored in the hosts 203-9.But a splendid 86 from Andrew Perry, aided by Simon Barnard (38) and Chirs Wright (31), carried Havant to victory.

*Yuvraj Singh gives Punjab an upper handA century from skipper Yuvraj Singh saw Punjab take the upper hand intheir Ranji Trophy league match against Haryana at Gurgaon.Haryana, winning the toss, could not take full advantage of it, beingbowled out for 204 in their first innings. Only Jitender Singh came toterms with the wicket and the bowling, making 89 off 244 balls andforming the anchor for Haryana. He finally fell as the last wicket,unable to extend his side’s total due to lack of support.Punjab, in their own batting effort, lost their openers early. YuvrajSingh and Ankur Kakkar put on 140 runs for the fourth wicket, however,stabilising the innings. Yuvraj, making his runs faster, got to hiscentury first and then fell with the score on 191.At the close of play on Day Two, Punjab were 258/7, with Kakkar stillat the crease on 81. For Haryana, Sumit Narwal took 5-69.*Tamil Nadu proceed to take upper handA steady rather than excellent batting display from Tamil Nadu’s toporder saw the home side gain a slight edge over Goa in their RanjiTrophy league match at Chennai on Sunday.Managing to bowl Goa out for 238, Tamil Nadu had a definite upperhand. MR Shrinivas took 5-57, playing a vital role in the collapse ofthe visitors’ batting line-up.Sadagopan Ramesh, opening the Tamil Nadu innings, must have beenhoping to impress the selectors with a sterling display and regain hisposition in the Indian team. He managed, however, to make only 35 off94 deliveries. His partner, Somasetty Suresh, made 65 off 130 balls,top-scoring in his side’s innings.Suresh fell with the score on 114, and Hemang Badani and Hemanth Kumarfell relatively cheaply. S Sharath and skipper Robin Singh thenstabilised the innings, taking Tamil Nadu’s total to 187/4 by theclose of play.*Andhra take the lead on Day TwoDespite a five-wicket haul by Kerala left-arm spinner Mani SureshKumar, Andhra Pradesh took the first-innings lead in their RanjiTrophy league match at Cochin on Sunday.Y Venugopal Rao, coming in at the fall of captain MSK Prasad, added 70runs for the fourth wicket with Illa Srinivas (22). No partnershiplasted quite so long after the fall of Srinivas with the score on 133,although Venugopal Rao plodded along slowly making 76 off 220 balls.Once Venugopal Rao fell with the score on 180, Kerala must havesniffed a chance of bowling their rivals out. The lower order,however, defied the bowlers, with Hemal Watekar (24) and KhatibSahabuddin (27*) taking their side past the 200-run mark.At stumps, Andhra Pradesh were 234/8, with Sahabuddin and MohammedFaiq (6*) at the crease.*Uttar Pradesh wins at KanpurUttar Pradesh notched up a 155-run victory over Vidarbha on Day Fourof their Ranji Trophy league match at Kanpur on Sunday.Powered by a solid middle-order performance, Uttar Pradesh declared ata second-innings total of 329/9. Mohammad Saif and Nikhil Chopra,unbeaten overnight, made 48 and 47 respectively, keeping Pritam Gandhe(4-78) out long enough to propel their side to a sizeable total.Set a target of 293, Vidarbha could not even hold on for a draw, letalone make a significant dash for victory. With Harshal Shitoot’s 28being the top score, Vidarbha’s batting line-up crumbled in the faceof accurate bowling from Uttar Pradesh. The star of the bowling atackwas undoubtedly Mohammad Kaif, who returned stunning figures of10.5-7-4-3.With Vidarbha being bowled out for 137, Uttar Pradesh notched up eightpoints from this victory.*Madhya Pradesh hold on for exciting drawWith only one wicket remaining, Madhya Pradesh batsmen pulled off anexciting draw against Railways in their Ranji Trophy league match atIndore on Sunday.Railways, declaring at 291/7, reached its second-innings total due tosome fine batting from its top three batsmen. Jai P Yadav (92), AmitPagnis (70) and Yere Goud (50) all scored fifties, with Goud remainingunbeaten till the end of the innings. A brief middle-order collapsewas brushed aside as S Raza Ali also contributed lower down the orderwith 40 off 51 balls.Set a target of 514, Madhya Pradesh had no option but to play for adraw. This too looked doubtful as wickets collapsed in a heap at thetop of the order. KS Parida, the first-innings hero, took three morewickets here, but skipper Sulakshan Kulkarni batted bravely (30*) withthe tail to ensure a draw for his side.Railways, by virtue of their first-innings total, pick up five pointsfrom this tie, while Madhya Pradesh pick up three.*Mumbai pull off comprehensive winA second-innings collapse from Maharashtra saw Mumbai pull off aseven-wicket victory in their Ranji Trophy league match at Mumbai onSunday.Reaching a first-innings total of 250 thanks mainly to some late-orderheroics, Mumbai must have felt that they did not have nearly enoughruns in the bank. Iqbal Siddiqui was the most impressive Maharashtrabowler, returning figures of 7-91.Ramesh Powar, however, returned his own impressive figures for Mumbai,taking 6-30 off 19.5 overs. The Maharashtra innings collapseddramatically; with only the openers getting to double figures, theside was dismissed for 98.Set a target of 65 for victory, Mumbai brushed off minor hiccups tonotch up a seven-wicket victory. They now garner eight points fromthis match, their first of the Ranji season.*Gujarat manage tight victoryA six-wicket haul from Lalit Patel saw Gujarat notch up a tight ninerun win over Ranji champions Baroda in their Ranji Trophy league matchat Vadodara on Sunday.Set a total of 237 for victory, Baroda looked to be coasting towardsit during an 80-run stand between Tushar Arothe (47) and Ajit Bhoite(42). The former, in particular, played aggressively, making his runsoff 69 deliveries.Arothe’s fall at 209, as the sixth wicket, triggered off acollapse.The last four wickets fell for only 18 runs, as none of thetailenders could even slog their way to victory. Gujarat, by virtue oftheir outright win, pick up eight points from this match.*Amit Bhandari gives Delhi the edgeFigures of 6-55 saw Amit Bhandari rip through the Jammu & Kashmirline-up to give Delhi the edge in their Ranji Trophy league match atDelhi.Delhi, batting after being put in by the visitors, scored 286 in theirfirst innings. Akash Chopra, opening the innings, top-scored with 71,but the innings total was really boosted by Sarandeep Singh’s inningsof 54 off 62 coming in at No. 11. Vijay Sharma, for Jammu & Kashmir,picked 5-91.The visitors started their innings badly, losing the openers with just13 on the board. Aside from Kavaljit Singh, who made 56 and was theeighth wicket to fall, none of the players looked comfortable againstthe Delhi attack. Bhandari knocked off the top order and then returnedto play an encore against the tail.In their second innings, Delhi were 46/1 at the close of play on DayTwo, with Chopra and Pradeep Chawla at the crease.*Services, Himachal Pradesh battle it out at UnaHimachal Pradesh negated in part the advantage that Services gained byvirtue of their sizeable first-innings total in their Ranji Trophyleague match at Una.Services, winning the toss, made 329 in their first innings, withJasvir Singh top-scoring with 81 off 238 balls. He received goodsupport from Sanjay Verma (73), and their partnership formed the spineof the total. For Himachal Pradesh, Shakti Singh picked four for 67.Himachal Pradesh, responding to Services’ total, lost an opener early.Sandeep Sharma and Rajiv Nayyar put on 101 runs for the second wicketbefore the former fell with the score on 119, having made 80.At the close of play, Himachal Pradesh were 142/2, with Nayyar (50*)and Sangram Singh (3*) at the crease.

Shashank Manohar has in his first act as the BCCI president shifted the treasury office from Chennai to Mumbai, and made the BCCI constitution available online on the board’s official website, fulfilling one of the promises he made after taking charge.Following the decision to move the treasury office to Mumbai, the BCCI has hired M/S Gokhale & Sathe, a Mumbai-based firm, as internal auditor, replacing PB Vijayaraghavan & Co. from Chennai, whose services have for long been engaged by the TNCA. The move, according to a BCCI press release, was “keeping in mind that all tax matters of the BCCI are with the Income Tax Office in Mumbai.”.”Basically, the president wants all the offices, all the documents of the BCCI to be available at one place,” a BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo. Manohar had said soon after his election that the records would be made available at the board headquarters, “so that any member association or a representative of an association can inspect the records at any time”.The BCCI official said there would now be greater logistical convenience. “For example, our IT offices are in Mumbai, but every time there was something, the accounts, we had to get it from Chennai. He wants it [Mumbai] to be a proper headquarters where all sections of the board are working from the BCCI office,” the official said.The official, however, denied that the move was necessitated by the board’s reported dissatisfaction at treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry conducting business from more than one office. “I don’t think there is any point in debating on the fact. It’s a non issue now,” the official said. “In Delhi, he [Chaudhry] had opted for a room in a hotel for an office. That’s all. Nothing more than that. Every office bearer has an office of his own. The secretary is operating from Delhi, the joint-secretary has a small office, the president will have a small office here. That’s always the structure which was in the board.”One of Manohar’s assurances after assuming office was to ensure transparency, and he had said that the problem could be resolved by “putting on the website of the board the constitution of the board, all the rules of the board, any expenditure made by the board over and above an amount of [Rs] 25 lakhs (approx. US$ 38,000), so that people are aware on what activities the board spends their money”.Manohar had sought to address the perception that something was “wrong in the board”. “At the end of the year we can put the balance sheet of the board on the website, with the result it is available to the entire public at large so that there is transparency in the activities of the board,” he had said at the press conference after his election as president.The BCCI has subsequently uploaded a the 52-page constitution, titled Memorandum and Rules and Regulations, that was last revised on September 15, 2012.

New Zealand Cricket has moved to improve the standards of umpiring in the country by establishing an elite panel of eight officials. The development means umpires will be expected to be available on a full-time basis throughout the 2007-08 season.Brian Aldridge, the NZC umpires manager, said forming the panel was an important moment for the game in New Zealand. “Historically, umpiring has been a part-time leisure activity for individuals engaged in other careers,” he said. “This initiative points to a commitment to upgrade the standing, standards and professionalism of umpiring. Being engaged on a full-time basis, especially at first-class level, is expected to lift the standards of umpiring. “Billy Bowden is the only New Zealand umpire on the ICC’s elite panel while Gary Baxter and Tony Hill are the country’s representatives on the international group. Evan Watkin, who is registered with the ICC as a third official, joins the trio on New Zealand’s books along with Barry Frost, Phil Jones, David Quested and Derek Walker.

Brian Lara has given Ramnaresh Sarwan a vote of confidence ahead of the final Test in Karachi from November 27, but stopped short of saying whether he would be recalled into the playing XI.Sarwan, 26, was replaced for the Multan Test with Runako Morton. Lara insisted that the move wasn’t “designed as a drop,” and that Sarwan still had a key role to play in the future of West Indian cricket. However, it was the first time in his six-year career that Sarwan missed out due to poor form.”First of all, let me say that Sarwan is one of the best talents of his generation, my generation and even the one before,” Lara said. “He is someone we look forward to having in the team. He is a leader, he is the vice-captain of the team and we expect a lot of him. The West Indies did not invest 64 Tests in him for him to be sitting on the side.”He will come back from this and come back stronger. It wasn’t designed as a drop. We just wanted to make him aware of the situation and come back stronger. We need him and we need him to take control.”Lara wasn’t willing, however, to disclose whether Sarwan would return for the final Test. As he’d said before the start at Multan, Lara maintained that the best combination would be selected. “We have to see what the surface in Karachi will be like and then decide,” he said. “Most importantly, we are 1-0 down and we want to level the series. The team out there will be the one that can do that. We want to play good cricket. We have to come out of this game against a team that beat us in four days and put them under pressure throughout.”

Virender Sehwag, who celebrated his home captaincy debut with an emphatic win at Rajkot, hailed his bowlers for sticking to a good line and length and restricting Sri Lanka to just 196. He said he was “very impressed” with Rudra Pratap Singh, who set up the win with a fine spell, and S Sreesanth and also acknowledged the contributions made by the spinners in the middle overs.On a pitch that both captains admitted was on the slower side, Rudra Pratap, playing just his third ODI, was rewarded for sticking to the nuts and bolts of medium-pace. Coming on to bowl in the 12th over, he began with a maiden and had Upul Tharanga flinching and edging one that reared superbly from a good length. “RP is a very talented bowler,” Sehwag added,” and his specialty is that he can bring the ball into the right-handers and swing it both ways.”Despite being struck for a few fours early, Rudra Pratap, who made his first class debut on this very ground against the touring New Zealanders two years back, didn’t waver too much with his rhythm. Known around the domestic circuit as a bowler who can prodigiously swing the ball, he showed that he could deliver even when the atmospheric conditions weren’t on his side. “In Zimbabwe [where he made his debut] there was more swing for me, here I needed to concentrate on my length. I’ve been learnt a lot from Irfan [Pathan] and he’s advised me on bowling in different situations.”Even with Ajit Agarkar ruled out with flu, India found all their moves paying off yet again. Sehwag said that he was confident that his bowling attack could do the job, a fact which had partly influenced his decision at the toss. “In the past we had won games while chasing and our bowlers were doing well. Also the Sri Lankan bowlers were not in form and I felt we could chase any target. We had planned to cut down on the number of extras and I’m glad we conceded just three in this game.”He added that his inability to convert 20s to 50s and 100s was both “difficult and irritating”. However, he said that he really enjoyed his role as captain during the game and said that he was learning with each experience. “Captaincy is something which one needs to get used to,” he said. “I learnt a lot from the Ahmedabad game and made sure I didn’t repeat the same mistakes here.”

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?"

Close
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.