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Middlesex Crusaders secured a six wicket victory over Glamorgan Dragons at Cardiff in the last round of National League matches.With three needed of the final ball young Irishman Joyce took an ambitious swing, and bottom edged the ball to the third man boundary.A nail biting finish never seemed on the cards after seamer Aaron Laraman had taken a career best 6-42 to restrict the Glamorgan Dragons to an under par 191-9. The Welshmen relied heavily on in form Michael Powell and his better than a run a ball contribution of 86 with 8 fours and a six off Ramprakash.Middlesex Crusaders seemed to be cruising, with Langer remaining undefeated on 75, but when Ramprakash top edged a hook, and Laraman was bowled the innings faltered, and the Londoners were grateful for Joyce’s fortuitous last ball heave.It was a sad ending for Maynard who was also dismissed for 0 in his last game as Glamorgan’s captain.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, and his teammates are keen to do well in the first one-day international against England on Saturday, which has been declared a fund-raiser for the October 8 earthquake victims.”It is a significant match for us as there is a need for us and the rest of Pakistan not to forget about the problems being faced by the earthquake victims and that we need to do a lot more for them in future to rehabilitate them,” said Inzamam. The earthquake in the northern areas of Pakistan killed over 80,000 people and has left some three million homeless.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and its players have been in the forefront of organising events to raise funds for the quake victims. The entire gate money from Saturday’s day and night fixture will go towards the rehabilitation of the victims with a board official saying a sum of approximately 12 million rupees (US$ 200,761) should be raised from sale of tickets. The PCB has already donated 50 million rupees (US$ 836,505) for the quake victims with the players also contributing a percentage of their matches fees for the next one-year.Inzamam made a fervent appeal to the people to make the match a big success. “It is an occasion when we can all do a lot to raise awareness about the plight of those affected by the earthquake. I hope companies and individuals will also donate at the match.” He added that the players were also planning to sponsor some villages in the affected areas.

Harbhajan Singh has warned opposition batsmen to expect a new “magic ball” when they face him next time. Talking to the media during the Indian team’s fitness camp in Bangalore, Harbhajan said: “I have been working on a magic ball. I won’t tell you [anything more on that]. You will see it definitely … it is going to be a surprise.”Harbhajan hasn’t played competitive cricket for more than six months due to a finger injury which cut short his tour of Australia. However, he said that he was now fully fit after following a rehabilitation programme under the guidance of Andrew Leipus, the team physiotherapist. “I have started bowling since the last one month or so. I am feeling confident the way it’s going. I have been working on fitness. Let’s see how it works. I just can’t wait getting into the middle.”Talking about his prolonged absence from the game, Harbhajan said: “[Missing out on the series in] Australia was the most frustrating. I wanted to do well there. Unfortunately, I could not play the full series. I just played one Test and got injured,” he said. “It was frustrating to sit out and watch.”Harbhajan also indicated that he would play a few matches for Indian Airlines, his employer, to gain match-practice before the start of the international season.

Sachin Tendulkar has opted out of the Test series against Zimbabwe as he felt he wasn’t strong enough to return to the rigours of Test cricket. According to a report sent by John Gloster, the team physio, to the Indian board, Tendulkar, who is recovering from an elbow surgery, wasn’t yet ready to return to competitive cricket.The national selection panel have picked Dheeraj Jadhav, the opener from Maharashtra, as Tendulkar’s replacement for the two-Test series, beginning at Bulawayo on September 13.SK Nair, the BCCI secretary, confirmed this and added that though Tendulkar had returned to light net sessions, he didn’t feel confident enough to return to Test cricket. Nair also revealed that Gloster, the team physio, had sent a mail to the BCCI “where he further stated that the strength component of the rehabilitation plan was progressing positively acording to plan but it was not yet sufficient to progress to the next level of competetive play.”Tendulkar has been dogged by a painful tennis-elbow for nearly a year and it forced him to miss one-day tournaments in Holland and England as well as two Tests against Australia. After the home series against Pakistan last season, Tendulkar decided to get his elbow operated.Nair also added that the selectors had decided to pick Jadhav as the replacement after a telephonic discussion. Jadhav, who was the leading run-scorer in domestic cricket two seasons back, had been included in the Indian squad for the final Test against Australia at Mumbai last year but didn’t make it to the final XI.

Scorecard

Bengal continued their dominance over Baroda by amassing 617 in their first innings and then dismissing both opposition openers to leave Baroda 101 for 2 at stumps on the fourth day at Kolkata. Having easily gained the first-innings bonus points, even a draw here will see Bengal progress into the finals against a resurgent Uttar Pradesh.Much like yesterday, where the Bengal pair of Deep Dasgupta and Laxmi Ratan Shukla dominated, at times slaughtered, and ultimately frustrated the insipid Baroda attack into submission, today the lower order fought well against a negative line to further their dominant position. Despite the fall of Shukla, for a career-best 141, to the persevering Shekhar Joshi in the fifth over of the day, Bengal’s tail wagged well enough to see a further 102 added to their total.By lunch, Bengal had surged to 611 for 7, with Saurashish Lahiri getting to his fifty in an 88-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Shibsagar Singh(40*). That stand was broken two runs later as Irfan Safi Pathan, Baroda’s opening bowler, got one to sneak through Lahiri’s defense. Pathan followed that up with the wickets of Ranadeb Bose and Shib Paul in quick succession, and Bengal were finally bowled out for 619, a lead of 378. It was a much-needed breakthrough that came about four sessions too late for Baroda.Baroda would have been disappointed not only in their bowling, but in the manner in which Pinal Shah and Rakesh Solanki, their openers, misread the pace of Ranadeb Bose and Shukla. On a pitch that turned benign with each session – making the bowlers toil for wickets – and assisted the Bengal batsmen for the better part of three days, both Baroda batsmen found themselves clean bowled by Bengal’s medium pace duo.Still 277 runs behind Bengal, much of Baroda’s hopes rest on Jacob Martin and Connor Williams, the not-out batsmen, who have so far added 71 in 31.1 overs. A win will give Bengal undoubted confidence heading in to the finals, but following their extended batting display at the Eden Gardens, it seems they were content on even settling for a draw.

Jeff Wilson has been included in New Zealand’s team for the first game of the three-match series against the FICA World XI to be played at the Jade Stadium in Christchurch tomorrow. Wilson will make his first appearance for the national team in 12 years while Craig McMillan, who joined the squad after Jacob Oram was withdrawn from the first match because of a back strain, was named as the 12th man.The rest of the team was on expected lines with two specialist medium pacers in Daryl Tuffey and Kyle Mills and a powerful batting line-up backing them up.The three matches will be played on January 22, 24 and 26, and proceeds from the games will go towards providing relief to the victims of the tsunami disaster which hit south Asia on December 26.New Zealand
1 Stephen Fleming (capt), 2 Nathan Astle, 3 Mathew Sinclair, 4 Hamish Marshall, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Chris Cairns, 7 Brendon McCullum, 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 Jeff Wilson, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Daryl Tuffey.

Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, says that the inexperienced one-day side must be given time to develop. England, after drawing the Test series in India, are trailing 0-3 in the one-day series with four games to play. “From our point of view it’s been quite a difficult series,” Fletcher told BBC Radio Five Live. “People must be a little bit patient with this squad. On Monday, there were six changes from the side which played very successfully against Australia.”England are without Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles. Kevin Pietersen missed the third ODI at Goa because of a stomach bug.”It makes it more difficult for the younger players, who don’t have that experience, to come in and perform,” said Fletcher. “When you look at the Indian side there’s quite a few players who have played over 100 games – we haven’t got one player who’s played 100 games. It shows you they are a very experienced side.”It’s very important that these players do learn and I think this series is a good experience for some of them. As long as we learn from our mistakes – and we’re going to make mistakes – it can only do them good for the future. We’ve still got a chance. There are four games to go and I still believe we have a positive attitude.”

The ICC has asked for an explanation from the Indian board for the crowd trouble that had erupted during the April 9 one-day international between India and England at Guwahati.”Malcolm Speed [the CEO of ICC] has sent us [BCCI] a letter asking for explanation over what he’s called serious breach of security,” Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, told PTI. “I will forward the letter to the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) for its reply which I hope to get in four or five days.”The ICC has also sent a copy of the report sent to it by match referee Roshan Mahanama which is a standard procedure. After getting the reply from ACA we would send a reply to the ICC.”However, the ACA had not received any letter from the BCCI till late last evening. Ghanshyam Baruah, the treasurer of the ACA, told the , a Guwahati-based daily, that they had not yet received any intimation from the Indian board.Crowd trouble erupted during the game after the umpires had called off play because of a wet outfield. There was rioting in the Eastern stands and the police had to fire tear gas shells to break up the mob. The trouble escalated when the crowd began to target the television cameras, in place to cover the match and at least four cameras were badly damaged. It was later revealed that the damage was around 6.5 to 8 million rupees (US$146,000 to 180,000).

Aaron Nye’s impressive form in Queensland’s Ford Ranger Cup final victory has earned him a place in the Pura Cup squad for their match against New South Wales. Nye replaced Nathan Rimmington in the 12-man line-up to take on the Blues at the SCG starting on Thursday.Nye has not played first-class cricket since 2004-05 but made the selectors take notice with a vital ten-over spell in the limited-overs final against Victoria, in which he claimed the wickets of Cameron White, David Hussey and Adam Crosthwaite. Nye, an allrounder who bowls offspin and has a Pura Cup century to his name, gives the Bulls the option of a three-man spin attack for the Sydney clash.The Blues made four changes to their squad, promoting Peter Forrest, the rookie-contracted batsman, for what could be his first Pura Cup match. Forrest made 127 for the New South Wales Second XI last week, which was his second century in the Cricket Australia Cup this season.Forrest and Beau Casson were included at the expense of Greg Mail and Nathan Hauritz. Stuart Clark and Brad Haddin, who were unavailable due to their World Cup preparations, were replaced by Matthew Nicholson and Daniel Smith.Queensland sit second-last on the Pura Cup table but they are only six points shy of the Blues, who are first. Every team has two matches remaining, meaning only South Australia are out of the race for a place in the final.Queensland squad Jimmy Maher (capt), Ryan Broad, Greg Moller, Clinton Perren, Aaron Nye, Craig Philipson, James Hopes, Chris Hartley (wk), Chris Simpson, Andy Bichel, Ashley Noffke, Daniel Doran.New South Wales squad Ed Cowan, Phil Jaques, Simon Katich (capt), Dominic Thornely, Peter Forrest, Grant Lambert, Daniel Smith (wk), Beau Casson, Matthew Nicholson, Mark Cameron, Doug Bollinger, Stuart MacGill.

India’s cricket chiefs plan to speak to Greg Chappell, India’s coach, over a rude gesture he reportedly made to crowds in Kolkata last week, an official said on Monday.”We will certainly discuss the matter at the board’s annual general meeting in Kolkata on Tuesday,” said Inderjit Bindra, former head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). “I don’t think any action will be taken but we will tell him such a thing should not happen in future.”Television footage showed Chappell putting his right hand out of a window of the team bus and pointing the middle finger towards the crowds outside the Eden Gardens prior to the fourth one-day match against South Africa. Newspapers slammed Chappell for what they said was an insulting gesture to fans who were taunting him for excluding local hero Sourav Ganguly from the one-day side. Team spokesman M Baladitya said “Chappell had injured his finger during practice and he said he was just attending to it. He did not gesture at anybody.”It was an explanation few were willing to buy, but Chappell insisted he had done nothing wrong. “I see no reason to keep defending myself for something I have not done,” he was quoted as saying in the . “If I want to point a finger at someone, I would point it openly, not when I am inside a bus.” The newspaper also commented: “Indian fans might be a tad too emotional for Chappell’s tastes. But they don’t deserve such disrespect. By his extravagantly tasteless gesture, the legendary Australian cricketer has virtually guaranteed that the debate would now be on him rather than the overtly sentimental crowd.”The Indian team was jeered off the field after South Africa thrashed them by 10 wickets last Friday to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Many in the 90,000-strong crowd taunted Rahul Dravid and his team during and after the match and raised slogans against Chappell and the selectors. Ganguly, India’s most successful Test captain with 21 wins, was sacked and replaced by Dravid this season following a public spat with Chappell. The 33-year-old left-hander was not picked for the home one-day series against Sri Lanka and South Africa, but has been named in the team for the first Test against the Sri Lankans at Chennai from December 2. Chappell, 56, was appointed India’s coach in June for a two-year term till the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.India must win the final one-dayer against South Africa at Mumbai on November 28 to draw the series.