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Nathan Astle has been dropped from the squad for the final two ODIs against Sri Lanka in spite of his matchwinning innings at Christchurch, to make way for Stephen Fleming, who returns to captain the team after recovering from a broken finger.Kyle Mills, who underwent a test for a groin strain, and Jacob Oram, who had hurt his heel during the second match at Christchurch, were ruled out of the remainder of the series against Sri Lanka. They were replaced by Chris Martin and James Franklin.”Stephen Fleming will come back into the side as captain for the remainder of the series,” John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, was quoted as saying by a New Zealand Cricket media release. “Daniel Vettori has performed extremely well in the captain’s role and with his increased experience he now provides us with a much needed second leadership option.”Bracewell added that since continuing with Jamie How and Peter Fulton was the right path for New Zealand, Astle had to make way for Fleming. “We were pleased with how Nathan Astle played yesterday. However, one top-order player has to make way for Stephen and we believe continuing to play Jamie How and Peter Fulton is the right option for us at this time. Nathan will return to domestic cricket to continue to build on yesterday’s performance. Jeetan Patel has been selected as we look to develop further spin-bowling options for the World Cup.”Squad
Stephen Fleming (capt), Daniel Vettori (vice capt), Shane Bond, Chris Cairns, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Hamish Marshall, Brendon McCullum (wk), Chris Martin, James Franklin, Jeetan Patel, Scott Styris, Lou Vincent.

Tim Nielsen, the Australia coach, has predicted there will be no changes to the batting and fast-bowling line-ups for the first Test against West Indies unless there are injuries. Australia’s 15-man squad starts its pre-tour camp in Brisbane on Monday and the incumbents, who were part of the 2-1 victory over India, will be boosted by Nielsen’s faith.”The success Lee, Clark and Johnson had as a fast-bowling group last summer means if they are fit and well they’ll be leading the attack,” Nielsen said in the Sunday Mail. “The batting group has been quite stable – Hayden, Jaques, Ponting, Hussey, Clarke and Symonds had successful summers – so the guys that featured in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will have the first opportunity to represent Australia in the West Indies.”There are only two vacancies and Brad Haddin will become the country’s 400th Test player when he takes the gloves from Adam Gilchrist for the first Test in Jamaica on May 22. Stuart MacGill, who has recovered from wrist and knee injuries, is the leading candidate to replace the retired Brad Hogg while Beau Casson is also in the squad. “Traditionally, we like the balance of a spinner,” Nielsen said. “So unless it will be a raging greentop, I’d say we’ll play a spinner.”Ashley Noffke and Doug Bollinger were the two form bowlers during the first-class season, but Mitchell Johnson has the inside running to add to his six Tests. Noffke will start the tour, his second to the West Indies, as the first-choice back-up option.”He’s in the squad so that shows how close he is, but to be honest I wouldn’t expect him to be in the first team unless there is injury,” Nielsen said. “Ashley was rewarded with some one-day cricket and Twenty20 cricket last year and he’s jumped up another level again. It’s really pleasing for us to know that if we have an injury, a guy like Noffke can step in and do the job.”

India 157 for 5 (Gambhir 75, Gul 3-28) beat Pakistan 152 (Misbah-ul-Haq 43, Pathan 3-16, RP Singh 3-23) by 5 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Ten days earlier, India and Pakistan couldn’t be separated in Durban. Infront of a frenzied crowd at the Wanderers on Monday, they played outperhaps the best final ever seen in a major tournament. Once again, theice-cool Misbah-ul-Haq threatened to drag Pakistan back from the brink,but the Indians just about held their nerve to clinch a five-run victoryand the inaugural ICC World Twenty20.After scrapping hard to get to 157 for 5 in the face of some tigerishbowling and fielding, India were inspired with the ball, and Pakistanappeared to be well out of contention with 54 needed from 24 balls andjust three wickets in hand. But when Misbah thumped Harbhajan Singh forthree sixes and Sohail Tanvir chipped in with a four-ball 12, theimprobable became possible.With Misbah on strike, Pakistan needed 13 from the final over. After agreat deal of thought, Mahendra Singh Dhoni gambled on the inexperiencedJoginder Sharma. When he started with a wide, Indian fans groaned, and thesituation became even more desperate when Misbah pummelled a full tossmiles over long-off for six. But with victory in his grasp, his judgementfailed him. Moving across his stumps, he went for the scoop down to fineleg. He didn’t connect cleanly, and millions on the subcontinent heldtheir breath as Sreesanth came under the ball at short fine leg. When heheld it, the stadium erupted.The architects of the Indian triumph were the two left-armers, RudraPratap Singh and Irfan Pathan, both of whom scalped three wickets toscupper the chase. Singh struck in both his opening overs, having MohammadHafeez caught at slip and knocking Kamran Akmal’s off stump out of theground, but Imran Nazir played a blinder at the other end to keep his sideahead of the asking rate.Two sixes and two fours came in Sreesanth’s opening over, as Nazir cut andpulled with immense power. Sreesanth redeemed himself with a maiden toYounis Khan, but India still needed wickets as they sought to defend amiddling total. The inspiration came from Robin Uthappa, whose unerringthrow from mid-off to the keeper’s end ended Nazir’s blistering 14-ball33.Joginder’s lack of pace provided the next breakthrough, with Younismiscuing one to mid-on, and the onus was on Shoaib Malik to see his sidehome. But with Irfan bowling a impeccable line and length and the Indianvoices in the crowd growing louder, something had to give. And it wasMalik that cracked, dragging a long hop to midwicket.Pathan was euphoric, and moments later he and his team-mates were beyondthe clouds. Shahid Afridi came to the crease with a boom-boom reputation,but left with a whimper after a heads-up heave that found Sreesanth atlong-off. With the scoreboard showing 77 for 6, the match had seeminglyswung inexorably India’s way.But Misbah, supported brilliantly by Yasir Arafat and Tanvir, had otherideas. And even though Irfan, Sreesanth and RP Singh produced magnificentyorkers to take India to the brink, no one breathed easy until Misbahfluffed his final line.Gautam Gambhir and Umar Gul had shared the limelight in the Indianinnings, with Gul taking 3 for 28 in a splendid spell where he bowledyorkers almost at will. Gambhir’s scintillating 75 held the Indian inningstogether, and a late 30-run cameo from Rohit Sharma gave India them hope.India’s plans for the game had been rocked by the groin injury to VirenderSehwag, and his replacement, Yusuf Pathan, was nearly run out afterdawdling for the first one. Otherwise known as Irfan’s older brother,Yusuf came into prominence in domestic Twenty20, and he quicklydemonstrated his ability with a straight six off Mohammad Asif.With Asif bowling well below his normal pace, Yusuf then carved onethrough point for four before an ambitious pull landed in Malik’s hands atmid-on. That stemmed the early tide, and India were reliant mainly onsingles to up the scoring rate. Uthappa endeavoured to inject somemomentum into the innings, but his attempt to go over extra-cover landedtamely in the hands of the fielder.

With Malik quickly bringing on Afridi and Hafeez, India needed someone tofind the gaps. Gambhir was the man, lacing some lovely drives through thecovers and pushing the singles as Yuvraj Singh played himself in. Gambhirwas ruthless with the loose delivery, heaving Afridi over midwicket forsix as runs started to come too quickly for Malik’s liking.His response was to call on Gul, Pakistan’s most effective pace bowler inthis competition. Gambhir cut him behind point en route to a 38-ball 50,but Gul’s round-the-wicket line was soon to earn its reward. Yuvraj, inresplendent batting form in previous big games, didn’t ever get going anda miscued pull landed straight back down in Gul’s hands.With the fielders showing tremendous commitment in the outfield and Gulmixing short-pitched deliveries with perfect yorkers, the batsmen grewincreasingly frustrated. The pressure finally told on Dhoni, whose swipemet only with air as Gul produced another fast-and-straight special.Gambhir tried to break free of the shackles, and a massive six thatthudded into the scoreboard at midwicket had the Indian fans dancing, butGul’s retribution was swift. An attempted flick-paddle went straight toAsif at short fine leg, and Gambhir’s splendid innings was finally over.Sharma had shone against South Africa in a crunch game, and he came to thefore again in the final two overs, taking Arafat for two fours before helofted a slower ball from Tanvir in the direction of long-on. Hafeez gotthere, but could only tip the ball over the rope. On such incidents arematches between these two great rivals won and lost. On an enthrallingafternoon at the Bullring though, there were no winners or losers, just aresounding success for a format that is undoubtedly here to stay.

A trust has been created to fund a number of projects in South Africa, including a training academy, in memory of Bob Woolmer, the former Pakistan coach who was murdered last Sunday.The money raised will fund the creation of a Bob Woolmer Cricket Academy outside Nelspruit in the eastern Mpumalanga province, and to ensure his book on the art and science of cricket gets published.”The Academy is for the benefit of world cricket not just South African cricket and will be run as a not-for-profit organisation,” read a statement. “One of the objectives is that children from underprivileged communities in South Africa will benefit in both a sporting and academic way.”The trust would also aim to provide financial security for his widow Gill, and sons Dale and Russell. Jonty Rhodes, the former South African batsman, was named as one of the trustees.”Bob Woolmer was one of world cricket’s most recognisable characters and servants of the game. Being one of the top coaches in world cricket did not stop him from sharing his skills and philosophies with the emerging cricketers of the world.”The investigation into Woolmer’s murder continues.

The ICC has announced that the sale of sponsorship rights for the eight-year period starting after the completion of the World Cup in March will start shortly. It is expected the deal will bring in more than $500 million on top of the $1.1 billion the sale of broadcast rights to ESPN-STAR Sports in December netted.In a statement, the ICC said that it would enter into negotiations with potential sponsors with a view to finalising deals by the end of June. The period up for grabs includes 18 ICC tournaments, with two World Cups and a minimum of three ICC Champions Trophy events. Also included are the first two Twenty20 World Championships, in South Africa (2007) and England (2009).”With those events and a broadcasting agreement to cover them in place, we are now in a position to go to market to obtain the best possible partners for cricket,” Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, said. “For the first time the ICC is able to offer one major event every year and the quality and variety of those events and the fact they span the globe mean they represent exceptional value for sponsors.”With growing media convergence and evolution likely over the next eight years this sponsorship will engage fans via a variety of platforms, including television, internet, mobile, radio, print and at the venues themselves.”It is widely reported that the ICC has initiated negotiations with companies – such as LG, Hero Honda, Hutch, Pepsi, Videocon and Reliance – rather than deal thorough a third party. For the period between 2004 and 2007, its sponsorship rights were being handled by Nimbus Communications.But Speed acknowledged the need to protect against ambush marketing while avoiding the clashes with players and boards which have blighted the current deal. “We will guarantee exclusivity to our global partners, at the same time, relax some conditions for independent player and team sponsors to avoid clashes between sponsors,” he insisted. “By limiting restrictions, we would offer more flexibility to sponsors.”

Zimbabweans 221 for 8 (Matsikenyeri 49, Hossain 3-34) beat Bangladesh Cricket Board President’s XI 195 (Chowdhury 42, Brent 3-32) by 26 runs
Scorecard

Zimbabwe got their tour off to a winning start with a 26-run victory over a Bangladesh Cricket Board President’s XI at the BKSP cricket ground in Dhaka.Zimbabwe won the toss and Stuart Matsikenyeri anchored the innings with 49 from 61 balls, including four fours and three sixes. He was ably supported by Mluleki Nkala (37) who was standing in as captain for the injured Prosper Utseya. Mosharraf Hossain was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 34 and Tapash Baishya weighed in with 3 for 50. The home side never overcame the loss of early wickets, and their hopes were virtually wiped out by a mid-innings wobble.”It was a good test for the guys because most of them had time at the crease,” said Kevin Curran, Zimbabwe’s coach. “The bowlers also got some valuable overs. We batted well, especially Stuart. But a competitive score would have been about 240, so we were short of that.”Our ground fielding also let us down as we let through 20-25 runs. If we had stopped them, we would have bowled the BCB President’s XI out much earlier. It was good that we won in the end but we made the margin much narrower that it should have been.”Zimbabwe now travel to Khulna for a Twenty20 match against Bangladesh on Tuesday, and the first ODI on Thursday.&

India Seniors 214 for 5 (Sanjeev Sharma 66) beat Pakistan Seniors 211 (Azam 61) by 5 wickets
ScorecardSanjeev Sharma, the former Indian allrounder, guided Indian Seniors to a comfortable five-wicket win over their Pakistan counterparts in the third one-day match at Sheikhupura. Indian Seniors now lead the series 2-1. Sharma scored a strokefilled 66 with seven boundaries as India Seniors made light work of the target of 212.Mohammad Azharuddin, who came into this match with the series level at 1-1, won the toss and chose to field. Azam Khan, the wicketkeeper, resisted at the top of the order with a half-century, but Aamer Sohail and Mansoor Akhtar fell early, leaving Pakistan seniors at 36 for 2.Wickets fell at regular intervals, and no meaty partnerships developed. The best stand was for the fifth wicket, and was worth 55, the only half-century partnership of the innings. While Manoj Prabhakar and David Johnson gave the Indian seniors the early breakthroughs, Sukhwinder Singh and Noel David chipped in towards the end with two wickets apiece as Pakistan Seniors were bowled out for 211 in 37.2 overs.In contrast to their counterparts the openers for the Indian Seniors – Prabhakar and Sharma – provided a healthy start, putting on 51. Then WV Raman, the former left-hand batsman, chipped in with 35 at No. 3. The Indian Seniors then faced a blip as Abdul Qadir, the legspin great, snapped up Mohammad Azharuddin and Amarjit Kaypee relatively cheaply. India were five down, but still easily overhauled the target, scoring 214 in 33.3 overs.Khusro Pervez Khan, the home secretary of Punjab, Jalil Ahmed Sharqpuri, the district nazim, Inam-ul-Haq the DCO, Nazim Mohammad Virk, the tehsil, were among the dignitaries who watched the match.

A superbly constructed 171-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Graeme Smith and Gary Kirsten completely swung the match South Africa’s way, as they levelled the series 1-1 with a convincing six-wicket win at Wellington. Needing 152 on the final day with seven wickets in hand, Smith led the way with an unbeaten 125, but Kirsten, in his last Test innings, played an equally crucial hand, battling his way to 76 before being dismissed in the last over before lunch.The story of the day was the matchwinning stand, but the most poignant moment came off the last ball of the morning session, when Kirsten left the field for the final time in Test cricket after being trapped in front by Scott Styris. Normally not given to emotion, Kirsten passionately kissed his helmet before walking off in tears, while all the New Zealand players stood aside and applauded the effort of the man who had – one last time – helped steer his team to the brink of victory.When play began on the final day, both sides had an equal chance of victory, but Smith and Kirsten shut New Zealand out with a nerveless batting display. Smith carried on from where he had left off on the fourth evening. Pilloried for everything from lack of mental toughness to lack of tactical acumen in the last month, he hit back in style. The feature of his knock was his leg-side batting, as he repeatedly took balls from around off stump and effortlessly clipped them to midwicket, a stroke which, fittingly, brought South Africa the winning run. It would normally be termed risky cricket, but so fluent was Smith that it seldom appeared so.Kirsten, on the other hand, was far more scratchy at the start – he mistimed drives, played and missed at a few, and generally struggled with footwork and timing. Hardly the sort of person to be bothered by it all, he just knuckled down, soaked up all the pressure, knocked around the singles, and gradually got back into the groove. By the end of his innings he was in excellent form, stroking drives through cover and back past the bowler, and even executing a couple of delightful late-cuts for four.With early wickets so crucial to their chances of victory, New Zealand started proceedings with Chris Martin and Jacob Oram. However, both began by straying towards leg stump, and were picked off for easy runs by Smith, who flicked fours off both bowlers to reach his half-century in style. Martin failed to get the swing that had made him such a potent force in this series, which meant that the deliveries which were supposed to pitch on leg and move late across the left-handers now became regulation runscoring opportunities.Twenty-four came off the first seven overs, but New Zealand gradually tightened their line, as Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori were pressed into the attack. The next nine overs produced only ten runs, but both batsmen survived that period patiently, knowing that with plenty of time in hand, the onus would be on New Zealand to force the issue. Cairns, in possibly his last home Test, bowled with plenty of fire and tried every trick in his bag, bowling from round the wicket, teasing the batsmen with wide half-volleys and then with the short stuff, but today, he came off second-best.The highlight of the session was the way Smith and Kirsten neutralised the threat of Vettori. On a pitch that – despite some rough areas outside the left-handers’ off stump – was still an excellent one for batting, both used their feet regularly against him, not to tonk boundaries but to work him with the spin just wide of mid-on for ones. And when Vettori altered his length, the batsmen were waiting on the back foot to turn it away behind square for more singles. It was risk-free cricket, and it added to the frustration for Vettori and Stephen Fleming.After working their way through a critical runless phase, Smith and Kirsten slowly turned it on: Cairns was slashed through gully for four by Kirsten, ending a sequence of 19 consecutive singles by both batsmen, while Vettori was lofted for four over mid-on.The over that completely shifted the momentum was the 55th, Vettori’s tenth and last of the match. Smith creamed an on-drive and a flick for two fours, in between chopping one past slip for two, as 12 came from the over. Vettori went into the drinks break – the second of an extended morning session – completely demoralised; Smith and Kirsten went in for the breather with victory well in sight, and the target whittled down to 73.The personal landmarks for both batsmen came immediately after play resumed – Kirsten clipped one from Oram to square leg for three to bring up his 34th Test fifty, and next ball, Smith eased a four to midwicket for his seventh century. Kirsten’s wicket was a bit of a dampener, but he had done enough to ensure that his swansong would end in a memorable victory for South Africa.

Scorecard

Craig Spearman chose the ideal time to make amends for a meagre Twenty20 season with a match-winning 55-ball 86 to put Gloucestershire into the final, for the first time, at Edgbaston with 19 deliveries to spare. An impressive fielding display kept Lancashire to 148 as Gloucestershire produced two vital run-outs, including Andrew Flintoff for 3.Gloucestershire produced the brand of cricket that made them a one-day powerhouse under Mark Alleyne and John Bracewell. Crucially they came out on top during the six-over fielding restriction periods, which play such a vital part in Twenty20, and Spearman expertly showed how to exploit the early overs.Before this match Spearman was averaging 7.85 in this season’s tournament, but was quickly into his stride as 23 came off James Anderson’s second over. He regularly brought out the reverse sweep against the spinners – sending Muttiah Muralitharan to the deep cover boundary twice in his first over – and reached his 33-ball half-century with a straight six off Gary Keedy.Not even Flintoff could change the tide for Lancashire. He steamed in from the Pavilion End during an opening two-over burst, having a loud lbw shout against Spearman turned down before making a breakthrough when Hamish Marshall slashed to point. Flintoff was pumped, letting out a primeval roar, but his second over included a no-ball and the resulting free hit was dispatched by Spearman as Gloucestershire raced away and passed fifty in the sixth over.Kadeer Ali played his part in a second-wicket century stand that came off just 67 balls, but everyone else was overshadowed by Spearman. He took Dominic Cork to the cleaners with two huge leg-side sixes in a superb display of clean striking before tamely chipping Muralitharan to midwicket with 12 needed. But he had more than done his job.Spearman’s top-order onslaught is what Lancashire missed. They suffered a chaotic build-up when Mal Loye, someone who could have produced a similar performance, was forced to pull out with a recurrence of his back problems. Mark Chilton, the captain, was going to drop himself if Loye played, but Lancashire still had plenty of power with Flintoff and Stuart Law opening.However, a tight new-ball spell by Jon Lewis kept Lancashire in their shell. Law tried to break the shackles with a heave over the leg side, but his top-edge was sharply pouched at slip. Flintoff had already been dropped at mid-off on 1 by Alex Gidman before he was run out. The ball cannoned off his pad towards slip, Hodge started running before stopping and Flintoff couldn’t get back.Hodge, though, provided some impetus to the innings as he crunched six authoritative boundaries to become the second batsman to pass 1000 runs in the competition. However, Mark Hardinges picked up the key wicket when Hodge smashed a firm drive to Marshall at extra cover and the same combination accounted for Chilton.Lancashire were partially revived by an enterprising innings from Gareth Cross and a 30-run stand between Cork and Glen Chapple. However, the fact that the only six came as late as the 19th over showed the extent of Gloucestershire’s grip. Their batting ensured they never let go.

Scorecard

Darren Lehmann moved to equal fifth on Australia’s list of first-class century-makers but South Australia were in desperate trouble after losing three late wickets. Set 360 for victory after New South Wales closed their second innings at 2 for 187, South Australia showed the same signs that ruined their batting last season when they were reduced to 3 for 14 in eight overs from three Test bowlers.Brett Lee struck first when he trapped Matthew Elliott with his fifth ball and Glenn McGrath claimed Shane Deitz before Stuart MacGill bowled the nightwatchman Cullen Bailey in the last over of the third day. Callum Ferguson was sent in ahead of Lehmann and survived his only delivery.Lehmann towered over the Blues in the first-innings as he reached his 71st first-class century, putting him on the same line as Justin Langer and Stuart Law, and scored almost half his side’s runs before he was last man out. Greg Chappell (74), Steve Waugh (79), Mark Waugh (81) and Don Bradman (117) are the only Australian players more prolific than Lehmann, who hit 23 fours and stayed for 203 deliveries before being caught at third-man by Lee off McGrath.South Australia began the third day at 5 for 190 and gave up a 172-run first-innings lead following a 91-run partnership between Lehmann and Mark Cleary. Simon Katich, the New South Wales captain, did not enforce the follow on and then shared a 139-run stand with Phil Jaques before declaring for the second time in the match.