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Cricket’s governing body, the International Cricket Council, needs to keep up with the times in its handling of issues like matchfixing.New Zealand Cricket’s chairman and ICC board member Sir John Anderson said today the issues of past illegal activities were, in some ways, something of a distraction and cricket needed to ensure such matters were handled in keeping with the times.”The world we live in today is different to the world of a decade ago. Television is different, finance is different, and now we have to handle issues in a different way,” he told CricInfo.Anderson likened the matchfixing situation to the banking industry he is involved in as chief executive of the National Bank of New Zealand.”We have 25,000 employees who have had to change and understand security matters, and we have to do the same in cricket.”We are looking at the security and safety of players as recommended in the Condon Report,” he said.An awareness programme was needed so that players knew the requirements of them. Problems of the match-fixing kind did not happen in the United States, the archetypal market for professional sport.Instituting such a programme would be a major step forward and New Zealand’s method of introducing that would be discussed at Friday’s board meeting of NZC.If the Indian bookmaker, Mukesh Gupta, failed to meet the ACU’s Sir Paul Condon’s July 1 deadline and agree to give evidence then he would be regarded as a hostile witness and boards would be left to await the result of their own enquiries of his allegations against individual players.Anderson did say that if Gupta didn’t front then NZC would want to have the allegations against Martin Crowe tidied up.Awareness was something that would also extend to the requirements of players in relation to drug abuse.In his report, Condon highlighted examples of drugs being carried across national borders by secretive means and Anderson said that drug testing would become “very much a part of the game” in the future.Players could expect that random drug testing could be applied. New Zealand has had its own system in place for at least five or six years and a number of tests were carried out at various levels of the game each year.Anderson also confirmed that he has continued to work on the restructuring of the ICC’s internal make-up.He had already rewritten the Council’s articles and he has rewritten the committee manual for the body and was awaiting Malcolm Speed taking up his position as chief executive officer next month to determine what his requirements would be for his internal structures.The cricket committee management is made up of the CEO’s of the Test-playing nations with three associate members representatives who are responsible for running cricket matters.The cricket committee playing is made up of mainly past players who are responsible for looking after playing matters while the executive board was responsible for governance matters.Other committees are also involved in the likes of development, finance and marketing, a medical committee and a members’ disputes committee.Having them in place under an overall structure allowed management the power to be able to act on their own initiative and to respond to the needs of the game quicker than had happened in the past.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:44

Arnold: Blackwood showed temperament and positive attitude

Rangana Herath picked up his fifth 10-wicket match haul in Tests as Sri Lanka wrapped up victory by an innings and six runs inside the second session of day four. West Indies, who began the day two down for 67, lost eight wickets on the fourth day for the addition of 160 runs, and as in the first innings, a number of their batsmen failed to capitalise on starts. Their only consolation came from Jermaine Blackwood, who added a fleet-footed 92 to a string of eye-catching recent performances that have marked him out as a definite investment for the future.Three of Herath’s five ten-fors have now come in Galle. Perhaps no one has understood this surface as well as him. Even Muttiah Muralitharan, who ended his career with a staggering 22 ten-fors, achieved the feat four times here.The pitch for this match was slow even by Galle’s standards, and none of the other spinners from both sides found a way to remain a wicket-taking threat. By attacking the stumps relentlessly and giving the batsmen no breathing space, Herath made every ball count – every subtle variation of pace and trajectory. Batsmen were in trouble nearly every time they went forward instead of back or back instead of forward, or played for turn when there was none.West Indies began the fourth day two down, facing a deficit of 166. Perhaps they may have given themselves hope by imagining a scenario where their nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo hung around long enough to irritate the Sri Lankans while one or two of their specialist batsmen made hundreds. As early as the fifth over of the morning, Herath knocked those visions out of their heads.First, he sent back Bishoo, who nicked an attempted square-cut to slip. In came Marlon Samuels, and out he went first ball, but not before calling for one of the most needless reviews in the history of the DRS. Staying on the back foot to a ball from Herath he should have been on the front foot to, Samuels shouldered arms. The ball slid in with the angle and pinged his back pad. Maybe Samuels believed the ball had struck him slightly outside the line – even then, he was offering no shot. In the event, it had struck him in line with off stump, and was destined to hit middle stump, three-fourths of the way up.Nuwan Pradeep who had a mixed Test, was cranking up good pace and bowling a few good balls and a lot of poor ones. In the eighth over of the morning, he bowled his best ball of the match. Going around the wicket, he hit a good length in the corridor and got the ball to straighten a touch. Darren Bravo, pushing half-forward to defend, could only edge it to the keeper.Though Sri Lanka took four key wickets in the session, they showed evidence of a troubling over-reliance on Herath, with their back-up spinners leaking runs to Jermaine Blackwood and Denesh Ramdin when the left-arm spinner left the field briefly. But the West Indies batsmen did not show the greatest appreciation of which balls to go after, and failed to make that over-reliance hurt Sri Lanka in any way.Towards the end of day three, Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo had capitalised on Herath’s absence to take 39 runs from 11 overs bowled by Pradeep, Milinda Siriwardana and Tharindu Kaushal. Now, Siriwardana and Kaushal bowled a series of full-tosses and short balls to concede four fours in two overs to Ramdin and Blackwood.Blackwood, looking in smooth touch, continued batting with freedom over the next few overs, using his feet to get down the track to launch Kaushal over mid-on for six and drive Siriwardana inside-out for four.But just when the partnership was giving West Indies the merest glimmer of hope, Ramdin drove loosely at Siriwardana and nicked to second slip. Blackwood almost followed Ramdin to the dressing room in Siriwardana’s next over, edging him while trying to make room and drive despite not getting to the pitch of the ball. But Angelo Mathews, who was uncharacteristically generous at slip in this Test match, spilled the deflection off Kusal Perera’s glove.Blackwood survived through to lunch, and reached his half-century soon after. Jason Holder hung around long enough to add 36 with him for the seventh wicket before he was run out in slightly unfortunate circumstances. Stepping out to whip Herath into the leg side, he played across the ball which deflected off his pad to Mathews at slip. Spotting Holder out of his crease, he threw down the stumps direct.Herath then removed Kemar Roach in a replay of his first-innings dismissal. An enticingly loopy delivery, dropping just short of the batsman’s reach, a big heave and miss, and an alert Kusal Perera whipping the bails off with the batsman’s back toe on the line. When Dhammika Prasad trapped Jerome Taylor with a full, straight ball in the next over, West Indies were nine down, with 44 still to get to avoid innings defeat.Blackwood had only one option left – farm the strike and try to get West Indies as close as possible. Out came the dancing footwork, and he hit Herath for two fours and two sixes, all down the ground, in the space of nine balls. Rattled for once, Herath sent down a short ball, and Blackwood flat-batted it to the cover boundary.He could only do so much all by himself, though. Batting on 92 with all nine fielders on the boundary, he ran down the track to the third ball of Prasad’s over, and only managed to pick out deep extra cover. Perhaps he could have waited a couple of balls, for the field to come in and try to keep him on strike. It would have only delayed the inevitable.

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.”

Paul Jan-Bakker, Netherlands’ newly appointed coach, says his team will be going all out to win the ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Canada in Toronto, starting on Thursday.Bakker, who took over the reins from Peter Cantrell following the World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year, said players learn more in attempting to win matches than they do from playing out negative draws, even if they end up losing more games along the way.”I played a lot of this sort of cricket and I always enjoyed going for the win rather than the draw,” Bakker, 49, said. “I’ll be bringing that same mentality to my job as coach. I want to make it a good game with an exciting final day if possible. I want it to be interesting. I think you learn more from being positive, even if you end up losing the match.”The four-day match gets under way at Ontario on Thursday with the Netherlands keen to reproduce the sort of form that gave them a seven-wicket victory over Canada in this competition last year.With some players unavailable, Bakker has given the chance to some inexperienced players to show him that they can make the step up from the Hoofdklasse – Netherlands’ domestic competition – to the international stage. There are three debutants in the current squad for the tour to Canada, all having shown good form for their clubs.”Bowlers have to realise that in four-day cricket they have to take wickets – it’s not enough just to be economical – and batsmen have to occupy the crease for long periods, and set targets for themselves based on sessions,” Bakker said. “You have to go for the kill sometimes and really attack the opposition.”Mudassar Bukhari, the allrounder; the wicketkeeper Atse Buurman Mangesh Panchal, the legspinner, get the chance to make names for themselves. Panchel comes in as a late replacement for Mohammed Kashif, who has been forced to withdraw due to a family bereavement, and has been in excellent form for his club this season with 19 wickets at 10.89.Bas Zuiderent and Ryan ten Doeschate are unavailable, though Bakker hopes both will be fit to play in next month’s quadrangular, involving the West Indies, Scotland and the hosts Ireland.Meanwhile, Canada will also be without some of their more experienced players, with both John Davison and Steve Welsh unavailable. However Ashish Bagai, the captain, is sees it as an opportunity to blood new talent and identifies his role as one of rebuilding towards qualification for the next World Cup in 2011.”I am looking towards the World Cup qualifiers in 2009 and what we want to do is start building a team for that event,” Bagai said. “We went into that match without any match practice and not having had a coach since the World Cup. Now we are in the middle of our season. We are fitter, better prepared and ready for the challenge.”I know the Dutch are missing a few players and I think if we do all the little things right, we should win… I am enjoying my role now as captain. I have the support of all the players, which is awesome, and I’m looking forward to the game.”Canada (from):
Ashish Bagai (captain), Ashishkumar Patel, Ashif Mulla, Geoff Barnett, Henry Osinde, Kevin Sandher, Qaiser Ali, Sunil Dhaniram, Shahzad Khan, Trevin Bastiampillai, Umar Bhatti, Mohsin Mulla, Durand Soraine.Netherlands (from):
Jeroen Smits (captain), Peter Borren, Mudassar Bukhari, Atse Buurman, Tom de Grooth, Mark Jonkman, Alexei Kervezee, Mangesh Panchal, Adeel Raja, Darron Reekers, Edgar Schiferli, Billy Stelling, Eric Szwarczynski.Umpires:
Darrell Hair and Roger Dill

Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan president, has ordered that elections to the Sri Lankan board be cancelled, and has asked former players to run the game, said Jeevan Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka’s sports minister.Rajapakse intervened to end bitter infighting in Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) after a meeting with 11 former cricketers, including Arjuna Ranatunga, the former captain, at his residence on Wednesday.Rajapakse asked Kumaratunga to cancel the SLC elections after the cricketers complained that severe malpractices leading to Saturday’s vote were ruining the nation’s most popular sport. “The cricketers had a discussion with the president and he advised them to come up with an alternative to the elections,” Kumaratunga told AFP. “There have been death threats and various other issues leading up to the election. He didn’t want any complications after the elections as the World Cup was fast approaching.”A no-holds-barred contest was developing between Jayantha Dharmadasa, chairman of the government-appointed interim committee running the cricket body, and Mohan de Silva, former SLC president. Media reports in recent days said the rivals had promised huge payments to member clubs to secure their votes for control of the nation’s richest sports body.Elections to the Colombo District Cricket Association last week, seen as a prelude to the SLC vote, were marred by rigging. Rajapakse wanted the former cricketers to run the SLC and sought a compromise between the rival candidates by urging them both to join the administration as co-chairmen, according to sources who attended the meeting.The power struggle has already wrecked the schedule for the three-nation tournament which includes India and South Africa from August 14 to 29. Last week, Dharmadasa’s committee changed the original schedule and decided to shift the first four matches in Dambulla, seen as a de Silva stronghold, to Colombo.de Silva’s group, however, said it would take the matches back to Dambulla if it won the elections. The Rangiri International Stadium in Dambulla was championed by Thilanga Sumathipala, the former SLC president, who was thrown out by the government last year and replaced by Dharmadasa’s interim committee. Sumathipala was not contesting this time but had thrown his weight behind de Silva.South Africa are due to arrive in Sri Lanka next week to play two Test matches and then the tri-series. Both Tests will be played in Colombo.

Pool A:
ScorecardIn Bloemfontein, early morning rain left the outfield slightly wet but only 30 miuntes of play were lost as with Free State sent Border in to bat. At 24 for 3, Border looked in trouble, but a 155-run partnership between Michael Matika and Johan Botha restored the innings to 179 before Botha was bowled for 66. Matika went to his maiden first-class hundred, which included nine boundaries. If Matika was the star for Border, then Thandi Tshabalala was the star for Free State. Coming on as fourth change, he produced by far his best bowling as he took the last five wickets with his off-breaks. He had 5 for 72 when the declaration came at 278 for 8. With light failing quickly, Free State managed to see off six overs, but they lost one wicket.Pool B:
ScorecardPort Elizabeth missed all the rain as Eastern Province, after winning the toss, were bowled out by Western Province. Renier Munnik was the man with the golden arm, taking 3 for 23, as Eastern Province struggled to put partnerships together. Thanks to the tailenders they managed to recover from 71 for 6 and were eventually dismissed for 178. Western Province fared far better than the opposition: their score was 65 for 2 when bad light brought play to an early end.Pool B:
ScorecardSedgars Park in Potchefstroom missed the morning rain, but a thunderstorm after tea had the players running for cover. Earlier, Griqualand West won the toss and batted with Jason Brooker making the North West bowlers sweat as he raced to a career-best 115 off 128 balls, with 15 sparkling fours and three sixes. Adrian McLaren was no slouch either as he struck 69, which included four towering sixes. Wendell Bossenger took over from where the other two had left off, moving quickly to 55 which made the total 352 for 4 after 74.5 overs when rain interrupted play. On the resumption, and with the light getting worse, they took the score to 369 in the four further overs they squeezed in.

Apart from the three Australian signings, who have yet to arrive at The Rose Bowl, the whole Hampshire squad are off to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst on Thursday until Sunday, for what is described as a fitness and leadership course.A number of businesses and organisations have already gained enormous benefit from training developed and conducted at Sandhurst through the auspices of this agreement – most prominent being the Grand Slam and World Cup winning England Rugby Team.This training course is followed by a 2 day friendly match at Hove against neighbours Sussex, followed by a 2 day match at The Rose Bowl on Wednesday and Thursday against Warwickshire.After the open day on 10th April (10:00am start), the squad then travel to Canterbury for another practise match against Kent, leading up to the opening Frizzell Championship encounter with Durham starting on April 16th.

POINTE-A-PIERRE, Trinidad – Trinidad and Tobago skipper Daren Ganga, with 46 not out, was again leading his side’s batting as they battled back against Guyana on Day 3 of the first round of the Carib Beer Cricket Series at Guaracara Park, yesterday.Trinidad and Tobago were 214 for five in their second innings – 179 runs ahead – after Guyana made 338 to take first innings. Opener Imran Jan (49) and Dwayne Bravo (47) also batted well. (CMC)

A daunting target of 362 runs proved overwhelming for Nottinghamshire as they went down by 174 runs in a Benson & Hedges semi-final which was totally dominated by the opposition who registered their biggest win, in terms of runs, in this competition.Their middle order batsman, Kevin Pietersen fought a lone battle as wickets tumbled at the other end. Their only stand of some substance was for the fifth wicket when Usman Afzaal, 37, helped to put on 68.The hopelessness of their task, if not already clear by then, was made so when the next wicket fell in the following over, the 20th, reducing them to 120 for six and still needing 242.Nottinghamshire were, in effect, played out of the match as early as the ninth over when they were 47 for four. Later, after their token effort for the fifth wicket was ended, they lost five wickets for 28. By then it had become increasingly clear that it was just a case of going through the motions with their target beyond them.Pietersen, however, went on regardless, not just putting up resistance but, indeed, playing his shots defiantly. This tall, South Africa-born all-rounder who will be 21 on Wednesday, appears to have a full range of strokes and with his performance this season he has to be regarded as a great prospect for Nottinghamshire.When Surrey wrapped up the visitors’ innings in the 32nd over on 187, Pietersen, was left unbeaten with 78 from just 67 balls. Richard Stemp, with 29, had helped him to add 44 for the last wicket. Alex Tudor finished with three wickets for 52 while Martin Bicknell and Ed Giddins had two each.Earlier, Surrey could hardly have wished for a better start to their innings after deciding to make first use of their home pitch from which came a record-breaking proliferation of runs.The left-handed pair of opening batsmen, Mark Butcher and Ian Ward had the measure of the Nottinghamshire attack from the first over and it came as no surprise that the 50 was posted as early as the eighth over.Their progress to the hundred was almost precisely at the same rate of scoring, in the fifteenth over, by when the visitors had tried four bowlers.The conditions were perfect for batting and Surrey’s batsmen ensured the fine attendance on the lovely sunny morning were not deprived of entertainment.Ward was the first of three Surrey batsmen to reach half-centuries, his came from 42 balls as he drove Gareth Clough to wide mid-wicket for his seventh boundary. Man-of-the-match Butcher reached his 50 with the same number of boundaries, having faced 54 balls.Their strokeplay was delightful, both driving on either side on the wicket for most of their runs as the length maintained by Nottinghamshire’s bowlers did not allow for too many cuts and pulls at that stage.Surrey lost their first wicket when Ward was stumped from a ball that was fumbled by the wicket-keeper and then rebounded on to his stumps. From 112 for one they moved quickly on to 160 before the second wicket fell; Nadeem Shahid contributing 32 from only 21 balls.Butcher went on to pile up the runs until, on 84 from 86 balls, he mistimed and skied to mid-on. A 98-run stand for the fourth wicket between Alec Stewart and Alistair Brown came to an end on 304 with Brown, one short of 50 from just 37 balls, being held from a juggled return catch by Usman Afzaal who then claimed his third victim in the same 44th over with Stewart top edging behind the stumps.It had been a hard-hitting 67 at the rate of a-run-a-ball and after his dismissal there was one final display of aggressive batting to come. It was provided by Ben Hollioake who remained unbeaten with 39 off 23 balls. The second of his two sixes took Surrey past their highest score of 350, in the two knock-out limited-overs competitions.By the end of their 50 overs they had reached an awesome total of 361 for eight. Afzaal and Greg Blewett finished with three wickets each from 51 and 41 runs respectively.

Aaron Redmond, the latest player to earn a call-up into New Zealand’s ever-changing top order, is hoping to make his tour of England more successful than his father did 35 years ago. Redmond was named in the 16-man Test squad and could become the eighth person to follow his father into New Zealand Test cricket if he makes his debut in the three-game series.Rodney Redmond played one Test and was highly successful, scoring 107 and 56 against Pakistan in Auckland in 1972-73. However, he then struggled to adjust to new contact lenses on the visit to England later that year and managed only 483 runs at 28.41 and had to settle for being remembered as a one-Test wonder.The younger Redmond learnt of his call-up at his father’s house in Perth and he said it was a special moment for the family. “A big smile came over his face and he chucked out his hand to congratulate me and opened up a bottle of red wine to celebrate,” Redmond told the Otago Daily Times.Redmond was en-route from New Zealand to England, where he was planning to play league cricket for Wigan, when the phone-call came from the chairman of selectors Richard Hadlee. “It is something you always dream about, but it has definitely come as a surprise,” Redmond said. “My initial goals were hopefully to get the opportunity later down the track.”But to get the call [on Saturday] and be told it has come a little bit earlier, it just wasn’t in my wildest dreams. It’s one thing getting the chance – now I’ve got to make the most of the opportunity.”Redmond’s elevation came after a solid State Championship season during which he made 447 runs at 40.63 for Otago. However, he said it was “bitter-sweet” that his promotion came at the expense of his domestic team-mate Craig Cumming, who was left out of the squad after being one of four openers used by New Zealand in the past six months.”I’m great friends with Craig and he has played some awesome cricket this year and is a great player,” Redmond said. “I’m sure it won’t stop him. You have your good and bad times in cricket and I know he’ll bounce back.”