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The ECB is holding urgent talks with the authorities in Zimbabwe after a number of journalists were denied entry to Zimbabwe to cover England’s forthcoming five-match one-day series, which is scheduled to start later this week.The Zimbabwe government has denied entry to journalists from , , and , and their Sunday stable-mates, as well as the BBC. However, those from the , the , and , and agency reporters from the Press Association and Reuters, will be allowed in. Visa applications and requests for press accreditation were made through the cricket boards of both England and Zimbabwe two months ago.Ehsan Mani, the president of the ICC, indicated that they only became aware of the decision late this afternoon, and it remained unclear on what basis it had been taken. Mani has been in talks with Peter Chingoka, the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, and David Morgan, his counterpart at the ECB, and also the Zimbabwe High Commission in London.”The ICC looks to get a clear understanding of what has taken place, and the reasons for it,” Mani said. “At this time, until we have received clarification on this issue, it is difficult for us to comment further on what has happened today.”As far as Chingoka is concerned, it’s nothing to do with his cricket board: “I have no say whatsoever in accreditation. Government officials are the ones who handle that. I have just passed on my information to the ECB and my dealings are with them.”Morgan, who is still in England before flying to Zimbabwe for the series, told BBC Radio Five Live that there was no way out of the tour: “The England cricket team is committed to appear in Zimbabwe for the future tours programme which is a regulation of the International Cricket Council. I expect the tour to proceed despite the unfortunate situation regarding media accreditation. It’s unfortunate and embarrassing, and something that we will be pursuing on arrival there with the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket.”Meanwhile, Andrew Walpole, the ECB’s media relations manager, who is currently with the England side in Namibia, told Wisden Cricinfo: “This is an evolving situation and we’re taking it hour by hour. We’re currently holding urgent talks with the authorities in Zimbabwe, and it’s too early to speculate on what the outcome of those talks will be.”England are scheduled to travel to Zimbabwe on Wednesday, and the first one-day international is set for Harare on Friday.

An anonymous Australian buyer has paid a record Aus$425,000 (US$283,000) for the baggy green cap worn by Donald Bradman when he ended his legendary Test career. Ludgrove’s, the auctioneers, announced that it was the highest price fetched for any bit of Bradman memorabilia.Bradman had worn the cap during the last of his 29 Test centuries, and then during his last Test innings, when he was famously dismissed for a duck. Bradman had then given it to his English godson, who consigned it to Ludgrove’s for sale.Ludgrove’s had planned to auction the cap in London next month, but pre-auction offers were so high that it decided on an immediate sale. The price exceeded the previous record for Bradman memorabilia, for a cap that Bradman wore during the 1948 series against India. Ludgrove’s, who sold that cap to a private buyer, had never divulged the price paid for it.This particular Baggy Green has also been bought by an unnamed buyer, who, according to Ludgrove’s, intends to bring the cap back from England and put it on display in Australia.

• It was 1558th Test in cricket history.
• It was India’s 343rd and Sri Lanka’s 113th Test match.
• It was the 22nd Test between these two sides. The record now reads :India 8, Sri Lanka 2 ,drawn 12.
• It was the 11th Test between these two sides. The record now reads :India 2, Sri Lanka 2,drawn 7.
• Tyronne Wijewardene was making his debut as a Test umpire. He became16th Sri Lankan to officiate in a Test match. The other umpire SteveBucknor was officiating in his 60th match.
• Chaminda Vaas was playing in his 50th Test. He became the seventh SriLankan and the 172nd player in all to do so. England’s Andrew Caddickbecame 173rd player to appear in 50 or more matches a day after Vaasdoing so.
• Hashan Tillakaratne became fourth Sri Lankan to complete 3000 runs ina Test career when he scored his 7th run in second innings. He wasplaying his 58th match and 94th innings. Others with 3000 plus runsfor Sri Lanka are Aravinda de Silva (5952 runs in 89 matches), ArjunaRanatunga (5105 in 93) and Sanath Jayasuriya (3730 in 61).
• Muralitharan (67) made his maiden fifty in his 67th Test. His inningswas the second highest by a number nine batsman for Sri Lanka afterGraeme Labrooy’s 70* against New Zealand at Auckland in 1990-91.Muralitharan’s previous highest was 39 against India at Colombo SSC in1997-98 which was also the previous highest score for Sri Lankaagainst India at number nine.
• The 64-run partnership between Muralitharan and Ruchira Perera insecond innings was Sri Lanka’s best for tenth wicket against India.The previous best was 44 between Asoka de Silva and Rumesh Ratnayakeat Nagpur in 1986-87. The pair however just failed to better SriLanka’s best tenth wicket partnership in all Tests which still remainsas 73 between Hashan Tillakaratne and Sajeewa de Silva againstPakistan at Dhaka in 1998-99.
• Venkatesh Prasad’s second innings figures of 5 for 72 are the bestbowling figures by an Indian in Sri Lanka bettering Anil Kumble’s 5for 87 in first innings of Colombo (SSC) Test in 1993-94.
• Saurav Ganguly’s 98* was his first fifty in 14 innings. After hisunbeaten 65 against Zimbabwe at Delhi in 2000-01 he scored30,8,1,23,48,22,4,5,9,0,15,4 and 18.
• Ganguly’s innings equalled the highest unbeaten score in the nineties by anIndian batsman. Dilip Vengsarkar had scored an unbeaten 98 also againstSri Lanka at Colombo SSC in 1985-86. Other Indian batsmen who remainedunbeaten in the nineties are Gundappa Viswanath (97* v West Indies atMadras in 1974-75) and Ajit Wadekar (91* v Australia at Delhi in1969-70).
• Ganguly also became the seventh Indian captain on the eighth occasionto record a score in the nineties. Sachin Tendulkar has suffered thisfate on two occasions. Interestingly Ganguly is the only among the sevento end on the winning side.
• India’s total of 264 for three was its second highest in the fourthinnings to win a Test . It was also only the third time Indiasuccessfully chased a target of 250 plus in the fourth innings of aTest. The first instance came on October 15,1964 against Australia atBrabourne Stadium in Bombay when India made 256-8 chasing a target of254. The second instance was against West Indies on April 12,1976 whenIndia made history by making 406-4 after being set a target of403. India’s total in that Test remains the highest ever winning totalachieved by any side in the fourth innings of a Test.
• The 264-run target set by Sri Lanka provided the 67th instance whenIndia was asked to score over 250 in the fourth innings to win a Testmatch. India has won only three, tied one (v Australia at Madras in1986-87), drawn 28 and lost 35. The accompanying table lists India’swins after being set a victory target of 125 or more by opponents inthe fourth innings :

• With the win over Sri Lanka in Kandy Test, Saurav Ganguly equalled therecord of winning most Tests on foreign soil as Indian captain. This was Ganguly’s third Test win away from home. The other being v Bangladesh at Dhaka in November 2000 and v Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in June this year. He thusequalled the tally of Bishan Singh Bedi and Nawab of Pataudi juniorfor India who have also won three Tests apiece. India has won only 16Tests on foreign soil out of a total of 161 . Following are the luckycaptains:

• Kandy once again proved to be a jinxed venue for Sri Lanka who lost their third successive Test here after taking a 1-0 lead in the series. Englandand South Africa, the previous two countries to tour Sri Lankaearlier, had both conceded a 0-1 lead to the hosts at Galle in theirthree-Test series but equalised at Kandy. Out of a total of 12 Testsplayed at Kandy, Sri Lanka has lost seven, drawn three and won onlytwo.
• Saurav Ganguly was winning his third Man-of-the-Match award in Tests. His other awards were against England at Nottingham in 1996 and against SriLanka at Mumbai in 1997-98.

New Zealand Cricket’s six major associations have added a 15th member each to their squad of contracted players for 2015-16. The six players to benefit are Brett Randell (Auckland), Ken McClure (Canterbury), Dean Robinson (Central Districts), Tony Goodin (Northern Districts), Samuel Blakely (Otago) and Jamie Gibson (Wellington).The six associations had named 14 contracted players each last month, for the period running from September 2015 to April 2016.Full squadsAuckland Michael Bates, Brad Cachopa, Colin De Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Donovan Grobbelaar, Michael Guptill-Bunce, Shawn Hicks, Colin Munro, Tarun Nethula, Rob Nicol, Robert O’Donnell, Glenn Phillips, Matt Quinn, Jeet Raval, Brett Randell
Canterbury Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Leo Carter, Andrew Ellis, Cameron Fletcher, Peter Fulton, Roneel Hira, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Johnston, Cole McConchie, Ryan McCone, Henry Nicholls, Edward Nuttall, Logan van Beek, Ken McClure
Central Districts Tom Bruce, Dane Cleaver, Greg Hay, Marty Kain, Andrew Mathieson, Ajaz Patel, Seth Rance, Jesse Ryder, Bevan Small, Ben Smith, Kruger van Wyk, Ben Wheeler, George Worker, Will Young, Dean Robinson
Northern Districts Cody Andrews, James Baker, Jono Boult, Dean Brownlie, Joe Carter, Anton Devcich, Daniel Flynn, Brett Hampton, Jono Hickey, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Bharat Popli, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tony Goodin
Otago Warren Barnes, Nicholas Beard, Michael Bracewell, Neil Broom, Derek de Boorder, Jacob Duffy, Ryan Duffy, Josh Finnie, Anaru Kitchen, Michael Rae, Hamish Rutherford, Craig Smith, Sam Wells, Brad Wilson, Samuel Blakely
Wellington Brent Arnel, Brady Barnett, Tom Blundell, Alecz Day, Dane Hutchinson, Matt McEwan, Stephen Murdoch, Ollie Newton, Michael Papps, Jeetan Patel, Michael Pollard, Matt Taylor, Anurag Verma, Luke Woodcock, Jamie Gibson

The fourth edition of the SA20 kicked off with a thriller as MI Cape Town (MICT) began their title defence with a narrow loss to last year’s bottom team Durban’s Super Giants (DSG) in a run-fest. In front of a packed Newlands crowd, there were 449 runs scored in the game, the second-highest match aggregate in an SA20 game.Asked to complete the highest successful chase of the tournament, MICT’s charge was led by Ryan Rickelton, who was dropped from South Africa’s T20I squad to face India, but recorded his highest T20 score. Rickelton’s 113 came off 63 balls and included 11 sixes, the most in an SA20 innings, and has flung his name back into the T20 World Cup conversation.Despite his efforts, DSG’s inexperienced seamers held their nerve. Kwena Maphaka and Eathan Bosch defended 31 runs off the last two overs while MICT still had six wickets in hand. They lost 3 for 15 in the last two overs to ensure DSG’s 232 for 7 was enough.DSG’s total was built on Devon Conway and Kane Williamson’s 96-run partnership for the first wicket. Conway went on to score 64, before MICT clawed their way back. They took 3 for 41, before explosive stands of 32 off 19 balls between Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram, 34 off 18 between Markram and Evan Jones, and 29 in 10 balls between Jones and David Wiese saw DSG top 230.Devon Conway smashed a blistering fifty•Sportzpics

In response, MICT lost Rassie van der Dussen at the end of the third over with the score at 22, and needed big hitters. Rickelton reached his highest score in the format and his second hundred to keep them in the hunt almost until the end. He shared a 60-run stand with Reeza Hendricks, before Jason Smith all but stole the show. Smith dominated a 76-run third-wicket stand with Rickelton, and the pair scored at a shade under 17 runs an over for the four-and-a-half overs they were together.At one stage, MICT were ahead of where DSG had been. When Smith was dismissed, MICT needed 75 runs from the last six overs. By the time the last three overs came, they needed 49 runs. But MICT eventually fell 15 runs short.

An all-Kiwi opening

There’s talk of the NZ20 starting in January 2027, but you could argue that it had its soft launch here, at the SA20 in 2025. Williamson and Conway opened the batting for DSG, and Trent Boult had the new ball for MICT as season four kicked off. Though Boult caused problems, the batters had the best of the opening exchanges.Boult delivered a peach of a first ball that beat Conway as it swung away, and then found Williamson’s inside edge which went for four. But the batters soon hit their straps. In Boult’s next over, Conway ramped him for four, and Williamson scythed one through point. The pair was 29 without loss after Boult’s first spell, and posted 68 by the end of the powerplay. With excellent running and pinpoint placement, their stand grew to 96, with the partnership ending at two short of the DSG record.Aiden Markram had two crucial partnerships•Sportzpics

Rashid in the field – from sublime to ridiculous

It was Rashid Khan who was responsible for the first wicket, when Williamson hit Tristan Luus over mid-off. Rashid ran back, almost to long-off, and took the catch over his shoulder to claim what could already be the catch of the tournament. But that was as good as it got for the MICT captain. He went on to put down three chances, albeit not all of them easy, in what quickly became a day for him to forget in the field.The first opportunity came when Markram, on 2, drove George Linde to Rashid at catching over but the latter seemed to lose the ball in the lights. In the next over, Klaasen, on 13, gave Rashid a chance in his follow through, but the ball hit his finger and he could not hold on. And then, at the start of the 17th over, Markram, who had moved to 16, got a leading edge off Boult, and Rashid charged in from mid-off but the ball hit his wrist and then his chest as he fell forward. Markram went on to plunder three boundaries off Corbin Bosch, and one off Linde, before he was eventually stumped for 35.

Rickelton finds form at his favourite ground

Rickelton started 2025 with a Test double hundred at Newlands, and three fifties in edition three of SA20 there, before losing his way as the year went on. He was dropped from South Africa’s T20I squad on their recent tour of India, and finished the ODI series with successive ducks. But on Friday, Rickelton showed signs of a return to form, albeit in a losing cause and with some luck.Rickelton’s first shots in anger were his sixes off Simon Harmer, but his best was a late cut off Eathan Bosch that was all timing. He went on to send Eathan Bosch over the ropes for two sixes, and slog swept Noor Ahmed for one. Rickelton found the gaps on both sides of the field, and took advantage of anything even slightly over pitched to get to 49 off 30 balls. He could have been out then when Noor reviewed an lbw call, but survived on impact, which was umpire’s call.Jason Smith’s counterattack gave his side hope in the big chase•Sportzpics

Rickelton went on to raise his bat to his 25th T20 half-century, and record his highest score in 26 innings since the last edition of the SA20. He also grew in confidence as his knock went on. He could have been out for 85 when he was caught off a no-ball from Maphaka, and went on to record his second century when he flat-batted Wiese over long-on for his tenth six. Rickelton should have been out off the next ball when he skied Wiese, but Eathan Bosch could not hold on. Rickelton finished on 113 when he hit Eathan Bosch to long-off.

Jason Smith’s cameo

Eyebrows were raised when Smith came in ahead of Nicholas Pooran. But by the time Smith had faced ten balls, he made sure people knew why. Smith raced to 32 in that time, with four fours and two sixes, and the pick of them was the hit off Maphaka in an over that cost the young left-armer 19 runs.Smith picked the slower ball, and hit it against the wind over deep-backward square to underline his intent. He managed one more big strike, a six over deep point off Eathan Bosch, before hitting the next ball tamely to Markram at mid-off. Smith departed for a 14-ball 41, and announced himself as an alternate finisher for this MICT outfit.

Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden are among an extensive list of Australia’s frontline players who have signed with the Indian Premier League, according to a report in the . The paper said the BCCI had outlaid more than $2 million to secure the stars for the Twenty20 tournament.Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson were also reportedly on the list. The IPL has already attracted Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, with Simon Katich and Jason Gillespie also set to play.The paper reported that Neil Maxwell, a player agent, will hand the groups’s IPL contracts to Lalit Modi, the BCCI vice-president, in Dubai on Sunday. Next year’s tournament is likely to take place in April, meaning several of the Australian-contracted players might be unavailable as the team will tour Pakistan and West Indies around that time.Australia’s states also have questions over who an Australian player would represent if their Indian franchise and their home state both reached the Champions League following the IPL. “We’re still very much at the thrashing-out stage, but I’ve been led to believe that if that happens, someone like Brett Lee’s first commitment would be to his home state,” Dave Gilbert, the chief executive of Cricket New South Wales said.”These sorts of things must be spelt out at the start, so there can’t be any grey areas. It would be good to get this worked out as soon as possible.”

Scorecard

Queensland swept to an innings-and-16-run victory over Western Australia to lift themselves off the foot of the Pura Cup table. The home side threatened to put up a fight as Justin Langer and Chris Rogers added 166 for the first wicket, after the Warriors extended their lead to 301, but the Queensland attack worked as a unit to dismantle the resistance.After his first-innings failure, Langer spent useful time in the middle ahead of the first Test especially in light of Phil Jaques’s recent stunning form. He and Rogers scored at four-an-over before James Hopes broke through and the slide started. Chris Hartley’s fine match behind the stumps continued as he collected an edge off Langer and quickly pocketed another chance as Michael Hussey fell for a duck.Four runs later Rogers’s resolute innings came to end six short of a century as Andrew Symonds made the first of two incisions. The middle order was then jolted by Mitchell Johnson’s pace as he again hurt the Warriors with big-name scalps. Damien Martyn was caught by Symonds before Adam Gilchrist’s lean run continued with another nick to the keeper.With the powerful top order sliced apart the only question was whether the Bulls could wrap up the points with a day to spare. The tail didn’t offer much meaningful resistance as the wickets continued to be shared around with Shane Watson nabbing a brace. Johnson completed the rout when he removed Ben Edmondson as Hartley took his 10th catch of the match.

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union’s (ZCU) drive to improve playing standards for its top players has received support from the South African board.The United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) has invited Zimbabwe Under-23 to play in both the one-day and three-day formats of the South African Airways Challenge – the two top amateur inter-provincial competitions – in the forthcoming season.Further help was offered with Zimbabwe’s captain Tatenda Taibu and the allrounder Andy Blignaut joining up with franchise sides Cape Cobras and Highveld Lions respectively.Gerald Majola, chief executive of the UCBSA, said: “We will introduce these two measures as part of the UCBSA’s commitment to assisting the ZCU to raise playing standards in this time of reformation for Zimbabwe cricket. We both believe that playing in our top amateur and professional competitions will assist the ZCU in this regard.”

The Australian first-class domestic competition will be called the Pura Cup for another three years after National Foods renewed its sponsorship yesterday. James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said Australia’s success at the elite level relied on the talent emerging through the ranks and the importance of the Pura Cup as a foundation stone was vital."The quality and skill of the players, the healthy rivalry among states and the desire to achieve success ensure that the Pura Cup thrives and attracts the public’s interest," he said. "Running a national cricket competition is not a profit driving exercise by any means – it costs money. But that money must be spent so that we can continue to prepare and promote our players through the cricket system and maintain Australia’s success at the elite level."National Foods, through its Pura Milk brand, made its initial investment into Australian cricket in 1999, and the current renewal marks the company’s second extension of that contract.

Frizzell County Championship Division OneNottinghamshire v Essex at Nottingham
ScorecardThey might have expected to wrap up the match even more quickly, after reducing Nottinghamshire to 19 for 9 in their first innings, but Essex duly claimed their first Championship win of 2003 as Graham Napier completed a 268-run victory at Trent Bridge with four sessions to spare. Napier took 5 for 66, his first five-wicket haul in his seventh first-class season, as Nottinghamshire were bowled out for 215, chasing 484. It was another disappointing performance from Notts. Usman Afzaal and Jason Gallian carried them to 90 for 1 in the first session of the day, but they lost their last nine wickets for 125. Chris Cairns slapped a rapid 39, and the tailender Nadeem Malik took his tally of runs for the match to 45, but after that grim first day, they had lost their will to fightKent v Lancashire at Canterbury
ScorecardMal Loye top-scored with an impressive 86, and Carl Hooper and Stuart Law salvaged some dignity after their first-innings ducks, to keep Lancashire on course for a final-day victory at Canterbury. Chasing an unlikely 415 to win, Kent reached the close on 123 for 4, after losing the vital wicket of Ed Smith for 56 with three overs remaining. It was a better-balanced batting effort from Lancashire. Andrew Flintoff once again provided some fireworks with a boisterous 43 from 56 balls, but when he fell at 252 for 5, Lancashire had scored exactly 200 more runs than they had managed for the corresponding wicket in the first innings. Warren Hegg continued the fun with 35 from No. 8, whereupon Kent lost regular wickets in their run-chase. Glen Chapple removed Michael Carberry for a duck, and Gary Keedy grabbed two late wickets to maintain the pressure.Surrey v Sussex at The Oval
ScorecardIan Ward’s second century of the season put Surrey in an ominous position at The Oval, before rain and bad light truncated the evening session to give Sussex a glimmer of hope. Adam Hollioake had turned down the opportunity of enforcing the follow-on, and while Ward was galloping to 135 from 166 balls, his decision seemed justified. But the weather intervened on several occasions, and when Surrey declared on 233 for 3, Sussex’s reply was limited to 23 balls. Earlier, Jon Batty continued his excellent form with 56, but if Surrey are unable to force a win tomorrow, Essex’s comprehensive victory over Nottinghamshire will increase the pressure at the top of the table.Frizzell County Championship Division TwoDerbyshire v Worcestershire at Derby
ScorecardWorcestershire recorded their second win of the season, galloping to their victory target of 51 in a mere 7.5 overs. Derbyshire had begun the day in some strife at 185 for 6, still trailing Worcestershire’s first innings by 20 runs. Though Dominic Cork and Graeme Welch both completed half-centuries in a seventh-wicket stand of 94, Nantie Hayward wrapped up the innings with three wickets, taking his match tally to eight. Kevin Dean’s 21 helped Derbyshire to 245, but Stephen Peters and Anurag Singh made mincemeat of the target, adding 50 for the first wicket at more than a run a ball. Graeme Hick, who scored his 122nd first-class century in the first innings, completed the victory with the second ball he faced.Yorkshire v Durham at Leeds
ScorecardYorkshire’s prospects of a swift return to Division One suffered a humiliating blow at the hands of Durham, as Dewald Pretorius inflicted a shock 167-run defeat at Headingley with figures of 4 for 15. It was the first time since 1999 that Durham had won back-to-back Championship matches, and they did it in some style as well, skittling Yorkshire for a paltry 93. Earlier in the day, there hadn’t seemed much danger of such a capitulation – Durham were marginally ahead on points overnight, but Chris Silverwood took 4 for 40 as Durham’s last seven wickets fell for 101 in a single session. Jon Lewis top-scored with 66, to add to his bold 124 in the first innings, but a target of 261 ought to have been eminently gettable. Pretorius and Gordon Muchall – who picked up three wickets – thought otherwise. Matthew Wood fell for a duck in the third over, and only Scott Richardson (18) and Richard Dawson (21) managed to reach double figures.Northamptonshire v Glamorgan at Northampton
ScorecardMike Kasprowicz’s first five-wicket haul of the season condemned Northamptonshire to yet another Championship defeat – their third in six matches. Kasprowicz took 6 for 72 to take his match tally to nine, as Northants were bundled out for 172 with a day to spare. For much of the day, however, a Glamorgan defeat had seemed an equally possible outcome. They had begun their innings on a precarious 71 for 4, which soon became 140 for 8. But Jonathan Hughes hung around for a vital 73, and Robert Croft led a bold rearguard by the tail. He finished unbeaten on 50, adding 50 for the ninth wicket with that man Kasprowicz, and 30 with Alex Wharf. A target of 228 shouldn’t have been out of reach, especially with Phil Jaques in fine fettle. But he was the only man to pass 20, as Kasprowicz tore through a flimsy batting line-up.