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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.

A stand of 113 in 20 overs between Darren Lehmann and Craig White laid the platform for Yorkshire Phoenix to win a tense day/night thriller against Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Trent Bridge by three wickets with just four balls to spare.The win broke a sequence of three successive defeats against the Outlaws in the national cricket league but they had to survive a few anxious moments before confirming the win which lifts them to within two points of Notts in fifth place in the Division One table.Lehmann’s partnership with White began with the Phoenix reply in ruins at 31-4 with Greg Smith and Nadeem Malik sharing the wickets.Batting under lights is never easy but for a 20-minute spell the two batsmen also had to contend with the off field distraction of smoke billowing from underneath the William Clarke Stand when the cooking range in one of the refreshment kiosks caught fire. The ringing of alarms, the arrival of the fire engines plus tannoy announcements to vacate the area would have tested the concentration of anyone.Lehmann proceeded to his 50 from 52 balls and White from 53 as they threatened to overhaul the useful Notts total. If anyone on the field would have wanted to dismiss Lehmann it would have been his great friend and South Australian team-mate Greg Blewett and it was he who had cause for celebration when he knocked back the left-handers off stump.White, though, found his new partner, skipper David Byas, in inspired form. His timing was immaculate from the off and his punchy midwicket drives propelled a 50 partnership in just eight overs.61 runs were needed from the last 10 overs and sensible strokeplay reduced that to 33 from six when Byas hoisted Gareth Clough to deep square leg where Paul Johnson took a well-judged catch.Two balls later the ground erupted for a catch of supreme athleticism. White, who’d made 73, slashed the same bowler powerfully to point. Kevin Pietersen threw his 6’5″ to his right to pluck a one handed catch inches from the ground. A better catch you will never see!Yorkshire weren’t finished though as Richard Blakey and Andy Gray scrambled ever closer and in a dramatic penultimate over 12 runs were scored to bring them within four of victory. Blakey drove Richard Logan to the extra cover boundary for the winning runs.Earlier there had been useful contributions from all of the Outlaws’ top six. Usman Afzaal top scored with 53 and both Blewett and Pietersen got into the 40’s as the home side reached 244-7 in their 45 overs.

Change of action
The third day Karachi pitch was hardly favourable for fluent batting, but Andre Nel’s change of actions in the fourth over would have made things a tad more difficult for the batsmen. He strode in with a normal delivery but then followed one up forming a semi-circle in the air from halfway through his run-up to the wicket. Ending up as a mix between Wasim Akram and Curtly Ambrose, Nel was cut away past point for four. He then tried a Waqar Younis; shielding the ball from the batsmen’s searching eyes as he leapt into his bowling stride with both hands together.Significant sixShoaib Malik was embedded in a spirited rearguard, inching his side towards the follow-on target. He brought his fifty up with a checked straight drive, celebrated it by driving the following ball through extra cover and in the next Paul Harris over, he jigged down the pitch to swat him for a huge straight six. The ball went missing temporarily but a nice way, nonetheless, to bring up your 1000th Test run, in your first Test as captain.Pierce this, Salman
With a four-man pace attack, South Africa started the innings with a half-umbrella field – a tactic often seen on bouncy pitches across the world. However, as Kallis strode in to bowl the 76th over of the innings, with the ball scuffed up by a dry outfield and a dusty pitch, Salman Butt was honoured with an 8-1 offside field; a slip, a fly slip, backward point, two short covers, short extra-cover, a normal cover and a mid-off. Spare some pity for the lone mid-on in the heat as Kallis duly responded with a wide outside off stump.Stumped
Mark Boucher doesn’t often get a chance to stump a batsman. Before this innings, he had only 16 from 102 Tests. But today he pulled off two in an innings: Malik and Umar Gul st Boucher b Harris. Stumping 17 brought him level with Ian Healy’s record for most dismissals and the next took him past it.Is that you Gordon?
Danish Kaneria is apparently working hard on his batting and to prove it he even managed his first first-class fifty this season, 65 for Essex in the County Championship. Many in Pakistan might not have seen that innings, so Kaneria decided to show everyone just what he was capable of in a little cameo at the end of Pakistan’s innings. First he stepped back and with a Caribbean flourish, flayed Andre Nel past point. But his best came soon after, when a short ball from Dale Steyn was pulled, while swivelling round and pivoting on one foot. Somewhere, Gordon Greenidge would’ve nodded his approval.

Goolam Bodi delivered his career best performances with bat and ball to guide Natal to an impressive nine-wicket win with al of six overs to spare. Man-of-the-match Bodi took two for 30 off seven overs and then scored a chanceless 106 not out off 118 balls with 11 fours and three sixes as Natal replied to Eastern Province’s 217 for eight with 219 for one in 39 overs.The home side bowled tightly in the second half of the innings to curb an EP total that seemed headed for 250. Much of the credit for that effort will go to Jon Kent, who took four for 29, also his career best.Bodi’s analysis would have been rather more impressive had he not conceded 16 runs in his seventh and last over, in which he also dismissed Dave Callaghan. Kent, meanwhile, snuffed out EP’s budding momentum by bowling Murray Creed and having Robin Peterson caught behind four balls apart in the 29th over.Not for the first time, EP’s batting was held together by veteran Callaghan, whose 73 off 106 balls with seven fours and two sixes was his 26th domestic limited overs half-century. Callaghan shared in both major partnerships of the innings, the 57 off 76 balls he put on with James Bryant for the third wicket, and the 51 off 66 he and Shafiek Abrahams scored for the seventh.Bodi then put the seal on a memorable evening for him with a seamless innings. The bulk of his runs came in a solid opening stand of 178 shared with Doug Watson, whose well crafted 72 came off 104 balls and included five fours and a six. The partnership ended in the 35th over when Watson drove straight but firmly back to left-arm spinner Peterson.Bodi and Wade Wingfield finished the job with their unbroken partnership of 41, and while the EP attack would have been improved by the addition of the injured Mfuneko Ngam and Justin Kemp, who is in the national squad, it is doubtful whether even their presence would have stopped the home side on the night.

Shoaib Akhtar will be required to undergo some form of counselling as part of the punishment announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).Shoaib was banned for 13 matches and has to pay a fine of approximately US$56,000 for a number of disciplinary breaches, including his spat with Mohammad Asif. But Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the PCB, revealed today that Shoaib will have to undergo behavioural counseling as part of his punishment.”He has to have some form of counseling as part of his punishment. That is absolutely compulsory,” said Ashraf.While disappointed with the episode, Ashraf said it was now time to move on. “We are very clear and consistent in that there will be no compromise at all on discipline. Shoaib got the maximum punishment. He has apologised to everyone and he will be under probation for two years. Anymore breaches and he could face a life ban. Let’s move on now.”Ashraf also said no action would be taken against Shahid Afridi, the third player in the dressing room incident which resulted in Shoaib hitting Asif with a bat. Shoaib had alleged that Afridi had instigated the matter and insulted his family.But Ashraf said, “There was no substance found in Shoaib’s allegations against Afridi. There is no proof of anything and the matter should no be closed.”

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, will announce the shortlists for this year’s ICC Awards in Mumbai this Sunday.The shortlists for the awards have been compiled by the 56-member voting academy, who were asked to vote for players nominated by a selection panel chaired by Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain.In addition to the individual awards and the Spirit of Cricket Award, this year’s ceremony will also feature the awarding of Test and ODI Teams of the Year. And for the first time, there is an award for Women’s Cricketer of the Year.The ceremony – in its third year – will take place at the Taj Land’s End in Mumbai on November 3. It has previously been held in London (2004) and, last year, in Sydney.

Ian Bell is determined to silence those who have doubted his ability to perform at international level. Although he hit two fifties at Old Trafford this summer against Australia, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne held the wood over him: he scored just 171 runs in the five-Test series. He refuses to be disheartened with his summer feats, however. “My confidence and self-belief is the same as it was before I walked out to bat in the first Test at Lord’s,” he told .England’s selectors showed their commitment by including him in the Test squad to tour Pakistan and, despite a poor summer, Bell is confident he has learnt plenty from his first Ashes series. “I feel I’m a better player for what I have been through this summer,” he said. “If you don’t learn anything by playing with – and against – the best bowlers and batsmen in the world, then you have a problem.”He feels the experience of facing two of the greatest bowlers of all time stands him in good stead for the tour to Pakistan in November: “Pakistan is a place where if you can bat well you can score plenty of runs. If you can play spin and get in you can do well. I’m confident I can have a good tour.”Alec Stewart, Bell’s mentor, has recently become his agent and is confident that his young protégé is on the right track. “The experience he has got from the past few weeks in this series will stand him in good stead for the rest of his international career,” Stewart told .”He has grown up as a cricketer, and probably started doing so from the very first ball at Lord’s. He’s going to be a very fine player indeed; there’s something of the Michael Atherton about him.”The first Test between England and Pakistan gets underway in November.

When India look back on the opening day at Nagpur, they will experience a mixture of elation and disappointment. Having fought back magnificently to wrest the initiative before lunch, they threw it away with some wretched bowling after the interval, not helped by a pitch that eased out to be as flat as the pancake that was always predicted despite the decorative green covering. With Australia 234 for 3 moments before tea – 143 came from the 29 overs bowled in the afternoon session, unacceptable figures no matter what the quality of the batting – the match and the series were slipping away, but Murali Kartik then produced a spell as eye-catching as the streaks in his hair to ensure that the final session wouldn’t be the run-fest that the second had been.Deprived of the services of Harbhajan Singh – a far more significant absentee than either Sourav Ganguly or Irfan Pathan, given his record against Australia – Rahul Dravid initially appeared unsure of how to attack opponents who started with customary flourish. Neither Ajit Agarkar nor Zaheer Khan did enough with the new ball, though there was enough lateral movement, and it didn’t help that the slip cordon – prompted by a lack of faith in the wicketkeeper? – was deep enough to bring back memories of the West Indian speed demons of yore.Both Zaheer and Anil Kumble then bowled themselves to a standstill after lunch, and were unavailable when Damien Martyn and Darren Lehmann started to hit the ball with crispness and power. Murali Kartik came on late, and Sachin Tendulkar even later, while Agarkar chose that passage of play to illustrate why so few rate him as a Test-match bowler.His bowling to Martyn could best be described as thoughtless. Pitching short to a man who made his reputation for back-foot play at the WACA in Perth was a bit like sending down loopy half-volleys on off stump to Ganguly in his pomp, and Martyn duly cashed in with some sumptuous drives and cuts.To focus too hard on Indian inadequacies would be to overlook the luminosity of Martyn’s batting. When he came forward to the spinners, his footwork was decisive and precise, and on the back foot, he was seldom hurried into a false stroke. Visiting batsmen – most notably Ricky Ponting on the last tour – have prodded forward with dismal results in Indian conditions, but Martyn’s method – treating each ball on its merit, with no pre-conceived plan of attack – showed that the most effective solutions are also the most simple.

But for two beautiful deliveries from Kartik, India could conceivably have given up 400 runs, as they did on the opening day at Adelaide last year. For someone with nothing to gain – Harbhajan is a shoo-in if he regains fitness before Mumbai – and everything to lose, Kartik’s performance spoke volumes of his character. The initial overs were touched with hesitancy, expected from someone who has never enjoyed a decent run in the XI, but later on the beguiling loop and turn that first caught the eye several years ago were in evidence. On a day when Kumble wasn’t quite his immense self, it was a virtuoso performance.To be fair, India’s position would have been far healthier had Michael Clarke been given out when struck on the back pad by Zaheer. Replays suggested that he was palpably plumb, and Zaheer’s bemused expression – he bowled with great heart and skill after an indifferent opening spell – said enough of India’s anguish. Clarke had made just 6 then, and he and Martyn would add a further 65 before being separated.But once again, India have to look within – or behind the stumps in this case – to pinpoint the root cause of their troubles. Parthiv Patel fumbles the ball more often than David James, England’s much-maligned goalkeeper, on a bad day, and he gave Clarke two gifts of life late in the day, courtesy a fluffed stumping and a horrendous drop. His expression afterwards suggested that he was on the verge of tears, and after the endless media scrutiny of the last few days, you couldn’t blame him.There are times when courage in the face of adversity is an admirable thing. But in Patel’s case, surely the time has come to take the backward step into first-class cricket so that he can restore shattered confidence and rebuild what remains of his technique. For the moment, every second he spends in the middle only enhances the intolerable cruelty of the poison-pens, and for one so young, that appears too much of a burden to bear.