Hampshire ended their totesport League season in style at the Rose Bowl, overhauling Gloucestershire’s competitive total of 230 for 6 with three balls to spare. John Crawley scored 62, then Nic Pothas sealed the win with an unbeaten 83 from only 79 balls. The victory ensured that Hampshire would stay in Division One – but endangered Gloucestershire, who will need to win their final match to be sure of survival. At Cardiff Warwickshire did their own prospects a power of good by beating Glamorgan, the champions, by four wickets.

Totesport League Division One

Warwickshire 213 for 6 (Knight 40, Trott 45, Bell 35, Hogg 44) beat Glamorgan 211 for 7 (I Thomas 31, Powell 46, Maynard 63, Hemp 38) by 4 wickets
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Report: Hogg’s heroics give Bears hope in battle to stay up – The Times
Hampshire 234 for 5 (Crawley 62, Pothas 83*, Bracken 3-37) beat Gloucestershire 230 for 6 (Spearman 42, Taylor 34, Hancock 38, Adshead 32*, Alleyne 42) by 5 wickets
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Report: Pothas in control – The Daily Telegraph

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Let’s go back to the Test series in Sri Lanka. Scoring two centuries in three matches must have been heartening after a lean patch?
It wasn’t a lean patch, I just hadn’t made a hundred and that kept harping on me. So it was good to perform and see the team win the series. It was good playing the best bowler of spin [Muttiah Muralitharan], and it was a great team effort. Basically we used our feet well against him and the others and that paid off. That series has boosted our confidence and we know we are in for some tough conditions [in India].It has been more than a decade since your international debut. Can you talk about the various important phases in your career?
You change, your batting changes and your mindset changes. You feel much more comfortable at 32 than when you were 21 playing at this level; you are more experienced, you know how to prepare, how to go about your career. Your batting just evolves – it becomes tighter, you play the conditions better, you are just a smarter batsman. When you are young I don’t think you understand that at all.You are a stylish batsman, but not extravagant. How did you hone this fine art as you were growing up?
It’s just natural. All of us just bat in a different way and as a kid you bat in a certain way and bowl in a certain way, and you are stuck with that for the rest of your life. You hone the basic technique of getting the foot to the ball, playing with a straight bat and then your natural stuff comes in and from there you develop your own game.At heart are you an aggressive batsman?
All of us in Australian cricket want to be aggressive and score in a certain way, but it depends on conditions. I mean, like in India, it’s very hard to sometimes bat that way. It just depends on how the game goes, and you adjust accordingly.Which have been your best knocks?
My hundreds in Sri Lanka were one of the best because batting in those tough conditions and playing Murali is always hard.How do you handle the pressure when you go out to bat?
It is very hard to exactly talk about the mental process, but the most important one is stay out there as long as possible and put as much pressure on the opposition as possible.Who have been important people who have stayed by you all along?
Too many people, but my family is the biggest thing. They have always supported me from a young age, and whether I am making hundreds or not they always present.

Record debts may force Cricket Scotland to shelve plans for having a full-time coach for the national team, according to . The debts, said to be in the region of £50,000, will be announced at the forthcoming AGM.Although the Scottish board will receive a grant from the Sportsscotland, the coaching position may still have to be scrapped. The news comes just weeks after Scotland thrashed Canada in the final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup.Over 20 applications have been received to take over from Tony Judd, who worked on a part-time basis and retires from the post at the end of the year. Omar Henry, South Africa’s convenor of selectors even expressed an interest. Whoever the coach turns out to be in 2005, their main task will be helping Scotland finish in the top five of the ICC Trophy, to be held next July in Ireland, in order to qualify for the 2007 World Cup.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has confirmed that the Indian cricket team will play in Chittagong after the venue was given the green light by the security delegation sent to Bangladesh. The first Test starts in Dhaka on Friday, but there had been question marks over Chittagong hosting the second Test and one of the three one-day internationals.Reuters quoted Rajiv Shukla, a vice president of the BCCI, as saying: “The government has told us that Chittagong is safe to play in.” The security delegation was drafted in by the government after the Indian embassy in Dhaka received a letter from a fundamentalist group called the Harkat-ul-Jihad, threatening to kill Indian cricketers.After the experts gave Dhaka the go-ahead, the Indian team arrived there on Wednesday afternoon, but the first Test was put off by a day. The Chittagong match will now start on December 17.

Inzamam-ul-Haq will take a late decision on whether to make himself available for the VB Series against Australia and West Indies. Inzamam missed the last two Tests against Australia because of back problems, but has responded well to treatment.”I will decide then but I am trying my level best to be fit,” he told the BBC website. “The muscular injury was hurting deep when I was bending to take stance or while I was running. Now the pain has eased out but I have to make the right calculation about my comeback because I can’t afford to blow away my chances of touring India in March.”Inzamam has come under fierce criticism from former Pakistan players for his side’s 3-0 defeat to Australia. He scored only one run in his two innings at Perth last month, and Imran Khan, who was the captain when Inzamam first entered international cricket, condemned his attitude.”I have the highest regard for him but I wish Imran had seen the medical reports,” Inzamam said, responding to the criticism. “We are more disappointed and sad than our supporters because we are not as bad as the results reflect. We improved gradually but we played against the best team in the world in their backyard.”But Inzamam reckoned that some pride could be won back in the VB Series: “The players have been working extremely hard as they know this may be their last chance to win back the confidence and trust of their supporters. If we are a good and talented team, we have to perform well in this tournament.”

Just days after ruffling feathers by not consulting a Pakistan Cricket Board-endorsed physician, Shoaib Akhtar has once again thumbed his nose at officialdom by refusing to play in a Patron’s Trophy match. With the squad to tour India likely to be announced in four days’ time, PCB officials had wanted Shoaib to prove his match-fitness.A Press Trust of India report quotes sources close to the player as saying that he was “surprised” at the board’s request, since the team’s South African trainer, Grant Compton, had advised him to rest the injury till February 18. Shoaib has apparently sought a meeting with Shaharyar Khan, the board chairman, to explain his position.The source was quoted as saying: “Shoaib is also surprised at these instructions since even the foreign trainer and physiotherapist would return only on 18 from South Africa, so he (Shoaib) is wondering who is going to assess his fitness even if he plays in the match.”And to add to the sense of intrigue, the report suggested that the request to play in the Patron’s Trophy was a board initiative meant to shake off any sense of complacency that Shoaib might have. “We also realise Shoaib is a valuable bowler when he is 100 per cent committed,” said an unnamed PCB official. “But his antics in recent times are not acceptable.”The Board wants to not only ensure he is completely fit for the Indian tour but also keep him under pressure so that he does not take his selection for India for granted.”Shoaib did little of note on India’s tour of Pakistan last year, but was the pick of Pakistan’s bowlers in recent Test matches at Perth and Melbourne before his well-documented fitness woes returned to zap his effectiveness.

England Women 184 for 3 (Taylor 94, Connor 53*) beat South Africa Women 182 for 7 (Birch 3-29) by seven wickets
ScorecardEngland’s women cemented their standing as one of the favourites to win this month’s World Cup, which gets underway on March 22, by easing to a seven-wicket victory in the first of two warm-up matches against the hosts, South Africa, at Manzil Park in Klerksdorp. Chasing a sub-par target of 183, England were carried to the brink of victory by Claire Taylor, who made 94, and their captain, Clare Connor, who sealed the match with an unbeaten 53.After winning the toss, Connor put her faith in her bowlers and chose to bowl first. They didn’t make immediate inroads into a dogged South African batting line-up, however, and it wasn’t until the 12th over that Daleen Terblanche was prised from the crease by England’s new fast-bowling find, Katherine Brunt. Brunt has one Test to her name, but has yet to play in a full one-day international.Terblanche made 4 from 32 balls, and that set the tone for a stodgy South African innings. Even their 15-year-old wondergirl, Johmari Logtenberg, was unable to up the tempo – her 25 came from 47 balls, and was ended when England’s spinner, Rosalie Birch, held onto the second of her two return catches.Birch was the pick of the English bowlers, taking 3 for 29 from her 10 overs, although Lucy Pearson, with 2 for 24, was every bit as much of a threat. At 127 for 7, England envisaged an even easier run-chase, but South Africa’s eighth-wicket pairing of Angelique Taai (22 not out) and Charlize van der Westhuizen (25 not out) batted sensibly in an unbeaten 55-run partnership.England’s reply started shakily, as Alicia Smith struck twice in her first four overs to remove Charlotte Edwards for 0 and Laura Newton for 8, but Connor and Taylor added 152 for the third wicket to break the back of the run-chase.

On whether it is fair to label his team the weaker side
[We are] not the weaker team, but the balance tilts in favour of India when it comes to experience.On his responsibilities as captain and the ensuing pressure
As a captain it is obvious that I have a lot of responsibility considering that I don’t have many experienced players at my disposal. So, it’s for me and the four or five other senior players to take on the onus and help the team.On the Mohali pitch
It is a good wicket for Test matches and will last the five days. The fast bowlers will get the maximum purchase but the hard surface will also be good for the batsmen to get the runs. We will concentrate more on the fast bowlers as every morning they will get more swing. The first two days are important for the seamers, but if the batsmen work hard it shouldn’t be a problem to get runs.On the toss being crucial
The toss will be important on this wicket and winning it will help your decision-making.On whether they will be able to take revenge for the series loss to India at home in 2004
In sport there is nothing called `revenge’. We will make sure to win the series. We know that we aren’t the favourites, but my young team is capable of winning the series.On Danish Kaneria
Danish Kaneria has been our most succesful bowler in the last one or two years. After the first day the wicket will help the spinners and Danish could be dangerous. He is the kind of the bowler who – based on how he performs – could win the matches on his own.On whether Shahid Afridi will play
Shahid Afridi could figure in our calculations as he performed really well in the Australian tour during the VB series. But we are yet to pick up the team.On whether his troublesome back will allow him to play all three Tests
Yes, I had this back problem during the Australian tour but I played the ODIs there and I’ve been practising without any trouble, so I should last the entire series.On the impact Bob Woolmer has made as a coach
He is doing a lot of new things, but the main thing is he is more friendly with the guys. He is just been with us for a short time, so if he is given more time it will be really good for Pakistan.

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Amit Pagnis almost single-handedly steered Railways to the target of 157 and took them to the final of the Ranji Trophy. The last time Railways reached the final was in the 2001-02 season, when they completed a memorably triumph.Hyderabad added only 39 to their overnight total as Daniel Manohar fell early in the day, for a well-made 75. Arjun Yadav managed a dogged 26, of 72 balls, but the tail crumbled around him. Harvinder Singh and Murali Kartik were the most effective bowlers with three wickets apiece.Pagnis, who used to play for Mumbai earlier, got the run-chase off to a rollicking start and did the chunk of the scoring. His 98 included 11 fours and a six and dominated the scoring throughout. None of the other batsmen crossed 20 as Railways overcame the target in 47 overs.

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Faisalabad Wolves triumphed in Pakistan’s inaugural Twenty20 competition after they overcame the Karachi Dolphins in a dramatic finish. Chasing 159 for a win, the Wolves were on course for a comfortable victory but the loss of two wickets in the last over produced a thrilling climax and resulted in a penultimate-ball finish.Mohammad Hafeez and Asif Hussain had blasted quickfire 30s to put the Wolves on a comfortable path to victory. Mohammad Salman, the wicketkeeper, also chipped in with a vital 23 at the closing stages as the Wolves pocketed Rs 300,000 [US$5,000] at the end of a entertaining tournament.Earlier, Moin Khan had celebrated the news of being in provisional squad for the West Indian tour with a plucky 49. Agha Sabir, the opener, contributed a patient 37 but the Dolphins were pegged back by some accurate bowling by Saeed Ajmal, the offspinner, who ended with 3 for 29 and was eventually named the Man of the Match.