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Zimbabwe v West Indies, 1st Test, Harare, 3rd DayThe first Test between Zimbabwe and West Indies at Harare Sports Club almost came to an untimely ending before the start of the third day’s play, thanks to a freakish incident that seriously damaged the pitch.Play was due to start at 9.30, half an hour early, to make up for time lost on the second day. All was normal as the time approached, with the ground staff rolling the pitch and the players practising on the outfield. Then Zimbabwe’s Trevor Gripper unleashed a well-timed drive that sent a practice ball scudding on to the pitch – right in the path of the roller.The operator had no time to stop, and a split second later the ball lay embedded in the pitch – short of a length to a left-hander at the City (southern) end of the ground. The dent was about an inch deep, and any ball pitched in it could fly anywhere, an obvious danger if bowled at speed.Fortunately the Royal Harare Golf Club adjoins the ground, and an urgent request was made to borrow an auger, with the idea of lifting out the damaged area and replacing it with a similar piece from just behind the stumps. After all, if entire pitches are transported these days, why not a small fraction of a pitch?Robin Brown, the HSC groundsman and a former Zimbabwe opener from the eighties, was in charge of operations. Wisely he wanted to be sure it would work before risking the operation on the troublesome area in mid-pitch, so he tried it first behind the stumps and then in the middle of the pitch, but at the side. After all, the pitch here was much harder and drier than anything likely to be found on the golf course.When this was successful, the final operation on the damaged portion of the pitch was made. With a bit of cleaning up, the area was invisible and appeared to be thoroughly firm. Gundappa Viswanath, the match referee, gave the go-ahead, and play finally started two hours late. If any ball was pitched on that particular spot during the day, it was not obvious.This was a successful venture into unknown territory, and the Zimbabwe Cricket Union sighed a huge sigh of relief – if the match had had to be abandoned, the financial loss would have been appalling. But what if it had not been successful? There is nothing in the laws of cricket that would cover such a situation. But would the ICC approve a common-sense approach, should a small area of a cricket pitch be damaged beyond repair?Flexibility and common sense. These were exceptional circumstances at Harare, which fortunately had a happy ending. But it would be a shame should a whole Test match be abandoned due to an irreparable mishap to a tiny area of the pitch. It would also be annoying if the match referee had to waste time in lengthy communication with ICC headquarters to get permission to work around a unique situation that was not covered by the laws.Let us hope flexibility and common sense may be given free rein in unusual circumstances. Viswanath showed he possesses these by altering the time of the lunch interval today, a sacrilege that was strictly forbidden at Zimbabwe’s Lord’s Test this year, when after a late start half an hour’s play was possible before the players had to troop off so as to take lunch at the appointed time. And the world did not cave in at Harare.

After the blitz of Virender Sehwag on the second day of the Challenger Trophy, everything that followed was doomed to being termed ordinary. The clash between India A and India B certainly did not boast the same star studded cast and somewhat unsurprisingly did not serve up the same exciting fare. India B justified their name as such and failed to qualify for the final of this tournament, losing to India A by 59 runs in the final league encounter.On winning the toss and sticking India A in to bat at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, India B skipper Anil Kumble must have felt a tinge of disappointment as the opposition got off to a sedate yet very stable start. Sangram Singh, bowled off a no-ball and dropped once, went on to make 40 before the first wicket fell with 63 runs on the board. Connor Williams, the other opener looked happy just staying at the wicket and grafted, as is his wont. The left hander looked in no hurry at all and took more than his fair share of time to get his eye in.VVS Laxman, of whom a big score has been expected for a while, played a sizzling cameo, striking the ball cleanly and yet failed to make the most of a good batting wicket. After hitting four boundaries in the course of his 28 Laxman played down the wrong line to his opposite number Kumble and was clean bowled.With Rohan Gavaskar, who failed in the first game he played in this series, Williams continued to push the score on. In the 33rd over of the innings, Williams finally made a mistake, falling to the part time off-spin of Hrishikesh Kanitkar. Williams’ 73 (91 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) provided the India A team with a strong base to build on.And build they did in the form of Gavaskar and Yuvraj Singh. The two left-handers played briskly, hitting the ball over the infield with great regularity. Yuvraj Singh in particular was effective, getting good power behind his strokes. Both of them however fell before reaching their respective half centuries. Gavaskar made 45 while Yuvraj Singh fell 2 short of 50.Personal landmarks might have been missed, but the pair had played their parts admirably in the middle order. India A were able to post a healthy 289/7 in their allotted 50 overs.What made the India B chase specially fraught with danger was the fact that they had to make the required runs in 40 overs or less to take an extra bonus point and qualify for the final. In their anxiety to score at a fast pace the India B team lost opener Sridharan Sriram (2) in just the first over of the day when Ajit Agarkar had the left-hander caught behind. Dinesh Mongia, centurion in the last game, followed soon after, being needlessly run out. At 12/2 India B hard the worst possible start to their essay.Mohammad Kaif, who has impressed in this tournament played a spirited knock in the middle order but he must have known in the back of his mind that the game was over before he walked out to bat. Flicking and pulling with great comfort Kaif worked his way to 69 before he played one shot too many and became Sarandeep Singh’s first victim.Kaif certainly wasn’t Sarandeep’s last scalp. Perhaps spurred on by Harbhajan Singh’s lacklustre performance in the Challenger Trophy, Sarandeep tossed the ball up, gave it a good tweak and invited batsmen to go after him. In the circumstances they had no choice but to go for it and perish in the process.Kanitkar, a permanent fixture in all representative and selection matches, fell for 47 (63 balls, 3 fours). Vijay Bharadwaj, attempting to serve the selectors a reminder of his abilities showed good spirit, tonking 43 off just 28 balls but could not outwit Sarandeep Singh. Arjun Yadav (2) and Devendra Bundela (3) both rated as good prospects for the one-day game failed, completing Sarandeep Singh’s five-wicket bag. The young offie is now almost a certainty for the one-dayers against England, with a timely 5/57. What’s more, if his last over had not been thrashed for 13 by the lusty hitting of Ashish Nehra, his figures would have been far more respectable!Nehra provided some good comic relief, swatting the ball around for 23 at the end.By this stage, with the score on 191/7, India B were out of it. Ajit Agarkar (3/55) cleaned things up with some good straight fast bowling, putting an End to the India B innings on 230.India A, with this performance book themselves a spot in the final against India Seniors, to be played on Sunday.

As if to prove that the range of new bribery allegations against him have done little to alter the elegance of his batting, Mark Waugh (152) has slammed a defiant century to lead New South Wales to first innings points on day three of the Pura Cup clash with Tasmania in Hobart. Waugh led a fine middle and lower order performance from the Blues on a day when circumstances and conditions ran very firmly in the visitors’ favour.With the fourth century of the match, Waugh promptly dispelled any lingering rumours that he is unworthy of a place in the Test team that will tackle the touring West Indian side in a fortnight’s time. His timing was characteristically assured and his range of strokeplay a feature as he set about the business of transforming a tense battle for the first innings honours into a comfortable decision.Nonetheless, Waugh’s task – and that of his teammates – was not too taxing given the benign nature of the Bellerive Oval pitch and the horribly depleted state of the Tasmanian attack.After promising left armer Andrew Downton had taken his leave of absence from the match yesterday as a result of straining his intercostal muscle, the Tigers’ plight became even more grave when his fellow fast bowler Damien Wright succumbed to a damaged quadricep not long into the new day’s play. This left the locals needing to rely largely on veteran David Saker (1/97) and the unheralded Scott Kremerskothen (2/120) in the pace department. Saker had an imploring lbw appeal against Waugh (then on 24*) turned down early in the morning; Kremerskothen beat him on 40 with an inswinging yorker that shaved leg stump; and Dene Hills missed with a throw from cover that would have run him out with his total at 57. Otherwise, scares were few and far between.And just to compound the Tigers’ literal and metaphorical agony, Waugh was able to lead a brutal flurry of scoring with tailenders Don Nash (32) and Nathan Bracken (30) that saw the Blues extend their lead to as many as 102 runs. After spending more than half a hour in the nineties, Waugh smashed his next fifty runs from a mere twenty-six deliveries, leading a phenomenal display of hitting that only ended when the very occasional spin of Hills (2/20) drew two errant shots deep into the leg side field.Waugh was unavailable for comment after an innings which guided New South Wales to a total of 464 before Tasmania itself made batting look easy in reaching 1/119 by stumps. But rival skipper Jamie Cox paid testimony to the hand.”He played very well, hit some awesome shots. One hundred and fifty runs – you can’t buy them off the shelf,” said Cox.As for the fate of the match, though, the Tasmanian captain was less enthusiastic.”We were one hundred runs down at the start of the second innings and we’re two bowlers down. I don’t think that gives us any leeway at all. We owe it to ourselves to take something out of this game, and that appears as though it’s an honourable draw.”

Aston Villa have been pretty busy during the two previous transfer windows in terms of bringing new players in and moving some of their current ones out in the other direction.

With the next summer transfer window on the horizon and set to open for business at the end of the season, it seems as though the Midlands club could be heading towards a potential howler concerning one of their more recent recruits.

A recent report from Football Insider has claimed that fellow Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion have identified Villa striker Danny Ings as a potential summer transfer target.

The Villa Park outfit signed the striker from Southampton back in the previous summer window in a deal worth a reported fee of £25m.

Since then, the Englishman has gone on to score five goals and provide five assists in 23 Premier League appearances, showing that he can be a useful attacking option for Steven Gerrard’s side despite not being consistent in terms of his goals.

Labelled as a “first-class” player regarding his movement on the pitch by Sky Sports pundit Clinton Morrison, Ings still has time in his debut season at Villa Park to add some more goals and assists to his tally to help the club end the campaign as strongly as possible.

Despite not being particularly consistent when it comes to finding the back of the net in a Villa shirt, if the club were to sell the striker to Brighton, a team that are currently only three points behind Gerrard’s side in the league table, and he then managed to become a regular goalscorer with the Seagulls, this would be a major howler for the club and Johan Lange given the hefty fee they shelled out for him.

It’s also safe to say that the 41-year-old Villa manager wouldn’t be too happy to see one of his attacking players, that is more established in the Premier League than others, join another top-flight club just a year into his current deal at Villa Park.

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Moving forward, if the former Saints star can get a good run of form under his belt between now and the end of the campaign with some more goals to his name, this could put to bed any rumours of a potential summer exit from the Midlands club and hope that he can have a more fruitful season in front of goal next time around.

In other news: NSWE had lucky AVFC escape on “complete” £82k-p/w dud whose value has collapsed £25.2m

Michael Neser is turning into an Ashes hero for Australia after admitting he started the summer unsure if he would ever play Test cricket again.Neser, 35, top-scored with a vital 35 from 49 balls when Australia were bowled out for just 152 on day one at the MCG. He then took 4 for 45 with the ball, nicking off Jacob Bethell, Joe Root and Ben Stokes to tear the heart and soul out of England as they were bowled out for just 110 on a stunning 20-wicket opening day.He had started the summer outside of Test calculations coming off a serious hamstring injury last year and was then not picked in Australia’s initial 15-man squad for the first Test in Perth, but was called in when Josh Hazlewood and Sean Abbott suffered injuries.Related

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He earned a recall for the pink-ball Test in Brisbane, where he took a maiden Test five-wicket haul on his home ground. However, he was squeezed out for the returning Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon in Adelaide.But with both men injured, he earned his fourth Test cap and his first red-ball Test at the MCG and was in shock after starring in front of a record crowd of 94,199.”I didn’t know if I was going to be playing for Australia again and to be in the position I am now, I’m very privileged,” Neser said. “It’s unreal. I dreamt of this as a kid. Every Boxing Day I would wake up early, and me and my brother would play back out at cricket for hours and come back in and watch cricket. The whole day just is cricket for us and to be part of it, it’s a dream come true. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.”Neser’s Sheffield Shield experience proved invaluable as the surface played very similarly to domestic seam-friendly MCG pitches in recent times. Neser’s experience for Queensland and for Australia A in the last two years saw him take an aggressive approach with the bat and a patient one with the ball.”The ball definitely nipped around a bit there with the new rock,” Neser said. “So it was just a matter of trying to find ways to put pressure back on their bowlers, and knowing that when we bowled, we had to just be patient and let the wicket do the work.”

	Shoaib Malik: “It would be bad for the game and for the people in Pakistan if they did not come.” © Getty Images

Imran Khan believes Australia should go ahead with their scheduled tour of Pakistan this year despite the unrest in the country after the assassination of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Imran, an opposition politician in Pakistan, said Cricket Australia and its players should not be influenced by images of street violence after Bhutto’s death and he did not expect the unrest to last too long.”I don’t think the cricketers are under any threat at all,” Imran told the Melbourne radio station . “Obviously it looks much worse from there than it is living in Pakistan. This is not going to last two months to when the Australians appear. In the context of cricket, there will be nothing to worry about if the tour is in March. I don’t think the Australians should have any worries.”Imran’s comments came as Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan captain, offered to take calls from any Australian players who had concerns over their security if the tour went ahead. Andrew Symonds said on the weekend that he would be willing to pull out of the trip if he was not satisfied his safety could be guaranteed.”I would like to speak to them personally and tell them that we will have good security for them in Pakistan,” Malik told the . “India have come here and there was a lot of talk then, but in the end there was no problem. It will be the same for Australia.”I do not want to comment about the politics. I am a sportsman and not very good about talking about politics. But I would like to say that with what is happening in my country, it is getting under control, and it will get better. There is still more than two months. It would be bad for the game and for the people in Pakistan if they did not come.”Cricket Australia is still planning to send a security delegation to Pakistan in February to assess the situation and determine whether the team can visit as planned. But the date of the Pakistan election – and whether it proceeds as scheduled on January 8 – is looming as a critical issue in whether Australia will deem conditions safe for the security delegation to make its trip.Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, has again said there would be no repeat of 2002-03, when Pakistan’s home Tests against Australia were relocated to Sri Lanka and Sharjah. “Playing at a neutral venue is not an option with us,” Ashraf told , “because it’s not only cricket, it’s a matter of the development of the game and the fans’ interest so we are confident that Australia will not deprive our fans.”

Sourav Ganguly made his second half-century of the series to clinch the Man-of-the-Series award © GNNphoto

Sourav Ganguly was satisfied with both his own form and the form of the Indian team after their seven-wicket win at Visakhapatnam, which helped them seal a 2-1 series win against Sri Lanka.Ganguly, who contributed two half-centuries and a 48 to win the Man-of-the-Series award, said: “We are going into the World Cup in the right frame of mind. We will get similar wickets in the West Indies and it is good that the players are in good form. This is a good outfit.”Talking about his own form, Ganguly, who has scored four fifties in his last six ODI innings, said: “I have been playing well consistently and scoring runs when required. Since the South Africa series I have been getting runs. It has been going well.”Talking about a bout of dizziness which forced him to retire hurt early in the Indian innings, Ganguly attributed it to fatigue and lack of sleep. “I did not sleep last night and I bowled six overs which I had not done in a long while.” Ganguly retired hurt in the first over, and then came back after the fall of the second wicket.Rahul Dravid, who continued his fine run as captain in home ODIs, praised the team’s comeback after being 1-0 down in the series. “Credit to the boys for the way they fought back into the series. In a three-match series (the first match was washed out) against this kind of opposition, it is tough to come back from being one match down. It is a great team effort.”He also had encouraging words for Yuvraj Singh, who made a magnificent unbeaten 95. “It is great that Yuvraj is back in form. It was also great to see Sachin, Sourav and other batsmen get runs in the series. Our bowling upfront was also good. It has been a fantastic effort.”

James Franklin says he won’t be lulled into the trap of trying to turn himself into a damaging allrounder © Getty Images

James Franklin, the Wellington and New Zealand fast bowler, says he isn’t going to try and stake his claims as the next allrounder following the retirement of Chris Cairns.”It’s sad to see the big guy leave and they are huge shoes to fill but I’m not going to go about my cricket any differently,” Franklin, 25, told stuff.co.nz. “With a class player like him leaving there is a bit of an onus on others to stand up and Jake (Jacob Oram) naturally comes to mind.”While not as explosive in his batting as Cairns or Oram, Franklin is seen by many as an allrounder with a technically sound batting approach, capable of batting higher up the order. His clinical hitting in New Zealand’s domestic scene is well known, and in a recent one-day international against Sri Lanka he smashed 18 off the final over. He even has a Test half-century to his name, indicating that he can perform well with the bat. But Franklin maintains that it is premature to suggest that he is a candidate for the job, citing that Cairns’ absence would probably open up opportunities for Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori to throw the bat around.During his retirement speech, Cairns himself said that Franklin was one to look out for, calling him `an enormous talent starting to shine’ with `a great future ahead of him. Repaying the tribute, Franklin said he took great encouragement from Cairns’ positive words.”It’s always nice to get that praise from a guy who you rate highly and to have that sort of endorsement was nice,” he said. “I haven’t had a huge amount to do with him but we have toured a few times and he’s been bloody brilliant. Tactically, if you ask him any question, he’s always happy to help you out. He’s a big loss for us, he holds a lot of manna.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq: ‘It’s for me and the four or five other senior players to take on the onus’ © Getty Images

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.

The winner
Graeme Smith
By the time Graeme Smith had announced his arrival as South Africa’s hugely impressive new captain, a very different face of youth had taken centre stage. Even now it is impossible to believe that Smith was just 22 years old when he cracked 621 runs in his first three innings of South Africa’s Test series in England. His unflinching approach to batting and captaincy earned him a vast army of admirers, and though England clawed to a 2-2 series draw at the final attempt, Smith was the unanimous choice as South Africa’s Man of the Series.The other nominees
James Anderson
Within two months of his debut, James Anderson was representing England at the World Cup. In an otherwise disappointing tournament for England, he picked up 10 wickets in five matches, including a never-to-be-forgotten matchwinning spell against Pakistan under the lights at Cape Town. From that moment on, Anderson was the hottest property in English cricket, with go-faster stripes in his hair and rockets on his boots. He picked up five wickets on his Test debut – at Lord’s, no less – and followed up with another one-day demolition of Pakistan, which included a wicket with his first ball and a hat-trick with his last three.Omari Banks
Spearheading the West Indian youth brigade is a young offspinner, Omari Banks. As a bowler, his figures are little to write home about: on debut against Australia, he was spanked for 204 runs in his only innings. But Banks has more than one string to his bow – quite apart from a fiercely competitive edge, the boy can bat. His willpower was plain for all to see on a tumultuous morning in Antigua in the final Test against the Aussies. West Indies had been set a world record 418 for victory. When Banks came to the crease at No. 8, they were still 130 runs adrift, and a humiliating whitewash was looming. But Banks cames to the rescue, first in support of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, then as an equal partner with the aggressive Vasbert Drakes. Together they knocked off the 46 runs required for victory, and Banks was feted in his native Anguilla with a motorcade around the island. If these men, and more, are anything to go by, cricket’s future is in extremely capable hands.