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Western Province 217 and 260 for 6 (Duminy 89*, Henderson 53*) lead KwaZulu-Natal 187 by 290 runs
Scorecard
At Newlands, Western Province extended their lead to 290 with foursecond-innings wickets in hand as Jean-Paul Duminy, with a mature five-and-a-half-hour knock, and Claude Henderson, playing his last first-class game in South Africa, put on 126 for the sixth wicket.Starting the day at 62 for 1, Province lost two quick wickets, both on 84,and then found themselves struggling at 126 for 5 when Henderson joined Duminy at the crease. When they finished, 210 minutes later, they had taken the score to 252 and out of KwaZulu-Natal’s reach.With two more days to go, their will be no thoughts of a declaration and Natal face an uphill struggle to get back into the game.

The way young cricketers come through the ranks in Indian cricket is set to undergo a radical change with the Junior Cricket Committee making some strong recommendations that will put India more in line with the Australian way of running their feeder tournaments. The primary aim is to reduce the quantity of cricket played and put the accent on quality. The under-15 and under-17 grades of cricket will be done away with and a new under-16 age competition will be created. Further the under-22 concept will be done away with, and the team will play as an A side.”The honorary secretary was of the opinion that the accent in age-group cricket was on quantity and as a result quality was suffering,” a Board of Control for Cricket in India source revealed. “The total number of matches played in junior tournaments is very large and now with the addition of women’s cricket there is over pressure on the grounds and wickets resulting in sub-standard playing conditions,” the junior cricket committee concluded in its last meeting in Mumbai on December 24.One of the primary concerns revolved around the utilisation of resources in each situation. With increasing pressure junior cricketers were not in a position to benefit from the facilities and infrastructure that was intended for them.Keeping in mind these conditions the committee, after discussing “the matter threadbare,” decided that state and national tournaments will be played at the under-16 level only. Matches within each zone will be played on a league basis and the top two teams will contest a knock-out tournament at the national level.The age-group that remains untouched is the under-19, thanks primarily to the Cooch Behar Trophy, which remains a flagship competition. However, even this is set for a revamp. Currently, matches are allotted to a single venue in a zone and all states from that zone compete to make it to the next round. It has been decided that this tournament will be played on a home and away basis. Even when it comes to the under-19 limited overs tournaments the BCCI has decided that matches will be taken to different venues within a state rather than being restricted to the one big venue.The under-22 inter state tournament will be converted to an A team format where each state can only field a maximum of three of its Ranji players in the side. This means that each state will be forced to use the under-22, or A competition to give young players coming through the ranks a chance to play competitive cricket at a level where the junior or national selectors are in attendance.The other item the committee took up in earnest was the revival of inter-school cricket at the national level. At the moment the School Games Federation of India is in charge of conducting the state, zonal and nation schools tournaments. However they lack both the expertise and the financial clout to conduct the cricket tournament in a manner befitting the interest levels that the sport generates. Therefore it was decided that the BCCI would become actively involved in the running of a national schools tournament.Two proposals were submitted in this regard. The first model suggested that each state “hold their inter-school tournament comprising a minimum of eight school teams. The top two teams from the zone would automatically qualify to play the all India knock-out tournament.”The second model proposes that each state pick a team of schoolboys, from various schools, to represent them. Each of these states will then play in an inter-zonal tournament and once more the top two sides from each zone will play in the national tournament. However, after discussion that focused mostly around how the states would actually pick the schoolboys team to represent them, this model was discarded. It was decided that the first model be adopted.What this will do is ensure that each school had a sense of pride in its team and it will be possible to eventually identify a “National Cricket Champion School.”

Ricky Ponting is the most marketable sporting figure in Australia and five of the top ten sponsorship favourites come from cricket, according to a research report. Ponting has become used to life at the top during his career and beat a field including the swimmers Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett and the footballer Harry Kewell.The Sweeney Sports report, which measured how suitable 70 sportspeople were to endorse brands and organisations, had Ponting first, Adam Gilchrist seoncd and Brett Lee fifth – he was tied with Hackett. The retired duo of Glenn McGrath and Steve Waugh were equal seventh while Shane Warne was 16th. Andrew Symonds improved to 23rd alongside the boxer Kostya Tszyu and footballer Tim Cahill.”The biggest increase in popularity during the past year has been recorded by Andrew Symonds, who sprung from equal 58th position last year,” the Sweeney Sports general manager Todd Deacon said. “Warne’s ranking during his career has see-sawed depending on off-field scandals.”A largely scandal-free year has meant a high ranking, but negative events have tended to send his ranking plummeting.” His final position was up almost a year after retiring.

Michael Vaughan has mixed memories of his two Tests at the SinhaleseSports Club. On his first visit in 2000-01, he fought his way backinto the side at the expense of Graeme Hick, and played a supportingrole in a famous series-sealing win. Three years later, however, onhis first tour as captain, Vaughan experienced cricket’s emotionalflip-side, as Sri Lanka routed his new charges by the record margin ofan innings and 215 runs.There’s no room for a repeat of such a scoreline on this visit.Regardless of the positives that England claim to have carried withthem from Kandy, they remain 1-0 down in the series and in seriousdanger of losing their exalted status as the second-best side in theworld. Since the tour of Pakistan in December 2005, England have lostnine Tests out of 12 on foreign soil, with just one win to show fortheir efforts – Andrew Flintoff’s Ring of Fire-inspired triumph at Mumbai in March 2006.Vaughan personally can take very little of the blame for that record,having been injured for all but three of those contests, but asEngland’s most successful captain of all time, he knows full well it’sa record that needs redressing, and fast. Unfortunately, the SSC isnot the most hospitable venue for visiting sides. Since England’svictory in 2000-01, Sri Lanka have won 10 out of 12 matches – six byan innings and one by 10 wickets. Only the Australians, in a classiccontest in 2003-04, have had the better of them, and even theycouldn’t prevent Muttiah Muralitharan picking up eight wickets alongthe way.”We need to start playing some good cricket,” said Vaughan, as Englandcompleted their final practice session before Saturday’s 10am start.”We have to learn from our experiences at Kandy, move on from that,and react in a positive way. First and foremost, one of the buildingblocks of a good side is: can they show that inner fight? But you needto have that expertise as well, and that’s the one area we have toimprove.”England fought hard at Kandy, without any question, but they were ateam gripped by naivety at critical stages of the first Test. Theywere paralysed by Murali’s menace in the first innings, and thencollapsed to the seamers second-time around just when it seemed they’dcome to terms with the conditions. And in between whiles, of course,they missed crucial opportunities in the field – not least where KumarSangakkara was concerned. “We got ourselves into some greatpositions,” said Vaughan. “We got enough out of that game to suggestSri Lanka are very beatable on their home shore.”The hasty turnaround between Tests is not too much of a hindrance,according to Vaughan. The cool hilly conditions at Kandy were notremotely as sapping as the sticky humidity that has greeted them inthe past at Galle. But the match did take its toll in one respect.Matthew Hoggard, the best of England’s seamers by a distance, has beenruled out because of his back injury, which leaves a very significantexperience void to be filled.The smart money suggests it will be Steve Harmison who fills it.He has not played a Test since the West Indies series in June, and onthis tour he has looked indifferent as well as insipid in his variousappearances at the nets and in the middle. But in England’s finalpractice he galloped to the crease with his enthusiasm reignited, andgave all the batsmen – especially Ian Bell – a serious hurry-up.Opportunities must surely be running out for a man who has contributednext to nothing to Peter Moores’ new regime, but now is not the timeto give up on a character who was once ranked as the best bowler inthe world.

When discussing his maverick team-mate, Vaughan had the look of a manwho was fed up of waiting for the inspiration to return to his game,but he hid it well in his words. “I’ve had a lot of great days withSteve Harmison,” said Vaughan. “If you ask any opposition player inthe world who they don’t want to face in the England set-up, it’susually Steve Harmison’s name that crops up. He knows he’s close to aTest match and very close to getting into an eleven, so I fully expecthim to bowl the way he did today. He’s running in full of gas, andSteve at his best has to bowl at a rate of knots. I look forward, ifhe’s selected, to standing at mid-off and watching him bowl.”For all that England were undone in the first Test, Vaughan’sassertion that Sri Lanka are vulnerable is not without foundation. InSangakkara and Muralitharan, they possess the top-ranked batsman andbowler in all of Test cricket – an incredible achievement for acountry so small – but beyond those two, Sri Lanka’s quality and formis not so thick on the ground. “Take those two out of their attack,and [Chaminda] Vaas, and they are a very inexperienced team,” saidVaughan. “That’s what we’ve got to try to get into. If we get thosesenior players out quickly, and play Murali and Vaas well, we can tryto exploit their inexperience.”That is especially true at the top of the order, where there will beno Sanath Jayasuriya to torment the English bowlers. The last timeHarmison encountered the Sri Lankans, at Headingley in the fifth ODIin 2006, Jayasuriya lacerated him for 97 runs in ten overs, flinginghis forearms at his short wide offerings en route to 152 from 99deliveries. Sanath’s sidekick that day was one Upul Tharanga, who willnow partner Michael Vandort in his first Test since the visit ofBangladesh in July, but the memories of his own century at Headingleywill not compensate for the undoubted nerves he will be feeling.Further down the batting card, Jehan Mubarak is in need of runs, aftermaking 0 and 9 in the first Test, and Chamara Silva failed to convincewith his form either. But England’s struggles are every bit as acute.Ian Bell produced two stylish but ultimately insubstantial innings atKandy, but he was a lone success among the top six. Vaughan, KevinPietersen and Paul Collingwood each made starts without a singlehalf-century between them, while Alastair Cook was suckered twice inseven balls by Vaas’s subtle swingers.Vaughan, however, was adamant that the best remedy for the Kandyexperience was to get straight back and do it all again. “It wasmentally draining, especially losing, but physically we’re fine,” hesaid. That includes James Anderson, who has been labouring with anankle problem since the warm-ups and has at times looked every bit ashangdog as Harmison. There’s no room for moping in the next five days,however. The fate of the series depends on England’sbouncebackability.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Michael Vandort, 3Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Chamara Silva, 6Jehan Mubarak, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 DilharaFernando, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.England (probable) 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 MattPrior (wk), 8 Ryan Sidebottom, 9 Steve Harmison, 10 James Anderson, 11Monty Panesar.

The chances of this year’s Ashes series in England being seen live on Australian terrestrial television have receded with the news that the ABC is not considering a bid for the rights.The Brisbane Courier-Mail quoted Ian Knight, ABC’s head of television, as saying: “The ABC has to consider the needs of the whole ABC audience. We have to consider regular viewers would be deprived of some shows they have been watching for long periods. Also, we are not a rich organisation and it has been some time since we made a bid for commercial rights on a major sporting event.”Channel 9, who devote a lot of air-time to Australia’s home series, say that the timing of this year’s series is awkward for them: “We have Wimbledon, the AFL and the rugby league to fit in as well, so it is very hard to do justice to it all.”That leaves Channel 7, who broadcast the 2001 Ashes series from England, as the only realistic free-to-air contender – and with pay-TV channel Fox Sports having already purchased the rights and planning to broadcast every ball of the Tests and one-day internationals, it seems unlikely that 7 will make a bid.

POTCHEFSTROOM, South Africa, Feb 19 AAP – Taciturn all-rounder Andrew Symonds may have silenced his critics with his match-winning century in Australia’s opening World Cup match but his new-found fame means he can’t escape the spotlight anymore.Symonds admits he’s shied away from attention in the past but these days he has to front up to the media and talk, not his favourite pastime.As Australia gears up for the next stage of the tournament, he said he was looking forward to being thrown into his next big test: combating batsmen certain to target his medium-pacers-cum-off-spinners as the weak link in the Australian attack.”That’s not a bad challenge,” he drawled, a toothpick between his teeth, every bit a country boy.If he wasn’t an international cricketer, Symonds said he would be a fisherman or a farmer.For a while, a few of his critics would rather have seen him in either of those roles.The number of knockers probably doubled with every poor outing but his blitzkrieg of an innings against Pakistan, 143 from 125 balls, proved he was ripe for the big time, and left everybody else with egg on their faces.”I’m never too worried about proving to people what I can and can’t do,” he said.”I’m not big on publicity – I don’t read the newspaper. If I see anything about myself, it’s on TV. People have probably been entitled to write what they have over the last year or so, but a player doesn’t get to defend himself.”Sometimes the media makes out that you’re not trying. I don’t go out there to shut people up in the press and media. You go out there to do it for your team, your country and yourself – getting the confidence and probably the belief in yourself that you can actually do it at this level.”I’m looking forward to my next important innings now to see how I’m going to approach it – I’m quite excited about it.”Symonds said the main satisfaction he gained from his first ton for Australia was derived from helping his team-mates out of a difficult situation, 4-86, and repaying the long-term support he had received from captain Ricky Ponting, who pushed hard for him in the World Cup selection room.”I’ve always had a good rapport with him and I can feel the confidence he has in me,” said Symonds, who shared a 87-ball, 60-run partnership with Ponting that swung momentum Australia’s way en route to an 82-run win.”He’s very keen for me to do well and contribute. Steve Waugh was the same when he was captain – when I first played he was throwing me in early a lot. Ricky was always coming down the pitch saying ‘next ball’ so we weren’t sitting there admiring our shots.”It was a satisfying innings because of the circumstances of the game. Ricky was under a lot of pressure too, because he was the last specialist batsman. I was determined we would post a total to defend.”Symonds’ troubles were frustrating for followers because all the tools – massive hitting, good technique, sound bowling, brilliant fielding – were going to waste. He kept getting out to loose strokes and being hit for boundaries. His lightning-fast work in the field, both catching and on the ground, was the only constantly positive contribution.It might be premature to call Symonds’ century a turning point because he hasn’t batted or bowled since, but his mood and demeanour at training, where he has been crunching everything thrown his way, indicates there are more good times ahead, more big innings.”Now I’ve got something there that’s concrete and I can refer back to that,” he said.”I guess now I’ve got the confidence because I know I can do it against the best teams in the world. I’ll use that. Whether you’d call it a turning point, I don’t know. Hopefully it is.”

Namibia has lost the Alexander Forbes One Day International cricket series against Bangladesh after the visitors won the low-scoring fourth match by one wicket on Sunday.Bangladesh lead the series by 3-1 with the fifth and final match to beplayed on Wednesday before both teams leave for South Africa on Saturday tocontest the ICC World Cup.Bangladesh won a close match by one wicket after bowling out Namibia for 131in 45.3 overs. Jan-Berry Burger top-scored for Namibia with 31 runs from 63balls, while Riaan Walters made 26 and Morné Karg 21. The Namibia inningscontained only three fours and four sixes.The touring side replied with 132 for nine off 37.3 overs. They alsofaltered at 57 for six before captain and Man of the Match Khaled Mashudsteered them home with 44 runs off 71 balls.Khaled was the ninth man to go, playing a Sarel Burger delivery onto hisstumps with Bangladesh still needing two runs for victory. Number 10 batsmanMashrafe scored the winning two runs through midwicket.For Namibia, Björn Kotze took three wickets for 28 runs in 10 overs, whileRudie van Vuuren took two for 43 off 10 overs. Medium pacer Sarel Burgertook two for 30 runs in 9.3 overs.For Bangladesh, Mohammad Rafique took 4/19 runs in 8.3 overs while AlokKapali took 3/10 runs in eight overs.

Morne van Wyk, the 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Free State, will join the injury hit South African squad in Pakistan. South Africa have been plagued by a number of fitness worries early on the tour: Herschelle Gibbs missed the first one-day international due to muscle soreness, Neil McKenzie suffered from back spasms, while Graeme Smith and Boeta Dippenaar were clearly bothered by the heat and humidity in that match.Explaining the decision to opt for a reinforcement, Eric Simons, the South African coach, said: "We do have a few injury worries with Herschelle and Neil, and the severe heat and humidity also took its toll on Friday when Graeme Smith and Boeta Dippenaar suffered from cramps. Morne will give us more flexibility if we have further injury problems or if we decide to rotate players in the rest of the games." van Wyk will join the South African team on Monday.South Africa have a busy schedule ahead of them in Pakistan, playing four ODIs in a week’s time before being faced with back-to-back Tests. Simons added that the packed itinerary was also a reason why the team management decided to ask for cover. "It takes nearly 24 hours to travel from South Africa, so we would rather have him here than back home should problems arise next week."van Wyk made his international debut in the NatWest Series final against England earlier this year, and has been in terrific batting form for the A side, scoring 52, 56 and 118 in three one-day matches against the Sri Lankan A team last week.

Rahul Dravid fell short of a personal landmark for the second time in the match, succumbing for 92, after his first-innings 49. The first knock was aggressive, coming when India needed to continue building on Virender Sehwag’s 195. The second one was defensive, and came under more harrowing circumstances – a 192-run deficit needed to be erased on a pitch with inconsistent bounce.A noticeable aspect of Dravid’s innings was the waiting game he played. Of the 244 deliveries he faced, no fewer than 202 were dot balls. With the field up and the bowling tight, he waited for the right ball to put away for runs, which is why a high percentage of his runs came in boundaries: 56.5%. When the spinners came on, he negated the possibility of lbw decisions by coming forward and putting bat to ball. Out of Stuart MacGill’s 67 deliveries to Dravid, 55 were played with the bat, while only 2 hit the pad.

A feature of Dravid’s batting throughout the series has been his control over the bowling, and today was no different. He was decisive on both front and back foot, and the few deliveries he edged can be attributed more to good bowling, rather than to the batsman’s indecision. The one bowler who troubled him was Nathan Bracken, who bowled an awkward line just outside off stump on a good length, tempting the batsman to play. Of the 150 balls Bracken bowled, only five were half-volleys, and just 45 runs were taken off his 25 overs.

When Sourav Ganguly returned to the crease after retiring hurt earlier in the day, he started off watchfully, careful to not lose his wicket, but was tempted ever so often by Macgill and Simon Katich’s floaters, as well as the fast bowlers’ wide deliveries.Both batsmen played steadily until India were past Australia’s total, and then opened out to play their shots, particularly Ganguly. With the new ball taken at around the same time India took the lead, Ganguly took charge and played at nearly anything the bowlers bowled. Pulls were mixed with hair-raising swishes outside off stump. Lee was pulled to the boundary twice in an over, once convincingly, and the other time, not so. In all, 35 runs came off the 37 balls Lee bowled to Ganguly.After Dravid’s dismissal Ganguly quietened down, until he inner-edged Bracken on to his wicket. Still, it wasn’t Bracken or Lee who had Ganguly in discomfort. That privilege went to Brad Williams, who hit Ganguly on the head in the morning, and bowled 13 balls to him, of which the batsman was in control for just seven.

Ajit Wadekar, the former Indian captain and coach, feels that too much is being made of the quality of pitches used for Test matches. He said that India’s recent dip in form was partly down to Sourav Ganguly being uncertain about his best game-plan.”Sourav is getting confused whether to rely on pace or spin,” Wadekar told Wisden Cricinfo at the launch of the Hat-Trick Cricket Academy in Mumbai, of which he has been appointed the director. “We have a very good set of medium-pacers, and it is important that we strike the right balance. During my time as the Indian coach, between 1992 and 1996, Kapil Dev was on his way out and we only had [Javagal] Srinath to rely on in the fast-bowling department. Now it is a different story. I think we need to sort out our strengths and play accordingly.”Having coached India through the glorious ’90s, when they didn’t lose a single series at home, Wadekar also felt that too much was being made of the quality of the Test pitches. “I think international teams should be willing to adapt to any sort of wicket,” he said. “The Mumbai pitch was surely not a good one, but the ones at Nagpur and Kanpur were OK.”When asked about the current Test at Kanpur, which has been largely reduced to a snore-fest, Wadekar defended the curator, saying he was getting too much flak. “We played on Kanpur-type pitches even when I was the coach. The bowlers need to work out the batsmen. No point in blaming the pitch.”Wadekar added that John Wright, the current coach, needed to be more assertive, and called for a more interactive approach when matches were on. “I don’t see messages being sent out to the captain. You have to do that, because you are getting another view of the game.”He also doffed his hat to Anil Kumble, who is on the verge of becoming India’s highest wicket-taker, and said he was the ideal example of a bowler adapting to different conditions. “He is one of the greatest fighters I have ever seen. He will never complain about the track, and just go out there and slug it out.”Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is on the staff of Wisden Cricinfo in India.