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Scotland’s veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dougie Lockhart has announced his retirement from international cricket.”This is the right time for me to finish my international career,” he said. “Representing Scotland requires 100% commitment, discipline and dedication and I have always prided myself on the high standards I have set.”After 16 years of international cricket and nine years of combining international cricket with a full time job, I feel that I can no longer commit the required time and make the necessary sacrifices to play and compete at international level. There are no major tournaments over the next couple of years, so it is an appropriate time to step aside and allow younger players the opportunities to progress.”An Oxford Blue at cricket, Lockhart made his representative debut for Scotland in 1995, at the age of 19, against the MCC at Mannofield, Aberdeen. As a batsman, in 178 appearances he scored more than 3,500 runs for his country, including two centuries and 14 half-centuries – his highest score being a first-class innings of 151 against Canada in the Intercontinental Cup in 2008. As a wicketkeeper at international level, he also took 115 catches and 11 stumpings.Lockhart, who started his cricket career at Glasgow Academicals, also captained Scotland on seven occasions, including leading the team to a clean sweep in the 1999 Triple Crown and captaining the side against the MCC at Lord’s in 2002.”The Scotland team over the 2004-05 period was the strongest I was involved in,” he said. “We had a talented group of players who had played a lot of cricket together and everyone peaked at the right time for the ICC Trophy in Ireland.”I feel extremely proud and privileged to have played for Scotland over a period of significant development for the game in this country. I have enjoyed every minute of it and it was fantastic to have the opportunity to play in One-Day Internationals, first-class matches, ICC tournaments and English county matches for Scotland.”I will miss the dressing room atmosphere and the adrenaline from big games, but I know in my heart that the time is right. I look forward to moving on to the next phase of my life in my career with Barclays Wealth, and spending more time with my wife Joanne.”Cricket Scotland chief executive Roddy Smith said: “Dougie has been a tremendous servant of Scottish cricket throughout his international career and has had constantly to juggle his professional career with his Scotland commitments. I’m sure everyone will want to thank him for and to congratulate him on such a distinguished record.”

The furore over match referee Mike Denness’ judgements on Sachin Tendulkar and five other Indian cricketers has emerged in the Indian parliament. Tendulkar’s suspended one-Test sentence for ball-tampering, as well as penalties on his teammates for excessive appealing, were uniformly lambasted in the recently started winter session of Parliament on Wednesday.The issue was raised, appropriately enough, by an ex-cricketer and current MP, Kirti Azad, who cited the support of 50 other MPs for his demand to withdraw the Indian team from the current tour of South Africa.”I think the Indian board should recall the team if the ICC does not take the protest seriously,” Azad told the Associated Press. “We need to protect the honour of our players, some of whom have been given the highest national awards.” The controversy is likely to crop up on Thursday as well.Azad, a member of the 1983 World-Cup-winning squad, said that he raised the issue because he thought the International Cricket Council (ICC) was reluctant to delve further into the affair of its own accord.Sports Minister Uma Bharti, however, was more neutral, saying that she thought the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was capable of handling the issue appropriately. But she did say that the Sports ministry had asked for a report from the Board on the issue.The emergence of the controversy at the highest level only reflects the prevailing mood in the entire country, known the world over for treating cricket with religious fervour. Protest marches in Kolkata, Mumbai and Bhopal have attracted huge crowds, with placards denouncing the ICC and Denness jostling for space with massive posters of national icon Tendulkar.The Board is yet to respond to the ICC’s statement that it will not prevent Denness from officiating in the Third test, which is due to start at Centurion Park, Pretoria, on Friday.

Alviro Petersen’s strongest statement of the day was made in the 20th over. He went down on a bent knee and slog-swept Harbhajan Singh over deep square leg for six. He had previously pulled Ishant Sharma to square-leg, driven Jaidev Unadkat through mid-off and Sreesanth through the covers, but this was that shot that expressed his intentions.”We didn’t want Harbhajan to settle,” Petersen said later. “We felt that if the ball was in our scoring areas and we could hit it, we would.”Graeme Smith went on to play a confident cut, a classy on-drive and a powerful pull and Harbhajan went for 19 in his first couple of overs. After Smith’s exit, Harbhajan got away with three boundary-less overs and if not for a drop from MS Dhoni, would have dismissed Hashim Amla. Petersen receded into his shell a little and came out only to drive a full Sreesanth delivery on the on-side.”We needed to have a lot of patience on this wicket.” Petersen said. He admitted that both he and Smith were tentative early on and “weren’t worried about the runs on the board,” as much as about seeing off the new ball and any early movement. “The longer you stay in, the easier it gets to bat,” he said – an observation that implied he was disappointed that he didn’t push on to reach three figures. He was driving confidently in the morning session and looked set to continue in that vein. If he had, it would have gone a long way in cementing an opening slot.Petersen took over the role at a time when South Africa was going through a mini-crisis. Ashwell Prince had made clear his desire to return to the middle order, Herschelle Gibbs had fallen out of favour and into rehab. Two strong seasons at the first-class level made Petersen the automatic choice. In 2008-09 season he finished third highest domestic scorer with 798 runs in nine matches at an average of 49.87. In the 2009-10 season, he made 557 runs in seven matches at an average of 55.7.With JP Duminy suffering a loss of form after the heroics that in Australia and Prince desperate to return to the middle order, it made sense to bring Petersen in. In February, after the first Test against India in Nagpur, the time was right. Prince had made a duck opening and Duminy nine runs at No. 6. Duminy was dropped, Prince moved down and there was room for Petersen.His debut – a crunch match against India at Eden Gardens – was going to be more mentally taxing than anything else. When Smith fell in the third over with the score on nine, it looked like Petersen was in for a rough ride. It would have been a topsy-turvy experience had he not been joined by the supremely confident and in-form Hashim Amla. Both went on record centuries and Petersen’s talent had announced itself on a grand stage.Apart from that, Petersen has not had a situation tough enough to test his mettle as an opener. He is playing in just his seventh match and has had a fairly gentle introduction to the big time. Ideally, after Kolkata, he should have gone on to stake a claim by scoring a century or two in the June tour of the Caribbean. Instead, he returned from three Tests with only one half-century to his name. His return in the two Tests against Pakistan was better and he looked likely to score a century in the first Test in Dubai before falling for 67.A second Test century is probably due for Petersen now, but he will have to wait for a while, possibly until the next match. Petersen didn’t appear too concerned with not reaching the milestone in the first innings and said South Africa wanted to “bat India out of the match.” He said the dressing room was “not satisfied with where we are now in the match” and had not yet thought about a declaration. Only a massive lead will satisfy South Africa and they only want to bat once.”The wicket is getting quicker and it’s changing quite a lot. A quick wicket suits our strengths so that’s what we want,” Petersen said, a warning to India that another blitz can be expected from Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in the second innings.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Misbah-ul-Haq’s presence in the middle is crucial to Pakistan’s fate in the Test•AFP

Pakistan found a good time to put up one of their most resolute collectivebatting displays of the year, defying South Africa on an engrossing secondday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. Three from the middle order madehalf-centuries as they edged closer to saving the follow-on, but SouthAfrica did enough throughout to keep a door to victory open.Two partnerships dominated the resistance, both centred most pleasantlyaround youth. The first was a 117-run stand between Azhar Ali and TaufeeqUmar that spanned much of the morning. Azhar was the centrifugal force.Rare among his younger countrymen in that he seems wired for Testsspecifically, Azhar has been Pakistan’s sleeper hit this year.The impression he made in England solidified here with another well-judgedvigil. There was more oomph to his third half-century of the series andnot only because the fields were attacking and open. He took on Dale and Morne Morkel whenever the opportunity arose but was most impressiveholding off the latter as he attacked his ribs. Azhar was jumpy but athumping pull to bring up the fifty shortly before the first drinks breakput paid to that plan temporarily. Later, as Morkel tried his luck again,he pulled him even more emphatically.Off the backfoot, Azhar in fact is strongest and most elegant, as Steyn foundin occasional punches through off. A first ton was there for Azhar’s taking;instead he now has two nineties.The second developed over the afternoon, a 105-run partnership betweenMisbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq and it was the debutant who steered it. Quick of feetand hands, Shafiq has looked comfortable since his ODI debut earlier thisyear. His first Test yielded a similar sense. In at a genuinely trickyperiod soon after lunch when two wickets had fallen in two overs, Shafiqwas particularly bright against spin.To anything remotely short – and there was enough from Johan Botha – heleant back to cut. To much else he moved his feet to kill the length. Oncehe improvised, flipping Botha over his shoulder. One cut, off Paul Harris,made him the 20th Pakistan batsman to score a fifty on debut. Against pace he wasless forthright and less willing to use his feet, so it was a surprisethat he fell to Harris eventually.And this is the thing about world-class attacks: they are never out of it.They may not be up to much for a session or more, but eventually theirquality will out. Steyn was more world class than the rest, taking fourpelts at the batsmen through the day. In the morning he probed rather thanthreatened. It had been the way since his return from injury in the lastTest and the pace hasn’t yet touched the peaks it can.Lunch helped Steyn find some rhythm and swing, however; immediately he wastempting a restless Younis Khan into nibbling at delicious, late-bloomingoutswingers. A few overs later temptation became downfall. Younis squeezeda drive through gully but a ball later, reaching out again, drove straightto cover. It was infectious, for in his next over, Azhar drove loosely aswell, straight to mid-off. It wasn’t unplayable stuff, just gooddisciplines playing on the impatience of opponents and similar to hisbreakthrough performance against the same opponents in Karachi three yearsago. This gave South Africa their first real peek.The last spell mirrored the first, though given he had a fresh ball, itwasn’t incisive enough. But by then he had Harris, looking every inch acop from a 70s cop show, to fall back on. Like all left-arm spinners, hegenerally does well against Pakistan and he tied them down for much of theafternoon. Timely middle-order breakthroughs, from good bounce, in thelast session ensured South African ascendancy.It was needed, for Botha was poor, bizarrely starting his day’s work as aseamer before belatedly resuming his day-job deep into the afternoon;seven expensive overs later, perhaps he should’ve stuck to seam-up. Morkelwas never consistent enough with his lengths.In this relentlessness it was left to Misbah to keep up the fight. He wentnowhere to begin with but on a day of dismissals as soft as baby cheeks, hisability to stick around was admirable. He opened up on Botha and eventually thepacers as they tired; some of the pulls and clips, as well as the mannerof work, was reminiscent of his Test peak in 2007-08 in India. More willbe needed to avoid the follow-on.

Sunil Sam took four wickets to cut through Assam’s middle and lower order in the second innings and set up a chase for Tamil Nadu’s batsmen, who responded by completing an outright victory with seven wickets in hand at at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Tamil Nadu needed to play urgently to force a result and had to dislodge Assam’s overnight pair of S Sriram and Tarjinder Singh early on the final day. They added 71 more runs, however, and Sriram reached a century before he was bowled for 121 by R Ashwin. The collapse began after that and Assam lost their last five batsmen for 34 runs. Tarjinder was the last man out, for 99. Sam finished with 4 for 56 as Assam were shot out for 281. Tamil Nadu needed 120 to win outright and their openers Abhinav Mukund and S Anirudha added 65. They suffered a minor hiccup, losing two batsmen on 65, but Anirudha’s 48 ensured the home side earned five points from their season opener.Having already conceded a first-innings lead, Punjab’s middle order used the final day for batting practice against Uttar Pradesh in in Meerut. The overnight batsmen, Uday Kaul and Pankaj Dharmani, went on to make 74 and 135 not out. Kaul was bowled by Piyush Chawla, ending a 130-run partnership, but Dharmani found another steady partner in Vishwas Bhalla. They added 141 for the sixth wicket, with Bhalla contributing 76. Only two wicket fell on the last day as Punjab finished on 354 for 6.Ambati Rayudu, playing his first match for Baroda, scored an unbeaten double-century which prevented Orissa from pushing for victory in Cuttack. Having already secured first-innings points, the hosts would have harboured hopes of an outright win because Baroda trailed by 122 with nine wickets in hand. Those hopes would have lifted when Connor Williams and Rakesh Solanki fell with the score on 164. Both batsmen were dismissed by Dhiraj Singh and Baroda, still trailing, had only six second-innings wickets remaining. Rayudu, however, rallied with 27 fours and three sixes in his innings of 200 off 255 balls. The game was called off soon after he reached the landmark.Mumbai might have earned three points from a first-innings lead against Saurashtra but they were the first to object to playing on such an ineffective surface at the Bandra-Kurla Complex which, they said, had robbed them of an outright victory. For more on this match, click here.A drawn Ranji Trophy match is usually an exercise in tedium, especially if a television screen close by is showing Virender Sehwag carving up slices of Motera as though it was pizza. Hundreds of kilometers away from Ahmedabad, the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi and Bengal were engaged in a bitter tussle for the better part of a day. While the contest wasn’t gripping, it was between equals. The game was eventually and predictably drawn and it was the unfashionable Bengal team that left Delhi with bruised ego, limb and three points from their Ranji Trophy season opener. For more on this match, click here.On the final day at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi, Railways’ batsmen wiped out the deficit of 104 and took a lead in their follow-on against Gujarat before the game ended in a draw. They started the day on 54 for 1 and V Cheluvaraj and Sanjay Bangar reached half-centuries during their 94-run partnership. Wickets began to fall at regular intervals after they were separated but Railways managed to draw level with Gujarat with five wickets in hand. They finished the day on 246 for 8, 88 runs ahead.Himachal Pradesh fared better in the second innings, reaching 168 for 2, after conceding first-innings points to Haryana in their season opener in Dharmasala. Sangram Singh and Vinit Indulkar made 89 and 62 not out but they were chasing an improbable target of 360 after a steady second-innings performance from Haryana’s batsmen. The visitors had resumed on the final morning on 132 for 2. Nitin Saini missed his century, falling for 92, but Manav Sharma reached his half-century and was unbeaten on 51 when his captain, Rahul Dewan, declared on 249 for 5.

Yorkshire have released Jacques Rudolph from the final year of his contract, paving the way for a possible return to the South Africa line-up. The county have said that family reasons are behind Rudolph’s desire to return home, but it is known that he has been contacted about making a comeback to the international stage.Rudolph joined Yorkshire as Kolpak player in 2007 – meaning he didn’t count as an overseas cricketer – and passed 1000 Championship runs in each of his four seasons including 1375 runs in the recently completed 2010 campaign. In total he scored 8629 runs for Yorkshire in all competitions and his consistent form hasn’t been lost on the South Africa coach Corrie van Zyl. “We are aware that he has excelled in England over the past few years,” he told Sport24.co.za.”Whilst Jacques has thoroughly enjoyed his time with Yorkshire, he and his wife Elna have found it difficult adjusting to life in England,” said a Yorkshire statement. “Jacques has spent each winter with his family in South Africa and whilst his wife Elna moved to Leeds in an attempt to find suitable employment as a doctor, nevertheless this has not worked out as they both would have liked.”They are both very keen to start a family and, with an unsettled lifestyle, felt it was impossible to put down roots and make plans for the future. As such, they formally requested to be released from the final year of Jacques’s contract and the board of directors have granted this wish.”Rudolph played the last of his 35 Tests in August 2006 against Sri Lanka, in Colombo, and has scored 2028 runs at 36.21 after launching his career with an unbeaten 222 on debut against Bangladesh in 2003.

The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad will host its first Test – between India and New Zealand – from November 12-16. The ground was conferred Test status in June and the BCCI took the decision to assign it its first international five-day game at the annual general meeting in Mumbai.”It’s a great thing for Hyderabad,” Arshad Ayub, the president of the Hyderabad Cricket Association said. “We have prepared this ground for Test matches. Lots of places host ODIs but we built the ground wanting a Test venue because that carried with it a prestige for a ground. And this will be the first time after 22 years that Hyderabad will stage a Test – the first one at our new ground.” The city last hosted a Test in 1988, also involving New Zealand.The venue first hosted an international fixture – an ODI between India and South Africa – in 2005 and has staged two more 50-overs games. It was also the host for all of Deccan Chargers’ home games in the inaugural IPL.”Hyderabad is almost one of the founder members of the BCCI and we believed we needed to be a permanent Test venue which is why we shifted the facility out of Fateh Maidan because after a while it was not suitable to stage Tests,” Ayub said. “Once the new stadium was ready we were desperate to get ICC clearance to stage a Test, and it’s all happened and now we have got that chance. Test venues need to have proper facilities, dressing rooms, practice pitches, security, good hotels around, and on the counts related to grounds we made sure none of the facilities was an issue.”We will have an executive meeting on October 2 to decide on what we can do about the game to bring in a good crowds, maybe it will be cheap tickets, we will be formulating our plans in that meeting. Ideally we are hoping to get in around 25,000 people to the game.”

Fawad Alam, the Pakistan batsman who has been selected in his team’s limited-overs squads against England, has said he is looking ahead to the 2011 World Cup and is keen to cement his place for the tournament next year.”The World Cup isn’t too far away now and with series against England, South Africa and New Zealand prior to the premier one-day competition, I know that I have to deliver and that the competition for places is intense,” Alam told . “I have faith in my ability though and hope that the selectors give me the opportunity to deliver.”I hope I get a chance to play in the Twenty20 matches and the one-day series [in England], especially as the World Cup is only six or so months away. It’s time to ensure that I perform well whenever I am given the opportunity, as preparations for the World Cup are now in full swing.”Alam has played 17 ODIs for Pakistan, averaging an impressive 40.87. He last played an ODI in January this year, against Australia in Perth. Upon the conclusion of the two-match Twenty20 series against Australia in England, Alam stayed back and signed up with Woodhall Spa in the ECB Premier League to play club cricket.”I could have gone back to Pakistan, but I felt that playing some club cricket in England would be more beneficial. Woodhall Spa gave me the opportunity and I am very grateful to them,” Alam said. “It has given me valuable match practice, the opportunity to maintain my levels of fitness and a chance to work on some technical issues as well. I’ve really enjoyed my stint in the ECB Premier league and have scored consistently and taken wickets too. Sometimes, away from the hustle and bustle of international and first-class cricket, you can work on issues that you feel you need to work on, which is what I have done”.

The BCCI’s disciplinary committee has adjourned Sunday’s hearing without ruling on the removal of interim-IPL chairman Chirayu Amin and BCCI vice-president Arun Jaitley from the committee. Suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi has repeatedly asked for the two men to be replaced on the panel, claiming they are biased against him.According to Modi’s lawyer Mehmood Abdi, the committee has finished hearing all arguments for and against the removal of Jaitley and Amin. “There will be no further hearing on the issue of recusal and no date has been fixed for the decision,” Abdi said. “The panel has legal luminary like Jaitley and I think the committee will take a decision after considering all the arguments counter arguments and rejoinder by both the parties.”According to a press release issued by the BCCI, the committee will notify both sides when it takes its decision but did not set a date for its next meeting. Abdi also said the issue of having a retired Supreme Court judge on the committee was discussed again, but that would have to wait until the committee decides whether or not to reconstitute the panel.The committee also discussed whether one of Modi’s lawyers, Venkatesh Dhond, would be called as a witness during the proceedings, and if so, whether he would then need to recuse himself from representing Modi. The issue arose because the documents supplied by the BCCI to Modi’s lawyers after the last hearing contained a page with hand-written corrections by Dhond. However, the board’s lawyer, PR Raman, said that would not be necessary”Mr. Raman clarified that it was the intention of the BCCI to rely [on] these documents is to refute the statement of Mr. Lalit Modi that by the aforesaid mentioned letter, extension was granted to WSG Mauritius on the advice of Ms. Akhila Kaushik, whereas it was Mr. Dhond who has advised on this,” the release said. “Mr. Raman clarified that they do not intend to call Mr. Dhond as a witness in this case since the document is admittedly written by Mr. Dhond which Mr. Dhond has accepted.”Modi did not attend the meeting via video conferencing despite saying he was willing to do so. However, shortly after the meeting began, he wrote on Twitter that he “just ‎heard that BCCI want my lawyers to recuse themselves! Shocked since meeting was for committee’s recusal.” He followed that up by questioning the manner in which the enquiry was being conducted, saying, “People party to all decisions don’t want to recuse themselves. But want my team who are presenting my case too. Is this how an enquiry is done?”This is the third hearing conducted by the disciplinary committee that is investigating the allegations against Modi. The committee has until October 26 to submit its recommendations to the board. The BCCI suspended Modi immediately following the conclusion of IPL 3 in April and charged him with financial irregularities relating to the bidding process for IPL franchises, the mid-over ad sales and the sale of theatrical rights. He was also charged with colluding to set up a rebel league in England.

ScorecardYorkshire cannot count themselves as clear favourites to win the Championship just yet, given that likeliest rivals Nottinghamshire have played two fewer matches. A victory here, however, will put daylight between them and the Trent Bridge side and anything less will be regarded as an opportunity missed.They do not lack for motivation these days, captain Andrew Gale having seemingly inspired in them a powerful self-belief, but news of defeat for Nottinghamshire at Chelmsford can only have spurred them on and they will be anxious to press home their advantage as they begin to visualise only a second title in 43 years.A win here will put Yorkshire 21 points clear and they must still play Nottinghamshire twice, at Headingley in August and at Trent Bridge – in the penultimate round – in September, which will be a fixture for the diary if the prize is still up for grabs.They should not squander their chance in this match, although Warwickshire are not out of it yet. Following on, they have an advantage of 21 runs but are only three wickets down. Shows of resilience have not characterised their batting on many occasions this season but they have found some here.Much of it has come from Rikki Clarke, whose unbeaten 46 batting at number seven in the first innings gained his side a rare second batting point, seeing them to 253, which was only 22 short of avoiding the follow-on.Given that he was dropped twice earlier in the day, he has done a better job still. Promoted to four, he has not offered a chance so far and he and Ateeq Javid, the England under-19 batsman, have put on 64 since Jim Troughton retired hurt at 129 for 3.Javid, who looked a questionable selection in the light of Warwickshire’s plight and his lack of experience, revealed some character himself, standing up well in particular to Tino Best, who appeared intent on intimidating the youngster verbally as well as physically but succeeded on neither count.On the other hand, Best left Troughton literally battered and bruised. The Warwickshire batsman took a blow on the helmet from a short ball from the West Indian that brought up a sizeable bump above his left eye. He will bat again, although the swelling must subside enough first to allow him to pull on his headgear again.Warwickshire had resumed their first innings at 221 for 7 in reply to Yorkshire’s 425. Steve Patterson, increasingly the steady and reliable member of Yorkshire’s seam attack, took their last three wickets, although Adil Rashid should have had a couple of them. Having failed to hold a sharp, low return catch offered by Neil Carter on 13, the leg spinner saw the same batsman missed at short leg two balls later.Then Clarke, when he had reached 36, hit him straight to mid-wicket, where Jonathan Bairstow’s usually reliable hands let him down.Patterson cashed in. He had Neil Carter caught by Best at mid-off and Imran Tahir one-handed, by Richard Pyrah at backward point, a spectacular effort by a fine fielder. A full delivery into the pads of Boyd Rankin finished the innings, giving him figures of 4 for 57.Rashid, who ended the first innings with 4 for 71, has taken all three so far in the second innings, lifting his tally for the season in first-class matches to 40, six behind Warwickshire’s leg spinner, Tahir.Darren Maddy played all around a googly, then Ant Botha was caught behind by a diving Gerard Brophy. Ian Westwood, the Warwickshire captain, who had put on 56 with Botha for the second wicket in a stand that set the tone for what was required from his struggling team, was dismayed to be given out leg before in Rashid’s next over. The impression from the boundary was that the ball was missing leg stump but umpire Jeremy Lloyds, in a better place to judge, saw it differently.Troughton, who gave a half-chance to short leg off Rashid on 10, had treatment on the field for several minutes after taking a swing and a miss at a ball that reared up. Best offered apologies but soothing words were not enough to stop the swelling.Warwickshire might have lost heart. Instead, Javid and Clarke, who loosened his arms with a six off Rashid and another off Azeem Rafiq, the off-spinner, stood firm and no more wickets were lost between tea and a rain shower that ended proceedings with 10 overs lost.