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A report in Zimbabwe’s Independent newspaper claims that Zimbabwe Cricket are trying to lure club sides from Asia to give the domestic game a desperately-needed fillip.The first-class structure virtually collapsed in 2005-06 after bitter infighting among stakeholders, clashes between clubs and the board, and the continuing exodus of players. The Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s century-old first-class competition, was not held, and the Faithwear Cup, the one-day tournament, was reduced to a virtual farce.A ZC spokesman maintained that the Logan Cup would take place, stating a decision had been made to shift the domestic season. “The Zimbabwe climate is such that cricket can be played all year round, and we intend to fully utilise our climatic conditions,” a spokesman told Cricinfo. “Therefore our season will run from January to December.” This caught stakeholders completely unawares.The Independent stated that two club sides from Asia had been approached, quoting a board source as saying: “ZC is in discussion with a number of cricket institutions with the willingness to send clubs to participate in first-class cricket in the country.” It was also reported that Bangladesh A might be asked to participate.What is uncertain is how this will be funded, as ZC has long been rumoured to be strapped for cash. However, even thought Zimbabwe suspended themselves from Test cricket in January, their income from the ICC remains unaffected, so they should receive several million dollars as a Full Member.The paper added that Ozias Bvute, ZC’s managing director, could not be drawn into discussing the foreign clubs issue, only saying the board had tabled “major plans to revive the local game”.

David Hussey is ‘batting beautifully’ and is in a ‘different class’ to his Victoria team-mates according to Cameron White, his state captain.Hussey stroked 104 and 74 not out to lead Victoria’s 270-run win over South Australia yesterday. In their second innings, South Australia folded for just 77.”David, he’s in a different class to the rest of us I think, batting beautifully,” White told the . “One of the things we want at Victoria is to produce Australian players so hopefully he gets an opportunity.”Everyone knows that he’s good enough and he’s in really good form – if you’ve been watching this game you’ll see he’s been on a different level to anyone really.”White attributes Hussey’s success to county cricket in which he has represented Nottinghamshire for the past four seasons. He has been in prolific form, compiling 7259 runs at 48.39 with a bristling strike-rate.”I’ve no doubt county cricket has definitely helped his game,” White said. “Over the last four winters he’s been [playing county cricket] he’s probably facing a couple of thousand balls out in the middle while everyone else who’s not playing cricket is hitting indoor bowling machine balls.”There’s no doubt I think that makes you a better player over there, batting all that time.”

Yuvraj Singh has expressed delight at the prospect of wearing the India jersey again during the three Twenty20 Internationals in Australia, but felt there was a personal sense of disappointment for not making the cut for the ODIs.”A fresh start or a new beginning is the way I’d put it. I wouldn’t say my India career is going to start all over again. It began 15 years ago,” Yuvraj told . “To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed that I am back only in the T20I squad, not for the ODIs. However, there’s happiness that I’m back after quite a while. The disappointment is personal and I hope I’m not misunderstood and that nothing at all is taken out of context.”Yuvraj, who last played for India in the final of the 2014 World T20, said the time spent away from the team was extremely difficult, but the itch to regain his berth in the national team kept driving him. However, he admitted comebacks were never easy, especially due to the “compressed nature of T20s.””Yes, conditions in Australia are challenging and the T20 format is even more demanding. It’s such a compressed affair that there’s little time to adjust,” he said. “The 20-over game isn’t easy. That said, I’m positive, for that’s the way I am. I have the confidence to try and do my best in the opportunities I get. The dressing room needs to have belief in me. I’m sure I’ll get the support I need.”With scores of 93, 36, 36, 78 not out and 98 in his five outings, Yuvraj is Punjab’s highest run-getter in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, where his team have won five out of their six matches to secure a quarter-final berth. Yuvraj underlined his domestic form as the key factor in his comeback.”I’ve been out of cricket for more than one-and-half years and it’s difficult to motivate yourself to play domestic cricket but that was the only way forward. I’ve been playing first-class cricket from 1996-97 and first played for India in 2000.”But, yes, I knew I needed a good tournament. I needed to give off my best. I’ve always valued domestic cricket. Certainly now, I hope I can continue in this form (for Punjab) in the knockout stage. Besides getting the runs, I also feel good from within.”India play three T20Is in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney before returning home for a three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. That will be followed by the Asia Cup T20 in the build up to the World T20 in March-April.

Netherlands’ allrounder Billy Stelling has announced his retirement from first-class cricket, although it will not make much impact on the national side as he has only played one first-class match in the last seven seasons. He will remain available for one-day selection.The bulk of Stelling’s career was in South Africa where he played for Western Province and then Boland. He also had a spell with Leicestershire, making only one first-class outing when he took 5 for 49 against Kent in 2000. He turned out for Berkshire in the Minor Counties Championship and also had spells with East Lancashire and Rawtenstall in the Lancashire League.He first represented Netherlands in 1995 and has always been on the fringes of the one-day side, making 11 appearances. His best bowling came in his last outing when he took 3 for 12 against Scotland during the World Cup.Although he has expressed a desire to continue playing ODIs, he is 38 next month and it may well be that PJ Bakker, the new coach, decides it would be better to look to the future as he tries to rebuild after some high-profile retirements.

Shane Warne has called the return match between the Rajasthan Royals and the Delhi Daredevils a “sweet revenge”. Last time the two sides met, Delhi had walloped Rajasthan by nine wickets. That match was the first for both teams in the tournament.”I am happy with the team’s victory, sitting on top of the table,” Warne said.Warne also praised the all-round efforts of compatriot Shane Watson, who took two wickets and scored 74 off 40 balls in Rajasthan’s three-wicket win against Delhi in Jaipur.Watson’s innings, according to Warne, was the turning point of the match. “His innings was perhaps the best in the tournament,” Warne said. “It was most valuable and brilliant innings.” Rajasthan were 15 for 2 in five overs when Watson came out to bat. He added 71 with Graeme Smith and fell when Rajasthan needed only seven more to get their seventh IPL win and maintain their 100% record at home.Warne also apologised for his final over which went for 27 runs. Delhi were at 122 for 6 when Warne came on to bowl the 19th over. Farveez Maharoof and Tillakaratne Dilshan had taken Siddharth Trivedi for 13 runs in the previous over and they continued the onslaught against Warne. Maharoof hit him for four sixes to take Delhi to a competitive total. “Things went according to our plan till 19th over,” Warne said. “I apologise for that over. I was hit for 27 runs. We gave 20-25 runs extra to them.”But he was happy with the way his side executed the game-plan earlier in the innings. “We bowled well. Field placing was good and we were able to contain them. We had plans for [Virender] Sehwag. We bowled slow to him. Dimitri [Mascarenhas], Watson Siddharth [Trivedi] and Munaf [Patel] intentionally kept the ball slow.”Rajasthan now have a five-day break before they play the Bangalore Royal Challengers in Jaipur on Saturday.

The finger injury that Mahendra Singh Dhoni sustained might hamper him when he walks out to bat on Saturday, but he was confident that India could save the Kingsmead Test and head to Cape Town still 1-0 up in the series. And according to him, even victory wasn’t impossible, given that India needed a further 316 runs from the 97 overs scheduled for the final day.”It’s evenly poised,” he said, speaking after the fourth day’s play. “But we must keep in mind that this is the second Test of the series, and so far, neither side has managed to score 300 runs in a day’s play. The weather will also be a factor.”We have not had 90 overs of play on a single day in this match. As a team, we are looking forward to tomorrow’s play. We will stay positive. We’ll see how the situation is at tea time. What we do after that depends on what position the team is in at that point. The way we bat till tea will be very important.”Mark Boucher’s assertion that South Africa were confident of rolling over the Indians inside two sessions drew a brusque response – “If I was a South African cricketer, I wouldn’t say that we would bowl India out inside 50 overs” – and Dhoni emphasised that India wouldn’t approach the situation defensively. “Can we survive? Why not? It’s a fair enough wicket. If you can keep the good balls out, it should make for a good day’s cricket. We’re not merely looking at saving the Test or defending.”He was less positive about the bruising on the right middle finger, which caused him to grimace on more than one occasion out in the field. “I can’t show it to you,” he said with a big grin. “The good news is that it’s not broken. I’m in a position to bat, and there are still three days to go before the next Test.”He was candid when asked about his shot selection throughout the course of this series. “In this match, the shot I played in the first innings [which gave Mornè Morkel a first Test wicket] could have been avoided,” he said. “If I cut out the cover drive, I will be in a position to score more for the team.”He also refused to be too critical when asked about Virender Sehwag’s fallow run, which continued today with his dismissal for 8. “It’s part and parcel of the game,” he said. “With the new Kookaburra ball, there have been one or two early breakthroughs in every innings. A lean patch happens to everyone. If you get a good ball, you get out. There’s no pressure on the middle order because one batsman fails. It depends on how the toporder shapes up as a group.”If they don’t shape up on Saturday, a series that started with Cinderella-like success at the Wanderers might just end up looking like the ugly sister’s face.

It may have been for all intents and purposes a picnic game to open the Australian tour, but England were probably looking for a more decisive victory than the one they scored yesterday. England defeated the ACB Chairman’s XI by one run on the final ball of a match watched at the Lilac Hill ground in outer Perth by a capacity crowd of about 11000.Simon Katich, captain of the Chairman’s XI, which included retired Test players Dennis Lillee, Bruce Reid and Graeme Wood alongside Victorian batsman Matthew Elliott and eight Western Australian players, won the toss and sent England into bat. Mike Atherton showed that does still have some value as a limited-over batsman, scoring 88 before falling to a brilliant diving catch by an airborne Katich at extra cover. Alec Stewart made 74 on a ground where he played club cricket for Midland-Guildford in the eighties. Another ex-Midland-Guildford batsman, John Crawley scored 64 from 50 balls. England’s innings ended at 296 for 5.Forty-nine year-old Dennis Lillee conceded 0/22 from his six overs. Bruce Reid, carrying more weight than in his playing days, dismissed Mark Butcher to take 1/19 from his seven overs.Ryan Campbell (74) and Mike Hussey (32), both fringe players for Australian selection, got the Chairman’s XI off to a brisk start. Campbell’s runs came from just 60 balls including eight fours and three sixes. While the run rate remained high throughout the Chairman’s XI innings, wickets fell regularly. With one ball of the 50th over remaining, the ACB side needed two runs for victory, tailender Jo Angel facing Darren Gough. Angel was short of his ground attempting a quick single as Gough removed the bails at the bowlers end and England had won the game.Gough was best of England’s bowlers, taking 2/40 from his ten overs. Alex Tudor, playing his first game for a senior England side, took 3/62 from his ten.England have named a Test-strength team for the opening first-class match of the tour, against Western Australia beginning on Saturday.The team is:Alec Stewart (capt), Nasser Hussain, Mark Butcher, Michael Atherton, Graham Thorpe, Mark Ramprakash, John Crawley, Dominic Cork, Robert Croft, Darren Gough, Angus Fraser, Alan Mullally

Imran Javed, the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) allrounder, celebrated his 31st birthday in style as he compiled an unbeaten century to take his side to victory against Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on the final day of their fourth-round Pentangular Cup Cricket Championship match at the Multan Cricket Stadium.The win over PIA gave NBP only six points instead of the full nine, as they had surrendered the first-innings lead earlier, but it took their points tally after three matches to 24. PIA have now been eliminated from the race to the Pentangular Cup title.Yasir Hameed, the PIA captain, had declared his team’s second innings at 339 for 8, setting NBP a stiff target of 375 for victory. At stumps on the third day, PNB were 58 for 2 but yesterday their batsmen brought them an improbable win as they inched home by two wickets. The overnight pair of Nasir Jamshed and Faisal Athar then took the score to 91 for 2. After Nasir departed for 46, Faisal found an able partner in Shahid Yousuf and the fourth-wicket pair added 79. Faisal’s 61 came off 93 balls and included 12 hits to the ropes. Shahid made 32 off 64 deliveries with the help of five boundaries. But six NBP wickets went down with just 187 on the board and the objective still 188 away.Imran then changed the entire complexion of the match. With fellow all-rounder Yasir Arafat, he helped post 117 for the seventh-wicket partnership, bringing his team to within 71 of the target.Yasir missed his half-century by a solitary run, scoring 49 off 75 balls with five fours and a six. But Imran, who scored his third century after more than four years, remained unbeaten at 102, having batted for 10 minutes short of four hours and making his runs off 170 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. Playing in the 31st first-class match, Imran had earlier completed 50 wickets with the ball. Mohammad Sami, the rejected Pakistan fast bowler, chipped in with a useful 20 off 48 balls with two fours and added 61 for the eighth wicket with Imran.With only the fifth and final round matches remaining, starting from Sunday, NBP have a great opportunity to win the competition. While table leaders Faisalabad have ended their programme of four matches with a total of 27 points, NBP must not be defeated by Karachi Harbour in their last match. to be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. In case their match ends as a draw, NBP will take their points tally to 27, the same as Faisalabad if they take the first-innings lead. Even if they emerge triumphant after losing the first-innings advantage, six more points will give them the championship title.PIA, three-time winners of the Pentangular Cup in the past, will now play a rather inconsequential fifth-round match against Sialkot, here at the same venue from Sunday. Victory for neither side will make a difference to the final outcome on April 26, when the tournament comes to an end.

The recently floated Indian Cricket League (ICL) has found that “reactions have been positive” in its hunt to recruit domestic players.”Quite a few people are disillusioned with the way the BCCI functions,” Himanshu Mody, the business head of the ICL, told the . “At the same time we are carefully scanning players’ lists for our needs. We need to be careful and make sure they suit us too. They have to be players who have either played some level of quality cricket or youngsters who have the potential to do so.”The ICL is a Twenty20 tournament scheduled for this October and will have six teams with two Indian internationals, four overseas players and eight juniors in each side. After two years the plan is to increase the number of sides in the league to 16.On its part, the BCCI is not taking the ICL’s search for players too seriously. “It will not affect domestic cricket in any way,” said Niranjan Shah, the board secretary. The board also made brave noises on the exodus of Indian domestic coaches to the ICL – at last count Madan Lal, Sandeep Patil, and Balwinder Singh Sandhu. “I don’t think the Ranji would be affected. We have enough quality coaches,” Sanjay Jagdale, the national selector, said.Sandhu, whose contract with the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association was not renewed this season, said he had had standing offers or feelers from four BCCI-affiliated associations but still decided to join the ICL. According to him, the ICL was not a competitor to the BCCI since the end goal of the two – that of improving Indian cricket – was the same. “You know why so many talented ones fail to get spotted in the regular camps run by the associations,” Sandhu told Zee News. “They are pushed out by those who are less talented but are being backed by men who matter. This can be set right in ICL talent spotting camps.”Meanwhile, Atul Wassan, Delhi’s chairman of selectors, said that losing some of its top players might be a blessing in disguise for the team. “As it is, we struggle to qualify everywhere. If two-three stars go, we might as well lose with youngsters,” said Wassan. He admitted however that if the team lost youngsters it would hurt it badly.

Scorecard

Dwayne Smith and Corey Collymore were the heroes for Barbados as they beat Leeward Islands by 17 runs to register their third win in four matches in the KFC Cup.Smith, who has been included in the West Indian squad for the tour to Australia, made 75, easily the highest score for their side, to help Barbados to 229 at the Police Sports Cub Ground. Collymore then stole the show with a superb bowling performance, taking 5 for 27 from ten over to endure that Leeward Islands fell short despite two fine batting performances from Sylvester Joseph, who made 73, and Omari Banks, who remained undefeated on 55.Smith spanked eight fours and four sixes in his knock, which came off just 65 balls, an was involved in an excellent 99-run stand for the third wicket with Floyd Reifer, who made 25. However, Barbados lost their way momentarily after the pair was separated and slid to 143 to 6, before Alcindo Holder (31), Courtney Browne (25) and Ian Bradshaw (19 not out) chipped in with handy contributions towards the end of the innings.Leewards struggled at the start of their run-chase, collapsing to 27 for 4 before Joseph and Tonito Willett put the innings back on track with an 88-run stand for the fifth wicket. Once that partnership was broken, the innings crumbled again, and at 139 for 8, Leewards were staring at a huge defeat. However, Banks revived their hopes, adding 47 for the ninth wicket with Gavin Tonge, but it wasn’t enough to stave off defeat.The loss was the first one for Leewards in the competition, but at 11 points, they are third in the table, and are almost certain to make it to the semi-finals.