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Makhaya Ntini, whose 20 wickets earned him the Man-of-the-Series award in the three-Test series against New Zealand, admitted that spearheading the bowling attack was special. With Shaun Pollock performing a back-up role and Dale Steyn relatively new to Test cricket, Ntini said that his role had taken a new dimension.”For me as a frontliner I’ve been given the opportunity with the new ball to lead upfront,” he told reporters after South Africa’s four-wicket win at Johannesburg. “It has been one of the things that has given me motivation to show a youngster like Dale Steyn how it’s done when you are given an opportunity.” He added, however, that going wicketless in New Zealand’s second innings was a disappointment: “It wasn’t my aim to finish that way. I was looking forward to getting another 10-for at the Wanderers. Things didn’t go my way, but I’ll take all of that in a positive light, and not worry about it. I’m very happy, but it’s not a position I wanted to finish in.”Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, acknowledged Ntini and Steyn for their role in suffocating his batsmen throughout the series. “I thought Makhaya and Dale were superb…I think the difference between us was about 10 kms of pace, ” Fleming reflected. “They really bowled well and made us work very hard from ball one. That extra bit of pace on some of the wickets – especially the first Test [at Centurion] – made a big difference.”Fleming singled out certain moments in the Test that he thought were key. “Once again we had chances but South Africa won the crucial stages…I thought we did well after losing an important toss,” he said. “Conditions were very tough to bat in but we pulled the game around to give ourselves a chance. Another 30-40 runs would have been nice [in the second innings of 283] but the way we started with the ball today dented any chances we had. We came here to win the series, and we weren’t able to do that.”Graeme Smith, Fleming’s opposite number and Man of the Match for his twin fifties, was relieved to end a difficult summer on a high note. “It was nice to bounce back [from Australia] and perform as we have,” he said. “We are battle hardened after Australia and we had the key performers under pressure. We’ve been calm under pressure. We didn’t have confidence against Australia but here we’ve had the confidence to make the difference.””I love winning Tests,” he added. “It’s also nice to win a series again. I think a 2-0 victory is pretty convincing and we’re very proud of a lot that has gone on in this Test series.

The Indian selectors have called up Subramaniam Badrinath, the Tamil Nadu batsman, to the ODI squad as replacement for Gautam Gambhir, who suffered an injury at the nets on Sunday.The board secretary, Niranjan Shah, said Gambhir slipped while batting in the nets and sustained a right groin muscle strain, which, while not serious, is expected to rule him out of action for the next two weeks. Badrinath has not been told how long he will be with the side, but only that he was replacing Gambhir. “I saw in the news that he is out for two weeks, so I presuming I will be there for the next three ODIs,” Badrinath told Cricinfo in Rajkot, where he is representing Rest of India in the Irani Trophy match. The current squad is till the next ODI, on Thursday, and a fresh side will be named for the last two games.To Badrinath the news didn’t really come as a surprise. He has been one of the most consistent batsmen on the domestic circuit for the last two seasons and especially prolific with the India A team over the last three months. He averaged 70.66 in 2005-06 when he was the second-highest run-getter in Ranji, 92 in 2006, 55.91 in 2006-07, and in the current season he has got out only twice and has scored 687 runs. His double-century against South Africa A was an effortless knock, and he also starred in the one-run win over the South Africans last week in the only unofficial ODI of the series that was completed, scoring 88 off 89 balls and taking 4 for 43. Badrinath said he has not been putting pressure on himself by thinking about the selection, despite the prolific run. “It’s tough to be expecting selection every time and you don’t make it to the team. So I’d say it has come at the right time.”Badrinath, 27, had emerged as a compact batsman – a grafter, but has expanded his repertoire of strokes with age. “I have worked really hard on my shots,” said Badrinath. “I have worked on getting stronger, so that I can play the big shots and clear the field, which is a good thing for even Tests.”There was also some speculation over Sachin Tendulkar’s fitness – he did not take the field for Australia’s innings after scoring 79 – but John Gloster, the physio, said he had a mild knee strain that would be assessed in the morning. “He has a little strain and that’s why he did not field today, ” Lalchand Rajput, the team manager, told . “It’s not serious and I guess he would be okay by tomorrow. It’s too trivial a niggle to make him doubtful for the next match.”

A bumper performance in the recently-concluded Bangladesh Premier League helped uncapped left-arm seamer Abu Hider earn his maiden call-up to a preliminary Bangladesh squad for a proposed T20 series against Zimbabwe in mid-January, February’s Asia Cup T20 in and the World T20 in March.Hider took 21 wickets from 12 matches, one short of equalling the top-wicket taker in BPL, at an average of 15.04 and economy rate of 6.91. Batsman Mosaddek Hossain, left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib and wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan are the other uncapped players in a squad of 30, who will meet for a training camp that begins on January 3.

Bangladesh’s preliminary squad

Tamim Iqbal, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Mashrafe Mortaza, Imrul Kayes, Mustafizur Rahman, Jahurul Islam, Abu Hider, Liton Das, Al-Amin Hossain, Anamul Haque, Shafiul Islam, Mossadek Hossain, Mohammad Shahid, Mohammad Mithun, Abul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Taskin Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Mahmudullah, Arafat Sunny, Nasir Hossain, Saqlain Sajib, Nurul Hasan, Sohag Gazi, Shuvagata Hom

Pacemen Shafiul Islam, Mohammad Shahid, Abul Hasan and Taskin Ahmed, batsmen Mohammad Mithun and Jahurul Islam and spinner Shuvagata Hom have also been included despite not playing T20s for Bangladesh in their last assignment, against Zimbabwe in November.The chief selector Faruque Ahmed said they had to keep fast bowler Rubel Hossain out of the preliminary squad due to his calf injury and added they don’t have opening batsman Rony Talukdar and legspinner Jubair Hossain in their immediate plans.The BCB are still working on plans to have a three or five-match T20 series against Zimbabwe, ahead of the Asia Cup and World T20.

The arbitration panel in the ongoing saga between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) has told the board to hand over the documents to help it decide on the contracts row.Sir David Simmons, the chairman of the panel, has given the WICB up to 10.30am today (Tuesday) to submit its case and supporting documents.”If this time frame is not kept, the panel may have to consider proceeding to determine the issue on such documents as it has at the time,” Simmons said.Those comments cast doubt on assertions made last week by Bruce Aanensen, the new WICB secretary, who claimed all documentation had been submitted six days ago.

First Division

Yorkshire completed a comprehensive innings-and-27-run victory against Hampshire at Headingley as the visitors were bowled out for 212 in their second innings. Only Michael Brown offered any real resistance before he fell to Ajmal Shahzad for 81. Five bowlers took two wickets each, including Matthew Hoggard who finished with eight scalps in the match to push his claims for an England recall.Lancashire and Somerset played out a quiet draw at Old Trafford after the third day’s play was abandoned. Lancashire declared on their overnight 221 for 9, but there was never any serious chance of a final-day contest. Justin Langer made 76 and Ian Blackwell (58) struck his second half-century of the match. Glen Chapple collected four wickets while Brad Hodge, in his final action before heading to the IPL, grabbed two late wickets as the match drifted to a finish.Martin van Jaarsveld guided Kent to a draw against Sussex at Hove after being left a target of 337. He and James Tredwell added 93 for the second wicket to nullify the threat from Mushtaq Ahmed, who only collected a further two wickets to add to his first-innings five-wicket haul. van Jaarsveld’s unbeaten 82 came off 148 balls as he bounced back from his golden duck on the second day. Sussex’s last three wickets had fallen for eight runs in the morning session as Azhar Mahmood finished with 5 for 30, but in the end the time lost to rain proved crucial.Steve Harmison picked up two wickets in Surrey’s second innings after Durham set them a target of 270 in 53 overs at Chester-le-Street. Bad light cut into the final session although Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher were guiding Surrey to a draw. Dale Benkenstein (63) and Phil Mustard (53) added 114 as bat dominated for a rare extended period. Saqlain Mushtaq hastened Benkenstein’s declaration by claiming 6 for 50.

Second Division

A captain’s innings from Darren Maddy, who made 130, and some valuable contributions from the lower order carried Warwickshire to a thrilling two-wicket win against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road. Set a stiff 383 off a minimum 82 overs, Maddy built a solid platform alongside Ian Bell (62) who stroked 11 boundaries in his 74-ball innings. For the second time in the match Bell fell to Nicky Boje, but Maddy – whose century came off 141 balls – added a further 103 with Jonathan Trott. Monty Panesar then claimed his first two wickets of the match to remove both Maddy and Trott and bring Northamptonshire back into the contest. Warwickshire kept going for the target and wickets kept falling to set up the tight finish where Ian Salisbury’s nine-ball 20 lifted his new county over the winning line. It completed a significant turnaround by Warwickshire, who were struggling to avoid the follow-on during the second day until Salisbury bailed them out with an unbeaten half-century. Despite just two wickets in the match, Salisbury has already made his mark.Mark Pettini is a young captain who is still learning the ropes, but he will be regretting the decision to leave Derbyshire an attractive target of 265 from 66 overs at Derby as the home side eased home by four wickets to hand Essex their first defeat of the season. The first sight of declaration bowling, as Essex gave up 234 runs in 31 overs, set up the final afternoon. Steve Stubbings set the innings rolling with 57 off 81 balls before a mini stumble as three wickets fell for 30. Rikki Clarke played positively for his 37, but when Chris Rogers fell for 77 the match still needed closing out. Jamie Pipe (37 off 24 balls) and Graham Wagg (25 off 18) mixed calm heads with the necessary big shots to seal a surprising result.Ed Joyce spent valuable time in the middle as he made 86 while Middlesex batted out the final day for a tame draw against Glamorgan at Lord’s in a match also effected by the weather. So early in the season it was unlikely the captains would make a game of it, so there was a sedate feel to proceedings throughout. Andrew Strauss was caught down the leg side for 49 one ball after being dropped. Joyce batted nicely until he was given out off former team-mate Jamie Dalrymple and he was clearly unhappy as he made his way slowly off the ground. David Nash (63 not out) picked off some easy runs against the spinners during the final session.The game at New Road between Worcestershire and Leicestershire also ended in stalemate. Worcestershire left a notional target of 282 in 37 overs and the game was called off after 18 overs of the chase. However, the most important aspect was that this was a return of cricket to Worcester after last year’s floods. In that sense it was apt that rain played a significant part in the game.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outPakistan began their preparations for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in spectacular fashion by beating Uganda by 148 runs in the first match of the Twenty20 Quadrangular in Nairobi. Shahid Afridi’s blistering 57 off 15 balls propelled Pakistan to 226, a target that proved too great for Uganda as they were restricted to 78 for 7.Afridi hit seven sixes and three fours and helped blast 82 runs off only 26 deliveries with Salman Butt for the fourth wicket as Shoaib Malik’s decision to bat first paid dividends. Though Pakistan lost Imran Nazir in the first over, Butt and Kamran Akmal, who was promoted up the order, kept the run-rate at around nine per over as they raced to fifty in the fifth over. They added 70 before Akmal was bowled for 31.Younis Khan, returning to the Pakistan side for the first time since the World Cup, added 67 with Butt as the two struck fours and sixes in every over. The arrival of Afridi at the crease plunged the already demoralised Ugandan bowlers into despair. Emmanuel Isaneez went for 34 runs in one over as Afridi clouted him for five sixes and a four. Uganda’s situation was made worse when Lawrence Sematimba dropped Butt on 55. Joel Olwenyi, a right-arm medium-fast bowler, managed the best economy-rate of 8.50.Pakistan’s bowlers, however, were unable to bowl out Uganda despite having pinned them down at 46 for 5 after 12 overs. Umar Gul was their best bowler with 2 for 10 off three overs and only three out of eight Uganda batsmen reached double figures. Raymond Otim top scored with an unbeaten 27 off 29 balls.Uganda face Kenya while Pakistan meet Bangladesh on Sunday.

Scotland have received a cash injection of £317,000 from Sportscotland, the national agency for sport, to help with coaching, youth cricket and club development.”Cricket in Scotland continues to progress in all areas,” Roddy Smith, Cricket Scotland’s chief executive, said. “The support of Sportscotland is invaluable in assisting us to put the structures and programmes in place to drive our game forward.”Patricia Ferguson, the Sports Minister, announced the funding – of which £144,000 comes from the National Lottery – at an Easter cricket academy in Edinburgh”Cricket has a long history in Scotland and this investment will help to ensure the sport has a bright future,” she said. “Funding will help to develop the youth game and support clubs as they promote cricket at a local level as well as providing a boost for the Scottish team as they prepare for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.”Scotland were due to face Australia during their tour of England last year but, rather predictably, rain washed out the day. They will hope for a better forecast when they face Pakistan in a one-dayer this year on June 27 at Edinburgh.

According to Tapan Chowdhury, Bangladesh’s Sports Advisor, the national cricket board will be restructured once a new chairman is named. Recent reports indicated that the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB’s) next president, whose identity is yet to be confirmed, will be announced upon his arrival in the capital next week.In regards to these reports, former BCB general secretary Syed Ashraful Haq told ,”It is no magic figure, but the number of members would be between nine to 13. I have asked him to keep it to around ten, as it is with the International Cricket Council or Asian Cricket Council but it is up to him.”He did not comment on who the new BCB boss would be.Haq, also the ACC chief executive, recently came to Dhaka for a meeting with Chowdhury. “We only talked about cricket. I told him about my ideas and how I see the board evolving into a more professional and a lot more accountable body,” he said. “There should be people who will not be holding honorary posts rather there should be people who will be paid for their job. That is what we basically talked about.”According to Haq, Chowdhury preferred 12 to 13 members on the new committee. “I did not discuss any names with him but whoever they are, must have cricketing background, both internationally as well as in the domestic front,” he said. “I gave him my views on how it should be structured, to be more specific. It should be structured like it is in a big cricket organisation so that we can compete with them in that regard too.”Haq believed the BCB should operate around a business plan, with an executive board, but felt that it also needed to have representatives from not just Dhaka, but exterior cities and towns, such as Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet.He was also critical of the current board’s handling of domestic cricket.”In the next few years, the BCB will receive an astronomical amount of money from the ICC so it would not be wise for someone with an honorary post to handle that much because that person would not have any accountability,” he said. “A general secretary cannot exist when there is a CEO. But here, the CEO should be someone with some cricketing knowledge because he represents Bangladesh in the important ICC meetings. But for that matter, if you keep both, then I don’t think it makes any sense.”

Imran Khan, the former Pakistani captain, lashed out at the team management for shabbily treating Younis Khan ahead of the Champions Trophy in India.”If anyone had treated me as shabbily as they have Younis, I would certainly have punched a member of the team’s think-tank,” Imran wrote in his column in the . “While I certainly don’t condone his behaviour, the Pakistani team management certainly had it coming.”Younis stepped down as captain apparently over the team selection, saying he was not a “dummy skipper”. He was reinstated just a few days before the team’s departure.”He [Younis Khan] is the most selfless and accommodating cricketer to play for Pakistan, and has been shunted around for the last four years,” said Imran. “He has been so shabbily treated since his debut that it almost seems like there is a conspiracy against him.”Imran said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the team management should have involved Younis in the selection process.”In cricket, the captain always bears the brunt of a failed campaign, and it is patently unfair to Younis that he was handed over a team and told to lead it,” said Imran, captain of the 1992 World Cup-winning squad. “The management and the PCB knew that Inzamam would be banned, so they should have involved Younis in the selection process. The board has been functioning in the most arbitrary manner possible since 1999.”Imran said the Pakistani team were capable of doing well in the Champions Trophy despite Inzamam’s absence. “The only setback for Pakistan is the absence of Inzamam the batsman. He is still a positive, solid and important figure in the line-up.”Pakistan cricket has always done well despite the system and not because of it. The system sucks, but Younis Khan’s team might still do well in the Champions Trophy.”Pakistan play their first match in Jaipur on October 17 against the winners of Sri Lanka-West Indies game. The other teams in their group are South Africa and New Zealand.

Noel Cantwell, who won fame as captain of Manchester United in the 1960s, has died at the age of 72.Cantwell led United to the FA Cup in 1963 and the league championship in 1966-67, and also played 36 times for the Republic of Ireland, scoring 14 goals. Signed by Matt Busby from West Ham for £29,500 ( a record at the time for a full back), he was touted as a possible successor to Busby, but his first managerial job was at Coventry and a highly successful tenure at Peterborough followed. Cantwell then headed west to take charge of the New England Teamen in the USA, although he finished back at Peterborough.Cantwell was also a good cricketer, playing five times for Ireland as a middle-order batsman between 1956 and 1959. His one first-class appearance was for them against Scotland at Edinburgh in 1956 when he scored 31 and 17*.