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Andy Moles is on the final four-man shortlist for the job of Scotland coach. It is believed that Cricket Scotland received 20 applications and Moles and Omar Henry are the two favourites to land the post.Cricinfo exclusively reported in November that Moles was looking to leave Kenya, frustrated by infighting and underfunding, and despite categorical denials at the time by the Kenyan Cricket Association, his interest in the Scotland role shows that he is indeed searching for new challenges.Sharad Ghai, the KCA chairman, was clearly caught on the hop when told the news. “As far as we are concerned, Moles is still our coach," he told the Nation yesterday. "He is currently on holiday and is scheduled to return next month. But if he decides to take up the job, we can’t stop him."Henry has strong links with Scotland, having played for them, and was recently removed as South Africa’s chief selector, so having the time to devote to the role. It is also being reported in Scotland that Gary Kirsten and Jonty Rhodes are among those who have been interviewed.

Sri Lanka take on Zimbabwe in the opening match of the Sharjah Champions Trophy today with skipper Sanath Jayasuriya hoping to make it a hat-trick of wins at the venue.The team won this time last year, when they walloped India in the final, scoring 299 and then bowling out India for just 54, and they defeated Pakistan in the ARY Gold Cup in April, despite looking unconvincing in the qualifying round.”Yes, we have played well in the last couple of tournaments in Sharjah, but then that doesn’t guarantee us another victory,” said Jayasuriya. “We will have to work hard.”Pakistan are tipped as favourites with a full strength side, but may be rusty having barely played any cricket since returning from their tour of England in June. Their one international outing, against Bangladesh in the Asian Test Championship in August, lasted just three days.Pakistan have also changed coaches after Richard Pybus turned down an offer to stay with the team. He has been replaced by the previous A team coach Mudassar Nazar on a short-term contract.Mudassar, who was quoted earlier in the week as saying Pakistan would win the tournament, claims his team is “hungry for success, as ever. The boys kept themselves in good nick by playing on the domestic circuit.”Captain Waqar Younis added: “Both Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe are very good sides, but I think the Lankans will be the one to beat.”Zimbabwe are clear outsiders after five straight losses against an inexperienced England side left them with 12 consecutive defeats. The recentnews that Heath Streak has stepped down as captain only adds to their woes.Streak has been replaced by 24-year-old leg-spinner Brian Murphy, a relativenovice at international level and a surprise choice as captain.He is joined by new coach Geoff Marsh, the former Australian coach and openingbatsman, who succeeds Carl Rackemann. Murphy, trying to inject some optimism, said: “The strongest point of the team is its willingness to work hard. All of them are keen to sweat it out and want to be a tough side to beat.”As usual, Zimbabwe will rely heavily on Andy Flower’s batting, particularlysince the out-of-form Alistair Campbell has been dropped. Sri Lanka take on Zimbabwe in the first game on Friday and each side will play each other twice before the final on 4 November.

June 7th has been the date on the lips of every politician in this country.In the years to come, Darren Thomas will have other reasons forremembering June 7th, 2001.In the morning session of the Championship match at Chelmsford, Darren Thomascreated a piece of cricketing history for himself by making the highest everscore by a Glamorgan number eight.Yesterday, Thomas scored his maiden first-class century, hitting 119*and shared in a 7th wicket stand of 163 with fellow centurion AdrianDale. This morning, he subsequently extended his overnight score to 138,and past the previous best by a Glamorgan number eight – Malcolm Nash`s 130,scored in the opening match of the 1976 season against Surrey at The Oval.There were certain parallels between both of these innings. Thomas came tothe crease yesterday with Glamorgan lurching at 128-6, whilst Nash started hisinnings in 1976 with The Oval scoreboard reading 65-6. Nash then shared ina stand of 171 for the 7th wicket with Mike Llewellyn, with Nash mauling theSurrey attack by hitting two sixes and seventeen fours.Thomas was equally aggressive, with nineteen fours and a six in his career best score. But there the comparisons end, as the 1976 match finished in a draw,with Glamorgan`s last pair stoutly defending the last 21 balls on the finalafternoon to draw the game.Thomas` career best 138 may prove to be a match winning innings, asGlamorgan made 370 in their first innings. By tea on the second day,Essex were already following on after being dismissed for 193 withDarren Thomas taking four wickets.This is the third year running that a Glamorgan player has established a recordscore for a batting position, and as the table below shows, in the past two years it has been Steve James who has rewritten the record books, with the highest scores at number one and two in the order:

HIGHEST SCORES FOR EACH POSITION IN THE BATTING ORDER BY GLAMORGAN1 259 S.P.James v Nottinghamshire Colwyn Bay, 19992 309* S.P.James v Sussex Colwyn Bay, 20003 223 A.R.Lewis v Kent Gravesend, 19664 243 M.P.Maynard v Hampshire Southampton, 19915 280* R.G.Duckfield v Surrey The Oval, 19366 165* D.Davies v Sussex Eastbourne, 19287 151* C.C.Smart v Sussex Hastings, 19358 138 S.D.Thomas v Essex Chelmsford, 20019 124* M.A.Nash v Leicestershire Swansea, 197810 101* J.C.Clay v Worcestershire Swansea, 192911 73 S.A.B.Daniels v Gloucestershire Swansea, 1982

To say that the young cricketers on the Barbados Under-13 cricket teamare delighted to be heading of to England today would be a hugeunderstatement.The 25 youngsters are "on top of the world" in anticipation of thetour, which features 18 matches in a packed itinerary from August 12to September 1.The party has swelled to 40 – with family members, well-wishers andadministrators joining the players and team officials on the trip.Herein lies the future of Barbados’ cricket, said tour manager andveteran sports administrator Adrian Donovan."Cricket in Barbados was on the way down and we realised something hadto be done about it," said the senior administrator of the NationalSports Council.He said the format and idea for such a team came two years ago at apresentation ceremony of the Herman Griffith Primary Schools’Competition.The tour in many ways is a tribute to former Barbados and West Indiesfast bowling great Malcolm Marshall.Former West Indies batting greats Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes,former teammates and close friends of "Maco", were roped into theprogramme when they returned from overseas to work with the Gems ofBarbados Project.Joel Garner, the former pace partner of Marshall, is also workingclosely with the juniors and will accompany them."We felt when Gordon and Desmond came back they were the idealpersons. They readily came aboard and have been of great help,"Donovan said.He also hailed the efforts of coaches Thelston Payne, Milton Small,George Linton and Richard Straker, who all played with Marshall forBarbados."Exposure is the main goal, also the opportunity to play underdifferent conditions," said Donovan."These lads are seen as the most talented crop of cricketers for awhile."They were harnessed from very early and they are showing attributesof dynamism – eating, sleeping and drinking cricket."They are students of the game, a lot like Marshall was. They arereally studying their art," he added."It’s not only about cricket either. It is also about maintaininggrades in school, and this group has been doing well. Here we have awonderful mix between academics and sports."The manager added that the trip is costing over $120 000 and hepraised the efforts of parents, and thanked corporate Barbados fortheir support.It was 13 years ago when Marshall took a record 35 wickets in fiveTests in England at the amazing average of 12.65 per wicket.If we look ahead another 13 years it would be unrealistic to expectall the young players embarking on this tour to emerge as West IndiesTest cricketers of the future.But somewhere in there, a young Marshall is waiting for his chance toblossom in what is turning out to be a sunny, Caribbean-style summerin England.That would surely make "Maco" smile from beyond the grave.

It was Pakistan’s day right through. Batting the whole day and piling up a gigantic total of 546 for the loss of only 3 wickets was a fantastic performance. Four out of the five centuries were scored during the day and gave it a historical dimension. The Bangladesh bowlers and fielders toiled hard in the heat without any gains. Then Bangladesh lost 3 wickets for 55 and do not look to have a chance to survive the 3rd day.Pakistan batsmen gave such a superb display of batting that it was really difficult to single out one from the other. All the centurions, Saeed Anwar (101), Taufeeq Umar (104), Inzamam ul Haq (105*), Abdur Razzaq (110*) and Yousuf Youhana (102*) batted with such flourish that the Bangladesh bowlers and fielders looked totally ineffective. The batsmen made no mistakes, and took no chances and literally punished the bowlers around the ground.Out of all the century makers, it was an auspicious occasion for young Taufeeq Umar who achieved the distinction of becoming Pakistan’s 8th batsman to score a century on test debut. The only casualty of the day, Taufeeq, returned to the pavilion with glory and off course no regrets. Inzamam retired hurt (dehydration) but with a grand century in his bag in his home town.The Bangladesh bowling whether pace or spin made no impact on the batsmen. The bowlers were punished right, left and centre with a flurry of shots to the boundary as well as over the fence. A stage came when Yousuf Youhana and Abdur Razzaq achieved such mastery over the bowling that they were engaged in a race as to who would score his century first.At tea Pakistan was 492 for 3 with lots of speculation whether the skipper would declare or provide a chance to the two players to complete their centuries. Waqar chose the latter course to encourage the players and the race continued and both Youhana and Razzaq completed their centuries, bringing the team’s achievement into the record books.Certainly good experience for the Bangladesh bowling but they were unable to break the partnership. Pakistan declared at 543 for 3, enjoying a 1st innings lead of 412, a deficit considered impossible for the visitors to meet.Bangladesh started their 2nd innings to face 19 remaining overs but could muster no tangible strength to face the Pakistan bowlers. They lost 3 wickets for only 55 runs on the board. Even Pakistan’s young bowlers like Danish Kaneria and Shoaib Malik proving too good for them. The visitors do not appear to have a chance to survive beyond the 3rd day and an innings defeat is staring at them.

Young South Australian paceman Paul Rofe pushed himself to the brink of exhaustion in near-40 degree temperatures to claim seven second innings wickets and lead the Redbacks to an outright Pura Cup win over NSW today.SA dismissed the Blues for 247 in the second innings to win by 67 runs, with man of the match Rofe taking a career-best 7-52 in 20 overs to give him 13 wickets for the match.He took his previous best figures of 6-60 in the first innings.It was the first ten-wicket Pura Cup match haul for Rofe, who turned 21 on the first day of the game, and gave him 34 wickets for the season, the most of any player in the competition at an average of 18.2.Rofe said he had pushed himself to his physical limits in the searing heat before claiming the final wicket of Stuart Clark.”It was hot, I’m tired, I was hoping I’d get that wicket because there wasn’t much left in the tank,” he said.”I was in tears when I came off.”Starting the day at 0-10 and needing 315 to win, NSW lost five wickets in the morning session, Rofe picking up the first three, including the scalp of the sadly out-of-form Michael Slater, who was caught behind bottom-edging an attempted pull shot for a duck.Mark Higgs (67) and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin (47) revived the Blues’ chances in the second session with a 104-run partnership in 103 minutes to carry NSW to5-200, 115 short of victory. The pair took 35 runs from a seven-over spell from leg-spinner Peter McIntyre.But Rofe replaced McIntyre to take the vital wicket of Haddin, his 10th for the match, then dismissed Don Nash in his next over to leave NSW struggling at 7-218at tea.Rofe had Higgs caught behind soon after tea to virtually end the Blues’ chances, and after a brilliant Mike Smith caught and bowled ended Stuart MacGill’s innings, Rofe fittingly claimed the final wicket of Clark.SA cricket manager Greg Chappell said Rofe’s performance was remarkable, particularly on the Adelaide Oval pitch – traditionally known as a fast bowlers’graveyard.”He bowls the right line and length and it doesn’t matter what the conditions are if you do that, he’s a remarkable young man,” Chappell said.Chappell said Rofe was a future Test prospect.”I have no doubt he has the potential but there are plenty of people that have burst onto the scene and faded away just as quickly,” he said.”But he is level-headed and I don’t think he’ll have that problem, if he keeps doing what he’s doing he’ll keep having success and he’ll be noticed.”Paul’s not only an outstanding performer but he has the potential to be a leader and all those sorts of things, it’s pleasing to see someone like that come through and take their opportunity.”

Hemang Badani, the stylish left-hander from Tamil Nadu has come a longway since he started off as a medium pacer in the under-12competitions a decade ago. During his teens, one would have been hardpressed to call him a batsman since he hardly contributed with thebat. There was a stage at the junior level where he suffered from anidentity crisis in the sense that he belonged to no particularcategory. It was not until he came into the under-19 level did hediscover his potential as a batsman. Incidentally Anil Kumble startedas a medium pacer and Dravid began as a keeper but later on in theircareers they have reached their pinnacle in different departmentsaltogether.Badani made a scintillating hundred for Rest of India under-19 andthis earned him a slot in the India under-19 side. He scored twocenturies against the South African under-19 team which wasspearheaded by Hayward and Ntini. It was in this series that hedisplayed the rare ability of playing the faster bowlers with a lot oftime to spare. Madan Lal the then junior coach was vociferous thatBadani should be picked in the senior team. But still Badani had toprove himself at the senior level in order to convince the fraternity.In my opinion the transformation from junior level to senior level isthe most important phase in a cricketer’s career. Quite oftencricketers tend to lose their way and Badani also lost his way a bit.In his first two seasons in the Ranji Trophy, he hardly did anythingof note and doubts started creeping into the minds of Badani and alsohis mentors. It was during this phase of his career that he startedplaying for the same club that I did and this gave me an opportunityto help him with his game. One of the significant mistakes he wascommitting then was that he did not watch the ball right from the timethe ball was released and until he made contact. He watched the ballonly either in flight or after it pitched. As a result, his judgementof line and length was faulty and this resulted in poor shotselection. His willingness to learn came to the fore and he rectifiedthis flaw in a jiffy.The biggest turning point in his career came when he got a big hundredagainst Mumbai in the semi-final in the 1999-2000 season. That knockalone was responsible for bringing him into the Indian team. If I waspleasantly surprised about one thing in the case of Badani, it was thematurity that he showed when he played in the one-dayers. It wasreally astonishing to see Badani change temperamentally for the betterin a short span of time. Today he has made a mark for himself but hewould do better if he stops walking into the line of the ball, whichmakes him play across the line off fuller length deliveries. Thismovement is more pronounced early on in his innings which makes him anideal candidate to be trapped in front of the wicket. It will berelevant to mention here that his rightful place is in the middleorder and one hopes the team management will stop considering him forthe opener’s job.

An unbeaten century by Mukund Parmar helped Gujarat draw withMaharashtra in the West Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Shri ShivajiStadium, Karad on Tuesday.Gujarat ended up on 324 for five in 110.1 overs. Resuming on 73 fortwo, Niraj Patel (58) and Tejas Varsani (64) made patient halfcenturies in the second innings. But the star of the day was MukundParmar, who scored 102 off 229 deliveries, including 14 hits to thefence. Parmar and Pathik Patel (52 not out) put on an unbeaten 83-runpartnership for the sixth wicket. Iqbal Siddiqui bagged two wicketsfor 53 runs.Maharashtra earned five points on their first innings lead, andGujarat picked up three.

Middlesex bowled well to reduce Gloucestershire to 157 for 7 in 82overs with Phil Tufnell taking 3 for 16 and Angus Fraser 2 for 43.Only opener Dominic Hewson (43) and wicket keeper Reggie Williams (30not out) put on a decent score. Earlier Middlesex made a disappointing207 after being 151 for 5 overnight. Middlesex got a bonus battingpoint thanks to Richard Johnson’s quickfire 31. Martyn Ball took 3 for31 for Gloucestershire.Gloucestershire’s reply started off very badly when they lost TimHancock their opener for a duck to Fraser, then lost Hewson, Windowsand Mark Alleyne to Tufnell and were at one stage 83 for 5. But theGloucestershire lower order hung on grimly to keep the match even.

The early signs of who will replace Jagmohan Dalmiya as BCCI president point to someone from within the East Zone, which has first right to pick a candidate. Since it is the East Zone’s turn to nominate the next president, as Dalmiya died while serving his term, a majority of its six members – comprising Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tripura and the Kolkata-based National Cricket Club – believes that a candidate of their own, rather than one from outside, should fill the vacancy.Four of the six East Zone members ESPNcricinfo spoke with, however, asserted that it was too premature to sit together and decide on a candidate, and wanted the BCCI to first call the Special General Meeting to pick an interim president. The BCCI’s Memorandum and Rules and Regulations stipulate that the notice to hold the SGM needs to be sent by October 5 with a 21-day notice.

Ganguly meets West Bengal chief minister

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday amid speculation that he may take over as the Cricket Association of Bengal president to succeed Jagmohan Dalmiya. Currently the joint secretary of the CAB, Ganguly arrived to meet Banerjee with Dalmiya’s son Avishek.
“To discuss something like this [three days after his death] is not right,” Ganguly said. “Speculation will be on, someone will run CAB. It’s too early to comment because it has just been three days… It’s very early to say.”

As for who can stand for election, the rules say presidential candidates should have attended at least two AGMs and been an office bearer (president, secretary, treasurer, joint secretary) or vice-president. That makes Arindam Ganguly and Gautam Roy (Assam), Chitrak Mitra, Gautam Dasgupta, KP Kajaria (Bengal), and Amitabh Choudhary (Jharkhand) top of the long list of eligible candidates to replace Dalmiya.Choudhary, currently the BCCI joint secretary, acknowledged his desire to stand for election, but also took care to say he was willing to support any other member from the East. “It is in keeping with the philosophy behind the provision in the [BCCI] constitution,” Choudhary said.A senior official at the Cricket Association of Bengal, where Dalmiya was the president, said it was too early to finalise a name. “But this is the East Zone’s term so it will not be good if somebody [from outside the zone] is hijacking that. I would prefer a person from the East naturally, doesn’t matter who.” Asked if Choudhary could emerge as front runner, the CAB official said there were “question marks” about such a decision, but he would keep an open mind.The CAB and the NCC (another club where Dalmiya was the president) are two important votes that could tilt the balance not just for an East Zone nominee, but even for an outsider wanting to throw his hat in the ring. The CAB official pointed out that according to the constitution an election for the president’s post has to be convened within 60 days preceded by an SGM. The date for the SGM and road map for the election, he said, would be chalked out after the condolence meeting for Dalmiya, which is likely to take place next week.The official said he would also consult Dalmiya’s son Avishek about whether his father had suggested any names that were eligible to lead CAB and the NCC. According to the official, Dalmiya’s word always meant the last word and that would not change even after his death and the reason Avishek was being kept in the loop was because he had been working closely with Dalmiya after he became the BCCI president in March 2015.