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ScorecardSind scored at nearly five and a half an over in their second innings, but they could manage only 247 for 4 chasing 367 in the fourth innings in Karachi. Sind, though, take three points from the game, by virtue of having taken the first-innings lead.Overnight at 275 for 1, Federal Areas extended their lead on the fourth day, piling up 411 for 3, a lead of 366. They faced 36 overs before declaring, setting an improbable target for Sind. Umar Amin, who resumed on 101, was caught behind for 115 off Tanvir Ahmed and Bazid Khan failed to convert his 66 not out into a century – he was dismissed for 91, the third catch of the innings for keeper Sarfraz Ahmed. Naved Ashraf scored an unbeaten 54 while opener Umair Khan, who retired hurt on 26 on the third day, returned to finish on 64.Opener Khalid Latif helped himself to an quick 123, but the rest of the top four didn’t make it past 20 in Sind’s chase. Latif’s 123 needed just 143 balls, with 14 fours and two sixes. Shahid Afridi, his captain, was in his trademark hurry to score: his 59 came off 36 deliveries, with six fours and two sixes. The quick runs, though, were unable to push Sind towards victory.

ScorecardA career-best 6 for 90 from Nathan McCullum, the offspinning allrounder, helped New Zealand A take firm control of the opening day of the first Test against India A in Chennai. India chose to bat after winning the toss and were bowled out for 248 in 75.4 overs, after which New Zealand’s openers took stumps on 36 for 0.McCullum, the older brother of New Zealand international Brendon, triggered India’s downfall after a promising second-wicket stand of 71 between Shikhar Dhawan (27) and Murali Vijay (45). Both batsmen fell to McCullum in quick succession, and after captain Suresh Raina was bowled by left-arm pacer Trent Boult, McCullum picked up three more wickets to derail India.Jaydev Shah, the vice-captain, and Yusuf Pathan, who took a fancy to the New Zealand attack during the recent one-day series, were forming a good stand but were cut short by McCullum. Pathan (44) went trying to hit McCullum out of the ground, caught at long-on by Boult just before tea. Just after the interval, McCullum dismissed wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha for 25, who had added 54 with Pathan. McCullum went past his previous best of 5 for 28 when he removed last man Sudeep Tyagi. McCullum bowled 30.4 overs unchanged after being brought into the attack in the 16th over.New Zealand’s openers, Aaron Redmond and BJ Watling, began positively in the remaining 12 overs of the day. Watling took a backseat as Redmond hit 31from 41 balls, with four boundaries and a six, struck off legspinner Amit Mishra in the eighth over.

England’s captain, Charlotte Edwards, has won the Women’s Cricketer of the Year award at the ICC Awards ceremony in Dubai.During the voting period Edwards opened the batting in 18 ODIs for England, scoring 492 runs at an average of 54.66. She also took 15 wickets at 19.03 with her more-than-useful leg-spin.In the only Test match she played during the voting period, Edwards scored 94 and 14 not out as England beat Australia by six wickets at Bowral, New South Wales.Edwards, 28, took the award ahead of her England team-mate Claire Taylor, as well as Nicola Browne of New Zealand and Australia’s Lisa Sthalekar.Accepting the award in Dubai from the former India captain, Ravi Shastri, Edwards said: “Winning the Ashes in Australia was the highlight of the year for me. It was a great feeling.”The ICC World Twenty20 is the talk of England at the moment and getting the chance to play in that alongside the guys is great for us. Before that, of course, we have the ICC Women’s World Cup in Australia so it’s a big year ahead for us.”This is a massive night for women’s cricket. It’s a huge honour for me to be involved with a ceremony like this – I’m so glad that the ICC is recognising the women’s game. It’s a big moment for the other girls who have been nominated for this and I am honoured to be included in that short-list, let alone win it.”Women’s cricket has a big year ahead. It’s fantastic for the game and an exciting time to be involved in women’s cricket,” she said.The Women’s Cricketer of the Year Award was one of eight individual prizes given at this year’s ICC Awards. Each of the world’s top 10 teams was given the opportunity to nominate two players, who were then voted on by a 16-person voting academy featuring former players and other experts on the women’s game.The ICC Awards 2008 – presented in association with FICA – are based on the 12 months between August 9, 2007 and August 12, 2008. The ICC Awards ceremony is now in its fifth year and this is the first time it has been staged in Dubai, the home of the International Cricket Council. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006) and Johannesburg (2007).

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Just as one G Smith was frustrating England with a century on Sunday, another one was frustrating New Zealand junior England on the second day of the Under-19 Test at Worcester. The visitors finally closed on 371, Greg Morgan ending with 81, his dismissal bringing up five wickets for Liam Dawson before Greg Smith built a decent response to leave his side on 278 for 5.He was unbeaten on 104 at stumps, his innings coming from 198 balls so far over the course of three hours 20 minutes. The opener Alex Hales made 52 earlier, while wickets were shared around the New Zealand attack.The biggest stand of the day was between Smith and Dawson who had added 98 together when Dawson was run out on 43 to end what had been a useful day for him. New Zealand are well placed, though, with England still trailing by 94 runs.

The BCCI’s National Cricket Academy (NCA) has conducted a camp for 20 bowlers, who were identified with suspect action during the previous domestic season, and has handed over to the players and their state coaches individual reports on areas to focus on before the next season starts this year.The NCA’s expert team that worked with the bowlers included S Venkataraghavan, the former India captain and offspinner, Bharat Arun, the academy’s bowling coach, and Javagal Srinath, the former India fast bowler, according to Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the Indian board.The players and the coaches will return to the NCA before the next domestic season for a follow-up, Shetty said.”During the off-season, a bunch of bowlers from across the country assembled at the NCA to undergo rectification in their bowling action, which was deemed to be suspect. The NCA’s expert team worked individually with the 20 bowlers and each of them has been given a specific report [on areas] that he needs to work on before the domestic season begins,” Shetty said.Most of the bowlers who were identified with suspect actions “were marginal cases, except for one or two,” he said.”Along with the bowlers, their state coaches were present at the camp, too, as they are the ones who look after the boys for most of the year. The coaches, too, needed an understanding of what the experts suggested,” Shetty said.

The damp weather that has enveloped Lord’s for the past week showed no sign of abating on the eve of the first Test, as both England and South Africa were sent scurrying for the indoor nets for the third day in succession. The conditions, however, have done little to dampen the expectations ahead of a series that England’s captain, Michael Vaughan, has described as “nearly up there with the Ashes”. Given England’s modern-day obsession with that precious little urn, praise doesn’t get much higher than that.For the time being, however, this series is far, far bigger than the Ashes, because it is happening right here, and right now. The protagonists include the two longest-serving captains in the world game, both of whom learnt more in the corresponding Lord’s fixture in 2003 than most skippers glean from an entire season of experience. Also featuring will be the most talked-up pace attack since England’s Ashes quartet was dismantled in September 2005, as well as a certain Kevin Pietersen, whose personal fortunes in the coming weeks could single-handedly fill every newspaper from Cape Town to Coventry.And yet, compared with previous series between these two nations, the war of words in the build-up to the Test has been comparatively tame. It’s been a more mature, reflective approach from the two sides, both of whom recognise the challenge that lies ahead, but also the pitfalls of playing to the gallery too much. On a fractious 2004-05 tour, Graeme Smith called Vaughan “queer”, and in 2006, Pietersen called Smith an “absolute muppet” – both are jibes that have caused more grief for the utterers than their intended victims.This time, there’s a clear sense that the two teams intend to let their cricket do the talking. “I’ve matured, Graeme’s matured, and we’re both very experienced captains,” said Vaughan. “We’ll both play it very tough but I hugely respect the job he’s done in difficult circumstances in South Africa. He’s generated a really good team. We’ve had our issues, but they are in the past.”If anything, Smith was even more conciliatory. As he returned Vaughan’s complements with interest, you could almost envisage him tiptoeing around the outfield in this series, exchanging pleasantries with each incoming batsman. “I have a lot of respect for Vaughan tactically,” he said. “He’s done wonderful things with the England team, and generally they are very tough to beat at home, as any team is these days. This tour is a wonderful challenge and something, if we can pull it off, we’ll be very proud of.”Smith is not the same bristling competitor of five years ago – the man who tore into England’s bowlers with 621 runs in his first three innings of the series. He has morphed into a seasoned statesman, a captain with a keener grasp of diplomacy and, one suspects, mindgames. “Generally, I’ve just settled into who Graeme Smith is,” he said. “I think when you’re young you don’t understand how you want to be presented or how you want to go about your work, but I’ve settled down and become a lot calmer, and more experienced tactically wise. At 22, you try to prove to the world and everybody that you can handle this job, and being singleminded was the one reason I could.”Smith spoke of his wish to repair relations that had been “roughed up” over the years, but you sensed that wasn’t just for the sake of being liked. The animosity of his early approach was often counter-productive, because it heightened the desire of his opponents to put one over him. Take Pietersen for example. There’s no question that he is the box-office topic this summer, the one man who stands most squarely between South Africa and their first series win in England since 1965. And yet, Smith could barely be drawn on the subject, preferring instead to lump him as just another wicket that South Africa will need to take en route to victory.

“I sure he’s going to be hugely motivated to perform well, but I’m sure he’ll feel a touch of pressure as well,” said Smith. “He’s become a key batter for England, and he’s put himself in the front line in every series he’s played, in terms of the way he’s gone about it in the media, and on the field. We know he’s a key player, and we’ve spoken a lot about how we are going to attack their different batters and how we’re going to get them out. That’s generally how we’ve focussed on him, so hopefully we’ll execute our gameplans.”It could be a very cunning approach from Smith, who doubtless recalls the deluge of vitriol that greeted Pietersen’s maiden one-day series against South Africa in 2004-05, when he absorbed all the hate and spat it back out in three furious hundreds from six visits to the crease. This time around, South Africa have decided that the silent treatment is the better option – so silent, in fact, that last week Allan Donald decided to nominate Ian Bell, a serial spotlight-avoider, as England’s key performer. Inwardly at least, Pietersen will be bristling to be overlooked in such a manner.Vaughan, however, is confident that whatever emotions Pietersen may be feeling on the eve of battle, he will channel them to optimum effect. “Hopefully he’ll react in the same way he did in South Africa,” said Vaughan. “Kevin’s a wonderful player who seems to like the spotlight and the big occasion. This is a big series and he’s done well against pacy bowling in the past, so we’re looking for him to have a really good series. He looks like he’s got that little glint in his eye to go on and get a big score.”Vaughan’s confidence extended beyond his star batsman. As the rain continued to fall, so England’s faith in their seam and swing attack became ever more justified. Andrew Flintoff may have joined their indoor session with a view to his probable recall for Headingley next week, but for the time being James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad are the men entrusted with ending England’s improbable run of six consecutive Lord’s Tests without victory.”It’s a series I think we can win, we’re on home soil and I think conditions can favour the style of bowlers we have,” said Vaughan. “They do have an abundance of pace, which is nice to have, but I believe we’ve got a set of bowlers who are skilful. Ryan Sidebottom has caused problems for every batsman he’s come across in the last year, Jimmy Anderson got better and better throughout the Test series against New Zealand, and Stuart Broad really bowls well beyond his years.”There’s no out-and-out menace in England’s attack, but the skills that saw off New Zealand will doubtless test a South African line-up that contains only five players with prior experience of English conditions. “It’s a proper Test-match series, and it’s what everyone wants to see,” said Vaughan. “Whenever you play Australia or South Africa, you see a real contest. It’s very good on the eye for the spectator.”

Dave Nosworthy has resigned as coach of Canterbury and will now take charge of South African first-class side Lions. Nosworthy ends a successful stint with the New Zealand domestic side, which included a State Championship title in 2007-08 and victories in the State Shield and the Twenty20 competition in 2005-06.Nosworthy said he enjoyed his assignment with Canterbury and was looking forward to the move to Johannesburg. “My three seasons at Canterbury were an awesome experience and I’ve loved every minute of the process around building the side,” Nosworthy told , adding that the “opportunity to coach a South African first-class side at one of the world’s best Test venues [Wanderers] was too good to turn down.”It’s sad to leave Canterbury and the players I have worked with during my time here. However, I leave with the knowledge that we have accomplished a great deal in terms of building player depth and performance and I believe there is a very bright future ahead for the men in red and black.Lee Germon, Canterbury Cricket’s chief executive, acknowledged Nosworthy’s contribution. “Dave made a significant difference to the side through driving a re-building period that has resulted in the growth of our players and an outstanding last season that saw a young side win the State Championship and make the semifinals of the State Shield,” Germon said.Nosworthy has in the past coached teams in South Africa, where he played first-class cricket for Border and Northern Transvaal. He was also one among several candidates for the post of India coach last year. His stint with the Lions begins in September.

With the employment contracts of current West Indies team manager Ricky Skerritt and team coach Roger Harper expiring in March next year, the West Indies Cricket Board has started to advertise these posts both regionally and internationally.The advertising campaign started on Tuesday with a placement of the recruitment notice on the WICB’s website, www.windiescricket.com."For the next week or so, the recruitment notice will also appear in newspapers throughout the Caribbean and so we are looking forward to a huge response," remarked Roger Brathwaite, acting chief executive officer of the WICB.The closing date for applications for the two posts is Wednesday, January 15.Skerritt and Harper were appointed to their posts just prior to the Cable & Wireless 2000 home series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan.They have been advised that the WICB are advertising the posts and are willing to receive applications for the re-engagement of their services.

“Great minds think alike,” said one wag. “Then how do fools differ?” came the snappy reply. At the Madhavrao Scindia stadium in Rajkot, while Bernard Shaw’s 11 flannelled (albeit in full-colour flannels) fools slugged it out in the middle, more genuine representatives of the legion of fools aimed a water bottle straight at Vasbert Drakes’ knee.The quarry was hit, while yet another identified flying object reportedly narrowly missed substitute fielder Ryan Hinds on the ropes. With India on 200 for one from 27.1 overs, comfortably chasing 301 for victory, the game was abandoned, and India declared winners by the Duckworth/Lewis method.For the third time in as many matches, spectators had overstepped the mark and actually become a part of the action in the most inexcusable manner. “It goes without saying that the BCCI completely condemns this kind of behaviour from crowds. The security of players and officials has always been a prime concern to us,” Honorary Secretary of the BCCI SK Nair told from the Board office in Mumbai.Nair spelt out the various measures the Board has taken to ensure that a reprise of the unfortunate Rajkot events does not affect forthcoming matches. “We’ve instructed staging authorities to work closely with the local police to ensure that spectators entering the ground are frisked properly,” he explained. “They will not be allowed to bring in any objects that can be potentially used as missiles.” This of course means that law-abiding, devoted fans will not be able to tote in their sandwiches and fruit, and that enthusiasts will be forced to leave autograph-books and pens at home. A sorry state of affairs, maybe, but the authorities’ response can be summed up in one word: “Tough.”In an attempt to take action against only those who cause trouble, the BCCI has resorted to upping the ante. “Closed-circuit cameras are going to be installed at strategic points so that we can find out exactly who the culprits are and take immediate action,” said an agitated Nair. “Police have been told to immediately take disruptive elements into custody.”The Board has even gone to the extent of bringing the government into the affair. “We’ve been in touch with the Government of Gujarat to impress upon them the serious nature of the problem. We will leave no stone unturned,” he added.Which is all well and good, and really, a degree in crime-busting is hardly needed to devise these basic methods. But will they be enough? Or does the heart of the problem really lie elsewhere?Niranjan Shah, who held Nair’s post at the BCCI till recently and has been involved in cricket administration at Rajkot for years, has a slightly different – and no less relevant – take on the matter. “If you look at it, the incident in Rajkot was a very minor one. In both Jamshedpur and Nagpur the incidents were more widespread and threatening. It was just the accumulation of the old incidents that caused the problem,” said Shah, speaking to from his Rajkot residence.Minor incident? A player was hit!”If someone was injured or something, I can understand that a team would walk off at the first instance of something like this happening,” Shah explained. “But no system can be foolproof. Whatever we try, a few people will always create trouble. We removed about 2,000 spectators from the premises. Most senior officials from the police force were there and went and spoke to the West Indians. But immediately after they (the policemen) came off the field, the West Indies changed their mind and took the harsh step of refusing to return to the field,” explained Shah.Looking forward, Shah added, “If teams walk off for minor incidents, it will set a very dangerous precedent. Teams also have to be practical about these things.” An alternate vein of logic that can hardly be ignored in these times, when cricket matches are big business.It is a dangerous lane to walk down, but one that Shah has been forced to tread as one of the key people responsible for organising cricket at Rajkot. “What is the administration to do in that case? How will they answer to the sponsors? Or to the 50,000 spectators gathered at the ground?” he asked.”If you think about it, why is it that the West Indians came back onto the field at Jamshedpur? In Rajkot they knew that they had lost the game, so they simply walked away,” Shah suggested. Given the overwhelming volume of arguments presented for the opposing school of thought, Shah’s ideas are ones that must be considered, if only for a balanced view at the dilemma.In Mumbai-based newspaper , former West Indian great Michael Holding wrote, “I am sorry, but I truly believe that if an example had been set at the first instance in Jamshedpur, it would not have recurred. To make matters worse, this game has been awarded to India. No doubt more than likely they would have gone on and won, but who suffers for the crowd disturbance?”How exactly does awarding the match to India, by the very legitimate rules and regulations already in place, make matters worse? Holding explains, tongue firmly in cheek, “Very shortly, spectators will be seen going into one-day venues with computers with the Duckworth/Lewis formula in hand and constantly keeping in touch with the proceedings. Whenever their team is in front via that method, they will just throw a few missiles, get the game called off and their team ends up the winner.”On the other hand, if one does not follow the already established systems – in this case the Duckworth/Lewis method – what can be done? Many have been quick to suggest – subtly and otherwise – that the authorities should award the match to the touring side, thereby suitably shaming spectators and setting an example. But apart from being cruel to the players of the home side, who have little or no control over idiots in a crowd, this method would only serve make a potentially incendiary situation positively diabolical.Imagine, moreover, a group of touring spectators – say a large, boisterous group, as touring spectators often can be. Would Holding’s solution not give them the perfect opportunity to nudge their own side on when conditions are gruelling, the play tough and the outlook bleak?But the cricket world has just heard the beginning of this issue, one can be sure of that. To look at the silver lining where none seems present, the crowd trouble in three consecutive games has at least forced the International Cricket Council to take this seriously. As flustered Board secretary Nair said, with a twist of unintended irony, “Of one thing you can be sure; the authorities are not going to be silent spectators in this matter.”