Day 3 of 4
ScorecardMluleki Nkala cracked an unbeaten century, his second in first-class cricket, and Heath Streak scored his fourth first-class hundred as Matabeleland raced to a commanding total on the third day of their Logan Cup clash against Midlands at Queens Sports Club.Nkala, batting at No. 8, made an unbeaten 124 while Streak top-scored with 131 as Matabeleland piled on 479 in their second innings. Midlands closed on 45 for 2, still needing 326 to pull off an unlikely win.Matabeleland resumed on 190 for 5 and soon lost Strydom caught at midwicket by Conan Brewer for 20. Nkala then joined Streak and the two accelerated the scoring with some aggressive strokes. Midlands used eight bowlers but Streak went on to reach his hundred after batting for 169 minutes, facing 220 balls and dispatching 11 fours.Craig Wishart, bowling spin, finally removed Streak to a catch close-in by Terrence Duffin for 131. With Nkala he added 153 for the seventh wicket. Dabengwa joined Nkala and the two put on 50 for the eighth wicket before Dabengwa, on 39 fell to Raymond Price, caught by Duffin.Nkala reached his century from 169 balls with eight fours and a six, but the last two men failed to score leaving him stranded. Price finished with 5 for 148 runs from 60 overs, there were two wickets for Ervine, while Friend and Wishart took one apiece.Midlands’ chase started badly when Vusumuzi Sibanda was clean bowled by Heath Streak with the second ball of the innings. Duffin and Wishart put on 45 for the second wicket before Duffin was caught by wicketkeeper Wisdom Siziba off Andre Hoffman for 23 off the last ball of the day.

Close Zimbabwe 254 for 7 (Wishart 93*, Streak 45*, Wilson 2-36, Angel 2-63)
ScorecardZimbabwe, driven by a commanding and unbeaten innings of 93 from Craig Wishart, were 254 for 7 at stumps after a testing first day of their three-day match against Western Australia at Perth.Wishart has not played Test cricket since the Sri Lankan series in January 2001, but he will be among the first picked for next week’s first Test against Australia, also at the WACA. It was a long, hard struggle for Wishart, who came to the wicket when the Zimbabweans were 65 for 3, having recovered from 20 for 2 after eight overs with openers Dion Ebrahim and Trevor Gripper back in the pavilion.Zimbabwe had been asked to bat first after Mike Hussey won the toss. It proved a torrid introduction to the famous WACA pitch, with its extra pace and bounce. The wicket, greener than usual, caused some disconcerting moments for the batsmen. and Paul Wilson (2 for 36), Jo Angel (2 for 63), Darren Wates (2 for 76) and Peter Worthington (0 for 29) all had their moments. Wates and Worthington were the pick of the attack early in the day, while Mark Hussey was able to skid the ball through later on to concede only 10 runs from 11 overs. He also took the wicket of Sean Ervine.Despite the best efforts of the Western Australia attack, Wishart stood firm in what was a chanceless innings. The loss of Mark Vermeulen, who had looked the best of the other top-order batsmen in compiling 38 in 92 minutes, made it even more crucial that Wishart graft his way through the remainder of the day.Craig Evans helped Wishart get the side through to lunch at 89 for four, but three balls after the break, he was back in the pavilion. His dismissal was the result of a sharply rising ball that caught the bat handle and flew behind the wicket for Ryan Campbell, the wicketkeeper, to take an easy catch.Tatenda Taibu joined Wishart, and the pair added 60 runs before the Western Australians got their next breakthrough. Ervine stuck around to add 25 runs with Wishart before falling, and Wishart was then joined by Heath Streak, his captain. They took play through until the scheduled close, posting another 80 runs along the way. By the end of the day, Wishart had spent 279 minutes at the crease.Streak proved marvellous support, ending on 45 not out in just under two hours of batting. Western Australia, who only let two chances drop on the day – a first-ball chance off Stuart Carlisle that was dropped at second slip by Marcus North, and a chance off Streak – managed to get through 95 overs of bowling. Wishart has scored 10 first-class centuries, and he will no doubt be looking forward to the seven runs that will give him his 11th hundred.

Cricket NSW Chief Executive David Gilbert has announced the SpeedBlitz Blues team to play Western Australia in a Pura Cup match at the SCG from Tuesday November 4th to Friday November 7th, 2003.

Stephen Waugh (C)
Michael Slater
Greg Mail
Simon Katich
Phil Jaques
Mark Waugh
Brad Haddin
Stuart MacGill
Matthew Nicholson
Stuart Clark
Don Nash
Grant Lambert

12th man to be named on the morning of the match.There are three changes from the side which beat Queensland in the 2002-03 Pura Cup final in Brisbane. Michael Clarke (India), Doug Bollinger (injured) and Shawn Bradstreet (injured) were not available for selection. Jaques, Nicholson and Lambert come into the 12.

Stephen Fleming has spoken out strongly against the scheduling of the ongoing triangular series, the TVS Cup. He has said that Australia and New Zealand have been made to play more day matches, and the quality of the pitches in some of them has been such that the toss virtually decided the match.SK Nair, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has reacted to this by saying that the New Zealand board was aware of the scheduling and the conditions, and if Fleming has a problem, he should approach his own board.”They’ve got it wrong,” Fleming had said earlier. “You can’t start this early with wickets like this, there’s no point. We’ve been on the wrong side of it twice and it makes the next game a lottery too.”There’s two competitions going on – one for us and Australia where it seams around and is tough to bat and India lay another one where it gets lower and slower then turns. I wonder who did that itinerary.”New Zealand lost the toss against Australia at both Faridabad and Pune, and their top order was blown away in both games on a grassy pitch, in early morning conditons. They were all out for 97 at Faridabad, and though they did recover at Pune, the damage had already been done.”So much rides on the toss,” said Fleming. “At least in New Zealand it seams for 100 overs, here it seams for 25 and after that it’s a belter. I’ve talked to Ricky Ponting and he’s not happy either because we know how crucial the toss is.”Ponting backed up Fleming, saying, “They’re trying to better their wickets for the standard of their own cricket but they’ve just left too much juice in them for one-day cricket,” Ponting said.”When you are starting at that time of the morning it is bound to swing, and the wickets have had life in them which is tough for the side batting first.”Nair replied to Fleming outburst by saying, “He [Fleming] should ask his own Board [about the scheduling].” He said that both teams had been had been presented with the itinerary a month before the series began on October 23, and that neither team had raised any objections.Nair also asserted that not all venues in the country have floodlight facilities, and that day-night games were allotted on ” a rotational basis”.

Bruce Reid – can he bring the Indian bowlers up to speed? © Getty Images

Bruce Reid, the former Australian fast bowler, has been appointed as the bowling coach of the Indian cricket team for the current tour of Australia. The BCCI decided to appoint Reid after a Working Committee meeting in New Delhi on Sunday.The team management had sought the services of Reid for the two-and-half-month series after the tour match against Victoria. It was felt that Reid could be of considerable help to the inexperienced Indian attack, which comprises Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar and first-timers Lakshmipathy Balaji and Irfan Pathan.Reid, who’s now 40, was a tall left-armer known for his nagging accuracy and the ability to generate sharp bounce, took 113 wickets in 27 Tests at an average of 24.63. He was tipped by many to be an alltime great, but his career was cut short by injury and his potential was never fully realised. He recently coached Zimbabwe’s bowlers on their recent tour of Australia.

Graham Thorpe is at the centre of a police investigation after a row with his ex-wife Nicola and her new partner, at a house in Epsom, Surrey. Thorpe, who returned from England’s winter tour of Sri Lanka on Tuesday morning, was involved in a high-profile separation from his wife last year, and has only recently returned to international cricket.”Surrey Police were called to a domestic dispute at a house in Epsom at about lunchtime on December 26,” said a police spokeswoman. They added that nobody had been arrested, but an allegation of common assault was made and was being investigated.In 2002, the couple issued a joint statement appealing for privacy, following weeks of media speculation, asking that they should be allowed to “move on” with their lives. Thorpe, who was visibly affected by his off-field problems, pulled out of England’s tour of Australia, claiming he was finding it “difficult to consistently concentrate on cricket”.

Victoria 1 for 312 (Elliott 162*, Hodge 115*) against Tasmania
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Another century for the in-form Elliott

Matthew Elliott and Brad Hodge passed 1000 runs for the domestic season as Victoria piled up 1 for 312 on the opening day of their Pura Cup game against Tasmania at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. They added 241 for the second wicket, with Elliott ending the day on 162 to Hodge’s 115.On a perfect batting pitch, Matthew Mott was the only batsman to be dismissed, caught by Shane Watson at mid-off from the bowling of Xavier Doherty for 32. For Elliott, it was the fifth Australian season in which he had tallied more than 1000 runs.Hodge batted with extreme circumspection between lunch and tea, but raced from 29 to 115 by the close with an array of attacking shots in a final session that produced 135 runs.Jamie Cox missed out for Tasmania with a back injury – Rhett Lockyear had to be flown in today – while Shane Warne, the cynosure of most eyes in his first four-day game on returning from suspension, will have to wait until tomorrow at the very least to make an impact.

Zimbabwe 441 and 242 for 8 dec (Taibu 58, Ervine 74) lead Bangladesh 331 (Ashraful 98, Streak 4-44) and 24 for 5 (Blignaut 3 for 12) by 327 runs
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Andy Blignaut: hat-trick man © Getty Images

A hat-trick from Zimbabwe’s Andy Blignaut left Bangladesh reeling on the fourth evening at Harare. By the close they were staring at their 26th defeat in 27 Tests, despite totalling a handy 331 in their first innings, which finished earlier in the day.Blignaut warmed up for his bowling stint with a rapid 32, including a huge six over long-on, which ushered Zimbabwe to 242 for 8 – and a lead of 352 – before a declaration. Douglas Hondo punched the first holes in Bangladesh’s innings, trapping Shahriar Hossain (1) and Habibul Bashar (0) lbw.And then up stepped Blignaut for his second over, with Bangladesh already in some strife at 14 for 2. His third ball swung in to Hannan Sarkar and pinned him right in front for 10. In came Mohammad Ashraful, whose perky 98 had enlivened Bangladesh’s first innings: but this time he squirted his first ball to gully, where the substitute Travis Friend took the catch. Blignaut produced a fine delivery for the vital ball, swinging it in to Mushfiqur Rahman, who could only manage a thin-edge through to Tatenda Taibu. It was the first hat-trick by a Zimbabwean in a Test.Bangladesh made it to the close without further loss, by which time they had limped to 21 for 5, but unless the weather intervenes they will be contemplating yet another Test defeat early tomorrow morning.Earlier Zimbabwe had made a sticky start, losing Trevor Gripper caught behind for 5 in the sixth over. Dion Ebrahim and Stuart Carlisle then dug in, raising the 50 before Ebrahim was caught by Sarkar off Tapash Baisya for a 68-ball 31. Four runs later Grant Flower was gone too, ticking Tapash through to Khaled Mashud for 3, and when Carlisle was run out by Sarkar’s direct hit from short midwicket in the 34th over, Zimbabwe were struggling a little at 90 for 4.But that was as good as it got for Bangladesh. Thanks mainly to an enterprising fifth-wicket partnership of 90 between Taibu, who faced 107 balls for his 58, and Sean Ervine, who cracked 74 from 78 balls, Zimbabwe eventually motored to 242. Both batsmen hit eight fours.Heath Streak’s declaration left Bangladesh needing an unlikely 353 for victory in around 104 overs. But any optimists among the touring party were swiftly shot down by Blignaut’s hat-trick heroics.

The cricket boards of India and Pakistan will review and assess any incidents of crowd trouble during the series before taking any decision on the continuation of the tour.Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, addressed a news conference in Karachi on Friday, and said that the BCCI had agreed to tackle any misbehaviour from the crowd in a sensible manner. “Any incident of stone or bottle throwing during matches would be reviewed by the boards and no hasty decision would be taken on aborting the tour.”We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian board. And they agreed to do away with the clause that said that their players had the right to consider returning home if any stone, bottle or objects were thrown at them in any match.”Khan called on the people of Pakistan to give a big welcome to the Indian team, and show the world that it was not a place to be feared. The Indians have laid a lot of stress on security conditions, and the tour was cleared by the Indian government only after intense speculation.Shaharyar said it would be a tragedy, and very damaging at that for Pakistan, if any violent incident led to the series being aborted.

KwaZulu-Natal 33 for 1 trail Western Province 217 (Puttick 70, Dawson 56, Klusener 7-70) by 184 runs
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Lance Klusener gave KwaZulu-Natal the first-day honours in the SuperSport Series final with seven wickets against Western Province, who were bowled out for 217 at a sunny Newlands.Western Province, the favourites, won the toss and chose to bat on a decent pitch, but any advantage was soon shortlived as Klusener produced one of his finest bowling performances, taking 7 for 70 in two spells. Using the conditions to assist his swing and change of pace, he mesmerised the Western Province batsmen.However, some resolute batting from Andrew Puttick and Alan Dawson allowed Western Province to limp to 217, having been teetering at 124 for 8 at one stage. Puttick made 70 before falling to a dubious lbw decision, and Dawson chipped in with a patient 56 lower down the order to show that he is still one of the better allrounders.When bad light stopped play, KwaZulu-Natal had progressed to 33 for 1, with Imran Khan and Hashim Amla at the crease.