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Matabeleland Tuskers‘ fast bowlers blew away Mashonaland Eagles for 70 in the second innings to give their side an innings-and-30 run win in Bulawayo. There were only two scores of over 50 in the match, and both of them were made by the Tuskers’ openers, Paul Horton and Terry Duffin. Glen Querl and Richard Jones struck thrice each after Tuskers chose to field and dismissed Eagles for 181. The top order managed starts but could not carry on, and the rest of the line-up fell apart. Horton (65) and Duffin (104) responded with an opening stand of 147. Tuskers went past 181 with only one wicket down. At 217 for 1, they were eyeing a huge total, but Innocent Chinyoka and Tinotenda Mutombodzi triggered a collapse and Tuskers were bowled out for 281. Querl and Jones took seven wickets between them to ensure that Eagles were not able to even make Tuskers bat again. Only two Eagles batsmen managed double-digit scores as they were shot out for 70.Daryl Mitchell, Vusi Sibanda and Gary Ballance made centuries in the drawn game between Mountaineers and Mid West Rhinos at the Mutare Sports Club. Tendai Chatara grabbed five wickets to dismiss Rhinos for 253 with only Steve Marillier and Roland Benade making decent contributions. Mitchell (178) and Mark Pettini (68) put on 183 for the third wicket to boost Mountaineers to 243 for 2 but the innings unravelled after that to end on 313. Neville Madziva picked up four wickets while Simon Mugava took three. Rhinos piled on the runs in the second innings with Sibanda (162) and Ballance (116) adding 232 for the second wicket. They declared on 421 for 6 after which the game ended with Mountaineers on 85 for 2.

ScorecardAaron Finch’s fighting 72 was in vain•Getty Images

Astute bowling from Alister McDermott followed lively innings from Daniel Vettori and Roelof van der Merwe to shut out the Melbourne Renegades and keep the Brisbane Heat in touch with a semi-final spot under the roof at the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne.Aaron Finch made a strong-armed 72 in the Renegades’ chase but had far too little support in a result that left four teams on four points – all with some chance of unseating the Melbourne Stars to claim the last berth in the top four.Shahid Afridi and Aaron Heal had delivered some arresting overs of spin for Melbourne to reduce the Heat to 5 for 75, but Vettori and van der Merwe added 72 in 42 balls to revive the innings, and the visiting bowlers were disciplined enough to hold out the hosts.McDermott showed tremendous control, and was well supported by Vettori, Daniel Christian and Michael Neser, who also claimed three wickets. Vettori was named Man Of The Match for his runs and tidy overs.The Renegades had made a change to the batting order for their chase, promoting Afridi to open. His partner Brad Hodge did not last long, swinging in ungainly fashion at Christian and having his stumps spread-eagled, but Afridi connected with a handful of telling blows to help Finch take 19 from van der Merwe’s first over.McDermott intervened to end Afridi’s stay on 26, via a catch at midwicket, and Andrew McDonald followed soon after when his drive failed to clear long-on. Those wickets quelled the hosts’ momentum, and a big over was required.Finch duly delivered in Nathan Hauritz’s second over, though the bowler did not help himself by serving up a front-foot no-ball – the unforgivable sin for a slow bowler. The no-ball and the free hit both sailed over the straight boundary, and three sixes in the over, plus a wide, a single and a two, meant 23 runs in the space of six legal deliveries.Neser stemmed the scoring in the very next over, accounting for Nathan Reardon and Abdul Razzaq to leave Finch seemingly short of batting support. Glenn Maxwell, injured in the field, struck a pair of flat boundaries before skying a catch, and it was left to the former South Australia gloveman Graham Manou to accompany Finch.Manou showed more experience and sense than some of his predecessors, giving Finch plenty of strike, and the younger man responded with runs. In the 17th over he swung van der Merwe to the midwicket fence, where Chris Lynn took a fine catch but had to throw the ball away before he went over the rope.Well as Finch had played, the run-rate continued to climb, and from the final ball of the 18th over he sought a risky second run that became fatal when Andrew Robinson managed to hit the stumps from long-on. Manou could only find the boundary with difficulty, and 17 were required from McDermott’s final over – far too many against a fast-medium bowler putting the ball more or less where he willed it.Batting first, Heat were handed a frightful start when Nannes swung the ball late from wide of the crease to open up Robinson and flick his off stump. The No. 3 Lynn was more solid, and Matthew Hayden blustered away to some effect without ever quite timing the ball as he once used to.A passage of crafty spin followed, with Heal deceiving Hayden and Afridi collecting the next three wickets in the space of four balls, spread over two overs. His googly was particularly effective, bowling Peter Forrest between bat and pad then pinning Christian in front of middle stump.At 5 for 74 the Heat may well have subsided quickly, but Vettori and van der Merwe provided an intelligent partnership of 72 from 42 deliveries. Vettori’s 40 featured some deft flicks over the legside field, and van der Merwe followed suit with a pair of sixes of his own. Afridi’s last over went for 14 runs, denting his figures considerably.A few more big hits meant the Heat had piled up 97 from their second 10 overs, reaching a far better total than had seemed possible at the halfway point of the innings.

It has taken two Tests, but it has begun. Perhaps it’s got to do with the time the cricketers got off their cricketing routines. India and Australia have resumed their verbal sparring. It began with Brad Haddin saying on a radio show that India are mentally fragile, and that when put under pressure, they “turn on each other”. Zaheer Khan has responded by telling Haddin to mind his own game, which according to him is fragile.Suppressing his laughter, Zaheer said, “Brad Haddin should focus on his keeping. That looks really fragile to me. He needs to start moving.” Zaheer was alluding to the three catches Haddin dropped in the first two Tests. Zaheer went a step further. He said that Haddin seemed to be the designated big mouth of the Australian team.Zaheer was asked if the two teams were now breaking the sort of unwritten pact of mutual respect they have been following, especially keeping in mind the bitterness on India’s last tour here. “I think by the sound of it Haddin has been appointed for that in the Australian team,” Zaheer said of the possible mind games coming from the Australian camp.Zaheer was also asked if Haddin was lucky to be in the Australian side after the ordinary show in the first two Tests. “He is doing all the talk,” Zaheer said. “So he is definitely playing his role.”Peter Siddle chose to steer clear of the controversy, but was forced to say a line or two when almost all the questions in his press conference revolved around Zaheer and Haddin. “[It is] just a lead-up to the Test,” Siddle said. “The pressure that we have been building as bowling partnerships, and a bowling unit is what has been working for us, that’s what is putting the pressure on. Whether you call it intimidation, whether it’s just good team bowling, whatever you think, but that’s what Bradley was getting at. The pressure we have been building without bowling.”Siddle said he had no idea why Haddin said what he said, and that he has not spoken to Haddin about it. Siddle, though, said there was no designated big mouth in the side. “There is no appointment,” he said. “These things come out. Zaheer is saying he should concentrate on his keeping. I wouldn’t like to see how good a tip Zaheer can give him on his keeping. I don’t think it’s his place to say that either. Just a part of the game. Zaheer is going all right at the moment, so he likes to say those things.”I think we are all nice and friendly guys in the field. We are all nice to our opposition. That’s how we play our cricket. That’s obviously it. Brad’s a very competitive cricketer. He does like to play it hard and fair. Me and Jimmy [James Pattinson] like to bowl our bouncers, stuff like that.”

Tim Paine, Australia’s heir-apparent wicket keeper, has been ruled out for four months and faces an uncertain future in the game after being told his battered right index finger requires extensive bone-graft surgery.A series of breaks to Paine’s right index finger, starting with an exhibition Twenty20 match in Brisbane last summer, and unsuccessful surgery to repair the damage in September, has left the 27-year-old with a digit not up to the rigours of batting and keeping wicket.The new round of surgery, which takes place today, will seek to correct damage left by the use of plates that have broken when Paine has attempted to resume training.”Tim Paine’s recovery from surgery for a fractured finger has been slower than expected,” Cricket Australia’s doctor Trefor James said. “Tim has been reviewed by specialists and CA medical staff.”It is clear that the fracture has not healed as expected and the best course of action is for Tim to undergo further surgery. This will be performed today (Wednesday) and it is expected that Tim will be unavailable for a further 3-4 months.”Paine played four Tests in 2010 and acquitted himself well, making scores of 92 and 59 in the Mohali and Bangalore matches against India. He was dropped to make way for the return of Brad Haddin at the start of last year’s Ashes summer but he has been widely considered a future leader of the national team.He captained Australia A on a successful mid-2011 tour of Zimbabwe, but is now unsure of when or if he will be back in contention for a Test spot. Paine was also captain of the Hobart Hurricanes Twenty20 team.”I’m obviously disappointed with this latest setback. I am hopeful that I can get the injury right and recover fully so that I can get back to playing cricket in the near future,” Paine said.His absence will widen the window for the Victoria ‘keeper Matthew Wade to press for Haddin’s spot in the national team.

Andy Flower, the England team director, has said England will have to go “back to the drawing board” to figure out how to play one-day cricket in the subcontinent after they slumped to a 0-5 series defeat in India. Flower said he thought England were better prepared for this series than they were when they were beaten by the same scoreline in 2008 but had been proved wrong by the results.”This is a bad setback for us and we have to go back to the drawing board in terms of playing one-day international cricket in the sub-continent,” he said. “We need time to reflect. I thought we’d learnt lessons from three years ago and put in place training drills which would equip our batsmen to deal better with the conditions out here, but I’m obviously wrong in that regard.”England ended the series in dismal fashion, losing their whole side for 47 in a dramatic collapse, after they were 129 for 0 chasing 272 at Eden Gardens. Alastair Cook, the England captain, said good starts and poor finishes had been a common theme of England’s performances through the series.”We set up the game beautifully to go on and win, but they bowled well and we played a couple of poor shots. It was a bit of a disappointing end and a bit of a common theme,” Cook said after the match in Kolkata. “We were in with a shout at 120-odd for nought and just got blown away at the end. It was very disappointing. We know you can lose wickets in clusters and we seem to have lost 10 there in a cluster.”While India’s spinners sparked England’s collapse, the victory had been set up by a fierce late onslaught from India’s captain MS Dhoni, who finished on 75 not out off 69 balls. Dhoni scored 212 runs in the series without being dismissed. He said he always focused on staying unbeaten till the end of an innings because then you could sum up which bowlers to go after.”I always want to stay to the end and whatever is in my area I look to hit it over the boundary,” he said. “It’s important to see which bowlers are left and who you can target. After that it’s about who can bear the pressure well.””It was an ugly looking wicket and any ball could swing or keep low,” Dhoni said of the Eden Gardens pitch. “It was very difficult to score on so we were fortunate to score 270 when 240 or 245 was in our minds. Then we just had to wait for the wicket to spin.”Cook praised Dhoni’s innings but said he thought India’s total was gettable. “Credit to MS; at the end he hits it very well, he’s a very hard person to bowl at and he single-handedly got them up to 270, which was probably gettable the way we started. But when you lose 10 for 50 you’re not going to win anything,” he said.Both Cook and Flower, though, insisted there were positives to take out of the series despite the emphatic scoreline. “Only four of us have played one-day series out here and it’s great for the youngsters to get the experience,” Cook said. “It will show where they need to improve and we all need to improve as a side. We got thoroughly beaten out here but there are quite a few positives; I thought Steven Finn [who took eight wickets over the five games] throughout the series has been excellent.”Flower said the bowling department had shown promise but unfortunately the batsmen had not been able to handle playing spin and had left the bowlers with too much to do. “Our skills weren’t good enough and our handling of the pressure wasn’t good enough,” he said. “We obviously haven’t got the players into a good enough state to deal with the challenges of playing spin, judging length and moving feet.”I think our bowling side has shown glimpses of skill and if there’d been reasonable totals on the board they would have been better at defending them. But unfortunately the bowlers have had to bowl to very attacking fields all the time because that was the only way to win because of our under-par totals.”

The participation of Pakistan players in next year’s IPL will come up for discussion during the next IPL governing council meeting on October 14, Rajiv Shukla, the league’s chairman, has said. Pakistan players have not taken part in the IPL following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, and even though 11 of them featured in the auction list for the third edition of the tournament in 2010, none were picked up by the franchises. Some of the franchises put it down to the uncertainty over their availability following a breakdown in diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan.”This decision has to be taken by the Governing Council. It is not that Pakistan as a country has been banned in IPL,” Shukla told . “Their (Pakistani) referees’ services have been utilised. Some franchises have taken Pakistani former players as coaches also and supporting staff as well. So it is not that Pakistan as a whole has been banned or something. There is no question of banning anyone.”The final call, however, rested with the franchises, Shukla said. “About Pakistani players, it is purely up to the franchises to decide whether they want to take Pakistani players or not. And we have to keep certain considerations in mind before deciding about it.”With regards to the resumption of cricketing ties with Pakistan, Shukla said matters of security and scheduling needed to be resolved before going ahead. He was also not too keen on the idea of playing at a neutral venue. “We have worked together. The question is about the circumstances and certain issues … in terms of security. Those issues are to be sorted out. Then only, we can think of it.”At the same time, there is no slot available. If there is slot available, then all these things can be discussed. Everybody wants cricket ties to be revived, to be resumed but slot has to be there to resume the ties.”Secondly the atmosphere should be congenial because I am of the view that we should play on each others’ soil instead of playing at a third venue. There is no point on playing at a third venue.”The termination of the Kochi franchise and the number of teams for the next IPL will also be discussed at the meeting.

Nasser Hussain has said the IPL, cricket’s richest domestic Twenty20 tournament, will entice and exhaust players in the future if it is not carefully handled by national boards and their elite team support staff.In an interview to ESPNcricinfo, Hussain said he was not, as was popularly believed, “hugely anti-IPL” but said its influence on young cricketers had to be handled carefully. “I have seen IPL and I know what it means to the Indian public, they love it, British Indians love it. It’s a good tournament, but it will exhaust cricketers.”Following their 4-0 victory over India, Hussain said England’s star players, “are going to be enticed by IPL money. Come and play, come and play. All of this cricket would have been on [television] in India. [Graeme] Swann, [Stuart] Broad and [Chris] Tremlett … they’ll all be offered decent money. And they need to be looked after by the board to make sure that they don’t go. So that they are ready for Test matches in the future.”The IPL, lasting six weeks, has always been held at the start of the English season. “We don’t need the players coming straight from that exhausted. When you get a bowler, it’s like gold dust. You do not just let him go. You don’t just say, ‘oh fine, we can lose Anderson.’ Because before you know it, they’re all gone. And you’re left scratching your head again. Look at India, look at Australia. Looking after this bowling unit and keeping them together is crucial for England at the moment.”He believed the IPL would pose challenges for the coaches of both teams in the future. “It’s going to be [Andy] Flower’s biggest challenge now. All this cricket [the Test series] Flower will have to say, ‘come on, we need you to be bowling in Test matches’. It’s going to be another one of [Duncan] Fletcher’s biggest challenges. If India carry on with IPL, I believe it will hurt. It is now going to hinder them – as we have seen here – in Test match cricket. You need young bowlers to be fit and raring to go and the IPL is death for bowlers. It is noticeable that none of the England bowlers have played IPL.”England’s newly acquired world No.1 status will have a deep impact on the sport’s popularity base in England itself and the extra headlines could be distracting. Hussain said, “England has not been No.1 for sport, any sport for a long time, so these are going to be star names. There’s going to be a lot of attention in England, there’s going to be a lot of lucrative deals. They’re going to be more recognisable so they don’t need to let it go to their head, lose their focus.”Hussain said that while he was a fan of Twenty20 internationals, he believed that there was too much domestic Twenty20, including on the English domestic calender. “I just think they’ve just over-egged it, they’ve just over done it. I mentioned the IPL but even in England, there are far too many games for our domestic players, they are doing far too much travelling and too much cricket, they will be exhausted as well.” He understood that counties played Twenty20 in order to handle struggling finances, but administrators had to keep in mind, “the future of the game. You are in charge of it. I think [Don] Bradman said all players, adminstrators, are all in charge of this game you are left with.”In international cricket, he said administrators had to handle overkill by balancing the 50- and 20-over formats. “I do believe you can cut down, specially one-day cricket. You don’t need seven ODIs and a couple of T20I, have three one-dayers and three Twenty20s or something like that. Twenty20 will sell itself, you’ll have sell out crowds everywhere, all these ODIs will be sold out. But that doesn’t mean you have to do it just because it’s bringing in money.”

Scorecard
As 33,820 roared on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in their ChampionsLeague encounter with Bayer Leverkusen, 60-odd miles east in Canterburybarely 100 hardy souls witnessed the closing overs of the second day ofKent’s experimental championship clash against Glamorgan.Two rain breaks adding up to 90 minutes ensured a 9.30pm finish underlights at the St Lawrence ground, by which time the spectators and theKent seam attack appeared frozen solid and utterly disinterested.Having mustered only 237 on the opening day of this end-of-seasonday/night game, Kent’s weakened pace attack lacked the cutting edge toworry a Glamorgan top-order seemingly hell-bent on achieving personalmilestones.Resuming on their overnight score of two without loss, Glamorgan willgo into day three looking in fine shape on 258 for 4, representing afirst innings lead of 21.The second day started with confusion over the umpires, after appointedECB official Nigel Cowley rang in sick with a throat infection andvirus. He was replaced, temporarily, by Kent League umpire Bob Whale,who stood at square leg for 20-odd minutes.Whale was then replaced by former Kent offspinner and Championship 2ndXI umpire, Steve Dale, who ultimately gave way in late afternoon toformer Glamorgan seamer, Alex Wharf, who drove four hours from his homein Caerphilly to partner Martin Bodenham.Glamorgan’s openers Gareth Rees and Alviro Petersen made light of theconfusion surrounding the officials by reaching 34 before sufferingtheir first loss. With his score on 21 and with his season’s first-class aggregatestanding on an agonising 999 runs, Glamorgan skipper Alviro Petersenpulled loosely at a Matt Coles long-hop to be caught at midwicket byAdam Ball at the second attempt.Will Bragg became Glamorgan’s first player of the season to reach 1,000runs for the season by lofting an extra cover drive to the ropes offDarren Stevens to move to 22. Only three runs later the left-hander dragged his foot when attempting a push drive against offspinner Adam Riley, only to see the pink ball cannon onto the stumps having deflected off the gloves, chest and shoulder of keeper Geraint Jones to effect the most fortuitous of stumpings.Gareth Rees inched his way to a patient 126-ball 50 before he gloved a lifting delivery from Adam Ball to Sam Northeast at short midwicket and, soon after a late tea at 7.50pm, Nick James played across a full length ball from Darren Stevens to go leg before.With little discernible swing or seam movement to hinder theirprogress, Glamorgan’s fifth wicket pair of Stewart Walters and MarkWallace made unfettered progress through to the close in adding 63 in16 overs.In the process Wallace, upon reaching 37, became the first specialistwicketkeeper to post 1,000 runs in a summer for Glamorgan. Sadly, by9.15pm, few supporters remained on the ground to applaud him.

Sulieman Benn, the left-arm spinner, needs to show his commitment to the West Indies team before he can be considered for international cricket, the chairman of selectors Clyde Butts has said.Benn, 30, hasn’t played for West Indies since the World Cup in March, and was dropped after unfavourable reports from the team management about his behaviour during the tournament. He missed the entire home summer and was left out of the squad for the two Twenty20s in England next month as well.”I think Sulieman Benn would tell you point-blank that he is available for selection but of course you know what happened when Sulieman Benn went to the World Cup with us,” Butts said in a television interview on August 23. “We had some issues with Benn and nothing has happened since then to show us that he has changed his ways and certainly wants to play for West Indies.”Benn has had a string of disciplinary problems since debuting for West Indies in 2008: he was suspended for two one-day internationals for an incident involving Brad Haddin during West Indies’ tour of Australia in 2009, and then during South Africa’s visit in 2010 he received another ban for an altercation with Dale Steyn and was also sent off the field in a one-dayer by his captain Chris Gayle for refusing to do what the captain asked.After the World Cup, legspinner Devendra Bishoo took over Benn’s spot in the side and made a promising start to his international career. Benn was West Indies’ lead spinner till the World Cup, and performed moderately well, taking 51 wickets in 17 Tests and 29 wickets in 25 one-dayers.”I know the board has been trying to put some things in place for him and one just hopes he can reform,” Butts said, “and he can start thinking slightly different now and look at himself as a man who actually has been performing fairly reasonable for West Indies and would want to go on and play for West Indies for a long time.”

ScorecardBenny Howell blasted an explosive half-century as the Hampshire Royals demolished the Northamptonshire Steelbacks by 174 runs in the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B match at Wantage Road.Howell smashed an unbeaten 84 runs off just 54 balls, including six fours and three sixes as the Royals piled on 307 for six from their 40 overs. Liam Dawson weighed in with 70, while David Lucas took five for 48 – his first five-wicket haul in one-day cricket.The Steelbacks were woeful in response as they collapsed to 133 all out with Ben Howgego absent hurt as Chris Wood took three for 34 and only captain Andrew Hall’s 44 not out provided any resistance. The Royals won the toss and chose to bat and they started confidently before losing James Vince for 38 off 23 balls when he chipped Lucas straight to David Willey at extra cover.Lucas then accounted for Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams for 23 when he was caught by Willey at deep extra cover before he trapped Michael Carberry leg before wicket for a single. Former Zimbabwe international Sean Ervine bludgeoned 38 off 34 deliveries before launching James Middlebrook to Willey at long-off.Dawson reached 50 off 48 balls by smashing James Middlebrook for six over midwicket before he perished by top-edging Lucas to Evans at short third man.Dimitri Mascarenhas smashed 26 off just 16 balls before giving Lucas his five-for by launching him to substitute Rob Keogh at long-on. Howell then completed his half-century off 44 balls as the hosts conceded their highest total in a 40-over match.Chasing a mammoth 308, the Steelbacks lost Mal Loye in just the third ball of their reply when he was pinned lbw by David Griffiths before Rob White (six) swept Mascarenhas to Dawson at deep square leg.The hosts’ wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien walked on 22 as he mistimed his scoop shot off Wood and was easily caught by Ervine at backward point. Rob Newton (22) was next to fall when he chipped Wood to Vince at midwicket, before the same bowler bowled Middlebrook for a six-ball duck.Chaminda Vaas (one) continued the Steelbacks’ miserable procession when he was caught by Ervine at slip off Mascarenhas. Ervine was brought on in the 17th over and he forced both Willey (one) and Lucas (four) to edge to Royals wicketkeeper Michael Bates.With Howgego not fit enough to bat, the final nail in the coffin was hammered down when Luke Evans (18) launched Imran Tahir to Wood at long-on, sealing the hosts’ second-heaviest defeat in one-day cricket.