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Justin Kemp, whose obdurate batting helped Jacques Rudolph to save the Perth Test, could miss the Boxing Day game with a niggling shoulder injury. Kemp had not trained for the past two days and was rated as a 50-50 chance despite intensive treatment from the medical staff. He faced a fitness test on Christmas day.Kemp waited 47 Tests for a recall, and his uncharacteristically dogged knock at the WACA included a titanic tussle with Shane Warne, who had quickly dubbed Kemp ‘Darryl’ and adopted him as his new bunny. If Kemp managed to prove his fitness, he was likely to face a two-prong legspin attack, with Stuart MacGill expected to link up with Warne at the MCG.Meanwhile Jacques Kallis, South Africa’s most respected batsman, was confident of recovering for the biggest date on the Australian cricket calendar. Both sides head into the Boxing Day Test predicting changes and the tourists are desperate for Kallis to play after he missed the drawn match in Perth.Kallis has batted in the nets in Melbourne this week and said his injured elbow would have to heal fully for him to be picked. “We’ll see how things go for the next few days but I’m pretty confident that I’ll be 100%,” Kallis said in . “I don’t know if it is an injury you can take in 90% because if you tear it again you’re out again.”After three weeks of being under pressure with poor warm-up results and injuries, the South Africans enter the match in a buoyant mood following the hard-fought draw in Perth on Tuesday. “The momentum seems to be with us and Australia is feeling the pressure,” Kallis said. “They should have knocked us over but we survived. It’s a huge turning stone for a lot of guys’ careers the way they played there.”The MCG drop-in wicket is expected to suit the fast bowlers but MacGill is determined and pleaded his case in the . “Personally, I would expect to play here, particularly seeing as we failed to bowl them out in Perth,” MacGill said. “Conditions may have conspired against the bowlers there but you always wonder whether it would have been the same if I were there.”Whilst it’s a slow transition, I think the public and cricket in general is starting to come around to the fact that you need to bowl your most potent wicket-taking team to win Test matches against sides that are prepared to stick around. Providing your team with wicket-taking opportunities is what I’m about.”MacGill is battling for a place with the left-arm swing of Nathan Bracken and Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, was pleased with his performance at the WACA, where he dismissed Graeme Smith twice. “Regardless of the surface here I’m confident and satisfied in making a claim for a position in this 11,” MacGill said. “I think I can provide Ricky Ponting with extra wicket-taking opportunities, even on a green-top.”

The Australian Cricketers’ Association is encouraging Australia to develop a Twenty20 competition that is similar to the Indian Premier League and could run in conjunction with the main tournament. Paul Marsh, the ACA’s chief executive, has been in India to monitor the opening week of the IPL and said the expansion of the concept could follow soccer’s model.”The Indian league will be the Premier League, and then you have the Australian league as the second league, or even the English league,” Marsh said in the Daily Telegraph. “Over time players could go and play in one of these leagues and then you’ll have a situation where the ICC could license each league, get a return and distribute it to each of these boards.”The initial success of the IPL has other countries trying to think of ways to benefit financially from the concept. Support is also growing for the ICC to implement a set time each year for Twenty20 so it doesn’t overlap with Test and one-day internationals.”We need to find this window and then find how to get a return from it for each of the boards,” Marsh said. “We might find a window and it opens a door for a whole lot of these leagues.”Marsh is also interested in the idea of an IPL team based in Australia. Michael Brown, Cricket Australia’s general manager of cricket operations, has said the franchise idea would be considered.Brown told AAP on Tuesday the start of the IPL had been “outstanding”. “It’s fantastic for cricket – we’re here in Melbourne in an incredible AFL environment, yet people are talking up cricket,” he said. “That’s a real positive for the game and the little bits I’ve caught from our players, it’s been very successful.”

Ricky Ponting feels some of India’s cricketers have “misinterpreted what aggressive cricket means” during the ongoing one-day series. His comments come in the wake of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s revelations about Australia’s cricketers using “harsh words” in the third one-dayer in Hyderabad.”Both teams can still play aggressively, but when the Australian team speaks about playing aggressively I think a lot of people get the wrong idea,” Ponting wrote in his column for the newspaper.”I don’t mean talking aggressively or showing aggressive body language. That’s exactly the opposite of what aggressive or positive cricket is all about. A few of the Indians have reacted very much with aggressive body language and trying to force themselves upon us, and I think the way some of them are playing their cricket that they have also misinterpreted what aggressive cricket means.”I suppose if some of the players don’t understand it, a lot of people watching the game in the stands or at home don’t understand it either. It’s not jumping up and down, sledging, giving people send-offs and that sort of stuff. When the Australian team talks about playing aggressively, we are committing ourselves to playing hard: there’s nothing given and there’s nothing asked to be given.”Though the Hyderabad game was hardly as hot tempered as the match at Kochi, Dhoni, had enough to complain about. “We discussed with the referee about not using harsh words, but Ponting did, and a couple of their players did,” Dhoni said after the game. He didn’t reveal what exactly was said by the players, though.Ponting felt his team had stayed within the confines of the spirit of cricket. “Some years back the Australian team committed itself to uphold the spirit of cricket,” he said. “A lot of the current players weren’t involved, but every player who comes into the team is clearly briefed on the idea and given direction on what’s acceptable and what’s not. We treat it very seriously and nobody comes in without understanding what we expect. I think it’s been a very positive thing if you look back at our recent history. It’s something I’m proud of. I think we have been one of the least reported teams in the world.”Ponting felt his side didn’t indulge in sledging, a term he said was associated with “swearing” or “making a personal attack” on the opponents. “If you look at any sport, Australian football, soccer, anything, there is always some sort of dialogue between players, and I think that’s part of sport at the highest level. But it’s very important that every Australian cricketer understands what he can and cannot do. It is why we have the spirit of cricket concept. It was brought in so we would not have our blokes reported. We have our own set of rules that we can act on to keep things from getting out of hand.”

Cricket Australia warned fans that “idiots” would not be tolerated at the upcoming Ashes series.South African players complained about being racially abused by crowds while touring earlier this year and Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said he wanted spectators to be well-behaved during the Ashes. “Action will be taken against anyone who fails to show respect for the people around them,” he said.New initiatives for the eagerly-anticipated Ashes series, which begins at Brisbane on November 23, include a mobile-phone text-messaging system to warn venue management about anti-social behaviour and extra security. There will also be increased closed-circuit television monitoring of crowds and announcements from pre-recorded appeals from Australian players for good behaviour during matches. Australian grounds already sell low alcohol beer at international cricket matches following crowd problems in previous years at one-day matches.Sutherland said Cricket Australia wanted to create a family atmosphere for genuine fans to enjoy watching England and Australia do battle. “No doubt there will be some idiots over the summer who do the wrong thing but we can assure fans that we will do all we can this season and in subsequent seasons to make their day the best it can be.”The rivalry between fans is expected to be intense during the sell-out series, with the tourists receiving vocal backing from the Barmy Army and the home fans itching to avenge last year’s defeat in England.

The England and Pakistan cricket boards have finally settled the ECB’s compensation claims relating to the forfeited Oval Test in August 2006. The agreement means that Pakistan will play a Twenty20 match in England in 2012 and waive the fee.Both boards also agreed that the proposed tour of Pakistan by England in 2010 would be postponed until January 2012 and would contain three Tests and five one-day matches. Pakistan will then stage a return tour in July-August of the same year. The forfeiture occurred when the Pakistan team, penalised for ball-tampering by umpire Darrell Hair, refused to take the field for the post-tea session on the fourth day. England were awarded the match with a day to spare. The ECB had asked the PCB to pay damages worth $1.3 million for the lost fifth day, a request the Pakistan board rejected.David Collier, the ECB chief executive, said that the decision to push back the dates had been taken since otherwise England’s overloaded schedule that season would not allow for three Tests and five ODIs against Pakistan. “The meetings with PCB demonstrated the goodwill and desire of both boards to find a cricketing solution to the issues arising from the Oval Test match,” Collier said. “Rescheduling the tour results in a significantly lighter schedule for our players in 2010.” He added that the Twenty20 match would greatly benefit the ECB which will withdraw its compensation claims once the PCB confirmed the arrangements.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
SA how they were out
India how they were out

For the third match in a row India’s batsmen caved in under the floodlights against a relentless pace attack, surrendering to a 80-run defeat in the fourth ODI at Port Elizabeth. Herschelle Gibbs’s controlled 93 set up South Africa’s thumping win before the pace attack sealed the deal, giving them an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series with one match to play.India’s was a much-improved performance on the field – a fine start with the new ball was complemented by disciplined spin bowling in the middle, their fielding was sharper, and their bowlers finally got it right at the death. But, just when they appeared to be turning a corner, a rash of poor shot selection ended their chances. Irfan Pathan’s battling 47 was the only bright spot as India slumped to their 11th defeat in their last 15 games (two games didn’t have results).Having sustained their intensity for the entire first half, unlike at Cape Town when they allowed South Africa to break away, India had a chance to pull one back. But a combination of Makhaya Ntini’s blistering pace and Shaun Pollock’s nagging accuracy left India with nowhere to hide. Some reckless shot-making didn’t help matters and none of the top-order batsmen showed the gumption to hang in there and bide his time.The slide began in the sixth over of the innings when Jaffer flashed away from his body – not a stroke he would even imagine attempting in the Test matches. Sachin Tendulkar, batting at No.3 for only the eighth time in his career, was unsure about whether to play or leave and fell to Pollock for the ninth time (Chaminda Vaas is the only other bowler to have managed it so many times). The two dismissals seemed to rattle Sehwag, who soon scooped a full ball to midwicket and watching Loots Bosman pull off a superb diving catch. Mohammad Kaif and Dinesh Karthik found runs difficult to come by and succumbed to a silly run-out. Karthik set off but stopped after a few steps and there was little Kaif could do but carry on running back to the pavilion.The support cast refused to let up on the aggression that Ntini and Pollock had displayed. Andre Nel, who missed the previous game, generated lift and hit the splice hard while Jacques Kallis troubled the batsmen with movement off the pitch. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s brief blast, including four spanked fours and a pulled six off Kallis, ended in an over-ambitious swing while Dinesh Karthik and Ajit Agarkar gave it away after they were set. Pathan, however, stood out. He managed to score at close to a run a ball and showed that he could attack as well as defend with his solid technique. He even managed to blitz the fiery Nel for two huge sixes – one drilled over long-off, the other lofted over cover.

India will do well to pick up a few lessons from Gibbs, who shelved his attacking instincts in the face of disciplined bowling. His innings could have been terminated on 2, when he pulled a short one straight to Sehwag at midwicket, but Sreesanth overstepping the mark allowed him to fight on. He waited for the loose deliveries, while effectively collecting singles against the spinners, and acted as a glue to ensure that the innings didn’t fall apart.He shared three vital partnerships – 69 with Kallis, whose aesthetically-conceived 49 was gorgeous in its execution, 61 with Mark Boucher, who nudged his way to 29, and 61 with Shaun Pollock, who’s promising 37 was cut short by a needless run-out. Kallis’s knock was the most aggressive of the lot, leading a superb counterattack from a precarious 7 for 2, after Zaheer Khan had removed Smith for the third successive game in a row.Things South Africa couldn’t manage a boundary between the 29th and 39th overs – a phase during which Tendulkar and Sehwag applied the brakes. Pollock’s busy approach, including two crisply-struck sixes, allowed him to motor to a 43-ball 37 but a reckless bit of running from Gibbs – when he was concentrating on the ball driven to mid-on rather than Pollock running three quarters of the distance – cost him his wicket. Zaheer and Sreesanth cashed in on that moment. Managing full-length deliveries on a consistent basis, the duo conceded just 28 in the final four overs, providing a suitable denouement to the good work from the rest. India’s batsmen, though, undid it all.

Murali Kartik has signed with Middlesex as their overseas player for 2008. In nine Championship matches this summer he has taken 37 wickets at 25.48.”We are delighted to have signed Kartik for a further season,” John Emburey, the county’s director of cricket, said. “He is a world-class bowler who has fitted in well with the team. With the regulations reducing the number of overseas players to one per county next year, it is crucial to sign a proven match-winner and we have done that with Kartik. It is sad to lose Chaminda Vaas who has performed so well for us, but we need a world-class spinner to compete for honours next year. We are committed to winning trophies and Kartik will be an integral part of an improved squad next year.””It’s a brilliant feeling to come back to a place like Middlesex with all its history,” Kartik said. “All the players, staff and supporters have been very gracious in their support towards me and made me and my family feel very wanted. It will be good to have that feeling once again next year.”

Mashonaland’s disaffiliated clubs met last week to map the way forward for a new breakaway national league that will lead to a cricket association opposed to Zimbabwe Cricket. Five clubs attended the meeting, with a sixth, Takashinga, whose position on the league was not clear earlier this week, reported to have come out in support of the independent league.The club members who attended the meeting said the league was aiming to introduce three or four-day first-class competition, backed with a Twenty-20 competition. “The league will not be about officials, it will be about players,” he said. “The league will do everything to sustain the standards of Zimbabwean cricket. Basically we need to improve cricket from a players’ point view.”This leaves ZC in a difficult position as it now has little support among the country’s major clubs, who provide the bulk of players in the domestic leagues. The hemorrhaging of cricketers in recent years has led to a major reduction in standards in the first-class competitions, and it seems unlikely that without the support of these clubs ZC could run either the Logan Cup or the Faithwear Cup.Local sources claim that Zimbabwe Cricket’s interim board called for a meeting to try to persuade the clubs to rejoin the Mashonaland Cricket Association, but the talks stumbled when they were asked to reapply in writing and confirm their recognition of the MCA. Only two clubs – Takashinga and Old Hararians – are believed to have attended the meeting. One club official described the request as “desperation by the ZC interim board to seek legitimacy.”One member of the technical committee was subsequently reported to have asked a Takashinga official to accept the “olive branch” without the other clubs. One observer claimed that such a move by Takashinga would have enabled the authorities to claim that this was a racially-motivated split by the other five.Cricinfo asked Zimbabwe Cricket to comment but no response has been received.

Scorecard

Aftab Ahmed warmed up for Bangladesh’s one-day series against Sri Lanka with a match-winning 92 in a three-wicket win against a Sri Lankan XI in Colombo. Ahmed led a recovery from 96 for 5 as the Bangladeshis chased down 242 with four balls remaining.After the Test series where the top order struggled a similar pattern was forming in coloured clothes. Shahriar Nafees, who was added to the one-day squad at the last minute, was caught behind first ball then Tushar Imran and captain Mohammad Ashraful failed to reach double figures.Tamim Iqbal held the early stages of the chase together with 45, but when he was stumped off Lasith Fernando the Bangladeshis were staring down the barrel. However, Ahmed began the fightback in a sixth-wicket stand of 81 with Mushfiqur Rahim (25) before adding 56 with Farhad Reza to bring the target within sight. Reza clubbed two sixes in a 25-ball 26 while Ahmed paced his innings perfectly as the winning runs came two balls into the final over.As usual it was the Bangladeshi spinners who played a key role with the ball in restricting the home side. Ian Daniel (57) laid a solid platform, but Shakib-al-Hasan and Abdur Razzaq kept the run-rate down with their left-arm spin. The middle order couldn’t accelerate, although Tharanga Paranavitana’s unbeaten 63 lifted the total towards something competitive.

The ICC has confirmed that funding to the USA Cricket Association remains suspended, despite the short-term truce between the USACA and the Council of League Presidents.The two parties have been battling for control inside the USA, and this has ended up in the courts. Earlier this month, an interim deal was announced to enable the USACA to administer the game pending the next court appearance on November 7. Critics of the USACA were quick to point out that this compromise gave all effective power to the current board controlled by Gladstone Dainty.There had been talk that the deal might persuade the ICC to release funding which has been suspended since June when it tired of the endless infighting. But the ICC has made it clear that money will only become available when a clear and undisputed body which can run cricket emerges.The interim executive is set to meet on October 29 – nine days before the court sits – and Cricinfo understands that a number of potentially contentious issues have been tabled. These include: –