If Hashim Amla had things his way, he wouldn’t have to bat again at Centurion Park on a pitch likely to deteriorate over the next few days. He did his best to ensure the scenario pans out that way, making a battling 71 and helping South Africa recover from a rickety start.It was Amla’s second fifty in successive Tests, following his first-innings 63 in the series-clinching Cape Town victory over India recently. Under pressure through that series, Amla’s starring role will have come as considerable relief.”The ideal is to bat once,” said Amla. “The pitch is quite good for batting but it is already starting to deteriorate and help the spinners, so batting fourth could be difficult.”Pakistan will hope that by then Danish Kaneria can play more of a role than he did on the second day. Kaneria was one of three Pakistan bowlers who failed to make any impression whatsoever as first Amla and then Ashwell Prince and Herschelle Gibbs guided South Africa into a position of some strength. Mohammad Asif, returning to international cricket after having a doping-related ban overturned, was by far the best Pakistani bowler on display, ending with all four wickets in another impressive outing.Asif twinkled out Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers in his first three overs. He sent back Jacques Kallis after lunch as well and troubled all batsmen. Amla, having stroked a delicious, one-knee cover drive in the 45th over, edged the very next ball from Asif, a leg-cutter. It was a performance, Amla said, that reminded him of one of his more illustrious team-mates. “Asif bowled excellently. He asked good questions of the batsmen and bowled in the right areas. He reminded me a bit of Shaun Pollock.”Earlier, Makhaya Ntini was responsible for Pakistan hurtling to what is looking increasingly like an inadequate total and well below the 350-plus they had initially aimed for. Ntini took five for 83, his 16th five-wicket haul in Tests, as Pakistan paid for their compulsion to hook or pull every short ball that came their way. Six batsmen succumbed to hook or pull shots but Ntini said he had to work hard for his wickets. “It wasn’t our plan to bowl bouncers and get them hooking but when we saw how they played we put our fielders in the right places.”

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Rajasthan clung on to beat Railways by one wicket and six balls to spare in a thrilling finish at Indore. Having dismissed Railways for 220, Rajasthan scraped together 223 for 9 with Rohit Jhalani smacking an unbeaten 35 off 24 balls at the death. Shreyas Khanolkar top-scored for Railways with 53 and Sanjib Sanyal chipped in with 44. At one stage Railways were 131 for 7 but the tail wagged them to 220. Several Rajasthan batsmen got starts but none made them count. They were sinking at 154 for 6 but Jhalani batted aggressively to seal a tense win.
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Mohammad Kaif’s century formed the backbone of Uttar Pradesh’s crushing 169-run win against Vidarbha at Indore. Kaif struck 118 off 135 balls to spur UP to 286 for 6 before a disciplined effort from their bowlers skittled Vidarbha for 117. After losing Anshul Kapoor cheaply, Kaif joined Praveen Kumar for a 84-run partnership for the second wicket and then added 135 with Raina for the third wicket. Kumar and Raina contributed 62 and 59. Chasing 287 was a daunting task and Vidarbha were hampered by a regular fall of wickets. The lack of a partnership crippled their chase and they were gradually shut out of the contest. Avinash Yadav took 3 for 32 for Uttar Pradesh.
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Parvez Aziz’s unbeaten hundred secured a comprehensive victory for Assam, who finished first in the East Zone, after their bowlers had dismissed Tripura for 194 at Cuttack. Aziz struck four sixes in his 108 off 130 balls and finished the match with 61 balls to spare. He received solid support from Jagadeesh Arunkumar who was also unbeaten on 76. They added 189 runs for the third wicket after Assam were reduced to 6 for 2 in the fourth over. Assam’s bowlers backed up their Arunkumar’s decision to bowl first by striking at crucial times. Arnald Konwar was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 for 37 as Tripura collapsed for 194.
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Bengal won a low-scoring contest against Jharkhand by five wickets at Bhubaneswar. Chasing a modest target of 202, Wriddhiman Prasanta Saha and Manoj Tiwary struck contrasting half-centuries to lead Bengal to victory with 15 balls to spare. Saha anchored the innings with 85 off 137 balls and Tiwary hit a run-a-ball 69. Together they added 121 for the third wicket and wrested the game from Jharkhand. After winning the toss, Jharkhand got off to a miserable start, losing their top five wickets for 93. Rajiv Kumar was the only batsman to pass 30 though seven others got into double figures.

John Bracewell said New Zealand needed a good win over Kenya on Tuesday to maintain their momentum leading into the Super Eights. A win would help New Zealand’s chances of progressing through the tournament as Kenya were still in the running to make it past the group phase.”We’ve got two points to carry through should England qualify,” Bracewell told . “That’s the importance of the Kenyan match. We have to win that just in case it’s Kenya who qualify because they are the other team with two points in the bag.”However, Bracewell was not prepared to look ahead at the prospect of reaching the semi-finals. “For us it’s game by game because rhythm is quite an important thing in any tournament on getting on a roll,” he said.Kenya opened their World Cup with a seven-wicket victory over Canada, meaning the winner of Tuesday’s game will sit on top of the Group C table. Bracewell said New Zealand might know more about Kenya than some sides, as they had enlisted the help of Andy Moles, the former Kenya coach who is now coaching Northern Districts in New Zealand’s domestic competition.”We’ve got a fair degree of notes from Andy Moles who worked with them over an extended period,” Bracewell said. “We’ve got a fair bit of scouting done on them.” Bracewell was keen to give the four members of New Zealand’s squad who did not face England a run during their last two group matches.

The last time England played in the Caribbean a tall paceman from Durham grabbed all the headlines but, as the team prepares to head out to West Indies for the World Cup, Steve Harmison won’t even be on the plane.After the 5-0 Ashes whitewash Harmison announced his retirement from one-day cricket, saying he hoped it would extend his time at Test level. His last ODIs where in the Champions Trophy, when two wayward performances continued a poor run with the white ball, which Harmison struggled to control. In 2006 he took 14 wickets at 30, but that doesn’t tell the whole story as he went for almost six-an-over, include a 0 for 97 hammering by Sri Lanka at Headingley.His efforts in the Ashes will be remembered for one ball, his opening delivery of the series which went straight to Andrew Flintoff at second slip. After his one-day retirement questions were again asked about his commitment and passion, but Harmison is shrugging all that off.”I don’t think I’ve got to prove anything to anyone, my record speaks for itself,” he told , although others will beg to differ after a career that hasn’t lived up that 2004 West Indies tour.”What I want to do is enjoy my cricket again because I didn’t enjoy what happened this winter. The reasons for that are pretty obvious, but it’s behind me and I’m only looking forward. I won’t let the criticism get to me, I’ve got big enough shoulders to deal with that. If people think otherwise, they don’t know me.”All I’ll say is, I’ve learnt a lot about who my friends are and who was pretending to be my friend. That’s all I’ll say about it, but I know what I want out of life and I know I’m still a good fast bowler.”Harmison will have a handful of early-season Championship and domestic one-dayers to prove his worth to the selectors before the opening Test against West Indies, which starts on May 17 at Lord’s.

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.

Cricinfo can reveal that Zimbabwe’s cricketers have been banned by their board from having any player representation.Under the terms of the contract they all signed immediately before the World Cup, they are not allowed to appoint any single person to collectively negotiate on their behalf, and all dealings with board officials have to be on a one-on-one basis.One of the players said that this was a continuation of a divide-and-conquer policy towards them which has been operated by Zimbabwe Cricket since it refused to recognise Clive Field in negotiations at the end of 2005. At that time, Field was the official player representative, although after a series of acrimonious meetings, ZC stopped dealing with him.FICA, the international cricketers’ association, has written to ZC several times to stress the need for representation, but aside from an initial acknowledgment, there has been no communication from the Zimbabwe side.Although the players all signed the contract, they were presented with it and given a few minutes to read and sign, with the threat that were they not to, then they would be kicked off Zimbabwe’s World Cup squad. They were not allowed to consult with advisors. One player said that they were not happy to sign, but they took the view that they wanted to play in the tournament, so did so reluctantly.In a further twist, players have been also barred from meeting together as a group amid fears that there will be more who opt to quit the game now that the World Cup is out of the way. Cricinfo learned that one such meeting was recently cancelled amid fears that players could be reprimanded by the board. There is also concern that monies owed by the board from the World Cup, which have still to be paid, could be withheld were such a meeting to go ahead.

Points Tables

North Conference

The one match to escape the weather produced a major upset with Scotland beating Lancashire by 10 runs at Old Trafford. The contest was reduced to 22 overs per side and Ryan Watson’s 41-ball 43 propelled the Scots towards a competitive 142. Their total grew in significance when John Blain took two wickets in an over – including Brad Hodge for a second-ball duck – to leave Lancashire on 7 for 2. Mal Loye and Steven Croft (44) attempted a recovery but the increasing run rate led to a collapse. Australian Ian Moran removed Loye and Luke Sutton before Majid Haq and former captain Craig Wright collected three each. It’s the second time in four years Scotland have come out on top at Old Trafford, in 2003 they won in what was then Division Two of the National League. This is Scotland’s first victory of the season and virtually ends Lancashire’s hopes of making the semi-finals.A washout was declared early at Northampton as Northamptonshire and Leicestershire shared the points.

South Conference

All three matches in the South fell victim to the weather with no play possible at The Oval, Swansea or Taunton. Surrey’s point for their washout against Ireland moves them into a semi-final spot, ahead of Hampshire on net run-rate, while Kent stay top after a point against Somerset.

All but one of the 14-man squad named by the West Indies selectors for the first Test against South Africa in Guyana have signed match/tour contracts and so will be available to play. However, Jerome Taylor, who was due to sign the contract, has been ruled out of the first Test due to a stiffening of the back which will prevent him from being able to perform at his best. The board’s medical panel has advised Taylor to rest for four to six weeks as a precautionary measure.That the contracts have been signed ends speculation that some players might go on strike in support of the seven who had been left out because of their contracts with Cable & Wireless.Meanwhile, Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), was due to arrive in Barbados to try to find a solution to the stand-off and was expected to meet Teddy Griffith, the board’s president. “We certainly want to resolve this issue because this impasse is not doing anything good for anyone,” Ramnarine told the Trinidad Express. “We are trying to compromise as much as possible so we can make sure that the best team is out there. We are still optimistic.”Roger Braithwaite, the board’s chief executive, looked relieved that at least he would have a side to take the field. “I don’t want to speculate on anything WIPA may have been doing,” he told The Nation. “All I can speak to is that the players are eager. They are here. They are committed to playing for the West Indies and have indicated that commitment by signing the contracts.””The fact that the players have turned up and they are eager and looking forward to representing the West Indies speaks to what has been going on,” Brathwaite continued. “Obviously we have a situation that not all the players are here … we understand those reasons why. Hopefully, at some point in the future when they become eligible, they will be taken into consideration.”We have the best team here available to represent the West Indies, guys who are hungry and looking forward to the opportunity of representing the West Indies and making a name for themselves in Guyana.”

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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.

ScorecardPakistan Under-19s took a 2-0 lead in the series against England Under-19s with a 36-run win at Northampton. The varied Pakistan attack, led by Mohammad Aamer’s four wickets, proved too much for the home side as they chased 236 to stay in with a chance of winning the series. Umar Amin and Usman Salahuddin added 123 to form the base of Pakistan’s innings before Rory Hamilton-Brown’s offspin caused a dramatic late collapse.However, the England top order also disappeared in a hurry, undone by the pace and swing of Pakistan’s new-ball attack. It’s been a summer for left-arm fast bowlers and the damage was started by the rapid Aamer as Karl Brown feathered an attempted upper-cut through to the keeper.Billy Godleman played some classy shots in his positive innings, but was comprehensively bowled by Mohammad Rameez with one stump left standing. Aamer then struck his second blow when Adam Lyth was trapped lbw by a delivery which swung back into the right-hander. England’s problems mounted further when Alex Wakely was run out by a direct hit.Hamilton-Brown and Tom Westley tried to rescue the innings but couldn’t afford to take too many risks. With boundaries drying up, the required rate climbed towards a run-a-ball with Pakistan’s spinners continuing the good work of the quick bowlers. The pressure brought Hamilton-Brown’s downfall as he tried to steal a quick single, but was beaten by a strong throw from the in field. Hamilton-Brown knew the importance of his wicket and he slammed the bat into the ground in frustration.England’s last main chance of staying in the game went when Westley edged the left-arm spin of Ahmed Iqbal. Pakistan were impressive in the field and Liam Dawson fell to a fine running catch by Salahuddin at deep square-leg.Their innings was well-placed for a more demanding total after Amin and Salahuddin added 123 for the third wicket. They began circumspectly, but soon opened their shoulders as England turned to spin. Amin, a compact player on both sides of the wicket, picked the gaps impressively against the spinners. Salahuddin – who offered a tough chance to midwicket on 41 – cleared the boundary three times, including two in two balls off Hamilton-Brown before another attempt found deep midwicket.Pakistan then lost their way with the last eight wickets falling for 50 balls as Hamilton-Brown collected six wickets. Ali Asad was early on a ball and popped a return catch while Amin charged and missed as he looked for the boundary route. Some of the late shot selection was poor, but England deserve credit for keeping their heads when the innings appeared to be running away from them. However, once again the batting let them down and now, with two matches left, they are left with just a series draw to play for.