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Merv Hughes has been interviewed for the Austalian selection panel’s fourth spot following the resignation of Allan Border last month. The Age reported Hughes did not apply to replace Border, but was asked by Cricket Australia to consider the job and was the first to meet with them.The paper said Ray Bright, the Victoria nomination, would be interviewed tomorrow. Other candidates for the position under Trevor Hohns, the chairman, are Tom Hogan, the former Western Australia international spinner and New South Wales’ Marshall Rosen. Darren Lehmann has been backed by South Australia despite intending to continue playing.While Hughes is portrayed as a larrikin, he understands the difficulties of selection after 53 Tests as a fringe, injured and crucial figure. Hughes, who has bowled with or against the panel members Hohns, Andrew Hilditch and David Boon, has also applied for a place on Victoria’s selection committee, which has lost the chairman Mick O’Sullivan.

Simon Jones has been ruled out of England’s upcoming tour of Pakistan after failing to recover from the ankle injury which caused him to miss the final Test of the summer against Australia.Jones failed a fitness test on Tuesday and Peter Gregory, the chief medical officer of the ECB, said he would now have to face surgery. “We have tried a number of measures to help Simon’s ankle injury to settle, but these have been unsuccessful and we are left with no alternative but to operate,” Gregory explained. “There should be sufficient time for Simon to regain fitness and hence become available for selection for the tour to India beginning in late February.”Jones was understandably frustrated at the setback. “I’ve rested for three weeks and it has got worse. It’s very disappointing,” Jones told the BBC. “The recovery period is around three months, which gives me time to recover for the India tour in February.”It’s not a serious operation but I’ve got to get it done and get on with the recovery work and I’m sure it will be fine. Some things come along and they can make you a better person and cricketer – and that is the way I am looking at this injury. I’m trying to be as positive as I can, and I will work as hard as I can to get back in the team.”David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, admitted that the loss of Jones would have a big impact on the Pakistan tour, notably as he is England’s best exponent of reverse swing – a crucial ingredient on the sub-continent. “It is big blow. He formed a partnership as one of the four fast bowlers which proved such a test for Australia,” said Graveney. “The combination of the four bowlers was really a perfect mix.”Jones has already fought back from one career-threatening knee injury when he ruptured cruciate ligaments on the last tour to Australia in November 2002, forcing him to spend a long time out of the game, but Graveney hopes that will actually aid his recovery not hinder it.England have still to receive the all clear on Hampshire’s Chris Tremlett, who is battling to recover from knee trouble and will continue to receive treatment before a decision is reached.

Saleem Altaf, the former Pakistan medium-pacer, has been appointed as director of cricket by the Pakistan Cricket Board. He will represent Pakistan at all International Cricket Council and Asian Cricket Council meetings.Altaf’s appointment fills a gap left vacant after Rameez Raja’s resignation as chief executive of the PCB in August last year. Altaf will head a committee of five, comprising Imtiaz Ahmed, the former Test wicketkeeper, Naseem Ashraf, Mueen Afzal and Ali Reza. Meanwhile Abbas Zaidi has been named director of board operations, in charge of all non-cricket matters including administration, finance, marketing and media.”The appointments have been approved by the chief patron of the board after consultations with the chairman of the board Shaharyar Khan,” Zaidi was quoted as saying by Reuters.Altaf, who is 60 years old, played 21 Tests for Pakistan between 1967 and 1978, and picked up 46 wickets. He also scored one half-century.

Border 239 for 3 (Henderson 126*, Pope 50) beat GriqualandWest 236 (Koortzen 64, Gidley 52, Bosman 42, Henderson 3-45) by 7 wickets
ScorecardPointsTableBorder, with two games left to play, have made a bold bid for a Standard BankCup semi-final place with a win over Griqualand West in Kimberley. Griqualand West, losing, see their hopes of a place in the final four fall by the wayside.During the evening supper break some disgruntled members of the GriqualandWest community held an on-field peaceful protest against the recentannouncement that neighbours Free State had won the cricket franchise forthe area. A memorandum was handed over to the CEO of Griqualand West CricketBoard for forwarding to the United Cricket Board of South Africa.Winning the toss and batting first Griquas made the perfect start withPieter Koortzen and Martin Gidley putting on 89 for the first wicket. Gidley (52) was first to lose his wicket and was replaced by Benjamin Hector who added a patient 27. With the loss of Koortzen (64), on 148, Loots Bosman was allowedto score freely, and hit three sixes and two fours in his innings of 42from 22 balls.Losing five wickets for 32 runs in the final six overs did not do anyjustice to the Griqualand innings as they were bowled out for 236. Tyron Henderson the pick of the Border bowlers taking 3 for 45.Border starting slowly and lost two early wickets. They quickly fell behindthe required run rate. Henderson, sent in up the order, got the runs flowingwith his flurry bringing up his 50 in 47 balls and his first 100 in 85. StevenPope, a very willing partner and content to rotate the strike, lost hiswicket after reaching his 50 in 65 balls. The partnership was worth 138 runsand set Border up for the win.Craig Sugden, scoring a quick 28 off 17 balls helped Henderson, finishing ona career best 126, to reach the target in the 44th over.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out – South Africa
How they were out – India

An astounding display of power hitting from Justin Kemp lit up Cape Town and utterly transformed what seemed like a disastrous day for South Africa into a glorious one as they thumped India by 106 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Kemp blazed his way to an 89-ball unbeaten 100 – his first in ODIs – to lift South Africa from the depths of 76 for 6 to a daunting 274 for 7. Utterly demoralised by that battering – 113 came off the last ten, while the eighth-wicket stand between kemp and Andrew Hall yielded a record 138 – the Indians came up with a limp batting display, with only Mahendra Singh Dhoni (55) and Rahul Dravid (63) showing any fight.At the 20-over stage, it seemed the only team which could wrap up a comprehensive win in this match was India, as they fought back superbly after the drubbing at Durban. Zaheer Khan struck twice in his first over – with Smith perhaps disturbed by the pre-match altercation with Haroon Lorgat, the convener of selectors – while the rest of the top-order batsmen self-destructed quite spectacularly on a pitch which, though offering pace and bounce to the bowlers, was excellent for batting.Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman and Herschelle Gibbs all fell to extravagant shots outside off, while Mark Boucher was run out. Zaheer bowled an outstanding first spell – his figures read 7-4-9-3 – while Anil Kumble, back in the one-day side after 13 months, sustained the pressure with his typically impeccable control, conceding just 12 from his first eight overs. With most of the recognised batsmen back in the hutch, there was little more India could have hoped for after losing the toss.The South Africans, though, are well known for the depth in their batting, and Kemp, along with Shaun Pollock, slowly began the rescue mission. The pair added 60, which stabilised the innings and allowed Kemp to settle in before launching into that incredible onslaught. The Indians showed plenty of generosity in the field as well, offering Pollock and Kemp early chances – Dravid dropped a tough slip catch off Harbhajan Singh to reprieve Pollock, while Sachin Tendulkar quite shockingly missed a regulation caught-and-bowled when Kemp was on 9.Kemp had 13 on the board after 40 deliveries, but that was only the proverbial lull before an onslaught of quite scary proportions. Hitting cleanly through the line of the ball with meaty power and immaculate timing, Kemp had the Indians scurrying for cover as the complexion of the game changed in a trice. Whether it was pace or spin, Kemp backed himself, simply making room and hitting through the line of the ball, which kept disappearing high over long-on and long-off.Harbhajan felt the heat first, being tonked for a six and four off successive balls, before Kemp turned his attention to the faster bowlers. Irfan Pathan disappeared for two sixes and a four in an over – all blasted straight down the ground – while Zaheer took a fearful battering too, being clobbered for consecutive straight sixes. Kemp took most of the honours, but he received excellent support from Andrew Hall, who kept the momentum going with a quickfire 47-ball 56. The punch-drunk Indian bowlers threw in the towel – Pathan continually bowled length balls, while Zaheer’s attempt at yorkers regularly threw up full tosses. Both were meat and drink for Kemp and Hall, who added an amazing 76 in the five overs between 43 and 47.

Battered into submission in the field, the Indians needed a powerful start to have any chance, but Shaun Pollock snuffed those hopes with an impeccable new-ball spell in which he nailed Virender Sehwag, Tendulkar and Mohammad Kaif – Sehwag, for the umpteenth time, skied a cut to third man, while Tendulkar and Kaif both fell playing the pull.The only encouraging passage of play was when Dhoni joined Dravid and blasted four sixes on the way to an entertaining knock which briefly offered India a glimmer of hope. Enjoying the pace and bounce on the track, Dhoni clobbered Makhaya Ntini for six off the third ball he faced, and then continued in similar vein, adding 85 for the fifth wicket with Dravid at nearly a run a ball. Dhoni even had the pleasure of briefly giving Kemp a taste of his own medicine, carting him for a six to bring up his fifty, but when he fell soon after to a magnificent catch at the square-leg boundary, the match was as good as over. Dravid required treatment for dehydration and battled on to his 73rd ODI half-century, but he was only delaying the inevitable.

Thilanga Sumathipala, the president of Sri Lanka’s cricket board, has hit back at the authorities who have ordered his arrest. He has questioned the motive of the timing by the attorney-general and the solicitor-general of Sri Lanka, and has denied any involvement with Dhammika Amarasinghe, the underworld leader who he is alleged to have helped to obtain a fake passport.In a press release issued by the board, Sumathipala said, about his arrest: “There is no order from any court, but only a letter issued by the attorney-general, which is an executive action. Regrettably this is on the very eve of the commencement of the England and Sri Lanka Test series, regardless of the damage to the country, that too, by the attorney-general and solicitor-general acting in random, giving rise to the question of the real motive.”He went on to say, “I regret to state that I am aware that the attorney-general and the solicitor-general have acted in a manner of not applying the law equally to all. I am able to cite several serious instances and I will at the appropriate time and forum.””I categorically deny any involvement with the said underworld character who had supposed to have travelled to the UK,” he continued, “as published in certain newspapers to tarnish my image.”Sumathipala then also alleged that he was the real victim in this case. “My lawyers have already made representations to the attorney-general and to the inspector-general of police of the leakage of the manner and the content of the investigative process to the Sunday Leader newspaper, which has carried on a scandalous campaign and conspiracy to kill me or have me killed.”

Somerset were left facing an uphill struggle if they are to salvage anything from their championship match against Worcestershire after ending the second day of the Bath Festival still needing 281 runs to avoid an innings defeat with all of their second innings wickets remaining.Resuming on 422 for 5, Andy Hall who was unbeaten on 30 overnight helped the visitors add a further 116 to their total before he was the last man out after becoming the third centurion for his team as Worcestershire were eventually all out for 538.The South African who was dismissed LBW by Keith Parsons after batting for a further twenty nine overs this morning, scored 104 runs that came from 115 balls, and included six sixes and eleven fours.There were two more wickets for Ian Blackwell today to give the slow left armer final figures of 4 for 131 from his 45 overs.The Cidermen’s opening pair of Piran Holloway and Mast Wood saw their first wicket partnership put on 40 runs before Wood was out for 8. Two runs later Holloway who had contributed 30 runs followed him back to the pavilion.James Bryant and Jamie Cox then seemed to have played themselves in and saw the Somerset hundred up before they both were out, Bryant becoming the first of Gareth Batty’s victims after he had scored 28 and Cox who was LBW to Hall for 37.Skipper Mike Burns followed shortly afterwards at which point tea was taken with the score on 138 for 5 wickets.After the break Blackwell scored 28 before he fell LBW to Batty, Rob Turner 23, Keith Dutch 17 and Nixon McLean was still at the wicket unbeaten on 35 as Somerset slipped to a disappointing 238 all out.Following on, Holloway and Wood remained unbeaten at the close by which time they had taken the score onto 19 without loss.At the end of the day Somerset coach Kevin Shine said: "This was not a good day for us. We just haven’t played the sort of disciplined cricket today that has taken us to the top of the table which was very disappointing, because conditions haven’t changed out there. They put together a formidable total and we should have done a lot better than the 238 runs we scored."He continued: "However at the close of play we have sat down and been very honest with ourselves about how things have gone today. We are top of the table and they are right behind us. We want to fight very hard and try to hang onto the credits that we have got ourselves so far this season."Meanwhile back at the County Ground in Taunton, Somerset seconds are also struggling to save the game against their Surrey counterparts.Chasing a formidable 600 for 8 declared the Second’s were all out for 248, with Antiguan policeman Anwar Prince top scoring with 129.Following on Somerset had moved onto 201 for 3 by the close, with Wes Durston unbeaten on 76 and triallist Ben Moore from Liverpool 30 not out. Earlier Cornishman Carl Gazzard had made 60.

England v Zimbabwe, 2nd Test, Chester-le-Street, Day One
Thousands of northern prayers were answered when Chester-le-Street’s first day of Test cricket dawned fine. The trappings were all in place: the countdown clock, the expectant media chatter, the local boy Steve Harmison champing at the bit to bowl the first ball (he didn’t, because Nasser Hussain won the toss and batted). Even Phil Tufnell, the newly crowned King of the Jungle, was there.The ground looked a picture, and the crowd was a pretty good one. All that was missing was the usual tension associated with Test cricket – that worrying feeling that England were struggling for supremacy. After the Lord’s Test, where Zimbabwe rolled over and died on the third day, the general opinion was that England couldn’t lose. That feeling probably contributed to the mid-afternoon wobble, when three quick wickets tumbled as Douglas Hondo was briefly accorded supercharged status.Normal service was restored by Alec Stewart (no change there, then) and Anthony McGrath – and even McGrath’s mum might have thought it a bit fanciful a month ago if she’d been told he would soon have a Test average pushing 100.There has been much talk of whether this Zimbabwean side is the weakest ever to tour England. Despite today’s showing with the ball, they are certainly in contention for that dubious honour. Only Grant Flower of the batsmen has scored a Test century, and even he averages less than 10 with the bat in Tests in England.I was asked before the first Test to nominate the other contenders for Weakest Team Since The Last War, and probably alienated half of New Zealand by plumping for the 1958 Kiwis, who were bowled out for under 100 five times in five Tests, and would have lost 5-0 if it hadn’t rained for days on end at The Oval. They could make nothing of Tony Lock, who took 34 wickets at 7.47 with his slow left-arm spin. That tour came in the middle of what looks at first sight to have been a great run by England at home: 3-0 against West Indies in 1957, 4-0 v NZ in 1958, an unprecedented 5-0 v India in 1959, and 3-0 v South Africa in 1960 – 15-0 in four years. The record was spoilt a bit by going down 4-0 in Australia in 1958-59 … some things never change.It might have looked good, but actually it was a pretty dire time. All four of those sides were terribly weak – even the West Indians underperformed despite having some great names on board. One-sided cricket is boring, and cricketwise the ’50s are about the dullest decade on record – that’s the main reason one-day cricket started with such a bang in the 1960s. I’m quite relieved to say that I wasn’t around at the time, but reading about those series you’re struck by the inevitability of it all. Tension was absent.And there remains a lack of tension about this match, too. It wasn’t a great batting effort by England on a belter of a pitch. But it’s still hard to envisage Zimbabwe bowling England out cheaply twice, or England not bowling Zimbabwe out twice, although it might well take rather longer than a day. In 2000 the Zimbabweans bounced back after a similarly chastening defeat at Lord’s and competed well in the second Test at Trent Bridge. But the main man then was Murray Goodwin, a classy cutter who cracked 148 not out. Goodwin scored 35 this week – for Sussex, not Zimbabwe. Andy Flower, Zimbabwe’s best batsman by a street (or maybe a Streak), was attempting his usual rescue act after his side lost early wickets. That side was Essex, not Zimbabwe (and he failed, possibly because he had half an eye on events at the Riverside).It’s simplistic to say this, because there are political currents, undercurrents and crosscurrents at work here … but if Zimbabwe want to compete at international level, they can’t go on losing their best players. Otherwise they’ll go on losing their Test matches.Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden CricInfo.

A groin injury may cause Herschelle Gibbs to miss South Africa’s forthcoming tour of Pakistan.Gibbs will undergo a tough fitness test on Friday, after which team physiotherapist Shane Jabaar and the team management will make a final decision on whether he can join the touring party.The South Africans depart for Pakistan on Sunday for three one-day internationals and three Test matches, but Jabaar is optimistic. “Since we’ve got five days to treat his injury, I’m fairly positive that Herschelle will be fit for the tour."Gibbs is also confident that he will be ready to take his place in the side. “I receive treatment daily, and I don’t believe it [the injury] will be a problem," he said. "It’s a strange sort of injury. I don’t even know how I sustained it."

Gordon Greenidge’S dual role as a West Indies selector and a consultant with Bangladesh in preparation for the forthcoming World Cup is not viewed as a conflict of interest by the region’s governing body.If such additional duties, however, coincided with assignments for West Indies selectors, it could lead to a problem, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Wes Hall has pointed out.Greenidge, the illustrious former West Indies opening batsman, was recently appointed Bangladesh’s batting coach for a pre-World Cup tour of Namibia and was not expected back in the Caribbean for the beginning of the Carib Beer Series which starts today.Bangladesh Cricket Board cricket committee chairman Mahbub was quoted as saying Greenidge’s appointment as a consultant would run until today, but Hall’s information was that the former Barbados captain would be unavailable for the first three rounds of the Carib Beer Series."I do understand the great consternation it will cause in some circles in terms of conflicts of interests, but I would say that as soon as Gordon gets back, we will speak to him on the issue," Hall said."The board feels that when you employ a selector, he is employed from one match to another or from one tour to another. If a selector therefore had a job in between tours, we cannot in all honesty command that he stays here unless you had him in contract."Greenidge, arguably the finest opening batsman the West Indies has ever produced, served as Bangladesh coach at the 1999 World Cup and was largely responsible for the recent development of their cricket that eventually led to them gaining Test status.He was sacked, presumably for making comments that suggested they were not deserving of the status at the time.Employed by the Barbados Government in the last few years, Greenidge was appointed a West Indies selector last June and subsequently contracted by Bangladesh a few weeks ago on a short-term basis."If it happens during the time we are playing cricket … if it is not a conflict of interest, it is something that we do not think can be tolerated," Hall said."We have to talk to Gordon. We don’t really want to go and slam him behind his back."In the absence of Greenidge and chief selector Sir Vivian Richards, who will be sent to the World Cup, the WICB has asked two members of its junior selection panel, Clyde Butts and Ezra Moseley, to fill in as replacements to watch matches in the opening round of Carib Series matches.