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Stuart Clark, the Australian fast bowler, has admitted that a county stint would have helped him prepare better for the Ashes instead of a one-day series in the UAE.Clark was originally due to represent Kent as their overseas player but the Australia call-up has forced the county to change their plans and recruit the South African, Wayne Parnell, instead. Clark, who is making a comeback after elbow surgery in December, felt a more rigorous programme in England would have helped fine-tune his comeback instead of a rather limited workload in the UAE, especially with the fast bowlers being rotated.”That’s no secret that I need to do some more cricket work,” Clark told . “But I’m getting a fair amount of cricket work in the nets, which is something I wouldn’t have got at home, being winter, and there’s not many facilities available other than probably Brisbane.”England, obviously, I would have gone and played county cricket [if not selected for Australia] and it would have been more competitive. But what I’ve found here is the fact that we’ve got nets and without the pressure of having to win or lose, it’s not result-orientated, it’s just practice.”Clark, however, reiterated that playing for Australia was always his first priority, injury permitting. He wasn’t expecting a call-up and was preparing to head to England earlier this month and he admitted to Cricinfo that he “nearly fell off his chair” when Cricket Australia informed him of his selection.”I would have played some more cricket as such, but this is an opportunity to play for Australia and no one should ever turn that down,” Clark said. “Maybe from a selfish point of view that might have been the best thing for me.”But it’s another chance to play for Australia and at one stage in my life I would have given my right arm – or my left arm, my right one I need to bowl – to play for Australia, so it would be rude to turn it down, wouldn’t it?”He said his recovery has been smooth. He bowled eight overs in the first ODI and three in the third match, taking a wicket in each game.”I’m pain-free now, unfortunately in India I hurt it and as much as I tried to put it out of my mind, on the days when it did feel good I bowled well and when it felt bad I didn’t,” he said. “Now that I don’t have to worry about it, it’s really good.”

Ricky Ponting has praised Michael Hussey after he showed signs of exiting a rough patch with a valuable half-century in Australia’s first-up win over South Africa. Hussey has been out of touch for most of the season but stood up with 83 from 79 balls to steer his side to 286 for 7 in the 141-run success.”It’s been a difficult few months for him,” Ponting said after the match. Despite Hussey’s difficulties, Ponting said the batsman’s focus had not changed.”You wouldn’t know with him,” Ponting said. “He just continues to work hard, enjoy his cricket and enjoy the hard work. It was great to see him get those runs on the board again.”When he went out to bat it was a really crucial moment in the game. For him to get 80-odd will hopefully give him confidence for the rest of the summer.”Nathan Hauritz, the offspinner, then grabbed a rare opportunity to take 4 for 29 as South Africa crumbled to 145. James Hopes and Mitchell Johnson also grabbed two wickets each in a performance that pleased Ponting.”We just made an over-par score on that wicket,” Ponting said. “It was going to be a competitive score but the guys bowled exceptionally well. Hauritz was terrific and Hopes was very, very good and Mitchell was good as well.”Graeme Smith scored 52 from 56 deliveries on his comeback from a broken hand, but his team could not build on the strong start. “Australia were better in all departments,” he said.

ScorecardLancashire swept aside the Fly Emirates part-timers in Sharjah to set up a Roses play-off game on Tuesday to decide whichof the rival counties will finish third in the Pro Arch Trophy for 2009. The floodlights at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium had barely warmed up by the time Fly Emirates were dismissed to lose by the landslide margin of 214 runs – the biggest defeat in the three-year history of this event.Pace did the damage as Steven Cheetham, who is 6ft 5in, took 5 for 12 in tandem with 24-year-old Oliver Newby (4 for 29), as both bowled their 10-over allocation straight through. The only Emirates resistance came late as No.9 in the order, Soheb Mujiani (16) and No.10 Rehan Adil (13) limped into double figures. They were the home batsmen to do so.Lancashire now face a third placed play-off game against Yorkshire at Sharjah on Wednesday.Man-of-the-match Cheetham, who won a free return flight to Dubai for his troubles, said: “I didn’t feel that I bowled too crash hot theother night, so it was nice to make amends. I wasn’t too bothered about pace; I was just trying to hit my goodlines and lengths because there wasn’t too much pace in the track.Steven Mullaney’s 121-ball 103, coupled with another good contribution from Paul Horton – freshfrom a century in Abu Dhabi last week – led to Lancashire’s 262 for 5. An injury to Mal Loye, who fell down a pothole and twisted his ankle at this ground last week, allowed head coach Peter Moores to experiment at the top of the order and give Mullaney his chance.After scoring his first century of the tour”I didn’t really envisage opening on the tour, but I mentioned to ‘Moorsey’ [Peter Moores] in a one-on-one meeting with him that I had done it a few times in Australia. When ‘Chappie’ [captain Glen Chapple] read out the team yesterday and said that I was opening, I was absolutely delighted.”I took my chance in a way, and hopefully it will lead to more things.”

QEA Final

Scorecard
Sialkot turned around proceedings at the Jinnah Stadium by derailing a solid start by Khan Research Laboratories and then launching one of their own. From 208 for 4, KRL were bowled out for 289, after which Sialkot’s openers added 150 to cap off a good day at the office.Bazid Khan was removed for 18 first thing in the morning (205 for 8). From then on wickets fell at regular intervals, but the biggest blow for KRL was losing the opener Azhar Ali for 99. Azhar had helped give them a solid, if watchful, start on day one. Ali Khan propped up the lower order with 42.It was Sialkot’s opening stand which really cemented their position. Kamran Younis and Naeemuddin put on 150 as Sialkot finished the day 189 for 1, trailing by 107. Younis hit 13 fours and three sixes before he was bowled by Junaid Khan. Bilal Azmat then joined Naeemuddin and saw off the day. Naeemuddin was unbeaten on 70.

Pragyan Ojha stood at the boundary of the Cricket Field adjoining the Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Venkatesh Prasad hit a skier towards him, which Ojha comfortably got under. But then the wind carried it over the picket fence. Ojha looked towards Prasad, Prasad looked towards Ojha.The wind carried the message fast enough. They had heard of it, some of them – like Prasad – had experienced it, but now everyone had come face to face with the famous New Zealand winds. Then Prasad shouted, “You should have tried still.” This training session was India’s first tryst with the windy conditions on an otherwise perfect day – sunny and mildly warm.The session was an ideal one for the Indian players who have rarely played in such conditions, especially the ones in the limited-overs sides. India had to move to the adjoining ground because there was a two-day game on between the England Lions and Emerging New Zealand Players.The game plan for Gary Kirsten today was straightforward. It started with simple running that went on for about an hour and a half. Endurance can be a problem in cold and windy conditions, and all the players were put to a stern test on that count.During the fielding practice that followed, the fielders struggled to judge the carry on the ball, often running in too much. At least they now can be mindful of the wind before they enter match situation. Following the fielding the batsmen were divided into groups – one batted in the nets and the other went for the open-wicket practice. Virender Sehwag looked tired, and requested Kirsten to put him in the group that would go in later.During the open-wicket practice came another aspect, which was perhaps more important, that of bowling into the wind. All the Indian bowlers made use of that. The batsmen practised against Prasad, Robin Singh, local bowlers, a bowling machine and even Paddy Upton. Praveen Kumar was surprised by a return catch from Rohit Sharma, which came back too fast to him. He was hit on the elbow in the follow-through, but it didn’t cause too much damage, and Praveen was fit to bat later in the day.However it is too early identify which of the bowlers would be better off bowling into the wind. “You would have noticed today we practised with all the bowlers into the wind,” Kirsten said. “What we said was that every bowlers has got to do the hard yards some day. It’s not easy, but we have to be prepared for that. It’s about just adapting to the situation.”You just don’t turn up at 10am and win a game just because you are a better side on the paper. Someone’s got to work hard out there. This team’s very aware of that. Everyone wants to be a game-breaker.”They have been practising hard to come to terms with alien conditions, but India are staying away from discussing them too much when off the field. “We stay away from too much talk. Talk is dangerous,” Kirsten said. “What we do is, come into the nets and spend time there. We had nearly a four-and-a-half hours session yesterday, and another four-hour session today.”What we are focused on, is to make sure that the guys are ready when they are needed to be. It might take a bit of time during match play. Senior players who have been here pass on the information that they need, we pass the information too, but it’s the players who have got to do the job.”Kirsten could well be the right man to pass on the information about New Zealand. In the seven Tests he played here, he averaged 58.70, as opposed to his overall average of 45.27, and managed two centuries. The second of his centuries in New Zealand came more than a year after India’s disastrous tour in 2002-03.”The last tour was six-seven years ago,” Kirsten said. “We don’t focus on the past, we are worried about what happens ahead. We certainly haven’t had team meetings talking about what happened here six-seven years ago. We have played 17 games of cricket since September last year, and lost one. So we are very happy with our performance.”This team doesn’t focus on performance, but what we need to do on a daily basis. We believe that if we prepare and plan well, we give ourselves the best chance of a win. But we also know that the game is designed such that at anytime you can have a bad hour or two. We are very humble around that fact.”Kirsten was not bothered about the nature of the pitches, confident in the quality of his pace attack. “Everyone is talking about the wickets. It’s not something that concerns our minds too much. We are well planned for any conditions, our team is well balanced. Our seamers have had a particularly good year, and we are not concerned too much about the conditions.”

The predictable fallout from a disastrous loss to Sri Lanka in the series-deciding ODI at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore has begun with the PCB asking Shoaib Malik and the Pakistan team management to submit a detailed report of the loss by Tuesday.Pakistan were bowled out for just 75, their lowest total at home, and it resulted in their heaviest defeat ever in terms of runs, by 234 runs, in the third ODI on Saturday. Malik, coach Intikhab Alam and chief selector Abdul Qadir have also been summoned by the senate’s sports committee to explain the reasons behind the loss.”I have instructed Yawar Saeed (manager) and coach Intikhab Alam to give their detailed comments on the defeat in the next two days so that we can find out what happened. The board wants to know what has to be done to rectify the situation and set things right,” Ijaz Butt, chairman of the PCB, said.”We can’t tolerate such poor performances from anyone. Like others I am also surprised at the way our batsmen played but I can’t make any further comment until receiving a detailed report,” he added.Alam said he wouldn’t offer any excuses for the crushing loss. “We are not shying from this defeat,” he told . “The team management takes full responsibility of this embarrassing defeat. This [result] could be blessing in disguise for us because you can only move forward from here. You can’t see a much poorer performance from the team than what we did in Lahore two days ago.”A number of aspects of the performance are likely to come under the scanner, from the dropping of Sohail Tanvir, to going in with three spinners when all the talk had been of using pace.Salman Butt’s decision to go off the field with two overs left in the Sri Lanka innings, which eventually prevented him from opening the innings and requiring a re-jig in the batting order was another in a long line of costly mistakes. Asked whether the team management was aware of the rules, Butt said the opener had been told by the manager, but got the information late.”It could be one of the reasons because [Salman] Butt was one of the in-form batsmen. However, there is no excuse too be bowled out for just 75,” the chairman said.As expected, the ever-eager senate standing committee on sports also wants its’ two cents’ worth of the debate. The committee has been persistent critics of the board in recent years, regardless of which administration is in place and has regularly collared them over financial misuse and continuing poor performances.Just recently they grilled the top hierarchy of the board and have now asked Malik and others to turn up at a hearing scheduled for February 9. Senator Enver Baig said he had discussed the defeat with other members of the committee, Tariq Mashadi and Haroon Akhtar, before deciding to summon the team management.Malik’s performance as captain, in particular, will come under question. In any case his record is not impressive, but continuing reports of his efforts to rid the team of players he doesn’t gel with are likely to be brought up as well.”There is no unity and the captain has been unable to gel the boys together,” Baig told the . “In the last game against Sri Lanka, Pakistan were worse than an ordinary club team. Such a performance is completely unacceptable.”The senate hearing had originally been called to probe the financial problems of the PCB, which the current board administration had blamed on the previous set-up led by Nasim Ashraf.

The abbreviated first Test in Dunedin highlighted that West Indies are a real threat in the series which concludes in Napier from Friday. The batting of Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and an unlikely Jerome Taylor, in between the rain, showed that the visiting order will take some serious effort to be dismissed on what is expected to be an excellent surface.According to Mathew Sinclair, the Central Districts captain and former Test batsman, the McLean Park pitch is a belter. He said it is taking very little turn and the batsmen should get ready for a long stay at the crease. This will suit the West Indians.Gayle, who scored 74 in West Indies’ only innings at the University Oval, and Chanderpaul (76) have already shown the New Zealanders how difficult it is to dismiss them on a good surface. With Ramnaresh Sarwan, a third world-class batsman, in the side, the order looks more capable than their opponents of posting a big score. If Gayle wins the toss and bats on Friday, Daniel Vettori’s men could be up against it. There is also the worry of the lower order following Jerome Taylor’s breakthrough century from No. 8.New Zealand’s lack of experience could count against them. The opener Jamie How is under huge pressure to perform, mainly because in 17 Tests he has not scored a century and is averaging 22.74. When Aaron Redmond was dropped for this series, many thought his partner How should have been the one to go. Tim McIntosh was brought in for Redmond and added 34 and 24 not out following a nervous start.The lack of three-figure scores by the rest of the top order is another concern. While Daniel Flynn and Jesse Ryder came close in the first Test, New Zealand lack the potential for a major contribution that can raise totals in excess of 400. Not one century has been made in the last six Tests. The last player to reach that milestone is under an injury cloud, with Ross Taylor, who picked up 154 not out against England in May, dislocating the ring finger on his right hand while fielding in the first Test. Catching is more of a discomfort than batting for Taylor and Peter Fulton, who was dropped following the 2-0 defeat in Australia, has joined the squad as cover.What the first match showed was that the teams are evenly matched and both are desperate to win the series to claim seventh spot on the rankings. With so much riding on the result, it should be an entertaining spectacle, especially if the batting orders can fire in the first innings.While New Zealand have some troubles with their batsmen, there is also uncertainty in their attack. Replacing the bowling spearhead Chris Martin with the in-experienced Mark Gillespie failed badly in Dunedin and if Jeetan Patel, the offspinner, is an unlikely elevation, Gillespie may be the man to miss out. In Dunedin he bowled 21 overs for 102 runs without reward and the visitors were comfortable when facing him.On the positive side Kyle Mills regained his Test form when he replaced the injured Jacob Oram at the last minute. His 3 for 64 and was a good sign, along with Vettori’s 6 for 56, for the second Test. James Franklin has a rib injury but bowled strongly at training on Wednesday, meaning his standby Chris Martin is likely to be heading back to the domestic scene, while Iain O’Brien is the other member of the attack.Once again Oram has been ruled out by injury and will miss his fifth Test since October. The calf problem he suffered before the opening game is still bothering him, adding to his raft of injuries over the past few years. In Bangladesh he suffered a back complaint and followed that up by chipping a bone in his finger while playing for Central Districts. His record has attracted criticism from his former team-mate Craig McMillan.There are few concerns for West Indies’ bowlers and they should be satisfied with the way they performed in Dunedin. Gayle told windiescricket.com he was happy with the way his team played in the match.”It was cold and we had a lot of rain, but we adapted well and had some very good performances,” he said. “There is always room for improvement and we will be looking for improvement in all departments. We will be back in business in Napier in a few days and we will be looking for a win in that match.”New Zealand (from) Jamie How, Tim McIntosh, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Peter Fulton, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori (capt), James Franklin, Mark Gillespie, Iain O’Brien, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin.West Indies (from) Chris Gayle (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lionel Baker, Carlton Baugh, Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Fidel Edwards, Leon Johnson, Xavier Marshall, Brendan Nash, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor.

Group A

Twenty-one wickets fell on an eventful day at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex in Karachi. Habib Bank Limited lost 11 of those wickets for 90 runs, making National Bank of Pakistan the firm favourites heading into the third day. HBL began the day at 11 for 2 in their first innings in reply to NBP’s 209, and finished in an even more precarious situation, at 11 for 3 chasing 260. Their first innings folded for 80, with Mohammad Aamer taking four, aided by two wickets apiece for Mohammad Talha and Mohammad Imran. NBP gained a lead of 129, and doubled it with a score of 130 in their second innings, despite legspinner Danish Kaneria striking form with a five-wicket haul and left-arm seamer Kamran Hussain taking three. HBL were set the highest total of the game for victory, but three quick wickets leave captain Younis Khan and the remaining batsmen an improbable task at hand.A win is also on the cards for Pakistan International Airlines after Karachi Whites closed the second day with three second-innings wickets down and still needing a further 281 runs to make the opposition bat again at the National Stadium in Karachi. PIA, who began the day with a lead of 108 – Karachi were shot out for 65 on the first day – extended it to 354. It was a combined batting effort: the lowest score among their top seven was 39, with 78 the best. Anwar Ali, who took five in the first innings, scalped two wickets in the second as Karachi reached 73 for 3 at stumps.Khan Research Laboratories look poised to take the first-innings lead against Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited in Rawalpindi. Both the teams suffered batting collapses on the second day. KRL, resuming on 242 for 6, could only add seven runs to their total as Ifthikar Anjum and Mohammad Khalil wrapped up the innings. Rizwan Ahmed, unbeaten overnight on 97, managed to get to his second first-class century. Afaq Raheem (79) and Umar Javed (47) took ZTBL to 141 for 1, but offspinner Saeed Ajmal dismissed them both to trigger a collapse. From 160 for 2, ZTBL fumbled to 191 for 7, with Ajmal taking five, and will need a revival to have any hopes of gaining the first-innings lead.Wicketkeeper Ahmed Zeeshan scored his second first-class ton to take Sui Southern Gas Corporation, resuming on 230 for 4, to 346 in their first innings at the at the Quaid-e-Azam Park in Karachi. However, Pakistan Customs, led by Scotland batsman Qasim Sheikh, made a steady reply to finish at 117 for 1 by close on the second day.After no play on the first day, only 33 overs were possible on Monday between Water and Power Development Authority and defending champions Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited in Sheikhupura. Kashif Raza struck twice, and SNGPL captain Misbah-ul-Haq scored 13 off 61 balls to take them to 66 for 3.

Group B

Peshawar fought back on the second day against Abbottabad but were still staring at a huge defeat at the Arbab Niaz Stadium. After resuming on 227 for 4, Abbottabad lost their last six wickets for 65 runs, give them a first-innings cushion of 226 runs. In reply, Peshawar threatened a repeat of their first-innings failings, slipping to 68 for 5, but rallied through an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 59 between Sajjad Ahmed (45) and Mohammad Rizwan (25).Karachi Blues took charge of their game against last season’s bottom-placed team, Quetta, at the United Bank Limited Sports Complex. After Karachi were dismissed for 289, Quetta folded for 129 and were made to follow on. Medium-pacer Tabish Khan starred with four wickets as only one Quetta batsman, Samiullah Agha, went past 20. In the second innings, Agha was unbeaten on 18 as Quetta closed the day at 51 for 1, still behind by 109 runs.It was a much closer tussle at the Diamond Club Ground, where Rawalpindi finished day two on 211 for 8, lagging Islamabad’s first-innings effort by 41 runs. Fawad Hussain played a lone hand for Rawalpindi, making his second century in only his second first-class match. There weren’t any significant contributions from the other specialist batsman, the second-highest scorer being No. 8 Jamal Anwar, who made an unbeaten 25. Rauf Akbar was the most effective of the Islamabad bowlers, finishing with 4 for 43.The second day at the Gadaffi Stadium between Lahore Ravi and Faisalabad was truncated, with only 66 overs possible. A patient century from No. 3 Kashif Siddiq helped Lahore reach 260 for 6. They were struggling at 43 for 3 before a 91-run stand between Siddiq and Ashraf Ali (33) bailed them out. The other significant partnership was the 78-run association between Siddiq and captain Junaid Zia (38*) for the sixth wicket.No play was possible on the second day as well between Multan and Hyderabad.

Cricket Scotland has taken a significant step forward in handing professional contracts to three of its players, Dewald Nel, Gordon Goudie and Ryan Watson, the Scotland captain.Scotland, one of the six Associate nations, has received a significantly increased grant of US$350,000 (£230,000) and it was widely expected that leading Associates would try to use this to allow their leading cricketers to turn professional. But general economic uncertainty, allied to a reduction in the sum expected because of the postponement of the Champions Trophy last September, has led to plans being revised.Nevertheless, it is a step forward for British Associate cricket and the trio join Kyle Coetzer (Durham) and Navdeep Poonia and Calum MacLeod (both Warwickshire) as full-time professionals.”This is truly a historic development for Scottish cricket, and I am proud to be able to lead this squad to the World Cup qualifier, and to show what we can do in the T20 tournament in England next year,” Watson said. “Professionalism is the right move at this moment. It’s the most important next step in the development of the game in Scotland – and it’s an incentive for the younger lads who can now see the improved possibilities of making a career in the sport, if they work hard and perform well.”Associate cricketers have long struggled to cope with playing cricket on a near full-time basis in addition to holding down their jobs. Sponsorship and funding has gradually increased in the last few years, but only such a marked rise in funding from the ICC – such as this one – can allow boards such as Cricket Scotland and Cricket Ireland to support players who want to devote their careers to cricket.Warren Deutrom, Ireland’s chief executive, told Cricinfo that his board “intend to do something similar” to Scotland though an announcement isn’t due until the middle of February.

Scorecard

The South African Airways Challenge XI could not build on the superb start given by their openers. The opening pair put on 170, but Shahadat Hossain derailed the innings with three top-order wickets and the middle-order batsmen failed to regain the momentum, struggling against the left-arm spin of Mehrab Hossain jnr.Openers Divan van Wyk and Andre Seymore negotiated the Bangladeshi bowling with ease at the start – the two added 50 in 71 balls. van Wyk was the more confident one and contributed 38 to the fifty partnership. They ticked along at the same run-rate to the 150-run mark but Shahadat struck soon after. Seymore was the first one to go, caught for 75 in the 41st over, and only two more were added before Shahadat bowled new batsman Jonathan Beukes for 1.When van Wyk edged him to the keeper for 87, the hosts had lost three wickets for ten runs. Khayelihle Zondo and Warren Swan added 34 before Mehrab bowled Swan for 13. He took two more wickets, including Zondo’s for 25. The hosts were dismissed for 265; ten wickets fell for 95 runs.Imrul Kayes, who could make his Test debut on this tour, opened the batting with Tamim Iqbal. The two added 51 before Tamim was bowled for 34 by medium-pacer Mthokozisi Shezi. Junaid Siddique’s stay at the crease was limited to one ball as Shezi took two in two deliveries. At stumps Bangladeshis were 173 behind with Kayes batting alongside Mohammad Ashraful.