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Western Province and Griqualand West will make their way to Newlands on 15 January to contest the Standard Bank Cup limited overs final after winning their respective semi-finals against Border and Boland.In East London the Border Bears made the perfect start, after losing the toss, when they had Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs back in the pavilion inside three overs. Gibbs giving Makhaya Ntini a return catch without scoring and Smith mistiming a pull to midwicket off Monde Zondeki for three.Jacques Kallis and Gary Kirsten, on a difficult pitch, set about the bowling bringing up the 50 partnership in 81 balls and 56 minutes. Increasing the run rate the 100 came in 144 balls and 102 minutes, while the 150 appeared in 190 balls and 128 minutes.Kallis, having accepted a live from Mark Boucher standing up to Liam Graham when on 24, went on make 88 with Gary Kirsten getting another brilliant 103. Their partnership of 187, in nearly 37 overs, had brought Western Province back into the game.In the chase for runs a collapse followed with Western Province finishing on 228/7 after being 203/2 with four overs remaining. Only Kirsten and Kallis able to get into double figures.The wickets were shared with Zondeki ending with 2/37.Border made an even worse start than Western Province did. Five wickets down with only 35 runs on the scoreboard signalled their doom. Burton de Wett (13), Mark Bruyns (0), Stephen Pope (9), Mark Boucher (2) and Pieter Strydom (0) all failed as Charl Willoughby and Kallis took two wickets each.Tyron Henderson (39) and Craig Sugden put on 49 for the sixth wicket before Sugden and Laden Gamiet brought Border right back into the game putting on 64 runs for the seventh wicket.Once Sugden was out for a well played 50 in 63 balls and 92 minutes, Gamiet (33) and Graham (32*) fought hard but with the overs running out Border was bowled out for 205, 23 runs short.Kallis took the man-of-the-match award after his 88 and three wickets.In Paarl, Griqualand West decided to bat first and almost immediately was in trouble with Loots Bosman dropped off the first ball of the innings by Con de Lange fielding at first slip from the bowling of Henry Williams.The drop turned out to be expensive for the home team with Bosman going to score at better than a run a ball, going to his 50 in 43 balls including six fours and two sixes.Bosman went to 70 before he was run out with Griqualand West losing their first wicket on 125.Having just gone to his 50 in 81 balls Gidley had a big swing at de Lange only to succeed in lofting it to a delighted Williams at backward square leg taking a good catch with the visitors now two down for 140 in the 27th over.Building on the foundation that had been laid, Griqualand West found them in a very strong position at 243/6 when the 45 overs were completed.Pieter Koortzen (29), Brett Tucker (20) and Johann Louw (27) all contributed to the winning score.Charl Langeveldt with 2/36 was the leading Boland wicket taker.Boland, thanks to an ever-improving Chad Baxter (85) and veteran Steve Palframan (30), managed to cling onto a hope of winning, but with no other batsman able to get into double figures their hopes of reaching the final died a slow death, losing by 66 runs, after being bowled out for 178.Griqualand West had pulled off another match winning performance with the bowlers all sharing in the wickets. The only negative for the men from Kimberley was giving away 31 extras, something they will have to improve on before meeting Western Province in the final at Newlands.

An exhilarating century by England Under-19 batsman Nicky Peng carried Durham to a seven-wicket victory against Hampshire in the C and G Trophy third round at Chester-le-Street.They surged past Hampshire’s 50-over total of 262 for five with 9.4 overs to spare to register their first win against first-class opposition since 1992 in the premier knockout event.Hampshire thrashed 48 off the last three overs of their innings, with opener Neil Johnson making 113 not out.But Peng made 119 off 128 balls to win the Man of the Match award and with Martin Love and Paul Collingwood both passing 50 at better than a run-a-ball, Durham made light of their task.Peng played a series of glorious cover drives but also worked the ball through the leg side with effortless timing. He went to his hundred off 110 balls with a swept six off Mascarenhas and also hit 15 fours before he was bowled by Alan Mullally with 23 needed.After initial help from Love, whose 50 came off only 45 balls, Peng was able to relax towards the end of his innings as Collingwood unleashed all the frustration of his spell with the England one-day squad.He drove successive balls from Mullally for four and six to long-on in reaching 50 off 39 balls and finished on 59 not out.Hampshire left their charge too late, never developing a worthwhile stand as two batsmen suffered self-inflicted run-outs in slipping to 172 for five.At that point Dimitri Mascarenhas joined Johnson with 9.5 overs left and they added 90 runs, with Mascarenhas’s unbeaten 35 coming off 27 balls.

Sanjay Bangar, the India batting coach, has hit back at Rohit Sharma’s critics, saying that the batsman has “definitely contributed to the team’s cause”. Bangar also praised Cheteshwar Pujara but backed the decision to prefer Rohit over him.”If you look at the numbers, he has played 13 [14] Test matches and scored 800-900 [870] runs at an average of 40 [37.82] with two centuries, four half-centuries. I think if his critics can go back and compare the first 13 Test matches of any other cricketer who has played for a while, I think they would probably be less harsh on Rohit,” Bangar told ESPNcricinfo in an interview after completing a year as India batting coach. “I believe that in the matches he has played so far – obviously everybody wants to contribute more – he has definitely contributed to the team’s cause.”Bangar insisted that the team management decided to play Rohit at No. 3 in the fourth and final Test in Australia since “Pujara was having a tough time”. Bangar, however, admitted that once Rohit was brought lower down the order, the move worked better for the batsman and the team.”We are clear in our mind that we need to give enough time and opportunity for a player if we put him at a particular position before making the change. Pujara was having a tough time, so he [Rohit] was given a fair run at No. 3. He batted very well in Sydney (53 & 39). He got starts in both the innings but could not convert it into a big one.”Bangladesh was just one innings. But you could see that just three innings prior to P Sara (second Test against Sri Lanka), he was scoring runs at No. 3. After those five opportunities, we felt that moving him down the order would benefit the team more. And it also made sure that he got some time because he also had put a lot of pressure on himself to perform. Somebody who constantly wants to contribute to the team’s cause. And it worked out beautifully. In both the Test matches (P Sara and SSC), he played vital innings for the team.”With the new Test captain Virat Kohli stressing on playing five bowlers, Pujara has had to sit out. But Bangar was delighted with the way Pujara played a match-winning innings as a stopgap opener in India’s series-decider at the SSC.”Pujara has tremendous hunger, tremendous temperament. Again somebody who had a dip in his career but who is right up there. This is the batting group which is going to be the core of India’s batting for the next five years. Obviously there are going to be players who are going to miss out because of injuries but every new player who has come in has scored runs.”Pujara appears to get bogged down, especially at the start of his innings. His inability to take singles consistently tends to put pressure on the batsman at the other end. Bangar, however, didn’t single him out for failing to rotate strike.”Strike rotation is something we are all making our batsmen (aware) of. We are working on it. It is not only for one individual batsman but it is for the entire batting group. How you can achieve it is you need to know the fields, you need to know the bowling plans, you need to play with softer hands closer to the body. That is an awareness the batting group is working on and there has been a marked improvement in that area.”Bangar, along with bowling coach B Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar, is the first Indian member of the team’s support staff in five years. According to Bangar, the trio has made a strong case for the Indian coaches’ fraternity.”Being a group of Indian coaches, there was a bit of pressure to justify that Indian coaches can handle the national team effectively. There also was an additional sense of responsibility towards the Indian coaching fraternity. And I think we have been able to maintain the standards. That is something that I think we have been able to achieve.”The assistant coaches, along with team director Ravi Shastri, have been working on a series-by-series basis. With the BCCI still not sure about the structure of the support staff, none of the coaches has been appointed for a longer term. While Bangar admitted that “ideally” it would be better if coaches are assured of a longer tenure, he said it wasn’t a concern.”It’s a massive privilege to be able to discharge the duties of batting coach of the Indian team. Ideally, a longer stint is better for the individual concerned but again even if it’s just for a series, it’s a huge opportunity and accomplishment.”

Resuming the innings on 219-2 after the tea interval, Lancashire lookedintent on building a big score quickly.Flintoff smashed his way to a half century off only 59 balls whilst Crawleywas playing the anchor role at the other end. Flintoff’s ability to hit hardand straight lofted drives featured strongly in his innings which was fullyappreciated by the spectators.His innings came to an end when he was caught at silly mid-off off a thininside edge. A wicket was desperately needed by Leicestershire at this point and once again their leading wicket taker this season, Anil Kumble, duly obliged.This brought Ganguly to the crease and he did not find life easy at thebeginning. Infact, he faced 17 balls before scoring.Leicestershires troubles seem to be mounting as not only were they missingtheir opening bowler Jimmy Ormond for most of the day through injury, butPhil Defreitas then pulled up in a delivery stride and did not bowl for therest of the day.With Lancashire now only a few runs behind it will be interesting to see howthey will play this game tomorrow. Their overall run rate per overthroughout the day was 3.6 and they should look to maintain and improve onthis from the start tomorrow.

Glenn McGrath has indicated his interest in playing in the Indian Cricket League (ICL). “It’s tempting,” McGrath, who retired following Australia’s triumph at the 2007 World Cup, told AAP.McGrath felt the ICL could be ideal for him. “Obviously, you can make a little bit of money,” he said. “Probably a month of cricket, get back, give me that fix of playing again – it might be all I need.”Reports have suggested that the ICL was keen on signing McGrath and his former team-mate Shane Warne. However, so far, only Brian Lara has signed up for the league. McGrath’s manager, Warren Craig, had earlier said that he had met with ICL officials.However, a return to the Australian team was ruled out by McGrath, who was attending a ceremony for the 20th anniversary of the Australian Academy in Canberra. “I played as long as I could mentally,” he said. “Physically the body feels great, but the mental side of it is another thing. Previously, watching other teams playing made me want to get out there. I couldn’t wait for the season to start. Now I think I’m glad I’m not out there.”McGrath said his move to retire from the game was correct. “For me it’s been the right decision, and I’ve had time to get used to it. To finish on a high – I couldn’t have asked for much more than that.” He was named the Player of the Tournament at the World Cup, finishing as the highest wicket-taker in the event’s history.

Three days is all it took for England’s summer to take on an entirely new complexion. Their performance at Old Trafford displayed all the qualities of ruthlessness and aggression that had been lacking in previous performances. Now they aim to carry that momentum into the Headingley Test and wrap up a morale-boosting series win that would avenge their 2-0 defeat in Pakistan last winter.The questions that had been raised in the opening encounter at Lord’s – Andrew Strauss’s captaincy, Steve Harmison’s hunger and Monty Panesar’s effectiveness – were given very emphatic answers. Then, two days after their win, England surprisingly decided to solve another conundrum – what to do with Geraint Jones. The move to drop him, because of form not his finger injury, and hand Chris Read a recall is interesting because of its timing. Read’s every move over the next two Tests will be scrutinised in minute detail, starting with his performance at Leeds.The likelihood is that Read will be the only change from the XI that stormed home at Old Trafford. Although only two England bowlers – Harmison and Panesar – took wickets in the last Test, the attack was well-balanced and showed how, in the worst-case scenario, England can go about winning Tests with four bowlers.Sajid Mahmood is the man under pressure for his place, but there were glimpses of his potential and he has the raw qualities of pace and bounce that Duncan Fletcher so admires. A return to Jon Lewis – for what would surely be another one-off game – would be harking back to the bad old days of horses for courses at Headingley, a strategy which has rarely proved successful. However, the pitch is not expected to suit Harmison as much as Old Trafford.The batting is ticking along nicely, even without contributions from Marcus Trescothick and Kevin Pietersen. They have yet to register a half-century between them in the series and at some point the youngsters are not going to rock up and score a century. “Of course I want to get runs every time I go out to bat so it is not an ideal situation,” said Trescothick, who averages 45 at Headingley. “I have not seen it as I would have liked to over the last couple of games or played as well as I can do. Hopefully, it will kick back in this week. It’s always nice when you turn up at a ground knowing the last time you were here you did well.”

After being in charge of England’s 5-0 one-day whitewash against Sri Lanka, Strauss is relieved to be on the winning trail as captain. “That was a pretty bleak day [after the final ODI] and the drive back to London that evening. But we take a lot of heart and a lot of confidence from what went on at Old Trafford.”Winning a Test match without Fred [Flintoff] was important for us just to prove toourselves and others that there is life without Fred. Hopefully, he’ll be back as soon as possible [from an ankle injury] but until then it is important we can churn out victories without him.”However, he is aware that England mustn’t let their focus drift: “I’m always wary of the match after games like that because it’s easy psychologically to take your foot off the gas a little bit and that is something we need to address and make sure doesn’t happen to us this week.”Pakistan can’t really sink much lower than Manchester; it was a display that showcased the worst side of their cricket. Bob Woolmer has a huge task to turn their form around for the final two games, but the mercurial nature of Pakistan cricket means they are just as likely to produce a matchwinning display at Headingley as they are to produce another dismal effort to match Old Trafford.They are set to field a new opening partnership after the double failure of Kamran Akmal at the top of the order and Imran Farhat’s broken finger. Woolmer has also hinted that they will consider altering the balance of their attack in favour of four pacemen instead of playing both Danish Kaneria and Shahid Afridi.In their current frame of mind, England won’t mind who they face. After a performance of such dominance as they produced at Old Trafford, and the ingredients of their success being pace and spin, thoughts are again heading towards the winter. However, England are well aware of the dangers of complacency. Pakistan have gained a steely edge under Woolmer and will be determined to keep the series alive.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss (capt), 3 Alastair Cook, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Sajid Mahmood, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 Monty PanesarPakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Mohammad Sami, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Shahid Nazir 11 Danish Kaneria

Sri Lanka cricket board chief, Hemaka Amarasuriya, hinted at fresh board elections on Thursday night, arguing that the time had come to end a two-year period of control by interim committees.A government appointed interim committee has run Sri Lanka cricket ever since the suspension of an elected executive committee in March 2001 following allegations of financial mismanagement and constitutional malpractice.However, there have been increasing calls for fresh elections in recent months and the interim chairman Amarasuriya now believes the time is ripe for a return to democracy.”Interim committees are not good for the game and we have to decide what is now best for Sri Lanka cricket,” said Amarasuriya, adding, “I believe in elected committees with safeguards.”No elections have been formally announced by the sports ministry but Amarasuriya suggested his term in office is about to end and there have been strong rumours of elections being held after the current tour by New Zealand.

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.

No surprises came out of the New Zealand selection camp when the same team that trounced India by 10 wickets in just over two days was retained for the second Test starting in Hamilton on Thursday.But selection convener Sir Richard Hadlee, who gave the players a little tickle-up with comments about the lack of performance going into the Test series, provided a reminder that with a seven-match one-day series just around the corner there is no room for complacency among the New Zealanders.He said it was a “pleasing” bowling effort in the first Test, but he wants more runs from more of his batsmen in order for the side to achieve a more complete performance.Both teams have decided to stay in Wellington until their scheduled departure time on Tuesday.That should provide the Indians with a further reminder that had they been able to achieve more stickability at the crease in either of their innings, then they might have been attempting to bowl New Zealand out in far more favourable conditions later today and tomorrow.Wellington turned on one of its most majestic days today. There was barely a breath of wind on a sparkling, sunny and warm day that had the local populace out to take full advantage of it after a disappointing start to the summer.The New Zealand team for Hamilton will be: Stephen Fleming (captain), Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent, Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Robbie Hart, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond, Michael Mason.While India’s selection is likely to be made closer to the Test start-time, there is every prospect that Tinu Yohannan will be given his chance, probably at the expense of Ashish Nehra or Ajit Agarkar.

Worcestershire Royals went top of Norwich Union League Division Two after a comprehensive 70 run win over Sussex Sharks at Horsham.Chasing 211 to win, Sussex were in with a shout when Richard Montgomerie and Chris Adams put on 63 in 18 overs for the second wicket.But Montgomerie’s departure – lbw to Stuart Lampitt for 42 – sparked an ignominious middle order collapse with saw five runs fall for six runs in 35 balls including Adams who drove left-arm spinner Matt Rawnsley to cover after making 33.Will House (34) held up Worcestershire until skipper Graeme Hick came on to take three wickets in three overs at the end as Sussex subsided to 140 all out.Earlier Vikram Solanki and Hick had accelerated in the second half of Worcestershire’s innings to enable them set a competitive total on a slow pitch.Solanki was out in the last over after making 63 off 69 balls although, crucially as it turned out, he was dropped by wicketkeeper Matt Prior off Mark Davis when he’d made six.Hick scored his second half-century of the season in the competition against Sussex while for the home side Mark Robinson was the most accurate bowler, taking 1-19 off nine overs at the start of the innings.James Kirtley took 2-41 and there were first wickets in the competition for two years for Jason Lewry and Chris Adams. But Sussex allowed Worcestershire to accelerate far too easily in the second half of their innings and it cost them a third defeat in four matches this season.