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Even if you had to, who can you replace Inzamam with, asks Saleem Altaf?© Getty Images

When and how did you find out that you had become director of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)?
This had been going on for a while. Once Rameez Raja had decided to resign from his post [as CEO last year in July], there were quite a few candidates, including me, in the running for the position. Eventually I believe the names were recommended by the chairman of the PCB to its patron, President Pervez Musharraf. I came to know about it on 28 January. I was on my way to get some domestic chores done and I got a call from the chairman, who said he wanted to see me. So I met him and he told me my name had been approved and welcome on board. Since I started I haven’t really had the time to think about the job. Then came the second part and I was never a candidate either, for the post of manager for this tour. This was also a very late decision. The chairman told me `you are on board and you have to go’ and that was that. It’s not an easy job. There are too many other things to worry about. The media especially are so hungry, especially in India, and everyone is looking for a story. Sometimes there is no story yet something still has to be done. So what you do is, you have to be careful, what you say is not always reported. Apart from all that, so far, so good.Do you have a brief for your role of director?
Look, I have a team with me of two general managers and we have sat down and done some work. There are two prinicipal areas we are looking at. Everyone keeps talking about domestic cricket and the second area is that the board has spent a lot of money on the national academy and that is not producing the kind of results that are needed. These are two critical areas that need to be looked at. I spent a lot of time with Intikhab Alam and we discussed the domestic structure here [in India] which he thinks is pretty good. There are some thoughts that came out of that – one is that we go back and say that change for the sake of change is not what we are looking at. What we are saying is, is it necessary to change the present setup? Mind you, the present setup of regional cricket and institutional cricket has been brought in after some thought. But if there are flaws in it, then we would like to look at it.What are your own thoughts about moving the emphasis away from institutional cricket to regional cricket?
Look, I have played and been involved with institutional cricket for most of my life and played with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for ten years or so. I think institutional cricket should stay and be strengthened. I personally believe that knocking away institutional cricket is not good. You see, one, institutions provide an income for cricketers. Two, they employ the big-name cricketers and thus their sides are generally pretty strong, especially when compared to regional teams. There are a lot of thought processes going on at the moment but if you ask me, I am for institutional cricket. I would like to talk to banks and airlines who employ these players and see if we can recreate the old days when Habib Bank and National Bank were very strong sides. That is something that has drifted away and we need to look at it. How? I don’t know at this stage.But the chairman and Rameez have always been keen to sideline institutions…
It’s just a question of how you think about it. Some people thought that a Karachi-Lahore or a Punjab-Sindh game would be great cricket and bring in great crowds. I don’t think that is going to happen. So somewhere in between is a solution. We don’t know where yet, but it is there somewhere. What we have definitely done is improve the quality of the pitches. You must understand I have been away for six years. I only got back to Pakistan last March. The general consensus when I got back was that wickets over the last two-three years have been seaming wickets with grass on them. The result was that you were not producing quality players – all the bowler had to do was to pitch the ball on a spot and he would pick up wickets. Immediately, what we have done is to give instructions to all centres where first-class cricket is played and said, “shave off the grass.” What we are looking at is hard cricket, where the bowler has to earn his wicket and not just pick them up thanks to the pitches. I think if you look at the results in the last few matches that I saw, runs were being scored and it means that bowlers have to learn to earn their wickets.

Saleem Altaf says that cricketers like Zaheer Abbas have come from the same system that has struggled to produce Test cricketers© Getty Images

Do you feel domestic cricket has failed Pakistan cricket in that it isn’t providing a good nursery for international players? The gap between first-class cricket in Pakistan and international cricket is becoming bigger and so many youngsters have struggled when they have come on to the international scene…
At this stage, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what is wrong. Past cricketers who moved to the international stage and performed well for Pakistan also came from this structure or standard. What we need to do is to find out why we aren’t producing quality Test cricketers at the moment. Let me ask you, where did Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad come from after all? It isn’t going to be easy to see what has gone wrong but it has to be done. One way would be to talk to players and ex-players and get their feedback on where they think domestic cricket has gone wrong and take it from there. By June of this year, the entire first-class fixture list will be prepared and sent out to the associations and institutions. There are nine regions, and all have coaches and referees so you need to look at whether they are qualified. All this information has to be collected and then we have to slowly and steadily bring about a change in the system. It has to be done, there are no compromises on that.What do you make of the team, having been with them for a short amount of time?
You’ve got to see that we lost two or three key players in a very short amount of time soon after the 2003 World Cup. You lost your two quicks, Wasim and Waqar, as well as a quality opener in Saeed Anwar. Plus, on this tour we do not have Shoaib Akhtar or Shabbir Ahmed, who are both injured. We don’t have Umar Gul either, who is injured. On the next tier of fit bowlers we have Mohammad Sami but he is only one. Along with him are Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Khalil, who are both inexperienced. The entire bowling is dependent on Sami and Kaneria – two bowlers on subcontinent pitches is never enough.What are your first impressions of Inzamam as a captain?
If the team does well, everything is hunky-dory. If there is a dip then the first person who gets the blame is the captain. The problem is, if, for instance, there is a decision that we need to change the captain, what choices are available to you? You don’t just change a captain if his side is losing. Alright, so you say let’s change Inzamam – who do you replace him with? At the moment, he is the senior figure and the best batsman in the side so you carry on with him. You give even the best captain a relatively weak side and it won’t be easy.But does he have to be the best player or even the senior-most to be captain?
Again, at the moment, there is no option. Yousuf Youhana is one, Younis Khan is the other, what else? Someone as young as Salman Butt? You can’t do that because it takes time and experience to groom a captain. For the moment, Inzi looks the best available choice.How do you handle someone like Shoaib Akhtar?
I have already spoken to him. One of the skills I learned from my corporate experience in PIA as a senior official is man-management. If you overbook a flight, you will have a few irate passengers. You learn to keep people calm and deal with them. He is mercurial, he has a lot of media hype around him, everywhere he goes people run around after him. I think we can handle him, he’s not a problem.How do you think Bob Woolmer has done as coach of the side so far?
I have only watched him for ten days. But the point is, two things have happened. One, the fitness routine and overall fitness with the trainer has definitely improved. The work ethic has also improved. From that perspective, yes, fitness is good, there seems to be more focus in the team. Younger players take a little longer to learn but so far so good. I can’t really talk about the technical side of the improvements he is trying to bring in because I haven’t seen him for that long.

Saleem believes that under Bob Woolmer, the team’s work ethic has improved© Getty Images

What is the latest with Shoaib Malik regarding his bowling action?
To be frank, the submission we have given on him has not been accepted. There are two options now available. One is to risk bowling him and face the subsequent penalty, which could be harsh. The other option is that right now, most of these guys are going to see Bruce Elliot in Australia for remedial work. The ICC has a couple of other experts on the panel. Our thinking is that we might like to go through another one but that can only happen after the India series. Basically, he has a disability with his elbow which was the result of a road accident. We need to have a second opinion on it but, personally, I think we shouldn’t bowl him but that he [should] play purely as a batsman. Technically and mentally he is very good. Let me put it this way: he looks like good captaincy material as well. There is a Pakistan A side going to Zimbabwe and Namibia after the India tour and we would like to get him to captain the side and maybe start grooming him.Pakistan played only seven Tests but 29 ODIs last year. Are there plans to redress that balance in the next year or two?
England are coming to play four Tests later this year in November-December and three ODIs. I have seen the itinerary and that has been agreed. Then India come back in January-February for three Tests, I think, and five ODIs and then we are off to England to play a further four Tests. So there are eleven Tests lined up over the next year, so there is heavy Test cricket ahead of us. We are also touring West Indies in May-June this year for a couple of Tests. So there are quite a few matches in the next 15 months or so.How important is this tour for Pakistan?
Before we came in, everyone said we had a relatively weaker side. But the boys will learn from this tour, there will be some positives. If you’re playing against superior players and you have a little bit of a mind, you will improve. If we can acquit ourselves creditably and go down fighting, if we go down, some of the younger players might mature and come out to serve Pakistan in the future.

Fears that Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, could be out of contention for the forthcoming series against Pakistan eased a little today.Fleming, who returned home from India suffering an abdominal strain, did not lead New Zealand on their tour of Pakistan. He had been described as being doubtful for Wellington’s State Championship match against Canterbury, which starts tomorrow at the Basin Reserve.However, he saw a specialist today and was given the all-clear to play. His reaction to his complaint will then be assessed, to determine his availability for the New Zealand team for the first Test, which starts in Hamilton on Friday next week.John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, said: “The specialist has advised that Stephen should play for Wellington tomorrow in order for us to determine how the injury responds. How he copes in that match will give us a clear indication of whether or not he is fit enough to be considered for Test selection.”

Concerns over the form of Allan Donald and Lance Klusener were balanced by further encouragement from the batting of Boeta Dippenaar and Jacques Rudolph as South Africa’s tour match against New South Wales ended in a tame draw here in Sydney today.Three days ahead of the vital Second Test against Australia in Melbourne, the Proteas were left with major headaches after Donald and Klusener again failed to impress on the fourth and final day of the match.Veteran pace bowler Donald (0/27) was given a reduced workout, bowling just four overs after a late South African declaration left the match heading for only one possible outcome. But he was distinctly unthreatening, conceding 15 runs in an opening two-over spell before giving up another 12 runs in a later two-over stint as New South Wales ended at 2/135 in pursuit of an unrealistic victory target of 383 from just 39 overs.Captain Shaun Pollock later attributed the 35-year-old’s wicketless match to an ongoing battle with an injury sustained in Perth in an earlier game on tour, but conceded that there were doubts surrounding his readiness for a Second Test appearance.”I don’t know (about his chances); he is still battling with his foot so we will have to monitor that,” said Pollock.”It would have been nice had he have come through pain free.”Donald has claimed just one wicket to this point of the tour.All-rounder Klusener is another player without a guaranteed Test berth, after he completed a pair with the bat and claimed just one wicket in the match with the ball.More worryingly, he fell to a mistimed drive at a spinner for the third time in four innings today – this time playing all around a ball from left armer Mark Higgs (1/35) as the Proteas suffered a collapse that saw four wickets tumble for the addition of 11 runs shortly before lunch.”We haven’t selected the Test team as of yet but obviously it will be a discussion point,” said Pollock of Klusener’s hold on a berth for Melbourne.”We are aware of the fact that Lance is in the side as a batter and that’s how the number six position is decided,” he added.Pollock was understandably more upbeat about the readiness of batting tyros Dippenaar (31*) and Rudolph (28) after each had again looked composed in the midst of South Africa’s progress to a second innings score of 5/269 before a mid-afternoon declaration.”They’ve got a chance (of playing in the Test), though we discuss team selection only the night before,” he said.Both youngsters shone where others in the middle order failed, joining with opener Gary Kirsten (88) and Pollock (36*) to help the Proteas to their huge lead.They also looked comfortable for periods against Stuart MacGill (4/89), though the leg spinner was again the standout member of a New South Wales attack and reinforced his claims on a Sydney Test berth in just over a week’s time.MacGill had Kirsten sweeping off a top edge; Rudolph beaten down the leg side; and again mesmerised youngster Justin Ontong (0) into attaining a thin outside edge as he weaved his way to four wickets in the innings and nine for the match.”The wicket (for the Sydney Test) will not be massively different, it’s going to turn and the South Africans don’t play the spinners too well,” said New South Wales coach, Steve Rixon, in the wake of MacGill’s performance.”Unfortunately for us we had no one bowling down the other end … the other bowlers were not doing their job. He’s out-bowled everyone in this game.”Pollock also endowed MacGill’s effort with praise, and viewed the chance to practise against a top-class leg spinner as having been one of the great benefits of the match.There was less about which he could enthuse in the bowling as local openers Brett van Deinsen (61) and Greg Mail (54) batted through most of the lead-up to the game’s termination half an hour before its scheduled end.

A mixture of insipid Mumbai bowling and inspired Tamil Nadu battingsaw the visitors post a more than healthy 397/4 at the end of thefirst day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Wankhede stadium onTuesday. With both Robin Singh and Hemang Badani at the crease withbig hundreds to their names, Tamil Nadu can look forward to puttingthe pressure on the Mumbai side tomorrow.The wicket proved to have a bit of juice in it. The ball came nicelyonto the bat off the bowling of both opening speedsters. There was noexaggerated lateral movement, but just enough nip to keep the batsmenon their toes.Sreedharan Sriram’s golden run with the bat came to a premature endafter he had scored just two runs at the Wankhede Stadium. Thesouthpaw came to this match with 1063 runs from seven innings behindhim. Ajit Agakar, generating good pace, got the ball to fly past theoutside more than once before he finally had his man. Swishing at adelivery just outside the off stump, Sriram nicked the ball through tostumper Dighe who held the catch with ease.S Ramesh looked good for his 44 at the crease but was run outattempting one cheeky single too many. Ramesh was found short of hiscrease by a good pick up and throw from Amol Muzumdar in theinfield. JR Madanagopal’s streaky stay at the crease lasted just 12balls. After edging one past the slips to pick up four, Madanagopalflashed hard at a ball from Saxena without moving his feet. All hemanaged to do was edge the ball to Dighe. Even Sridharan Sharath neverlooked convincing at the wicket. The fall of his wicket soon after theplayers returned from lunch did not come as a surprise. Hanging hisbat loosely outside off stump, Sharath edged a Powar off spinnertowards the slips. Diving low, Amol Muzumdar snatched the ball inchesfrom the ground and sent Sharath on his way.Tamil Nadu captain Robin Singh joined in form Hemang Badani out in themiddle with the Tamil Nadu score on 149/4. Singh and Badani ran well,pushing the fielders. Converting ones to twos and snatching singlesout of half chances, the two got the scoreboard ticking over at ahealthy rate.Singh and Badani proceeded to forge a partnership that put Tamil Nadufirmly in the driving seat. Mixing aggression with caution, Singh wasat his best. Choosing the right ball to go after, Robin Singh provedto be an ideal partner for Badani.The last session of play saw Tamil Nadu end what was a superb day bycompletely dominating the bowling. The seamers, tiring in the heat,grew less and less focussed. In turn, both Badani and Robin gotgoing. Badani seemed to slow down a bit after he had made hiscentury. However, having spent most of the day at the wicket, this wasunderstandable.Robin never flagged through the course of his innings. Whenever hemakes runs, Robin underlines the value of simplifying one’sgame. Playing with a straight bat to anything pitched up, Robin usedthe crease superbly. The ball slipped down leg side on more than oneoccasion and was efficiently hit away to the fence. Whether he wasnudging the ball around the corner or sending it sailing over theropes, Robin looked in command.At the end of the day, a very tired Badani had 152 to his name.Robin, not far behind, on 142, was happy with his side’sperformance. Tamil Nadu are in a good position to bat Mumbai out ofthe game tomorrow.

Reliable journalist Phil Hay has outlined three key factors which could ensure that Leeds United sign Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Brenden Aaronson this summer.

The Lowdown: Aaronson linked with Leeds move

The American has already become a key player for Salzburg at the age of just 21, starting all eight of their Champions League matches this season.

Back in the January transfer window, he was strongly linked with a move to Leeds, and that was before his former manager Jesse Marsch had replaced Marcelo Bielsa in Yorkshire.

It could be that the Whites’ interest in the midfielder returns in the summer, as Marsch looks to further make his mark at Elland Road.

[freshpress-quiz id=“383507″]

The Latest: Hay discusses possibility of Aaronson to Leeds

Writing for The Athletic, Hay claimed that a move to Leeds for Aaronson could easily materialise for three key reasons, with the Whites planning to try their luck with him again. The reporter stated:

“The intention is, or certainly was, to bid again for Aaronson. He’s interested in the move, he’s played under Jesse Marsch before and Salzburg are likely to be more open to bids in the summer than they were in January.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-39/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Ideal midfield addition

On the face of it, Aaronson looks like an ideal player to come in and make Leeds stronger in the middle of the park, bringing more guile to that area of the pitch.

Along with averaging 1.8 tackles per game in the Champions League this season, he has also scored 12 goals and registered 15 assists throughout his time with Salzburg, showing what an effective all-round footballer he can be.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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The fact that Marsch is now in charge surely only increases the chances of Aaronson joining him at Elland Road, with the American compatriots knowing each other well from their mutual time at Salzburg.

In other news, Fabrizio Romano has revealed a key Leeds transfer update. Read more here.

East London and Kimberley are in a battle to become the home cities for one of two new South African franchises while Potchefstroom may be the base for the other, as CSA looks to expand its domestic structure. An insider revealed to ESPNcricinfo that there is talk of increasing the number of franchises from six to eight in order to deepen the talent pool and create a larger professional structure.”It makes sense for Potchefstroom to have one of the franchises. They have such a good stadium there, all the facilities are within a small distance of each other and there’s a population that’s very interested in the game and all live just around the ground and university,” the source said. “There is obviously the political considerations and with CSA’s transformation agenda, putting a franchise in East London may be an option. With administrative issues there and between Kimberley and Bloemfontein, there may be a case for a separate franchise there too.”In 2004, South Africa revamped its domestic system in an attempt to create a strength versus strength structure, similar to Australia’s. The 11 provincial teams were contracted into six franchises, with each retaining their identity in the second-tier amateur competition. The function of the provinces is to feed players into the franchise system. It has since become semi-professional and grown to 13 teams.When the franchises were formed, not all the provincial sides were happy to merge. Border (based in East London), together with Eastern Province (Based in Port Elizabeth), became the Warriors, while Griquas (the Kimberley-based team) and Free State (in Bloemfontein) became the Eagles (now renamed the Knights). However, there as been history of infighting in both. At the Warriors, the argument was whether Port Elizabeth or East London would be considered the main host venue while Griquas initially refused to merge with Free State before agreeing to a joint shareholding of the franchise a season later.Both East London and Kimberley are considered hotbeds of talent for players of colour. East London is the heartland of black African cricket and with an increased focus on speeding up the pace of transformation, there have long been calls for a team based in the city. Peter Kirsten is one of the people who have long championed the cause for a team there. Kimberley has a significant population of mixed race people so it would make transformation sense for a team there as well.Potchefstroom, who are currently the second ground of the Johannesburg-based Lions, would not be able to offer those benefits but it does have some of the country’s best sports facilities at its High Performance Centre. Touring international teams, most notably Australia, choose to start the stay in South Africa at this venue while in 2010, the Football World Cup winners, Spain, were based there. Potchefstroom recently hosted the Varsity Cup Cricket, a week-long tournament between the country’s university teams. It is a venue known for jovial, student, sports-mad crowds, which may also work in its favour when CSA considers where to base a franchise.The new structure could come into place as early as next season, which would not give the new franchise teams much time to contract players and would also significantly increase the running costs of domestic cricket. “CSA needs to be very careful about this because even though they might have the money for it at the moment with the Rand-Dollar exchange rate, it’s a long-term decision,” the source said. “And with all the criticism over the strength of the domestic game, maybe it will dilute that even more.”Recent results across the international level has put the domestic system under severe scrutiny; South Africa’s Test team lost back to back series, the ODI side are two-nil down against England, the A team has lacked competitiveness and the Under-19s were booted out of the age-group World Cup in the first round. Everything, from the quality of coaches to the extent of the quota system which now requires franchise teams to field six players of colour including three black Africans, is currently being examined.

Dale Steyn sent the New Zealand batsmen packing in the two-Test series in South Africa © Getty Images

Dale Steyn and Brett Lee, who won the Man-of-the-Series awards in the recent clean sweeps for South Africa and Australia, have broken into the top five in the ICC player rankings for Test bowlers.Steyn dismantled the New Zealand batsmen with 20 wickets in two Tests, and has skyrocketed to third place in the list – he was ranked 28th before the start of the series. Lee is two places behind him in fifth, having finished with 16 wickets in the two Tests Australia played against Sri Lanka.Steyn’s team-mate Jacques Kallis is now one point away from Lee’s compatriot Ricky Ponting at the top of the list for Test batsmen. Kallis followed up his three hundreds in four innings against Pakistan with two more in three innings against New Zealand.The other mover in the top ten Test batsmen is Kumar Sangakkara, who jumped to third place – ahead of Mohammad Yousuf – on the back of his 57 and 192 in the second Test against Australia.

LG ICC Player Rankings
Rank	Name	Country	Rating
1	M. Muralitharan	SL	904
2	M. Ntini	SA	808
3	D.W. Steyn	SA	775
4	S.R. Clark	AUS	769
5	B. Lee	AUS	726
6	S.E. Bond	NZ	724
7	A. Kumble	IND	702
8	S.M. Pollock	SA	701
9	M.J. Hoggard	ENG	700
10	Shoaib Akhtar	PAK	684
	Top 100

LG ICC Player Rankings
Rank	Name	Country	Rating
1	R.T. Ponting	AUS	936
2	J.H. Kallis	SA	935
3	K.C. Sangakkara	SL	919
4	Mohammad Yousuf	PAK	908
5	M.E.K. Hussey	AUS	874
6	K.P. Pietersen	ENG	872
7	Younis Khan	PAK	828
8	M.L. Hayden	AUS	803
9	S. Chanderpaul	WI	762
10	M.J. Clarke	AUS	751
	Top 100

SAA Provincial Challenge

Incisive spells from from Jandre Coetzee and Frikkie Holtzhausen helped Griqualand West dismiss North West for just 116 on Thursday at Potchefstroom. Despite an improved performance in their second innings – including a 78 from Thando Bula – their 216-run deficit in the first innings was too great to recover from, leaving Griqualand the simple target of 136. Alan Kruger made up for his failure in the first innings with a brisk 78 and, though they lost three wickets, Griqualand reached their target inside 30 overs to take 19.64 points.Rivash Gobind’s fine 127 – in a match heavily dominated by the ball – and five wickets Keagan Africa handed KwaZulu-Natal a comprehensive 247-run win over Border at Durban. Border were dismissed for a lowly 125 in their first innings but KwaZulu-Natal took the game by the scruff in their second innings, thanks to a blistering opening stand of 97 in 16 overs by Gobind and Warryn Hauptfleisch (59). KwaZulu-Natal declared on 314 for 4 before Africa blitzed Border with 5 for 23.Eastern Province swept past Kei by an innings and 86 runs at the Old Grey Ground in Port Elizabeth, largely thanks to Juan Theron’s 6 for 33 to dismiss Kei for just 105 in their first innings. Eastern Province’s batsmen then mounted a strong reply, with Colin Ingram falling two short of his second first-class hundred before Michael Smith cracked a run-a-ball hundred. Smith, the captain, declared on 392 for 4 and, though Kei fared slightly better in their second innings – Andile Blom made 55 – they were dismissed for 201 inside 66 overs.Bat dominated ball between Limpopo and Free State at Bloemfontein with the match ending in a draw. There were hundreds for Andrew Galloway and Dean Elgar, with Limpopo setting Free State 288 to win on the final day. They showed good intent, too, with a quick 54 from Lefa Mosena before running out of time.

Supersport Series

A magnificent hundred from Morne van Wyk nearly pulled off an unlikely win for Eagles, chasing 333 to beat Lions at Johannesburg. Friedel de Wet removed the openers and Eagles were in deep trouble at 47 for 4, before van Wyk and Ryan Bailey (67) put on 152 for the fifth wicket. Bailey’s wicket prompted a slide, however, and the lower-order put up little resistance as Lions dismissed them for 267.A fine allround team performance from Titans beat Cape Cobras by 10 wickets at Benoni. Their first innings of 452 for 7 was anchored by a marvellous 190 from Martin van Jaarsveld before Maurice Aronstam’s five wickets cut through the Cobras’ batsmen, dismissing them for 172. They fared better following on, but could only set Titans 15 to win which they achieved in under three overs.Warriors’ batsmen couldn’t quite put together enough sizeable partnerships on the final day against Dolphins at Buffalo Park, the match ending in a draw. Chasing 368 to win each of their top order had starts – Justin Kreusch made 47 and Arno Jacobs 62 – but Dolphins’ bowlers kept making inroads. In taking their fifth wicket in the 78th over Dolphins were reasonably placed for victory but were upheld by a stodgy, fighting 70-ball 10 from Robin Peterson to deny them victory.

SAA Provincial Cup

Umar Abrahams’s 70 from 79 balls handed Eastern Province an easy 7-wicket win over Kei chasing 163. Province lost both their openers for ducks before Abrahams and Colin Ingram steadied their pursuit.Griqualand crept past North West by 5 wickets in a thrilling match at Potchefstroom thanks to a fine 127 from Mohammad Akoojee, and brave resistance from the lower order. Akoojee seemed to have the match by the scruff in the 43rd over, but he fell to Riyaadh Bhayat leaving Griqualand to chase 13 from 8 balls. A four from Frikkie Holtzhausen cut down the required rate and they stole past North West off the final ball of the match.Robert Frylinck’s brisk 47 from 41 balls gave KwaZulu-Natal a comfortable victory over Border at Durban. Warryn Hauptfleisch struck a belligerent 96 at the top of the order and, though they lost a clutch of middle-order wickets, Frylinck and Yadene Singh – who smashed five fours in his 22-ball 26 – saw them home with ease.Free State eased past Limpopo with a 7-wicket win at Bloemfontein after Mario Saliwa’s three wickets restricted Limpopo to just 137. Free State lost three quick wickets in their chase but Andre de Lange steadied their nerves with a slick 53 from 57.

In a dramatic finish, Auckland and Northern Districts somehow conspired to tie a game no team deserved to win. Daniel Vettori, the ND captain, ran out Chris martin for a duck on the penultimate ball of the match with the scores level at 275. For the second time in less than a fortnight, Paul Hitchcock scored a century against Northern Districts in the State Shield. Unlike the last occasion it was not enough to see his team win. Hitchcock’s 107 from 102 balls was the highlight of Auckland’s chase for 275 set by the home team, but he failed to find any significant support. Bruce Martin was the most effective ND bowler, taking 3 for 42 off his 10 overs. It was a great allround double for Hitchcock who took 4 for 45 earlier in the day. ND would have been disappointed it did not make better use of the 135-run opening partnership provided by Vettori (84) and BJ Watling (50). James Marshall provided a useful 42 while others made starts they failed to capitalise on.

Ray Jennings: will he get a second term as the South African coach?© Getty Images

Ray Jennings, the South African coach, can sleep in peace. Gerald Majola, the CEO of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, has not ruled him out of contention as the permanent coach of the South African team. Jennings, who took charge of the team after Eric Simons stepped down in October 2004, was appointed on a short-term basis and will continue in the job till the end of the West Indies tour in May.Majola said that Jennings had done a good job with the team and would be considered for the post, if he made an application. He also denied approaching Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, for the position. “The post has been advertised, and we will look at the applications. But as far as I know, nobody has approached Fletcher either directly or indirectly,” said Majola, to the South African Press Agency. “If we are not satisfied with the applications we receive, we will head hunt the person we think would be the most suitable candidate. But first we have to see who applies.”He rejected suggestions that Jennings was in a difficult position since he was appointed as interim coach. “When he accepted the position, he knew exactly what he was going into. He’s done a good job so far, particularly if you look at where we came from, he’s taken this team a few steps up from where it began.”Jennings had earlier revealed that he would apply for the post if his players wanted him to. “It’s not about bringing new information to the side — it’s about getting the players to understand that it’s all about respect and working as a unit,” he had said. “I’ll talk to the players, and if they want to follow me, I’ll apply for the job.”Under Jennings’ guidance, South Africa lost 0-1 in India, and then suffered a home reverse against England (1-2) for the first time in 40 years, only their second series loss at home since they were readmitted to the international fold in 1992.