The West Indies Players Association (WIPA) have accused the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) of once more acting in bad faith by failing to have in place required retainer contracts (RCs) for players of the West Indies. In the view of WIPA this is a most “disappointing development” since, as reliably learnt yesterday, there have been frequent reminders by the Association to the WICB’s management.Ken Gordon, President of the WICB, was unavailable for comment either at home or at the Board’s office in Port-of-Spain. He is reported to be attending the football World Cup in Germany. But reached by phone in St Lucia, where he is attending the second test between West Indies and India, Dinanath Ramnarine, WIPA’s president and chief executive officer, confirmed that the players were “still, most regrettably and unnecessarily”, without retainer match or tour contracts.Ramnarine said that at this stage he preferred not to “deal with the problem in any detail” until the WICB has had the opportunity to give a response to WIPA’s “latest reminder to honour commitments we had accepted in good faith…commitments that are yet to be realised to the players who are making commendable efforts on the field, as shown against Zimbabwe and now in the duel with India”.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has confirmed that Habibul Bashar will lead the side until the end of the World Cup next April.”We believe Bashar can lead the team well in the coming World Cup,” a senior board official told Reuters. Bashar said that he was happy with the board’s decision and that it would help him chalk out the plans for the World Cup.The announcement followed a meeting of the BCB in Dhaka at which a number of other issues were addressed.At the forefront of these was confirmation of the tour of Zimbabwe in December. The BCB said that they would play seven ODIs. The tentative schedule was for two matches to take place at Bogra, one at Khulna, two at Chittagong, two at Dhaka and a Twenty20 match, also at Dhaka. Mahmudur Rahman, the BCB’s CEO, said: “The venues at Dhaka have not been finalised but in all probability there could be one match at Mirpur and one at Fatullah.”The board also confirmed a previous resolution taken by the working committee condemning the incident in which a number of journalists were injured at Chittagong during the second Test between Bangladesh and Australia in April 2006.

Andrew Flintoff has insisted his recovery from an ankle injury is progressing well as he backed himself to return to England’s starting line-up in the first Ashes Test.Flintoff, whom the England selectors want to captain the team in Australia, said he was confident he would take the field at Brisbane’s Gabba ground on November 23. “I’m about three weeks in to a 12-week rehab which will finish probably mid-October,” he told BBC television on Tuesday. “We don’t leave for the Ashes until the first week in November, the first Test isn’t until the back end of November, so I’m confident I’ll be fine.”He believed England needed to beat Pakistan in the fourth and final Test at The Oval, which starts Thursday, to give them a confidence boost going into the their Ashes defence. “You want to take momentum going into a big series like this. Hopefully we can do that at The Oval this weekend and win the series 3-0. If we play anything like we have done over these past two Test matches we’ll have a great shout.”Flintoff was the outstanding performer in England’s 2-1 Ashes series triumph last year with 402 runs and 24 wickets. The next big date in his calendar is a benefit event on August 24 at Old Trafford in Manchester when his county, Lancashire, take on Flintoff’s England XI. “It’s going to be two good sides playing against each other,” Flintoff said. “For England a side with the likes of Steve Harmison, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Monty Panesar to name a few. For Lancashire, the likes of Darren Lehmann and Chris Cairns are going to guest for them.”

Three overseas players are targeting a future in New Zealand after pledging their future to the country. Grant Elliott and Kruger van Wyk, from South Africa, and Alun Evans formally of Glamorgan, have committed to undertake the residency qualification so they are no longer overseas players.Under new terms in New Zealand domestic cricket none of the player pool money set aside for major associations can be spent on overseas cricketers. The players must either gain residency or be paid from outside the pool.Under ICC rules a player must have spent at least 183 days in the country for three years before they qualify. However Richard Reid, the Canterbury chief executive, told the that players were not trying to work around the payment rules.”This is a guy [van Wyk], and Grant Elliott at Wellington is another, who are like a lot of South Africans looking to move their lives here.”The agreement we have with the CPA [New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association] is that we will look favourably at these guys who have committed to New Zealand.””From Canterbury’s point of view, we needed a wicketkeeper. Michael Papps wants to open the batting for New Zealand and asking him to keep wickets for 120 overs a game wasn’t going to help him achieve that.”Evans, 31, has never been able to nail down a regular spot in the Glamorgan side and would now have to play as an overseas player if he returned to county cricket.Roger Twose is the most notable player to switch his allegiance to New Zealand after he left Warwickshire and made his international debut in 1995. He formed a useful career, playing 16 Test and 87 one-day internationals.New Zealand domestic cricket has attracted a number of overseas players including Matthew Maynard, who is now an England coach, and in more recent years Ben Smith, Jonathan Trott and Min Patel.

Shane Jabaar, South Africa’s physiotherapist, believes a proper rotation policy is imperative for the national side to reach its goals this season. South Africa have been hit with injuries over the last year, and Jabaar has advised that key players, such as Shaun Pollock, should not play every match of the season.Jabbar said players like Pollock, who experienced discomfort from a back injury in Sri Lanka recently, needed to be managed carefully. “Shaun batted and then bowled in New Delhi [during a warm-up match], but had to leave the field,” he said. “Taking him off was a precautionary measure and he is responding well to treatment.”Sometimes the slight injuries are the ones that cause problems because they affect muscles around the injured muscle. If we want Shaun to be ready for the World Cup tournament he should not play throughout the season. That was my proposal at the start of the season and I think the selectors have taken it to heart.”Jabbar also felt that Justin Kemp, the allrounder, could miss the World Cup if he aggravated the shoulder injury he picked up during the off-season. “If Justin plays in all the matches this season we run the risk of losing him,” he said. “Surgery will take him out of action for more than five months and that means he won’t be able to play in the World Cup.”Batting and bowling won’t be a problem, but throwing will. It is the way he throws the ball that causes the pain. We are working on it, but are afraid to overtax the muscle because it can have far-reaching effects.”Jabaar was satisfied with the progress of those who suffered from injuries recently – Graeme Smith (ankle), AB de Villiers (foot), Jacques Kallis (elbow), Charl Langevelt (thigh) and Loots Bosman (shoulder). He said Andre Nel, who injured a thumb in the warm-up match in New Delhi, would be fit to play in South Africa’s Champions Trophy opener on Monday.After the tournament, South Africa host India and Pakistan for five ODIs and three Tests each before they head to the Caribbean for the World Cup. Some members of the side are also expected to turn out in the domestic season.

Allan Border has stepped down as a Test selector for the second time in less than two years and only four months after re-accepting the position. Border, who is a Cricket Australia and Queensland Cricket board member, stepped back into the role in June but has over-committed and will focus instead on his other interests, which also include commentary and media work.”My various commitments are far heavier than I had expected back in mid-year and I don’t think it is appropriate to do what is a really important job if I am not able to give it the full attention it deserves,” Border said. “I am really passionate and absolutely committed to making a continuing contribution to cricket through my board work and through my involvement in the CA committee that will decide the next national coach.”According to a report in The Age, however, the final straw for Border came down to a conflict of interests over a beer commercial. He has just taken part in an advert for XXXX Gold, alongside Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee, but Cricket Australia has just signed a far-reaching sponsorship deal with the rival brewery, Foster’s.”We think ambush marketing is fairly un-Australian,” said Geoff Donohue, the corporate affairs spokesman for the Foster’s Group. “I will leave you to decide whether what they [XXXX Gold] are doing with their current advertising campaigns is ambush marketing. I guess Allan has [resigned] in pursuit of his own commercial interests, and what he wants to do for personal gain is obviously his business.”Australia’s selection panel has changed significantly since April with the resignation of Trevor Hohns, the long-serving chairman, and the promotion of Andrew Hilditch into the top job. Merv Hughes, who replaced Border when he walked away after a seven-year stint in 2005, and David Boon are the two other current selectors.Creagh O’Connor, the Cricket Australia chairman, said the board would discuss possible replacements with Hilditch and Cricket Australia’s management before a meeting later this week.

Despite a poor Champions Trophy, Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, believes his side’s batting is their biggest asset going into next year’s World Cup in the Caribbean. “You can definitely win tournaments if you win matches with batting,” Jayawardene told reporters. “We’ll have to make sure that the guys we have get the right preparation and mentally and physically be ready to take up the challenge.”Jayawardene felt that not having a side as experienced as the one that lifted the 1996 World Cup should not be a deterrent. “It would be very difficult to emulate the 1996 World Cup side because they had the experience. I honestly believe we do have the talent and, the personalities we have can do the same,” he said. “These days especially in one-day cricket, batting is very important. The emphasis will be more on our batting.”With the likes of Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya up the order, Jayawardene felt he had a solid line-up. “With me and Sanga [Kumar Sangakkara] in the middle and Marvan’s experience and [Tillakaratne] Dilshan in the middle, we’ve got the right combination,” he added. “[Chamara] Kapugedera is another good young player whom we feel has a lot of potential. He is a guy whom we can use in different positions whether opening or in the middle order. He is quite versatile.””I emphasise a lot on people taking on responsibility and showing character out there. The way forward is to take those challenges,” he added. “There is no other way around or any short cuts but to take those challenges head-on. To do that batting is very important. We’ve got to have our top six batters playing well. We have two good all-rounders who can do the same. We have the right bowling combination and our variety is really good. We have options now even with our reserves. It is just about executing our game plan.”Jayawardene felt that under Tom Moody, Sri Lanka had created a combination which they felt can handle any situation in any condition. “If we believe in something I think we should go with it rather than make drastic changes. If we lose one game and try to make changes we are actually going back. We don’t have that much time to come back after that,” he said. “After power play came into the picture we struggled in India, New Zealand and Australia to actually get the right combination, to see how we could handle the power play and the super sub. As a result we suffered heavy losses. But we learnt from it and moved forward.”

Scorecard
Leading the Punjab attack in just his fifth first-class game, Love Ablish, the medium-pacer, ran through the Gujarat batting line-up on the first day at Mohali. Vindicating his captain’s decision to field first, Ablash removed both the openers inside the first 12 overs and had Andhra struggling at 18 for 2. He returned to break the promising partnership between Niraj Patel and Bhavik Thaker before cleaning up the tail with two more scalps. Thaker was the only Gujarat batsman to pass 30, striking 13 fours on his way to a battling 85. The Punjab openers ended the day on a confident 24 for no loss.
Scorecard
For the second match in a row, Anirudh Singh, the left-handed batsman, led Hyderabad’s charge, steering them to 246 for 5 at the end of the opening day at Jaipur. Anirudh shared vital stands with Ambati Rayudu, who smashed eight fours during his 85-ball 62, and Arjun Yadav, who gritted out 35. Anirudh fell minutes before stumps, 13 short of his hundred, as Rajasthan clawed their way back into the contest. Mohammad Aslam, the left-arm spinner, snapped up three wickets after a marathon 26 overs and helped Rajasthan stay in the contest.
Scorecard
Connor Williams’s battling unbeaten 146 – the 12th century of his first-class career- steered Baroda to a comfortable 267 for 5 at the end of the first day’s play at Rajkot. Saurashtra’s decision to field first, on their homeground, backfired as Williams and Jacob Martin, the Baroda captain, put on 143 for the fourth-wicket stand. Williams’s knock took 289 deliveries as the Saurashtra bowlers, led by the medium-pacer Sandeep Jobanputra, kept a tight leash on the run rate. Martin too couldn’t break away, taking 131 balls for his 64, managing 11 fours in the process.
Scorecard
Half-centuries by Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Amitava Chakraborty rounded off a good opening day for Bengal, ending at 226 for 2 in their second-round match against Mumbai at Kolkata. Opener Chakraborty made a patient 81 off 232 balls, almost batting through the day, while Jhunjhunwala’s 87 was equally sedate, coming off 213 balls. After Bengal chose to bat first, Chakraborty and Arindam Das laid the foundation with a 71-run opening stand before Das was trapped in front by Swapnil Hazare. Chakraborty and Jhunjhunwala then added 130, frustrating the bowlers for another 56 overs, before Nilesh Kulkarni managed the breakthrough, taking a return catch to dismiss Chakraborty.
Scorecard
Continuing his good form this season, Aakash Chopra, the former India opener, eased to an unbeaten 128 as Delhi ended at 257 for 6 against Uttar Pradesh at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Chopra, who missed out on selection for the Indian Test squad for South Africa, shared useful stands with Virat Kohli and Rajat Bhatia for the fourth and fifth wicket respectively, after seamer Praveen Kumar snared two wickets in quick succession. Kumar gave little away in his 25 overs, conceding just 53 runs and picking up four wickets. He struck a vital blow towards the end, trapping Vijay Dahiya – the centurion from the previous match – leg before.
Scorecard
M Vijay, playing only his second first-class match, scored an undefeated 97 as Tamil Nadu ended on a strong position at 260 for 4 against Andhra at Chennai. Vijay, in his maiden appearance in his home ground, mixed caution with aggression in his 262-ball knock, scoring nine fours and a six. Captain S Badrinath, fresh from his 136 against Delhi, added 146 with Vijay before being done in by the Prasad duo – caught wicketkeeper MSK Prasad off Chandramouli Prasad – for 69.

Australia 419 (Symonds 156, Hayden 153, Mahmood 4-100) beat England 159 and 161 (Lee 4-47) by an innings and 99 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

The only thing more consistent than England’s batting failures in this series has been their insistence that “there’s a lot of heart and pride in our dressing-room”. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort transferred itself to the middle on the third day at Melbourne, as Australia rampaged to victory by an innings and 99 runs with two whole days of the Test to spare.The victory was Australia’s 11th win in a row, their 15th out of 16 (with one draw) since the 2005 Ashes, and the team will regroup in the New Year needing one last win at Sydney to become the first side since Warwick Armstrong’s Australians in 1920-21 to achieve an Ashes whitewash.England’s surrender was as abject as anything yet witnessed on this tour. Facing a first-innings deficit of 260, a figure boosted by a farewell cameo of 40 not out from the irrepressible Shane Warne, they stumbled from 0 for 41 to 161 all out in a measly 51 overs. Only Andrew Strauss provided any meaningful resistance with an three-hour 31, but when he fell to the fifth ball after tea, he took with him any lingering prospects of this match surviving into the fourth day.Warne once again snuck in on the plaudits with two late wickets including his 999th in international cricket, but Australia’s wrecker-in-chief was Stuart Clark. He pitched the ball up by half-a-yard to extract some prodigious swing from an otherwise well-behaved pitch, and routed England’s middle-order with figures of 3 for 30 in 16 overs.Clark’s first victim was Alastair Cook, who had made just 8 when he survived one of the most stone-dead lbw appeals of Glenn McGrath’s career, but he was unable to make his good fortune count. On 20, Clark nailed his off stump with a full-length, late-swinging delivery that flicked the inside-edge of a confounded bat.Ian Bell was the next to go. He had made just 2 when McGrath struck him on the knee-roll with a offcutter that would have clipped the top of middle. It was a fair decision, but extremely marginal by the standards set by Rudi Koertzen in this match. Either way, it mattered not when Kevin Pietersen, England’s last realistic hope of salvation, was bowled through the gate by a perfect offcutter from Clark. Pietersen had been belatedly promoted to No. 4 in England’s order, apparently against his own wishes. After mustering an eight-ball 1, he’ll doubtless be lobbying for a return whence he came.Strauss and Paul Collingwood prevented a complete meltdown by adding 26 for the fourth wicket in 10 overs, but when Brett Lee re-entered the attack – with some less-than-complementary chants from the Barmy Army ringing in his ears – Justin Langer was perfectly positioned at short cover to intercept a fierce lofted drive from Collingwood. As he trooped off for 16, Warne warmed up for his first foray of the innings, and England’s fate was well and truly sealed.

Warne did, however, take his time to get in on the act. It was Lee who ended Strauss’s mini-vigil with a tempter outside off stump that was swished to the keeper, while Clark continued Andrew Flintoff’s miserable series by curving a perfect inswinger into his back pad for 25. But the main man couldn’t be kept quiet for long. Four balls after Flintoff’s demise, Warne had his breakthrough, as Sajid Mahmood was adjudged lbw, somewhat harshly, for a second-ball duck. Replays suggested the ball had turned just enough to miss off stump.All in all it had been a pretty poor match for the umpires, and Aleem Dar erred again in Warne’s next over, when Steve Harmison gloved a sweep onto his chest and into the hands of first slip. Warne had to be stopped short in the celebrations for his 706th Test wicket (or the 700th, if Bill Frindall’s objections count for anything) but he had his man soon enough anyway, when Harmison missed a full-bunger on middle stump and was, rightly this time, sent on his way for 4.Chris Read, who had earlier equalled Jack Russell and Alec Stewart’s Ashes record of six catches in an innings, scraped his nails further down Duncan Fletcher’s dressing-room chalkboard by joining forces with that other alleged incompetent, Monty Panesar, to compile the third-highest stand of the innings.Panesar played a fine leg-glance off Lee and a slap for four off Warne, before he lost sight off a Lee short ball from round the wicket and fenced a simple chance to Michael Clarke, the finer of two gullies. Read persevered as best he could, but eventually ran out of partners when Lee burst through Matthew Hoggard’s defences to complete deserved figures of 4 for 47 – his best in 17 Tests against England.It was an extraordinary conclusion to a Test match that, aside from one freakishly vast stand between Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds, was dominated from start to finish by the ball. Australia’s engine-room of Ponting, Hussey, Clarke and Gilchrist contributed just 19 runs between them, and yesterday’s hero, Andrew Symonds, added just two runs to his overnight 154. And yet England somehow contrived to lose by an innings and several. The loss at Adelaide will forever be more painful, but this capitulation takes an entirely different type of biscuit.

Short cuts

Dismissal of the day
Stuart Clark’s delivery to Kevin Pietersen was easily the best. Pietersen was promoted to No. 4 but his stay was short as the ball angled in and shot between bat and pad.Crowd revenge
Brett Lee had been accused of throwing by the Barmy Army chanters shortly before Paul Collingwood drove him to short cover. Lee walked back to fine leg, bowed to his vocal tormentors and indicated the series score with his hands.Explanation of the day
Nobody was at fault for the leaking of England’s day-two bowling plans for Australia’s batsmen. Four organisations – MCC, ECB, CA and ICC – found there was nothing sinister about the missing photocopy that ended up being read on national radio and printed in newspapers.Duck of the day
Glenn McGrath’s zero was costly in his long-running battle with Shane Warne for the most ducks in their careers. With only one Test remaining for each man, McGrath has moved into the lead with 35 to Warne’s 34.Home-town hero
Following his 700 wickets Warne gave the crowd further reason to cheer with an unbeaten 40. Eleven runs came from one Sajid Mahmood over and Warne backed up with another nine from the same bowler. He ended his final game at the ground by being chaired off.

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.