Scorecard

Cathryn Fitzpatrick starred with a six-wicket haul including a hat-trick as Victoria Spirit levelled the best-of-three finals series with a comfortable win over New South Wales Breakers at Melbourne. Rachael Haynes dominated the Victoria chase with an unbeaten 83 as the Spirit easily overhauled the Breakers’ 144 in 43.2 overs.Fitzpatrick, who finished with the stunning figures of 6 for 22 from ten overs, ended the New South Wales innings with four wickets from five balls in the 49th over. She began by having Michelle Goszko caught in the deep for 24 and two deliveries later began the hat-trick when Sarah Aley was trapped lbw. Fitzpatrick bowled Julie Hayes and Rene Farrell each for a first-ball 0 to complete the late demolition.The visitors had been unable to build big partnerships after winning the toss and despite Leah Poulton’s 39 and 36 from Sarah Andrews, their 144 was always going to be tough to defend. Haynes, the opener, showed her class with her second half-century of the season to carry the Spirit home.The Breakers clinched a tight one-wicket victory in the first final on Friday and the series will go to the deciding third match at Melbourne’s Central Reserve on Sunday.

Australia’s bowling coach Troy Cooley hopes the attack has received the “wake-up call we needed” before the team defends the World Cup. The fast men have fallen from dominators during the first half of the CB Series to a group that could not get a wicket in the opening match of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy and failed to defend 336 in the second.Cooley will be part of the squad for the World Cup and he told the Sydney Morning Herald he would be addressing the series of problems before they left for the Caribbean. “We’ve got some work to do,” Cooley said. “Maybe it’s the wake-up call we needed.”This group of bowlers did a great job of hitting the right lines and building pressure in the first half of the one-day series. You don’t just lose that skill. We have to get back to what we do right, and find that right balance.”Australia have suffered from the ankle injury to Brett Lee on the eve of the series and Cooley said Shane Watson’s return and the battle for World Cup places were factors in their performances. “There was so much talk about the six fast bowlers battling for five spots to go to the World Cup,” Cooley told the paper. “These kind of issues can play on a player’s mind.”The sudden injury to Brett hasn’t helped things, and there’s also been the re-entry of Shane Watson and trying to get him some match practice before the World Cup. There are a lot of factors. It’s a combination of things we need to look at.”He agreed with John Buchanan that the bowlers were not “hitting their areas” like they did in the early stages of the CB Series. “There’s a danger sometimes that you can go in search of things that aren’t there, and I think we have to be mindful of that,” Cooley said. “You don’t go from being a good side one day to a bad side the next. It’s a matter of getting their minds right before the games.”

Chris Rogers capped off his outstanding season with the Pura Cup Player of the Series award, edging out rival openers Michael Di Venuto and Phil Jaques. It was the second major prize for Rogers within six weeks, after he was named State Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal in February.Rogers’ 1202 runs from ten games also earned him a place in the Pura Cup All-Star Team, which was voted by the Australian Cricketers’ Association. He was the competition’s top run-scorer in 2006-07, averaging 70.70 and he passed fifty at all six venues throughout the season.The team of the year was led by the New South Wales pair Simon Katich and Brad Haddin. Ben Hilfenhaus, the leading wicket-taker with 53, was in the side but managed only fifth in the Player-of-the-Year tally as batsmen were preferred over bowlers.The Ford Ranger Cup All-Star Team featured Matthew Elliott, the Player of the Series, at the top of the order with Jimmy Maher, who was named captain. Haddin, Hilfenhaus and Brad Hodge were the only three players to make both sides.On the same day that their coach resigned, South Australia received some consolation for their disappointing summer. The Redbacks won the Benaud Spirit of Cricket Award as the team adjudged to have conducted itself best on the field, “displaying the true spirit, traditions and values of cricket”.Melissa Bulow’s 336 runs at 42 were enough to win her the WNCL Player of the Year title. Daryl Harper was named Umpire of the Year.Pura Cup Player of the Series Chris Rogers (WA)
Ford Ranger Player of the Year Matthew Elliott (SA)
Benaud Spirit of Cricket Award South Australia
Umpire of the Year Daryl Harper
WNCL Player of the Year Melissa Bulow (Qld)
ACA Pura Cup team 1 Phil Jaques (NSW), 2 Chris Rogers (WA), 3 Brad Hodge (Vic), 4 David Hussey (Vic), 5 Simon Katich (capt, NSW), 6 Brad Haddin (vc, wk, NSW), 7 Andrew McDonald (Vic), 8 Andy Bichel (Qld), 9 Shaun Tait (SA), 10 Stuart MacGill (NSW), 11 Ben Hilfenhaus (Tas), 12 Ben Edmondson (WA).ACA Ford Ranger Cup team 1 Matthew Elliott (SA), 2 Jimmy Maher (capt, Qld), 3 Brad Hodge (Vic), 4 Clinton Perren (Qld), 5 Adam Voges (WA), 6 Brad Haddin (vc, wk, NSW), 7 James Hopes (Qld), 8 Chris Simpson (Qld), 9 Ashley Noffke (Qld), 10 Shane Harwood (Vic), 11 Ben Hilfenhaus (Tas), 12 Michael Klinger (Vic).

Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, has offered his services to help restore Pakistan’s status after their shocking exit from the World Cup in a three-wicket defeat against Ireland.”I am ready to sit down with the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board [PCB] and see what we could do to bring the nation out of this cricketing crisis,” Imran said in a television programme.Imran blamed captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for the debacle after Pakistan lost both their group matches – against the West Indies and Ireland – to become the first team to exit the World Cup.”His captaincy was timid,” Imran said. “Inzamam himself said before the World Cup that he would bat at No.4, but when the tournament began he came out to bat at No.5. This built pressure on the team and we simply collapsed against medium-pace bowlers of Ireland,” he explained.After the untimely death of the Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, Imran advised the PCB to bring in two coaches – one for the bowlers and other for batsmen.”I would suggest Aaqib Javed should be the bowling coach because he had coached Pakistan to win two Under-19 World Cups,” Imran suggested. He added, without offering any names, that the PCB also should look for a good batting coach.Imran backed Younis Khan as the future captain. “It’s not the time to take drastic measures,” he said.Domestic cricket, in Imran’s opinion, also had to be streamlined in the manner in which domestic competitions were run in Australia and South Africa. “I have played in Sheffield Shield and I know they have the best system of just six teams in first-class cricket,” Imran said. “That’s the only way we could also produce quality cricketers,” he explained.

Simon Katich showed no ill-effects from having been dropped from Cricket Australia’s 25-man contract list on Tuesday by hitting an unbeaten double-century a day later. Katich scored 220 not out as Derbyshire blasted to 448 for 4 against Somerset at Taunton in the Division Two County Championship clash.Katich’s unbroken 241-run partnership with Ian Harvey, who managed 123 not out, proved the undoing on a day of toil for Somerset. The ground has been a batsman’s paradise during the early part of the season, but for a while early in the day that looked like changing when Derbyshire quickly found themselves 0 for 2 as Andy Caddick struck twice.The third breakthrough, though, was a while coming as Katich and Steve Stubbings added 150. Katich was the aggressor before Stubbings edged behind to Craig Kieswetter, the promising wicketkeeper making his Championship debut, after facing 158 balls. Katich reached three figures off 167 balls, and his double off 298, while Harvey picked up his second century in two Championship matches. By the close Katich was eight short of his career-best score.

Former captains and coaches Intikhab Alam and Javed Miandad have refused to apply for the position of Pakistan’s coach which is being advertised on Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) website. The advert was placed last week as PCB started the hunt for the vacant position caused by the death of Bob Woolmer during the World Cup.Intikhab criticised PCB’s method of advertising for the post and said that it was a technical position and putting it through the website was not the best method.”It is not a post like that of chief executive or a director or general manager but a totally specialised one and there is no chance that I would stand in a queue to offer my services for the job,” Intikhab, the World Cup winning coach-cum-manager, told . “The PCB should have an efficient database of the experienced candidates in the country for coaching job and they should be approached according to their credentials.”Miandad, who has been appointed as the coach on no less than three occasions, agreed with Intikhab’s remarks and termed the advert as a casual approach towards the game by the PCB.”Since the PCB’s only major criterion for the job is first class cricket experience, there will be at least a thousand applicants for the job I should imagine,” Miandad told . “And I wonder how the board intends to judge their credentials.””There is no need to go on the website, it would only create a mess,” he said. “Soon after the World Cup debacle, there were some caricatures of PCB officials in national dailies which showed their desperate attempt to find a new captain through ads. This week, the PCB has done exactly that with the coach’s post. Under such circumstances, I am not willing to offer my services to the board, not at any cost.”

Ray Mali, the Cricket South Africa president, has been appointed acting president of the International Cricket Council following the death of Percy Sonn in May. Mali will assume the role of acting president with immediate effect and in so doing he steps down as president of CSA, also with immediate effect.Mali, who has been president of CSA since 2003, will remain in office until the ICC’s annual conference in 2008. CSA was asked to make a nomination in line with a recommendation made by the ICC’s Governance Review Committee (GRC) after its meeting in Cape Town on June 1.”I take this assignment as an honour and a big challenge,” said Mali. “I feel lucky to be taking over at a time when the game is in such good shape. With the inaugural World Twenty20 event just round the corner, I want all South Africans to come out and show their support for it. I strongly believe that the use of this shortened format of cricket is one of the ways to take this game forward.”Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, supported Mali’s appointment. “Ray is an experienced and skilled administrator, a man of calm assurance and someone who combines a deep love of the game with an understanding of how best to secure its well-being.”

Cricket Scotland’s competitions committee has docked RH Corstorphine 16 points after the club breached two rules of the Lloyds TSB Scotland League.First, RH Corstorphine registered Pallav Kumar before the start of this season as an amateur player despite the fact that he had been paid to play cricket within the past three years at Durham during 2004, thus breaching Rule 8(e). Kumar has played nine games in the league before the committee on June 14 granted him permission to play as an amateur player for the rest of the season. Secondly, on seven occasions this season, the club has fielded more than the allowed maximum of four non-Scottish-qualified players, in breach of Rule 8(b).One point will be deducted for each game in which Kumar played prior to his being granted permission to play as an amateur. In applying this sanction, the committee has taken into account the fact that Kumar has not played as a paid player since 2004 and has accepted that the club did not deliberately breach this rule but had failed to carry out the necessary checks prior to registering Kumar.For breach of Rule 8(b), one point will be deducted for each player over the allowed limit, such deduction to apply to each game in which the offence was committed. In this case, there were seven games in which the limit was exceeded by one player and therefore seven points will be deducted. The committee accept that the club did not intend to breach this rule but had made an honest error, and have taken this into account when applying this sanction.

While celebrating the Lord’s Test as a spirited contest between bat and ball nobody should forget the services rendered by Matt Prior, Sreesanth, Ryan Sidebottom, Sourav Ganguly, Kevin Pietersen and Michael Vaughan. Their contribution with bat and ball was crucial; their contribution with the lip more so.Contests work well with a bit of needle and watching cricketers react to provocation is a stirring spectacle in any sport. West Indies created history by chasing 418 at Antigua in 2003 but what stuck in the memory was Ramnaresh Sarwan’s squabble with Glenn McGrath.India v England has historically been a battle of the milk-sops. Pakistan v England matches regularly touch boiling point, West Indies v England has had blackwashes and batteries of raw pace, India v Pakistan an air of sibling rivalry. India v England has seen some tiffs, like the famous Vaseline controversy surrounding John Lever in 1976-77, but the overwhelming atmosphere is one of genteelness. Gundappa Viswanath even called back Bob Taylor in the Jubilee Test of 1980, after the umpire had given Taylor out. Now that’s just not cricket.After a largely bland first two days at Lord’s, Sreesanth added spice on the third evening when he fielded a straight-drive from Andrew Strauss and flung it right back at the batsman. Smack, flush on Strauss’ backside. The response from Strauss, backing away to the next ball when Sreesanth was halfway through his run-up, produced giggles. On such skirmishes does the character of a match hinge.Sidebottom chipped in with his share of aggro, shaking his head and the mop of hair above it, but it was really Prior who raised the bar. On the fourth evening, with Dinesh Karthik moving towards his fifty, Prior decided to step in, chirping “Come on Dhoni” every time he was within earshot. When Karthik blocked, Prior didn’t approve: “Let’s get the entertainer in.” Karthik, as if he were at prep school, thought of complaining to the umpire but he was lucky that Sourav Ganguly, that notorious streetfighter, was at the non-striker’s end. Ganguly pulled him back and took on Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen on his own, a verbal joust that carried on even after stumps.”It wasn’t a great deal,” Vaughan said today, downplaying the chit-chat, “just a bit of talking after play seeing how he was going to play in the morning, that was all. I didn’t hear Karthik say anything. It was just a bit of playful banter. You’re always trying to put the batsman off, but it was nothing really.”What of Prior’s superlative effort behind the stumps? “Most keepers are of a pretty similar character. He’s doing well at the moment and I guess it’s part of his armoury to try and get one up on the batsman. I don’t think many batsmen listen but it’s certainly part of his armoury.”The seeds of the current generation’s rivalry were sown by Ganguly, Andrew Flintoff and Nasser Hussain; two of them bared their chest, all wore their heart on their sleeve. Ganguly’s stint at Lancashire, when he appears to have rubbed up many the wrong way, was when a largely peaceful bilateral relationship turned interesting. Hussain’s stubbornness helped. At Headingley in 2002, when India were 500 for 3 with Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar slaughtering the bowling in the dark, Hussain decided to turn on the sledging. The retort: “We want to hear you talk the same way when you go to the Ashes in December, don’t keep quiet there.”Vaughan, it is said, built on the cricketing platform laid by Hussain. He seems to be following suit in the bantering as well. “We are trying to play our cricket with a real intensity about it,” he said, “and that involves being a little bit aggressive. It’s nothing that we haven’t done in the past, it’s just something we’re doing well at the minute.”Even Rahul Dravid, that ultimate diplomat, didn’t seem to have a problem. “There has got to be a bit of that [chit-chat] in international cricket, especially in close games like Lord’s,” he said with a smile. “The team knows they’ve got to give everything to win or save a match on the last day. Tempers can get frayed, but the relations between the two teams have been good, off the field as well. I was happy with the spirit in which the first match was played. I don’t think it went across the line, a bit of that is good for the game.” In an era of clichés and plastic PR, it probably is.

The Glamorgan opener, Dan Cherry, is to be released by the club at the end of the current season. Cherry, 27, made his debut in 1998 and hit the headlines with a score of 226 against Middlesex in 2005, the highest score by an uncapped player in the club’s history.However, he fell away after that and managed a total of just three centuries in 40 matches, at an average of 26.05. “It’s always disappointing when a decision is made not to renew a player’s contract,” said Glamorgan’s chief executive Mike Fatkin. “Dan has always been a loyal, wholehearted, hard-working cricketer.”The decision will have been influenced, at least in part, by the crop of young cricketers coming through the ranks at Sophia Gardens, and two of them – the Under-19 stars Ben Wright and James Harris – have been made available to Glamorgan for the remainder of the season.After their outstanding performances with bat and ball in the two Tests against Pakistan, both were initially included for the five-match one-day international series. But Glamorgan has since suffered a spate of , and asked the England & Wales Cricket Board to release the players for county action.”We’re particularly delighted that the ECB has released James and grateful that they have taken on board our concerns about the number of injuries to the seam bowlers on the staff,” said Fatkin. “David and Adam Harrison have long-term injury problems to add to those sustained more recently by Andrew Davies, Simon Jones and Huw Waters.”