Zimbabwe Select 36 for 3 trail South Africa A 542 for 7 (Dippenaar 189, Amla 142, Ontong 70 ) by 506 runs
ScorecardZimbabwe Select were handed a total drubbing by South Africa A on the second day of their four-day match at Queens Club in Bulawayo. On the field, their bowlers were slaughtered and their top-order batsmen humbled. Off the field it was chickens that were the problem.The bare bones of the game itself are depressing enough for the locals. Resuming on 287 for 2, Boeta Dippenaar and Hasim Amla extended their second-wicket stand to 256 before Amla was caught at point for 142. Dippenaar then opened up, along with Ashwell Prince and then Justin Ontong, and they filled their boots. Zimbabwe’s increasingly pop-gun attack could do little about it as they continued their first-day habit of dropping catches.Dippenaar, who was caught at slip within sight of a double-hundred, only called off the slaughter to give his own attack enough time to make some inroads in the remaining hour or so, and that they did. Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor weathered the new ball, Taylor doing so by retreating into his shell, but Nel had Masakadza caught behind and then Paul Harris stuck twice in successive overs to remove Taylor, caught at silly point, and the struggling Vusi Sibanda lbw.By the close Zimbabwe had limped to 36 for 3 off 21 painful overs, still 506 in arrears and with the follow-on so far off in the distance as not to be worth calculating. On the evidence of the A-team matches in the last month, it will take some heroics from Tatenda Taibu to even get them halfway to South Africa’s total.The day had started embarrassingly for the authorities with the news that the South African players had found that fast food in 2007 Zimbabwe is missing one vital element – the food. Today, the caterers at least had that and it duly arrived for lunch. Sadly, such were the power and fuel shortages that they had neglected to cook the chicken, so the club had to help out. One can only wonder what tomorrow will bring.

A serious injury to Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who crashed into the advertising hoardings, overshadowed the day at Chester-le-Street. Rana was taken to hospital after a 50-minute delay while he was treated on the outfield and an ambulance summoned. It was later announced he had suffered a dislocated right shoulder and he will be kept in hospital overnight. On the field, Durham, who must win to keep their title hopes alive, squeezed a 26-run first innings lead over Sussex thanks largely to Mark Stoneman’s maiden Championship hundred. But from 233 for 2 they lost six wickets for 50 runs to Saqlain Mushtaq (4 for 59) and Mushtaq Ahmed (3 for 125). The in-form Ottis Gibson took his season tally to 75 with three wickets to reduce Sussex to 27 for 3, and although Murray Goodwin and Chris Adams appeared to have seen them through to the close without further alarms, Goodwin fell to Mark Davis in the final over.A hundred from VVS Laxman put Lancashire in a strong position against Warwickshire at Old Trafford as his team-mates struggled against Heath Streak and Neil Carter (5 for 62). Oliver Newby helped Laxman through to his hundred during a ninth-wicket stand of 60, steering Lancashire to a first-innings lead of 205. Ian Westwood and Michael Powell gave Warwickshire a sound start with a stand of 60 before Powell edged to slip, and Keedy struck for a second time shortly before the close when he removed Westwood for 50. Rather bizarrely in this sodden summer, sun at the Stretford End stopped play with 13 overs of the day remaining and Warwickshire still 80 in arrears.Relegation-threatened Kent had another good day against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl, moving to 395 and then reducing the home side to 186 for 7. Martin van Jaarsveld fell without adding to his important 112, but the lower order rallied, with fifties for Geraint Jones and James Tredwell. Hampshire got off to a good start, with 79 on the board for the openers before Tredwell claimed four amid a collapse where they lost seven wickets for 60.

A century from Stephen Peters, and a pair of 70s from Rob White and David Sales carried Northamptonshire into the ascendancy on the second day against Glamorgan at at Wantage Road. After resuming on 61 for 0, Northants made steady progress all day long as Glamorgan relied almost exclusively on their spin twins, Dean Cosker and Robert Croft, who bowled 100 overs between them and took seven of the eight wickets to fall. By the close, they were being defied by their Northants counterpart, Monty Panesar, who was unbeaten on 22 from 91 balls.Ed Smith racked up his fourth century of the season and reached 1000 runs with his final scoring shot of the day, as Middlesex inched into the ascendancy in a low-scoring affair against Leicestershire at Southgate. Leicester thought they had the upper hand when they resumed on 124 for 1 in reply to Middlesex’s 176, but Murali Karthik triggered a dramatic collapse with figures of 6 for 85, with eight middle-order wickets tumbling for 17 runs. The last pair of Ryan Cummins and Jigar Naik scraped together a 14-run lead, but by the close Smith had marshalled Middlesex to 206 for 4, and a handy lead of 192.

Mitchell Johnson has warmed up for his Test debut by warning Sri Lanka’s batsmen to prepare for a string of bouncers at the Gabba. Johnson picked up only two wickets during the tour game in Brisbane, where he was out-bowled by his Queensland team-mate Ashley Noffke, but he felt the pitch prevented him from unsettling the tourists with his short balls.The Gabba is expected to produce more consistent bounce and Johnson, who was 12th man for the entire 2006-07 Ashes series, wants to take advantage of it. “I probably didn’t bowl enough bouncers at them [during the tour game], which I’d love to do out here,” he said at the ground. “I’d like a few more short balls to unsettle them.”In the lead-up to the match the Sri Lankans have insisted any problem with this type of bowling is a myth, but Johnson and his team-mates plan to test out the theory from Thursday. “I’m sure they are going to give their fair share [of bouncers] and I’m sure they’ll get their fair share back,” Johnson said. “Brett Lee is in the side and he bowls quick, so I’m sure there’s going to be a bit of chin music out there.”Johnson has not had his place in the team confirmed, but he is ahead of Tasmania’s Ben Hilfenhaus and destined to join Lee and Stuart Clark. “Any opportunity would be great, but I’d love to get the new ball,” he said. “I get it for Queensland, so that’s a strong point for me.”A series of serious back injuries threatened Johnson’s career and led to him losing his state contract in 2004. After the demotion he spent a month back home in the north Queensland city of Townsville working out what he wanted to do with the sport. He got healthy and returned with a more aggressive attitude, which has assisted his development into a bowler on the verge of his first Test.”To be in this situation now, it’s a real bonus for me,” he said. “I’ve had to work pretty hard to get here, so I’m quite proud of where I’ve come.”

Darren Lehmann will bolster South Australia’s fragile batting line-up when he returns to the side this weekend after recovering from a torn hamstring. Lehmann is one of four inclusions for the Pura Cup match against Tasmania starting on Monday at Bellerive Oval following the Redbacks’ 270-run humiliation at the hands of Victoria in their season opener.Cullen Bailey’s hopes of a national call-up this summer suffered a setback as he lost his place in the side following match figures of 1 for 103 against the Bushrangers. Jason Borgas, Cameron Borgas and Daniel Harris were also axed to make way for Shane Deitz, Shaun Tait and Andy Delmont.Deitz, who kept wicket last season and was one of South Australia’s most consistent run-scorers, might play as a specialist batsman as Graham Manou has been retained in the 12-man group. Delmont made his FR Cup debut in the middle order last week and could follow it with his first-class debut, while Tait’s successful return in the one-day match against Victoria has led to his inclusion for his first four-day game after elbow surgery.The Redbacks will also take on Tasmania in an FR Cup match in Hobart on Saturday and their limited-overs squad is more settled. The only change is the return of Lehmann at the expense of Cameron Borgas, who made 0 in the last game and a pair in the Pura Cup match. The Hobart games will be Lehmann’s first outings for South Australia since quitting the state captaincy at the end of last season.Tasmania have regained Ben Hilfenhaus for the one-day clash after his trip to India with the Australia squad, while Luke Butterworth also returns from injury. Ricky Ponting will miss the FR Cup game due to cortisone injections but is expected to be available for the Pura Cup match.South Australia FR Cup squad Matthew Elliott, Daniel Harris, Mark Cosgrove, Nathan Adcock (capt), Darren Lehmann, Andy Delmont, Graham Manou (wk), Ryan Harris, Mark Cleary, Jason Gillespie, Dan Cullen, Shaun Tait.South Australia Pura Cup squad Matthew Elliott, Shane Deitz, Mark Cosgrove, Nathan Adcock (capt), Darren Lehmann, Andy Delmont, Graham Manou (wk), Ryan Harris, Mark Cleary, Jason Gillespie, Dan Cullen, Shaun Tait.Tasmania FR Cup squad Michael Dighton, Travis Birt, Michael Di Venuto, Daniel Marsh (capt), George Bailey, Tim Paine (wk), Luke Butterworth, Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Brett Geeves, Ben Hilfenhaus, Adam Griffith.

Celebration of the day

Sourav Ganguly is making a habit of boosting India on the opening day of a Test. If Alastair Cook dismissal at Lord’s allowed India to break the dominant opening partnership, Mohammad Yousuf’s wicket here put them firmly on top. With a ball that pitched outside off and moved in, he rapped Yousuf on the pads and couldn’t control himself when Simon Taufel responded favourably. Charging towards Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar and extending his arms in frenzy, he was a picture of sheer delight. “Looks as if he’s got the world-record number of wickets,” said a hack in the media centre. “More like the world-record number of appeals,” joked another.Squeals of the dayTalking of appeals, lozenge companies may be lining up to sponsor this Indian side. Appeal after appeal went up through the day, most of them being met with negative nods from the umpires. Starting with Zaheer Khan’s second ball of the day, when he struck Salman Butt high on the pad, the Indians shouted, howled and, finally, implored. To the umpires’ credit, there were only a couple of really close calls but the Indians, it seemed, were making up for the poor crowd response, making a lot of noise of their own.Wild slog of the dayShoaib Akthar’s first contribution to the series was a mighty slog sweep, one attempted with such fury that it seemed intended for Rawalpindi. Shoaib obviously didn’t read a straight one from Kumble and let out an expansive hoick, one that allowed a massive gap between bat and pad. The fact that it was the last ball of Kumble’s over, when Shoaib could have simply tried to survive and support Misbah-ul-Haq, made it appear more foolhardy.Entertainment of the dayAround mid-day, with India pegging away at the Pakistan middle order, spectators at the embankment to the right of the pavilion were treated to some off-field action by a vertically challenged person. Impersonating Ganguly’s bowling action and Munaf’s appeals, he prompted peels of laughter among the crowd. Even the police’s attempts to stop him didn’t find favour with the police chief himself patted the boy on the back and telling him to continue for a bit more time. Kamran Akmal’s dismissal, which occurred during this period, went unnoticed in a couple of stands.Six of the dayMohammad Sami did a fine job hanging around but showed he was capable of the big strikes too. His mighty six towards the end of the day, off a full ball from Ganguly, soared straight into the first tier of the balcony. It was a bold statement but maybe it was also a sign of protest: the gaudy red and blue paint at the end of the ground is proving to be a major eye-sore in an otherwise impressive stadium.

Scorecard

Rain ruined the final day of a closely-fought top-of-the-table contest at the MCG where Victoria and New South Wales played out a tame draw. The Blues declared early, setting Victoria a tough chase of 321 from 90 overs but rain arrived before the Bushrangers could begin and another interruption later meant a draw was almost inevitable.Victoria were 0 for 28 from ten overs when their progress was halted by the second delay, which lasted nearly two hours. In the end the skies cleared and Nick Jewell (49) and Rob Quiney enjoyed some batting practice, guiding the Bushrangers to 2 for 117 from their 42 overs.Quiney finished unbeaten on 52 and Brad Hodge was lbw to Matthew Nicholson from the final ball for 4. Beau Casson collected his first wicket for the game when Jewell tried to force his half-century and lobbed a catch to Greg Mail at mid on.New South Wales began the day with a lead of 278 and batted for 20 minutes, adding 42 to their total and giving Bryce McGain his third first-class five-wicket haul. McGain ended up with 5 for 112 after Stuart Clark advanced and ambitiously aimed to send McGain over long on but misread the legspin and was bowled.Dominic Thornely added a quick 28 to his overnight score and was 76 not out when the declaration came at 7 for 323. But the first rain appeared just when Victoria’s batsmen were getting into position to begin their chase and the innings did not start for another two hours.The draw was a disappointing finish to a match that, while low-scoring, had provided some interesting battles and excellent individual performances. Simon Katich’s opening-day 141 from a total of 253 was the standout, although other highlights included David Hussey’s 95 to get Victoria first-innings points and Nathan Bracken’s tight and testing bowling effort when he collected 4 for 40 on the second day.New South Wales and Victoria remain in the top two spots on the Pura Cup table, a game clear of the resurgent South Australia. Western Australia can jump into third if they win their match against Tasmania, which is under way in Hobart.

It’s an intriguing battle on cards in Indore. The two teams have taken slightly contrasting routes to reach the semi-finals. While Baroda cruised in the initial half of the season before spluttering a touch in the end, Delhi started off in a hurry, slowed down in the middle and then peaked again. The weather that washed out their penultimate game against Karnataka threatened to spoil Delhi’s party, but they won convincingly against Tamil Nadu to storm into the final four with confidence.The absence of key players from both teams has levelled the field. Baroda lost Irfan Pathan to the national team mid-way during the season while Delhi, who were already without Ishant Sharma and Virender Sehwag, will lose the services of the promising left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan and the middle-order batsman Virat Kohli for the game as both are away playing for India Under-19.Rahul Sanghvi, the veteran left-arm spinner, and the former Haryana medium-pacer Sumit Narwal have been drafted in as replacements. “When we play Baroda we have a left-arm spinner in Rahul and a leg-break bowler in Chetanya Nanda. Our team has the right balance of experience and youth.” Vijay Dahiya, Delhi’s coach, told Indian Express. “This entire season we were without a left-arm spinner and we thought why not give him a call for this crucial encounter. We have got an opportunity to be the best domestic team in the country and Rahul will be of a great help.”But it has to be watched whether Delhi go with a double-spin attack as the pitch has some live grass on it. Both teams are yet to decide the final eleven as they want to have a final look at the pitch on the morning of the match. “The wicket looks pretty good,” Dahiya said. “There is some grass on the track.”Baroda will look to their openers Rakesh Solanki and Connar Williams, who have each piled over 500 runs this season, to give them a good start. The middle-order has a few consistent performers – Yusuf Pathan, Pinal Shah and Azharuddin Bilakhia.The spinners have shouldered the burden for Baroda. They have been the strike-cum-stock bowlers. Yusuf has bagged 25 wickets while Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner, has taken 20. Sumit Singh, with 15 wickets, has done his best to cover the absence of Irfan, but it has to be seen whether the attack can keep the strong Delhi batting line-up in check. Apart from the consistent opening pair of Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir, they have the likes of Mithun Manhas, Mayank Tehlan and the allrounder Rajat Bhatia. The presence of Bhatia, who has claimed 20 wickets at 10.30, and has a century this season, gives Delhi the right balance.You would have to pick Delhi as the slight favourites but in a season of surprise, where the previous year’s finalists have been forced to eat the humble pie, you can never be sure.

Middlesex have signed Australian fast bowler Ashley Noffke on a two-month contract to cover for Murali Kartik who will not be able to join the county until June 9.”We were obviously disappointed not to have Kartik for the start of the season, but we’re delighted to have signed Noffke – he’s a high quality opening bowler,” said , Vinny Codrington, Middlesex’s chief executive. “It’s great to have Noffke come back home to where he played his first English county season back in 2002. He knows Lord’s and he’ll add a bit of extra fire power to our already very strong attack at the start of the season when the ball should be nipping about.”Kartik had been expected to be available earlier but he was prevented by the Indian board from playing the first couple of months of the season.

Nathan Bracken hopes to fend off increasing competition and gain a recall to Australia’s Test side, but knows that no matter what he does in the one-day arena it’s his first-class results that count. Bracken is ranked sixth in the world for one-day bowling – and was as high as second last year – yet can’t nudge into the longer form for Australia. He has not played a Test since December 2005.Bracken’s Pura Cup form is solid, with 21 wickets at 20.71 for New South Wales so far, and he has worked on his fitness to increase his endurance. But his new-ball partner Doug Bollinger, yet another left-armer, is outbowling him at New South Wales with more than double the wickets; he has 44 at 14.02, and he impressed for Australia A in their preseason tour of Pakistan. Queensland’s Ashley Noffke also has a better tally and average with 44 wickets at 17.56, including a match against the touring Sri Lankans in October, and he is clearly in the selectors’ thoughts after recent call-ups for internationals in the shorter forms.Mitchell Johnson, a fellow left-armer, is way ahead of Bracken in the pecking order at the moment, having secured his Test place for now, with fair showings in the recent Test series against Sri Lanka and India. Shaun Tait was also in front, called up to the Perth Test as the fourth quick bowler, but has slipped off the radar for now after announcing a break from cricket.”In Australia at the moment it’s whoever is performing well at the right time,” said Bracken. “A lot of guys are putting their hands up consistently. Ashley Noffke got the opportunity in Brisbane, he’s been putting his hand up for the whole season and Doug Bollinger’s in the same boat and there’s a few other guys in other states.”I’m just trying to pull my weight in one-day cricket. I’ve been told that four-day cricket results relate to Test cricket so I have to perform well [at state level], and one-day cricket results reflect on one-day cricket, so for me it’s perform well here. If that leads to something more then that’s great and if it doesn’t I still get to play one-day cricket for my country.”His next one-day appearance will be on Friday against Sri Lanka in Sydney, where he should be joined by Stuart Clark who is back after missing Sunday’s opener against India for personal reasons. Clark hasn’t played an ODI since September, but Australia called him back to replace Tait, and now he should get the call-up with Brett Lee expected to be rested.Bracken backed the rotation policy, while acknowledging it was hard for players to miss out. Everyone wants to play every game for their country,” he said. “Nobody puts their hand up and says ‘I’m a bit tired, I want a rest’. They all want a go, but you’ve got to understand the situation.”Matthew Hayden will return from a hamstring problem to boost his side with his batting but also fielding-wise. “It will make a big impact having Matthew back into the team for no other reason than he can get into first slip and get some normality back to our slips cordon,” Tim Nielsen, Australia’s coach, told The Age. “I think the balance of the slips cordon has been upset a little with different roles for different blokes regularly and Hayden missing out.”Australia will also hope that the third CB Series match isn’t, like the first two, washed out.

Mahela Jayawardene, whose 153-run third-wicket partnership with Kumar Sangakkara helped Sri Lanka post a competitive 238, believed the team had themselves to blame for the loss. “We still couldn’t get the finish I intended, losing wickets in the end,” a visibly disappointed Jayawardene said. At 3 for 161 after 38 overs, they had an excellent launching pad, but only scored 77 in the last 12 despite having plenty of wickets in hand. He also thought India were gifted runs by his side’s sloppy fielding.But Jayawardene praised Sangakkara, his vice-captain and long-time friend, with whom he has been involved in several big partnerships in the past. In the scorching heat, the pair came together with Sri Lanka struggling and performed an admirable rescue act. “The role that Kumar and I have is to bat the majority of the overs. Kumar batted extremely well, one of the best I’ve seen him play for quite some time,” he said. “Credit to Kumar to (help the team) get to 238 from the situation we were in.”India’s chase got off to a dreadful start which had them stuttering at 3 for 35, but three crucial partnerships swung the momentum their way and prevented Sri Lanka from making further inroads. “When we picked up wickets we got the opportunity to put pressure, but Yuvi took chances and started hitting the ball. Our line was not consistent and our fielding wasn’t up to the mark,” Jayawardene said.”You shouldn’t take anything away from Yuvi’s innings, but we contributed to that as well.” He said that both Yuvraj and Dhoni had played really well in different situations, and refused to pick one innings as more important than the other.With their third loss in five games, Sri Lanka are at the bottom of the table, six points below second-placed India. “I haven’t done my maths yet but I know we need to win two out of our three games and India need to lose all their remaining games,” Jayawardene said. “Every game is like a semi-final.”