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Pakistan opener Shahzaib Hasan, left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman and wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider have been fined by the PCB for breaking curfew during the ongoing ODI series against South Africa in the UAE. The trio were fined 500 Dirhams (USD$136) each as per the PCB’s revised code of conduct, brought into operation in the aftermath of the spot-fixing controversy.”We have reminded the players that there will be no tolerance on indiscipline and after these three players returned late to the team hotel by five minutes they have been fined and issued show-cause notices,” team manager and former coach Intikhab Alam told reporters in Dubai. “All the players have been told about their responsibility and that Pakistan cricket is first and foremost, so we think that stricter steps will bring good results.”The revised code of conduct, which has a strong emphasis on anti-corruption, was signed by all players ahead of the trip to the UAE and was part of the ICC’s recommendations and ultimatum to the PCB to clean up its act in tackling corruption and arrest the decline of Pakistan cricket. The measures taken by the PCB thus far – reworking its code of conduct and setting up an Integrity Committee to address issues of corruption and doping – have been welcomed by the ICC.Most recently, the PCB revoked the central contracts of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif – the three players provisionally suspended by the ICC for their alleged involvement in the spot-fixing controversy. Butt and Amir had their appeals against the ICC’s suspensions heard in Dubai which were subsequently dismissed, while Asif withdrew his appeal and will have to wait for the final hearing on the matter, due before the end of the year.The current ODI series between Pakistan and South Africa is tied 2-2 and the decider will be played on Monday.

Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, has said his team is focussed on performing its best in the upcoming tour of the UAE where it takes on Pakistan in a full series and is not distracted by the spot-fixing controversy that has troubled Pakistan cricket since the tour of England earlier in the year. Smith said he expected Pakistan to be competitive in favourable conditions and called out fans in the UAE to provide the fullest support to the teams.”I think generally there are always one or two things going on in Pakistan cricket, so they’re pretty used to dealing with stuff like that at least from a playing perspective,” Smith told told Radio 2, a station based in the UAE. “We still expect them to be very competitive on this tour and conditions to suit them.”You can’t hide away from what’s going on but as a unit we’ve dealt with this in our society over the years. We’re used to adversity and for us it’s just about being honest.”Smith reposed faith in the ICC in tackling the latest crisis and said he viewed the series as the stage to begin a successful preparation for the World Cup in the subcontinent next year. “The ICC has to control the integrity of the game and it’s our responsibility to make the game as competitive as possible. We have to put our faith in the ICC to handle things properly,” Smith said. “We’ve got a lot of exciting guys coming through and it’s a great platform for our team to kickstart our summer. This month we take on Pakistan in the UAE and then an exciting series at home against India. It’s a very important phase for us in our preparation for the World Cup and we want to go there and be competitive.”It’ll be great if the people in the UAE came out and gave us some support. It’ll be fantastic.”The tour kicks off on October 26 with the first of two Twenty20 internationals. The teams then play five ODIs and two Tests.

Australia offspinner Nathan Hauritz has said he was disappointed at being ignored by Ricky Ponting in the eventful post-lunch session on the fifth day of the Mohali Test, but admitted he had lost the “right” for a bowl after an unthreatening spell before the break when he tried to experiment with his lines.”I have been working on a few different things, to try to attack the stumps a little bit more from a wider angle,” Hauritz told . “Generally I’ve been a little bit tighter towards the stumps throughout my career, and we just spoke about trying to get the ball at a wider angle, sort of like what Harbhajan [Singh] does, trying to get the ball to drift in, instead of drifting away. That stuffed me around a little bit with my body and my rhythm.”Ponting began the day with Hauritz, and the offspinner made the first breakthrough when he had Zaheer Khan edging a delivery landed well outside the off stump into the slips. In his next over, however, the new man VVS Laxman picked easy boundaries through the off side to kickstart what proved to be a match-winning innings. This after Sachin Tendulkar had driven the first ball of the over for four down the ground.”A couple of balls there were steady, not outstanding, and Sachin drove straight past me or through midwicket for four, and it’s tough to bowl at, no word of a lie,” Hauritz said. “I guess that’s what was so disappointing in the second innings, and I think that came about because I was trying different things which, in hindsight, I should never have tried. Cricket is supposed to be a very simple game and I tried to make it more complicated.”Hauritz was immediately taken off the attack and bowled only three more overs in the game, with Ponting turning to part-timer Marcus North as Australia desperately looked for the last two wickets. “Punter [Ponting] needed to get wickets and he obviously didn’t think I was the right guy. That’s what it came down to and I can’t change that.”What I learned was to consistently work on what works well, and once you don’t work on those things you put more pressure on yourself, and in the end it created problems,” said Hauritz, adding that he would return to more familiar lines during the second Test.Australia came within a wicket of winning in Mohali, with Pragyan Ojha surviving a close lbw call when India needed six runs. Even as Australia appealed, Steven Smith missed the stumps with Ojha out of the crease and conceded four overthrows. “It was such a weird feeling being out there because we were all just willing and willing and willing to get that wicket,” Hauritz said as he relived the finish. “I was at backward square-leg when that last appeal went up, and young Stevie threw at the stumps.”There was only me and someone at mid-on on the leg side, and I was appealing, running in because it was almost like Billy [umpire Billy Bowden] didn’t shake his head or anything, it seriously felt like he was going to give it out. And then when he didn’t the next thing I saw the ball go that way and I was like ‘oh’.”

The 2010 Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa will be a success but there are challenges to building its popularity, the tournament’s CEO Sundar Raman has said.Last year’s tournament drew low television ratings and relatively sparse crowds in India, the world’s largest cricket market, for matches not involving IPL sides. Raman admitted the lack of team recognition is a problem and one the tournament committee is working hard to fix.”For us it is very important that people know the teams,” Raman said in an interview with , a website that covers the business of sport in India. “South Africa is going to be different because they are used to a club culture. Now we are starting with an advantage because they know the two South African teams and they know the three IPL teams, so recognition is not 3 on 12 [last year] but it’s 5 on 10. So that’s a big advantage for us.”At the same time, Raman said that in any global tournament, be it the cricket or football World Cups, there will be teams that are unfamiliar to a particular country’s fans. “Here you have three teams to follow, and not one team to follow. That is the big advantage [for Indian fans].”Still, despite the club culture in South Africa, ticket sales have been mixed to this point. Raman expected Durban and Port Elizabeth to have full houses but said there were concerns about Centurion, which doesn’t have a home team in the tournament, and Johannesburg, which does not feature either an Indian or a South African team.”See CL T20 we have to be clear is not going to get international visitors, rather it’s going to develop the local market. That’s the big challenge for us and I think that’s what we should start focusing on rather than trying to get the world to descend on South Africa.”The other important change this year, Raman said, is to let the quality of cricket be its own advertisement instead of diluting it with Bollywood-style entertainment. The tournament was conceived as a global event, so what entertainment there will be is aimed at a global audience, which is why Enrique Iglesias was chosen to sing the theme song.”It has to have relevance,” Raman said. “Someone like Enrique cuts across genres and brings in a new set of audiences. Our belief has always been that T20 is a great platform to get new audiences into the game. For us this is a big advantage. Bringing in Enrique, taking the tournament to South Africa, adds more fans.”The tournament, which begins on September 10, is being aggressively promoted around the world. In India, ESPN Star Sports (ESS), which owns the broadcast rights, has signed Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan as the event’s brand ambassador and has been running a string of ads featuring the actor and players such as Sourav Ganguly and Andrew Symonds. The three IPL teams – Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians – are also running their own marketing campaigns to drum up excitement among their fans.”Each of the sub-licensees of ESPN Star Sports are promoting it in a big way,” Raman said. “Eurosport is broadcasting in 13 languages, then they have ESPN broadcasting in the Caribbean market. It’s a big investment that all of us have made in this. Australia is doing some serious promotion through publicity and on-air promotions. So the tournament is being promoted pretty heavily through our broadcasters.”The end result is an event Raman believes will appeal to the viewer in India and the spectator in South Africa. “I am more confident than I was last year because I have seen what the product was last year. I believe that not only will it be a huge success in India but it will be far more well received in India. You have to acknowledge India is the market where there are sizeable TV audiences and South Africa is where the stadium audiences are.”

ScorecardGemaal Hussain became the third bowler to take 50 first-class wickets thisseason as Gloucestershire put Worcestershire under pressure on the second day atCheltenham.The 26-year-old seamer, who had played only one County Championship gameprior to this summer, joined Steve Finn and Adil Rashid in reaching 50 victimswhen he dismissed David Wheeldon in Worcestershire’s reply to the home side’stotal of 480 all out.James Franklin had made 108 in Gloucestershire’s total, while Matt Mason took4 for 92. By the close the visitors had reached 126 for 2, with Daryl Mitchell unbeatenon 50.Hussain has taken his 50 wickets at an average of less than 22. It is only theLondoner’s second year with Gloucestershire, having played club cricket in theBradford and Birmingham leagues. Franklin was unbeaten on 50 overnight as his side began the day on 324 for 4. He lost partner Chris Taylor with the total on 368, caught behind offMason for 39.Gloucestershire missed out on a fifth batting point by a single run when ChrisDent joined Franklin and took the score to 399 for 5 at the end of the 110thover. By then Franklin was totally determined to reach three figures, havingregistered three scores in the 90s this season, and did so thanks to a misfieldfrom Alan Richardson.Franklin’s luck evened out when he was run out backing up for 108 as Dentconnected with a firm drive and bowler Moeen Ali diverted the ball onto thestumps. It was 462 for 7 when Dent was caught at mid-on for 38. Jon Lewis hit abright 19 but Vikram Banerjee and Anthony Ireland fell cheaply asGloucestershire lost their last five wickets in 10 overs for 45 runs.Worcestershire made a good start in reply and there were 55 runs on the boardwhen Wheeldon, on 16, got a thin inside edge onto his pad and was caught in theslips by Will Porterfield with Hussain apparently appealing for lbw. Vikram Solanki could make only nine before being pinned lbw by Anthony Ireland and at 64 for 2 Worcestershire were in trouble.But Mitchell kept them in the game with a battling half-century off 142 ballswith eight fours, while Moeen was 36 not out at stumps.

Peter George’s winter at the Academy will be interrupted by a first trip to England after he was picked as Ryan Harris’ replacement in Australia’s Test squad to face Pakistan. George, who stands out as a 203-cm fast bowler, was a star attraction last month for Australia A and he is now the next in line for a baggy green if the bodies of Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger or Mitchell Johnson falter in the next couple of weeks.”I’m massively excited,” he told Cricinfo shortly before departing from Brisbane. “At this stage it hasn’t sunk in, but I’m pumped and ready to go.”To be a late addition for one Test squad might be fortunate, but there is no fluke in making two. At 23, George is a man for Australia’s future. He spent three nights with the outfit in New Zealand in March when he was covering for Harris, who has once again provided him an opening after hurting his right knee during the one-day series against England.A week ago George was returning to the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane to continue working on the outswinger he has been developing with Craig McDermott and Troy Cooley, the bowling coaches. At the time he was hoping, one day, to return to the national squad.Things have been happening quickly for the Australian team over the past week. First Steve O’Keefe, the fresh left-arm spinner, was called up to replace Nathan Hauritz and now George has benefitted from the injury problems affecting Australia’s fast men.”This should be an exciting few weeks, spending some time with the Test squad,” George said. “Hopefully I’ll be learning off the guys and if I do get an opportunity in a practice match or a Test, I’ll try to do my best.”Australia’s only warm-up before the two Tests is against Derbyshire starting on Thursday, so the best chance George has of getting a game is if one of the first-choice men break down. The opening game is at Lord’s from July 13 before the contest concludes in Leeds.George has emerged over the past two seasons with South Australia and gained respect with 36 Sheffield Shield wickets last summer. He has played only 18 first-class games but believes the intensity of the state scene has prepared him for any promotion.”The level of domestic cricket in Australia is high enough that I feel confident in playing against the best teams in the world and feel like I can still perform as well as I do here,” he said. “With the build-up at the Academy and the Australia A games, and doing quite well in those, it has been good preparation.”George earned 11 wickets in two first-class wins over Sri Lanka A last month in a perfectly timed display. Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, has watched George with South Australia and his panel has been impressed. “We are confident he will perform well at international level should he get the opportunity on this tour,” Hilditch said.Harris’ injury has also allowed Doug Bollinger to move closer to a first Twenty20 international. Bollinger, who took nine wickets in the ODIs against England, will come into consideration for the matches against Pakistan on Monday and Tuesday in Birmingham.

England U19s 255 for 5 (Javid 79* Rafiq 73*) trail Sri Lanka U19s 287 (Dunn 4-50) by 32 runs
ScorecardAzeem Rafiq followed up his 23 overs on the first day with an unbeaten 73•PA Photos

England Under-19s made steady progress on a rain-interrupted second day to finish 32 runs behind Sri Lanka Under-19s in the first Test at Northampton. When bad light brought a premature end to proceedings captain Azeem Rafiq and Ateeq Javid were both unbeaten with half-centuries having guided England out of trouble after they had slipped to 123 for 5.With conditions still aiding the seamers Sri Lanka had to wait until the 23rd over to strike, with Charith Jayampathi snaring Daniel Bell-Drummond for a 32. Having broken the 77-run opening stand Jayampathi burst through with two quick wickets in his next over. He had Joe Root caught for a patient 40 and removed Luke Wells two balls later.With England wobbling on 78 for 3 Lewis Gregory joined Javid for a careful 45-run stand before Chathura Peiris revived Sri Lanka’s fortunes with two wickets in two balls. First he trapped Gregory in front and then had Jack Manuel caught for a duck.Thereafter Javid and Rafiq took control, easing to a 122-run stand in just under 31 overs. Rafiq was the more positive of the two, stroking 12 boundaries while Javid ticked along at his own pace, facing 130 balls for his 79. With the captain at the helm, England will look to push on tomorrow and, weather permitting, build a lead big enough to ensure there is no way back for the tourists.

Match Facts

June 9, 2010
Start time 0900 (0700 GMT)Will we see more of these happy celebrations from Zimbabwe in the final?•AFP

The Big Picture

The fairytale of Zimbabwe’s run to the final is etched in every scorecard of this tri-series. They have not just been winning but have looked like a team that knows how to win. They have rarely chased targets with such serenity ever before. Where did the nerves vanish? Where did the infamous middle-order collapses disappear? Where did that tendency to choke at the sight of victory go? Zimbabwe have had only one bad day so far and their confidence has visibly increased with each win. Their celebrations – the Bebeto-style cradle-the-child, Hamilton Masakadza’s ‘just married’ under-shirt flash, and the choreographed dance between Ray Price and Chris Mpofu – indicate a happy team basking and growing in success. They are a game away from their first triumph in a multi-nation tournament involving Test-playing nations. The stakes are that big for Zimbabwe and their fans on Wednesday. Schoolboys have flooded the stands and they have inspired grown-ups to dance as well, giving the atmosphere a carnival feel.While it’s tempting to side with the underdogs, it will be foolish to overlook Sri Lanka, the strongest team in the tri-series. Nuwan Kulasekara, a vastly under-rated new-ball bowler, will return for the final after missing the dead rubber against Zimbabwe, which Sri Lanka lost. So will Ajantha Mendis, who, despite his recent decline, sparkled in the second game against India, conceding only six runs in two overs during the batting Powerplay. Mendis has a terrific record against Zimbabwe, with 20 wickets from seven games. Tillakaratne Dilshan hinted that Angelo Mathews might also return for the final. Sri Lanka are going to be difficult to beat twice in a row.The final will also help determine whether this is a ‘win toss, bowl first, and win the game’ tournament. The inconsequential game between these two teams nearly disproved that theory. After getting sent in, Dilshan started with such impunity that Sri Lanka were on course for 300 at one stage but were thwarted by Zimbabwe’s spinners. Elton Chigumbura had used seamers for 13 of the first 15 overs but he won’t be repeating that tactic in the final. Expect the nagging Price and the deceptive Prosper Utseya to be unleashed on the Sri Lankans with the new ball, while Graeme Cremer and Greg Lamb await their turn. An absorbing contest awaits us.

Form guide (most recent first)

Zimbabwe: WWLWL
Sri Lanka: LWWLW

Watch out for…

Opener Brendan Taylor has been consistent this series but it’s Hamilton Masakadza who provides Zimbabwe the X-factor at the top. A lot depends on him if Zimbabwe are to get an aggressive start. Masakadza is unafraid to go over the top and has the skill to accompany that attitude.Don’t look beyond Sri Lanka’s best new-ball operator Nuwan Kulasekara. He has a wonderful wrist position at release and he can either cut the ball in or get it to go through straight without discernible difference in his action. Time and again batsmen have fallen to his two-card trick. Kulasekara, however, is not such a force with the old ball and he could bowl a large quota of his overs up front.

Team news

Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Jeevan Mendis, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Angelo Mathews/Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Thissara Perera, 8 Suraj Randiv, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Dilhara Fernando/Thilan Thushara, 11 Ajantha Mendis.Zimbabwe (possible) 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Brendan Taylor (wk) 3 Chamu Chibhabha/Andy Blignaut, 4 Charles Coventry, 5 Tatenda Taibu, 6 Craig Ervine, 7 Greg Lamb, 8 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 9 Graeme Cremer, 10 Prosper Utseya, 11 Ray Price.

Stats and trivia

• Kulasekara has 88 wickets at an average of 27.93 in his career but his 10 against Zimbabwe cost only 16.20 apiece.
• Zimbabwe have won 99 ODIs so far. Will they win their 100th game tomorrow?
• Dilshan has only three fifties from 16 games against Zimbabwe and his highest is 78.
  

  Quotes

  “I try to tell myself to stay relaxed as much as possible; you have a job to do and go out there and do it. They [Sri Lanka] have rested some players in this game and so definitely the contest will be stiffer in the final.”
  “The seamers have struggled with the new ball but the spinners have bowled really well all through this season. If I lose the toss in the final, I won’t be too concerned; it’s just the matter of doing well on field.”

Graeme Smith looks to continue South Africa’s winning form from the Twenty20s going into the ODI series against West Indies, which begins on Saturday, and put behind the disappointing World Twenty20 campaign.”This ODI series is very important for us and, as we showed during the two T20s, we wanted to win and play with our usual intensity,” Smith said ahead of the five-match ODI series. “We want to get back on the road to success again, and we have a lot of work to do following a poor campaign in the Twenty20 World Cup, so this is an important tour for us.”South Africa have had a hectic schedule in the recent past, with tough tours of England and India leading up to the IPL, where several of their players featured promimently, leaving little time for the team to come together ahead of the World Twenty20. Smith looks forward to an all-out effort from his side ahead of a well-deserved break. “We have a long break following this tour, and so we want to leave everything out on the field here in the Caribbean,” he said.South Africa are hampered by injuries to Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt, but Smith won’t be too concerned, given the bench-strength of his side. David Miller who debuted in the second Twenty20, scored a crucial 33 to set up victory and Smith had good things to say about him.”It was great for us to see a guy come into the side, and play so well under pressure. It was a breath of fresh air to see him walk to the crease, and hit his sixth ball for six, and play his natural game. It’s a credit to him, and he’s still got a long way to go,” Smith said.West Indies, in contrast, are at the other end of the confidence spectrum. Their captain Chris Gayle has voiced his concerns over the batsmen’s form and mindset following two unsuccessful chases of sub-par totals in the Twenty20 series. The hosts will also be mindful of South Africa’s dominance of them in the ODI format – it has been four years since West Indies last defeated South Africa, and the visitors have been on the winning side in each of the last six encounters.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Anirudh Singh made nearly half of Deccan’s runs•Indian Premier League

In a yawn-inducing crawl, Deccan Chargers meandered to 82, the lowest total of the season, and Royal Challengers Bangalore knocked it off without much fuss to book their spot in the next Champions League.Not many people bothered to turn up for the game, nine Deccan batsmen scored less than five runs and a dull, almost anaesthetic, atmosphere prevailed through their innings. Adam Gilchrist’s early dismissal set the tone for the innings: It was a slow gentle full toss from Anil Kumble and while it was in its trajectory you felt it was going to be smashed for a six but Gilchrist contrived to hit it to deep backward square-leg where Jacques Kallis took a neat catch.It was that kind of a dull and dreary night. Perhaps the loss in semi-final had sapped Deccan, perhaps it was just one of those nights when nothing went right for them and it made for almost painful watching experience.Bangalore ticked off all the boxes that were required of them: Kumble showed his intent by opening against Gilchrist, Praveen Kumar mixed his cutters with slower ones in a tight spell, and Dale Steyn, though not as pacy as he has been in this tournament so far, was accurate to keep the batsmen in check. Monish Mishra played all around a straight delivery from Praveen to be trapped in front and Rohit Sharma threw his wicket away with a lame pull shot to mid-on.Much depended on Andrew Symonds at that stage and he even got a reprieve when Steyn ran in too much at fine-leg to drop a catch but he fell on the very next delivery. He backed away to try force Steyn through the off side but edged it behind to the keeper to leave Deccan struggling at 27 for 4 in 6.1 overs. And it soon turned to 35 for 5 when a clueless Dwayne Smith had his Richard Blakey moment against Kumble: It was a slider that came in from just outside off but Smith stabbed at thin air and looked slightly sheepish when he lost his off stump.It was only due to Anirudh Singh, one of many changes in the Deccan set-up for this game, that Deccan avoided complete embarrassment. He probably would pick a sliced square-drive over backward point off Steyn as his top shot though a thumping drive over covers off a slower one from the same bowler too caught the eye. There was even a six against Nayan Doshi, who made an impressive IPL debut, but Anirudh mainly dealt in nudged singles. When he fell in the 16th over, bowled by Kallis, Deccan lost their only hope of reaching 100.Rahul Dravid and Kallis ensured Bangalore got off to a solid start and once they achieved it, it was always going be a just a stroll in the park for them. Though Kallis fell in the eight over, Dravid guided Bangalore through in the company of Kevin Pietersen.