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Shane Warne delayed his return to Victoria as the Bushrangers named an unchanged side to face South Australia in the ING Cup match at Adelaide on Sunday. Warne is recovering from a hectic Test series and is expected to delay his comeback until the Pura Cup match against the Redbacks starting next Thursday.South Australia, who easily beat Western Australia on Wednesday, have also received a blow with Matthew Elliott ruled out after aggravating a knee injury. His place has been taken by Greg Blewett, who has recovered from a thigh problem.A Victorian win would seal them a place in the final, but South Australia sit only three points behind the Bushrangers in third. Cameron White shared in a domestic record fourth-wicket stand of 205 with David Hussey against Queensland on Wednesday, and he said he was desperate to reach the decider. “I’m happy with my one-day form and am keen to keep the runs flowing,” White, who hit 85 from 87 balls, said.In Tasmania, Brett Geeves will play his first game of the season for the Tigers after recovering from stress fractures in his left leg. Tasmania travel to Devonport for the match against Western Australia and Geeves, who picked up 6 for 48 in a 2nd XI game, replaces Brendan Drew.Dane Anderson, who missed Wednesday’s loss to New South Wales due to a shoulder injury, has been named, but he and George Bailey (neck) will undergo fitness tests. Rhett Lockyear stepped in for Anderson and is on standby for both players.Victoria Michael Klinger, Jonathan Moss, Lloyd Mash, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Liam Buchanan, Grant Lindsay, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Andrew McDonald, Shane Harwood, Gerard Denton, Mick Lewis.South Australia Shane Deitz, Mark Cosgrove, Greg Blewett, Cameron Borgas, Darren Lehmann (capt), Callum Ferguson, Ken Skewes, Graham Manou (wk), Ryan Harris, Mark Cleary, Jason Gillespie, Cullen Bailey, Shaun Tait.Tasmania Tim Paine (wk), Travis Birt, Dane Anderson, Michael Bevan, Michael Di Venuto (capt), George Bailey, Adam Polkinghorne, Luke Butterworth, Xavier Doherty, Adam Griffith, Brett Geeves, Ben Hilfenhaus.Western Australia Justin Langer (capt), Marcus North, Luke Ronchi (wk), Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Chris Rogers, Peter Worthington, Beau Casson, Steve Magoffin, Matthew Petrie, Ben Edmondson, David Bandy.

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Mike Hussey and Perth’s oppressive heat combined to subject Victoria to another tough day in their Pura Cup match against Western Australia at the WACA. At the close, Western Australia were 6 for 414, a lead of 259, with Hussey unbeaten on 202.On a day when temperatures as high as 42 degrees were recorded in Perth, Victoria wilted. A brief shower during the tea break helped reduce some of the heat, and the 20-minute delay which ensued would have been welcomed most by Victoria’s bowlers. But is was temporary respite.The star was Hussey, who completed the second double hundred of his career shortly before bad light brought a premature end to the day. He smashed 31 fours, and moved to within 10 runs of 7000 in the competition, offering only one chance, when on 131, but Shane Warne spilt the slip catch.It was a day to forget for Warne, who ended with 1 for 84, although none of the bowlers seriously threatened to check Hussey’s progress. Resuming on 0 for 129, Justin Langer was caught behind by Peter Roach off Michael Lewis for 76 inside an hour, but Chris Rogers (40) carried on where he had left off before falling to an outstanding diving catch by Warne.Hussey and Ryan Campbell then combined for an 88-run sixth wicket partnership, Campbell taking on the aggressive role with a 62-ball 46.

South Australian cricket officials are going to the Environment, Resource and Development Court to appeal an Adelaide City Council rejection of an application to build a permanent video replay screen at the Adelaide Oval.The council had given in-principle approval for the screen in January. As a result of that decision, the South Australia Cricket Association (SACA) worked with Heritage South Australia to ensure the design met their heritage requirements.SACA chief executive Mike Deare said the appeal was a last resort move after the Adelaide City Council took the issue off their agenda. Deare said he understood the matter would be looked by a special Development Assessment Panel later this week. He anticipated the panel meeting would then be followed by a conciliation meeting under the auspices of the Environment Resource and Development Court.When the original SACA plans were declined by the Council, a reduction was made in the support structure for the screen. Deare said he had received an indication that city councillors acknowledge the need for a screen and he is hopeful that the amended design will win favour within the next week.

Sixteen young English Test hopefuls have arrived in Adelaide to spend four months at the Australian Cricket Academy, and were given an early indication of what the future holds from Rod Marsh.The former Australia wicketkeeper, the first director of the English NationalAcademy after 11 successful years at the ACA, was appointed by the England and Wales Cricket Board to help develop players more effectively for international cricket.”They’re here to toughen up,” Marsh said. “If they don’t get tough they might as well catch the first plane out.”The pressure will be so intense that unless they perform at their absolute best they will never play for England,” Marsh told Channel Ten Sports News.Australia raised themselves from the cricketing doldrums to become world-beaters through their own academy, which has produced the likes of Shane Warneand Ricky Ponting.The 16 English players selected for the first academy, which has replaced the winter A tour, are in for a month of tough fitness training.There are barely any net sessions before their first game on November 22, against the Tasmania 2nd XI.Marsh has brought in two Australian coaches to help train the England prospects.The great fast bowler Dennis Lillee is joined by Terry Jenner, who nurtured Shane Warne and will advise England’s slow bowlers.Surrey’s Alex Tudor welcomed the news that former Australian captain Ian Chappell will also provide specialist coaching.”With men like Chappell around we can only get better,” said the 24-year-old, who made his Test debut in 1998 but has since been plagued by injury.

ScorecardFile Photo – Sudip Chatterjee struck 16 fours for his 145•PTI

Sudip Chatterjee’s hundred rescued Bengal from what seemed set to be an extension of their previous season, against Karnataka in Bangalore. Bengal were reduced to 41 for 4 mainly by Vinay Kumar’s new-ball exploits, before Chatterjee and Wriddhiman Saha pulled them out of the pits with a stand of 173 runs for the fifth wicket. Saha fell ten runs short of a hundred in the last over before tea and Chatterjee was dismissed for 145, his third 50-plus score in four first-class matches, while Vinay ended the day with 3 for 80.Vinay opted to bowl and removed the Bengal top order all by himself. He didn’t swing the ball much in his first two overs, but once he did, he pitched it in the corridor to take the outside edges of openers Abhishek Das and debutant Naved Ahmed. There was more drama in the third dismissal when Vinay threw the ball back in his follow through to hit Shreevats Goswami’s bat and the ball deflected onto the stumps. Goswami had grounded his bat in time but when the ball hit the stumps, his bat was in the air and so were Bengal’s fortunes. Manoj Tiwary came out at 26 for 3 and struck an authoritative four off the back foot, but he gave his wicket away by pulling a short ball from well outside off, for a top-edge to square leg and Bengal were four down in just over an hour.That brought together Chatterjee and Saha in the 14th over. Chatterjee was more watchful out of the two and didn’t go for any extravagant shots. Saha, though, had a nervy start. He edged the ball a couple of times early on, but his use of soft hands made sure the ball didn’t carry to the slips. He switched gears as soon as legspinner Shreyas Gopal came on in the 20th over by greeting him with a six over long-off and a beautiful cover drive the next ball. Saha struck two fours in an over against Vinay too, not long before lunch, and lofted left-arm spinner J Suchith over mid-off early into the second session to earn some confidence.Bengal were 104 for 4 at lunch and the two batsmen, now at ease, struck the occasional boundary and soon brought up their 100-run stand with the ball old and the sun blazing down on the pitch. Vinay tried several bowlers in quick succession, unleashed his own reverse-swing, placed unorthodox fielders but wickets eluded Karnataka.Saha targeted the off side more, while Chatterjee found success off his pads as both batsmen attacked the spinners. Just when it looked like the second session would go completely in Bengal’s favour, Gopal turned one into Saha and Robin Uthappa, who was keeping instead of CM Gautam, took a sharp catch down leg.Chatterjee, on 99 at tea, didn’t take too long to move into three figures for the second time in this format and found an able partner in Laxmi Shukla to take the score past 250. By now Chatterjee had read the bounce well; he played the ball late, ducked under the bouncers, cut Vinay off the back foot for fours and was headed towards a big score. That his first first-class hundred was a score of 192 speaks of his patience and grit. Shukla was striking boundaries at will, including a six down the ground, and along with Chatterjee brought up the fifty stand in ten overs, but Karnataka, like they usually do once they make inroads, continued to pick wickets.Shukla chased one outside off with a big drive that flew to Manish Pandey at first slip in no time and Pragyan Ojha’s resistance of 35 balls, that included several short deliveries, ended as soon as Vinay took the second new ball. The big wicket came when Chatterjee threw his bat like Shukla and was also caught at first slip, off HS Sharath. At 295 for 8, Bengal were helped past 300 when No. 9 Veer Pratap Singh struck three firm drives for four before lobbing one off the back foot to mid-off which was Sharath’s third wicket and marked the end of the day.

Ricky Ponting is confident Andrew Symonds will be fit for Australia’s push to regain the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, which begins on December 14. Symonds hurt his ankle while batting in the first innings of the Hobart Test and took no further part in the match after posting his half-century.”We’ve got three weeks before the Chappell-Hadlee, I would imagine he would be right for those,” Ponting told . “If you look at the way he has batted in the last couple of games, he has gone out when we were looking at declaring and got 50 off 50 balls both times.”We know how destructive he can be and we saw that in Melbourne last year, that magnificent [Test] hundred he made there. It’s not only his bowling. He gives us a fair bit with the bat and he can give us a lot in the field as well. He’s a pretty vital cog in our team at the moment so we hope he can be back on the park pretty quickly.”Ponting is keen to regain the trophy after New Zealand surprised Australia with a 3-0 series win in February. During that tour Australia rested Ponting and Adam Gilchrist, leaving Michael Hussey in charge of an under-strength side that came up against some impressive New Zealand batting.However, New Zealand’s results so far on their South Africa tour – they lost both Tests and failed to post 200 in any innings – suggest they are not in the same kind of form as earlier this year. “New Zealand right at the moment they’ve got a few injuries as well,” Ponting said. “Shane Bond is down and Jacob Oram is down. A few of their guys have gone down over in South Africa.”Ponting said a 3-0 result had not reflected the closeness of the February series. “There was a lot spoken about in that series about probably how badly we went,” Ponting said. “If you actually look at the games I don’t think we played that badly at all. We scored 340 and 350 in a couple of those games and lost. There’s extra motivation there.”New Zealand’s tour opens with a Twenty20 international in Perth on December 11. The three-match Chappell-Hadlee Series follows with games in Adelaide, Sydney and Hobart before Australia switch back into five-day mode for the Boxing Day Test against India.

Shabbir Ahmed, the Pakistan fast bowler who served a 12-month ban for an illegal action, has been called up as a reinforcement for the side touring South Africa following injuries to Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul, both of whom are on their way home.Shabbir’s last Test was against England at Multan, in November 2005. The ICC lifted his ban last December after receiving a detailed report from the Universiity of Western Australia, which conducted tests on the bowler’s action. “Shabbir is coming,” Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, said, “but I don’t know his condition.”Shoaib was only a late addition to the squad, having been omitted originally on the grounds that he wasn’t fit. But he was called up as cover for Gul, who is suffering from an injured ankle, and returned spectacularly after a long lay-off, helping to skittle out South Africa for 124 in their first innings at Port Elizabeth with a four-wicket haul. The 11-over burst proved too much, a hamstring strain preventing him from bowling in the second innings.”According to an interim medical report Shoaib has torn his hamstring and would require at least 14 days to recover,” Salim Altaf, the PCB’s director of operations, told the Karachi-based .To compound matters, TV channels also broadcast what appeared to be a heated argument between Shoaib and Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, before the start of play on the second day of the Test. There has been speculation about the nature of the argument but no official word has been forthcoming. Altaf said that Talat Ali, the team manager, will conduct an inquiry into the incident.”I have talked with Talat on this particular incident,” said Altaf. “The manager has assured the board that he would conduct an inquiry and then take action if required. The board has told the manager that it would support any decision he takes over the issue.”Shoaib’s injury isn’t the only headache for the management, with Gul’s ankle injury not improving and Shoaib Malik yet to play any part in the series. Malik, too, is suffering from an ankle injury and is considered a doubtful starter for the third Test, starting at Newlands on January 26. He is, however, expected to be fit for the one-day series.”Talat has told us that the management would have a meeting tonight at which it would decide about the fate of the squad’s injured players,” Altaf said. “Unfortunately, Gul and Malik have not responded to the treatment they have been receiving for the last several days.”

Trouble is brewing after some fans reacted angrily to tough regulations on alcohol introduced by New Zealand Cricket during the ODI at Christchurch on Tuesday.Bars inside the ground stopped serving wine and beer midway through the game, even though there was no unruly behaviour. But what appears to have really angered some people was the level of security on entering the ground. There were intensive bag searches at the gate, and no liquid at all – even water and thermos flasks of coffee – was allowed to be brought in. NZC countered by arguing that things were thrown onto the outfield during the second ODI at Eden Park and any container is potentially dangerous.Peter Dwan , NZC’s marketing manager, defended the measures. “For every person who says that security was a bit intense in terms of the bag searches … there are another 15 or 20 people saying, ‘It’s great we can go to the game of cricket and have a safe and enjoyable day’.”The bag checks have been thorough and a lot of people have come for the full day out, other than just to get legless,” he continued. “There’s been a slight attitude change, it’s the time of year when people are more relaxed and the crowd have been pretty laid-back.”But Warren Lees, the former New Zealand international and coach, was less than impressed, warning that large numbers of spectators could be put off by the over-zealous security.”We’re basically breeding aggressive crowd behaviour through our approach to crowd control,” Lees told the New Zealand Herald. “People are turning up at the cricket ready to be treated as criminals. It’s not a good scene.”He added that the confrontational style of the security teams would drive many away for good and that it was an overreaction to isolated incidents. “Security are continually misjudging the type of crowd they are dealing with. They are actually riling law-abiding folk with their heavy-handed and antagonistic attitude. There’s no need.”

Simon Jones has been passed fit after recovering from a stomach bug, and is certain to play in the second Test at Durban, which starts on Boxing Day. Jones had withdrawn from practice at Kingsmead on Friday morning, complaining of a bug which struck overnight, but he made a rapid recovery on Saturday.The news was the perfect birthday present for Jones, who turned 26 today. It was Jones who sparked England’s recovery on the fourth day at Port Elizabeth, first grabbing a spectacular outfield catch to dismiss Graeme Smith, then taking four important wickets when he bowled.Probable England line-up for second Test
1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Michael Vaughan (capt), 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Matthew Hoggard, 10 Simon Jones, 11 Stephen Harmison.South African squad
Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, Jacques Rudolph, Jacques Kallis, Boeta Dippenaar, Hashim Amla, Andrew Hall, Shaun Pollock, Charl Langeveldt, Thami Tsolekile (wk), Nicky Boje, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn.

National League Division One
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Surrey 297 for 6 beat Gloucestershire 231 by 66 runs at The Oval
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Surrey stamped their authority on their title rivals Gloucestershire, as they secured a vital 66-run win to regain top spot in the National League. Surrey, who won the toss and batted first, were in a rampant mood, racking up a huge 297 for 6 in their 45 overs. Ally Brown launched the innings with a ferocious 84 from 61 balls, and Mark Ramprakash brought up the rear with a scarcely more sedate 83 from 102. Graham Thorpe and Rikki Clarke each made handy contributions, and Gloucestershire were up against it from the offset of their innings. Craig Spearman and Phil Weston brought up the first 50 in 29 balls to keep their hopes alive, but five run-outs effectively sealed the match. Spearman went on to make a brave 85, but when he clipped a Clarke full-toss to deep square-leg, that was that.Essex 298 for 5 beat Glamorgan 153 by 145 runs at Chelmsford
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Nasser Hussain launched a thrilling riposte to all those who doubt his continued hunger, by smashing an unbeaten 161 – his highest score in limited-overs cricket – to defeat Glamorgan singlehandedly at Cheltenham. Hussain batted right through a lopsided innings, in which Dean Cosker took all five wickets to fall. Andy Flower added 176 for the first wicket, and Jon Dakin lamped 40 for 23 balls in the closing overs, but other than them, no-one else exceeded 11. Glamorgan, though, needed an unlikely 299 for victory, and when Robert Croft and Michael Powell fell in the same over from Antonio Palladino, they gave up the ghost. Matthew Maynard made an even 50, but Glamorgan tumbled to 153 all out in 26.1 overs.Hampshire 250 for 6 beat Sussex 181 by 62 runs at Hove (D/L method)
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Sussex swapped one embarrassment for another, as a floodlight failure interrupted play just as Dmitri Mascarenhas was bowling Hampshire to a comprehensive victory. Play did eventually resume, and Sussex did eventually put up a fight, but the damage had been done at the top of the innings. Responding to Hampshire’s healthy total of 250 for 6, Sussex were reduced to 37 for 5 before a gutsy performance from the tail lifted them to 181 with ten of their allotted overs remaining. Mascarenhas finished with 4 for 24, and James Bruce chipped in with 3 for 45. Earlier, Hampshire’s innings had been based around a trio of fifties from James Hamblin, Simon Katich and John Crawley.National League Division Two
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Nottinghamshire 203 for 6 beat Durham 199 by four wickets at Chester-le-Street
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Kevin Pietersen rampaged to 72 from 57 balls to keep Nottinghamshire’s promotion hopes alive in their National League Division Two game against Durham at Chester-le-Street. Durham batted first and made an underwhelming 199, but that total looked to be plenty when Nottinghamshire slumped to 56 for 5. But Pietersen, who had made a cautious start, suddenly opened his shoulders and stormed from 20 to 72 in six overs. Graeme Bridge was slotted for three sixes in an over, and even Shoaib Akhtar came in for some tap, before getting his own back as Pietersen was caught at backward point. But the damage had been done, and Chris Read and Paul Franks steered Notts home with 6.3 overs to spare.Somerset 283 for 8 beat Middlesex 216 by 67 runs at Taunton
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Jamie Cox provided some long-overdue oomph to Somerset’s top-order, with a superb 130 from 120 balls to dent Middlesex’s promotion push at Taunton. Cox was at the forefront of an impressive team batting effort, as Somerset racked up 283 for 8 after winning the toss. Cox was dropped once on 85 by Tim Bloomfield, but otherwise was in complete control. He added 89 for the third wicket with Keith Parsons, and even though no other batsman exceeded 38, Somerset’s total was all too much for Middlesex, who were all out for 126 in 39.1 overs. Ed Joyce made 59, but Ian Blackwell took three wickets.