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England XI 260 for 6 (Vaughan 89, Strauss 73, Collingwood 31*) beat Namibia 193 for 4 (Keulder 57, Karg 66, Giles 3-37) by 67 runs
Scorecard

Michael Vaughan led from the front as his England XI recorded a comfortable 67-run victory in the first match of their southern African tour, against Namibia at the Wanderers ground in Windhoek. In a match reduced to 42 overs a side after a two-hour mopping-up delay, Vaughan’s 89 lifted England to 260 for 6. Namibia made a spirited reply, but could manage only 193.Much of the pre-match hype had been about the possibility of Sussex’s Matt Prior opening for England, but in the end it was Ian Bell who strode out with Vikram Solanki. And he was soon striding back, bowled by Gerrie Snyman for a duck (3 for 1). Solanki made 28 before he fell to Sarel Burger (6 for 2), then Vaughan and Andrew Strauss put the world to rights with a stand of 150, Vaughan making 89 from 92 balls before his dismissal at 215 triggered a mini-collapse in which three wickets went down for two runs. Strauss followed for a solid 73 from only 65 balls, then Geraint Jones was caught behind off Snyman for a single.Kevin Pietersen’s long-awaited first innings in England colours didn’t last long: he made only 5 before being trapped in front by Louis Burger. That made it 226 for 6, but a sensible partnership between Paul Collingwood and Ashley Giles swelled the total to 260.

Last year at Port Elizabeth Namibia briefly threatened to embarrass England in the World Cup – for a while they were ahead on run rate as rain threatened – but on another changeable day (a helicopter was used to help dry the ground before the start) England’s batsmen had done enough to ensure a winning start to their tour.England’s bowling, though, will worry the management a little more. Only Ashley Giles, who took three of the first four wickets, will be entirely satusfied with his figures, which were 3 for 37 from nine overs. Simon Jones removed Namibia’s former captain, Danie Keulder, for an accomplished 57, but the main strike force of Darren Gough, James Anderson and Alex Wharf went wicketless.Morne Karg, usually a wicketkeeper but playing as a batsman today, top-scored with a breezy 66 before becoming Giles’s third victim. England’s eventual victory was easy enough, but they will be looking for an improved bowling performance in their second warm-up match against Namibia on Tuesday, before the five-match one-day series against Zimbabwe starts on Friday (Nov 26).

Digicel, the current sponsors of the West Indies cricket team, and one of the parties embroiled in the recent Caribbean contract dispute has said it would welcome and support any offer from the ICC and the Federation of International Cricketer’s Associations (FICA) to resolve the present stalemate.The ICC has made it clear that it will not involve itself in the dispute, unless explicitly asked to do so. The West Indies Cricket Board has made this position clear to Digicel, although Roger Braithwaite, the WICB chief executive, has been actively involved in talks with Malcolm Speed, his opposite number at the ICC.Last week, a Digicel spokesman, in an exclusive interview to Cricinfo, talked about the company’s growing “disappointment” at the WICB’s seeming unwillingness to resolve the dispute. “The whole process has been frustrating as our whole investment is about having the best West Indies cricket team,” said the spokesman. “We are not an administrator and all we have ever wanted is the best for West Indies cricket.”The contract row has now clearly hit rock bottom, with a second-string West Indies team playing Test matches in Sri Lanka. Stars like Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Brian Lara, who have personal endorsements with Digicel’s rival mobile communications company Cable and Wireless, are absent, thus robbing the series of its sheen.The latest statement from Digicel reveals more than a tinge of desperation on the company’s part, as it struggles to find a way out of the dispute. “Digicel continues to remain hopeful that a solution can be created between the WICB and WIPA that provides value to the players, fans and organisations that are supporting West Indies Cricket,” said Ben Atherton, Digicel Group marketing director in a press release. “We believe that the current situation could benefit positively from the international expertise and best practices garnered by the world’s governing body and player’s association in the interests of all parties involved”.

As far as falls from grace go, Yuvraj Singh’s has been steep enough to warrant a parachute. After a magnificent century at Lahore, albeit in a losing cause, the Indian team management were impressed enough to consider him indispensable. When Sourav Ganguly returned for the Rawalpindi Test a week later, Aakash Chopra made way, despite having been part of four hundred-run partnerships with Virender Sehwag in the eight Tests where they opened together.At the time, Yuvraj was supposed to slot in as an opening batsman, but after India knocked Pakistan over after tea on the opening day, it was Parthiv Patel who strode out to face the wrath of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami. The logic then was that the in-form Yuvraj was too precious to be sacrificed at the top, and Ganguly went so far as to say that he deserved to play in his natural habitat – the middle order.Six months on, Yuvraj did poorly in the opening Test against Australia at Bangalore, but he was hardly alone in that regard. And after a solitary failure as opener in Chennai, he finds himself surplus to requirements, with Chopra -axed for Chennai – curiously back in the fold. If Yuvraj is confused, you could scarcely blame him. Considered a better bet at the top of the order than Chopra just ten days ago, he’s now not good enough for a middle-order slot, even with Ganguly missing.Mohammad Kaif’s gritty 64 in Chennai won him the vote, which doesn’t say much about the team’s philosophy of keeping faith in its players. After all, if Patel – whose keeping continues to be wretched – can be persisted with, why not Yuvraj, who has hardly had enough opportunities to be labelled a failure? Indian cricket can’t afford a profligate approach to young talent, what with Test-class performers so thin on the ground.

Muttiah Muralitharan will captain Central Province in Sri Lanka’s newfour-day provincial tournament in January. All the international players areexpected to participate in the four-team tournament, which was introduced tohelp bridge the quality gap that exists between club and internationalcricket.Hashan Tillakaratne will captain Western Province, Marvan Atapattu will leadSouthern Province, and Mahela Jayawardene will skipper Northern Province. Allthe teams have also been allocated a coach, manager and selector.The tournament is due to start on January 3. Each team will play each othertwice, meaning 12 group games in all, with the final scheduled for February11-14. The matches will be played at Kandy, Galle and Dambulla, as well as the Premadasa Stadium and the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.

Jacques Rudolph feels that the conditions in Sri Lanka fit his batting style “like a glove” and is confident of cementing his spot in the South African team in the absence of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis. Rudolph was included in the squad to tour Sri Lanka because Smith pulled out after undergoing surgery for an ankle injury.”This is definitely a big chance for me to regain my place in the squad. We all know Graeme and Jacques Kallis will return,” Rudolph told News 24. “Whoever performs the best out of AB [de Villiers], Hashim [Amla] and Boeta [Dippenaar] on this tour, stands a good chance to remain in the squad when Graeme and Jacques do return.””It’s the fourth time that I’ll be touring Sri Lanka and I’m used to the conditions. I’ve toured with the South Africa A team in the past and I’ve been successful. On the last tour I hit a century in Galle. Hopefully I’ll be successful again.”Rudolph admitted that the absence of Smith and Kallis, who is recovering from elbow surgery, had considerably weakened the side. “It’s also an opportunity for us as a team, probably a less experienced and weaker team than usual, to show what we can do. Some of the guys will definitely have to take the lead and show more determination in the absence of those guys [Smith and Kallis].”

South Africa’s provincial administrators have rejected a radical restructuring of domestic cricket, opting for the implementation of a promotion-relegation system rather than a provincial competition, which would have meant at least four smaller unions having to merge.The idea of two divisions has been doing the rounds for five years, but financial worries have forced the issue to the top of the agenda. Several of the provinces are facing serious shortfalls, and Percy Sonn, the president of the United Cricket Board, warned that provinces were “facing financial ruin and in the meantime our standard of play is deteriorating. We cannot go forward if we don’t change.”But the provinces were unable to agree of a definite format for the tournament, and they demanded that the new system not be introduced until 2004-05 at the earliest. That left Gerald Majola, chief executive of the UCB, unimpressed, and he accused the provinces of “wasting time”.Even when these matters are resolved, the issue will not be at an end. Cricket South Africa (CSA), which runs professional cricketin the country, have yet to agree to the changes, and it is quite possible that it will reject the recommendations on the grounds that they don’t do enough to address the dire financial situation. The CSA are due to meet with the UCB in mid-July.

Recently appointed ING Captain, Cameron White, is to lead Victoria’s 2nd X1 in game 1 of the Cricket Australia Cup in South Australia from October 7-10.The team for the match at Adelaide Oval No. 2 has been confirmed and is as follows:

• Cameron White (C)
• Will Carr
• Adam Crosthwaite
• Matthew Elliott
• Brett Harrop
• Ian Hewett
• Nick Jewell
• Brendan Joseland
• Michael Klinger
• Andrew McDonald
• Graeme Rummans
• Tim Welsford

A week that started in chaos and confusion in West Indies’ cricket ended with another contentious, controversial issue last night.As the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) tried to establish whether Chris Gayle had violated its eligibility rule, the selectors refused to pick the Jamaican opening batsman for the first Cable & Wireless Test against Australia in spite of advice from the board that Gayle was eligible until the matter had been fully investigated.Gayle’s decision not to represent Jamaica in the Carib Beer International Challenge final against Jamaica at Kensington Oval and instead play in the lucrative Double Wicket World Championship in St Lucia, has left the WICB seeking legal advice to ensure that the right procedure was followed in determining whether Gayle was in breach of the eligibility rule.`Not aware’Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) president Jackie Hendriks, who is serving as tournament referee in the Double Wicket World Championship, submitted a report to the WICB in which he said he was "not aware that any formal permission was given by the JCA for Gayle to miss the [Carib] final".The WICB has also asked Gayle to submit a report on the circumstances that led to his non-participation in the Carib final, before making a decision on whether he was in breach of the eligibility rule.Meanwhile, the WICB advised chief selector Sir Vivian Richards that until such time as a decision has been made to the contrary, Gayle was eligible for selection on the West Indies team.One is left to presume that the 23-year-old Gayle, who had seemingly established himself as the West Indies’ premier opening batsman in the past two years and whose 28 Tests have brought him 1 588 runs (ave. 35.28), has been dropped.In deciding on a review, the WICB considered that, on the face of it, Gayle could be in breach of the eligibility rule which states in part:"A player becomes eligible for selection to the senior West Indies team when he makes himself available for selection to his national side in a competition immediately preceding the selection of a West Indies team for an international series."During the course of yesterday’s third day of the Carib International final, there was the feeling that a dramatic announcement was in store.A Press release was promised early in the day, but it did not come until after 7 p.m.

After three months of wall-to-wall one-dayers, it might have been expected that Test cricket would return to centre stage with relative calm and order. But the first day of the first Test at Georgetown provided enough thrills and spills for even the most impatient spectator. Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s magnificent 69-ball hundred took the plaudits, but when the dust settled it was Australia who ended the day with a firm grip on the match.That Australia took such a stranglehold was largely thanks to their assured batting in the final session, coupled with some indifferent batting from West Indies and three poor decisions from the umpires – the most crucial of which was that dished out to Brian Lara.But it was Chanderpaul who won the hearts of his home crowd with the third fastest Test hundred (in terms of balls faced) at a time when West Indies appeared to be down and out. He came in to join Lara, who had looked at his imperious best during his brief stay, at 53 for 4, and within an over was the last recognised batsman as Lara departed.Whereas Chanderpaul is renowned for dogged – some would say downright dull – rearguard actions, this time he attacked, and in style, unleashing a string of quite exquisite cuts, pulls and drives. None of the bowlers were spared, and so wayward were they that for an hour after lunch Australia were rendered impotent. Catches were dropped, overthrows given away and brows grew more furrowed as Chanderpaul and a hobbling Ridley Jacobs added 131 for the sixth wicket at six an over.The support given by Jacobs was invaluable. He pulled a thigh muscle early on attempting an ambitious sweep off Stuart MacGill, and played almost all his innings on one leg and with severely limited mobility. And yet he kept his end up, and even produced the shot of the day, a towering drive off MacGill which cleared the triple-decker stand at long-on. If Chanderpaul’s innings was savage dissection, Jacobs’s was courageous determination.The problem for West Indies was what happened either side of that stand as ten wickets fell for just 106 runs. The rot started as early as the fifth over when Devon Smith (3) was on the sharp end of the first dubious decision of the day (9 for 1), and an over later Daren Ganga was bowled for 0 by a ball which kept a little low (10 for 2). Lara, briefly threatening to unveil a masterpiece, needed someone to stay with him. Instead, Wavell Hinds holed out to Justin Langer at mid-off courtesy of an infuriatingly loose drive off Brad Hogg (47 for 3), and next ball Marlon Samuels edged to Matthew Hayden at first slip. But the hammer blow came in the next over when Lara was given leg-before for 26 (53 for 5). It was a dubious decision from Asoka de Silva, and it seemed set to usher in another humiliating capitulation.But Chanderpaul and Jacobs fought back, and it took the afternoon drinks interval to end their resistance. Two balls after the break Chanderpaul fell leg-before to Andy Bichel trying to pull a ball which wasn’t short enough (184 for 5). The blow to his knee was sickening and he hobbled off to add to West Indies’ injury worries. Four balls later Vasbert Drakes sparred at Bichel and was excellently caught by wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist low down to his right for 0 (184 for 6).Merv Dillion’s spirited assault was cut short by the inconsitent MacGill – aided by another poor lbw decision from de Silva. He made 20 in a breezy eighth-wicket stand of 38 with Jacobs, and the last rites were completed after tea with the increasingly distressed Jacobs left high and dry.Australia’s customary aggressive response was briefly checked when Hayden (10) paid for his own calling error, failing by inches to beat Drakes’s sharp pick-up and throw (37 for 1). But Langer and Ricky Ponting relentlessly ate into the deficit, and as the day drifted towards a close it was increasingly hard to see where a wicket was going to come from. The forecast of intermittent rain over the next four days already appeared to give West Indies their only hope of salvation.

MELBOURNE, Dec 16 AAP – Shane Warne should be available for Australia’s World Cup cricket campaign after undergoing shoulder surgery today.Australian team doctor Trefor James said Warne had undergone arthroscopic surgery this morning after he dislocated his bowling shoulder against England last night.James said Warne would be out of action for up to six weeks, meaning Warne will miss the remaining two Ashes Tests against England and the rest of the triangular one-day cricket series.But James was hopeful of having Warne back by the start of the World Cup in late February.”I don’t think I could be definite, we are hopeful he will be available and we will just have to wait until we’ll be in a better position to see,” he said.James said Warne was likely to make a full recovery despite fears his latest injury might have finished his career.”We expect him to bowl without any dramas and in the short term, we expect him to be out for four to six weeks,” James said.James said Warne was in shock and disappointment last night but in good spirits today.James said Warne faced a low-risk of redislocating his shoulder.But he said any risk would be associated with throwing a ball rather than bowling.James said Warne’s previous shoulder surgery had no bearing on his latest injury.He said Warne had a good track record of recovering from injuries and was diligent in his approach to rehabilitation.Melbourne specialist Greg Hoy performed the surgery, which was exploratory.