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Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Zoysa is a serious injury concern ahead of Sunday’s opening one-day match against New Zealand after dislocating his finger during a warm-up match with Central Districts.The team management is hopeful that he will be able to participate in the tour but there is still uncertainty over the probablt healing time. No decision has so far been made about calling up a replacement from Colombo.Zoysa had started his tour brightly, whipping out both Central Districts openers, Craig Spearman and Jamie How, but later suffered a deep cut in a finger and a dislocation while attempting a return catch.Zoysa’s finger was put back in place by Sri Lanka’s physiotherapist, CJ Clarke, and was then taken to hospital for check-ups and stitches. Fortunately, x-rays showed no signs of a fracture.Sri Lanka have taken just 14 players to New Zealand to allow room for Muttiah Muralitharan to return once he has proved his fitness. Murali is now bowling up to seven overs per day and very close to being declared fully fit.Zoysa would have been a certainty for Sunday’s game after a successful return to one-day cricket this year but his place will now be taken by Dilhara Fernando or Nuwan Kulasekera.Sri Lanka are to move to Hamilton for a second practice game against Northern Districts on Thursday.

Somerset are hoping to secure the services of Zander de Bruyn, the South African allrounder, as a Kolpak player. The club are waiting for the outcome of a meeting a Lord’s to discuss his registration.de Bruyn has played three Tests for South Africa, the last of which was against England at Port Elizabeth in 2004. He has had a previous stint in county cricket with Worcestershire and remains a consistent performer on the South African domestic scene.”Zander comes highly recommended by both Jimmy Cook and Neil McKenzie, who has played alongside him,” Brian Rose, Somerset’s director of cricket, told the club’s website. “He fills the role that Cameron White and Neil McKenzie filled for us last year in tha he will come in at number five, either when the second new ball is being taken or when we need somebody who can stay at the wicket.”In the 2007-08 SuperSport series de Bruyn made 712 runs at 39.55 and also managed 12 wickets at 42.Somerset have Justin Langer as their overseas player for 2008 as they aim to build on their promotion to Division One of the Championship.

Mark Waugh will be pushed as a possible national selector as New South Wales attempt to end 12 years without representation on the panel. The Sydney Morning Herald reported Allan Border was expected to stand down in April and David Gilbert, the New South Wales chief executive, would ask Waugh to nominate for the vacancy.”Mark is a very good judge of a cricketer, and his ability to read cricket very well is well known,” Gilbert said. “Australian cricket can’t let blokes like him disappear from the game.”Australia’s current panel has no representation from New South Wales or Victoria, and includes Trevor Hohns and Border from Queensland, David Boon, the former Tasmania batsman, and Andrew Hilditch, the hook-happy South Australia player. The positions of Border and Boon will be reviewed in April and the newspaper said Border was considering standing down to focus on media and other interests.”I wouldn’t completely rule out nominating if a spot became available,” Waugh said. “There could be good sides to it, like identifying talent, but it would be a big commitment, with a lot of time away. I can’t say watching cricket all day appeals to me.”While Border and Hilditch played for the Blues before moving interstate, John Benaud, who retired in 1993, was their last selector. “People are going to say we’re after someone who will push our players but that’s not the case," Gilbert said. "No selector is ever going to compromise himself by being biased towards his own state. New South Wales are a formidable influence on Australian cricket. It stands to reason we should be represented.” Ray Bright, the former Victoria spinner and current state selector, said he would be interested in applying if there was a vacancy.

Nottinghamshire have signed Kyle Hogg, the Lancashire allrounder, on a month-long loan deal to cover for an increasing injury list.Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, is down to the bare bones of a pace attack with Charlie Shreck, Andy Harris, Paul Franks and Mark Footitt currently out of action and Ryan Sidebottom committed to England duty”I’m delighted to have Kyle on board and it’s a great opportunity for him to play some first-class cricket and prove a point,” said Newell. “He’s a talented young seamer who has been struggling to claim a regular place in a strong Lancashire team.”We have been keeping an eye on him for some time and although he will only be with us for a month initially, who knows where it might lead.”It will be Hogg’s second loan spell of the season after spending time with Worcestershire during the first half of the summer. He has struggled to find a regular spot in the Lancashire side, even though there have been a number of injuries at Old Trafford.

New Zealand 141 for 8 in 46 overs (Tiffen 35) beat England 129 in 41 overs (Brindle 34*, Milliken 3-29, Steele 3-14) by 18 runs (D/L method); England won series 3-2
Scorecard

New Zealand won the rain-affected final match of the NatWest Series at Old Trafford. It was a timely boost for the world champions, who had already lost this one-day series, ahead of the solitary Test of their tour, at Scarborough next weekend (August 21-24).It was a low-scoring match, with New Zealand managing only 141 for 8 from 46 overs before the heavens opened. Sara McGlashan made 22, and Haidee Tiffen 35 from 71 balls, as New Zealand struggled to get the bowling away. England’s new-ball pair of Lucy Pearson – tight throughout this series – and Jenny Gunn kept the runs down, going for only 29 and 23 runs respectively from their ten-over allocations.The rain brought a long interruption, and for a while it seemed as if the match would have to be abandoned. But eventually the skies relented, and England came out to bat, facing an adjusted target of 148 from 46 overs. They started slowly, then three run-outs derailed the innings. Arran Brindle (formerly Arran Thompson) applied herself for 34 in 79 balls, but no-one else exceeded Charlotte Edwards’s 23 from the top of the order. Louise Milliken and Rebecca Steele both took three wickets, with Steele’s costing her only 14 runs from 10 overs.England eventually fell 18 runs short of their revised target, being bowled out with five overs left, but had the consolation of taking the series 3-2.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

An authoritative 62 from Belinda Clark eased Australia into the finals of the Women’s World Cup, as they completed a straightforward five-wicket victory against their arch-rivals England at Sedgar’s Park. At Centurion on Sunday they will either face India, in a repeat of the last men’s final, or New Zealand, in a repeat of the last women’s final.Either way, you would not bet against them retaining their title after this assured victory, inspired by the indomitable Clark, who won the toss and chose to bowl first, then wrapped up the match with the day’s highest score. The early damage was done by Cathryn Fitzpatrick’s triple strike, which left England’s top order in tatters at 21 for 3 and put paid to any hopes of a decent total. They went on to make 158, which a dominant Australia – who are still undefeated – had no difficulty knocking off.Arran Brindle and Clare Connor lifted England from their early nadir, but Connor’s dismissal precipitated another mini-collapse and England were in serious trouble at 106 for 8. Clare Taylor weaved some magic in the closing overs, hitting 29 – her highest one-day total – but Australia were not too stretched chasing three an over.The fearsome Fitzpatrick was immediately on the button, knocking over Laura Newton’s stumps with one which jagged back, and she added the in-form ClaireTaylor soon after, for a duck, inducing the edge through to a diving Julia Price, who threw herself to the right to pluck a fantastic catch.Charlotte Edwards was next to go. She had rattled up 13 from 23 balls and was looking settled until she, too, edged one which nipped back and held its line. England had much work to do: Connor (35) and Brindle (32) answered the call, rebuilding the innings, Connor hitting her highest total against Australia in 18 matches.But when they were both shot out, followed by Jenny Gunn and Nicki Shaw, England were back on the slide: they had lost four wickets for 14 runs (106 for 8). Taylor and Isa Guha (13) stabilised the innings later on butAustralia bowled with penetration and deserved their wickets.And their batsmen stood firm, Clark sharing two stands of 45 for the second and third wicket to set up the victory: Karen Rolton (14) and Mel Jones (15) proved more than worthy sidekicks as they strode to an inevitable victory. England’s attack lacked pace, venom and the injured Lucy Pearson. Theirfielding, as always, was something to behold, and Brindle pulled off two fine run-outs, but that alone was never going to be enough to derail the Australian juggernaut.How they were outEngland
Chopped inswinger on to her off-stumps.
Keeper dived wide to right for stunning one-handed catch.
Held its line to find finest of edges.
Aiming through midwicket, trapped plumb in front.
Came down the track and missed the ball completely for an easy stumping.
Ball turned slightly to hit leg-stump.
Edged through to keeper who took another impressive catch.
Missed the ball completely.
Attempted to hoick a straight bowl over midwicket.
Gave herself plenty of room, missed, and the ball went on to hit leg stump.Australia
Push to cover-point, caught two feet short by direct hit
Direct hit from point – out by a mile
Swung and missed at a straight one
Stopped on shot and spooned back
Direct hit from fine-leg boundary

Suspended cricket officials have warned that Cricket-Aid, a tsunami charity set-up up by the board to provide emergency relief and rebuild housing, is in danger of collapsing after the sports minister’s decision to appoint an interim committee to manage the cricket board.According to the officials, one welfare centre for 200 tsunami refugees in Matara is now struggling to cope because it cannot be properly managed in the current impasse. A foster parenting scheme to care for 1000 children is also apparently under threat”We are obviously concerned as we have done some wonderful things and achieved something,” Chandrishan Perera, the public relations coordinator of Cricket-Aid told the Daily Mirror. “We are now desperate to sort things out. We’ve got to stick to our promises and commitment especially for the children.”Perera also voiced concerns that donors who have already pledged or who were considering a pledge will not adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ approach and freeze payments while the administration crisis continues. “It is difficult to gauge their [international donors] reaction”, he said.The charity’s chairman, Thilanga Sumathipala, has hit-out at what he calls “detractors parachuting in to run cricket”. “We have given hope to these people [tsunami victims] and we don’t want to hurt them. We are in the process of talking to donors and reaching a working arrangement in the best interest of the people”, said Sumathipala.Cricket-Aid’s future is also uncertain because questions have been raised over the legality of program’s NGO status. The government is believed to be in the process of launching an investigation into the charity’s registration.Meanwhile, the suspended executive committee has been partially successful in the first round of a legal fight with the government, successfully arguing in the Court of Appeal for a temporary restraining order preventing the sports minister from making any further orders over Sri Lanka Cricket during the next two weeks.Sumathipala’s committee has also complained in a media release of a politically motivated mud-slinging campaign, warning publishers to be wary of a “spurious and scurrilous set of concocted minutes purporting to be the minutes of the ICC Executive meeting in Delhi” that is being “maliciously circulated” in Sri Lanka.The media release claimed that the ICC’s president Ehsan Mani had confirmed to Sumathipala on Friday that the draft minutes of the Delhi meeting had not been completed. During the course of the two-day meeting, board members were briefed on the ongoing ICC Code of Ethics inquiry into Sumathipala’s links with the gambling industry.

Brett Lee believes he is prepared to take Glenn McGrath’s place as the leader of Australia’s fast-bowling attack and he said Stuart Clark was the perfect man to help him fill the hole left by McGrath.”From my point of view it is time to take over with the leadership role,” Lee told the . “I am never going to be the same type of bowler Glenn is. It is very hard to replace Glenn, period.”Lee, who took 3 for 75 in England’s first innings at Sydney and was on a hat-trick at one stage, said his form had improved markedly since the start of the series. “I have felt good the last couple of games,” Lee said. “I felt my rhythm and run-up were not great in the first three Tests, but it feels better now.”He said he had been working on his run-up with the Australia bowling coach Troy Cooley and had developed a shorter approach to the crease. Lee said with McGrath and Shane Warne bowing out at the same time, Clark’s emergence as a consistent wicket-taker would help his own bowling.”I am enjoying working in a partnership with Stuey because I feel when we bowl together from different ends we have fed off each other,” Lee said. “We played junior cricket together so we have been playing together for more than a decade and I’m hoping we can fill the void.”

Michael Vaughan praised the character of his team and admitted thatEngland “were on the brink of something special” after theirnerve-shredding three-wicket in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge, a resultthat carried them into a 2-1 series lead and to within touching distanceof their first Ashes series win since 1986-87.”Anyone who expected England to stroll after watching the previous threegames should probably have realised it was going to be hard work,” said arelieved Vaughan in the post-match press conference. “Shane Warne andBrett Lee bowled really, really well but full credit to our team. Onceagain they produced a performance of high standard and really putAustralia under pressure for sustained periods.””Simon Jones bowled exceptionally well in the first innings, so afterlosing him, the bowlers in the second innings deserve a lot of credit,”added Vaughan. “They kept running in on a placid wicket that was reallyvery slow. We had to use all our resources to whittle out those tenwickets and restrict them to a total where we only had to chase 130.”Even so, that target almost proved too much, as England’s top-orderimploded in the face of Shane Warne and Brett Lee. “When you’re chasing atotal of 220, you tend to bat time,” explained Vaughan, “A lot of teamshave done similar to us in the past, when they’ve lost a few wicketstrying to play their shots. The bowlers get a bit of momentum and thepressure mounts and sometimes it can be tricky. But I’m just delighted wegot over the line. To go 2-1 up in an Ashes series is not something we’vedone for a long, long time.”The obvious question on everyone’s lips is now: Can England win the Ashes.”We’re playing good cricket,” said an understandably evasive Vaughan.”Challenges have been thrown at us over the last few weeks and we’ve donealright in the last few. The Oval I’m sure will be an epic like the lastthree. Can we do it for the last game? I’m not too sure if we can but surewe will do.”If the match was unbearable for the spectators, then Vaughan was quick toremind them that the real nerve-jangler has already been and gone. “It wastense, but it wasn’t as tense as being out on that pitch at Edgbaston thatSunday morning,” he said, still wincing at the horrific alternativeuniverse that the team flirted with that day. “It helps that we’ve wongames like this before – we chased down runs against New Zealand here lastyear. We’ve liked to have won by a few more wickets, but that wasn’t tobe.”Vaughan added that he’d been happy enough to enforce the follow-on,despite the risks it entailed. “At the time there were clouds about and ithad swung nicely in the morning, and we expected the same in theafternoon. But to lose Simon Jones, ten overs in, was a huge blow, so fullcredit to the remaining four bowlers and Ian Bell. To restrict them to40-odd in a session this morning was a tremendous effort on that wicket.”Ricky Ponting, meanwhile, rued his team’s first-day performance as hefaced up to the reality of Australia’s situation – that they need to winat The Oval next month to save the Ashes. “It’s difficult to cope whenyou’ve given away too big a start,” he admitted. “We didn’t make as manyas we should, and ended up with our backs against the wall. If I’m beingrealistic, we once again got closer than we should have done.”The fight was there but not for long enough,” Ponting continued. “Englandhave been on top from the moment the last ball of the first Test wasbowled and now we’ve got no option. If the guys can’t get up for a gamelike the one we’ve got coming up, then they shouldn’t be playing.”

Anna Dodd, who was unavailable for New Zealand’s tour to India, has been appointed captain for New Zealand A’s matches against New Zealand and the Australia Youth team.New Zealand international Katey Martin is the vice-captain, while two other internationals, Beth McNeill and Ros Kember, are also part of the A squad. While McNeill, a right-arm medium bowler for Canterbury, has taken 10 wickets in her 10 ODIs, Kember, an Auckland batsman, has only played two ODIs.Rachel Priest, the Central Districts wicketkeeper, and Lucy Doolan, the Wellington batsman, will be playing their first A team matches.The team is scheduled to play two 50-over matches and a Twenty20 game against New Zealand between February 6 and 9 at Lincoln before New Zealand travel to India for a four-nation series on February 14. The A team will then play three matches against the Australian Youth side between February 13 and 16 at the same venue.Gary Stead, who played five Tests for New Zealand in 1999, will coach the side assisted by former New Zealand player Katrina Keenan and Canterbury coach Kirsty Bond.Squad Anna Dodd (capt), Katey Martin, Rachel Candy, Amanda Cooper, Lucy Doolan, Ros Kember, Victoria Lind, Beth McNeill, Zara McWilliams, Elizabeth Perry, Rachel Priest, Amy Satterthwaite, Megan Wakefield