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Victoria have included Ian Harvey, the allrounder, and Jason Arnberger, the opening batsman, in their 12-man squad for the Pura Cup final against Queensland, starting at the MCG on March 12. Meanwhile, Queensland have included Shane Jurgensen, the fast bowler who used to play for Tasmania, in their 14-man squad. Jimmy Maher and Ashley Noffke, who are both carrying injuries, were also called up.Harvey was a late withdrawal from Victoria’s match against Tasmania at Hobart because of a slight groin strain. But he proved his matchwinning ability in Monday’s Premier Cricket one-day final for Northcote, taking 3 for 11 from 10 overs, and smashing 65 from 56 balls to almost singlehandedly rout Melbourne University.That performance secured him a place in Victoria’s squad, along with Arnberger, who has not played a first-class match since Victoria’s win over New South Wales in Newcastle in early January because of calf problems. Arnberger replaced Matthew Mott, who has struggled at the top of the order recently, while Harvey came in for Brendan Joseland, the batting allrounder.Joseland made 6 and 51 and took 1 for 19 in his first-class debut against Tasmania, but made way for Harvey, who has played just three first-class matches for Victoria this season because of Australian one-day duties, and none since December. The chairman of selectors, Mick O’Sullivan, admitted that there was a “bit of extra pressure” choosing a team for the final but was confident Harvey was ready to play.”The selectors were conservative in their handling of Harvey last week,” O’Sullivan said. “He is an experienced member of this side and we had to make sure he was 100% for this week. His performance on Monday in the Premier Cricket one-day final satisfied the selectors that he is right to go and we are confident in his ability to perform over five days if required.”Jurgensen’s break in the Queensland squad came at the expense of his fellow fast bowler, Damien MacKenzie. Jurgensen has played three matches this season, taking 13 wickets at 23.15. Interestingly, when Queensland won the Pura Cup in 2001-02, Jurgensen played against them in the final, for Tasmania.Squads
Victoria Darren Berry (capt, wk), Jason Arnberger, Matthew Elliott, Ian Harvey, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Mathew Inness, Michael Lewis, Andrew McDonald, Jonathan Moss, Cameron White, Allan Wise.Queensland Jimmy Maher (capt), Clinton Perren, Martin Love, Stuart Law, Aaron Nye, James Hopes, Chris Hartley (wk), Andy Bichel, Nathan Hauritz, Ashley Noffke, Joe Dawes, Chris Simpson, Shane Jurgensen, Brendan Nash.

A fine display of South African pace bowling has all but won the first Castle Lager/MTN Test at Kingsmead with Pakistan leading by 11 runs with two wickets in hand.With the new ball due at the start of play on day four South Africa will not be put under too much pressure to take a 1-0 lead in the two match series, and take a step closer in heading the ICC Test Championship table.Asked to follow on after being bowled out for 161, still 207 runs behind, Pakistan once again made a solid start with a patient but much-needed 50-run opening partnership in 28 overs between Taufeeq Umar and Saleem Elahi. They protected the remaining batsmen from the new ball, but once set should have gone on to bigger things.With the departure of Elahi on 18, edging Makhaya Ntini to third slip, wickets fell regularly with no one able to build on a good start.Umar on reaching 39, the same score he made in the first innings, might count himself unlucky to be given out leg before to Nicky Boje, but he was partly to blame having gone back to a ball that he should have been well forward to.Younis Khan batted with some purpose to score 30, but with his team in trouble he should never have been chasing a Jacques Kallis bouncer well above his head.Inzamam-ul-Haq was just starting to free his arms when he scooped Boje into the covers.Yousuf Youhana showed glimpses of the form he displayed in Zimbabwe but could not resist the short-pitched balls. Having twice mistimed pulls into the gaps, he fell cutting a high, wide delivery down the throat of third man. Having reached 42 he should have made sure of a big score.Faisal Iqbal looked out of his depth, and it was only a matter of time before heplayed down the wrong line for Kallis to uproot his leg stump for 17.Abdur Razzaq, having gone through to 1,000 Test runs, showed signs of class but once Youhana had gone he played one aggressive shot too many, pulling at another short ball from Mornantau Hayward. He may have the fleeting satisfaction of putting Hayward over square leg for six, but he should have shown more determination in fighting his teams’ cause.Saqlain, not picked for his batting abilities, fell in failing light to Shaun Pollock leaving Kamran Akmal (21) and Waqar Younis (2) to hold out until the close.The South African bowlers once again held a good line and length. Having made quick work of bowling Pakistan out in the first innings they stuck to their task, taking ten wickets in the day’s play.Ntini was unlucky not to pick up five in the first innings, as both Akmal and Waqar were dropped off his bowling while Hayward picked up his first 5-fer in wrapping up the tail.Ntini again engineered the breakthrough that started the regular fall ofwickets in the second innings, but left the field late in the afternoon withwhat is thought to be a muscle strain.Hayward, Boje and Kallis took two wickets apiece with Kallis the most impressive of the three, taking 2-30 from 17 overs. Barring any rain South Africa should have this one in the bag.

Essex trail Glamorgan by 41 runs with nine wickets intact after being forced to follow on 171 runs adrift with the visitors Darren Thomas enjoying another superb day.Early in the day, he reached 138 to record the highest score by a No 8 batsman in his county’s history before Glamorgan were finally dismissed for 370, adding another 35 to their overnight score before 26-year-old Thomas then weighed in with five wickets.Essex made an abysmal start declining to 23-3 within seven overs when they began their reply and the loss of Stuart Law for 19 provided another crucial setback when the Australian gave a return catch to bowler Owen Parkin off a leading edge.Barry Hyam though grafted responsibly and late support from Ashley Cowan and Peter Such only served to expose the earlier frailities of the home batsmen. The ninth wicket added 38, the highest of the innings, until Such on 25 was caught at mid-on off the bowling of Dean Cosker.The same bowler then collected the wicket of the resilient Hyam who reached a career-best 63 before being bowled around his leg although he was fortunate to survive a catch to slip with his score on 52, one short of his previous highest in the competition.The squandered chance cost Thomas a five-wicket haul although the bowler was rewarded with the wicket of Paul Prichard in the fifth over when Essex started their second innings.They did restore some propriety to proceedings, however, with an unbroken second-wicket partnership of 102 between Paul Grayson and Darren Robinson that saw both batsmen reach half-centuries to offer some encouragement to their side when they resume in the morning.

Romance and drama. Gloucestershire’s Royal London Cup victory had great big dollops of those two vital ingredients. As they inexorably undermined Surrey’s run chase to secure the prize in the final over, it was tempting to imagine that the competition had regained, if only temporarily, some of the prestige the domestic one-day cups enjoyed during Gloucestershire’s period of dominance between 1999 and 2004.There were stories aplenty on both sides. Jade Dernbach’s hat-trick and career-best figures, the bowling of 40-year-old Azhar Mahmood and, at the other end of his career, 17-year-old Sam Curran’s valiant attempt to get Surrey over the line. For the victors, Geraint Jones’ fairytale send-off, the all-round contributions of Jack Taylor – who was banned from bowling two years ago and faced the uncertainty of having to remodel his action – and the stunning triumph of an unheralded collective.Gloucestershire had been glibly characterised as a one-man team in the build-up, dependent on their captain and opening batsman Michael Klinger. The Australian’s personal tale is also a stirring one but his dismissal in the first over of the match meant Gloucestershire had to win their ninth Lord’s final out of ten the hard way.The manner in which they scrapped their way to a par score, based around the nous of an old-stager in Jones, and then throttled their opponents in the field was reminiscent of the Gloucestershire teams led by Mark Alleyne more than a decade ago. Klinger, who has agreed another two-year contract with the club, now has the chance to try and create a dynasty of his own.

Victory ‘surreal’ admits Dawson

Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson said it would take a while for his team’s dramatic victory over Surrey to sink in. Gloucestershire held on in a tight finish to win by six runs and claim their first trophy since 2004.
“It is brilliant, it is an amazing feat from the players,” Dawson said. “They take a lot of credit, in fact they take all the credit.
“It was one of those things where you get on a roll and you think get past the quarter-final, get up to Yorkshire, get past Yorkshire and you end up here. It is all a bit surreal. I’m sure it will sink in the next few days.
“There is a lot of talent in the changing room. Being led by Michael especially, leading from the front with the bat and showing commitment coming back from Australia. We have had to call on the squad when there was injuries and people stood up and performed.
“That has been the best thing about the whole tournament, we have asked people to do a job and they have come in and nailed it away.”

“You don’t want to look too far ahead but it could be the making of something special,” he said. “Each team will get better and we need to get better so there is a lot of hard work to do. In this comp, unlike sometimes in the T20, we’ve performed really well under the pump.”Knowing we can win in high pressure situations will serve the team well. It’s fantastic for the whole club – the supporters, the members, those who work in the office – 11 years without a trophy, this will lift everyone going forward. It’s a big achievement for the club and proud to be part of it.”Although Gloucestershire finished second in Group A, behind Surrey, their lack of recent success in limited-overs knockout competition meant they were largely unfancied. A narrow victory over Hampshire – winners of the 40-over Clydesdale Bank trophy in 2012 – in the last eight was followed by a more emphatic, Klinger-led triumph at Headingley against county champions Yorkshire to send them back to Lord’s.Success has come in Gloucestershire’s first season under the new coaching team of Richard Dawson and Ian Harvey, and while Klinger admitted it was perhaps ahead of schedule he sensed it was something the group was ready for.”You could probably say it’s come a little bit quicker, but I said to the boys before the quarter-final sometimes you win them before you are ready – sometimes it’s your time. I tried to put that message across, that it’s our time. Now it’s a great opportunity to build on that over the next couple of years and hopefully it will be a stepping stone. The previous coaching group worked really hard and now Richard Dawson and Ian Harvey have been brilliant and taken us to another level. The players have a willingness to work. It’s a very proud moment to see how we’ve progressed.”Despite making a duck Klinger still finished atop the run-scoring charts, as his players successfully muzzled Jason Roy, Steven Davies and, after a clinical half-century seemed to have put Surrey on their way, Kumar Sangakkara. Without his runs to rely on, it made Gloucestershire’s victory all the more impressive.”I was just disappointed I didn’t contribute at that stage,” Klinger said. “I pride myself on scoring runs in big games, but not today but that’s how cricket works. I was still very confident the boys would get the job done. They showed that 220 was just enough. To be honest I don’t think anyone would have cared who did well today, so long as we finished on top.”He also had special praise for Man of the Match, Taylor, whose punchy innings helped Gloucestershire up to what turned out to be a winning score. He then took the crucial wickets of Sangakkara and Rory Burns in his 3 for 43 and held on to the final catch as Lord’s erupted in an outburst of west country pride.”Not only today, but all year in all formats – particularly the T20 and one-day stuff. He’s won us games with the bat, his bowling has been very consistent and his fielding has improved a lot in the last two years. He’s a serious all-round package. Today, under pressure, he got the job done. That cameo he played got us a total we needed. Then to bowl like he did was fantastic.”

Tawanda Mupariwa, Zimbabwe’s fast-medium bowler, will miss the fourth ODI against Pakistan in Faisalabad on Wednesday (January 30) after spraining his left ankle during a training session.Mupariwa bagged a career-best 4 for 46 in the third ODI in Multan, his first outing of the series, including the wicket of Younis Khan off his first delivery. He fell over after stepping on the boundary rope while attempting a catch during practice today. Mupariwa was immediately put under the supervision of Amato Machikicho, the team’s physio, with further checks scheduled for tomorrow.Christopher Mpofu, dropped from the side after giving away 72 runs in his ten overs in the series opener, will replace Mupariwa. Zimbabwe have decided against making any other changes to the side that lost by 37 runs in Multan.The tourists are already without Prosper Utseya, their captain, who failed to recover from the ankle injury he aggravated while batting in Hyderabad. Hamilton Masakadza will lead the side tomorrow with Utseya set to undergo an assessment just before the final ODI in Sheikhupura onSaturday.

Rain put paid to any chance of play in the Standard Bank Pro20 Series match between the Fidentia Warriors and the Nashua Dolphins in East London on Friday.The dreary drizzle arrived like a hungover hobo soon after lunch on Thursday, and refused to leave. A howling westerly, which duly brought more rain, only added to the dismal scene at Buffalo Park as the sun set somewhere beyond the smothering clouds on Friday.Sensibly, the match was abandoned an hour before the scheduled start. That left an inflatable igloo behind the pavilion unrelieved of its cargo of luridly green hardhats. Nary a ripple ruffled the surface of the dunk tank, and not a bubble was launched from the strangely silent foam pit.Most tellingly, the stands and grass banks were deserted as East Londoners pursued their other options for a damp and drizzly Friday evening

Younis Khan, Pakistan’s vice-captain, has admitted that pressures from the crowd distracted him and affected his batting during Pakistan’s 4-1 one-day series loss to India.”People need to understand that every player has his own style of playing,” Younis told the . “I’m neither Shahid Afridi nor Mahendra Singh Dhoni; I like to bat more in the mould of Rahul Dravid: staying around, accumulate runs and hit out at the right time. That’s the way I play my game.”Younis, the star of Pakistan’s 1-0 Test victory with 533 runs, said that he was sick of hearing taunts from the crowd yelling for him to get on with it. “Unfortunately throughout the series against England and India I’ve been constantly disturbed by the crowds passing personal remarks and making demands for big hitting,” he said. “I would like to appeal to the people to understand that I like to bat my own way and so far it has paid off for my team.”Younis also made it clear that he had no problems batting at any position in Tests or one-day internationals. “I want to clear this misconception that I like to bat at No.3 in Tests but not at the same position in the one-dayers,” he added. “I will bat wherever my captain or coach wants me to; I have no problems with that at all. My job is to make runs for my team. There are no personal preferences involved.”Inzamam-ul-Haq and Bob Woolmer have been derided by critics for ‘shielding’ Younis down the order in the one-day series, but Younis remained supportive of the decision. “Look, I agree to what Imran Khan says; the theory is simple: Tests and one-dayers are totally different in nature,” he said. “In one-day matches the game plan should be the in-form players should go up and play maximum overs. But if the captain and coach think otherwise I’ve no problems with that. And to be honest Shoaib Malik did get runs at number three. Now that we’ve started losing everyone is raising this issue.”On Pakistan’s dismal performance in the series, Younis maintained that the absence of Shoaib Akhtar was key. I think the biggest factor was the injury to Shoaib Akhtar. It cost us a lot,” he said. “If you look at the way Shoaib bowled against England and then in the Tests against India he was our main striking force. His injury did allow the Indians some breathing space. “No matter what the Indians say but we know they were not comfortable facing Shoaib. He didn’t take too many wickets but the pressure created by him allowed the other bowlers to break through.”He also added that there was pressure on the team and the management from critics and the media. “I think that sort of pressure leads nowhere because after all the common aim is the team should do well. I think the management should be left alone to take its decisions,” Younis said. “The team does not turn bad overnight. This very team has been performing well in the last one year or more. But yes we need to sit down and see where we went wrong. I think we need just one good match to turn things around and it should happen in Sri Lanka. We need to regroup strongly and quickly.”

Ray Jennings, the current coach of the South African team, does not have the unanimous support of all the players as full-time coach, according to reports. Jennings has reapplied for the full-time role after gaining support from the players, including Graeme Smith, the captain. But not everyone in the side would be happy if Jennings’ appointment as coach – a position he has held since October – was made permanent.”I would be very disappointed if this was the truth,” Jennings told the News24 website. “I know that no coach will have the support of all the players he works with. Yes, it is true that I challenge the players to lift their game. I would be lying if I said it had been plain sailing, because there have been words between me and some players, but nothing serious.”Jennings has maintained a good track record since his appointment. Under his guidance, South Africa have won three Tests, lost three and drawn three. In one-day internationals, Jennings enjoys a 83 percent success rate, having won the series against England 4-1 and Zimbabwe 3-0. Jennings’ term ends after the Caribbean tour and the new coach will take up the post on June 1.”I challenged Graeme Smith at times and I must have irritated him when things did not pan out as I wanted,” continued Jennings. “Overall, however, we have a good relationship and I believe I have the support of the senior players such as Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini and Smith.”This relationship with the players is like a marriage, which is not perfect overnight. You have to work at it. I think the players who do not want to continue with me are those who are unsure of their positions in SA cricket. If there are guys who play games behind my back, the next coach will also not be able to trust them.”Jennings was hopeful of becoming the full-time coach. “I will be much more comfortable if I should get the post as full-time coach,” he said. “It will create stability. I feel I can continue with these players and I am prepared to listen to people.”Gerald Majola, the CEO of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, refused to comment on the allegations and mentioned that the shortlisted candidates included overseas players.

Scorecard

Matthew Elliott made a magnificent 154 not out, taking Victoria to 8 for 331 declared in their Pura Cup game against South Australia, a lead of 106. His innings helped put Victoria within touching distance of securing home advantage for the final. South Australia survived four nervy overs, reaching 0 for 3 by the close.Elliott batted for seven hours to move to within reach of the fourth thousand-plus first-class season of his career. His fourth Pura Cup ton of the summer – he also has one ING Cup hundred – gives him 916 first-class runs, just 10 shy of team-mate Brad Hodge, who made a quickfire 73 at the start of the day. More importantly, Elliott’s innings took Victoria past SA’s first innings 225 and the two points earned means the only way they can miss out on a home final is if they lose this match spectacularly and then suffer two innings losses against Tasmania.Victoria, who last won the domestic four-day title in 1990-91, are now 12 points clear of second-placed Tasmania but have vowed to continue their aggressive approach in pursuit of outright wins. “We’ve talked about [the final] but I think we really need to just keep playing for six points, and keep playing to win games,” Elliott said. “That’s why we’ve been so good this year, we’ve always found a way to win games and we need to keep doing that into the final … we can’t take our foot off the pedal. I think tonight if we could have got one wicket it was probably worth 30 runs.”Elliott played anchor role to Hodge at the start of the day and then to Jonathan Moss (46) in the middle before opening his shoulders with the support of Berry (16) and Mick Lewis (16). The tail offered valuable support after Shaun Tait (3 for 55) hit back for South Australia with three wickets in successive overs before tea.

Jimmy Maher has laid his name before Australia’s selectors again and hit Queensland closer to another first-class final to boot with a dominant display of batting on the opening day of the Pura Cup match against New South Wales here in Sydney today. The prolific left handed opener led a run-feast, piloting the Bulls to the imposing scoreline of 1/325 by stumps.In combining brilliantly with fellow upper order players Martin Love (101*) and Brendan Nash (60), Maher (151*) made it a horror day for the home team, which requires points from each of its last two matches to retain any hope of making the competition final.And his 17th first-class century also couldn’t have harmed his chances of being elevated into the Australian one-day squad – expected to be named on Sunday – which will shortly tour South Africa.”I’d love to play for Australia; that’s what we all play for and I know that I am batting very well at the moment,” said the 28-year-old after play.”I feel good about the way I’m playing (and) the way I’m hitting the ball.”When Queensland captain Stuart Law won the toss at the start of the day and decided that his side would bat first on a benign pitch, it gave Maher the perfect opportunity to demonstrate his talents. Albeit that he survived at least three anxious moments, and never really felt for his own part that he was completely settled at the crease.”It was hard work, it was a real battle today (and) I never felt 100% in at any stage,” said Maher.Maher’s resilience, over 283 deliveries and 348 minutes, brought him the milestone of 1000 first-class runs for the season and assisted him in surpassing his previous highest score (of 44) at the Sydney Cricket Ground. And, more importantly for the Bulls, it also helped produce partnerships of 134 runs for the first wicket with Nash and an unbroken 191 for the second with Love.The latter stand was Queensland’s all-time best for the second wicket at the SCG.With Nash, the left handed Maher started the innings relatively slowly against accurate bowling from Nathan Bracken (0/51) and the luckless Stuart Clark (0/70).Maher even survived a huge caught behind appeal on 1 and was then dropped at both 7 and 29 when tough chances in the slips were spilt by Corey Richards and Michael Clarke respectively.But it wasn’t too long before a change came over the game, with both batsmen growing in confidence as soon as they started to score their first boundaries of the day.A lapse in concentration ultimately accounted for Nash in the middle session – as he spooned a drive to Shane Lee at mid on from the bowling of namesake Don Nash (1/45).But Maher continued to play impeccably even after that setback. The ever-elegant Love helped him compound the punishment for the New South Wales bowlers and fielders with some outstanding strokeplay of his own.Maher struck a nervous patch in the nineties, remaining marooned on the mark of 97 for as many as 16 deliveries at one point before scampering through for an expertly judged single. He also hovered on 99 for a time in the lead-up to a misfield by Nash at mid on that permitted another single in the last over before tea.But he found little else acting to slow his progress, and a near-perfect day for the Bulls – only an outright victory away from guaranteeing themselves a home final in three weeks’ time – was then sealed when Maher registered his 150 and Love his century in the closing minutes.