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New Zealand have included openers Matthew Bell and Peter Fulton in the squad for the two-Test series against Bangladesh. Michael Papps, who opened with Craig Cumming in New Zealand’s recent tour of South Africa, has been dropped, while Cumming, who suffered multiple facial fractures after mistiming a hook off Dale Steyn in the second Test, is part of the 12-man squad.Bell last played in a Test in 2001 in Australia. But he has been picked based on his domestic form – 722 runs at 103.14, including a double-century in this season’s State Championship. John Bracewell had hinted at Bell’s selection a day before the squad was picked. And on being asked what he expected Bell to bring to the Test side, Bracewell told the , “Hopefully a large percentage of those 700 runs.”Scott Styris was dropped in favour of Fulton after averaging 14.75 in the two Tests against South Africa.Jamie How, included in the one-day side for the Chappell-Hadlee Series and against Bangladesh, missed out on a Test spot, while Sinclair, who replaced Cumming for the ODIs against South Africa, gets a call-up to the Test side.With Shane Bond out because of injury, New Zealand will go with Michael Mason, rather than Mark Gillespie, who was Bond’s replacement for the second Test in South Africa.Jeetan Patel will be added to the squad for the second Test in Wellington. The University Oval in Dunedin will be hosting its maiden Test when the two sides meet for the first Test on January 4.New Zealand squad
Matthew Bell, Craig Cumming, Mathew Sinclair, Stephen Fleming, Peter Fulton, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori, Chris Martin, Michael Mason, Kyle Mills, Iain O’Brien, Jacob Oram.

ScorecardCentral Districts defeated Auckland by 55 runs after scoring 229 for 8. Mathew Sinclair led the way with an unbeaten 95 after CD found themselves in a spot of bother at 36 for 2. Jamie How, who was dismissed for 45, put on 63 with Sinclair. Auckland’s response began with a stutter. At 10 for 3, they were already on the defensive. Then Matt Horne fell for 16 (39 for 4). Kyle Mills and Paul Hitchcock scored defiant 40s and put on 87 for the seventh wicket, but their dismissals effectively signalled the end of Auckland’s chances.
ScorecardWellington beat Otago in a close high-scoring encounter at the Basin Reserve. Chris Gaffaney’s 84 was instrumental in Otago’s cempetetive total of 262 – a score that could have been larger if more batsmen had converted their starts. Stephen Fleming then steadied Wellington’s innings with 64 off 57 balls after an unsteady start. But the most significant batting came from James Franklin and Luke Woodcock, who put on 78 for the sixth wicket. Franklin was in outstanding touch and scored 76 off 65 deliveries, while Woodcock hit 39. The match went into the final over, but Mayu Pasupati, unbeaten on 30, took his team past the target with a powerful blow.
ScorecardAfter a good 142-run opening stand which took them to within 114 of victory, Canterbury lost the plot and fell short of Northern Districts’ score of 255 by 15 runs at Gisborne. The feature of ND’s innings was the 109-run stand between James Marshall and Scott Styris for the third wicket. The lower order chipped in with useful contributions, with Peter McGlashan ending the innings on a lively note, scoring an unbeaten 20 off 13 balls. Canterbury’s bowlers struggled. Nathan Astle was the most successful, taking 2 for 40, while Stephen Cunis kept a tidy line and length to finish with 1 for 32. Astle was immediately in the action with the bat in a superb opening stand with Michael Papps. Papps was out for 51 but Astle carried on to score 123. The remaining batsmen were unable to push on to victory as Graeme Aldridge took 4 for 46. His victims were all dangerous strokeplayers who could have sealed the game for Canterbury: Craig McMillan for 17, Chris Cairns for 3, and Cunis and Hayden Shaw for ducks.

Warwickshire are concerned that Makhaya Ntini will not be allowed to play for them next season. Ntini, who took 23 wickets during South Africa’s tour of England, held talks with the club earlier this week before flying home.But to be able to play he needs to get permission from the South African board, as do all their contracted players. A Warwickshire spokesman said: “We’d like to see him here, he would like to be here, but the stumbling block could be the UCB. It is becoming more difficult with overseas players, particularly bowlers, because they do have a heavy workload.”Ntini has taken 123 wickets in 36 Tests at an average of 29.69, and won the joint Man of the Match award at the second Test this summer after becoming the first South African to take ten wickets at Lord’s.The concerns about his move to Warwickshire follow more problems they have had this season with their overseas players. Corey Collymore was the latest player to join Waqar Younis after Shane Bond, Michael Clark and Collins Obuya were forced to withdraw.Meanwhile, Neil Smith, a former captain, and Melvyn Betts and Mo Sheikh are to be released at the end of the season, while Trevor Penney has been awarded an extension to his one-day contract.

Brett Lee, who has been cleared to play in the second Test against Bangladesh on Friday despite a back problem, is expecting plenty of success on a pacy wicket at Cairns. Bangladesh were shot out for 97 and 178 on a sluggish track in Darwin, but conditions are likely to be even more in the bowlers’ favour.Kevin Mitchell, the curator, said that recent wet weather had produced more grass than expected, and there had not been enough sun to dry the wicket out. The prospect had Lee licking his chops. “I haven’t seen a nice fast wicket for a while,” he said, “but this looks as close to a green-top as possible.”Lee, who picked up match figures of 4 for 57 at Darwin, has set his sights on becoming Australia’s spearhead in the coming years. “Whether that happens in one, three or five years time … I’m channelling all my emotions and my energy toward it in the long run. While it was good to bowl fast it still comes to taking wickets and I was pleased to be able to do both in Darwin.”Lee had to withdraw from the attack on the third morning of the Darwin Test complaining of pain in his back. He was diagnosed as suffering from an inflamed facet joint and given an anti-inflammatory injection, which appears to have had the desired effect.Errol Alcott, Australia’s physiotherapist, explained that the injury was probably caused by Lee bowling prolonged spells after a long lay-off. “It’s not uncommon,” Alcott told the Australian newspaper. “It usually happens at the start of a season when players are with their states, but because we’ve gone straight into a Test series after a six-week break the body has not had the chance to get used to bowling again.”

Hampshire select from 12 for the upcoming Frizzell Championship match starting on Wedneday 28th April against Leicestershire.John Crawley is still absent with a calf strain, and is left out of the squad.Hampshire and skipper Shane Warne will be looking to build on their good start to the season.Hampshire 12: Derek Kenway, Michael Brown, Lawrence Prittipaul, Michael Clarke, Will Kendall, Nic Pothas (wicket-keeper), Dimitri Mascarenhas, Shane Warne (captain), Shaun Udal, Chris Tremlett, Alan Mullally and Billy Taylor.

The USA Cricket Academy of New Jersey, which in 2003 won the ICC’s award as the best junior cricket development program in the world, is set to repeat its successes last year on another trip to the Caribbean.Earlier this year, the USA Cricket Academy won three consecutive games at the British Gas Under-17 Tournament in Trinidad, and finished the tournament on a winning note with another crushing win, ending with four wins and one loss as one of the best teams in the tournament.This time, it will be traveling to Barbados to participate in the Sir Garfield Sobers Cricket Tournament to be held from July 9 through to July 24. Teams from all over the world are expected to participate in this tournament such as New Zealand, Australia, India, and the Caribbean countries–these are sides representing schools, regions and sponsors from the various countries, rather than official U-19 teams from ICC member nations. The tournament, which is in its 16th year, was won in 2003 by Australia who defeated India and a Combined West Indies team in the semi-finals and final. This will be the first year that the USA will be represented in the tournament.Drawing on the experience of past Academy tours, a team has been selected which probably represents the best junior talent currently available in the USA. Captained by Anil Deopersaud (Florida), the team consists of Anveet Patel (New Jersey) as vice-captain, Megh Bhatt, Dhiren Patel, Yuvraj Sharma, and Romero Dean (New Jersey), Roopchand Seebaran and Andre Kirton (New York), Abhimanyu Rajp, Nadir Malik and Mohammed Usman (California), Keenan Fish (Colorado), Musaab Khan (Pennsylvania) and Faizan Sayeed (Georgia). The team is managed by Chi rag Patel, with Sheldon Gomes as coach and Garcia Gerald as Physic and Trainer. Ashok Patel, the President of the USA Cricket Academy, will be accompanying the side. Most of these players have performed successfully for the Cricket Academy at various junior levels for the past few years, and show promise for repeating their achievements at the U-19 level.The USA Cricket Academy has come in for its share of criticism in the past for the way it has managed and conducted its overseas tours. Basically, each Academy tour is run as a self-financing project, with players (i.e. their parents) paying their own way, and the Academy trying to minimize overall costs by making group travel and accommodation arrangements and finding local hosts and catering facilities. A few disgruntled parents have complained of inadequate facilities, high-handed team management and other organizational problems. These complaints, however, have been few and far between; some of them, no doubt, tinged with a dose of envy at the Cricket Academy for pulling off tour after tour while the USACA was unable to organize any international matches without support by the ICC.As they say, nothing succeeds like success. ICC’s recognition of the USA Cricket Academy as the best junior development program in the world silenced many of its critics, though some carping still continues. Perhaps, after Barbados, there will be even less of that sort of snide criticism, although that may be too much to hope for.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

It was a day of mixed fortunes for Bangladesh at the Bangabandhu Stadium, but the end result was all too familiar. A bad start was followed by stirring defiance, but New Zealand were back on top as the day came to a close. Bangladesh reached 165 for 6 after making batting look both easy and unbearably hard, as they lost three early wickets, after which Mohammad Ashraful (67) and Rajin Saleh (41) put on a century partnership. After they departed, runs came sparingly against a New Zealand attack that gave very little away throughout the day.The 115-run stand between Ashraful and Saleh came when Bangladesh were hobbling at 5 for 3. Jacob Oram removed Hannan Sarkar and Nafis Iqbal – both edged the ball – and James Franklin took care of Javed Omar. There was swing, the pitch had bounce, and Daniel Vettori made the ball turn uncomfortably. Weathering the conditions, both blocked and dodged and pulled away, and, barring the odd moment of indecision, did their best to survive. Just before lunch, Ashraful upped the ante as he swivelled to pull Ian Butler, New Zealand’s fastest bowler, for a six. Two more came after lunch, and both were off Paul Wiseman.Ashraful judged the length early while cutting and driving with assurance. Fielders were left ball-watching, their dives were often futile, and Ashraful and Saleh even shared laughs as the ball crossed the rope. Wiseman’s bowling, in particular, was played like it was a lark. Pitched up? No problem, turn around the corner. Slightly short? No problem there, either as it was whacked out of park or cut hard. Saleh lofted Wiseman over long-on, and used the cut profitably besides driving down the ground. His outlook was not as aggressive as Ashraful’s, though, who was on a different plane. Both had their luck, though: a cover-drive by Ashraful was dropped by Scott Styris, and Saleh was adjudged not out on a close run-out call.

New Zealand finally broke through with the score on 120, as Saleh edged a drive off Franklin to Oram at gully. Vettori struck shortly after, inducing a false shot from Ashraful, and then claimed Alok Kapali, who inner-edged an attempted sweep to the wicketkeeper (136 for 6). Vettori had bowled a flat line throughout the day, occasionally giving the ball air to extract bite from the pitch. It worked, and the batsmen were overly cautious when he bowled. Less than two runs an over were scored through the day. The cheers from spectators in the morning were gone and replaced by the odd clap when singles were taken.At the close of play, Khaled Mashud and Manjural Islam Rana had added 28, and played out 129 balls. Their watchfulness bordered on paranoia, and for a while it looked like the only way they’d get a run was if the fielders fell asleep.

The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) today announced the 12-man squad to play the Victorian Bushrangers in the Pura Cup match to take place from February 8 to 11 at the MCG.Tea Tree Gully right-handed batsman and Redbacks rookie Ben Cameron has been selected in the squad, as the only change from the side which lost to Victoria in this week’s Pura Cup game at the Adelaide Oval. If chosen in the final XI he will make his first-class debut.23-year-old Cameron has been in outstanding form with the bat this season for both Tea Tree Gully, scoring 448 runs at an average of 64 already this season, and the South Australia second XI with 371 runs at an average of 53.00. He comes into the side to replace opening batsman David Fitzgerald, who has been omitted.Andy Flower remains unavailable for selection due to a broken finger. Recent x-rays showed that the fracture had not completely healed and the splint is expected to remain in place for up to a further two weeks.The Redbacks Pura Cup team is:

Tim May, the CEO of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association, has said that following a full briefing by the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) and informal discussions with members of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) he was confident that the ongoing dispute between the two would be resolved in the short term.The dispute has led to a number of players being unavailable for selection for the West Indies, including high profile names such as Brian Lara, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan. The essence of the major dispute surrounds the commercial use of player attributes and restrictions that WICB seek to impose on players’ personal endorsement ability.While May was confident that the matters could be solved, he supported the players’ position on the matter, stating that the existing terms and conditions on the table were simply unacceptable and represented terms that no player association could accept.May believed that the recent election of Ken Gordon to the WICB presidency would have a positive effect upon the stalemate and that the mood of negotiation would change from impasse to one where all parties would work together to find a solution that would satisfy all parties. “At present the interests of all of the key parties are not being served,” he said. “Whether it be WICB, the players, the sponsor, the West Indies’ cricketing public or world cricket, all parties are suffering as a result of this dispute.”After discussions with key personnel from both sides of the dispute, I am confident that the mood of the negotiations will be conducted with a more positive and respectful manner and a solution will brokered in the short term.”

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper, believes that a positive approach can help his side upstage India in the forthcoming seven-match one-day series, starting at Nagpur on October 25.”Our goal I believe is to go out there and from day one to make sure that everyone means business,” said Sangakkara, who has become the foremost batsman in his side. “We should go there expecting to win every game. When you go to a country like India you must have that in mind and make it work for you rather than psychologically say that it is a difficult task. You have to make it a challenge so that it works in your favour.””Australia did it last year very convincingly. I think challenges like that are there to be taken and won. The approach of the team mentally both on and off the field should be to concentrate and focus on beating India in India.”Sangakkara, who turns 28 on October 27, believes that over the past two to three years there has been fierce competition in the South Asian region amongst Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka for supremacy and that Sri Lanka had come out ahead in most encounters.”This tour is another test for us,” he continued. “It is another challenge when you go to a country which has a very proud cricketing history and a very strong cricket team at the moment. We have been playing well in the past year. Our team has been jelling well and we’ve got some classic performances. It is just being more consistent on the base that we’ve got to get right now. We just have to make sure that we treat it as another game. Play the ball and not the individual and play to win.”Reflecting back from the time he came into the Sri Lankan side, in 2000 against South Africa at Galle, Sangakkara was happy that he could see the steady progress made by the team in the last five years. “Team wise we saw the captaincy go from Sanath [Jayasuriya] to Hashan [Tillakaratne] and now to Marvan [Atapattu]. Each team under those captains have performed in different ways, but the trend has always been improvement, to get stronger. We’ve had great performances and bad performances. But if you take our performances over the past five years there has been a steady climb in consistency in the win factor.”From a personal point of view Sangakkara said his game had undergone quite a lot of changes in his batting as well as his wicketkeeping. With a Test average of 48.02 from 50 Tests and a one-day average of 33.61, Sangakkara ranks among the best of contemporary wicketkeeper-batsmen. “My approach to batting is to make sure that I keep it simple,” he said. “I want to know what I am doing with myself and what my batting is like when I go out there to bat. I have a lot of feedback from the coach, the players and video analysis. When I see myself batting on screen I see more things than when I am batting out in the middle. I work a lot on balance and watching the ball. There is no great secret to it, just the basics.”