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ScorecardThe drought in Bloemfontein extended to Goodyear Park as wickets became as sought after as rain on a pitch that offered no assistance to the bowlers. In three days 989 runs has been scored while only 15 wickets have gone down.Starting the third day on 175 for 2 Ashraf Mall and Wade Wingfield took the score to 232 and their partnership to 96 when Wingfield edged Cliff Deacon to Morne van Wyk for 82. Mall then combined with Dale Benkenstein for a 74-run partnership for the fourth wicket before a sedate Benkenstein was trapped leg-before by Deon Kruis for 36. Mall, taking full advantage of the easy pitch, went to his maiden first-class hundred in just under five and a half hours. It took him 209 balls and included 12 fours.The runs kept coming, and Mall put on 123 with Jon Kent who fell to Jacob Malao after he’d reached his half-century. The wicket of Duncan Brown shortly afterwards meant the Dolphins’s captain Lance Klusener was the other man undefeated at the close; Mall was on the field throughout and had guided the Dolphins to 448 for 6, with himself on an unbeaten 150.The Eagles, with 5.76, have more bonus points than the Dolphins, with 5.46. Unless a miracle is performed by one of the teams, it’s going to stay that way.
ScorecardAt Centurion the Titans claimed a first-innings lead of 102 thanks to the efforts of Godfrey Toyana, with 43, and Albie Morkel, with 65, after they had started the day on 267 for 5. Brent Kops kept the Warriors in the game by picking up three of the five wickets to fall.Batting for a second time the Warriors started shakily by losing two wickets for 34 before Mark Bruyns and Arno Jacobs revived the innings with an unbroken 178-run partnership, which will continue tomorrow. Bruyns completed his 16th first-class hundred, Jacobs is on 71, and the Warriors’s total is a healthy 212 for 2.
ScorecardIn Paarl Ashwell Prince made his first hundred of the 2004-05 season as Western Province Boland piled on the runs against the Lions to finish on 450 for 5 when stumps were drawn.The Lions’s bowlers found the going tough, and only took three wickets during the day. The early dismissal of JP Duminy proved a false dawn for further inroads. A 183-run partnership between Prince and Thami Tsolekile followed, with Tsolekile contributing 81. Coming in at number five at a request of South Afrcia’s selectors, Tsolekile struck nine fours in his four-hour stay. Prince carried on and scored his highest first-class score. He was finally dismissed for 184, after nearly six hours at the crease. He hit 20 fours.At stumps Western Province Boland had forged ahead by 88 with five first-innings wickets left.

Derbyshire 216 and 523 drew with Yorkshire 520 and 114 for 6
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Points TableYorkshire secured the draw they needed to gain them promotion, but they had to survive a remarkable turnaround in a match they had seemed on course to win by an innings.Derbyshire, without a Championship victory all season, started their second innings 304 in arrears, and when they slipped to 233 for 7 on the third afternoon the game was almost over. But Ant Botha, with a career-best 156, marshalled the last three wickets brilliantly, adding 290 to leave Yorkshire with a tricky target of 220 runs at four an over. Nick Walker took the attack to Yorkshire’s bowlers clubbing 79 in 88 balls as Yorkshire fell apart in the field. But, with an eye on the future of England’s spin bowling, the innings was wrapped up my Mark Lawson who claimed 5 for 155 with his legspin.Yorkshire never looked comfortable as they chased, with Matthew Wood and Anthony McGrath soon out pulling at the new ball. When Michael Lumb followed lbw to the last ball before tea, the Yorkshire balcony looked decidedly nervous, and a clatter of wickets soon after the resumption left them teetering on 82 for 6. It took a tenacious and fortuitous fifty from Joe Sayers – in which he was dropped four times – to see them to safety.Botha followed his heroics with the bat with a continuous 23-over spell of slow left-arm, finishing with 2 for 20.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has given Westpac Park in Hamilton the green light to stage international matches. The new pitch at the ground has been made out of South Island Waikari clay, and it was assessed after a State Championship match between Northern Districts and Auckland earlier this month.The match lasted only three days, but according to a New Zealand Press Association report, an NZC spokesperson said that the surface had passed muster. David Cooper, the Northern Districts chief executive, was quoted as saying: “It’s certainly probably played better than what we would have expected. Day two against Auckland it was as good a batting surface as you would expect at first-class level.”Sri Lanka will get to experience the pitch first-hand when they play a warm-up one-dayer against Northern Districts on Thursday.

Robin Smith collected a cheque for £239,000 from Hampshire Cricket President Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie at the counties annual general meeting.An emotional Smith, thanked everyone who helped and supported him in his testimonial in 2003, and stated how much he would miss being part of the playing squad.A tanned Smith, just returned from the West Indies will retain contact with the club in an ambassadorial roll.

A right-wing Hindu group has threatened to prevent Pakistan from playing in India in the Champions Trophy scheduled to start this week, officials have announced. The Shiv Sena, which has a powerful presence in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, said the step was to protest against the bombings of trains in the state’s capital Mumbai in July that killed 186 people.”How can they allow Pakistan to play matches in our country when the Mumbai police have evidence of its [Pakistan’s] involvement in the July 11 terror attack?” Udhav Thackeray , the Shiv Sena’s executive president, said in comments published Wednesday.Last weekend, Mumbai police chief AN Roy publicly accused Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of orchestrating the attacks on trains that left 800 people wounded.Thackeray did not elaborate on the Shiv Sena’s plans to obstruct the Champions Trophy’s Mumbai fixtures, which also includes the final on November 5.Pakistan will fly to Mumbai only if they reach the final. Two of their three league matches are in the northern city of Mohali and the third in Jaipur. The semi-finals will be held in Mohali and Jaipur.Maharashtra authorities said they would not allow any disruptions if Pakistan reach the final. “Right now it is a hypothetical question but we are duty-bound to maintain law and order in the state,” Home Secretary AP Sinha, who handle’s the state’s internal security, told AFP. “We have the warning but I will not issue comments on the remarks of a political leader.”A senior official in India’s home ministry added that the Shiv Sena’s threat has been passed on to Jaipur and Mohali: “Stadiums in these cities will be sanitised and extra security will be provided in view of this development”.The Shiv Sena had dug up the pitch in New Delhi’s Feroze Shah Kotla ground in 1999, eight years after damaging the ground of Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium to protest the Pakistani cricket team’s presence in India.

English cricket was rocked yesterday when Patricia Hewitt, the trade and industry secretary, claimed that cricket balls would be a casualty of the escalating trade war between the European Union and the USA.Interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Hewitt was discussing a proposed five percent duty on about 1000 different goods imported from the USA into the EU. “They include really familiar things like orange juice, ice cream," she explained, "and cricket balls, which it turns out are imported from the United States.”The news came as a surprise to many, not least the England & Wales Cricket Board who said that it was “not aware of any county which was importing the finished article from the States”. The manager of the MCC’s Lord’s shop told The Daily Telegraph that he was “not even aware that cricket balls are made in America”.It would be expected that Dukes, the manufacturers of balls used by many county and international teams, would be aware of the threat from the USA. But owner Dilip Jajodia was equally bemused. “I am surprised," he told the newspaper. "The bureaucrats do not know what they are talking about.”The government maintained that cricket balls were flooding in from the States, producing figures which claimed to show that balls – diluted to include polo as well as cricket – to the value of £67,000 were brought into the EU from the USA between 1999 and 2001.Few, if any, appear to have found their way onto the UK marketplace, so presumably the EU now has a pile of balls to add to its butter mountain and wine lake.

Ray Mali, the newly elected president of United Cricket Board, has promisedSouth Africans improved administration of their game, a determined effort to breathe life into club cricket, and a more sophisticated approach to racialtransformation.Mali, 66, was elected unopposed at the UCB annual meeting in Pretoria onSaturday. He succeeded Percy Sonn, who had been president since 2000.Sonn did not stand for re-election and will attempt to further his career incricket administration at international level.Rob Kurz was re-elected unopposed as vice-president and John Blair foughtoff a challenge from Haroon Lorgat to be re-elected as treasurer.”I am very conscious of the fact that I come from a cricket culture that stretches back more than 100 years, but that was marginalised by apartheidfor nearly five decades,” Mali said. “You will excuse me if my cricketing ancestors share this moment with us all, because I would not be here had they not given me a heritage as rich in cricket as you will find anywhere in the world.”Mali committed the UCB to “giving equal opportunities to everyone who wants to play cricket,” and to the development of South Africa’s ailing clubcricket structures. “The key to equal opportunity lies in capacity building, which is the cornerstone of our transformation policy,” Mali said. “We do not believe any more in throwing people into the deep end in order tomake transformation statistics look impressive.”Club cricket is a microcosm of the UCB, and yet over the past few years wehave tended to neglect its development in favour of schools and first-classcricket. We have seen a widening gap between the two, which club cricket can fill. There is also a dearth of good administrators coming out of club cricket, particularly in the townships and we are going to address this.”Reflecting on his time at the helm, Sonn said “the Hansie Cronje saga …questioned the values of the game that we love so much”. Cronje, who died in a plane crash on June 1 2002, was banned for life by the UCB after his involvement in match-fixing was exposed.”I believe that it was the transparent and swift reaction of the UCB thatset an example to world cricket on how to deal with this crisis, and how toprevent it happening again,” said Sonn.Sonn added that South Africa’s successful hosting of the 2003 World Cup was a highlight of his career. “The International Cricket Council described this as the biggest and best World Cup ever held,” said Sonn, "and this is due to the enormous amount of work that was put in by all the UCB structures."

Percept D’Mark, the event and celebrity management company, have filed a suit in the Mumbai High Court against Sourav Ganguly, alleging that he did not comply with the terms of the contract that he had signed with them.Percept, whose deal with Ganguly expired on Monday, have also taken out a restraining order, preventing him from signing up with any other management company until the matter is resolved. That could queer the pitch somewhat for their rivals, with Showdiff – set up recently by Ravi Shastri and Rediff – rumoured to be favourites to snap up Ganguly.Satish Kishanchandani, counsel for Percept, said, “My client has contended that Ganguly hasn’t complied with the terms and conditions of the contract.” The hearing is on Wednesday.

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A decisive spell of tight, aggressive pace from Victoria’s Mick Lewis prevented South Australia from overtaking a record total in the thrilling day-night ING Cup cricket match at Adelaide Oval. Chasing Victoria’s 7 for 293, SA made 8 for 287 in reply, giving the Bushrangers a six-run win. This was Victoria’s first match after the death of David Hookes and the win places them second on the cup table.In a game dominated by batsmen, Lewis’s bowling figures of 2 for 35 from 10 overs was the outstanding effort. The other heroes for Victoria were Brad Hodge and David Hussey, who put on a record third-wicket stand of 226 -the highest partnership for any wicket by a Victorian pair. Hodge’s 114 was his third century in seven innings for the season and took his season average to 98.2. Hussey scored 113, his first limited overs century, and earned the Man of the Match award.Victoria’s total was its highest ever in the limited overs competition, but SA looked on track to chase it down when they were 2 for 124 and scoring at almost seven per over with Callum Ferguson (58) and Mark Higgs (16) leading the charge.Ferguson hit Allan Wise for a six over long-on in the 15th over which hit an ING sign to earn him $50,000, and also brought up the home side’s 100. But Lewis, introduced to the attack for the first time in the 20th over, accounted for Ferguson and Higgs in his first four balls to turn the match, as South Australia slumped to 4 for 125.Darren Lehmann (39), the SA captain, and Mick Miller (44), the allrounder, put on 72 for the fifth wicket, but then Lehmann was run out by Hussey in the 36th over. Hodge then pulled off a brilliant diving save at midwicket to run out Miller in the 42nd over, leaving SA at 6 for 233.Greg Blewett, demoted to No. 7 because he was suffering from a back injury, fired off 26 runs from 31 balls late in the innings. But Jonathan Moss bowled Blewett and Mark Cleary in the space of four balls to make it 8 for 265. SA needed 12 runs off the last over to achieve what would have been their highest successful run-chase, but Lewis was able to restrict them to just five.

ECB and the counties have extended their partnership with BBC Local Radio around the country to provide unrivalled audio coverage of the new Twenty20 Cup.

All the five launch-day matches on June 13 will be streamed live online, as will the complete opening weekend line-up and many of the games through the June group stages of the competition. Finals Day from Trent Bridge on July 19 will be broadcast on BBC Radio Five Live, and streamed online.

The links can be accessed from the Live Audio section on ecb.co.uk (as well as county websites and BBC Local Radio sites) and will be updated to allow you to keep right up to date with all the action in this exciting new domestic event.

And if you’re a fan of either Worcestershire or Northants and want to hear suitably partisan coverage of their opener at New Road, then you’re in luck as you can listen to either BBC Hereford & Worcester or BBC Radio Northampton with both stations streaming live commentary.

There will also be live coverage of the official Twenty20 curtain-raiser between south coast rivals Hampshire and Sussex from a sell-out Rosebowl courtesy of BBC Radio Solent, as well as the capital derby between Surrey and Middlesex from the AMP Oval on BBC London 94.9.

To complete the first-day line-up, you can listen to BBC Radio Nottingham’s coverage of Nottinghamshire up at Durham, or BBC WM as Somerset host Warwickshire at Taunton.

Twenty20 audio schedule:

Fri June 13
Durham v Nottinghamshire
BBC Radio Nottingham
Somerset v Warwickshire
BBC WM
Worcestershire v Northamptonshire
BBC Hereford & Worcester
BBC Radio Northampton
Hampshire v Sussex
BBC Radio Solent
Surrey v Middlesex
BBC London 94.9

Sat June 14
Yorkshire v Derbyshire
BBC Radio Derby
Surrey v Essex
BBC London 94.9BBC Radio Essex
Gloucestershire v Worcestershire
BBC Hereford & Worcester

Mon June 16
Leicestershire v Yorkshire
BBC Radio Leicester
Nottinghamshire v Lancashire
BBC Radio Nottingham
Glamorgan v Northamptonshire
BBC Radio Wales
Kent v Hampshire
BBC Radio Solent
Surrey v Sussex
BBC London 94.9