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.

New Zealand 249 for 6 (McMillan 82, Styris 68) beat India 246 for 9 (Kaif 64; Tuffey 3-31) by 4 wickets with 15 balls to spare
Scorecard

A pugnacious 82 not out by Craig McMillan, and his 127-run partnership with Scott Styris, took New Zealand to an unlikely victory against India at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Zaheer Khan, with a burst of runs at the end of the Indian innings and a burst of wickets at the start of New Zealand’s chase, had put on India well on top when McMillan and Styris began their fightback. On a slow-paced wicket, India did not appear likely to cross 225 when, with a 13-ball innings of 33, Zaheer propelled them to 246. He then picked up two wickets in an incisive first spell as New Zealand staggered, first to 44 for 3, and then 68 for 4.But just as Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum had revived New Zealand’s innings at Pune, McMillan and Styris kept the flame burning. They began tentatively, taking their time in getting used to the pace of the pitch, which made strokeplay fraught with danger. India’s battery of spinners were a problem – India played three specialist spinners, as Murali Kartik and Sairaj Bahutule joined Harbhajan Singh in the India XI. (Kartik, Bahutule and Hemnag Badani took the places of a bereaved Anil Kumble, an indisposed Virender Sehwag and Parthiv Patel, as Rahul Dravid opted to keep wicket.)McMillan and Styris did nothing rash, and from a phase of consolidation moved into a phase of accumulation, as the spinners found it difficult to bowl with a ball wet with dew. The batsmen ran quick runs, kept the scoreboard ticking, and punished the bad balls that came their way. And when one of them took a fancy to a particular spinner, there were fireworks.McMillan hit Bahutule out of the attack with a series of powerful slog sweeps, and Styris took to Kartik, smashing him for a couple of boundaries in the 38th over as New Zealand galloped towards their target. But he was trapped leg before in Kartik’s next over for 68 (195 for 4). Shortly after that Mohammad Kaif ran out Jacob Oram (6) with a brilliant pick-up and throw (214 for 6). But Dravid kept his part-time spinners, Yuvraj Singh and Badani, on, and McMillan and McCullum finished things off with a flurry of boundaries.New Zealand had begun their chase well, going at seven an over in the first five, before Stephen Fleming (24 off 14) was out lbw to Ajit Agarkar (39 for 1). Zaheer then struck twice, trapping both Chris Harris (0) and Lou Vincent (1) lbw, though controversially – Harris certainly got an inside edge onto his pad, and Vincent appeared to have done so as well.Chris Nevin, who had never looked comfortable during his innings of 29, slog-swept Harbhajan to midwicket in the 15th over, where Yuvraj took a well-controlled catch (68 for 4). Writing on the wall? No. Graffitti resistant paint.

India’s innings was a stop-start affair, with a number of promising partnerships ending just as the innings was gathering momentum. Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman added 27 at a run-a-ball pace before Tendulkar, on 14, played across the line to Kyle Mills, missed, and was adjudged lbw.Laxman and Kaif, promoted to No. 3, then added 50 in 77, but both batsmen weren’t entirely at ease. Many firmly hit strokes were going straight to fielders, and neither man was looking out for quick singles in the manner that, say, Australia do. Laxman was eventually out to Styris, driving a slower ball straight back to the bowler (77 for 2). His 31 had come off 46 balls.Dravid injected some urgency into the innings, placing the ball beautifully with soft hands and running hard. He improvised well, and one paddle sweep in particular, off Daniel Vettori, showed an elan that few would have suspected him capable off in the last millenium.Having set a platform, Dravid crashed trying to take off. He stepped out to Vettori and drove uppishly to Styris at midwicket, who held on easily (136 for 3). Dravid had made 31.Yuvraj threw his wicket away off just the third ball he faced, stepping out to Vettori and lofting him down the throat of Mills at wide long-on (136 for 4). With 103 balls still left in the game, it was a remarkably stupid shot to play.Badani then came in and, improvising furiously, lifted the tempo. He tonked Vettori for ten in his last over, eight of those coming in the first two balls: the first was slog-swept from outside off to the midwicket boundary; the next was reverse-swept to third-man for four.Kaif, having added 33 with Badani, was out in the next over – the 39th – to Styris, chopping an incoming ball onto his stumps while trying to glide it to third man (169 for 5). Kaif made 64 off 108.It was all down to Badani now, with the lower order to play around him. Bahutule made a spirited 11 off 13 balls, and Ajit Agarkar was giving good support to Badani as they settled in for one final charge. But a dubious decision brought an end to Badani’s innings. He slashed at a widish ball from Daryl Tuffey, missed, and McCullum appealed successfully (205 for 7). Replays cast doubts both on whether Badani had nicked it and on whether McCullum had taken it cleanly.India seemed likely to end at around 230, until Zaheer (33 off 13) lashed 20 runs off the last over of the innings, bowled by Oram. The last three balls read: 6, 4, 6. Could this be the difference between the two sides? No.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.

James Kirtley bowled himself into contention for a place in next week’s first Test at Galle, and Ashley Giles showed a welcome and timely return to form, as England took control on the shortened first day of their warm-up match against a Board President’s XI in Colombo. Play was called off at tea after the now-habitual bank of clouds rolled towards the ground and poured down. But by then, the Board XI had slumped to 142 for 8 after winning the toss.England began the day like a team desperate to put a dreadful week behind them. Kirtley had been due to fly home with the one-day specialists on Monday, but stayed with the party as cover for James Anderson, whom he had helped to twist his ankle during an energetic squash match on Thursday evening. He bustled in from his long run, and required just four legitimate deliveries to claim his first wicket – Michael Vandort lbw for 1 (3 for 1). He might in fact have struck even earlier, but umpire Dissanayake turned down a stone-dead appeal second-ball, when Vandort offered no stroke to a ball that arced into his pads.Kirtley was lively and accurate throughout, and his skiddy pace and eager approach provided a passable resemblance to Darren Gough. Chamara Silva edged to Geraint Jones for a 13-ball duck (6 for 2), and Jones added a second catch to his collection when Dhammika Sudarshana drove at a half-volley outside off stump (19 for 3). The Sri Lankans went to lunch on 69 for 3, but Kirtley required just three balls of the second session to take his fourth wicket, as Gareth Batty clung onto a sharp chance in the gully off Russel Arnold.(69 for 4).

Robert Croft, back in contention after a two-year absence, did not make the best of returns when he reprieved Thilan Samaraweera at third slip. It was a regulation edge off Andrew Flintoff, who is captaining England for the first time in a first-class match, and whether by accident or design, Croft was not called upon to bowl in the first session. Instead Gareth Batty and Giles were given the chance to renew the spin partnership that failed to take off in Bangladesh.Giles has spent the winter working on a new approach to the wicket, and at last he is showing signs that he has rediscovered his rhythm and balance. He grabbed two wickets in four balls, including a smart stumping by Jones, before dismissing Dilhara Fernando lbw on the stroke of tea. Batty did not go unrewarded either, when Nasser Hussain held onto a regulation bat-pad chance, to end Samaraweera’s innings of 32 – the highest score of a piecemeal batting performance.England 1 Mark Butcher, 2 Nasser Hussain, 3 Graham Thorpe, 4 Chris Read, 5 Andrew Flintoff (capt), 6 Gareth Batty, 7 Ashley Giles, 8 Robert Croft, 9 Geraint Jones (wk), 10 Matthew Hoggard, 11 James Kirtley.Sri Lanka Board XI 1 Michael Vandort, 2 Dhammika Sudarshana, 3 Chamara Silva, 4 Russel Arnold (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Rashan Peiris (wk), 7 Bathiya Perera, 8 Ranil Dhammika, 9 Nandika Ranjith, 10 Chamila Gamage, 11 Dilhara Fernando.

Rain once again played its hand in the Standard Bank Cup, as the match between Gauteng and Western Province, played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, was interrupted, resulting in Duckworth-Lewis adjusting the Western Province target and creating a thrilling finish.PointsTableGauteng 185 for 7 (Crookes 45, Dawson 3-33) beat Western Province 113 for 7 by 4 runs (D/L Method)
ScorecardGauteng, after winning the toss and batting, found the going hard as the Western Province bowlers kept a tight reign on proceedings. Runs were hard to come by, and the pressure ensured that wickets fell at regular intervals as the batsmen tried to lift the run-rate. Derek Crookes (45) held the innings together, but once Alan Dawson bowled him the writing was on the wall. Dawson, with 3 for 33, was the pick of the bowlers.The target of 186 should have been a simple one for Province, but at 30 for 2 after eight overs, rain forced the players off the field. Play was held up for 100 minutes, and the target was reduced to 118 off 22 overs.Crookes then picked up two vital wickets to shift the pressure on to the Western Province batsmen, as the run-rate required continue toclimb. They needed six to win off the last ball of the innings but couldonly manage a single.Eastern Province 150 for 7 (Bryant 56*, Bakkes 3-35) beat FreeState 149 for 7 (Van Wyk 77*, Louw 4-22) by 3 wickets.
ScorecardAt St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth the rain gods smiled on EasternProvince as they came out close winners against Free State.In a surprise move Eastern Province’s regular opening bowlers, Mfuneko Ngam and Mornantau Hayward, only came on as fourth and fifth change bowlers, bowling three overs between them. It was Johann Louw who troubled the Free State batsmen, taking 4 for 22 in his nine overs.Morne van Wyk stood alone in batting through the innings,scoring 77 not out. A partnership with Gerhardus Liebenberg (26) threatened to flourish, but once Louw bowled Liebenberg, the innings collapsed to 149 for 7.Eastern Province, looking for the bonus point, made a brisk start to their innings, losing their first wicket in the 10th over with the score on 46. In the chase for runs wickets fell, reducing the home team to 90 for 5, with Free State in sight of a surprise win.James Bryant, however, played Eastern Province back into the game with a well-controlled half-century, taking the Jumbos to within five runs of the win when a rush of blood cost him his wicket.

Scorecard
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.

Glenn McGrath remembers nearly every one of his 425 Test wickets. Dennis Lillee, in the first of umpteen interviews to flog his new autobiography, claimed he could recall only “three or four”. It explains, in part, why McGrath is viewed as a slightly colourless machine and Lillee, all sweat and gold necklaces and green-and-yellow headbands, as the knockabout demon of a more relaxed age. It also explains, alas, why his book is a turkey.Lillee was a once-a-century bowler, with a fierce snarl, exquisite action and rugged, distinctly sexual, charisma. His legend lives on today. He has never overstayed his welcome as a national coach or selector, never hankered after TV stardom – notwithstanding the occasional badly acted carpet ad. He has spent his days quietly tinkering with wannabe fast bowlers from Perth to Chennai, out of sight but never entirely out of mind.As a result there remains a mystique about Lillee. A passer-by on the streets of Sydney, spotting this book under myarm, slipped almost religiously into that old Bay 13 anthem “Lill-ee, Lill-ee, Lill-ee”. His fans will never forget. Lillee, unfortunately for the sake of his book, forgot years ago.He retired from international cricket in January 1984. Months later he released an autobiography called Over And Out! His new book is essentially a rehash of the old, filled with boyish pranks and beer-slurping adventures. Dennis The Larrikin asks the Queen for her autograph. Dennis The Menace has a run-in with some old fogeys on the board. Dennis The Larrikin shepherds Rod Marsh, who has just sunk 45 tinnies en route from Australia, around Heathrow. Dennis The Menace has another run-in with more old fogeys …And so on. The difference is that 19 years on the details seem scratchier, the anecdotes less punchy. Lillee has softened with age too. In Over And Out! he damned Kim Hughes, his ill-fated captain, as “a man whose judgement I’ve never really respected”. Now he says: “I never disliked Kim Hughes … I rate [him] as a top bloke and friend.”His ghostwriter Bob Harris does him few favours. Lillee frequently repeats himself, sometimes in the same sentence. Misnomers abound (Jeff Dyson, Alex Stewart) and clichéd cricketspeak prevails; Lillee’s holiday in Venice is “one of the greatest trips of all time”. He also overdoses on superfluous exclamation marks!A couple of revelations, however, are well worth repeating. Back in the gloomy mid-1980s, when even New Zealand sometimes beat Australia, Allan Border bugged Lillee to make a comeback. Lillee said no. Border persisted, pestering Lillee’s minders until he eventually caved in. Yet by the time Lillee got himself fit Border had changed his mind, leaving Lillee to endure a couple of mediocre stints with Tasmania and Northants: an incongruous bookend to a brilliant career and an intriguing insight into just how desperate Border was.Then there is the curious case of Greg Chappell’s non-selection for Australia’s 1969-70 tour of India. Don Bradman, then a selector, apparently said, “we don’t want him going to India and getting sick” – a comment not recorded in Adrian McGregor’s studious 1985 Chappell biography.Ramachandra Guha recently identified Bradman, alongside Keith Miller and Shane Warne, as one of three Australian deities in India. Yet Bradman never set foot in the place, declining to leave the team’s boat when it docked in 1948. “The Don clearly did not like India, and maybe even had a phobia about it,” is Lillee’s verdict.Lillee is at his most engaging when he is not the central character. He is apocalyptic about India’s superpower emergence, predicting a revolution that will make World Series Cricket “pale into insignificance”. He debunks the hysteria that still engulfs Ian Botham’s fluky 149 at Headingley: “I get sick and tired of people saying it was one of the greatest innings … I expected to get him virtually every ball.”Australians have historically been better at playing cricket than writing about it. This is changing. The last four years have witnessed a wave of new books – some serviceable, others stupendous – about little known or long forgotten past players: Jack Marsh, Warwick Armstrong, Eddie Gilbert, Don Tallon, Jack Iverson, Gil Langley.Still there is a gap. Sparkling, standout accounts of the true giants – Miller and Harvey, Benaud and Border – are almost non-existent. Even the supreme Bradman blockbuster has yet to be written. The same goes for Lillee. But watch out for Glenn McGrath’s autobiography when it comes. Now that could be a corker.

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.

I’ll go flat out against the Indians,” Shoaib Akhtar told reporters on the eve of the first one-day international at Karachi. “I’ve been waiting for this match for a long time.” More flat than flat out, Akhtar went for 55 runs from 10 overs, and picked up the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.Akhtar, famous for mouthing off before big matches, was conspicuously low-key one day before his 100th ODI, at his home ground, Rawalpindi. After being chased repeatedly, he consented, and told reporters, "Obviously, it’s an honour for me to represent the country in 100 matches. But for me, the most important thing is that we should win tomorrow. I know I didn’t bowl well in Karachi, but I have performed against all teams — including world champions Australia — so I see no reason why I should not perform against India." Perhaps the Pakistan team realises that the time for mind games is over. They are 0-1 down and words will not help at this stage. It’s what happens on the field that counts.The Indian camp, though, had worries of their own. Akhtar or no Akhtar, they were more concerned with the fact that Sourav Ganguly was suffering from a fever. Ganguly came to the Pindi Stadium, but did not take part in the practice. There was worse news still, as Ashish Nehra was ruled out of the second one-dayer with a swollen ankle. Nehra, who bowled a fine last over to deny Pakistan victory at Karachi, had inflamed his left ankle. Irfan Pathan is likely to take Nehra’s place in the playing XI. On the bright side, India will have the services of VVS Laxman, who missed the first one-dayer after injuring his knee in the nets.Pakistan had no such problems, and if the manner in which Inzamam-ul-Haq tonked the ball around in the nets was any indication, they were relaxed and confident. Javed Miandad, their coach, never seems nervous, but even by his standards the pre-match press conference was a relaxed one. When one journalist asked if the bowling was a concern, as over 600 runs were scored in the first match, he turned to a section of the press, winked, and said “Has someone scored 600 runs in 50 overs of a one-dayer?” He could well be adopting this attitude since his team is strengthened by the return of Shabbir Ahmed, the fast bowler. “Shabbir bowled in the nets today, and fielded too. God willing he will play tomorrow,” said Miandad. Shabbir is likely to replace Rana Naved-ul-Hasan who, despite taking three wickets at Karachi, was erratic and expensive.The return of Shabbir gives the Pakistan pace attack further firepower, as Akhtar and Mohammad Sami attempt to get their act together. The two fast bowlers spent some considerable time in the nets working on the no-ball problem that dogged them in the first match. Simon Taufel, one of the elite-panel umpires standing in this series, took up his position in the nets, as though it were an actual match situation, and was seen signaling no-balls, and talking to Pakistan’s bowlers.But Shabbir’s comeback means that Pakistan’s attack will be a potent one, despite the fact that the pitch looks similar to the one for the first one-dayer: hard, light-coloured, with just a smattering of grass on it. Even if the pitch is on the slower side, Pakistan’s quick men have enough pace, and all bowl what cricketers call a “heavy ball”. If only they can add discipline to this, they will ensure that 300-plus scores are the exception rather than the rule. And once they do that, the pressure will be back on the Indians.Pakistan (probable): 1 Yasir Hameed, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Yousuf Youhana, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Younis Khan, 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Shoaib Malik, 8 Moin Khan (wk), 9 Shoaib Akhtar, 10 Mohammad Sami, 11 Shabbir Ahmed.India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 4 VVS Laxman, 5 Rahul Dravid (wk), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Murali Kartik, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Lakshimpathy Balaji.

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.