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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.

Australia’s Southern Stars secured victory in the Rosebowl series with an 18-run win at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln today.A total of 218/5, which featured a typically punchy 90 from Karen Rolton was too much even for an on-song Haidee Tiffen, who returned to form with a fine 69.Tiffen came in at 55/3 in the 19th over and stayed until the 48th before being bowled for 69 swiping at Therese McGregor when 36 were required off 16 deliveries.”Even when we needed 58 off 40 balls I said (to Rachel Pullar) ‘come on Rach, we can do this’. But it was gradually put out of our grasp,” Tiffen said.”We talked about not getting complacent and got off to a great start, but just the one bad ball an over cost us,” summed up Tiffen.After 10 overs, the Australians were 11/1, but had accelerated, thanks to Rolton and Belinda Clark (44) to 67/1 after 20 overs and consolidated to 115/1 after 30.Michelle Goszko then hit 48 off 51 deliveries, being stumped by Rebecca Rolls off Tiffen (two for 49) off the last ball of the innings. The New Zealand spinners struggled with the strong nor’wester blowing across Canterbury and failed to flight the ball as well as yesterday, when New Zealand won its first game of the series. This left Australia with a very defendable total despite Lincoln’s perfect batting wicket.”They kept pushing and it was going through the field and the misfields created momentum for their team and sent our heads down,” said Tiffen.New Zealand was keen to bat first due to the absence with a calf strain of leading Australian bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick, who is 34 tomorrow.The White Fern reply kept home hopes alive when Emily Drumm (22) was batting, but her favoured scoring area, behind the wicket, proved her undoing when the New Zealand captain glided a delivery from Julie Hayes to wicket-keeper Julia Price.Tiffen and Kathryn Ramel (20) added 51 for the fifth wicket to put their side within 90 of a second successive win.However, Clea Smith, drafted into the Australia squad for the trip to Christchurch, struck twice in eight deliveries, forcing Ramel and yesterday’s big hitter Aimee Mason to hole out.Earlier, Fitzpatrick’s replacement, Emma Twining, bowled her opening six overs for ten runs.”There was a bit of pressure on her,” said Australia’s match-winner Rolton. “But we couldn’t have asked for anything more from her.”We’ve won quite a few games against New Zealand, but as soon as we don’t play well that’s when they beat us,” Rolton continued.Yesterday and in the CricInfo Women’s World Cup final, were days when New Zealand came out on top.”There’s nothing we can do about the World Cup now,” said Rolton. “We’ve had quite a few changes since the World Cup with a few girls getting more experience. The more they play the better,” Rolton told CricInfo.The teams meet again on Wednesday in a match that Tiffen for one would love to win.”The series has gone but this is a different team from the World Cup. It’s all or nothing, we’ve nothing to lose and we hope to have a good game to finish up.”

The Hong Kong Sixes are set to return to the cricketing calendar thisNovember after a four-year absence.A victim of the late-1990’s Asian economic downturn and a failed attempt toset up a rival Super 8 competition, the seventh six-a-side carnival of itskind in Hong Kong will be staged on the weekend of 10-11 November.The Hong Kong Cricket Association made the announcement yesterday of thetournament’s revival, backed by the sponsorship of Cathay Pacific Airlinesand Standard Chartered Bank. WSG-Asia will be the tournament organisers inconjunction with the HKCA.Eight national teams will be taking part, including the home side, and mostof the major Test-playing nations. The final eight has yet to be announced.It is not clear how strong the international teams will be, as the tournamentwill fall in the middle of a busy time for Test cricket – Australia arepitted against New Zealand, and India against South Africa, in Test matcheson the weekend of the 2001 Sixes.Total prizemoney for the tournament will be $HK two million (approx $US256,000), with the winners walking away with $HK 623,000 ($US 80,000). Allmatches will be played at Kowloon Cricket Club.Pakistan were the winners on the last occasion this event was held inSeptember 1997. They also won the first such event in 1992, other winnersbeing England (1993 and 1994), South Africa (1995) and West Indies (1996).Each team in Sixes cricket consists of six players who play two innings offive overs each. Each member of the fielding side except the wicketkeeperbowls one over. Batsmen are forced to retire once they have scored 31.

Nottingham Forest will be without Scott McKenna for this evening’s FA Cup clash with Liverpool.

The Lowdown: McKenna a regular at Forest

The 25-year-old has been a key player for Forest this season, starting every single Championship game so far. He has also helped the club into the last eight of the FA Cup, playing every minute against Arsenal, Leicester City and Huddersfield Town.

Steve Cooper is already without defenders Steve Cook and Max Lowe for the visit of Jurgen Klopp’s side, and McKenna is the latest to be ruled out of the City Ground clash.

The Latest: Hamstring problem for McKenna

Nottinghamshire Live’s Sarah Clapson shared a story on Saturday afternoon, just over 24 hours before the quarter-final.

The story shared comments from Cooper, who confirmed that McKenna looks set to miss five weeks of action with a hamstring problem.

The Verdict: Huge miss for Forest

Not only is this a blow for the meeting with Liverpool this evening, but also for the club’s push for promotion to the Premier League.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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You’d expect that the centre-back will miss at least the next five Championship fixtures as a result of his muscular problem, including what could be a crucial trip to fellow play-off contenders Luton Town next month.

Hopefully Forest will be able to cope without the Scotland international and stay in contention for a play-off spot, with McKenna possibly returning in time for the season’s run-in.

	Back at the centre of the storm: Mike Procter © Getty Images

Mike Procter, the match referee who found Harbhajan Singh guilty of calling Andrew Symonds a “monkey” during the Sydney Test, relied on the evidence of three Australian players in reaching his decision, it has been revealed. Harbhajan was banned for three Tests for that offence but the sentence was suspended following an appeal, by the Indian team, which will be heard next week.In a leaked copy of his report on the hearing, Procter says: “I have heard evidence from Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke and Matthew Hayden that he did say these words. Harbhajan Singh denies saying these words. Both umpires did not hear nor did Ricky Ponting or Sachin Tendulkar. I am satisfied and sure beyond reasonable doubt that Harbhajan Singh did say these words.”I am satisfied that the words were said and that the complaint to the umpires, which forms this charge, would not have been put forward falsely, I dismiss any suggestion of motive or malice.”Procter’s decision came late into the night of January 6, after Australia won a Test match that was mired in controversy and ended amid inflamed passions among players and public. The race issue apart, there were several contentious umpiring decisions, largely going against India, and visible tensions between the teams. The verdict itself created almost as much controversy as the incident; it was welcomed and criticised along national lines, the neutrals preferring to wait and see how Procter reached his decision, and these revelations are likely to stir up emotions again..Among those present at the hearing was Sachin Tendulkar, the other Indian batsman at the crease, but Procter indicates he would not have been within earshot of the incident. “It was submitted to me by Chetan Chauhan [the Indian team manager] that there was doubt because the umpires and other players did not hear the words but, in my judgment, they would not have been in a position to hear them,” Procter says. “I note that Sachin Tendulkar only became involved when he realised that something was happening and was gestured over. He tried to calm things down because something had happened that he did not hear.”The second issue he had to consider; Procter said, was whether Harbhajan used the words with the intention of insulting or offending him. “I am sure beyond reasonable doubt that the use of the word “monkey” or “big monkey” was said to insult or offend Andrew Symonds on the basis of his race, colour or ethnic origin.”While asserting that whatever may have been said between them prior to the exchange in question was irrelevant, Procter acknowledges there was a “history” between the two dating back to the one-day international in Mumbai late last year.”It is not relevant to my findings here to decide what happened in Mumbai. Nevertheless there was trouble in Mumbai when members of the crowd were arrested for using the word “monkey” and gesturing towards Andrew Symonds. This caused both Indian and Australian boards to issue a joint-statement. To this extent Mumbai is relevant to this hearing.”The spat between Harbhajan and Symonds took place on the third day of the second Test in Sydney, when India were batting. Symonds later revealed he approached Harbhajan after the Indian offspinner had tapped Brett Lee on the back with his bat.”I was standing nearby and when I saw what happened, I thought, ‘Hold on, that’s not on’,” Symonds told the : “I’m a firm believer in sticking up for your team-mate so I stepped in and had a bit of a crack at Harbhajan, telling him exactly what I thought of his antics. He then had a shot back, which brings us to the situation we’re facing.”Tendulkar and the umpires – Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor – intervened to defuse the situation, Benson covering his mouth while talking to Harbhajan to avoid lip-reading television viewers. The umpires reported Harbhajan to Procter after receiving a complaint from Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting, who was abiding by the ICC directives concerning racism.Following India’s appeal the ICC appointed New Zealand judge John Hansen to chair the hearing, which is slated to be held on January 29 and 30 in Adelaide.

For the third time in the Quadrangular tournament India lost a match because of poor fielding and missed run-out chances. This time the clumsiness on the field cost them a place in the final of the Quadrangular tournament in Chennai.With 47 runs to get off 43 balls and only four wickets in hand, Australia got to victory off the last ball as Cathryn Fitzpatrick and Jodie Purves exploited the nervousness of the Indian fielders and took singles and twos with ease.India had looked sharp in the field in the first half of the Australian innings as the players made an effort to dive and save runs. Mithali Raj, the Indian captain, admitted that the fielding had let them down once again. “We came back well in our fielding from the other day against New Zealand where it was absolutely pathetic,” Raj told Cricinfo. “But towards the end when they needed a-run-a-ball we missed some run out chances. The bowling was bad too and we had a lot of misfields.”Fitzpatrick acknowledged the fact that Australia were greatly helped by the Indian fielders’ shoddy work. “With the run-out chances missed we knew that at a-run-a-ball we could do it,” she said.But Raj added that there had been many positives for India from the tournament. “In the matches that we won, the victory came through a team effort,” she said. “The openers gave us a very good start and are looking in fine form.”She was happy with the way the tournament had panned out though it was disappointing not to play in the final. “Every team is scoring more than 200. This is a change for us in women’s cricket where a total of 200 used to be a defendable score,” she said. “But now a team has to score between 200 and 250 to have a chance to win. A Quadrangular tournament like this improves every team’s performance. All four teams are of top quality and people get to see some really good cricket.”Melissa Bulow, the Australian opener, who set up the win against India with her career-best 85 said that Jhulan Goswami and Rumeli Dhar, India’s opening bowling pair, had worried the Australians. “We had studied them before and had a plan of attack against them today. They tend to bowl a lot of dot balls.” Bulow said. “Our plan was to just play straight and hit through the areas we had practiced hitting through.”Australia will play New Zealand in the final while India will take on England for a third place play-off on March 5.

Central Zone
Points table
An unbeaten 122 from Jyoti P Yadav set up Uttar Pradesh’s 57-run win against Railways at the KL Saini Ground in Jaipur. Yadav’s innings spanned just 120 balls and included 12 fours and two sixes. He added 133 for the third wicket with Arvind Kapoor, who smashed 72 from 67 balls, and pushed the score to 283 for 5. Railways’ chase began to gather momentum before losing three wickets for 10 runs (86 for 4). Shreyas Khanolkar fought back with 57 but Avinash Yadav (4 for 56) ran through the middle order and restricted them to 226 for 9 in 50 overs. With this win, UP have topped the Central Zone in the league stage, and have entered the knock-out phase. Railways, who have come in the second place in the zone, follow UP into the next round.Vidarbha hung on by the skin of their teeth to clinch a thriller by one run against Madhya Pradesh at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Chasing 243 to win, MP were in dire straits at 28 for 4 before B Tomar (74) and S Masood (56) led the recovery with a 100-run stand after Abbas Ali chipped in with 45. But after Tomar and Masood fell, the chase lost steam and the tail only managed to push the score to an agonising 241 for 9, two runs short. Sandeep Singh collected figures of 3 for 38. Shalabh Shrivastava led the way for Vidarbha, after losing the loss, scoring 61. The only other significant contribution was Samir Khare’s 41 as Vidarbha were dismissed for 242.East Zone
Points table
Rajiv Kumar played a captain’s innings of 94 to see Jharkhand through tense moments and secured a one-wicket victory against Tripura at the Tata Digwadih Stadium in Dhanbad. Chasing a modest 228, Jharkhand kept losing wickets at one end while Rajiv held up the other. Rajiv’s was a patient knock that took 128 balls while including 10 fours and a six. Mihir Diwakar struck a crucial 25 in a 33-run stand for the eigth wicket with Rajiv that took them closer to the win. In their innings, a steady fall of wickets ensured that Tripura could not take advantage of winning the toss. Bappa Das top-scored with 57 but his was the only score above 30 in their eventual total of 227 for 9.Riding on a strong allround performance, Assam breezed to a five-wicket win against Orissa at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Dhanbad. After winning the toss, Assam’s bowlers didn’t allow the batsmen to settle by picking up wickets regularly. S Tarafdar took 2 for 29 and Mrigen Talukdar claimed 3 for 44 as Orissa were held to 190 for 9. Assam’s openers, Chandan Rawat (57) and P Aziz (56), virtually sealed the win with a 132-run opening stand that set up the platform for them to finish on 194 for 5.

His dismissal for 94 at Mohali delayed the inevitable, but Tendulkar needed just one more innings to score the 27 he required to reach the landmark of 10,000 Test runs. Only four other batsmen have achieved this feat, and no-one has done it in fewer innings than Tendulkar’s 195 – Brian Lara took exactly the same number, while Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Border and Steve Waugh all required more than 200 innings.Like Tendulkar, Gavaskar also got his 10,000th run in a home Test against Pakistan in March – Gavaskar got that vital run at Ahmedabad on March 7, 1987. He was then joined by Allan Border, whose 11,174 remains the highest Test aggregate. Border got to the landmark against West Indies at Sydney in 1992-93. Steve Waugh was the next to join him, at the same ground ten years later, while Brian Lara was the fourth one to enter the league, at Old Trafford in 2004. The table below shows the stats of all five players after the innings in which they got their 10,000th run.

	Tests	Innings	Average
Gavaskar	124	212	51.04
Border	136	235	52.08
Waugh	156	244	49.66
Lara	111	195	52.91
Tendulkar	122	195*	57.80

It took Tendulkar 19 Tests to get his first 1000 runs, but since those early days, the aggregate has been growing at a rather more rapid rate. The rate dipped slightly between 8000 and 9000, but Tendulkar is clearly back on track – his last 1000 came in just 11 matches.

Runs	Tests	Innings	Average
1000	19	28	41.46
2000	32	44	50.30
3000	45	67	50.85
4000	58	86	52.47
5000	67	103	53.19
6000	76	120	55.70
7000	85	136	57.98
8000	96	154	57.58
9000	111	179	56.82
10000	122	195	57.70

This was Tendulkar’s sixth fifty-plus score against Pakistan in 12 Tests, but his average against them is still only a modest 43.88. Only against South Africa does he have a lower average (37.14 in 16 matches). (Click here for Tendulkar’s career summary before this Test.)

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).

The newly unveiled scoreboard at Colombo Cricket Club © Wisden Cricinfo 2003

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.

The sixth round Auckland-Northern Districts State Championship match ended in a tame draw after the visitors had by tea on the last day batted themselves into a position that made it difficult for Auckland to win.Rain had the last say, a heavy shower over the Eden Park Outer Oval as the players left the field for the interval halting proceedings. However, the teams returned after an 80-minute delay to give Hamish Marshall, 85 at the break, the chance to get his first first-class century. It was unsuccessful, Marshall adding just seven more before giving a catch to Reece Young behind the stumps from the off-spinner Rob Nicol.With the fall of the wicket, Northern declared at 212/7, 176 runs ahead. With just 19 overs left available in the day’s play, the match was declared a draw.The ending was an anticlimax. After the two teams had cancelled themselves out with first innings totals that had substance (ND 383, Auckland 419) but had taken longer than either side would have wished, Auckland had Northern teetering at the close on the third day at 57/4 just 21 runs ahead.However, after the successes of the previous evening, the Auckland bowlers on the final day could make no impression on the Northern batsmen, the only success of the fourth morning coming through a direct hit by Chris Drum to catch Grant Bradburn short of his ground when on 29 and looking happy to bat all day.In an immaculate defensive display, the Northerners added 57 in the morning session and then upped the pace with no trauma until just before the afternoon drinks break when Drum brought an attacking shot from Robbie Hart that saw the ball catch an inside edge and crash into the stumps. Hart had contributed 23 to a 76-run partnership as he and Marshall went a long way towards taking Northern out of trouble.By tea, Marshall and Joseph Yovich had taken the score to 205/6, 169 ahead with a minimum of 25 overs to be bowled in the day. For Marshall the highlight was passing his previous best of 83. He could take satisfaction from not only that achievement but also that his patient effort (first 50 coming from 199 balls) was a major contribution towards rescuing Northern from a precarious position.His 92 went with the Mark Richardson (133) and Matt Horne (77) 191-run first wicket partnership for Auckland and Scott Styris’ 73 in the Northern first innings as the highlights that reflected a match in which the bat dominated the ball. However, Yovich will remember it for the match in which he collected his 100th first-class wicket.On a day in which batting revolved around a forward defensive shot and as much leaving as possible, Drum’s afternoon wicket left him with two for 38 from 23 overs to go with his four for 85 in the first innings. Economy was the order of the day, Brooke Walker ending with one for 49 from 26, Nicol one for 25 from 14.3 and Richard Morgan, who improved his line in the second innings, one for 42 from 22.With the two points from the first innings lead, Auckland share top position with Wellington.