KwaZulu-Natal and Border ended the second day of their encounter pretty much all square, the visitors finishing on 126 for four when rain and bad light brought an early close, after the Dolphins had batted on for just 5.2 overs to take their total to 253 for seven, an addition of 22 runs for no further loss, before declaring.The reason for that was that they need every bonus point they can get, as well as the 10 match points, to secure a spot in the Super Eight phase of the competition and a third batting point was just 19 runs away. However, with rain having wiped out Saturday’s entire morning session, they couldn’t really afford to bat on.The decision to declare initially seemed a poor one, as Piet Botha and Craig Sugden frustrated the KwaZulu-Natal bowlers in an opening stand of 80, but once Botha had been pouched by wicketkeeper Errol Stewart, off the bowling of Jon Kent for 39, Sugden was not long in following, falling victim to the same pairing with just 17 more runs having been added, for 34.By the close, both Wayne Wiblin, who made just seven, and Steven Pope, with 25, had also fallen, leaving skipper Pieter Strydom and Laden Gamiet, on five and nought respectively overnight, to see Border through to a first innings lead.It doesn’t really matter to Border from a statistical point of view whether they win or not. They’ve secured their place in the Super Eight and a victory would rule the Dolphins out, so they wouldn’t carry the points gained in Durban.However, victory is vital for the home side and they may yet find theconstant weather interruptions keeping them from that target.

Matt Finnigan of Ladbrokes previews the Natwest Triangular One-Day International between England & Australia.England almost landed the gamble on Tuesday; they were backed into 5/6 from an opening quote of 6/5. Talking of huge gambles, Australia have been the subject of a number of large bets this week to retain the Ashes. This has resulted in the tourists’ price being shortened even further with Ladbrokes to 1/3 from 4/9 for the Test series.Tuesday’s defeat highlighted the standard that needs to be achieved to reach the top of the one-day game. England were in a similar situation to Australia on Sunday – however, they didn’t have the strength to see the innings through to a victory. This series has been enthralling so far for the one-day cricket enthusiast, but if you enjoy a flutter like myself these tight games take on a different perspective.England may find it hard to break their losing habit against Australia on Thursday; however, there is no value at 1/3 in backing the world champions.As highlighted in my series preview, Marcus Trescothick may take some stopping when he gets going, and that is proving to be the case. His magnificent century on Tuesday has been one highlights of the summer so far, and the Somerset batsman is worth siding with to be England top batsman again. Mark Waugh is also threatening a big score after two consistent innings in the first two matches.My advice is back Marcus Trescothick at 3/1 to be England top batsman & Mark Waugh at 4/1 to be Australian top batsmanNote: Odds are subject to change – please check site for latest updatesSpotlight on other major events this week: The US OpenThursday sees the start of the 101st US Open, and the question on everybody’s lips is: can anyone tame the Tiger?The even money with Ladbrokes represents the shortest price Tiger has ever been for a major. However, this is a Major and that attracts the world’s top players. You also have exceptional value on some of the games biggest stars, and may be worth opposing Woods this week.In recent years Tom Lehman has been one of the most consistent players in the US Open, although failing to convert when leading in the last round on a couple of occasions. Southern Hills was the scene of his biggest victory on the PGA tour, and at 40/1 may be worth an each way bet.My advice is to back Tom Lehman each way at 33/1 to win the 101st US Open.

Left arm pace bowler Nathan Bracken will visit a London specialist this afternoon to help determine the extent of the shoulder injury presently precluding his involvement in Australia’s NatWest Series campaign.Bracken has experienced soreness in his left shoulder for much of the last week and has not played since the Australians completed a 360-run win in the tour-opener against county team Worcestershire. He developed the problem early in the week and, aside from missing the Australians’ one-day international contests against Pakistan and England respectively on Saturday and Sunday, was also a late withdrawal from the match against Northamptonshire.Together with team physiotherapist Pat Farhart, Bracken will head to the specialist to undergo a MRI scan in a bid to illuminate the full extent of the injury and determine when he can resume playing. Depending on the seriousness of the problem, there is a possibility that he may even need to return to Australia, although such an outcome remains purely speculative at this stage.In the event that Bracken’s tour ends, Australian team management will consider a range of alternative bowling options to replace him on tour. Andy Bichel, currently playing for Worcestershire, is expected to be among the leading candidates. But consideration is also likely to extend to a number of players still back at home in Australia.

Sir Richard Hadlee’s Invitation XI triumphed in a star-studded charity opener to Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club’s Superkings Weekend of Legends.The Chairman of Selector’s team, led by South African captain Shaun Pollock beat Sir Garfield Sobers’ Invitation XI by seven wickets at Trent Bridge on Saturday.The weekend’s matches were arranged to raise money for the Pavilion Appeal at the top Test venue.Sir Richard told Cricinfo before the early conclusion how he was "very anxious about the result."This determination to win was passed to Shaun Pollock in a pre-match pep talk. Sir Richard told his team’s leader, " I want it to be a competitive game. I want to win."In contrast Hadlee’s childhood role-model, Sir Garry, was keener on a close result to entertain the 5000 plus crowd.Sobers’ side, led by Courtney Walsh, made 166/6 between showers, with another former West Indies captain, Jimmy Adams, top-scoring with 47 not out.Shoaib Akhtar, back after three weeks out with stomach problems, took two for 33, removing Aravinda de Silva lbw with a characteristic quick yorker. He also bowled Lance Klusener, commenting afterwards, "I was really looking forward to bowling at Klusener. I’m coming back gradually and slowly. I’m feeling pretty good and didn’t try to bowl too fast."Klusener later spoke of his doubts that Allan Donald, who took one for 19, would follow through his stated intention to retire from Test cricket to concentrate on the next World Cup, to be held in South Africa. Jonty Rhodes has the same plan. Rhodes later hit the winning runs, living up to his statement, " there’s only one way I know how to play and that’s flat out."Donald spoke of the recent announcement that his former South African captain, Hansie Cronje, will be prosecuted for match fixing. Donald said he believed Cronje should not be prosecuted as it "could push him over the edge."Hadlee’s team scored the winning runs with over 16 overs to spare, with Gary Kirsten making 74 not out.Sir Richard told Cricinfo of his return to Trent Bridge, where he played from 1980-87, " it’s always a great experience coming back. It’s like a second home. Playing county cricket was the greatest opportunity I had in my career."

Hampshire enhanced their promotion prospects when they beat bottom of the table Essex by 85 runs at Southend.Star of the South Coast side’s win was Neil Johnson who hit an unbeaten 105 after opening the innings to underpin his side’s challenging total of 213-6 on a slow wicket before adding a wicket to his afternoon’s work.The Zimbabwean struck his first century in the competition from 118 deliveries that included seven fours and a six and steadily raised the tempo after starting at a subdued pace preferring to push the ball into the gaps before employing more aggression to his game.His partnership for the third wicket with Dimitri Mascarenhas in 23 overs eased his side away from an uneasy start when they slipped to 26-2. Mascarenhas played his full part, reaching a half-century with a straight driven boundary but then sacrificed his wicket after a mid wicket mix-up that left him stranded.Johnson though continued to control proceedings and gathered 45 runs in five overs towards the close of the innings with Robin Smith to take the visitors to their useful score.The target proved totally beyond the home side who made a poor start losing their first three wickets for 14 runs inside six overs as Darren Robinson and Stephen Peters departed to slip catches before Ronnie Irani pulled Mascarenhas to mid-wicket to give the bowler a second wicket.The best stand that Essex could muster was 36 for the fourth wicket between the effective Paul Grayson and Graham Napier but the latter perished on 22 when he hoisted James Hamblin to deep mid-wicket.Grayson alone looked assured and had moved smoothly to 44 when he drove a cleverly flighted delivery back to bowler Shaun Udal.The last three wickets fell quickly and cheaply to leave the home side reflecting on a dismal season that has seen them collect just one league win from their nine matches.In contrast, Hampshire were left to celebrate their sixth win in eight matches and allowed them to exact revenge for their only league defeat, which they suffered at the Rose Bowl on 3rd June against Essex.

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on Tuesday night accused India of”going back” on its “commitment” to play in the second edition of theAsian Test Championship beginning at Multan on Aug 29 and said thecouncil would go ahead with the holding of the event.Reacting to Indian government’s decision not to take part in thechampionship, ACC secretary Zakir Sayed told PTI in Islamabad that theentire ACC programme, including the India-Pakistan match, was drawn upwith the “permission of the Indian government.””It was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India ACMuthiah who had obtained permission from the government and worked outthe ATC schedule at the ACC meeting in Lahore sometime back,” Syedsaid.”Having given permission to the competition, it is strange on the partof India to go back on its own commitment,” he said.Syed said “we have tried our best to take India along but it is sadthat India have chosen to opt out.”He said both the Pakistan Cricket Board and the ACC would sufferfinancial losses due to India’s absence from the competition as therights for the telecast of the ATC matches have already been firmedup.But, Syed said, the ACC would “emerge stronger” out of thedevelopment.

Ed Joyce, the Dubliner who scored a maiden century at Lord’s recently, may try and qualify for England.The 22-year-old told CricInfo: “You never know. It’s a four-year wait to qualify. A big decision.”Joyce follows in the footsteps of another Middlesex player with an Irish heritage, the great Patsy Hendren.Indeed, with the same hooked four that brought up his hundred, the fourth wicket record for Middlesex against Warwickshire, set in 1927 years ago by Hendren and Cyril Gray, was broken.Joyce said: “I couldn’t stop smiling for about ten minutes. It was a great feeling. A brilliant feeling.”The law graduate smiled so much he lost his concentration, and was run out for 104 not long afterwards.On his first CricInfo Championship appearance of the season, Joyce returned from representing Ireland at the ICC tournament in Canada with a flourish.However in Toronto not all went well for Ireland, despite having two Joyces in the team.”All my brothers play,” revealed Ed. “I’ve got four brothers and four sisters. Two of the girls (Cecelia and Isobel) play. My little brother(Dominick) went to Canada with me and one of my elder brothers (Augustine) played for Ireland as well.”But there was disappointment for Ireland in Canada as they failed to qualify for the 2003 World Cup.”We didn’t play very well,” admitted the promising left-hander. “The batting was quite good, but the bowling was poor.” Joyce scored 359 runs at 71.80 in the competition.He complimented Ireland coach Ken Rutherford, the former New Zealand captain.”Ken’s a good coach. He was with Gauteng a long time and did reasonably well there,” said Joyce. “In Toronto it just didn’t work out,” he mused.Finally, the big question: is he from the same family as Dublin’s best-known Joyce – literary giant James? “My Dad’s called James Joyce,” young Ed smiled, “but I’m not related to THE James Joyce.”

The National Squad going to take on the Zimbabweans on November this year,are given a jolt by their juniors in a one sided practice match held in BUETground today. The Bangladesh-A defeated their opponents by a fair margin of88 runs in this 50-over match.Winning the toss the A-squad elected to bat first against their imposingrivals. Rafiqul Islam, the opener put on 47 runs in the first wicket standwith Mehrab at the other end. Tall fast medium Monir dispatched Mehrab (18)when he offered a catch to Akram Khan.Tushar Imran, the guy came back after a month-long training session taken inAustralia, joined Rafiqul to take the score to 98 before he got an edge towicket keeper Anwar Hossain off Shabbir Khan. Tushar played as many balls tonotch up his 21. When the board was displaying 122, Rafiqul was tempted byoffie Shabbir to play down the wicket, which he missed and was stumped byAnwar. His swashbuckling 62 included 5 spectacular boundaries.The fall of the next wicket brought a dismaying note among the crowd becausethey saw Ashraful, the hero in Colombo returning with a duck offeringShabbir Khan his third wicket. A handy 36 from Khaled Mahmood off 42 ballsthat included a six and Hasanuzzaman managing 52 off 75, gave the glimpse ofa good total at the end.Bangladesh-A, who lost their previous match against the same side, piled up239 for 9 in their stipulated overs. Shabbir Khan, the lanky off-spinnercaptured 3 wickets giving away 26 runs in his economical spells. HasibulHussain and skipper Naimur Rahman grabbed two wickets each.Javed Omar Belim, the right-handed dependable opener for the national team,was dismissed for 10 off Khaled Mahmood when Sajjad caught him at point. Atthe other end Hannan Sarkar batted with patience, as he was rather choosy inhis selection of balls. He made 38 with a solitary boundary in it.The star batsmen were departing as quickly as they could. Al-Sahariar, whoproved good in the first match returned with 6 and Habibul Bashar, theMultan hero could only managed 11 before Bikash sent him on his stride. Aline of failures came from renowned batsmen, who played their cards toopoorly (Aminul Islam 18, Akram Khan 0 & Naimur Rahman 2) to bring off theresult. They all were victims of Mohammed Rafique.The ruled out left-arm off-spinner bowled brilliantly to get a haul of fivewickets in his bag for 34 runs to make the difference. Thanks for Kowshik,Alamgir, Mahmood and Ashraful they all bowled cautiously keeping moreattention on line and length and giving no rooms for the batsmen to go forshots.The side was wrapped up for 152 all out with 58 balls still at hand. Theincessant rain had revoked the four-day match between the sides a few daysago. Both sides were disappointed about not getting enough practice matchesbefore their tours.The Bangladesh-A team will head off for India on October 13, 2001 andBangladesh National will play against Zimbabwe in November this year as thehosts.

Tasmanian captain Ricky Ponting used it as an opportunity to make history. And Jamie Cox used it as another chance to continue banging down the door for Australian selection.But it has to be said that the fourth and final day of this Pura Cup match between New South Wales and Tasmania otherwise carried something of an air of uselessness as it inexorably resulted in a high-scoring draw.Ponting celebrated a cool but sunny day here at the Sydney Cricket Ground by scoring twin centuries in a match for the fifth time in his first-class career. In so doing, he became the first Australian to achieve the feat as many times, snatching for himself a record that he had previously shared with Sir Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Stuart Law and Cox himself.Though it was only constructed before a small crowd – herded into a tiny section of the ground – his 154 was a masterpiece in concentration and execution.His strokeplay was just as effortless, in fact, as it had been in his first innings contribution of 126. Other than for a tired, top edged pull that finally brought about his undoing, the only real hint of a false stroke came with his score at 55 as he was nearly caught behind fiddling at a delivery down the leg side from left arm spinner Mark Higgs (0/46).Cox’s score of 80 also came from another fine innings, though it was a little rusty at times by his own high standards. He was dropped twice and played and missed more than once outside the line of off stump. The almost inevitable outcome was yet another big score against an opponent that he has grown to love.Captains old and new complemented a 77-run stand for the opening wicket between Cox and Dene Hills (32) by forging another 127-run union for the second to ensure that Tasmania’s progression to a finishing score of 3/356 was always going to be smooth.Though the only sting left in the game by now was the one coming from the howling southerly wind ripping across the ground, there was time enough for Shane Watson (58*) to bat attractively and for Don Nash (2/62) to grab his first two wickets of the match. But there was no confusion by then that proceedings would be called off half an hour early.”We knew this morning that we had to go out there and bowl them out,” lamented New South Wales captain Shane Lee.”I thought that if we could have got one or two quick wickets – particularly get Cox out and Ponting – anything was a chance. Unfortunately, that just didn’t happen.”We’ve got to lift a lot for our next game. We dropped five catches overall and that’s too much in a first-class game. We definitely paid for that.”Where Ponting’s batting was encouraging for Australian followers ahead of the opening Test against New Zealand on 8 November, the bowling of paceman Glenn McGrath (1/35) would also have heartened those close to the team. Though he only claimed the wicket of Hills – to a dubious lbw decision – his line and length was generally impeccable and he looked to be returning to something approaching his best.At the end of a frustrating week, leg spinner Stuart MacGill (0/88) also bowled tidily. His figures would have been substantially improved if Michael Bevan had not spilled a mistimed cut by Cox (then on 27) or if he had held a sharp, low caught and bowled chance offered by the same batsman two runs later.