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In a move that could have serious repercussions for international cricket, South Africa and India have told the International Cricket Council and match referee Mike Denness that the third Test at SuperSport Park on Friday will go ahead without him.The South African and Indian boards have instead asked Denis Lindsay to officiate in what seems almost certain to be regarded as an unofficial Test.Despite negotiations at the highest level over the past two days, the ICC has refused to replace Denness while Denness himself turned down a request to step down voluntarily.According to a statement from the United Cricket Board,”South African cricket and the South African public in general cannot affordthe cancellation of this Test match. Although the crisis has not been of ourmaking, we have received reports of protests at South African embassies inIndia and our country has been caught up in this issue. The South AfricanGovernment, through Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour, has instructed theUCBSA to take whatever action is necessary to ensure that the Test matchgoes ahead.”The UCB also said that chief executive Gerald Majola had telephoned ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed “to inform him that the UCBSA had no alternative but to ask Mr Denness to recuse himself and, facing his refusal to do so, had indicatedthat the UCBSA was unable to allow him access to the Match Referee’sposition at the ground for the Test Match.”

New South Wales has snatched away the advantage from Queensland in this year’s National Under-19 Championship Final in Newcastle, inspiring a middle order collapse to leave the visitors at 7/152 at tea as they chase a victory target of 243 on the concluding day of the tournament.The Queenslanders looked to be wresting away favouritism from the hosts when they moved swiftly to a mark of 2/93 in the hour after lunch. But the loss of two wickets in the space of three deliveries to guileful medium pacer Brad Roworth (3/31) caused their best-laid victory plans to unravel.Roworth landed arguably the most important blow of the match when he lured opener Aaron Maynard (42) into a mistimed drive. Having snared a series of slips catches himself in the match, Julian Nielsen (0) then fell to one, edging a delivery of good length from Roworth to Brett Eriksson at first slip.It was suddenly 4/93, and worse was to come for Queensland as Greg Moller (35) was disastrously run out after a ball had been turned off the line of the hip to backward square leg.Murray Bragg (19) and Chris McCabe (16) stabilised the cause with a gritty stand of 28 runs for the sixth wicket but it wasn’t really enough to shift the momentum back their side’s way. And New South Wales’ position of strength was soon reinforced when Roworth came around the wicket to find the edge of McCabe’s bat and when captain Jarrad Burke eased a delivery straight through Bragg’s defences.Queensland’s tail is by no means the worst in the competition and there’s still a full session of play available to them as they mount one last effort to score the 91 runs still required for triumph. But genuine aspirations of victory are dwindling quickly, and a major reversal would now be required for such an ambition to reach fruition.Elsewhere in Newcastle, Tasmania and Victoria have enjoyed great days to fill third and fourth placings respectively. The Tasmanians earned their place in Section A next season when they scored a tough five wicket win in a low-scoring contest with Western Australia. Victoria, meanwhile, relied on an innings of 99 from Adam Crosthwaite to amass a score of 6/252 in response to South Australia’s total of 175 from yesterday.At last report, Northern Territory is placed at a total of 4/109 as it chases 234 for victory over the Australian Capital Territory in the duel for seventh place.

Karnataka retained the K Subbiah Pillai Trophy by finishing at the top of the South Zone points table in the Ranji one-dayers, beating Kerala in a tight contest at Visakhapatnam on Monday.Winning the toss, J Arunkumar opted to bat. For the first time in this cycle of matches, though, he failed with the bat, falling with the score on just four. Barring knocks in the thirties from Barrington Rowland (30), Thilak Naidu (31) and Vijay Bharadwaj (34), only Sunil Joshi’s 54 off 50 balls lent substance to the Karnataka total.Bowled out for 212 in 38.4 overs, Karnataka faced a tough task to defend their total, but they did so successfully. Dodda Ganesh spearheaded the attack, taking three wickets for few runs. For Kerala, SR Nair took his side to the threshold of victory, making 62 off 74 balls. His effort, however, was not enough, as Karnataka bowled their rivals out for 209 in 39.4 overs to snatch a three-run win.

Sri Lankan umpire, and former Test player, Asoka De Silva will be the overseas umpire for New Zealand’s first Test against England, starting in Christchurch on March 13.De Silva is one of several overseas umpires officiating at the ICC Under-19 World Cup being held at New Zealand Cricket’s High Performance Centre at Lincoln University near Christchurch.He is to stand in the tournament final on Saturday with New Zealand Test umpire Tony Hill, who made his Test umpiring debut in New Zealand’s first Test against Bangladesh in Hamilton in December.No New Zealand appointments have been made for the Test series year and may well not be made until the completion of New Zealand’s One-Day International National Bank series against England which starts in Christchurch on Wednesday of next week.The ICC match referee for that one-day series is South Africa’s Denis Lindsay who is travelling to New Zealand straight from the India-England series where is also in charge.

A victory off the last ball. There can’t be a more exciting finishthan this and while there have been quite a few such results in thehistory of one day internationals, the six-match series between Indiaand England on the 1992-93 tour could not have gotten off to a betterstart. For England won the first game at Jaipur byfour wickets off the last delivery.

The man of the match however was on the losing side. Put in to batbefore a capacity crowd at the Sawai Man Singh stadium on a coolJanuary morning, India could not have made a worse start with the lossof Navjot Sidhu without a run on the board in the second over. VinodKambli entered at this stage but soon lost Manoj Prabhakar, who made aquick 25. Paul Jarvis had taken both wickets. Mohammad Azharuddin toodid not last long, out leg before to Chris Lewis for six.Three down for 59 was no way to start an innings but now SachinTendulkar joined his old Bombay school chum and there was a suddentransformation. The two put the bowlers to the sword while sharing anunbroken 164-run stand for the fourth wicket. Kambli and Tendulkarmatched each other in both stroke and run production. It was the lefthanded Kambli’s 21st birthday and he could not have wished for abetter gift than an unbeaten 100 which ensured him the man of thematch award.He faced 149 balls and hit nine fours and a six. Tendulkar finished ona brilliant 82 not out, compiled off just 81 balls, hitting six foursand a six as India could post a challenging total of 223 for three in48 overs.Kapil Dev gave an early breakthrough by removing skipper Graham Goochfor four in a total of 29. But then vice-captain Alec Stewart tookover. First, he added 56 runs for the second wicket with Robin Smith(16). This was followed by a third wicket stand of 60 runs betweenStewart and Mike Gatting (30). By the time Stewart was third out at145 for 91, the match was nicely balanced. Stewart played the spinnersAnil Kumble and Venkatpathi Raju particularly well and twice he usedhis feet to hit the left arm spinner over the ropes.He faced 126 balls and besides the two sixes, hit six fours. NeilFairbrother and Graeme Hick (13) supplied the necessary accelerationat a vital stage by adding 39 runs for the fifth wicket. Prabhakar andKapil came back to bowl the final overs but the left-handedFairbrother was equal to the task. He and Chris Lewis inched Englandtowards the target and when Prabhakar started the last over, six runswere required for victory. The bowler was left to rue an overthrow ofhis own penultimate delivery that enabled England to draw level. Ascrambled single off bat and pad from the last ball signaled apulsating victory. Fairbrother remained unbeaten on a timely 46, madeoff only 38 balls with the help of five fours and a six, and Lewis oneight. England went on to take a 3-1 lead before India took the lasttwo matches and ensured that honours remained even.

First innings points were Auckland’s profit from a day in which they set about trying to shut Northern Districts out of any benefit from this sixth round State Championship match.In a day of changing fortunes, they ended up in danger of leaving the initiative to the visitors until their bowlers struck late in the day.Northern, just 36 behind on the first innings after Auckland folded to 419, finished on 57/4 after three wickets were spread around and a fourth, Michael Parlane for one, came courtesy of a mid-pitch mix up with Matthew Hart. Richard Morgan, Chris Drum and Brooke Walker, with a wicket each, did the damage as Auckland hurried through 34 overs in the last two hours and 10 minutes.The major contributor to the total was Hart, falling to Walker for 25.Auckland started the third day at 244/3, the initial target Northern’s first innings 383. They got there for the loss of four wickets, three of them in the first hour as Graeme Aldridge, Grant Bradburn and Joseph Yovich threatened to upset the home side’s plans.The most welcome wicket was that of Tim McIntosh, who looked the complete batsman as he carried his overnight total from 20 to 52 before Aldridge trapped him in front with the score 292/5.Nick Horsley (10) and Rob Nicol (6) contributed little, Nicol going to the Robbie Hart/Yovich combination at the same score as McIntosh departed.The resurrection of the Auckland innings was left in the hands of the captain, Walker, and Reece Young. Walker looked to be in attacking mood as he picked up seven and eight from consecutive overs by Yovich and Aldridge in the second and third of his innings. That was an illusion. When he was finally removed, bowled by Matthew Hart, for 63 with the score 413/8, he had faced 177 balls – most of them approached with a forward defensive push.With Young (19) he had taken Auckland within sight of the target at 359/7 and then past it with Sanjeewa Silva, who during his accomplished 30 in a partnership of 54 looked interested in opening out.Auckland’s plans to bat on and on were foiled by the Hart brothers. Captain Robbie brought Matthew back after the left-arm spinner had taken a hammering from Mark Richardson, disappearing from sight on the second day after being plundered for 33 from four overs. He returned late in the innings to take the last three wickets in quick succession, including Walker’s, to finish with three for 51 off 15.With major assistance from the other left-arm spinner, Bruce Martin (three for 94 from seven), Hart dried up the scoring, his three wickets coming during a six-over spell that cost just four runs. Yovich, two for 72, Aldridge one for 56 and Bradburn one for 48 were the other wicket-takers.Northern come back on the last day with Bradburn (12) and Hamish Marshall (7) leading the effort to set Auckland a challenging total. They might, in the process, appreciate a little traffic control, a steady stream of vehicles moving behind the bowler’s arm on the Outer Oval access road at the city end distracting some of the batsmen.

PERTH, Dec 18 AAP – The glitz and glamour of Australian cricket player Shane Warne has been replaced by a humble country boy made good.Spin wizard Warne’s busted shoulder today opened the door for the surprise selection of West Australian allrounder Brad Hogg for Sunday’s day-night match against Sri Lanka at the WACA Ground.His call-up completes a remarkable turnaround for the 31-year-old Hogg after six years out of international cricket following his single appearance in a Test loss to India by seven wickets in Delhi.He’s played seven international one-dayers.The Hogg family farm is located near the country town of Williams about one-and-a-half hours drive south-east of Perth.It is the same district where former Australian coach and vice-captain Geoff Marsh grew up and it was Marsh who identified Hogg’s talent and brought him to the city as a youngster.But despite years of city living Hogg has stated that his ideal job outside of cricket would be as a farmer.It marks a sharp contrast to city-slicker Warne who has achieved worldwide notoriety for his theatrical antics on and off the field to go with his extraordinary cricketing achievements.Injured Australian vice captain Adam Gilchrist said postal worker Hogg deserved the chance after falling out of the national selection picture almost as soon as he arrived.”That has just capped off a great reversal of fortunes for Hoggy,” he said.”He sort of flew into the Australian team some six years ago, but sort of left just as quickly, but he has reinvented himself again.”He is very versatile in one day cricket and I guess that is what the selectors are looking for and he really deserves the chance.”Left-arm legspinner Hogg’s ability as a dangerous batsman at the death and his standing as one of the best fieldsman in the country would have helped sway the selectors.But while Warne’s misfortune is Hogg’s gain, the major loser is young Queensland spinner Nathan Hauritz who failed to inspire selectors with his efforts for Australia A this summer.Hogg said today’s call-up had meant more to him than his initial Australian selection.He admitted he thought he might have been a chance to be picked following Warne’s shoulder injury and having performed well for Australia A this year.”I was sort of shocked, I was sitting there with my wife at the time on the couch watching it and it’s not something you want to see,” Hogg told reporters in Adelaide.”But obviously things do go through your mind and I was probably in with a show.”But you never think of it like that, I’d prefer to be playing a game with Warney rather than doing it this way, but you take opportunities with both hands.”Hogg must now be rated a chance to make Australia’s World Cup squad given the uncertainty over Warne’s future, and an outside chance at Test selection.Wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Campbell was predictably recalled for his second international one-day appearance in place of Gilchrist who is expected to be back for the Boxing Day Test after suffering niggling groin and knee problems.Campbell said fans could expect some more party tricks this weekend after some inventive shots in his 42 off 28 balls for Australia A against Sri Lanka at the Gabba on Saturday.”I don’t feel like I’m a massive hitter and sometimes I feel like I need to get a little bit funkier,” he said.He scored two unconventional boundaries by kneeling down and flicking the ball over the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper’s head in the match, but joked he might injure himself next time he tries it.”Next time I try it I’ll probably hit myself in the head,” he said.Campbell and Hogg learnt of their selection while in Adelaide with their WA teammates preparing for tomorrow’s Pura Cup match against South Australia, but had made plans to fly home tonight.But Gilchrist denied his unavailability at the top of the batting order would disrupt the Australian team’s batting order and that Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann or Campbell would all be suitable replacements.”There are a few options and I think that is a good sign for Australia and for the team that we are so versatile,” he said.”Damien Martyn opened here (at the WACA Ground) in a one-dayer (in 2000-01 against Zimbabwe) and got a hundred and batted through the innings.”Him or (Darren) Lehmann or Ryan (Campbell) might do it himself although he has been batting down the middle order a bit but there are plenty of options but I guess the one certainty is that Hayden will be there.”

In a game interrupted twice by rain, Northern Districts defeated Otago at Carisbrook in a revised Duckworth/Lewis run chase by 90 runs.In a game which never reached any great heights, on a good pitch for batting, the highlight was a fine 98 from Matthew Hart for ND.He was backed by a fine 53 from his team-mate Joseph Yovich. They put on 120 for the fifth wicket.Winning the toss and batting, ND slumped to 77 for four wickets, but were still only in the 20th over.But led by Hart and Yovich they reach 197 before the fifth wicket fell in the 45th over.Hart faced 94 balls and hit three sixes and eight fours in his 98 and fell with two balls of the innings left. Meanwhile, Yovich had faced 80 balls in scoring his 53, only the second half century of his 41-match domestic one-day career.Shayne O’Connor with none for 39 from his 10 impressed again and has one of the better economy rates of the season at 3.96. However, Kerry Walmsley with two for 53 and James McMillan (two for 59) came in for some stick. Nathan Morland again impressed with his control and tenacity in ending with none for 41 from 10.The day which had promised 26 degrees never quite reached it but warm conditions of the type prevailing today meant that rain at some stage of the day was inevitable.Over an hour was lost and the revised total for Otago of 199 from 33 overs at 6.31 was always going to be too much for a bedraggled-looking Otago team. The original five per over was testing enough but the rain gods saw to it that a further challenge was necessary.Only Otago’s captain Craig Cumming, with 32, showed any batsmanship and the southerners failed miserably to be all out for 108.Coach Glenn Turner must be tearing at his hair as his long-awaited Indian summer which started to beckon in late-December and early-January has turned to custard.Bowling for ND, Scott Styris took three for 20 from seven overs while Yovich rounded out a good day with two for 13. Daniel Vettori had two for 17 off 6.3 overs while Daryl Tuffey and Ian Butler took a wicket each.Yet, because of the nature of the points table which has become separated by only four points between the six sides, there is still a chance that Otago could qualify for the second and third-place playoff to decide the second finalist. But it will require a significant turnaround in fortunes.

HOBART, Feb 9 AAP – Western Australia skipper Justin Langer’s bold knock set up a comfortable ING Cup victory over third-placed Tasmania, leaving his cricket team just one point behind leader Queensland.The Test opener top scored with 89 runs off 92 balls as WA cruised to victory with five wickets and 2.2 overs to spare after being set a target of 246 at Bellerive Oval.Langer’s innings included 11 fours and one six that soared over the top of the Stuart Spencer stand before he fell LBW to Dan Marsh.Tasmanian cricket officials would have been relieved to hear Langer and Tigers counterpart Jamie Cox praise the Bellerive Oval wicket.Today’s match came just four days after the Pura Cup fiasco when play between Tasmania and WA was abandoned on the second day after the umpires declared the pitch – adjacent to today’s wicket – unsafe for batsmen.An ACB investigation into that embarrassment is underway but both captains were satisfied with today’s wicket, which was last used for an ACB Cup match in January.”Today was fantastic,” Cox said.”There’s quality in there, but it certainly has to improve.”Sent in to bat, Tasmania made 7-245 from its 50 overs.Warriors paceman Callum Thorp destroyed the Tigers’ chances of a big total after openers Michael Dighton and Michael DiVenuto rattled on 92 runs off 104 balls.He made a double breakthrough by dismissing Dighton (33) and DiVenuto (54) and was on a hat-trick when he claimed the wicket of Graeme Cunningham.Playing in only his fifth one-day game for the Warriors, Thorp finished with 4-46 from his 10 overs.Batting at No.7 George Bailey top scored for the Tigers with an unbeaten 57.The home team felt the absence of leading bowler Damien Wright keenly.Wright, who is suffering a back injury and is likely to be out for the rest of the season, was replaced by fellow paceman Shane Jurgensen, who proved expensive with 0-66 from 10 overs.Langer shared an opening stand of 81 with Ryan Campbell (31) while Michael Hussey saw the Warriors home to victory with an unbeaten 65.”Wrighty was a big loss,” Cox acknowledged.”You can’t just replace one of probably the top three bowlers of the competition all that easily.”It hurt us. You know, you take two for 30 out of our bowling and it’s going to hurt any side.””It looks like he will probably miss the rest of the season.”Queensland leads the Cup table with 27 points followed by WA on 26 and Tasmania on 20.

POTCHEFSTROOM, South Africa, Feb 21 AAP – Australia’s rampaging cricketers are on the verge of a world record.Victories over Zimbabwe, Namibia and England in their next three World Cup matches will move Ricky Ponting’s men past the benchmark of 11 straight limited-overs wins achieved by the awesome West Indian teams of the mid-1980s.Australia’s hot streak, which began with a seven-run triumph over England at Hobart on January 11, has since claimed eight more victims.And there are many more in sight as the defending champions attempt to retain their prized trophy via an undefeated six-week trek through southern Africa.The Windies, boasting the likes of Vivian Richards, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Michael Holding, strung together 11 wins between June 1984 and February 1985.”I don’t think it’s out of our league, that’s for sure,” said Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden.”We are playing really good cricket and I guess now it’s just playing the big matches – Zimbabwe is a big match on their home territory.”I don’t think it’s out of our possibilities, we are playing well – we’re a great side when we’re playing with that momentum behind us.”Australia has come within a whisker of the Windies’ record twice before, falling at the 11th hurdle in May 1990 and February 2001.But it holds the record for the most consecutive one-day games without defeat: a trailblazing 14-match stretch between January and March 2000 that included a no-result when rain washed out play against New Zealand in Wellington.Hayden claimed it was too early for Australia to start thinking about an unbeaten World Cup, even though fast bowler Glenn McGrath and wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist have already spoken of the lofty ambition.”We’ve won two of the biggest matches, against India and Pakistan, straight away and we kind of saw that as the key to our campaign and we’re just gathering a lot of strength from that,” said Hayden.Meanwhile, the world’s No.1 Test and one-day batsman paid Holland’s ragged crew of slow-medium pace bowlers a huge compliment by saying the 22.4 overs he faced at North West Stadium on Thursday were the most difficult for him in years.The Dutch can’t take all the credit, though.A wet pitch and overcast conditions were more responsible for Hayden’s stuttering 33 from 59 balls than Holland’s new-ball partnership of 40-year-old Roland Lefebvre and Edgar Schiferli, whose international bowling average was left at an unflattering 190.”Personally, they were 20 of the hardest overs I’ve faced in one-day cricket for a long time,” said Hayden, who backed the appearance of minnows like Holland at the World Cup.”The ball was swinging and seaming around, they were difficult conditions.”We were obviously going to be a more talented side than Holland but you have to look at it from a developmental point of view as well.”If you jump up and down and say we can’t possibly include these kind of nations in a World Cup, their cricket never develops.”I think it’s good for the game. The Holland blokes were first in the dressing room at the end of the day’s play having a beer and trying to learn as much as they could.”Australia plays Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on Monday, Namibia at Potchefstroom on Thursday and England at Port Elizabeth on March 2.