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Alton avoided an unlucky 13 to beat Portsmouth II by 39 runs and clinch the Southern Electric Premier League, Division 3 championship.Despite being dismissed for 165 (Michael Heffernan 45), Alton got the ten points they needed to be certain of the title after spin duo Julian Ballinger (3-25) and Ben Jansen (3-26) bowled relegation-threatened Portsmouth out for 126.Ventnor are firm favourites to finish runners-up after Neil Westhorpe (83) and Lee Brown (52) guided them to 225-7 at Leckford, who were dismissed for 97 by three-wicket trio Andy Whyte, Orascio Santalucia and Fred Smith.Jamie Donaldson, with 4-34 and an undefeated 56, played a key role in Trojans’ eight-wicket win over Havant II – a result which keeps an outside promotion chance alive.Paul Douglas (3-34) weighed in as Havant made 144, while Erasmus Hendrikse (61 not out) partnered Donaldson in Trojans’ winning romp.Paul Marks produced a virtuoso performance, taking 6-56 and scoring 103 for ten-man Winchester KS against New Milton at River Park.But Steve Watts (55), Dean Miller (49) and Ben Clarke (47) scored enough runs to secure a 62-run win for New Milton.Simon Sargent (56), Duncan Park (47) and Tony Richman (45) helped weakened Paultons to 229-6 at Bashley, who suffered two batting collapses either side of a 170-partnership between Graham Pardey (83) and Brian Vibert (70).Waterlooville need to beat Alton on Saturday to avoid joining Flamingo in the Hampshire League next season.

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.

Ben Stokes reported for training on Wednesday with Alastair Cook hopeful he will be fit after a suffering a stomach illness in the build-up to the second Test in Dubai. However, Cook added that Stokes would need to be 100% fit given the oppressive conditions.Stokes was laid low on Tuesday and missed a function at the British Consulate in Dubai. A decision on whether he will play is not expected to be taken until the morning of the match.Stokes’ absence would be a significant blow for England. He took four wickets, scored a half-century, and produced a brilliant run-out of Mohammad Hafeez that helped set up England’s unlikely victory push on the final afternoon in Abu Dhabi.If he unable to play, then the spin-bowling allrounder Samit Patel is the likeliest replacement, with Cook in favour of a variety of bowling options. There is an outside chance that Patel will come into consideration anyway if the pitch looks heavily in favour of spin, but Cook indicated that this was an unlikely route.”Ben’s a concern, but everyone else has pulled up pretty well,” Cook said. “He’s had a 24-hour bug, he didn’t look very well yesterday apparently but he’s here now and we’ll see.”He should be fine, but we have to be careful – it depends how badly he has been knocked about – because five days in this heat you need to be 100% before you start. We’ll play it by ear and make a decision tomorrow morning.”If Stokes recovers England are set to name an unchanged XI after coming within 25 runs of victory in the first Test in Abu Dhabi.”I haven’t seen the pitch yet, whether it’s a three-spinner wicket here,” Cook said. “We have to have a look at that option but my gut is we’ll stay the same.”Fielding six bowlers – four quicks and two spinners, even before Joe Root is factored in – has given Cook a host of options and meant that none of the fast bowlers had to be over-bowled in the heat.Pakistan, meanwhile, will welcome back legspinner Yasir Shah who went through a full session of batting, bowling and fielding after suffering a back spasm on the eve of the first Test. However, they will again be without Azhar Ali who has returned to Pakistan after the death of his mother-in-law. It means that Shan Masood, who failed twice in Abu Dhabi, is likely to be retained.

Karun Nair’s 52-ball 111 helped Karnataka flatten Tamil Nadu by 78 runs in Vizianagaram to hand them their first loss in the South Zone group. Nair’s maiden T20 hundred came a day after his 42-ball 77 powered Karnataka to a controversial two-run win over Hyderabad.After Tamil Nadu elected to bowl, Karnataka lost opener Mayank Agarwal and No. 3 K Gowtham with only 14 runs on the board. But, Nair raised 83 runs in 47 balls in the company of R Samarth (19) and revved up the innings. Nair was the one-man hit machine for Karnataka, with only two of his team-mates reaching double figures. Seamer Athisayaraj Davidson ran through the lower order to finish with 5 for 30 even as Karnataka finished with 179 for 9.Tamil Nadu’s innings never took off as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Only Washington Sundar, opening the batting, made a handy contribution with a 26-ball 34 that included three fours and a six. Legspinner Praveen Dubey finished with an economical 4 for 19 from 3.3 overs.An all-round bowling effort helped Delhi restrict Jammu & Kashmir to 100 for 9 and complete an eight-wicket win with 8.3 overs to spare at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Opting to bowl, Delhi’s seamers removed openers Ahmed Bandy and Jatin Wadhwan with the score on 0. While captain Parvez Rasool struck a 26-ball 37 and tried to stem the rot, his dismissal in the 15th over led to slide for J&K. Delhi captain Pradeep Sangwan (2 for 16) and Navdeep Saini (2 for 14) chipped away at the top order, before left-arm spinner Pawan Negi picked up three wickets in the middle order.There was hardly any hiccup in Delhi’s chase as openers Rishabh Pant and Sarthak Ranjan raised a 77-run stand in only 8.3 overs. While Pant smashed a 33-ball 51 with seven fours and two sixes, Ranjan, a controversial selection, struck 31 off 20 balls.

Garnett Kruger, the South Africa and Lions opening bowler, has been found guilty of breaching Cricket South Africa’s Code of Conduct and has been suspended for one SuperSport Series match.The disciplinary action arose from statements made by Kruger in newspaper on September 7, under the headline: “Proteas are being run by a clique”. In addition, Kruger made other comments on SuperSport’s television program on October 3 which were considered to breach the Code of Conduct.In amrecent interview with Graeme Smith denied there was any clique operating in the game. “I do find it ironic that people have accused me of not consulting the senior players and being a dictator. Then, when I do consult them a lot, I’m accused of having a clique!”But I know I haven’t always got the balance right and I am determined to spend more time with each player and not so much with one group, even if they are close friends. And I’ll do that because I want to, not because I have to.”Kruger pleaded guilty to the charges will miss the Lions’ match against the Cape Cobras on November 8.

India are in deep trouble. They did too many things wrong at Newlands: batting, bowling or fielding. If the opposition cannot be put away from a position in which India was in, then the hopes recede faster than the sum in your wallet in a club. This spells big time trouble.Sure, the lost chances in the field would be mulled over for long. Justin Kemp included, there were as many as three lives afforded to key South African batsmen. This is not just your ability with bat and ball failing you in testing conditions: it is a major negation of even ordinary skills which most of us cricketers possess at all times. There are too many pieces on the floor for India to pick up and rearrange in the thick of battle. The wind is too strong and the foothold too skewed, I am afraid.You can meet as many times as you want in the hotel; have as many meetings as you could possibly squeeze in; study as much video analysis as you humanly could; hold up coach or captain for your ills but the basic surge has got to come from the men in the squad. It is they who form the muscles, sinews, bones, everything of a team’s form. There simply are too many failures for any single individual to be held responsible. The buck stops with them.I have spoken to a few distinguished old-timers of Indian cricket in recent days and most of them are unanimous that there are not enough good core of talented cricketers in the land. They all speak of a core group of 15-18 cricketers and then the list runs out. It is thus a difficult choice for selectors: whether to lay off those who are not measuring up and replace them with some little known names.Wholesale replacements have never been the answer. I know fans and media back home are unforgiving and it is big-time trouble leading up to the World Cup but pulling these men out of the fray at this juncture is not going to help. Every time I speak in support of the visitors, the voice sounds shriller and lost in the din of criticism but I still feel this Indian team can turn things around. They can work on the South African batting and build on the advantage which they have over the top order.In both games, India have been good with the new ball and have made early inroads. They would like to believe that they have got the measure of the home captain and a few other batters in the line-up. It is a good starting point, the window of light, which should offer them energy and hope. They must push on from this basic premise, gather forces at this cape of reasonable stability. Otherwise, such defeats would have a knock-on effect on Tests as well.They could also look to scratch at the disquiet in the home camp over team selection prior to the Newlands game and see if the hurt runs deeper than a mere matter of Andre Nel’s exclusion. I am not sure if it was annoyance before the game which cost Graeme Smith his wicket but he sure had smoke coming out of his ears. The home top order, Smith including, was once again exposed and looked vulnerable. They sure have work to do.The return of Anil Kumble to the one-day bowling crease was in line with expectations: he was miserly and in complete control during his 10 overs. That he came at No. 11 and looked laboured in the outfield is a concern which must take the backseat for now.India must look to maximise its potential rather than look at the perfect picture. They have to draw on every ounce of their positive strengths if they are to be counted on this tour.

Scorecard

Michael Clarke posted his maiden first-class double century as he staged a dramatic push for a swift return to the national team at the SCG. Dropped a week ago, Clarke added a further 94 runs today against a Queensland attack including the internationals Andy Bichel and Michael Kasprowicz to give New South Wales an outside chance of victory in the rain-affected match.Despite giving up Lachlan Stevens and Martin Love to be 2 for 28 before tea, Queensland held on to reach 4 for 162 at stumps and secured a draw, although the Blues collected two first-innings points. However, the main talking point was again Clarke’s batting and whether it would gain him a spot in the middle order for Australia’s first Test against South Africa starting on December 16. He did not offer a chance in his 201 from 282 deliveries and celebrated the milestone in the final over before lunch, when the Blues declared at 7 for 488.Jimmy Maher had 60 when he found Clarke off Stuart Clark, who also removed Martin Love, but Craig Philipson and Ashley Noffke diffused the danger for Queensland and lasted until stumps. An outright result was an unlikely prospect once rain washed out the second day, but New South Wales stayed on top of the table with 20 points while the Bulls dropped to fourth.

As the day wore on, you wondered whether it would have made the slightest bit of difference if right-wing vandals – who desecrated the Wankhede Stadium pitch in 1999 to kill off hopes of an India-Pakistan Test being played there – and their pickaxes had been given the freedom to vent their frustrations on this surface. You also questioned the curator’s assertion that this was a new pitch, and not some drop-in turf of 1939 Timeless-Test vintage specially flown in from Durban.On a surface that carried all the threat of a fluffy pillow, India’s bowlers toiled with patently unspectacular results. Murali Kartik didn’t bowl all morning, and Anil Kumble resorted to coming from round the wicket in a bid to perplex rather than attack, while Harbhajan Singh let off steam by slamming the ball into the ground after a fumble in the outfield, and sarcastically clapping his first wicket.The batsmen showed little initiative save for the middle session, and the engrossing tussles that lit up the recent series against Australia were conspicuously absent. Then, faced by batsmen who were brimful of confidence and brio, all three spinners thrived, when they weren’t being hammered. Here, faced with the cricketing equivalent of ten men behind the ball, India had neither the creativity nor the explosive power to break through.South Africa’s batsmen don’t deserve criticism, though. Rank outsiders when they first arrived, they have fulfilled their aim of consolidating first before attempting to realise loftier ambitions. But as they plodded along, an enthusiastic holiday crowd was reduced to cheering Sachin Tendulkar’s pick-up-and-throws from the fine-leg fence, and breaking out into arbitrary Mexican Waves that hinted at signs of life that the game had long since lost.If the Gabba in Brisbane is the pitch with something for everyone, then this Green Park special can surely be nominated in the nothing-for-anyone category. This was among ten pitches relaid under the supervision of experts from New Zealand a couple of years ago. If the snooze-fests against New Zealand at Mohali and Ahmedabad last year and this Test are any indication, someone needs to take a long hard look at the experts’ qualifications. If those are above board, then one can only conclude that the gulf between intention and execution is as wide as the Bering Strait.Andrew Hall, whose laborious 454-ball vigil for 163 couldn’t quite displace Mudassar Nazar – cricket’s Tortoise King managed 114 from 449 balls and 591 minutes against England at Lahore in 1977-78 – from the top step of the slow-scoring Hall of Fame, was one of two men likely to keep sepia-tinted images of today’s play. He reined in his natural aggression to outdo Jackie McGlew, who had been as adhesive as his name suggests during an somnolent 105 that spanned 575 minutes at Durban in 1957-58 – 13 minutes fewer than Hall was at the crease.Like Hall, Zander de Bruyn was infinitely patient and impressively composed. With nearly ten years of first-class cricket behind him, he showcased the form that fetched him 1048 runs at 65.5 in the last domestic season. Offering as he does a seam-bowling option, the 29-year-old de Bruyn could well be the workhorse allrounder that South Africa have lacked since Brian McMillan – he of the bucket hands at slip – exited Test cricket in 1998.For Green Park’s old-timers, Hall’s effort was still more entertaining than ML Jaisimha’s 505-minute crawl to 99 in 1960-61. While McGlew, a man who liked to play his strokes, had been under orders from selectors, Jaisimha’s steps were paralysed by the fear of losing to Pakistan. That same trepidation contributed to the wretched 58 (300 minutes, 252 balls) made by Rizwan-uz-Zaman, plodder supreme, at Ahmedabad in a match otherwise remembered for Sunil Gavaskar’s 10,000th run.There will be some rose-tinted spectacles that look back and view such encounters as intriguing games of cat-and-mouse. But for those unfortunate enough to have to pay for the privilege of parking their bums on seats – Pakistan managed a munificent 110 runs in the day during Rizwan’s magnum opus – it can’t be much fun, not when both cat and mouse appear to have been sedated on a pitch fit only for sticks of dynamite.

Yesterday’s round-upFrizzell County Championship Division Two
TableDerbyshire 361 for 5 dec and 204 for 7 drew with Durham 501 for 8 and 110 for 2 dec at Derby
Scorecard
Derbyshire avoided an eighth consecutive County Championship defeat, but only thanks to a spate of dropped catches by Durham’s fielders, as a rain-affected match at Derby reached an unexpectedly gripping finale. After some negotiations between the captains, Derbyshire were set a target of 251 in 55 overs, and they were quickly reduced to 15 for 2 by Neil Killeen and Liam Plunkett. But Steve Selwood, who was dropped on 6, 46, and 63, dug in for an important 88. He was one of three late wickets that fell to revive Durham’s hopes, but Derbyshire held firm.Division One – Day 3 of 4 Nottinghamshire 289 for 7 trail Sussex 497 for 6 dec by 208 runs at Trent Bridge
Scorecard
Robin Martin-Jenkins struck an unbeaten 121 from 128 balls to put Sussex in control in their County Championship clash against Nottinghamshire, but Kevin Pietersen retaliated with 138 not out to repel a rampant James Kirtley, who had taken three early wickets. With both sides eager to make up for a washout on the first day, the tempo was brisk, and when Chris Cairns and Chris Read fell in quick succession, Nottinghamshire were 140 for 6 and facing catastrophe. But Pietersen found an ally in Paul Franks, who helped add 114 for the seventh wicket.

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.”