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Rain foreshortened the fourth day of the five-day game between South Africa and India at Centurion on Monday, raising the possibility that this contentious match – and the 2001 tour by India – could reach a soggy finale on Tuesday. In the circumstances, it is difficult to think of a more appropriate conclusion to one of international cricket’s most unhappy episodes.When the drizzle of the early afternoon hardened into rain around tea time, India were 118 for two in their second innings. South Africa had declared before the start of play at the overnight 566 for eight, leaving the touring side to score 334 to avoid an innings defeat. Depending on the weather – and widespread rain over southern African is forecast for Tuesday – India may well save this match. How much honour is salvaged from this affair, however, is entirely another question.In all India batted for 46 overs on the fourth day. On a pitch that has flattened out nicely for batting and with the South Africans struggling to find a consistent line, Shiv Das and Connor Williams were able to build a first-wicket stand that eventually yielded 92.They were unable, however, to take it through to lunch after an extended morning session with Williams eventually falling to Lance Klusener as Jacques Kallis held a waist-high catch at second slip. Williams made 42, the chief significance of which is that he finally reached double figures on South African soil after arriving in the country ahead of the first Test a month ago.Williams was down to play in the matches against the President’s XI and a South African A team, both of which were abandoned without a ball bowled, and made 5 in the Indian first innings. That he had a bat at all in what is currently not a Test match will, no doubt, intrigue collectors of cricket trivia in the year to come.India took lunch at 104 for one and returned for 25 minutes before the first break for drizzle. The players returned after 50 minutes, played out another 11 overs – during which time Das was bowled by Shaun Pollock for 48 as the South African captain came in off five paces – and that was it for the day.For India, there was one more bit of bad news. Fast bowler Javagal Srinath, struck on the left hand while batting in the first innings, has a broken finger and will be out of action until December 6. He will miss the first Test against England in Mohali as a result.

Scorecard
A spirited performance from England Lions’ gave them the edge going into the final day of their match against Central Zone. Chasing a stiff 296 for victory, they reached a confident 146 for 1 by stumps in Vadodara.Joe Denly was the only Lions’ wicket to fall, trapped in front by left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta for 15. Michael Carberry and captain Michael Yardy then forged an unbroken 116-run stand for the second wicket to lead the Lions’ pursuit. Needing to score the highest total of the match to win, Carberry and Yardy both played patient knocks to ensure there was no repeat of the second day’s batting collapse. Carberry, who made 35 in the first innings, didn’t throw away his start this time, finishing on an unbeaten 71, including 12 fours and a six. The experienced Yardy had reached 57 by stumps.Central had started the day in control after gaining a 115-run first-innings lead but were kept down to a moderate 180 in their second. With a top-order collapse seeing them at a parlous 39 for 4, Mohammad Kaif, the captain, tried to salvage the situation, top scoring with 42. The tail also resisted with a 60-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Jalaj Saxena (27) and Sanjib Sanyal (37).All the Lions’ bowlers chipped in, with Graham Onions being the most successful, taking three wickets. Monty Panesar was expensive but got the big wicket of the in-form Kaif while legspinner Adil Rashid made short work of the last two wickets.

Ireland have announced a squad of 13 for their opening fixture in the Friends Provident Trophy against Nottinghamshire at Clontarf this Sunday (April 27).As expected, William Porterfield has been confirmed as captain for the game, taking over from Trent Johnston. Nineteen-year-old James Hall makes his first appearance in the squad, while 17-year-old opener Paul Stirling retains his place, giving the line up a youthful look.Ireland haven’t named an overseas player for the match, and coach Phil Simmons explained: “It’s been difficult to get the right player because of the IPL. I hope however to be in a position to confirm a signing on Tuesday, and he will be available for the seven other games in the competition.”It’s hard when you lose players of the calibre of Trent Johnston and Dave Langford-Smith, but it does give some of the other players a chance to make a name for themselves, and cement a place in the team. It’s a new era, and captain, William Porterfield will be able to assert his style on the team.”Ireland squad William Porterfield (capt), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Phil Eaglestone, Thinus Fourie, James Hall, Gary Kidd, Kyle McCallan, Kevin O’Brien, Paul Stirling, Reinhardt Strydom, Andrew White, Gary Wilson.

In a well contested game, Gujarat defeated Saurashtra by 24 runs inthe West Zone Ranji Trophy one day match at the GSFC ground in Barodaon Friday.Put in to bat, Gujarat thanks to valuable knocks by opener AmrishKotecha (42), Kiran Damani (45) and Bhavin Mehta (38) scored 218before being all out in 49.4 overs. Wickets fell at regular intervalsthanks in the main to some good bowling by Niraj Odedra who took fourfor 50 off ten overs.Saurashtra started well and were 55 for one in the 14th over. ButLalit Patel and Tejas Varsani caused a collapse and Saurashtra were107 for six. A seventh wicket partnership of 64 runs off 11.4 oversbetween Hitesh Parsana (39) and Sudip Mehta (42) revived Saurashtra’shopes but the late order succumbed meekly and Saurashtra were all outfor 194 in 47 overs. Lalit Patel (3 for 35 off ten overs) and Varsani(2 for 26 off nine overs) caused the main damage.

Shaun Udal has been banned from playing league cricket for Camberley, his club side, for three years after being found guilty of “physical violence on and threats to an opposition player.” Udal, who played ten ODIs for England in the 1990s, turned out for Camberley in the Surrey Championship when his county commitments with Hampshire allowed.The incident which led to the ban occurred when Camberley played Cranleigh at the end of July, and an altercation took place between Udal and Cranleigh’s Australian legspinner Alex Wyatt. Udal, who was batting at the time, and Wyatt exchanged comments and witnesses said that an altercation followed and contact was made between the pair who had to be separated by members of the fielding side.”It does take a lot to get me riled,” Udal said after the league hearing had imposed the severe punishment. “When I was batting, one of the opposition players severely insulted one of my team-mates, who has a disability. A minor fracas took place with a bit of pushing and shoving but there was no fighting and certainly no punches were thrown. Sadly, the umpires didn’t step in, which is rather symptomatic of the weak officiating that can exist in club cricket. But the other player and I had a beer in the clubhouse afterwards and said our apologies.”I accepted there might be some repercussions but I am not going to lose any sleep over the punishment. The disciplinary committee presumably decided they wanted to make an example of me and that is precisely what they have done.”Although Udal is generally regarded as a mild-mannered character, it is not the first time that he has been in trouble while playing for Camberley. In 1996 he was banned for the rest of the season following an alleged assault on an opponent after a match.

Australia have announced their 13-man squad for the final Test against India at Sydney. As expected, Steve Waugh gets a chance to bid farewell to Test cricket at his home ground. Jason Gillespie returns to the squad, while the 12 who did duty at Melbourne retain their places.Gillespie suffered a groin strain in the course of the second Test at Adelaide and was forced to sit out at Melbourne. His selection to the squad, which would be pruned down to 12 men in the lead up to January 2, is subject to a fitness test. Although rested, Gillespie travelled with the Australian team to Melbourne, and was monitored closely by team medical staff. Erroll Alcott, the Australian team’s physiotherapist, said, “Jason has undertaken a thorough rehabilitation program since suffering the injury in Adelaide and his progress is certainly encouraging. He has bowled off a full run a number of times now, and despite not showing any signs of pain, he will remain under daily review up until the Sydney Test.”Squad 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Justin Langer, 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Steve Waugh (capt), 6 Simon Katich, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brett Lee, 9 Brad Williams, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Stuart MacGill, 12 Andy Bichel, 13 Jason Gillespie.

The KwaZulu-Natal allrounders Lance Klusener and Jon Kent have both been suspended for one match for dissent. They have been barred from playing the SuperSport Series Super Six match against Border which begins on March 19, after they were found guilty of dissent during KwaZulu-Natal’s recent match against Western Province.In addition, Kent was found to have contravened rule 1.4 of the South African Board’s code of conduct, which states that “participants shall not use crude or abusive language nor make offensive gestures to any other participant, official or the spectators”.Klusener and Kent have been given the right to appeal against the sentence.

Anil Kumble had to wait for 69 deliveries this afternoon before he left behind Kapil Dev as India’s leading wicket-taker in Tests. And fittingly, it was one of those quicker balls, with which he has caused so much damage down the years, that trapped Mohammad Rafique in front of the stumps.Since making his debut at Old Trafford in 1990, Kumble has spent most of his career ploughing a lone furrow. Kapil Dev was around for the first couple of years, and his Karnataka mate, Javagal Srinath, offered sterling service before the rigours of bowling fast caught up with him. The spin-support cast changed often, with the likes of Venkatapathy Raju and Rajesh Chauhan making way for Sunil Joshi, and then Harbhajan Singh.Through it all, Kumble moved serenely on, enhancing his repertoire, and making fools of those who unthinkingly labelled him a dustbowl bully. His greatest vindication came in Australia last winter, when he scalped 24 wickets in three Tests against one of the greatest teams that cricket has ever seen. He followed that up with 15 wickets in Pakistan (three Tests), 27 in the home series against Australia (four matches) and 10 against South Africa (two Tests). The light may be fading, but Anil Kumble seems determined to go out in a blaze of glory.

Sharad Pawar, the president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association, will stand for the post of president of the BCCI in the elections on September 29. Pawar was nominated from Punjab on Saturday.Considering the rotational policy of the BCCI with regard to the presidential elections, it was the turn of states in the North Zone to nominate their candidates. Those selected is usually from the area itself – Pawar, of course, is a West Zone man.There is a precedent for such zone-hopping, though – in 1993, IS Bindra, a resident of Chandigarh in North India, was elected from the West Zone, and in 1990, Madhavrao Scindia, who is from Madhya Pradesh in Central India, was elected from the North Zone.Speaking to , GS Walia, the treasurer of the Punjab Cricket Association, said: “Since the situation was fluid and no one from the North was coming forth to fight the elections we decided to nominate Pawar to attend the meeting from our side.”

Shane Watson, the Queensland allrounder, has been confirmed as Hampshire’s overseas player for the Twenty20 Cup. It will be Watson’s second spell with the club and during his previous stint he helped them win the 2005 Friends Provident Trophy.Watson is one of the players up for the second Indian Premier League auction on Tuesday, but that won’t impact on his Hampshire stay which will commence after the tournament in India has finished in early June.”[Shane] was an instant hit with members and fans of Hampshire when he was here in 2004 and I, for one, am very excited at the prospect of seeing him here again this summer,” Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, said. “It is fair to say that we have under-performed in the Twenty20 Cup so far, and we have been saying for a while that 2008 will see us focusing more and more on this exciting competition.”Our signing of such a fantastic talent as Watson shows our clear intent to compete hard to be in the finals day that we are so proudly hosting in July.”Watson has been through another injury-hit domestic season in Australia as he continued to struggle with hamstring problems and he hasn’t played international cricket since the ICC World Twenty20. In seven Pura Cup matches he finished with 439 runs at 33.76 and a top score of 190, although he managed just nine wickets.He is currently one of three overseas players on Hampshire’s books although Shane Warne, their captain, won’t be available until the latter part of the season due to his IPL and poker commitments.Shane Bond was signed for the first two months of the season but his participation is now in major doubt after he joined the Indian Cricket League. He is unlikely to gain the required No Obligation Certificate which will allow him to play.