Although the expected test of the MLC teams did not materialize at the California Cup, the tournament itself provided some enjoyable cricket after an unseasonably rainy start. Southern California easily retained the Cup with decisive victories over the North Texas and Northern California Cricket Associations (NTCA and NCCA).As it turned out, the MLC Texas team did not make an appearance at the Cup, although its appearance had been widely anticipated. The majority of the MLC Texas team were from Houston, and prior commitments kept them from participating in the tournament as a team. Instead, the North Texas Cricket Association (NTCA) ended up representing Texas–in itself, it was a strong league but only three of its players had participated in the MLC Interstate tournament. The Northwest Cricket League (NWCL) had played in the MLC Interstate tournament, but the California Cup was California’s show and remained that way.Because the first day of the tournament had been a washout, the remaining two days saw SCCA take on NWCL, while NCCA squared off against NTCA. Both California teams won on the second day, SCCA by a decisive margin and NCCA also with a decisive victory. This set things up for the final day as a match-up between the two California teams for the top spots, while the non-California teams fought it out for the third and fourth spots. Once again, the host team re-asserted its superiority with an emphatic victory, but the non-California joust was a squeaker with the fewest of runs separating the two teams. It was perhaps the most exciting match of the tournament, even though it did not count towards the final standings.The California Cup proved that Southern California remains the stronghold of cricket in Western USA, although other Western leagues are mounting good challenges to its predominance. If a full schedule of matches had been played, this might have been more evident; as it was, there were good performances by players from all the other teams, and they have nothing to be ashamed of.According to the reports published on the SCCA Web site, the batting of Captain Aditya Thyagarajan and the bowling of former West Indian International Franklyn Rose proved too strong for the competition. Aditya scored two impressive knocks of 95 and 62, while Rose blew away the opposition with some hostile pace bowling capturing six wickets at an average of less than 9.Former Pakistan captain and wicketkeeper Rashid Latif, who is on a month-long fund-raising trip on behalf of Islamic Relief for earthquake victims in South Asia, visited Woodley to watch the SCCA stars in action. SCCA President, Mr. Veman Reddy presented Rashid with a plaque commemorating his first visit to Woodley, and also presented the SCCA team the winners trophy. Aditya Thyagarajan was declared man of the tournament for his outstanding performance with the bat.Tournament Scorecards
SCCA 226 (47.4 overs – A. Thyagaranjan 95*, R. Zia 33, F. Rose 33, A. Rajp 20, Z. Bilal 3-46, M.Gautham 2-28, S. Vinod 2-28).
North Texas 158 (40.4 0vers – B. Zahid 33 in 23 balls, K. Patel 16 in 19 balls, A. Thyagarajan 2-11, F. Rose 2-29, Nisarg Patel 2-30). SCCA won by 68 runs.NWCL 192 (S.Srikanth 33, R,Ganeshan 40, N. Panchal 25, V.Beniwal 23, M. Dave 23, A.Z.Shah 3-30, S. Ganesh 3-30, A. Fahad 2-30)
NCCA 193.5 (46.2 overs – Chandrapattu 90, S. Gunawardena 45, J. Kashadikar 26). NCCA won by 5 wickets.NTCA 216 (50 0vers – V Shankar 53, A Vittala 39, R Rao 28, G Morab 23, K Patel 20, B.Chalise 2-22, Shital 2-32, Nikhil 2-42, V. Beniwal 2-50)
NWCL was set to make 202 in 48.4 overs, made target in 42.4 overs (Mehul Dave 69, Sanjay Rana 51, S. Srikanth 30, V. Shankar 3-43). This should have ensured NWCL the victory, but they were still recorded as losing by 14 runs. The match was close, inconclusive, and disputedSCCA 238 for 7 (50 0vers – A Thagarajan 62, T Bhommireddy 50, Abhishek Owar 57, Mrunal Patel 20,S. Ganesh 2-31)
NCCA 174 in 48 overs (U Kelkar 26, Jay 25, S Chandrapatlu 90, Nauman Mustafa 25, S.Gunawardhane 37) SCCA won by 64 runs.

Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka’s champion offspinner, says he hopes make his mark on what could turn out to be his last Test series in England.”It could be the last tour for me – we may not be back until 2009 or 2010,” he said. “How long my career will last I don’t know, so I have to make it a memorable tour. I hope I can play for another three years – there is still a long way to go. I’ll see after the World Cup how things go.”With 611 Test wickets to his name, Muralitharan, 34, refused to comment on how much further he could take that haul. “It’s very hard to get 1,000 wickets – it could happen or it could not,” he said. “If I play another five years then definitely I suppose I could take another 300 wickets. But I’d be 39 years old by then.”On his performance against Derbyshire yesterday – he took three wicket as the hosts were bowled out for 219 – Muralitharan said he was pleased and hoped it put him in good shape for next month’s first Test at Lords’s. “It’s a big challenge – three Tests I hope to take a few wickets in and go away with happy memories,” he said. “I’m very happy. I bowled well – it was a very slow wicket. I thought it was slow when I played before here, but this was the slowest. I bowled about 28 overs and I’m happy with how I’ve done. I’m just trying to make use of it for practice for the Lord’s Test.”Muralitharan, one of the most controversial cricketers of the modern age, said he was comfortably satisfied with the tests taken on his action. “I’ve done all the tests you can do, and everything has come back fine – so there is nothing to prove any more,” he said. “It doesn’t affect me any more.”Sri Lanka play three Tests and five one-day internationals against England.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has dismissed media reports that it was unhappy with Sunil Gavaskar and was planning to challenge his role as ICC’s head of Cricket Committee as “rubbish and baseless”.”We are neither making any report nor intend to make any report against Sunil Gavaskar. We respect and accept his decisions,” Abbas Zaidi, the PCB’s director board operations, told PTI from Lahore.The PCB was said to be very unhappy with the influence Gavaskar has over decisions, and this week’s appointment of Javagal Srinath as an ICC match referee ahead of any of the four individuals it nominated appears to have been the final straw. Pakistan’s rejected nominees were Colonel Naushad Ali, Talat Ali, Pervez Sajjad and Hasan Jameel.”It’s no secret that Pakistan is not very satisfied with the working of the former Indian captain as head of the committee playing and they feel the time has come now for a change at the head of this committee,” a PCB source was quoted as saying by The News.But Zaidi reiterated that the PCB doesn’t make these sorts of irresponsible statements. “These may be the views of one or two people, I don’t know, but the PCB has got nothing to do with these statements. We are an affiliated unit of the ICC and if we have any problems, we now how to address them. We don’t believe in issuing statements or maligning any office-bearer of the ICC, particularly of the stature of Gavaskar.”

Cricket Australia has apologised for the delays in its ticketing scheme that left thousands of dedicated supporters without seats. The race for spots in the Australian Cricket Family allocation has sold out the first three days in every Test venue except Melbourne, which at 4pm still had about 1000 spaces for Boxing Day.Sydney, Adelaide and Perth will be full houses for the opening four days as more than 280,000 tickets have been snapped up. About 3500 day-four tickets are available for the first Test at the Gabba, and another 2100 for each day are due to go on general release from June 19. The initial sale has been swamped by users who have complained of problems accessing the ticket companies’ websites and telephone operators that were set up to cater for the 128,500 members of the priority system.Scalpers have also cashed in by immediately placing their buys on eBay for prices thousands of dollars more than their retail value. “Scalpers using eBay are a disgraceful insult to normal, loyal cricket fans who should have access to these tickets at face value,” James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s CEO, said. Organisers have told people purchasing black market tickets to beware and say they have asked experts about tracking the passes.Cricket Australia has been criticised by members of its “family” for not ensuring easy acess for buyers. A Cricket Australia spokesman said ticket agencies had been working at full capacity to cope with the high demand. “There have been delays during the ticket sales process for which we apologise,” he said, “and Cricket Australia thanks Australian Cricket Family members for their patience and perseverance.” The spokesman said tickets were available for most ODIs, including the game at the SCG between Australia and New Zealand, and there were large vacancies for days two to four at the MCG.Emma McCracken, the Ticketmaster spokeswoman in Sydney, said the company expected the demand and despite repeated busy messages – the company one and server error notices – she was convinced the system never crashed. “Both the Ticketmaster website and phones performed exceptionally,” she said. Thousands of cricket fans disagree.

Amit Varma and S Rajesh discuss the third day of the Jamaica Test
Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”; 1.6 mb
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA
Audio length: 6.38 minsA series win outside the subcontinent has been India’s Holy Grail for the last few years, and they finally sealed one at Jamaica – their first after the win against England in 1986, if one discounts the win against Zimbabwe last year. Amit Varma and S Rajesh discuss the importance of this win, as well as the gains both sides have taken from this tour. Listen in.Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”; 1.6 mb
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA

The fate of the Unitech Cup – a triangular tournament involving Sri Lanka, South Africa and India – remained uncertain after a bomb blast in central Colombo killed seven and injured 17 this afternoon despite an assurance of “maximum security” from the Sri Lankan board.As things stand, the series is still on, with Sri Lanka and South Africa playing on Tuesday, the reserve day, after their opening encounter was washed out owing to torrential rain. Inclement weather remained a concern but player security was the priority.Gordon Templeton, the South African team’s media manager, had this to say to Cricinfo: “Our cricket board is in consulation with the consulate here and also our security firm. They will come to a decision based on that.”When asked if that meant South Africa would not wait for the 10am meeting scheduled for tomorrow, he said: “The decision will be taken by the board,and it may happen before that meeting.”However, the Indian board has categorically stated that there is no question of their pulling out. Sharad Pawar, the president of the board, said it’s the host nation that has to take the decision on such matters. As things stand, it is likely that India and Sri Lanka will contest a bilateral series in South Africa’s absence. Lalit Modi, the vice-president of the BCCI, told Cricinfo: “What South Africa decide is their business. Let us not speculate. Let us wait for the facts and then decide. The series is on and we haven’t heard anything to the contrary.”Sri Lankan cricket officials and security experts assured both the Indian and South African team managements that the bomb blast was a one-off, and that security for both teams would be further beefed up. The blast, allegedly triggered by a Claymore mine, took place shortly after noon, near the popular Liberty Plaza shopping mall in the heart of the city. less than 2km from the Cinnamon hotel where the South Africans are staying, and just over 3km from the Taj Samudra, which is housing the Indians.”We are pretty worried,” said Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, “they tried to explain how a cricket event or the teams were least likely to be targetted. But this was quite close to home. It’s fair to say that if we hadn’t been playing today, a lot of our boys might have been over at Liberty Plaza.” This was the second blast in the the city in less than ten days.Arthur was present at a meeting organised by Duleep Mendis, the chief executive officer of Sri Lanka Cricket, with coaches and managers of the three participating teams. He assured maximum security to the three teams and communicated to them the board’s decision to go ahead with the tournament.Arthur said that the Sri Lankan officials had done their best to allay the team’s fears but admitted that the players were tense. “The situation seems to be getting worse too, if you watch the news and read the papers. We saw today that a truck full of explosives had been stopped just outside of Colombo.”Meanwhile, Rajan Nair, India’s media manager, said that a further meeting was planned for tomorrow morning, and that the Indian team was protected by three layers of security at their hotel. When asked if the prospect of a blast en route to the ground – Liberty Plaza in on the way to the SSC where India were scheduled to practise this afternoon – didn’t worry the players, he said: “Sri Lankan security officials are responsible for safety when we are travelling, and they have assured us that nothing untoward will happen.”

The $5 million winner-takes-all Stanford 20/20 SuperStar game between West Indies and South Africa due to be played on November 10 has been cancelled.The decision was made almost inevitable once the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) refused to amend the itinerary for the forthcoming West Indies tour to allow leading players to take part in the Stanford match.”To say I am disappointed is an understatement,” admitted Allen Stanford, the Texas-based millionaire who is the main organiser behind Stanford 20/20. “We are frustrated at the turn of events, especially in light of the fact that the date for the Stanford Super Star Match was approved by both the WICB and the ICC from January 2006. However, we have always said that we would not do anything which conflicts with, or compromises West Indies cricket and so we have decided that it is in the best interest of everyone involved, especially the players, that we cancel the Super Star Match.”Perhaps the most disappointing fact about the cancellation is that the West Indies tour to Pakistan was not finalised until August, more than two months after the agreement with South Africa for the November match was confirmed. The West Indies board informed Stanford that an application had been submitted to the PCB to delay the start of the tour so that the conflict could be resolved. The PCB was unable to accommodate the request.In a last ditch effort to salvage the match, Stanford asked if the WICB could provide the names of those players that would be on the team to Pakistan so that a side could be selected out of those not going on the tour, but a spokesman for Stanford said this was also “not accommodated by the WICB leaving no alternative but cancellation”.Some of the players training at the Super Star team camp would be a natural choice for the Pakistan tour. “We did not want to put these players in a position where they would have to choose between our event and playing for the West Indies,” explained Stanford. “This would be unfair to them, and one of our goals has always been to foster the positive and successful development of our athletes.”The Super Star camp began in Antigua on August 23 and yesterday Stanford himself gave the news to the players via teleconference. “I am very, very hurt and disappointed,” said Pedro Collins. “I wish that things like this could be resolved amicably in future. Playing against South Africa would have been a great opportunity for the young players to establish themselves in world cricket.”The Stanford 20/20 board will meet on Monday in Antigua where the future of the Stanford 20/20 programme will be discussed.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

At Johannesburg in March earlier this year, Mark Boucher provided the finishing touches to South Africa’s epic chase of 434 against Australia. Today, however, he was their chief destroyer as they stacked up more than 400 for the second time in four matches and swept the series 3-0. Zimbabwe were beaten to their knees by a brutal display of power that began with the openers Loots Bosman and Alviro Petersen before Boucher shot from the hip and reached his first one-day century in his 220th match.The contest effectively ended after the first innings. At no stage did Zimbabwe make any attempt to get near the target although, to their credit, they did bat solidly. Terry Duffin led the resistance with a defiant 88 and ensured that Zimbabwe put in a commendable performance. He was ably supported by Chamu Chibhabha and Hamilton Masakadza, with whom he added 94 and 102 for the second and third wickets. Zimbabwe finished with 247 for 4, thier highest total of the series but it was after the proverbial horse had bolted.After chasing targets to win their previous two matches, Jacques Kallis had no hesitation in batting first when he won the toss for the first time in the series. South Africa wanted batting practice; instead Zimbabwe’s bowlers gave them hitting practice. Ed Rainsford and Tawanda Mupariwa paid the price for spraying it liberally and the support cast of Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, and the usually parsimonious Prosper Utseya were hapless as South Africa ran riot. The pitch was as flat as a tarmac and Zimbabwe’s shoddy fielding – Boucher was dropped on 7, 59, 105, 123, 140 and 144 – only added to their misery.Earlier Bosman and Petersen had added 160 off 126 balls for the first wicket but by the time Boucher was done, that partnership was put firmly in the shade. Sixes rained from Boucher’s bat as Zimbabwe’s boundary riders became full-time ball-boys. His third six – there were ten in all – brought up his fifty off just 26 balls and he needed only 18 more more to cudgel the fastest century by a South African and the second fastest after Shahid Afridi. Boucher formed the mainstay of a 91-run partnership, off 61 balls, with Kallis for the third wicket and left an indelible mark on Chibhabha whom he clouted for 26 runs in an over.To put Zimbabwe’s bowling effort in perspective – they bowled only five dot balls in Boucher’s innings, and when he offered one of umpteen catches, Brendan Taylor was heard pleading on the stump microphone “Catch it, please!” Inevitably, it was dropped.The carnage, however, had started with Bosman and Petersen. Both batsmen scored their maiden half-centuries and both reached their fifties with a six as they laid the platform for Boucher’s assault. The first Powerplay cost 67 runs, and Utseya postponed the next till the 15th over at which point Bosman cut loose. They scored 59 runs off the second Powerplay before a rush of blood eventually did Bosman in for 88. He charged Tafadzwa Kamungozi once too often and gave the debutant his first wicket.However, Petersen picked up the pace, Kallis provided the glue with a relatively pedestrian 50 off 59 balls, and Boucher was the wrecking ball as South Africa added 219 runs in 22.1 overs after Boucher’s arrival.South Africa’s bowlers will be disappointed that they weren’t more incisive when Zimbabwe batted. Andre Nel and Johannes van der Wath hit the deck early on but after Nel drew Vusi Sibanda into an indiscreet shot, they had little success. Andrew Hall and Charl Langeveldt strangled the run flow in the middle overs, Roger Telemachus knocked over Chibhabha and Masakadza and the innings merely played out its destined course as South Africa swept the series.

South AfricaLoots Bosman st Taylor b Kamungozi 88 (160 for 1)
Alviro Petersen c & b Utseya 80 (199 for 2)
Jacques Kallis c Chigumbura b Utseya 50 (290 for 3)
Justin Kemp st Taylor b Kamungozi 10 (317 for 4)
Johannes van der Wath b Rainsford 5 (351 for 5)
ZimbabweVusi Sibanda c Langeveldt b Nel 1 (9 for 1)
Chamu Chibhabha c Boucher b Telemachus 46 (103 for 2)
Hamilton Masakadza c Boucher b Telemachus 55 (206 for 3)
Terry Duffin lbw Nel 88 (212 for 4)

The Pakistan Cricket Board today announced that Shaharyar M Khan has replaced Lt-Gen. Tauqir Zia as its chairman.Shaharyar Khan, who is 69 and a member of MCC, enjoyed a distinguished political career. He had a spell as Pakistan’s foreign secretary, and was also an ambassador and a high commissioner between 1957 and 1994. He comes from a large sporting family. The senior Nawab of Pataudi was his uncle, and the junior Nawab – Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi – is his first cousin.In a statement published today, Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf, who is also the PCB’s patron-in-chief, welcomed Shaharyar Khan into his new role, and also praised Tauqir Zia, who announced his resignation last week. He pointed out Zia’s “services for the uplift of the sport”, and praised “his role in the rebuilding of the Pakistan cricket team”. President Musharraf also mentioned the improvement of cricket at grass-roots level, especially the new academies, which took place under Zia’s time in charge. He concluded that his contribution would be remembered in years to come.Zia himself also issued a statement, saying he approved of his successor. “I spoke to him over the telephone in the afternoon and congratulated him,” he said. “We have worked together during the time we were preparing for the World Cup, and I find him an extremely knowledgable person.”He added: “As he has been with the team on a couple of occasions, he understands the players well and their requirements. He has the passion for cricket which will certainly make him a successful administrator.”

The last remaining general public tickets for the Ashes Tests at the Gabba and the MCG will go on sale on Wednesday. There are 950 tickets remaining for day two at the Gabba Test, 2000 for day three and 3500 for day four. About 950 tickets are still available for day two of the MCG Test, 4000 for day three and 15,000 for day four.About 1600 tickets also remain for the Twenty20 international between Australia and England at the SCG on January 9. The Test and Twenty20 tickets can be bought on the internet, by phone or through outlets via the ticket agency in the state where the matches will be played. They go on sale from 10am AEDT on Wednesday.There are also about 2000 tickets still available for day five of the second Test at Adelaide Oval. The Adelaide tickets were part of the original allocation and are on sale now.