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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.

Australia praying for rain and the English media heralding a bright new dawn? Something strange has come to pass at Old Trafford over the past three days. For all the faux-excitement in the British tabloids about the start of the football season, one needed only peel a couple of pages beneath the surface to discover the story that’s really got tongues wagging this summer.”Make no mistake: England are on top in the Ashes now, and we LOVE it,” bellowed Mike Walters in The Mirror, under a banner headline that paid due reference to England’s star turn of the second day. “We’re Giles ahead!” cackled the paper, after our Ashley had produced his own imitation of Shane Warne’s ball of the century to bowl Damien Martyn for 20.”Spinball Wizard,” agreed The Sun. “Same place, same spin and the same devastating result,” elaborated their correspondent, John Etheridge. “The King of Spain’s incredible fizzer landed on a leg-stump line before turning so wickedly it clipped the top of the off pole.” even diverted their chief sports writer, Steven Howard, away from his football duties to pass comment on the proceedings. “Suddenly it’s all gone quiet over there,” he intoned. “The Poms were giving their boys one hell of a beating.”Such incendiary comments really got the Aussies’ goat during the one-day series, with The Australian newspaper suffering a back-page sense of humour failure following ‘s depiction of their fast bowlers as “Sheilas”. Today, however, they were meekly resigned to their fate.”If any slim doubts remained as to the uphill battle Australia faces to retain the Ashes, they were duly erased by England’s further domination,” stated Andrew Ramsey in The Australian. “The poise and self-belief displayed by the home team’s middle-order was in marked contrast to another slipshod effort by Australia’s bowlers and fielders, who are showing frailty under sustained pressure.””Australia were battling for survival in the third Test on Friday evening,” agreed Chloe Saltau in The Sydney Morning Herald, after enduring “one of their worst days in the field” on Thursday, and losing Justin Langer to “a stroke of brilliance before tea”. These are words that could have summed up any given England performance of the last 20 years. When they are applied to Australia it is confusing in the extreme.And hot on the heels of the poor performances … come the recriminations. Michael Slater, currently a commentator for Channel 4, decided that, following a spate of costly dropped catches, the object of his ire would be Australia’s coach, John Buchanan.”It makes me question their practice regimes at the moment, which is the coach’s responsibility,” he told The Courier Mail. “Are they practising with enough intensity, because if you don’t you won’t be able to take it on to the field. The big moments are taking those catches and Australia have prided themselves on taking even half-chances. It surprises me how many let-offs Australia are giving England.”Slater’s co-commentator, Geoffrey Boycott, pinned the blame on Jason Gillespie, the undoubted weak link in a hitherto invincible bowling attack. “Gillespie was ineffective and hardly moved the ball all day,” he wrote in The Daily Telegraph. “At this level of Test cricket you have to be able to swing or seam the ball or do something with it. It’s all right saying that Gillespie has a good reputation (but) all players have to live on facts and figures and Gillespie’s are not very good at this moment.””Any decision to axe Gillespie would be taken with a heavy heart,” said Ramsay, because he is “one of Australia’s most respected and best-loved players for his willingness to bowl his heart out in any conditions or circumstances,” but Peter Roebuck, in The Sydney Morning Herald, believed his form brooked no argument. “Jason Gillespie has looked a spent force and can no longer command a regular place in the side. Nor is it surprising. Not even the greatest sportsman can stop the clock.””It is way, way too early to gloat,” Matt Price, in The Australian, warned England’s fans. But it wasn’t too early for the vitriol to start spouting. “Adam Gilchrist seems to have morphed into Geraint Jones, spilling everything and appearing to have seven thumbs jammed into each margarine-coated glove. Perhaps the transformation has been mutual, so by the time you read this Jones will have knocked up 150 in a session to steer England to 700 and beyond.”But the real target of Price’s wrath was the most convenient scapegoat of all, Billy Bowden. “Bowden is a pain in the neck,” he raged. “I’ve never been the slightest bit enchanted by the New Zealand umpire’s contrived antics, leaping about and waving his arms like some kind of unco-ordinated, computer-generated tai chi exponent.”Officials should be permitted their quirks,” he conceded, “The Bucknor pause, the Shepherd hop. But Bowden oversteps the line between idiosyncratic and idiotic. Umpires, like children and John Howard’s backbenchers, should be seen and rarely heard.”

Sri Lanka 470 and 211 for 4 dec beat South Africa 189 and 179 (Dippenaar 59*, Boucher 51, Vaas 6-29) by 313 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A superb display of swing bowling by Chaminda Vaas sent South Africa hurtling to a 313-run defeat at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, giving Sri Lanka a 1-0 series victory, their first over South Africa. Vaas gave Sri Lanka the early momentum on the fifth morning, taking two wickets, and then returned to finish off the South African innings for 179. He ended up with the exceptional figures of 6 for 29.The weather forecast for the day had been bleak, but Sri Lanka’s prayers were answered when dawn arrived bright and dry. Their morning got better, too, as South Africa started disastrously with three wickets tumbling for 14 runs in the first half-hour. Boeta Dippenaar (59 not out) and Mark Boucher (51) provided the main resistance, adding 101 for the sixth wicket. But another slide followed, and five wickets tumbled for 42 after lunch, as South Africa were bundled out for their lowest total against Sri Lanka.After an astonishing effort by the groundstaff to mop up in time after the heavy deluge the previous evening, Vaas needed just three balls to grab the prized wicket of Jacques Kallis, the one batsman that Sri Lanka feared could bat through the day. Kallis was unfortunate, as Vaas produced a wicked delivery that spat up from a good length to find the outside edge. Tillakaratne Dilshan was presented with the simplest of catches at second slip (24 for 3).Graeme Smith, meanwhile, was setting out his stall for a long rearguard. But in the fourth over of the day, he gloved an attempted pull off Lasith Malinga. The ball ballooned up off his thigh-pad and was caught at backward short leg. Five balls later, South Africa were left in complete disarray when Jacques Rudolph succumbed lamely for the second time in the match, top-edging a pull that sailed straight to Malinga on the long-leg fence (36 for 5).While the excited schoolchildren in the stands chanted “Go Lanka Go” in celebration, Dippenaar and Boucher quietly and efficiently dug in.They survived Vaas and Malinga’s early four-over bursts, and lookedsecure against the slow bowlers. The odd ball turned sharply and popped up,but there were no great alarms. The closest they came to being dismissed waswhen Malinga was drafted back into the attack for a short burst beforelunch. Finding some reverse-swing, he came perilously close to trappingDippenaar lbw when he had made 25.After lunch, Marvan Atapattu turned back to Vaas. Once again, he rose to the occasion and grabbed a much-needed breakthrough with a skilful legcutter that drew Boucher forward and nipped away enough to brush the edge. Romesh Kaluwitharana, whose glovework had been untidy throughout the match, very nearly let the ball pop out from his bright-yellow mitts (137 for 6).Having broken through, Sri Lanka pushed home their advantage. Next over, Shaun Pollock mistimed a clip off Dilshan’s part-time offspin and picked out Atapattu at short midwicket. Dilshan burst into an Olympian lap of celebration. But Vaas was the main hero and he soon worked through Nicky Boje’s defences with an indipper that pinned him in front. Two balls later, Makhaya Ntini departed for a duck after an airy waft (163 for 9). Malinga wrapped up proceedings with the wicket of Nantie Hayward, who knocked back the simplest of return catches.Sri Lanka’s series win reconfirmed their new-found confidence under Atapattu’s leadership, and lifts them to fifth position in the ICC Test rankings, behind Australia, England, Pakistan and India. South Africa, meanwhile, slide three places to sixth slot, their lowest ranking. Their ODI ranking will also be under threat when they start a five-match series on August 20. First, though, they have a few days to regroup.

It is a subject of feverish speculation as to how the portable pitch to be used in Darwin for Bangladesh’s historic international matches there will behave. Dav Whatmore, Bangadesh’s coach, believes that it might be a slow one.Speaking to ABC Radio, Whatmore said: “It’s a drop-in pitch. [There] seems to be some indication it might be slow but we’ll never really know until you start playing.”Bangladesh will not have to wait long to find out. On Friday they take on the Chief Minister’s XI, less than a week after their two-wicket win over the Commonwealth Bank Academy side. If Whatmore’s prognosis about the pitch is confirmed, they will face the Australian new-ball attack with somewhat more confidence than you’d expect from international cricket’s fledglings.Meanwhile the Chief Minister, Clare Martin, has announced the team to play Bangladesh. The local side has been bolstered by the inclusion of Michael Clarke, who will captain the team, and Australian allrounder Nathan Hauritz, who played for Queensland’s Academy XI in Bangladesh’s first tour game.”I wanted to give Territorians an opportunity to play against Bangladesh,” said Martin, “and I know a squad of local cricketers have been training in preparation for the match.”James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, said that the decision to include two CA-contracted players would help generate further interest in the game. Clarke and Hauritz have recently returned from the tour to West Indies and represent Australia’s next generation of players, having already played for the national side in one-day intenationals.Martin also renewed a call for volunteers, inviting Territorians to grab the opportunity to be involved in the staging of international cricket. She said that each volunteer would have an opportunity to watch the cricket after performing their duties, which would take up only three hours of their time. Apart from free entry, they would also receive a free polo shirt and hat, lunch and an opportunity to be involved in one of Territory’s major sporting events.Chief Minister’s XI squad
Michael Clarke (captain), Darren Treumer (vice-captain), Terry Bayly, Nick Berry, Anthony Dent, Mark Hatton, Brad Hatton, Nathan Hauritz, Tim Knox, Adrian McAdam, Ian Redpath, Ken Skewes, Ken Vowles, Ashley Williams.

Greg Mail has delivered the runs but he believes Stuart MacGill can deliver victory for NSW over South Australia in its Pura Cup match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.With two full days to play, NSW lead by 451 runs after finishing the second day at 9-415.Mail was unbeaten on 142 – his second first class century – anchoring a Blues attack which smashed 399 runs in the day.It was a remarkable turnaround from the first day when 20 wickets fell as NSW made 188 and the Redbacks replied with 142.Mail expected captain Shane Lee would declare in the morning, depriving the opener of being the first from NSW to carry his bat since Alan Turner 32 years ago.”I’d hope 450 will be enough runs,” Mail said.”The pitch is starting to crack up a little bit and there’s some variable bounce.”Peter McIntyre was turning the ball quite a bit today and I’m sure Stuart will turn it a lot – he can turn it on anything.”NSW resumed this morning with Mail on one and Michael Slater on 15. Throughout the day, Mail focused on building partnerships with some of his more illustrious team-mates.”The plan was for me to bat for a long time and to have other guys score runs around me.”A lot of our guys score quickly and pile on the shots – I just try to play to my limitations.”The tall 23-year-old formed significant partnerships with Slater (49), Mark Waugh (51), Mark Higgs (53) and MacGill (53). In each of those stands, Mail played the steady hand while his team-mates blazed quick half-centuries.And no half-century was faster than MacGill’s. He brought up his 50 off 26 balls, with seven fours and a six over midwicket off Darren Lehmann.In terms of time – 29 minutesit was the equal second-fastest half-century on record for NSW.Tibby Cotter took 18 minutes to score 50 in 1911-12 while the great Victor Trumper also took 29 minutes to reach the mark in 1905-06. No record of balls was available for those players.It was a wonderfully improvised knock by MacGill, who really had just one shot – an unorthodox swat which he could hit anywhere in the arc from cover-point tomidwicket.”I saw he was up there with Victor Trumper – no doubt we’ll be hearing about that for a while,” Mail said of his brash batting partner.In contrast, Mail took 202 minutes to bring up his half-century while his ton came up in a shade under five hours off 241 balls.His innings wasn’t without its mistakes – he survived a strong lbw appeal from Mark Harrity early in the day – but his edges all flew safely.He showed great concentration and judicial shot selection mixed with compact defence against an attack which struggled to create chances.He batted for 395 minutes and faced 299 balls, hitting 16 fours.Part-time spinner Lehmann was the leading wicket-taker for SA, with 3-42.

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has confirmed he will not play in the Big Bash League this year, having pulled out of his commitment to play for the Melbourne Stars. Clarke was to captain the side in the BBL this summer after signing a two-year contract in April, but following his retirement from Test cricket he has decided he needs some time away from the game.”Right now for I just think my body and my mind need some time away from the game of cricket,” Clarke told radio on Wednesday morning. “It’s been a big part of my life and I just think that with my retirement from international cricket now I just need to take myself away from the game of cricket for a little while and just see what that’s like to actually be without it.”You push yourself to the max when you’re playing sport at the highest level and now I’ve pressed stop on that part, in regards to international cricket, I just think my body and my mind just needs that break.”Clarke said he hoped to return to the field at some point in the future and would always remain involved in cricket in some way, having launched his own cricket academy last year. There is a chance he could yet play for the Stars in 2016-17.”I’ve got a two-year deal at the moment so hopefully it all turns out okay and I come back and play next year,” Clarke said, “but even if they decide they don’t want me to play, hopefully I can help the club have success in another way.”

Beau Casson will enter the big time when he joins his new Australia team-mates at the national camp in Brisbane from Sunday. Casson, the left-arm wrist-spinner from New South Wales, was a surprise choice for the West Indies tour and will be trying to impress when the squad gets together.”I’m feeling a little anxious now, but I’m also excited about meeting the guys in camp and I’m probably lucky that I’ll have plenty of other New South Wales guys there to make me feel comfortable,” Casson told the Daily Telegraph. “I had a bit of a break, but the last few weeks have been good and I’ve upped the ante in terms of training and making sure everything is right.”Casson has been working with the opener Phil Jaques while some of their team-mates have been operating in the Indian Premier League. In a strong finish to the season, Casson scored 89 and took four wickets in the Pura Cup final victory on the way to earning a national spot next to Stuart MacGill.Following Brad Hogg’s retirement, MacGill will return for Australia after wrist and knee injuries cut short his 2007-08 campaign. He will be the No. 1 slow-bowling option in the three-Test series against West Indies, which starts in Jamaica on May 22. The team leaves Australia on May 9.

Richard Pybus, the former Pakistan and Middlesex coach, has been re-appointed as the coach of the Titans. Pybus has signed a two-year contract with the Titans after resigning as Middlesex coach.Pybus was the Titans coach before he signed a three-year contract with Middlesex in February. Incidentally, he quit Middlesex on the same day that the Titans announced that they had not found a replacement for him and that they were re-advertising for the role, leaving Middlesex supporters in no doubt that he was heading back.”The re-appointment of Richard follows a protracted and comprehensive process during which a number of high profile applicants were considered,” the chairman of the Titans’ board of directors, Andy O Connor, said. “The position was offered to an individual in June 2007 only [for Titans] to be informed at number 99 that he could no longer accept the position. This resulted in a second round of interviews in July.”Richard’s resignation at Middlesex came as a complete surprise to the franchise and his reasons for his resignation, cited as personal, were completely unrelated to the vacancy. Upon learning that Richard was returning to South Africa, the franchise expressed a keenness to re-appoint him.”Pybus also said that he was “delighted” to be back with the Titans and that there was “much work to be done to maintain the fine form shown in the four-day competition and to improve the side’s performance in the one-day and Pro20 competition.”

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.”

Tino Best’s inclination for delivering fast, high full pitches got him into trouble again yesterday. The volatile West Indies fast bowler was immediately barred from bowling when he sent down his third such delivery of the innings to left-hander Rangana Herath in Sri Lanka’s second innings early on the fourth day of the second Test. Ironically, Herath cut the ball to the boundary.Best hit Mahela Jayawardene on the glove with a similar ball on Satuday. Kumar Sangkkara received another during his hundred on Sunday when Best was cautioned. Herath’s was the third.Muttiah Muralitharan had been caught off a high full toss from Best that was called no-ball in the first innings but it was the only instance. Under the regulations, the matter has been reported by match referee Mike Procter to the International Cricket Council (ICC), “who shall take such action as deemed appropriate against the captain and bowler concerned”.Best is only the third bowler taken off for the offence in Tests. The others are fellow West Indian Colin Stuart, coincidentally at the same Asgiriya Stadium in the second Test in 2001, and Zimbabwean Travis Friend.It is not a first-time offence for Best who was debarred from bowling in the innings in the 2003 Carib Beer Series and reported during the West Indies ‘A’ team tour of England.The law states that the umpire must call no-ball when he “considers that a high full pitch which is deemed to be dangerous and unfair was deliberately bowled”. He issues a caution and on repetition directs the captain to take the bowler off “forthwith” with the over to be completed by another bowler. In this case, it was Daren Powell.The offending bowler is not allowed to bowl again in the innings and the umpire has to report the occurrence, with the other umpire, “as soon as possible to the executive of the fielding side and to any governing body responsible for the match.