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Hamilton Masakadza was surprisingly included in Zimbabwe’s 16-man squad for the first two one-day internationals against England, to be played at Harare Sports Club on November 26 and 28.The last time Masakadza, 21, played a competitive match was in 2002, since when he has been in South Africa studying at university. In 2001 he became the then-youngest player to score a century on Test debut, against West Indies.The rest of the selections were as expected, with recent one-day form being the main criterion.Zimbabwe squad
Dion Ebrahim, Brendan Taylor, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Hamilton Masakadza, Mark Vermeulen, Tatenda Taibu (capt and wk), Elton Chigumbura, Vusi Sibanda, Donald Samunderu, Douglas Hondo, Tinashe Panyangara, Mluleki Nkala, Chris Mpofu, Edward Rainsford, Prosper Utseya, Gavin Ewing.

Fidel Edwards, the 21-year-old fast bowler from Barbados, was named in the XI to take on Sri Lanka in the second Test, which starts on Friday at Sabina Park, Kingston. Edwards, who has played just one first-class match for Barbados, will make his debut on a pitch which is expected to offer plenty of support to the fast bowlers.The half-brother of Pedro Collins, Edwards’s slinging round-arm action has been compared to Jeff Thomson’s, and his inswinging yorkers have reminded talent-spotters of Waqar Younis in his pomp. Edwards was named the Most Improved Bowler in the Shell Cricket Academy, Grenada. Dr Rudi Webster, the Academy Director, has rated him among the most disciplined players to have attended the academy.The squad announced by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) had two other Barbadian quick bowlers, Corey Collymore and Vasbert Drakes. Merv Dillon was dropped, after going wicketless in the rain-hit first Test at St Lucia.Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan team are all set to ring in the changes after their disappointing performance in the first Test. Poor fielding, the absence of another back-up bowler and the inability of the top-order batsmen to get runs once they had settled in, all contributed to West Indies gaining the upperhand at St Lucia.Duleep Mendis, the interim coach, said that with the pitch here expected to assist fast bowlers, Sri Lanka would definitely opt for a third seamer at the expense of a batsman. Darshana Gamage is likely to win the third-seamer’s spot ahead of the inexperienced left-arm seamer Thilan Thushara, while Thilan Samaraweera will probably be dropped. Samaraweera did not impress much in his 109 minutes at the wicket for 11 runs and Brian Lara took him to the cleaners in his eight overs of gentle offspin, which cost him 53 runs.The other area of concern is the wicketkeeping of Romesh Kaluwitharana, who found out just how costly it could be to offer Lara a second chance. Kaluwitharana missed a stumping opportunity off Muttiah Muralitharan on the fifth morning when Lara was on 93. Lara ended up scoring his fifth double-century, and his fifth hundred in seven Tests against Sri Lanka. Kaluwitharana has been in reasonable form with the bat though – his failure in St Lucia was the result of a poor decision – and that might save him from getting the axe.The West Indian batting revolves largely around Lara. Their total of 477 was largely made up of two partnerships totalling 310 runs which involved Lara. His mastery of Muralitharan is another cause for worry for Tillakaratne.Lara has called for a result-oriented pitch and the inclusion of anadditional pace bowler to the West Indies squad at the expense of awicketkeeper-batsman clearly indicates that the pitch will assist the quick bowlers. If that is the case, Sri Lanka have a more penetrative attack to exploit the wicket. Vaas bowled superbly – but without much luck – on the placid pitch at St Lucia, while Prabath Nissanka is perhaps the quickest bowler Sri Lanka have had since Dilhara Fernando.Lara has admitted that his team’s bowling was a continuing worry. “We need to start getting 20 wickets in Test matches consistently. That’s what we are looking for, the right combination and the right set of guys to take West Indies into the future. Fidel falls into that category.”The Test also brings together Muralitharan and Australian umpire Darrell Hair for the first time in a Test since Hair called Muralitharan for chucking at Melbourne in 1995. Hair did officiate in Sri Lanka’s VB Series matches last year, though.Teams
West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Wavell Hinds, 3 Brian Lara (capt), 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 7 Omari Banks, 8 Vasbert Drakes, 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Corey Collymore, 11 Fidel Edwards.Sri Lanka (from) Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), RomeshKaluwitharana (wk), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Kumar Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Prabath Nissanka, Darshana Gamage.Umpires Darrell Hair (Aus) and Russell Tiffin (Zim)Match Referee Wasim Raja (Pak)

Match referee Colonel Naushad Ali tonight called a disciplinary hearing after England completed a series victory over Zimbabwe with a bad-tempered win in Harare.The hearing, involving England captain Nasser Hussain, young wicketkeeper James Foster and Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower. followed an angry exchange between Foster and Flower, who refused to walk after an appeal for a catch behind the wicket.Foster walked up to Flower, who was on 99 at the time, and who feigned a head-butt in response.Both players could face fines, suspended sentences or even bans from the remainder of the series.Asked for his views about the incident, Hussain said: “I want to see people with a lot of heart and character because that’s what gets you through in the end.”You can be as nice as you want, play the game the right way and all that butyou want people with character in your side.”I’ll speak to James and we’ll see what happens, but I’d rather have someonewith a bit of character that you’re trying to draw in every now and then thanthe other way around when you’re trying to draw people out of their shells.”We’re still trying to play cricket in the right way, but things will happenin a heated contest occasionally and we’re trying to keep those down to aminimum.”Flower was also reluctant to criticise the young Essex keeper. “It was just one of those battles in the middle but nothing too serious,” he said.”It’s up to him how he wants to play the game and if he wants to play itaggressively like that and he can back it up then good luck to him.”

Craig Ervine, whose maiden ODI hundred drove Zimbabwe to a famous win against New Zealand, has said he scented victory during the last eight overs of the hosts’ chase though they needed over nine runs an over.Though Zimbabwe were always largely on track during their pursuit of 304, doubts remained if the team could actually go all the way: the hosts had previously chased a 300-plus score only once, and in recent months have fallen short during the final stages of matches despite competing earlier on.However, even with 72 needed from 48 balls, Ervine and his partner at the other end, Elton Chigumbura, did not panic, keeping the score ticking with ones and twos, and putting the bad deliveries away for boundaries.”Maybe started believing that we could win in the last seven or eight overs,” Ervine, who was named Man of the Match, said. “I thought if we could go at eight or ten an over and try to take it as deep as we can, we would always have a chance to go over the line. It was about taking it ball by ball and not thinking too much about the end result.”Ervine said the win was particularly “special” for him since he was able to stay unbeaten till victory was secured. From 32 previous ODIs, Ervine had made six half-centuries, but could not convert any of them into a hundred. Today, after making a steady start, Ervine accelerated as the innings wore on and as the situation demanded, finishing with a 108-ball 130, including 11 fours and five sixes.”I thought the wicket was really good [to bat on], whereas against India it misbehaved maybe due to the dew. It feels very good, especially to be there at the end to take the team home, it’s something special. There was a bit of a tough period during the game when I slowed down in my nineties, but thankfully Elton batted really well to take the pressure off me.”Going into the match, Zimbabwe had won just one ODI in 2015, and lost 10. They had also suffered defeat in 15 of their last 17 one-dayers in Harare, and were beaten by New Zealand in nine of their last 10. Given the odds were stacked so high against them, Zimbabwe captain Chigumbura was very pleased with the effort.”It has been a hard road for us,” Chigumbura said. “This result shows that we’re still capable of winning games. I want to thank everyone who has been behind us during the hard times. Hopefully we can carry this on to the next couple of games.”Chasing 300 is always difficult, but I felt it was good wicket to bat on. The foundations were good from Hamilton [Masakadza] and Chamu [Chibhabha] who showed the way, and we had a very good performance from Ervine to take us home.”

A sparkling double century by Younis Khan (221) put Peshawar in the driving seat against Lahore Whites on the second day of the Quaid-i-Azam Cricket Trophy match at the LCCA Ground on Tuesday.Younis Khan’s magnificent display enabled Peshawar pile a massive 598 in their first innings after resuming on 352 for four. By close of play, Lahore Whites were 95 for two in 27 overs with skipper Test discarded Aamir Sohail batting at 52.Younis began his innings with overnight total of 146 with Taimur Khan who resumed at 50. But Taimur fell without any addition. However, Younis continued his career-best innings and reached his 200 with 29 boundaries and one six. He was finally caught at long-on by Zahoor Ellahi off leg-spinner Kashif Siddique for a fine 221 with 32 fours and three sixes. He negotiated 290 balls and batted for 377 minutes.Skipper Arshad Khan contributed a quickfire 57, adorned with five boundaries and two mighty sixes. He faced 84 balls. Zulifqar Jan (37) and Sajid Shah (36 not out) were the other contributors in Peshawar’s big total.

A deadly leave
By the 16th over of the Karachi Test, Pakistan had dumped their fast bowlers and proceeded to try four spinners. It was a different story in Lahore as, aided by a seaming pitch, Mohammad Asif strolled in for his ninth over of the day. The ball pitched at a good length but was wide enough of off-stump for Hashim Amla not to play at it. So he shouldered arms, letting the ball pass. Next thing he heard was the death rattle as the off-cutter shaped in sharply and left him shocked. Asif, meanwhile, celebrated as if it was nothing special.Run, Inzi, run
Umar Gul steamed in for his second over after lunch and as Jacques Kallis loosely drove a wide but fast full-pitched delivery, Younis Khan dived forward at second slip only for the ball to fall short. The ball bounced off Younis’ hand and raced towards the vacant third-man boundary only for someone from first slip to run down and stop it. Surprising many by the sprint, especially so soon after lunch, Inzamam-ul-Haq was keen to makehis last Test a memorable one as the batsmen managed just two runs.Inzi at it again
As Asif replaced an innocuous Gul in the post-lunch session, he finally managed to induce an outside edge off Ashwell Prince’s bat after beating him on several occasions. The edge, left alone by the wicketkeeper when it was his for the taking, failed to carry to Inzamam at first slip and he could only palm it on to the helmets kept behind the stumps. Inzamam’s first significant contribution to the Test: adding five runs to the score, but in the opposition’s name.A grand welcome
His eights wickets on debut brought Abdur Rehman in for a lot of praise from pundits and team-mates alike. He also managed to keep his place in the team for this match ahead of a third pace bowler. A confident start was what he was looking at when finally introduced in the 51st over of the day. Spinning the ball into Prince, he was driven to the boundary and spinning it away from Kallis he was driven over it as his first six balls yielded eleven runs. A subtle reminder that cricket is a great leveller.Great shot … that’s out
The shadows had started to lengthen and Pakistan decided to take the new ball straight away for some late breakthroughs. As Asif once again caused the batsmen ample problems, Mark Boucher decided to break the shackles and drove him fiercely back down the ground. The straightest of hits whisked Asif’s fingers on the way to hitting the stumps at the bowler’s end as AB de Villiers suffered the unluckiest of dismissals after scoring a solid 45.

For the third time in a row Jagmohan Dalmiya, former Indian board president, failed to appear before the board’s Disciplinary Committee. The committee, which met today morning at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium at Mohali, decided to proceed ex-parte in the matter.On the two previous occasions, Dalmiya had sought the intervention of the civil court in Kolkatta allowing him to defer his appearance before the committee. However, in its latest ruling the court had directed Dalmiya to submit his detailed reply by October 3 and to appear before the committee seven days thereafter.Despite Dalmiya’s absence, the committee today recorded the statements of witnesses, accepted documents submitted by N Srinivasan, the board’s treasurer, and have closed the matter, pending a final conclusion. The report of the Disciplinary Committee would be submitted to the board’s secretary.

West Indies will be at full-strength for next month’s tour to Australia after their board and the players settled a long-standing contracts dispute.The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) have agreed that players selected for the upcoming tour to Australia will sign the match/tour contract subject to the negotiations of Clause 5 which, when agreed, will be placed immediately into the contract.This statement was part of a joint media release issued yesterday, more than 11 months since the impasse between the two parties began. Last November, another West Indies tour of Australia – for the VB Series – was nearly derailed after players selected for a pre-tour camp, on the advice of WIPA, refused to sign their match/tour contracts. In July, however, the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka was severely disrupted by the ongoing dispute, when a second-string team played in the Tests and tri-nation one-day series.However, yesterday’s joint statement gave the undertaking that the two parties had also agreed that the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) will be asked to negotiate Clause 5 of the match/tour contract with a view to making a joint recommendation within ten days of commencing the negotiations. This joint recommendation will be binding on the parties. If there is no agreement after ten days, it is agreed that ICC and FICA will recommend an independent arbitrator. Should that exercise not be completed prior to the tour, it would continue and any financial benefits which may be agreed upon after the mediators’ recommendation would be paid with effect from the date of the signing of the contract.The statement ended by saying that the two parties also agreed that matters which remain to be settled with respect to all other outstanding issues, including the proposed retainer contracts, would be referred to representatives of their organisations for finalisation within an agreed time-frame. This agreement followed discussions between Ken Gordon, president of the WICB, and Dinanath Ramnarine, the president and chief executive officer of WIPA, last weekend.

Steve Tikolo, who led Kenya in the Champions Trophy, has said that he intends to resign from the captaincy following his side’s seven-wicket defeat against Pakistan at Edgbaston. Tikolo, 33, felt that it was time to move on and hand over the mantle to someone else while he remained in the team as a player.Kenya, a semi-finalist at last year’s World Cup, were bowled out for just 94 in their second game against Pakistan. The defeat meant that Kenya lost both their group matches, having succumbed by 98 runs against India last Saturday.Up until the match against India, Kenya had not played a one-dayer for 18 months and after today’s loss Tikolo said that the team was not due to play one of cricket’s leading nations again until the 2006 Champions Trophy.AAP reported Tikolo as saying, “I spoke to the selectors back at home and they said we’ll let the case rest until I get back home. I think there are other players who are capable of stepping into the captain’s shoes. I’ll be around. I’m not totally retiring from cricket. I’m still around. Immediately we get back home I’ll have another meeting with the selectors again.”Kenya’s next match is in the Inter-Continental Cup, a four-day competition for teams outside the elite Test nations, against Namibia in October. If they win that, they would qualify for the semi-finals in Sharjah.But a downcast Tikolo added, “With the scenario we have in Kenya, with a lack of games, we can’t feel optimistic anymore.”

Dunstable:
Cumberland 370-6d (A Metcalfe 136, G Lloyd 130) v Bedfordshire20-1March:
Cambridgeshire 414-7d (JPW Mann 147, A Akhtar 100*) v Suffolk 66-1Luctonians:
Herefordshire 320-7d (HV Patel 128, RD Hughes 50; TJ Mason 6-66) v Shropshire 23-0Grantham:
Lincolnshire 308 (J Dowman 71, O Burford 71*, P Pollard 51) v Norfolk 65-1Jesmond:
Northumberland 322-6d (AT Heather 102, N Wood 95) v Staffordshire 12-2