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Zander de Bruyn is set to play his first match for Worcestershire when they face Middlesex at Lord’s next week.De Bruyn, the South African allrounder, will fly to England this week after competing for Titans in the final of the South African domestic 20-over competition. Titans’ match against the Warriors is on April 27, and de Bruyn will link up with Worcestershire two days later in time for their National League match on May 1 (Sunday).He has played three Tests for South Africa after earning his call-up at the age of 28 against India last year, where he stroked 83, his highest Test score to date. de Bruyn heads to New Road with a healthy first-class batting average of 44.18, while his medium-pacers are often effective in breaking partnerships or constricting batsmen.

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How they were out

A stunning England fightback, with Andrew Flintoff leading from the front, and bad light were the major players on the fourth day at The Oval. With another 56 overs lost England are edging near to regaining the Ashes, but just as no day this series has seemed complete without a contribution from Flintoff the same can be said of Shane Warne. Australia were given one final sliver of hope to cling to as Warne removed Andrew Strauss in his first overRicky Ponting had been forced to turn to his spinners early, but even with them operating England were offered the light on two occasions. Unsurprisingly Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan nearly jogged back to the pavilion on both times. The Australians did not make a great deal of fuss but were not enamoured by the decision. On the resumption after the first stoppage the players tried to make their point by all wearing sunglasses as they walked to the pitch.But that was a rare moment of humour in another seriously competitive day, the majority of which brought a thrilling bowling performance from England. Flintoff operated for the remaining duration of the Australia innings and his total spell, taken from yesterday evening, lasted 18 overs. It was a spell of sustained, hostile pace bowling which none of the Australia batsmen were comfortable at facing. After Flintoff took his fifth wicket Hoggard ran through the tail as England claimed a completely unexpected six-run lead.With the weather playing such a significant part in this match Australia were relieved when play started on time following torrential overnight thunderstorms. However, their progress suffered an early blow when Flintoff removed Damien Martyn in his second over. Flintoff charged in from the Pavilion End and cramped Martyn for room with a short ball, which looped out to square-leg for Paul Collingwood to hold onto the catch.

When Vaughan opted for the new ball the umpires consulted about the light but, this time, the Australian batsmen opted to stay on rather than lose more precious time. That belated show of aggression was then followed by an attempt to push along the scoring rate as Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke started to play their shots.Clarke received a life when he edged a booming drive off Hoggard to Flintoff at second slip, who proved he was human after all by dropping the chance, which he attempted rather casually. However, Flintoff put that miss to the back of his mind and continued to charge in. Although Hayden appeared more comfortable against England’s other bowlers, his discomfort against Flintoff was clear as he refused to push forward.This ultimately cost him his wicket when Flintoff seamed a ball back into him which would have crashed into middle stump. Hayden knew his fate and was almost walking before the umpire raised his finger, as was Simon Katich two overs later. Katich received an almost carbon-copy ball, after a series of deliveries slanting across him, and this time replays showed leg-stump would not have been standing.Clarke, after his early life, was hanging on grimly, using all his efforts to try and see the ball amid the gloom and repeatedly played-and-missed at Hoggard’s probing outswing. Adam Gilchrist came out and played the only way he knows – by taking on the bowling, but his series has been characterised by rapid twenties. Flintoff’s line outside off stump has certainly troubled him, but so has Hoggard’s inswing. Gilchrist played across the line to what became the last ball before lunch – in a manner very similar to his second innings at Trent Bridge – to become the third lbw victim of the session.

The collapse continued after lunch when Hoggard also trapped Clarke in front – ensuring that another missed catch by Geraint Jones did not prove costly for England. Warne then top-edged a pull to Vaughan at mid-on and despite a juggle the catch was pouched as Flintoff gained worthy reward for another stunning display of aggression. Hoggard then took his cue to mop up the tail by dismissing Glenn McGrath for the first time this series and Brett Lee holed out at deep mid-wicket as he attempted to slog some late runs.Australia had lost eight wickets for 90 runs, but the celebrations from the crowd did not last long before Warne brought a dose of reality back to the day. With his fourth ball he forced Strauss to get an inside-edge to short-leg, dismissing the left-hander for the sixth time in the series.Vaughan played two flowing square cuts off McGrath, during a brief period when the light was good enough for the seamers, and only Warne caused many alarms. He spun a couple of deliveries past Vaughan’s edge while also finding considerable help from the footmarks. Warne is determined to finish his last Test in England on the winning side and although time is now against him he has the knack of pulling off the miraculous. England are now in the position of needing two sessions of batting to seal the Ashes and half those overs will be bowled by Warne.With this in mind, the cheer for the bad light was almost bigger than for any of Flintoff’s wickets on a day when the quirks of cricket were demonstrated to their fullest. A crowd who had paid considerable money to watch play were deliriously happy when they were watching nothing. Most of them want England to win the Ashes and they aren’t too bothered how they do it.

AustraliaDamien Martyn c Collingwood b Flintoff 10 (281 for 3)
Matthew Hayden lbw b Flintoff 138 (323 for 4)
Simon Katich lbw b Flintoff 1 (329 for 5)
Adam Gilchrist lbw b Hoggard 23 (356 for 6)
Full length, swinging back, would have hit leg stumpMichael Clarke lbw b Hoggard 25 (359 for 7)
Shane Warne c Vaughan b Flintoff 0 (363 for 8)
Glenn McGrath c Strauss b Hoggard 0 (363 for 9)
Brett Lee c Giles b Hoggard 6 (367 all out)
EnglandAndrew Strauss c Katich b Warne 1 (2 for 1)

It’s now almost certain that Gagandeep Singh and Shib Sankar Paul have to wait for another day to play Test cricket. Sourav Ganguly made it clear that India, despite a thumping innings-and-140-run win in the first Test at Dhaka, will play a full-strength team in the second Test starting at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong on Thursday. At the end of the first Test Ganguly had hinted that India might experiment a bit but things have obviously changed since then. “It’s difficult [to experiment], we hardly play about 10-12 Test matches a year,” said Ganguly. “Most of the guys who have been doing well for the team don’t want to sit out. At the end of the day, you miss Test matches and you don’t get to play too much during the year. On that point of view, it is very difficult to give rest to people if they don’t want it.”With two records being chalked up, Irfan Pathan taking his first Test ten-for, and Zaheer Khan racking up a joyous 75, it’s easy to see why none of the Indian cricketers want to miss out on a chance to put in a strong showing. For Bangladesh, though, the goals remain the same. Barring the loss of large chunks of time to bad weather, it is impossible to envision them staving off defeat against a strong opposition like India. Dav Whatmore, the Bangladesh coach, when asked for seemingly the 1000th time, whether Bangladesh were worried about the bad results they were notching up, said, “Whether you lose by an innings defeat or a bigger margin, that’s not our concern. We have got processes, little targets to achieve and that’s what we are going on. Things that we think we can achieve; I’m not interested in the result. You should know that by now.”In 33 Tests so far, Bangladesh have lost 30, and 19 of these by an innings. Whatmore revealed earlier that the team had different targets to other sides, and that these private goals had been written up and tacked onto a board in the dressing-room for the players to constantly remind themselves of the task on hand. The problem for them has been the lack of resistance, and giving the advantage away to the opposition early. But there’s still enough to play for to motivate the players, though that is not always the easiest task. “It’s not that easy sometimes, because the results haven’t been going our way,” said Whatmore. “We need to look outside of that and try and achieve other little goals. That’s really what we have been focusing on rather than result-orientated goals.”Bangladesh too may have to abandon earlier plans of resting a player. Tapash Baisya has been struggling with a back injury and may have to sit out the Chittagong Test. If Baisya, who underwent a fitness Test, is found to be unfit on Thursday morning, then either Talha Jubair or Mashrafe Mortaza, whom Bangladesh hoped to give a breather as he has just returned to international cricket after a gap of over a year, will have to play. Rajin Saleh, who bagged a pair at Dhaka, and Mushfiqur Rahman, whose military medium hardly troubled India’s batsmen, have been left out.Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh captain, echoed Whatmore’s view that putting up a better fight was the key. “We couldn’t put up a fight in the last match,” he said. “Doing that will be our aim. Putting up a resistance will be our aim too. We couldn’t handle the new ball in the last match and doing that will be the key.”The pitch at the Bangabandhu Stadium, where the first Test was played, offered help to fast bowlers, spinners and batsmen, and won praise from all quarters. The two camps suggested that the pitch for the second Test would be a similar one, though it was impossible to verify this as the heightened security arrangements in Chittagong meant that journalists were not allowed onto the field even the day before the Test. A host of commandos, Kalashnikov sub-machine guns slung casually on their shoulders, ensured that the press were kept well at bay, barricaded into a section of the stands. “The wicket looks good, a bit damp,” said Ganguly. “The ball will seam around a bit. Obviously this place is hotter than Dhaka, so it may dry up a bit quicker.”But the way the pitch plays is not especially relevant. India hold all the aces – two world-class spinners, Pathan on fire, Zaheer in search of his 100th Test wicket, and a host of batsmen eager to make tall scores. Bangladesh, celebrating Victory Day on December 16, marking the liberation of their country from the occupation by Pakistani forces, are staring yet another defeat in the face.India (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 Zaheer Khan.Bangladesh (from) 1 Javed Omar, Nafis Iqbal, 3 Habibul Bashar (capt), 4 Mohammad Ashraful, 5 Khaled Mashud (wk), 6 Manjarul Islam Rana, 7 Mohammad Rafique, 8 Tapash Baisya, 9 Mashafe Mortaza, 10 Talha Jubair, 11 Nazmul Hossain, 12 Aftab Ahmed.

Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, is expected to be fit for the firstTest, starting in Multan on March 28. Ganguly suffered an injury scare inthe final one-day match in Lahore when he fell awkwardly while attempting adiving stop at mid-off.An MRI scan at the hospital in Lahore today revealed nothing more seriousthan a lower-back spasm. According to hospital sources, Ganguly needs acouple of days to recover and should be in proper shape before the Test.The rest of the Indian team has already travelled in Multan, but Ganguly has stayed back in Lahore with Andrew Leipus, the Indian team’s physiotherapist, for medical consultation. He will join the team tomorrow.Ganguly’s condition had looked much more serious on Wednesday night when hehad be stretchered off the field after a desperate attempt to cut off anoff-drive from Inzamam-ul-Haq during the early part of Pakistan’s innings. He fell heavily and lay motionless on the field for a few minutes, and wasin intense pain for about an hour. Rahul Dravid captained India for the restof the match, but Ganguly was among the first onto the field to congratulatehis team after the victory.

Stuart Clark, the Australian fast bowler, will not figure in Australia’s campaign for the Champions Trophy. Cricket Australia announced that Clark had sustained a thigh injury while playing club cricket at home.Clark suffered a tear in his left quadriceps and will take at least four to six weeks to recover, according to Alex Kountouris, the Australian team physio. “The decision was made for him to stay in Australia and undergo treatment to maximise his chances of a full recovery before the Ashes series,” said Kountouris. The selection panel is yet to decide on a replacement.Clark was obviously disappointed to miss out on a major one-day tournament involving all the Test-playing countries and said that all he could do was look forward to a full rehabilitation. “I am confident that I will be back playing as soon as is possible and will be doing everything in my power to ensure that I’m fully fit ahead of the Ashes series,” he said.Meanwhile Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, felt that the team had all the bases covered for the Champions Trophy. “We have been knocked out in the semi-final in the last two Champions Trophies, but we definitely have the squad and the players to challenge seriously this year,” Ponting told AFP. “We’ve played some good cricket in Indian conditions before so we can go there now with confidence.”Australia will have the services of young talent like Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson for the tournament. In the DLF Cup in Malaysia, Australia’s last one-day tournament, Watson opened the batting in two matches, scoring a 79-ball 74 against India in a match that eventually got washed out. Apart from that he bagged seven wickets from four games at an average of 16.42.Ponting said that the experimentation with the batting-order had been successful. “It’s been a really good exercise. Having had a look at a few extra players in different roles, we have lots of different bases covered.”We’ve got a pretty good structure in place and if each guy looks after themselves and keeps trying to make themselves better day in and day out, then we will go a long way in the Champions Trophy.”Glen McGrath, Australia’s key bowler for many years, coming back from a long lay-off to be with his recuperating wife, had a poor outing in Malaysia, getting one wicket from four games. Yet he felt that he was heading in the right direction. “India is probably the toughest conditions for a fast bowler,” he said. “The wickets are pretty flat over there and the conditions are reasonably pleasant to bowl in.”Australia play their first game of the Champions Trophy on October 18 in Mumbai against one of the two qualifiers from the preliminary round

50 overs Australia 6 for 262 (Gilchrist 66, Ponting 58; Muralitharan 2-30) beat Sri Lanka 178 all out (Jayawardene 61, Sangakkara 58; Hogg 5-41) by 84 runs
Scorecard

Sydney or Dambulla, fast pitch or slow turner, pace bowler or spinner,Australia appear to care little. Despite unfamiliar conditions and an indifferent, much-talked, record on the subcontinent, it was very much businessas usual for Australia in their opening match against Sri Lanka on Fridayevening: their batsmen rattled up 6 for 262, a record score at Dambulla,their fielders hit the stumps, and their bowlers proved far too mean andpenetrative.Sri Lanka threatened briefly thanks to a valiant 121-run stand for thefourth wicket between Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, but their twindeparture in the space of seven balls triggered a spectacular collapse. BradHogg snapped up five wickets for 41 runs, career-best figures, as Sri Lanka threw away their last five wickets for 12 runs to lose by 84.Australia controlled the match from the time Ricky Ponting won the toss andelected to bat first. This helped them avoid three-and-half-hours inscorching 35 C heat, and gave them best use of a slow pitch. AdamGilchrist (66) and Matthew Hayden (40) capitalised fully, adding 104 from110 balls for the first wicket, their 11th century stand together.As expected, Sri Lanka quickly turned to their spinners – their seamers onlybowled six overs in the innings – but Gilchrist and Hayden, after a brieflull, were soon ticking along comfortably. Gilchrist, who rushed to his 37th fifty from just 44 balls, was the more aggressive, unafraid to take the aerialroute against the slower bowlers.Upul Chandana, who finished up with 2 for 47 from his 10 overs, brought Sri Lanka back into the game as Gilchrist danced down the wicket and skeweda catch to Marvan Atapattu at cover. Moments later, Atapattu was back inaction with a diving, underarm flick to run out Mathew Hayden (2 for 114).Had Jayasuriya been able to gather a wayward return at the non-striker’s endwith Ponting, on 13, still struggling to regain his ground, Sri Lanka mighthave pulled themselves right back into the game. But Ponting and DamienMartyn settled and consolidated. Patiently, they milked 75 runs from 101 balls.

Chandana once again provided the breathrough after returning for a secondspell. Martyn poked back a return catch and Chandana, tumbling aroundPonting’s bootstraps, snaffled the chance on the second attempt. Pontingdeparted soon after, lofting a catch to long-on (4 for 207).With Muttiah Muralitharan grabbing a couple of wickets – he finished with 2for 30 and troubled all the batsmen, especially with his wrong ‘un – SriLanka kept the lid on the Australian innings during the later stages, untilthe final over when Andrew Symonds cut loose, flogging three foursand a six over long-on off Jayasuriya to finish with 37 from 20 balls.Sri Lanka needed a good start, preferably one of their turbo-chargedspecialities. But Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana were both run out in thespace of four deliveries to leave them in dire trouble. Jayasuriyastarted the slide with a sloppy blind turn for two that belied the experience of 309 caps – a Sri Lankan record, surpassing Aravinda de Silva. Kaluwitharana followed next over as Atapattu unwisely gambled on Ponting’s arm from cover (2 for 13).It got worse for Sri Lanka as Atapattu, pushing forward tentatively, wasdeceived by some late movement and clean bowled by Jason Gillespie, whobowled a probing and economical spell with the new ball (6-2-14-1).The near-capacity crowd, many of who had sneaked off work for the weekendand traveled up from Colombo, were quiet and apparently resigned todefeat. But gradually, Sangakkara and Jayawardene repaired the early damageand built up some momentum against Australia’s second-string bowlers.Sangakkara reached his 10th fifty off 75 balls, and Jayawardene, forced tobat with a runner because of leg cramps, passed fifty for the 19th time soon after as Sri Lanka reached the final 20 overs needing 133 for victory.However, Brett Lee returned to the attack and choose an opportune time toclaim his 150th wicket in one-dayers, as Sangakkara feathered a catch behind (4 for 145). Minutes later, Jaywardene also departed as he edged a well-flighted offbreak onto his stumps to leave Sri Lanka pinned back on the ropes (5 for 147).With the run rate spiralling out of control – they needed 97 from the final 10 overs – wickets tumbled: Chandana (9), somewhat unfortunately, was trapped lbw; Vaas (0) edged to slip; Kumar Dharmasena (0) was stumped; Nuwan Kulasekera (0) was bowled and Muralitharan was brilliantly caught in the deep by Lee diving forward. By then, the stuffing had long since been knocked out of the Sri Lankans by an Australian team that just can’t stop winning.

16 wickets fell in a frenetic first day at the Rose Bowl, where the two bottom clubs Hampshire and Derbyshire met in the Division Two clash of the Frizzell County Championship.The warm weather spell continued as John Crawley chose to bat first, it was a decision he had to rue later as he saw his side capitulate to the bowling of Dominic Cork. The cloud cover and humidity helped him and the other Derbyshire seamers to make the ball swing, and it was Crawley himself who held up the progress with a spirited 49.Troubled with a back injury after completing a third run, he had to have treatment on the field, then latterly used a runner (James Adams).Iain Brunnschweiler and Chris Tremlett hit 39 late runs but the total of 143 was woefully short.Chaminda Vaas playing his first Championship match for Hampshire took the first three wickets to fall. Batting was not easy and slow progress was made by the visitors in building a short lead. Dimitri Mascarenhas bowled 9 overs after tea conceding just two runs for one wicket.Shaun Udal making the odd ball turn then finished the day with 2 wickets including in the last over the vital wicket of the Derbyshire skipper Dominic Cork.

Close Bangladesh 361 and 52 for 4 lead Pakistan 295 all out (Taufeeq 75, Youhana 64*, Rafique 5-118, Kapali 3-3) by 118 runs
Scorecard Day 2 Bulletin

Twelve wickets tumbled in a pulsating day of Test cricket as Bangladesh grabbed the initiative, and then saw it slip away in the final 75 minutes of play. There was a hat-trick for Alok Kapali, a first-innings lead for Bangladesh – both being firsts for them in Tests – and a heroic bowling performance by Mohammad Rafique, but Pakistan fought back with four wickets in Bangladesh’s second innings. The end result of all the frenetic action was that Bangladesh – 66 runs in the lead after the first innings – ended the third day at Peshawar on 52 for 4, an overall lead of 118.Kapali will probably hog the headlines in the morning papers for taking the last three wickets in Pakistan’s innings off successive balls, but the hero for Bangladesh was Rafique, who toiled relentlessly through the first two sessions. He bowled 29 overs out of the 60 bowled by his team in the first two sessions, and thoroughly deserved figures of 5 for 118 – only his second five-for in Tests.Bangladesh’s only win in an ODI against a Test-playing nation had come against Pakistan; now, faced with the prospect of being their first victim in Tests, Pakistan, lead by Shoaib Akhtar, hit back in the field. Javed Omar, centurion in the first innings, was snaffled by Rashid Latif for a duck in the first over (7 for 1). Hannan Sarkar followed soon after, edging a drive to slip (20 for 2).Habibul Bashar counter-attacked in typical fashion with a breezy 28, before Pakistan struck again with two wickets in consecutive balls: Mohammad Ashraful nicked to first slip off Danish Kaneria (43 for 3), while Umar Gul trapped Bashar in front with the first ball off the next over. Kapali and Rajin Saleh hung on grimly before bad light intervened.

Earlier, Rafique and Kapali combined to hand a definite advantage to Bangladesh at the half-way stage of the match. Resuming at 134 for 2, Taufeeq Umar and Inzamam-ul-Haq were restricted to a mere 25 runs from 13 overs in the first hour, before Umar nicked the first ball after the drinks break to Khaled Mashud (159 for 3). Rafique then nailed Inzamam, getting through his defences after Inzamam had battled 137 balls for 43 (178 for 4).Latif and Youhana wrested back the initiative with a 64-run stand, but Bangladesh never eased the pressure in the field. Rafique struck twice in quick succession, having Latif stumped for 40 (242 for 5) and Shoaib Malik lbw. Khaled Mahmud then dismissed Shoaib Akhtar, before conjuring up a masterstroke: he tossed the ball to Kapali.Kapali didn’t take long to vindicate the faith reposed by his captain. The fifth ball of his first over had Shabbir Ahmed spooning a catch to Mashrafe Mortaza at mid-off (289 for 8). Next ball, Kaneria was adudged lbw when he shouldered arms to a straight ball which was clearly missing off stump. The first ball of Kapali’s next over was another straight one, this time spearing in towards off stump. Gul played no stroke, umpire Russel Tiffin upheld the appeal, and all the Bangladesh players gathered around in a huddle to celebrate a special moment, even as Youhana cut a forlorn figure, unbeaten on 64.At the change of innings, Bangladesh clearly had Pakistan on the mat, before the Shoaib Akhtar-led late strikes levelled things for Pakistan. If Bangladesh manage to add about 130 more, they could yet be sniffing their first Test win.

Tasmania 322 and 2 for 105 (Watson 56*) trail New South Wales 462 (Bevan 216, Thornely 81, Katich 53) by 35 runs
Scorecard

Michael Bevan made his highest first-class score to give New South Wales first-innings points in their Pura Cup match against Tasmania at the SCG today.After Bevan guided NSW to a mammoth first-innings total of 426, Tasmania were 2 for 105 in their second innings at stumps on day three, still 35 runs behind NSW.Resuming on 110, Bevan made it to 216 when he was caught by Sean Clingeleffer off Dan Marsh. Bevan faced 416 balls in all, hitting 30 fours and a six. He combined in crucial partnerships with Dominic Thornely, who scored 81, and with Brett Lee. Those two stands, worth 163 and 100 runs respectively, ensured NSW a healthy total after struggling at 2 for 29 on the second day.Xavier Doherty finished with figures of 4 for 142 from 40.4 overs in a tidy effort which contained everybody except Bevan, Thornely and Simon Katich (53).Bevan’s century was the 59th of his first-class career, and has boosted him to 16,754 runs from 213 appearances.Resuming today on 4 for 255, NSW lost Thornely, Nathan Pilon, Lee, Nathan Bracken and Liam Zammit, but still led by 140 runs on the first innings after Tasmania’s total of 322.At stumps, Shane Watson was unbeaten on 56 for Tasmania after Lee trapped Jamie Cox lbw for a duck.

Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has warned Shoaib Akhtar that his international career could be over unless he improves his behaviour.

Zia, who rarely minces his words, left no-one in any doubt about his opinion of Shoaib, the world’s quickest bowler. “Let me make this clear,” he said. “If Shoaib does not improve his behaviour and general discipline, he has no place in the team … his cricket is finished.”Shoaib, 27, was one of eight players dropped after the World Cup, although he has since earned a reprieve, after being drafted into a preliminary squad of 21 for Pakistan’s one-day triangular series in Sri Lanka. During the World Cup match against England at Cape Town, he bowled one ball at Nick Knight that was clocked at more than 100mph, but the majority of his recent headlines have centred on irresponsible behaviour and indiscipline.Zia stressed there was no place in the Pakistan team for players not willing to give 100% commitment. “Regardless of whatever the selectors might think or plan, in my book, if Shoaib can’t improve his attitude and become more focused on cricket, his career is over. The Board and myself have supported him all along and spent a lot of money on his welfare, even when match officials reported his action.Shoaib, who was reported three times for throwing before it was discovered he has an abnormally flexible elbow, has a long history of clashes with team managers. “He was allowed a lot of latitude because we thought he was a genuine match-winner,” said Zia. “But he let the country down badly in the World Cup.”