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South Australia have signed Shahid Afridi for the Twenty20 Big Bash this summer as a replacement for the spinner Ajantha Mendis. The Redbacks had announced the recruitment of Mendis in July but he is now unavailable due to Sri Lanka’s planned tri-series with India and Bangladesh in January.”It is a big opportunity and will help me gear up for next year’s one-day internationals against Australia and then in the World Twenty20 where we have to defend our title,” Afridi told AFP. “I have heard that West Indian Kieron Pollard will also play in the Twenty20 tournament in Australia, so it will be very exciting and I hope that I am able to entertain the Australian crowd.”South Australia’s Big Bash campaign begins on December 29, when Pakistan will be involved in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. However, Afridi has not played Test cricket since 2006 and is not expected to feature in their Test squad, which would leave him free to take part in the majority of the Twenty20 competition. “For the time being I want to concentrate on one-dayers and Twenty20 internationals to improve myself so that we can defend our World Twenty20 title successfully,” Afridi said.”He’s a very dynamic hitter,” Jamie Cox, South Australia’s high performance manager said. “It’s probably more his bowling that we’re really keen on. He’s become a fantastic legspin bowler over the past four or five years, he’s really matured as a bowler. That’s probably the greatest opportunity for us with three home games particularly, to replace a very good world spinner with another one.”Afridi should be a valuable Twenty20 asset for South Australia; he was the player of the tournament at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and averages 21.05 with the bat and 15.73 with the ball from his 24 Twenty20 internationals. Other international signings for the Big Bash include Chris Gayle (Western Australia) and Dwayne Bravo (Victoria).Lasith Malinga was to join Tasmania and Victoria had attracted Muttiah Muralitharan but both men are likely to be unavailable for the same reason as Mendis. The West Indies allrounder Kieron Pollard is on New South Wales’ radar and the states have until Christmas Eve to confirm up to two international recruits.

ScorecardThe opener James Smith scored his maiden first-class century to put South Australia in a strong position at stumps on the second day against Tasmania. At the close, the Redbacks had reached 4 for 225 and were only 11 shy of Tasmania’s total, with Mark Cosgrove well set on 46 and Graham Manou on 2.The strong reply was set up by Smith, who was playing his fifth first-class match. He struck 20 fours in his 116 before he became the second of three wickets for Jason Krejza, who also picked up Tom Cooper for 11 late in the day. Smith and Cosgrove had combined for a 78-run stand that continued the impressive work started by Smith and Daniel Harris in their 94-run opening partnership.There was little for the Tigers to celebrate on the second day, although an impressive innings from their debutant wicketkeeper Brady Jones was a rare highlight. Jones top scored with an unbeaten 45 batting at No. 9 in the Tigers’ innings of 236 but he had little support.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has written to the Indian government and asked whether it backs the BCCI’s stand against the ‘whereabouts’ clause in the amended anti-dope code.”We’ve taken it up with the appropriate Indian authorities and made a request to see if the Indian government supports the stand taken by the BCCI,” John Fahey, the WADA president, said. “There has been some exchange of correspondence but we haven’t got anything conclusive. But when we do receive an official response from the Indian government, we are quite prepared to disclose that view in whatever form that takes.”Fahey hoped that the issue would be sorted out during the ICC’s chief executive’s meeting in early October, during the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa. Fahey added that countries should ideally not reveal the players in the registered testing pool.”It is helpful any sport keeps that to themselves, they should decide who should be on the registered testing pool and they should make their rules about what that might be,” Fahey said. “Having said that, any athlete can be tested anywhere any time. I’ve to stress that again whether you are part of the registered testing pool or not, that’s part of the WADA code.”He added that “the element of surprise” in the clause is essential for out of competition tests.The ICC implemented the new WADA code from January 1 and that included a clause which mandated cricketers nominated to an international testing pool to reveal to an ICC-nominated officer before every quarter details of their location for an hour every day for the next three months to facilitate out-of-competition testing.This whereabouts system was to start from August 1 but was stalled after the 11 Indian cricketers in the pool, including Sachin Tendulkar, refused to reveal the required information citing security and privacy concerns. The BCCI has backed the players in this issue and even sought the opinion of two top legal authorities in the country to firm up its stand. It is believed that the BCCI now has significant support from other ICC full members on this issue.

Raj Singh Dungarpur, the former BCCI president, has died aged 73 following a prolonged illness. He represented Rajasthan as a medium-pacer for 16 seasons starting in 1955, but he was better known as an administrator, who held top positions in Indian cricket.He was the BCCI’s president for three years from 1996, served as the chairman of the national selection committee (including when Sachin Tendulkar was first picked in the Indian team in 1989), and was also the Indian team manager on several tours, including the victorious trip to England in 1986. He was also president of the prestigious Cricket Club of India for 13 years.Rajbhai, as he was affectionately known, was the youngest son of Maharawal Lakshman Singhji, the ruler of Dungarpur. He took 206 wickets at 28.84 for Rajasthan in 86 first-class matches before retiring and focusing on cricket administration.The Indian board paid tribute to the work done by Dungarpur, calling him a ‘visionary’ for his role in setting up the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.”It is a great loss to Indian cricket. Rajbhai served Indian cricket diligently and with distinction, in several capacities,” BCCI president Shashank Manohar said. “He was a self-effacing individual who always put the sport, and Indian cricket in particular, above everything else.”

Offspinner Gareth Batty has rejoined Surrey from Worcestershire, signing a three-year contract from next season having left the county in 2001.The addition of Batty will strengthen Surrey’s spin attack, adding to Chris Schofield and Simon King who are already in the squad.”Getting Gareth on board will certainly bring healthy competition for bowling places within the squad,” said Chris Adams, the Surrey manager. “Having several options within the spin department is integral to a successful team and I now feel confident that we have a lot of depth there now.”Batty, 31, already had a stint at The Oval from 1998 to 2001, but moved to New Road where he has taken 318 wickets with an average of 33.37 and hopes the move will boost his international chances.”I still have aspirations to get back playing Tests for England again and I feel that the move to Surrey will help me do that,” he saidBatty has played seven Tests for England having made his debut against Bangladesh in 2003 and was part of the one-day squad that toured the Caribbean earlier this year.

For a man quite literally on his last leg, Andrew Flintoff is doing a mighty fine job of staving off the reports of his imminent demise. First with the ball at Lord’s, and now with the bat at his favourite venue, Edgbaston, he has seized the momentum of two pivotal days’ cricket, and bent them to suit his will. When Andrew Strauss dared to tempt fate and declare before the match that the Australians no longer have an aura, he was doing so in the comfortable knowledge that so long as Flintoff remains fit and in England’s starting line-up, they possess the single biggest character on either side.By the close of a fourth day as packed with intrigue as any so far in this series, the frailties in Australia’s Ashes campaign had been further exposed to the elements – even in a final session when England, by Flintoff’s own admission, bowled some way short of their best. Nearly two days of rain delays have left them needing a dramatic run of dominance to have any chance of a 2-0 lead by Monday’s close, but as James Anderson and Graham Onions showed by claiming 7 for 77 in the first session on Friday, there are ways and means to tighten the screw in the current climate.”We’ve played some good cricket so far in this game, so there’s a belief and some quiet confidence, but we know it’s going to be tough,” Flintoff said. “We have an attack that is capable, it’s just a matter of showing it. We might have started a little better with the ball [tonight], but we managed to get the breakthrough, and we’re in a decent position going into tomorrow.”As it happens, Flintoff’s contribution with the ball was as muted as it is possible to be when bowling at 90-plus mph. For the second innings running he reverted to his less-than-ideal splice-beating length, and after failing to take a wicket in his first 19 overs of the match, he self-deprecatingly stated his only role was to remove the lacquer on the new ball for Anderson and Onions to start it swinging at around the 30-over mark.”It would be easy to say my knee’s hurting and that I had a shocker, and blame it all on my knee,” he said. “But so far in this Test I’ve not bowled as well as I’d like, and I’m not making excuses for that. It’s no secret I’ve got a bit of a dicky knee, but I can still bowl at decent pace and I can still run in. I’ll bowl whatever overs Straussy wants me to, and in between Tests I’ll rest up. I want to play in every Test of this series and it would have to be something very serious for me not to.”Flintoff’s mobility and determination were instead demonstrated with the bat in hand, as he reverted to his old self in a much more rewarding sense, by thumping hard and straight to rack up only his second Test half-century in two-and-a-half years, and his highest score since Sydney in January 2007. “It would have been nice to have got a century,” he said, as he lamented getting out without playing a stroke when Nathan Hauritz spun one into his gloves. “But if someone had said I’d get 70-odd I’d have taken it.”More than the runs he scored, however – 74 off 79 balls – the most crucial aspect of Flintoff’s performance was the message it emitted. By the time he was dismissed having added 141 in 24 overs with Matt Prior and Stuart Broad, his exploits had ignited a passion in the stands that has been unmatched all series. It is not a coincidence that Flintoff now averages exactly 50 in Tests at Edgbaston, a run of scores that include his highest in Tests, 167 against West Indies in 2004, and that brace of 68 and 73 against Australia in his defining performance four years ago. He thrives on the adulation of his fans, and they in turn feed from his exploits. When it’s all in harmony, it is English cricket’s perfect symbiotic relationship.”It’s probably the best atmosphere you play in, in the country,” Flintoff said. “Headingley will be different again, but at Edgbaston they’ve always got behind the side from start to finish. It has helped us in the past and I’m sure it’ll help tomorrow. I’m sure ticket sales have gone through the roof, and we’ll be playing in front of a full house tomorrow.” As many as 11,000 seats were still available this morning, but seeing as the ticket office website had crashed in mid-afternoon, it’s safe to suggest that a fair few of those have now gone.Andrew Flintoff said the banter between England and Australia was in “good spirit”•Getty Images

Those who turned up to cheer Flintoff’s exploits were rewarded with the sight of England as a unit getting fully stuck into their opponents – again, no doubt as a result of the passions being pumped through the stadium. While the booing of Ricky Ponting when he came out to bat was regarded in some quarters as unjustifiable jingoism, the overall effect was to push Australia firmly onto the defensive, mentally and competitively, as Mitchell Johnson’s ongoing torment once again proved.Today was unquestionably Johnson’s best of a miserable series. He bowled fast and straight and claimed two good wickets, including Ian Bell at the third attempt. But he was also clobbered at nearly five runs an over, as England’s tail took their lead from Flintoff and Prior, and kept attacking with bat and body-language. One ferociously entertaining over from Johnson included an eyeball-to-eyeball encounter with Stuart Broad, whose own bowling has lacked a similar degree of confidence to Johnson’s, but whose mental approach has not been seen to waver in the slightest.”I don’t think there’s any fear,” Flintoff said of Australia’s reaction to England’s attacking mentality. “It’s just competitive, isn’t it? There are two sides out there in the middle, and it obviously means a lot to each side from the way the game’s being played, but it’s all in good spirit. I’m sure when it’s seen [from the sidelines] everyone starts thinking what’s going on, but there’s no point making a meal of it. The lads are going at it hard, the Australians as well. They play it tough.”The fifth and final day ought, in all honesty, to be a draw, but somehow even Ashes draws end up being classics in their own right. From Sydney 1994-95, via Brisbane 1998-99, to Old Trafford, The Oval and Cardiff of recent vintage, there has hardly been a dull denouement on display. “We’ve worked hard in the Test so far,” said Flintoff. “We’ve lost some time to rain, but going into tomorrow, that first session will be massive for both of us. If we can start well, we can put some pressure on Australia, and we can win the Test match. However, if they can get through to lunch unscathed, they’ll think they’ll be doing alright.”Going into the last day at Lord’s [last week] we only needed five wickets, so we knew if we got a breakthrough we were strong favourites to do pretty well, “he added. “But tomorrow, there’s still [Michael] Clarke to come in and [Marcus] North, there’s still some fine players and it’s not going to be easy. Both sides’ patience is going to be tested by attritional cricket, but hopefully we can stick to our guns, start well, and be sitting pretty tomorrow night.”

Former Pakistan players have blamed the side’s unexpected loss to Sri Lanka in the Galle Test on poor team composition, with Moin Khan and Sarfraz Nawaz questioning the absence of Fawad Alam, a left-hand batsman who also bowls left-arm spin, from the XI.”[Alam] scored 80 odd runs in the warm-up game, he’s also an excellent fielder and a player who can also bowl left-arm spin, I fail to understand why he was left out,” Moin, a former captain, told .Pakistan were set 168 to win the Test and began day four needing 97 with eight wickets in hand. They proceeded to lose all eight for 46 runs in the first session.Former fast bowler Sarfraz criticised captain Younis Khan’s decision to bring himself on in the first session of the Test and said key bowlers Abdul Razzaq and Danish Kaneria had been left out. “I was watching the [batting] collapse on television and told myself ‘maybe its just a dream, the real match will begin afterwards,'” Nawaz said. “It was unbelievable the way our batting collapsed, I was not expecting such a performance. Where was Abdul Razzaq, where was Fawad Alam, where was Danish Kaneria?”Ijaz Ahmed, the former Pakistan batsman, said there was a psychological problem with the side’s batsmen when it came to chasing small totals and suggested a batting coach. “Both coaches [Intikhab Alam and Aaqib Javed] are bowlers so it leaves only captain Younis Khan and… vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq to guide other batsmen,” Ijaz told . “I think we should have a batting coach who can teach the finer points of the game to our batsmen.”

The 2011 World Cup, to be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, is expected to cost the ICC between US$40 million to $50 million according to reports.The quoted Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer and tournament director, on the figures after he and representatives of other member countries attended a preliminary meeting with ICC commercial manager Jamie Campbell and events manager Christopher Tetley.”All the expenses are to be borne by the ICC,” Shetty said. “The representatives of the member countries were told by the ICC representatives how to take care of the expenses.”Shetty said each country will prepare an individual budget and then a combined budget will be presented to the Central Organising Committee to meet in London in June.

South Africa 113 for 4 (Gibbs 48) beat Sri Lanka 109 for 9 (Botha 2-9, Kallis 2-12)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMahela Jayawardene gets in a tangle as Sri Lanka collapse at Lord’s•Associated Press

South Africa made heavy weather of chasing down Sri Lanka’s disappointing total of 109 for 9 in their final warm-up match at Lord’s ahead of next week’s ICC World Twenty20, but they eventually eased home with five balls and six wickets to spare, thanks largely to a third-wicket stand of 70 between Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers.Having been drawn in the toughest group, alongside West Indies and Australia (whom they face in their opening fixture at Trent Bridge on Monday), Sri Lanka will need to raise their game considerably if they hope to progress in the competition. After batting first they were reduced to 44 for 7 at the halfway mark of their innings, as first the pace of Dale Steyn and then the variations of Jacques Kallis and Johan Botha proved too much for their disorientated batsmen.Then in reply, despite being given a flying start by Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekera, who claimed the big wickets of Graeme Smith and Kallis in the first nine deliveries of South Africa’s innings, Sri Lanka let the game slip away from them with a spate of dropped catches. Gibbs was missed twice by Farvez Maharoof in the space of his first ten balls – the first a fizzer at square leg, the second a regulation spoon over extra cover – and then again on 15, when Tillakaratne Dilshan at short cover couldn’t cling onto an inside-out drive.They were mistakes that Sri Lanka could ill afford, given how poorly they had batted earlier in the day, and though both de Villiers and Gibbs fell with the victory in sight – the latter bowled by the returning Malinga for 48 from 53 – the remaining 10 runs were easily hunted down by JP Duminy and Mark Boucher.”It was a different sort of surface from Trent Bridge, and we were facing different bowlers,” said Gibbs after the match. “It was a little bit slower, and it held up back of a length, so we had to generate our own pace. Coming from the wickets in South Africa, you can’t just come in and time every ball perfectly. But that’s what practice is for. We needed one or two partnerships, but luckily someone batted through most of the innings to get us home.”The main man of South Africa’s performance, however, was Steyn, whose aggression pushed the Sri Lankans onto the defensive from the first over. Though his third delivery of the match was clipped majestically over midwicket for six by Dilshan, Steyn responded with a slower ball from his very next delivery, which was lobbed gently to Gibbs at short cover.Sanath Jayasuriya, his form on the wane after a lacklustre IPL, then fell across his stumps to be trapped lbw for 1 in Steyn’s second over, and four balls later, Mubarak foolishly took on Gibbs in the covers, and was run out by a pinpoint flick at the non-striker’s end.At 16 for 3 in the third over, Sri Lanka’s innings was already in a tangle, and though Sangakkara cracked three fours in six balls to apply a touch of momentum, he could do nothing about the seepage of wickets at the other end. Mahela Jayawardene missed with a reverse sweep and had his off stump flattened by Botha, before Boucher pulled off a screaming one-handed catch in front of first slip to remove Chamara Silva in Kallis’ second over.Sangakkara was the next to join the procession, as Botha came round the wicket to pin him plumb in front of the stumps for 17, before Indika de Saram plopped a simple catch to Smith at mid-off. At the halfway point of the innings, Sri Lanka were 44 for 7, and the game was already over.Angelo Mathews and Maharoof loitered in a stand of 31 from 35 balls for the eighth wicket to give Sri Lanka something of a total. But for their butterfingers – and had Muttiah Muralitharan also been playing – they might have had a chance of defending the indefensible.

Division One

1st dayRyan Sidebottom gave the England selectors a reminder of his abilities with two economical wickets for Nottinghamshire, but it was the New Zealander Andre Adams who caused Lancashire so much difficulty, picking up 4 for 49 on the opening day at Old Trafford. Sidebottom, returning after his Achilles injury, removed both the openers as they prodded forward while Luke Fletcher, making his debut, also grabbed two. Only Ashwell Prince threatened to dominate, bringing up his fifty from 103 balls before going on to make 74. Steven Croft bashed 31 from 61, but Lancashire were rolled for an underwhelming 189 in the 73rd over. In reply, Nottinghamshire reached 52 for 1.Sean Ervine’s 109 and 74 from Nic Pothas led Hampshire to a composed 341 for 8 on the first day against Sussex Southampton. It was Ervine’s first ton for two years and ensured Hampshire had a base around which their innings – which was wobbling at one stage on 145 for 4 – could be launched. Ervine reached his hundred – only his second for the club – from 136 balls and put on 150 with Pothas, though Ervine fell to a rare spell of bowling from Ed Joyce, Sussex’s new signing from Middlesex. Sussex clawed back some of the momentum when Corey Collymore picked up two wickets in three overs, but Hampshire strolled off much the happier side.2nd dayFor a full report from the second day between Somerset and Durham at Taunton click here.For a full report from the second day between Yorkshire and Worcestershire at Headingley click here.

Division Two

First dayJames Foster cracked 95 while Matt Walker made 98 against his former county as Essex enjoyed the best of the first day against Kent at Chelmsford. Essex were in some difficulty at 115 for 4 after Wayne Parnell, the South Africa allrounder, picked up two early wickets on his county debut, but Foster and Walker put on a vital fifth-wicket stand of 194 before Walker was trapped leg-before by Robbie Joseph, two short of what would have been his maiden ton for his new team. At stumps, Essex were 330 for 7.Second dayEoin Morgan showed his talent with an unbeaten 114 while Phillips Hughes stroked his way to his second hundred in three innings, as Middlesex dominated the second day’s play against Leicestershire at Southgate. Resuming overnight on 99 Hughes had to wait a little as rain delayed the start, but soon took a quick single to gully to bring up his ton. Morgan then stole the show in the afternoon with a selection of audacious strokes, including two huge pulled sixes. After Morgan registering his 134-ball hundred, Tim Murtagh smashed 51 from 71 balls as Middlesex declared on an imposing 493 for 7. Steve Finn, the highly-rated fast bowler who was returning from an ankle injury, didn’t take the new ball but made an immediate impact for Middlesex as he surprised Leicestershire with his pace, nicking out three wickets in a hostile spell. Tom New batted calmly for his fifty but fell for 66, with Leicestershire tottering on 161 for 5.Young left-arm spinner Vikram Banerjee took four wickets, along with Steve Kirby, as Gloucestershire rolled Northamptonshire for just 161 on the second day at Wantage Road. Kirby and Jon Lewis made regular breakthroughs, and even had brief the assistance of their coach, John Bracewell, on the field due to a string of overnight injuries. Nicky Boje offered some resistance with a fiery 58, which included a huge six over the top, but Banerjee made good Kirby’s work with a fine spell of controlled spin, aided by useful close-quarter catching as Northamptonshire folded. Gloucestershire then raced to 105 with the loss of William Porterfield for a first-ball duck, as Hamish Marshall scorched 68 from 76 balls to give the visitors a lead of 238.Glamorgan made up for lost time by declaring on an imposing 403 for 6 against Derbyshire on the second day at Cardiff. Jamie Dalrymple and Mike Powell both hit hundreds – Dalrymple reach three figures for the second Championship innings running – while Tom Maynard, son of Matthew, stroked his maiden Championship 50 from just 62 balls. James Harris then ensured it was Glamorgan’s day, removing both Steve Stubbings and Wavell Hinds leg-before as Derbyshire limped to the close on 37 for 2.