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Brad Hodge has been included in Australia’s 13-man squad for the three-match Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in New Zealand next month. Michael Lewis, the Victoria fast bowler, is the other new face in the squad while Brad Hogg, the left-arm chinaman bowler, will make his return after recovering from a knee injury and Glenn McGrath will be rested.Hodge made his Test debut in the second match against West Indies at Hobart and replaced Damien Martyn, who was recovering from a broken finger. Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, praised Hodge for his consistency and was confident that he would “do the job in the one-day side”.Injuries to several players – Shane Watson, James Hopes and Martyn – caused a number of changes to the side that played in the Super Series against the World XI. Cameron White, the allrounder, and Stuart Clark, the fast bowler, retained their positions. Lewis, a national contract holder, was rewarded for some consistent performances in the first-class arena.”Michael has also been a very solid performer for Victoria for a very long time,” Hohns said. “We have every confidence and faith that he will do a good job for us in the series and he thoroughly deserves his opportunity.”McGrath will remain in Australia during the Chappell-Hadlee series with the selectors keen to manage his workload ahead of the South Africa Tests. The first one-day match is at Auckland on December 3 with games also in Wellington and Christchurch.Australian squad Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist (wk), Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Mike Hussey, Simon Katich, Michael Lewis, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds, Cameron White.

Nike has signed a $43-million deal to kit out the Indian team after outbidding rivals Reebok and Adidas, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Friday.The five-year contract, which starts on January 1, 2006, also gives Nike the rights to sell the BCCI’s official merchandise at its retail outlets across the country.Nike’s bid for 1.97 billion rupees topped Reebok’s offer of 1.19 billion rupees and Adidas’s bid of 1.28 billion rupees, BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi said. “The aim was to maximise the gains from the game for the benefit of the game,” he explained. “The BCCI is looking at exploring new sources of revenue and would soon open itself to product merchandising, ground sponsorship and other licensing as part of its strategy to market the game.”Nike’s coup follows the BCCI’s tie-up this week with Sahara India group to be the official sponsor of the Indian team for four years at a whopping $70 million.

Stephen Fleming admits that it is healthy for him to be aware of Daniel Vettori, New Zealand’s recent stand-in captain, and his obvious capabilities at the helm of affairs.Vettori replaced an injured Fleming as captain for the recent Chappell-Hadlee Trophy against Australia, and led New Zealand in the first two matches against Sri Lanka this past week while Fleming was on paternity leave. He proved a more-than-capable replacement in these five matches, and eyebrows have been raised as to Fleming’s durability after an eight-year period in office.Maintaining that it was in New Zealand’s interest to have such talented leadership options available ahead of the World Cup in 2007, Fleming said he was keen to prove that he has much to offer. “It’s important to be pricked in the sense that a challenger like Dan will bring the best out of me,” Fleming said to the yesterday. “But I think we both captain the side in a similar way, simply because we’ve played so much of our cricket together. I don’t feel threatened, but I know that Dan’s development as a leader will be very important for New Zealand cricket’s future.”Returning to the captaincy for today’s match against Sri Lanka at Wellington, Fleming said that team-building and tactics remained his priorities. “We are looking at the development of the side,” he said. “That’s been one of the key themes since I’ve been away and now there’s an opportunity to tweak our tactics on the field, as a lot of people have been advocating. We don’t want to compromise our chances of winning, but we’ve got in our minds that this is a chance to continue the development of the team, and individuals within it.”Fleming also showed support for Chris Cairns who, despite picking up his 200th one-day international wicket at Christchurch, continued to prove one of New Zealand’s most expensive front-line bowlers recently. “He probably hasn’t bowled as well as he would have liked but I don’t think he’s far away from a three-for-30-type effort,” he said. “I’m not alarmed … I look forward to discussing that with him.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq has termed Virender Sehwag as a “major threat” ahead of the home series against India but is confident that his bowlers can restrict the Indian batsmen and win the series for Pakistan.”Although I would say India start off as favourites simply because they’ve a more experienced and mature all-round side, I’m confident that our bowlers can win the series for us because they are in good form. What gives me confidence is that Shoaib Akhtar has bowled splendidly in the recent series against England while Danish Kaneria showed in just two spells that he is our most improved and effective bowler. Plus the other bowlers have backed these two with some solid and disciplined performances and that’s indeed heartening when you are preparing to take on a strong Indian side.”The fact that our bowlers are bowling well now is significant because when India last came here in 2004 and won the Tests and one-dayers our bowlers, specially Shoaib and Danish, were not in good form. Our bowling was also better when we went to India last year and we fared better then we had done at home. Which is why we are quietly confident of restricting their batsmen despite their impressive track record.”Inzamam, who has played 105 Tests and 351 ODIs noted that for some reason or the other Pakistan had in the last two years not been able to field a full and 100 percent-fit pace attack. “We did this against England and beat them even though Shabbir was sitting out after being reported for his action.”Shoaib, in particular, has changed a lot and he is now a more focused, disciplined and hungry bowler and his performances have lifted the other bowlers as well. Against England he didn’t take wickets all the time but every time he produced an inspired spell the others came and took wickets. Shoaib — all said and done — has a reputation as a fast strike bowler and that does add to the pressure on the batsmen. He knows now that you don’t just scare top batsmen, you plan them out,” he said.”To be honest I don’t think any batsman would feel comfortable facing Shoaib in his current form. But the bottom line is our bowlers will have to retain the same qualities of discipline and line and length which they showed against England to be successful against the Indians,” he noted.Inzamam, who has scored 8,052 Test and 11,141 one-day runs, said when the Pakistan players meet for the short conditioning camp in Lahore from Thursday strategies for the coming series would obviously be discussed. “Bob [Woolmer] is joining us on the 7th after which we’ll sit down and discuss every Indian player individually. I think we’ve the bowling and fielding to restrict even someone like Tendulkar despite his greatness and outstanding record. We’ve seen his innings against Sri Lanka recently and we know what to do. The main thing is that our bowlers have bowled a lot to him in the last two years so they also know how to bowl to someone like him.”We see Virender Sehwag as a major threat because he is such a free flowing player that once he gets set in he can demoralise any team rapidly. Devising ways to get him out early would be a challenge for us. He is one player who bowlers don’t like bowling too because of his unorthodox approach and quick eye,” Inzamam said.Sehwag scored a triple hundred in the first Test when he last toured Pakistan two years ago and also made a double hundred against them in Bangalore Test last year. “The Indians have a formidable batting line-up and when you play against such a team what we’ve learnt is that you must have at least three sets of plans to rely on when you bowl to quality players like Tendulkar, Sehwag or Dravid. It’ll be interesting to see how Rahul handles the pressures of captaincy as he remains their most dependable batsman and he has always delivered under pressure. I personally think he’ll be up to it. But as an opposing captain I would like to get him out as early as possible,” Inzamam confided.

Phil Jaques reinforced his claim to a place in the national side with a superb century – a record fourth in the ING Cup this summer – that led New South Wales to a 12-run win against Tasmania. Jaques smashed 138 out of 311, but Tim Paine threatened to win it for the Tigers with a hundred of his own before a middle-order collapse.Paine and Travis Birt set up the ideal platform to chase the huge total with an opening stand of 179. Birt played the more aggressive innings, hitting two sixes and ten fours in his 89 before falling in the 31st over. Adam Polkinghorne and Michael Di Venuto added quick runs and when Di Venuto became Stuart MacGill’s second wicket, Tasmania needed only 85 off 77 balls. However, NSW managed to slow things down.MacGill dismissed Paine in the 46th over when the equation had risen to 40 off 25, and the pressure proved too much for Tasmania. They lost six wickets for 18 and finished on 9 for 299. MacGill took 3 for 44 but it was Aaron O’Brien’s three-wicket burst at the death that sealed the match for NSW.After choosing to bat, Jaques powered NSW in a 65-run opening stand with Craig Simmons. Matthew Phelps joined Jaques after Ben Hilfenhaus dismissed Simmons and Matthew Nicholson off successive overs and they added 130 in 134 balls. Phelps made 67 while Jaques motored along to a century that included 15 fours and a six. He fell for 138, taking his season tally to 658 in eight matches, and he overtook the three hundreds in a season of Stuart Law, Darren Lehmann, Matthew Hayden, Matthew Elliott and Brad Hodge.

Errol Alcott, the Australia physiotherapist, is worried Ricky Ponting will almost certainly miss the second and third matches against South Africa and there are fears he will not take any part in the one-day campaign. Ponting, who pulled out of the opening game with a stomach problem, could not train on Tuesday and while he remained optimistic of leading the team at Cape Town on Friday, Alcott doubted he would make it.”I think he’s struggling for this weekend, that’s for sure,” Alcott told . The third match is on Sunday at Port Elizabeth before a five-day break and games in Durban and Johannesburg. “The trouble is we play Fridays and Sundays, so if you miss one week he might miss three games straight away,” Alcott said. “We’ve just got to keep assessing him.”Ponting suffered the injury batting in the nets and Alcott said he was still feeling tender. “He’s very optimistic each day, and then I have a session with him and it brings him back to reality again,” Alcott said. “He’s very powerful, he’s got short levers and he’s like a little pocket dynamo. Everything he does he’s 100%, even his position and also his batting. [The stomach] is the centre of movement for all of us, so it’s got to be in good order.”Andrew Symonds and Stuart Clark are also on the injury list, but Clark is hopeful of returning on Friday. Symonds is improving from a hip injury that he first felt a week ago, although Alcott also rated him “doubtful”. “We put him in the nets today to do some straight-line hitting, but he was aware of some discomfort, so I’ll get him back in the workshop and keep working on him,” he said. “You’ve got to be careful because if you let them out there and they re-injure it then you are looking at two or three weeks longer, and I don’t want to do that with a Test series [coming up].”The first Test is at Cape Town on March 16 and the squad will be named next week. Phil Jaques is expected to arrive in South Africa today as cover for both Ponting and Symonds.

ScorecardVikram Solanki spanked 92 as England A cruised to a series-levelling 90-run triumph over West Indies A in their fourth one-day cricket international at Windward Cricket Club. The five-match rubber stands at 2-2 with the decider at the same venue on March 18.Solanki, the Worcestershire right-hander, cracked nine fours off 121 balls to lead England A to a formidable 269 for 9 off 50 overs. West Indies A limped to 179 for 9 in pursuit. Sajid Mahmood, the fast bowler, engineered a top-order slide, claiming 3 for 33, while Gareth Batty, the offspinner, finished with 3 for 26. Ryan Hinds top-scored for West Indies with a laboured 32 off 70 balls.England A, batting first after winning the toss, stumbled early on as West Indies’ new ball pair of Andrew Richardson and Tino Best reduced them to 15 for 2 in the fifth over. But Solanki and Jamie Dalrymple added 132 for the third wicket to tilt the balance back to their side. Dalrymple cracked four fours and three sixes in 62 off 75 balls before he was stumped trying to hit out at Omari Banks, the offspinner.Ravi Bopara fell cheaply but Rikki Clarke provided Solanki with level-headed support in a stand of 50 for the fifth wicket. Clarke notched 47 off 61 balls while Kabir Ali propped up the lower order with a run-a-ball 32 not out.Mahmood dented the home team’s run chase by removing Dale Richards, Lendl Simmons and Sylvester Joseph in his first spell. Richards edged a drive, Simmons lofted to mid-on, and Joseph swatted to cover. In between, Luke Wright claimed Marlon Samuels for a duck. Samuels, a century-maker in the last match, nicked a flat-footed drive to wicketkeeper Steven Davies. At 35 for 4, the innings was in need of repair.Hinds and fellow left-hander Narsingh Deonarine added 33 for the fifth wicket but Batty soon sliced through the middle order to seal the deal. Deonarine was bowled off the edge, Hinds sliced a big swing to short third man, and Carlton Baugh was caught deep on the leg side. Last pair Best (14 not out) and Richardson (23 not out) reduced the margin of defeat in an unbroken stand of 44, the highest of the innings.

Division One

Middlesex’s poor start to the season continued at the Riverside after crashing to a comprehensive 135-run defeat at the hands of Durham. Chasing an unlikely 368, Middlesex lost Nick Compton (33) before Jamie Dalrymple and Ben Scott (49) put on a useful stand of 40 for the sixth wicket. Yet when Dalrymple’s fine 71 was ended by Dale Benkenstein, the chances of staving off defeat was lost and Durham’s bowlers ran through Middlesex’s lower order to dismiss them for 232 inside 60 overs.An excellent hundred partnership between Matthew Wood and Anthony McGrath helped Yorkshire earn a draw on the final day against Kent. The pair came together in the ninth over, when Joe Sayers fell for just five. With the pitch taking some considerable turn, the Kent captain, Robert Key, turned to seven bowlers but none could break through the defence of Wood and McGrath. Indeed, it was a welcome return to form for Wood who had only scored 49 runs from his last nine innings. And though he fell eight short of a deserved hundred, he and McGrath (123*) ensured Kent had little more than a draw to celebrate.

Division Two

A fine maiden hundred from Mark Pettini led Essex to an excellent three-wicket win on the final day against Somerset at Taunton. Chasing 347, Pettini lost his opening partner Grant Flower cheaply and, when Essex slipped to 125 for 4, Somerset were threatening to run through Essex quite cheaply. Pettini was defiant, however. Along with James Foster (82*) and an aggressive fifty from Ryan ten Doeschate, Essex were home by three wickets.

New Zealand 119 and 214 for 6 (Oram 19*, Vettori 21*) lead South Africa 186 (Smith 63, Amla 56, Martin 5-37) by 147 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

A rapidly fluctuating Test has been left intriguingly poised as New Zealand fought back strongly through Chris Martin and a scrapping performance from their batsmen. Martin bagged five as South Africa’s lead was restricted to 67, the last six wickets falling in 11 overs of the morning session, then battling contributions from Nathan Astle and Scott Styris edged the lead towards 150. However, Dale Steyn struck three crucial blows as South Africa kept proceedings under control.The second day began by following a similar manic pace to yesterday as wickets tumbled, including eight before lunch. But only one batsman slipped during the afternoon session as New Zealand edged in front, before the final portion of the day included three scalps for a relieved Graeme Smith, who won’t want to chase much more than 200 in the last innings.When Jamie How and Michael Papps fell before lunch, New Zealand were 40 for 2, still 27 behind, and a two-day finish was a distinct possibility. Stephen Fleming weathered the early passage of the afternoon session, after taking a painful blow on the hip at the start of his innings, but fell to a flashy drive against Jacques Kallis.For Kallis it was a special moment, joining Sir Garfield Sobers as only the second man to score 8000 runs and take 200 wickets in Tests. Kallis’s celebration of the wicket was more exuberant than usual as he crossed another milestone in his career.South Africa, though, found wickets harder to come by as Styris and Astle mixed authentic strokes with a fair amount of wafting. The slips cordon was always on its toes, but Smith was forced into a slightly more defensive mode as edges flew wide of fielders rather than to hand. Astle refused to shelve his attacking instincts and it was a high-risk strategy, but for over an hour he flourished. Styris was more circumspect, and was regularly beaten by late away movement, but hung during a vital stand of 76, by far New Zealand’s best of the match.

With the lead approaching three figures, Smith was searching hard for a wicket and Steyn delivered as Astle finally edged a pitched-up away swinger. It turned into a double-breakthrough when Styris played one pull to many and Steyn held on – something he’d earlier failed to do, at long-leg, off Papps. South Africa dropped three other hard chances and, although none proved hugely costly, this could yet be a match decided by the small marginsBoth sides have had their share of rough decisions in recent times and New Zealand suffered again when Brendon McCullum was sent on his way by Asoka de Silva, with Pollock squeezing a delivery between bat and pad. Jacob Oram and Daniel Vettori managed to negotiate the remaining time, before an impending thunderstorm halted play, and they showed that batting is slightly easier against an older ball.South Africa’s first-innings demise had been caused by incisive spells from Martin and James Franklin during an action-packed first hour. Franklin dispatched de Villiers and Mark Boucher – a rough lbw decision – while Martin clocked up impressive speed and extracted extravagant lift off the pitch.Martin pinned Ashwell Prince back in the crease before sending a delivery slightly wider, which Prince pushed at with little footwork, and Andrew Hall was also far from happy when he was adjudged in front. At 145 for 8, Pollock realised there was not much point in hanging around and signalled his intent by charging down the track and planting Franklin onto the grass bank. Ntini helped to add 25 runs – worth at least twice as many in the conditions – and Pollock hooked Franklin over deep square-leg in an over that cost 15.The significance of Pollock’s 20-ball cameo grew as New Zealand’s openers again fell cheaply. Steyn trapped How with a peach of a delivery that straightened onto middle and Papps joined the procession of batsmen edging behind the wicket. Four sessions had brought 22 wickets and South Africa were sensing a quick kill. However, both sides then traded equal blows and the outcome of this series is still up for grabs.How they were out
South Africa – overnight 133 for 4
AB de Villiers c Styris b Franklin 2 (139 for 5)
Mark Boucher lbw b Franklin 0 (139 for 6)
Ashwell Prince c McCullum b Martin 4 (139 for 7)
Andrew Hall lbw b Martin 5 (145 for 8)
Dale Steyn b Martin 0 (161 for 9)
Makhaya Ntini c McCullum b Mills (186 all out)
New ZealandJamie How lbw b Steyn 4 (9 for 1)
Michael Papps c Hall b Kallis 15 (40 for 2)
Stephen Fleming c de Villiers b Kallis 37 (82 for 3)
Nathan Astle c Boucher b Steyn 45 (158 for 4)
Scott Styris c and b Steyn 42 (177 for 5)
Brendon McCullum c Boucher b Pollock 5 (190 for 6)

Former Zimbabwe coach Phil Simmons, who is now based in London, has said that current players are still coming to him for help despite the fact that he is no longer the national coach. He has also claimed that he is still pursuing Zimbabwe Cricket over money owed to him.Simmons also said that several of the Zimbabwe side spoke to him when he briefly returned to Trinidad to watch the last two matches in the recent series which West Indies won 5-0.”They were coming to me asking for help,” he said. “I have been watching the games and most of the players were having problems but no one told them why they were having those problems. They were not being told simple things and when they came to me I had no problem doing that.” Those comments were an implied criticism of Kevin Curran, who was controversially brought in by ZC to replace Simmons.And as for the future, Simmons was clear. “They need to get back all those players who left. The current players are willing but they need to have experienced players around them. They need people they can look up to.”Simmons was sacked by the board last year and, he claims, has not been paid all he is owed. “Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) haven’t paid me since November,” he told Zimbabwe’s new Sportsonline website. “Of course I still want my money.”Simmons is not alone in being out of pocket. A number of former players – including Tatenda Taibu, Heath Streak and Andy Blignaut – have still to be paid match fees totaling around $200,000 from nine months ago.