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Seamer Alfonso Thomas and allrounder Pierre de Bruyn have been released from their contracts with the Titans and both will represent the Dolphins for the rest of the season.The pair were acquired by the Dolphins to cover for the loss of former South African players Lance Klusener and Dale Benkenstein to the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Players linked with the ICL have been banned from domestic cricket by Cricket South Africa.”This will definitely strengthen the Dolphins ahead of the MTN Domestic Championship and the Pro20 Series,” Cassim Docrat, the Dolphins chief executive, told Supercricket.Docrat said that Thomas had signed for the next season as well. In six games this season, Thomas has scored 110 runs and taken 11 wickets while de Bruyn has scored 112 runs in four games.

It’s been over a year since the historic Ashes series and Damien Martyn,the birthday boy and Man of the Match, admitted that Australia had beenwaiting for this game for quite a while. It was the first time the twoteams met after the never-to-be-forgotten final day at The Oval and Martyncashed in on some wayward English bowling.”It’s been a year since we last played England and that was a greatseries,” he said at the end of the day. “The boys did well and fieldedwell, Huss [Michael Hussey] and me had a great partnership. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay till the end. It was a good wicket and was nice to get runs on it.”The manner in which Martyn took on Steve Harmison was probably the sightof the night, when colourful Diwali firecrackers lit up the sky.Martyn was severe in his assault and peppered five fours in a space of tenballs, nullifying Harmison’s effect almost instantly. “They didn’t bowlgreat tonight,” said Martyn bluntly when asked about his innings on thenight. “When I walked in there I didn’t go with any set plans. It justhappened that way, with the Powerplays and the field in. And with Huss atthe other end, just shoring up an end, we were able to build a partnership.”Ricky Ponting, his captain, didn’t want to read too much into Harmison’sdismal performance but added that his batsmen wouldn’t let up during theAshes. “It’s pretty easy for bowlers to get their tails up in Australia,”said Ponting when asked for an assessment of Harmison’s expensive spell.”Damien in particular played him very, very well tonight and we put awaymost balls that he bowled. If he comes to Australia and bowls that way,we’ll be looking to do exactly the same thing.”Martyn might have stolen the show but the contribution made by MichaelHussey, who walked into a crucial situation, cannot be under-estimated. “Ihad a chat to Buck [John Buchanan] at the break,” said Ponting when askedabout Hussey’s promotion up the order. “With the wicket playing the way itwas, if we lost a few wickets in a row, it would be nice to have someonelike him to really shore things up. Having to chase such a small totaltonight, it was perfectly suited for him to go in. We had three peoplepadded up at the moment and I made the decision to send Huss out. Heplayed the way we expect him to play in that situation. As we all knowhe’s a terrific player, he sums up situations and plays verywell. With him and Damien and Michael [Clarke] we have a lot of options inthe middle.”Glenn McGrath’s first spell and Shane Watson’s continued failure at thetop of the order were the only negatives that Australia could take fromthis game. Ponting wasn’t too concerned about either, placing faith inboth the performers to deliver in the future. “You don’t end up having alot of concerns about one of the greats of the game that Glenn is,” hesaid when asked about McGrath’s insipid first spell. “He delivers anhonest performance everytime he takes the field and I think hisperformance today was that – it was honest. He’s fulfilling a differentrole at the moment, bowling first change something he’s done for only halfa dozen games in his career. So he’s probably still learning the role.”And would he back Watson to open even after another failure? “He has asound and solid technique and all the shots in the book. As a one-dayopener you want to combine both of those and do it well. He got outpulling but I know how instinctive the stroke is. Sometimes you see ashort ball and just decide to go for the pull, not taking into account thebounce. What you saw before he got out, I think shows that he will be avery good opening batsman for us.”

The ICC annual conference will be held in Dubai this June, ending a 99-year association with Lord’s.Cricinfo has learned that the decision to abandon London as the host venue was taken by the majority of the ICC executive board at the opening of the IPL in Bangalore last week after claims by Peter Chingoka that attempts by him to obtain a visa to enter the UK had been blocked.Although there was no formal meeting held in Bangalore, only two or three board heads were absent, and when Chingoka flagged that he had not been successful in obtaining a visa, it was agreed to switch the get together to the ICC headquarters. A formal announcement is expected in the next few days.A spokesman for the MCC, who host all events at Lord’s, told Cricinfo the club was aware of the decision.The annual ICC conference has been held at Lord’s since the first meeting in 1909. The decision to relocate this year casts a shadow over plans to centre the ICC’s centenary celebrations on Lord’s, and unless Chingoka is allowed into the country – and given the hardening of the line against anyone associated with Zanu-PF, that seems unlikely – then the loss of the conference could be the first in a chain of events moved from the UK.The ICC’s centenary celebrations next year are due to be centred on Lord’s, and there is also scheduled to be a bilateral tour by Zimbabwe followed by the ICC World Twenty20.

Dream start, nightmare finish
Coming back into international cricket after a while, Virender Sehwag had a dream start: the first ball he faced was a trifle short, and Sehwag played a short-arm flick so effortlessly that it was easy to wonder why he had been kept out of the side for so long. The answer wasn’t long in coming: the third ball he faced, his first from Mohammad Asif, did all the things that bother Sehwag – it pitched on a good length, came at a lively pace, and nipped back enough to beat the middle of the bat and take the inside edge. At least Sehwag can’t complain about encountering unfamiliar situations on his return.Uthappa hits back
For nine overs, India danced to the tune of Pakistan’s fast bowlers, especially Mohammad Asif. Then, in the tenth, the batsmen called the shots, albeit briefly. Robin Uthappa first walked down the wicket and creamed Yasir Arafat over long-off for an exquisite six, and then pulled him off the front foot for another. The Indian flags, which easily outnumbered the Pakistani ones today, finally got an opportunity to make their presence felt.The rain dance
To drizzle or not to drizzle? That seemed the perennial question through the first couple of hours of the game. Play started on time, but soon the weather gods decided to intervene, but in such a manner that everyone was kept on tenterhooks, with the covers coming on, going off, coming on,going off, and then again. Once the covers had only managed to travel halfway up to the stumps when the drizzle stopped, and it was time for play again. It served the Pakistan cause nicely, though – twice a wicket fell off the first ball after resumption.b>The last ball
Mahendra Singh Dhoni consulted with almost half the team and then decidedthat the entire team would be in the inner ring, then had a change ofheart and off went Gautam Gambhir to the cover boundary, then finallyraced around to backward point. The entire exercise took at least a coupleof minutes, before Sreeanth charged in and pitched it short. Misbah’s weakstroke couldn’t pierce the infield, and we had the second tie in Twenty20internationals.The Misbah factorWith Pakistan seemingly out of the contest, Misbah-ul-Haq produced thekind of blitz which silenced all the questions which had been raised overhis selection. There were two powerful blows off Harbhajan, but the shotthat showed he had a cool head came off Ajit Agarkar, when, with 18 neededoff eight balls, he coolly moved across his stumps and scooped one overfine leg for four. No fuss, little effort, maximum reward.The comeback kid
Irfan Pathan hasn’t had a whole lot to celebrate over the last year, buthe had a veritable blast here. His first ball produced a wicket – even ifit was a run-out – and after three dot balls it got even better, as YounisKhan chopped one onto his stumps. Pathan leapt up in delight, and the hugesmile that flashed across his face showed just how much he was enjoyinghis comeback.

Not much that is new in cricket is left as a challenge for the all-conquering Australians, but a home Test match against Zimbabwe is one of them, and Test cricket’s second-youngest participants arrived in Perth yesterday for their first crack at the world champions on their home soil. Even international cricket’s newest country Bangladesh have played Tests in Australia before Zimbabwe.It is a task as difficult as any the African nation has faced in the game. They arrived in Australia severely depleted and not fully representative of the advances the side has made since they played their first Test, against India, in 1992-93. They have lost wicketkeeper-batsman Andy Flower, who retired from international cricket after the World Cup to pursue a career with South Australia, his brother Grant Flower cruelly suffered a broken finger just before the side left for the tour and one of its more promising bowlers, Henry Olonga, made a political statement at the World Cup, along with Andy Flower, about events in Zimbabwe, and decided to follow a singing career in exile.For a country so ill-equipped in resources, these were body blows and when captain Heath Streak says his side will be aiming to draw their Test matches it is an indication of the reconstruction the side is having to go through. “If we walked away with a draw, I think that would be a huge achievement for Zimbabwe cricket,” Streak said. “If we had the opportunity for a win, then obviously we are going to go for it. But I think it is going to be a huge learning curve for us on this tour.”If we can take some big positives out of this tour, Zimbabwe cricket will be the better for it. Hopefully, we can come back in a couple of years’ time as a more experienced side and one that can maybe play in a three-Test series.”The first Test of the tour is to start in Perth on October 9, the earliest Test in an Australian season but one that is indicative of the greater pressures on all countries to fulfil their obligations under the five-year plan in the International Cricket Council’s Test championship.In their 67-Test history Zimbabwe have won seven Tests, five of them at home but it has been two years since their last victory, and with such a depleted side at the moment the chances of the next being in the two matches with Australia are slim.Coach Geoff Marsh, the former Australian opener, said the emphasis would be on the batsmen in the series. “The key for us is our batting,” he said. “If we can get to 300, we will be competitive given our bowling line-up. But getting to 300 will be the big test.”Zimbabwe’s official opening match is on Wednesday against the Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI at Lilac Hill but since the announcement of the tour itinerary, an unofficial 12-a-side, three-day match starting on Sunday has been arranged against Rockingham Mandurah at Settlers Hill, Baldvis. After the Lilac Hill match Zimbabwe will have a three-day warm-up match against Western Australia, before the first Test. The second Test is in Sydney from October 17-21.The Zimbabwe touring squad is: Heath Streak (captain), Andy Blignaut, Gary Brent, Stuart Carlisle, Dion Ebrahim, Sean Ervine, Craig Evans, Gavin Ewing, Trevor Gripper, Douglas Hondo, Stewart Matsikenyeri, Ray Price, Tatenda Taibu, Mark Vermeulen, Craig Wishart.

South African players are unlikely to participate in the Indian Premier League tillApril 25th, as they will be involved in the Standard Bank Pro20 matches in SouthAfrica. The franchises were informed of the development by the IPL governing councilin a meeting held in Mumbai, where a host of administrative issues surrounding the league were discussed.Ten South African players have been signed on by the eight IPL franchises, and a few of them, depending on how their domestic teams fare in the Pro20, might join their IPL teams after the tournament ends on 25th.However, a franchise representative was confident the players would beavailable for the full duration. “The decision is not final as yet. We are in the process of talking to the players, their teams and the board and we will work something out.”In among other things that were discussed in the meeting, each franchise has been allotted a liason officer from a South African agency, which was involved with the ICC World Twenty20 held in South Africa, who will travel with the teams and oversee the security preparations.The meeting saw a host of experts from the consulting firm IMG counselling the franchises on the issues ranging from security, accredition, ticketing, and movement of officials across grounds, and entertainment guidelines. “Not many of us [franchises] have prior experience in organising games and this meeting was very helpful in that regard,” a franchise representative said.

Mumbai236 for 3 (Jaffer 143) v Andhra
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Mumbai vindicated their decision to bat first as they finished the first day at Vijayawada in a comfortable position against Andhra. Wasim Jaffer carried on his sparkling form this season, and helped himself to another century. His innings contained 13 fours, but he was out at the fag end of the day. Bhavin Thakkar scored a patient 47, as Andhra tried eight bowlers.Delhi 274 for 7 (Manhas 129, Varun Kumar 50*) v Punjab
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Mithun Manhas led from the front with a fine century, but Delhi lost wickets with regularity at the other end, and frittered away a chance to post a mammoth total at Chandigarh. After reducing Delhi to 37 for 4, Punjab’s bowlers had partly justified their captain’s decision to bowl first, but Manhas got support from Pradeep Chawla (39) and Varun Kumar to take them towards respectability. Gagandeep Singh scalped three victims, while Vineet Sharma and Amit Uniyal picked up two each.Assam 33 for 1 trail Bengal 246 (Shukla 82, Haldipur 67) by 213 runs
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After opting to field first, Assam gained the upper hand by restricting Bengal to 246 on the first day at Kolkata. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who is having a great time with the bat, top-scored with 82 while the other notable contribution came from Nikhil Haldipur. The Assam bowlers stuck to their task with Gautam Dutta and Arnald Konwar snapping up three wickets each.Tamil Nadu 252 for 6 (Sharath 97*, Vidyut 50) v Gujarat
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Sridharan Sharath propelled Tamil Nadu to a decent score at stumps on the first day against Gujarat at Ahmedabad. He spent close to four hours in the middle and was still unbeaten at the end of the day. Vidyut Shivaramakrishnan’s half-century was a valuable contribution which included six fours and a six.Karnataka 64 for 3 trail Hyderabad 177 (Vinay Kumar 65) by 113 runs
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Hyderabad were shot out for 177 on the first day of their Elite Group match against Karnataka at the Gymkhana ground in Hyderabad. After Hyderabad decided to bat first, Vinay Kumar’s half-century was the lone spark in a faltering effort as Narvanda Aiyappa derailed the innings with three wickets. Karnataka lost three wickets when they batted, but Barrington Rowland held the fort with a sedate 25 not out.Uttar Pradesh 16 for 2 trail Railways 137 (Bangar 51) by 121 runs
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Sanjay Bangar’s half-century prevented a complete fiasco as Railways caved in for a paltry 137 against UP at Varanasi. None of the other batsmen passed 20 with Ashish Zaidi, Praveen Gupta and S Shukla grabbing seven wickets between them. UP lost two early wickets in their reply, and an early finish is surely on the cards.Kerala 207 for 7 (Hemanth Kumar 66) v Baroda
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Baroda gained the upper hand as Kerala gave a tame display on the first day at Vadodara. Barring Hemanth Kumar, who made a gritty 66, the rest found no answers to Rakesh Patel (2 for 68) and Tushar Arothe (3 for 48). Irfan Pathan Sr and Shekhar Joshi picked up a wicket each as Kerala rued their decision to bat first in the morning.Plate Championship 2nd RoundOrissa 160 for 4 (Parida 81) lead Maharashtra 77 (Mohanty 5-24) by 83 runs
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To be shot out for 77 on the first morning after winning the toss and batting first is almost unthinkable. But that’s what happened to Maharastra, who were without the controversial Abhijit Kale, as they collapsed in 35.1 overs with only three batsmen reaching double figures against Orissa at Cuttack. Debasis Mohanty, the former Indian swing bowler, tore through the soft underbelly of the batting order and grabbed five wickets. When Orissa batted, Rashmi Ranjan Parida anchored the innings with 81, and made a second consecutive victory of the season a distinct possibility.Haryana 242 for 3 (Chetan Sharma 74, Sunny Singh 67) v Tripura
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Haryana opted to take first strike and made it count when they finished in a commanding position at stumps on the first day against Tripura at Rohtak. Chtean Sharma and Sunny Singh hit eight fours apiece, and laid the base for what could be a massive total.Vidharbha 287 for 5 (Deshpande 126, Vivek Naidu 64*, Alind Naidu 50) v Madhya Pradesh
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Amit Deshpande’s fine hundred and half-centuries by the two Naidus, Vivek and Alind, were the highlights of the first day’s play between Vidharbha and MP at Indore. Deshpande’s 204-ball innings contained 17 fours and a six.Goa 3 for 0 trail Services 212 by 209 runs
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Goa’s bowlers justified the decision to bowl first as Services were restricted to 212 on the first day at Panjim. Yashpal Singh top-scored for Services with 47, as most of the batsmen threw it away after getting good starts.Jammu & Kashmir 56 for 5 trail Bihar 172 (Dhoni 64) by 116 runs
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Bihar collapsed to a small total, but hit back by picking up five wickets on the first day against J&K at Jammu. Only Mahendra Dhoni, the opener, provided much resistance in a meek batting display. But J&K were even worse, with Shahid Khan’s 4 for 10 making them lose their way.

The wicket at New Road continued to favour the bowlers as a further twelve wickets fellon the second day of the Championship match between Glamorgan and Worcestershire.Worcestershire gained a first innings lead of 81 runs as they dismissedGlamorgan for 156 with Matt Mason taking 3/22 and David Leatherdale 2/18. Then in thefinal session, the home team extended their lead to 201, but lost four wicketsin the process, finishing the day on 120/4.Morning rain once again prevented any play until 12.10pm, with Glamorgan resumingon 0/2 after their dramatic start last night when they lost Jimmy Maher andnight-watchman David Harrison in Nantie Hayward`s opening over. Nevertheless,Ian Thomas and Jonathan Hughes adopted a positive approach, with bothof the young batsmen driving powerfully in an arc between cover andmid-on. The pair had added 56 in 15 overs, before Hughes was bowled by Mason with thefinal delivery of the morning session.Seven wickets then fell between lunch and tea, as Glamorgan added a further 100runs. Mason made the early inroads, striking twice during his accurate spell fromthe New Road End, bowling Michael Powell for a duck, and having Matthew Maynardcaught in the slips by Stephen Peters. Thomas continued to pierce the field withsome firm strokes, and reached his first Championship half century of the summer,lofting Hayward back over his head, having faced 94 balls and hitting 9 boundaries.However, the introduction of Leatherdale halted Glamorgan`s progress as theWorcestershire beneficiary had Thomas caught at slip, before trapping Robert Croftleg before on the back foot. Leatherdale might have taken a third wicket hadAnurag Singh held onto a top edge from Mark Wallace. But Kabir Ali returned from theDiglis End to dismiss Darren Thomas and Michael Kasprowicz, whilst Gareth Batty hadWallace caught at cover, as Glamorgan`s innings ended with their score on 156.When Worcestershire batted again, Glamorgan`s seam bowlers also found early assistanceas Alex Wharf had Anurag Singh caught at second slip by Jimmy Maher and then two overslater Wharf yorked Graeme Hick. But Peters showed that run scoring was not impossible,and the opener played some well timed cover drives in reaching 50 from 74 balls. Togetherwith his captain Ben Smith, they added 66 for the third wicket, before Peters dragged the ball onto his stumps trying to sweep Croft.Then in the final over the day, Croft had Vikram Solanki caught at short-legby Ian Thomas, with Worcestershire 201 runs ahead with 6 wickets in hand.

Northampton’s Wantage Road ground is gradually becoming synonymous as one where the batsmen are not relishing the prospect of playing at. And there was no change to that theory on the rain-affected first day of their latest Frizzell County Championship Division Two fixture.Even though 41 overs were lost, there was still time for Hampshire to be bowled out for 125 after being put in and for Northamptonshire to totter to an unsure 20-3 by the close of play. It was no surprise to see Peter Walker, one of the nominated ECB pitch inspectors, on the ground all day.But the damage was not done exclusively by the spinners, as had been the case in their most recent game against Derbyshire. Debutantes Damian Wright – Northants’ replacement overseas player while Andre Nel is on South Africa duty – and former Gloucestershire seamer Mike Cawdron making the Hampshire batsmen hurry.Hampshire included university returning trio John Francis, James Tomlinson and James Bruce to the starting lineup for rested Ed Giddins and injured Alan Mullally and Wasim Akram, whose bruised toe was declared unfit last night.Asked to bat first, Cawdron snapped up the first three wickets to fall before Robin Smith struck an excellent 41, including eight crunching fours to restore some order as he added 60 with skipper John Crawley for the third wicket.But their dual dismissal within a run of each other started a flow of wickets with Wright claiming Will Kendall and leading run-scorer Nic Pothas in successive balls before spinner Graeme Swann, the main protagonist in his sides’ controversial game recently completed, extracted plenty of turn to snare Francis, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Shaun Udal to pick up 3-11 from just 3.1 overs to finish the innings.Udal declared the wicket as “very much bowler friendly” is his post match considerations, especially after seeing the home side lose influential skipper Mike Hussey and fellow opener Mike Powell to James Bruce, on just his second championship outing. Jeff Cook also perished to become the 13th wicket of the day, all of whom were dismissed caught!Despite there being almost a third of the day lost to the weather, this game is already well progressed but it is certain that Shaun Udal will be looking forward to his bowl on this surface.

Punjab completely dominated the first day’s play of their three day North Zone Cooch Behar Trophy (under-19) match against Jammu & Kashmir at the Dhruv Pandove stadium in Patiala on Tuesday. At stumps they were 140 for two in reply to J & K’s first innings total of 126.Winning the toss, J & K ran into trouble against A Uniyal and G Mandora and lost six wickets for 51 runs. A seventh wicket partnership of 64 runs off 24.4 overs between V Kaw (38) and A Mongotra (28) produced a recovery of sorts. But then three wickets fell with the total on 115 and J & K were all out for a highly adequate score. Uniyal (3 for 19) and Mandora (3 for 23) were the wreckers-in-chief while SP Singh hastened the end of the innings by taking two wickets for two runs off 3.4 overs, of which two were maidens.When Punjab batted, SP Singh (60 not out) and opener Binwant Singh (41) with a second wicket stand of 77 runs off 14 overs steered the side to a strong position by close. While Binwant faced 51 balls and hit five fours, the more aggressive SP Singh faced 69 balls and hit five fours and three sixes.