Scorecard

Phil Jaques showed he had overcome a disappointing stint in the Australian one-day side with a century before Dominic Thornely and Simon Katich added to Queensland’s troubles as New South Wales posted an imposing 2 for 402. Jaques, who made 1 and 3 in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, splashed 21 fours in his fine 141 – it was his third century of the Pura Cup campaign – while Thornely and Katich sped towards stumps in an unbroken stand of 172.Thornely struck Clinton Perren for six to bring up three figures and he cleared the rope on three other occasions during his 109 not out from 122 balls. Katich, the captain, was also aggressive, registering his hundred in the third-last over, and he will look to build on his 102 on the second day.Queensland’s first setback came before the start when they lost Andy Bichel to an infected foot and he was replaced by Grant Sullivan, who was travelling with the team as the benefactor of a mentor program. Sullivan had a bright moment in his second first-class game when he had Jaques caught behind on 102, but he was called for a no-ball.Jaques opened with a 117-run partnership with a patient Ed Cowan, who fell to a legside take by Chris Hartley off Ashley Noffke for 30. Noffke was also responsible for the second wicket when he had Jaques caught by Ryan Broad, but he was the only bowler to have any success on a day belonging to the hosts. Tasmania’s even stronger performance in Adelaide pushed New South Wales to second while the chances of the fourth-placed Queensland staying in contention for the final are slipping away.

True to the newly-found unpredictability of Zimbabwe domestic cricket, Southerns have clinched the country’s first-ever inter-provincial Twenty20 series after beating host province Easterns by five runs in the final in Mutare at the weekend.Southerns comprise largely of the old Masvingo, a province which in the old set-up, had no first-class status. It only contested the “B” Division of the Logan Cup, the country’s premier first-class tournament. Their victims in the final, Easterns, are the new champions of the Faithwear one-day series which ended in Harare last week.The historic Twenty20 tournament took place in the border town of Mutare over three days on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The final was a rain-affected match reduced to eight overs a-side, and Southerns were 73 for 7 in their 8 overs with Man of the Match Norman Mukondiwa smashing 20 off nine balls. Young spin bowler Timycen Maruma, who played in Zimbabwe’s first and only Twenty20 match against South Africa last year, took 2 for 21.Easterns were 68 for 7, managing only 12 of the 17 they needed from the last over, with Blessing Mahwire doing the damage with 3 for 18.Southerns won through to the final after topping the group stage. Easterns finished level on points with Westerns, but secured their place thanks to a superior run rate. Northerns came fourth while Centrals, who lost all four of their matches, came bottom.

Manoj Tiwary, who was expected to make his debut in the first one-dayer against Bangladesh, has been ruled out of the one-day series due to a shoulder injury. Tiwary is expected to take the flight back home to Kolkata shortly.Tiwary hurt himself at the training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today. Towards the fag end of the session that went on for a bit more than two hours, Tiwary landed awkwardly on his right shoulder, while diving to save a boundary during one of the out-fielding drills. That it was serious showed in the way he didn’t get up to stop the ball that was trickling down towards the boundary.Tiwary didn’t take any chance and lay put until John Gloster, the team physiotherapist, arrived and took charge. He was immediately taken to the dressing room even as the practice went on for 15 more minutes. He was immediately sent for investigations of the shoulder (MRI and X-Rays). These results were reviewed by an orthopedic specialist and in view of these findings, the mechanism of injury and from clinical observation Tiwary has been advised to go back home.Dilip Vengsarkar, Chairman Senior Selection Committee, will consult team management after reaching Dhaka and will pick a replacement. The first one-dayer is on May 10th.Tiwary was Bengal’s star batsmen in the recently concluded Ranji Trophy season. He scored 796 runs in seven matches at 99.50, with only one score between 50 and 150 – and crossed 150 three times. He cracked a fine 94 in the Ranji Trophy final against a national attack of Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar.

According to a report in Saturday’s Daily Mirror, Ian Botham is set to receive a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours next month, in recognition of his tireless campaigning for Leukaemia Research, for which he has raised more than £10million through 11 arduous charity walks over the course of 22 years.A senior Whitehall source told the Mirror: “Ian Botham was a fabulous cricketer but his selfless charity work is out of this world. His fund-raising is first-class and no one, absolutely no one, deserves an honour more than him.”At a time when the honours system has been in the spotlight, his knighthood will be deserved recognition of outstanding public service.”Botham was inspired after visiting a hospital in Taunton, Somerset, to have treatment for a broken toe. He walked into a children’s ward and was told they were dying of leukaemia. The fatality rate was 80 per cent then, but these days it is 20 per cent, thanks in part to research his efforts have helped to fund.His first charity walk was in 1985, a 900-mile trek from John O’Groats to Land’s End, and he was on another last year, after turning 50, when Cricinfo’s Andrew Miller joined him for the London leg.Miller recalls: “Botham’s natural walking pace would put most of London’s joggers to shame. By the end of the walk, Piers Morgan [the former Mirror editor] looked redder and sweatier than the victim of a tabloid sting, and my shins felt as though they had been pounded by a jackhammer.”Botham is already an OBE, as well as receiving the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

Adam Hollioake has signed a short-term deal with Essex and will take part in their Twenty20 campaign which gets underway against Sussex at Chelmsford on Friday.Hollioake, the former Surrey captain who played four Tests and 35 one-day internationals for England, proved himself a master of Twenty20 cricket during its first two years before retiring from the game at the end of the 2004 season.He averaged 28.55 at a strike-rate of 147.70 with the bat while his efforts with the ball were even more impressive, claiming 36 victims in 14 matches with a strike-rate of a wicket every 8.36 balls.Since retirement, Hollioake has played one Twenty20, for the Tsunami Fund in 2005, in which he took a hat-trick. He then went back to Australia, where he has been living since retirement. He is now a full-time property developer.”I love playing Twenty20 cricket and this fits in very nicely because, with my business commitments, it’s impossible to commit to the training required to play all year round,” Hollioake told Cricinfo. “With this being the best time of year in England this was an offer too good to refuse. I’m fitter than ever, too.”Hollioake led Surrey to the inaugural Twenty20 title in 2003, and is expected to play all eight of Essex’s group matches, including a tasty fixture against his former team-mates next Thursday. Three of Essex’s four home matches have already sold out.Hollioake returned to England recently to take part in a charity boxing match, where he fought the New Zealand former All Black Eric Rush. The bout, at Old Billingsgate earlier this month, was won by Rush on points. “It was tough.”Hollioake has since remained in the country, as speculation has mounted about his prospective deal with Essex. The move stemmed from Hollioake’s appearance in a beach-cricket tournament in Australia in January which left Essex coach Graham Gooch impressed.

Jason Arnberger, the Victoria opener, could become an umpire as soon as next season. Arnberger missed all of 2006-07 with a persistent back injury and is waiting to hear from surgeons whether his playing days are over.Arnberger was not given a Cricket Victoria contract for 2007-08 and although he would like to play on, he realises that is no certainty. His problem relates to a joint where his pelvis joins his spine and while doctors have been deciding on his future, he has been doing part-time work as a delivery man and has started an umpiring course.”It’s a career that has interested me for a while now,” Arnberger told . “Although I would love to play the game for a couple more years, I know there’s a chance I may never play again, so I am seriously considering the move.”If a return to batting is ruled out, Arnberger will speak to Cricket Victoria about a possible full-time umpiring position. Arnberger believes the calibre of umpiring in Australia has fallen away in the last decade but he hopes that decline can be arrested. “I think it can improve,” he said. “I think that the standard has dropped off a little bit since I came to Victoria. And they’re struggling to get the numbers at the moment, so the more better candidates they can get, the better.”He has discussed his possible move with Paul Reiffel, his former Victoria team-mate who now regularly officiates in first-class matches, and Paul Wilson, the fast bowler who played one Test for Australia and is now umpiring in Western Australia. “They have told me they enjoy it,” Arnberger said.”I think it’s a bit more difficult when you get up to four-day cricket and the pressure builds up but I certainly want to give it a go. And umpiring at grade level appeals to me, too, because I know a lot of the players and feel as though I will be able to stay in the game a lot longer.”A significant number of umpires in England’s domestic cricket have played at first-class level and although it is less common in Australia, there has been a gradual increase in recent years. Two of the three who officiated in this year’s Pura Cup final – Rod Tucker and Bruce Oxenford – were former state players.Arnberger, 34, was keen to have been a part of Victoria’s campaign last season after a strong 2005-06 in which he was the Bushrangers’ second leading Pura Cup run-scorer, with 721 at 45.06. His first three seasons were with New South Wales but he moved to Victoria in 1997-98 and quickly became a regular at the top of the order, currently sitting seventh on the state’s all-time run list.

The atrocious summer weather has forced Derbyshire to switch their Chesterfield Festival matches at Queen’s Park next week to their home ground.The persistent heavy rain has left the pitch and the rest of the ground saturated and, even if there is no further rain, the prospect of play next week is minimal. Consequently, both Derbyshire’s Championship match against Somerset, and their Pro40 game against Kent, will now take place at the County Ground.”This is obviously a hugely disappointing decision to have to make but it is the right one,” Tom Sears, Derbyshire’s chief executive said. “Both myself and officials from the council inspected the ground and park this morning and there is next to no chance of playing any cricket at Queen’s Park later this week, even it the weather remains dry.”The forecast is not good and with the outfield already sodden we have no alternative but to postpone the festival and transfer the fixtures to Derby,” he said. “I am confident we will be back at Queen’s Park in August or early September and the festival will repeat last year’s enormous success.”

Worcestershire have ruled out playing at New Road again this season after the ground was decimated by the recent flooding. They had already moved August’s home matches to other venues and this latest news doesn’t come as a surprise.The flood waters have subsided, but the ground has been left caked with a huge layer of mud. There is now a huge clean-up and repair operation needed to get the ground ready for the 2008 season.”I think everyone was at their lowest ebb last weekend when the floods finally came off the ground and they saw the mud heap that covered the ground,” Worcestershire chief executive Mark Newton told the Press Association. “It was a big blow to everyone who has put their heart and soul into the club and realise that at the height of summer we should be out there playing cricket. It was devastating.”There is no chance of playing anymore cricket at New Road this summer. It stinks everywhere and there is an inch of mud across the entire square and the outfield.The club’s losses are pushing towards £500,000 and because the ground is situated on a flood plain they are not covered by insurance. However, Newton says there are no thoughts of relocating. “A recent survey showed this is one of the top 10 grounds in the world that people like to visit.”

Raj Singh Dungarpur, the former president of the Cricket Club of India (CCI), has denied accusations levelled at him by the CCI officials of misappropriating funds for the installation of floodlights at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.Dungarpur also dismissed allegations of irregularities during the installation of floodlights. He said the entire process had been transparent, approved by the executive committee and followed norms.When questions were raised regarding his administration, Dungarpur said he had offered on August 3 to resign as the president “to enable my colleagues to conduct any enquiry they wished”.The CCI had appointed KPMG, an audit firm, to hold the enquiry and wrote to the Indian board asking that Dungarpur – a former BCCI president – should not be allowed to represent the club, one of the board’s affiliated units, at the BCCI’s meetings. Dungarpur, who headed the CCI for 12 years before retiring this year, was also sent a letter by RN Renjen, the CCI chief executive officer, asking him not to attend any meeting on behalf of the club.

Scorecard

Ashley Noffke and Queensland’s inexperienced openers unveiled a new era as they demoralised Tasmania, almost claiming first-innings points on day one of the Tigers’ title defence. Noffke showed there will be life after Michael Kasprowicz and Andy Bichel, who are both injured, stepping up with 5 for 33 as Tasmania fell for 158.Greg Moller and Ryan Broad then immediately justified Jimmy Maher’s decision to drop himself to No. 4 and expose younger Bulls to the new ball, carrying the score to 0 for 136 at stumps. Moller, who debuted last summer and was in his fourth game, was the dominant partner with 75 while Broad, playing his eighth match, reached 57.Queensland fielded a wildly inexperienced side with Kasprowicz (calf), Bichel (shoulder) and Chris Hartley (wrist) ruled out. Noffke led the green attack – Maher was the side’s next most prolific bowler with ten first-class wickets – on a surface with similar-coloured tinges. Chris Swan, the Gold Coast swing bowler in his second match, collected Michael Di Venuto in the second over before Noffke captured the next five wickets.Giving up only 15 runs in 12 overs before lunch, Noffke had Michael Dighton lbw before picking up a wicket in each of his next three overs. Tim Paine was bowled, George Bailey was caught at third slip by Aaron Nye and Dan Marsh edged a short ball to the debutant wicketkeeper Murray Bragg.After lunch Noffke took care of Birt for 36 and Swan and Ben Cutting, who is playing his first game, chipped in to finish off the Tigers and collect two wickets each. In contrast the more experienced Tasmania attack had no impact, although it was led by the same men who rattled Queensland in Wednesday’s FR Cup game, and the Bulls came within 23 runs of a first-innings lead at the close.