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Zimbabwe’s government has reacted angrily to news that John Howard had banned Australia from touring the country in September.In a ferocious outburst, Bright Matonga, the junior information minister, slammed Australia’s human rights record and accused Howard of being part of a “racist ploy”.”The Australians are mixing politics with sport and the decision shows how desperate the Howard government is to isolate Zimbabwe,” Matonga told AFP. “Australia is one of the worst human rights violators in this whole world. Look what they have done to the aborigines and yet they have the audacity to stand up and claim to have the moral authority to condemn us.”This is also a racist ploy to kill our local cricket since our cricket team is now dominated by black players as we slowly transform cricket from being an elite sport. But still we will not lose anything because cricket is not a major sport here.”Matonga was a journalist for the BBC before being summoned back to work for the ministry of information in Zimbabwe. Ironically, BBC reporters are among those banned by the ministry from entering the country.

Send us your feedbackCricket Kenya is on the verge of offering its leading players one-year contracts.The board has agreed terms with the players, Roger Harper, the coach, hasgiven his views and the national selectors are now drawing up a final listof between 18 and 20 names who will be invited to sign the contracts. Theselectors also need to divide the players into three categories, based onseniority and ability, which will determine how much they get paid.”They will be offered one-year deals,” Samir Inamdar, the board’s chairman,told Cricinfo. “This has been made possible by the money we received fromwinning the World Cricket League and also from the Nimbus TV deal.”Those chosen will receive a regular monthly salary as well as appearancefees for ODIs. For four-day Intercontinental Cup games they will get theequivalent fee for three ODIs.”The board has also offered to share a third of prize-money and appearancemoney with squad players. And people can still be picked from outside those oncentral contracts, but they will be paid on a match-by-match basis.A few leading Kenya players have contracts overseas and Inamdar stressedthat these could continue subject to the prior agreement of the board.Their central contracts will be suspended for the period they are employedplaying cricket elsewhere.Inamdar said that at the moment the contracts were for one years and thesituation would be reviewed after that. Much depends on whether theboard is able to attract new sponsors and also how much the board’sshare of the new ICC media deal with ESPN brings in.

Graeme Hick has agreed a new one-year contract with Worcestershire which will keep him at the county until the end of 2008 by which time he will be 42.Hick, who made his debut for Worcestershire in 1985, shows no sign of slowing down and he has been in good form this summer, scoring 574 runs at 41.00 with two hundreds. He is also on song in limited-overs matches, with 466 runs at 77.66 and he also impressed in Twenty20 matches with 193 runs at 32.16.”Graeme is in some of the best form of his life and is clearly fit enough to continue playing,” Martyn Price, the county chairman, said. “Most importantly he wants to carry on for at least another year and wants to play for Worcestershire. During what has been a difficult few weeks for the club, we can start concentrating on what really matters and that is our cricket. It couldn’t be better news for everybody involved.””I’m really enjoying my cricket this year and still feel as fit as ever,” Hick said. “Playing cricket is what I love doing and my enthusiasm for the game remains. I also believe we are close to having a very good team and I certainly want to be part of it when we start winning a few titles.”

Nayan Doshi, the left-arm spinner, has terminated his contract with Surrey with immediate effect, ending a three-year association with the club.Doshi, 28, who joined Surrey in 2004, cited a lack of opportunity as his reason for leaving. “I regard myself as a good spin bowler,” he said, “and I just didn’t feel that I had the backing that I should have had. It is for this reason that I have decided to step down. There are no bad feelings as this was my decision and I wish the club the best of luck for the remainder of the season.”However, Alan Butcher, Surrey’s cricket manager, was disappointed at Doshi’s decision, arguing that the club “need people who are prepared to take on a challenge”.”It’s not unusual for a professional sportsman to be left out of a team,” Butcher said. “They don’t enjoy it but on most occasions they take it on the chin and fight to regain their place as Alastair Brown has vowed to do.”It’s a pity that Nayan is unwilling to do this as he was part of our future plans but in the position we find ourselves in, we need people who are prepared to take on a challenge. This appears to be no longer the case and so I have accepted his resignation.”In all, Doshi took 120 wickets in first-class cricket at 34.10 apiece, but his main success came in the Twenty20 where he is the leading wicket-taker at domestic level.

India A 524 for 8 dec (Patel 126, Badrinath 103*, Pujara 100, Uthappa 67, Rainsford 4-100) beat Zimbabwe Select 143 (Chawla 4-12, Ojha 4-45) and 148 (Masakadza 73, Chawla 6-46) by an innings and 233 runs
Scorecard

Piyush Chawla bagged a match haul of 10 for 58 to lead India A to an innings-and-233-run victory against Zimbabwe Select on the third day at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, thus wrapping up the two-match series 2-0.Resuming at their first-innings score of 67 for 5, the Zimbabweans lost wickets at regular intervals to be shot out for 143. The Indian spinners, Chawla and Pragyan Ojha, shared the spoils taking four wickets each. With India having a massive 381-run lead, Mohammad Kaif had no hesitation in enforcing the follow-on.Just as in the first innings, Tino Mawoyo and Hamilton Masakadza, the Zimbabwean openers, got the team off to a steady start putting on 63 for the first wicket. Chawla then struck two quick blows removing Mawoyo and Vusi Sibanda. Former Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu joined Masakadza and the pair put up a brief resistance, taking the score to 115.Ojha had Taibu trapped in front, and Masakadza was dismissed in a similar fashion by Irfan Pathan for a well-made 73. With the fall of Masakadza’s wicket, Zimbabwe crumbled to 148 all out, with the last six wickets crumbling in 44 balls for addition of a mere five runs. Six of the Zimbabweans failed to open their account in the second innings.Chawla was the chief destroyer, picking up six wickets to finish with 18 wickets in two games. Pathan, who had finished wicketless in the first innings, did better in the second, picking up 3 for 12 from ten overs.The Indians now head to Kenya for two three-day matches and an ODI tri-series, also involving Sri Lanka A.

Pakistan A have bolstered their pace attack for the second Test against Australia A in Lahore with the return of Mohammad Sami, who has recovered from the viral infection which ruled him out of the first match in Faisalabad.Injuries to two fast bowlers has resulted in more changes to the bowling attack. Anwar Ali replaces left-arm seamer Najaf Shah, who is nursing a back injury while Abdur Rauf, who top-scored with 73 in the first innings in Faisalabad, is down with a groin strain. Offspinner Tahir Khan comes in for Atif Maqbool.In the batting department, the selectors have included opener Khurram Manzoor, who scored a career-best 200 against Mumbai in the Nissar Trophy last week. He replaces former Pakistan batsman Hasan Raza, who scored 0 and 3 in Faisalabad.Pakistan suffered a big defeat in Faisalabad, going down by an innings and 203 runs. The second and final match of the series begins on September 19.Squad: Faisal Iqbal (capt), Taufeeq Umar, Khalid Latif, Khurram Manzoor, Yasir Hameed, Naved Latif, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mansoor Amjad, Tahir Khan, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Khalil, Mohammad Irshad, Anwar Ali, Adnan Raza, Rizwan Ahmed

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

It wasn’t a one-sided drubbing like the Kochi game, but the Australians won all the key moments in the contest to sweep to a 47-run win in Hyderabad. The visitors now have a 2-0 lead after three games of the seven-match series. Following a coruscating 67-ball 89 by Andrew Symonds which powered them to 290, Australia survived an equally brilliant 121 by Yuvraj Singh and restricted the Indian run-chase to 243.In a series so far punctuated by verbal skirmishes, this match was surprisingly incident-free, but the cricket was often scintillating. First Symonds provided the sparkle with a stunning assault on the bowlers, scoring 66 from his last 35 balls and combining in a 123-run fourth-wicket stand with Michael Clarke (59) – a record for the wicket for Australia versus India. When India lost three early wickets to slump to 13 for 3 within five overs, it seemed like another pasting was in store, but Yuvraj, who had been in glorious form in the ICC World Twenty20, carried on from where he had left off in South Africa.With three top batsmen – including Rahul Dravid – already back in the hutch, Yuvraj’s start was understandably slow. He added 95 in 20 overs with Sachin Tendulkar. And though Tendulkar was mostly circumspect, he unveiled a couple of glorious drives down the ground before falling against the run of play seven short of his half-century.Yuvraj, though, was unstoppable. He started off by targeting Brad Hogg, dancing down the pitch, slog-sweeping and cover-driving fours, and pulling one fractionally short high into the stands for six. Completely assured in footwork and shot-selection, he made room to carve boundaries to the off side, or moved across to pull to leg, all with consummate ease. With Mahendra Singh Dhoni matching him in aggression, the pair gave India a real shot at victory.Australia, though, were not to be denied. Brett Lee, who had bowled with much fire to nail two early blows, struck again in his first over of a new spell. After being clubbed over his head for four by Dhoni, Lee shortened his length and forced an edge caught easily by Adam Gilchrist. The contest was effectively over.Yuvraj still had a few individual battles to win, however. Stuart Clark, who had suffered at his hands in the World Twenty20, was at the receiving end here too, being creamed over extra-cover for six and then driven through the same area for four more in successive balls. Mitchell Johnson, who bowled with pace, swing and accuracy in yet another thoroughly impressive performance, ended the fun with a scorching yorker that swung in and plucked out middle stump. It was a worthy delivery to end a worthy knock, and the rest was a mere formality.It was a day to savour for the No. 5 batsmen of either side. Symonds came in to bat after India had undone much of the damage they had suffered early in the innings with a tight spell by the slower bowlers. The opening partnership between Matthew Hayden and Gilchrist yielded a frenetic 76 in less than 14 overs, but thereafter, with the pitch losing pace and the bowling getting more accurate, only 35 came in a 12-over period in which Ricky Ponting – back in the team at the expense of the luckless Brad Haddin, and leading Australia for the 150th time in ODIs – struggled to come to terms with the slow surface.

After 30 overs Australia only had 140 on the board, with Harbhajan Singh especially outstanding with his accuracy and control over length. However, Symonds and Clarke had spent that time usefully, nudging the singles and familiarising themselves with the pace of the pitch. When the time came for the assault, both batsmen – especially Symonds – were ready, and the results were spectacular.Two thick edges by Clarke off Irfan Pathan were the early signs, before Symonds stamped his authority on the game. Pathan’s change of pace had troubled some of the batsmen earlier, but Symonds was quick to spot it and deposit a pull over long-on; Yuvraj, so niggardly in his first spell, then felt the heat in the 44th, as Symonds slapped a six over long-on, another over midwicket, and then pulled fours off successive deliveries. The timing, which had been a problem early on, was suddenly silken, and the runs came in a deluge – 83 in the last ten, and 150 in the last 20. Yuvraj tried his best to neutralise the damage later in the afternoon, but one man’s brilliance wasn’t enough to stop the sustained excellence of an entire team.

Sunil Gavaskar, the chairman of the ICC cricket committee, has questioned the role of umpires and the match referee in diffusing on-field confrontations between players.The recently-concluded one-day series between India and Australia saw ill-tempered exchanges between the players on the pitch and through the media. Gavaskar said while the blame rested on the management of the teams for letting the situation deteriorate, the umpires and match referee were no less culpable.”One is not privy to the report the match referee may have sent to ICC but the fact that not even one player from both sides has been reported and reprimanded shows the referee and the umpires did not do the job assigned to them and that was to see that the game was not brought into disrepute and the spirit of cricket maintained,” Gavaskar wrote in his column in the tabloid.Gavaskar questioned the need of a match referee if he could act only when the umpires had made a report. “He [match referee] is there not just to protect the umpires from the players but to see that the game goes on without any untoward incidents and what happened between the two players was definitely not cricket. By abdicating their responsibility, match officials let the game down big time and have raised a big question mark on their ability to control the game and players.”It would be sad if the ICC turns a blind eye to what happened during the series, for even while accepting that the game has changed and become far more aggressive than yesteryears, what was seen on the cricket field did not do any good to the image of the game nor enhance the quality by any stretch of imagination.”

New Zealand and Bangladesh are in discussions to play a Twenty20 charity match to raise funds for survivors of Cyclone Sidr, which devastated Bangladesh last week.Although Bangladesh officials have already said the match will be played in New Zealand on December 23, just before the start of a one-day series between the teams, a New Zealand spokesman said discussions were ongoing. A warm-up one-day match between Bangladesh and Northern Districts is currently scheduled for that date.Bangladesh’s tour includes three one-day internationals, starting on December 26 in Auckland, and two Tests in Dunedin and Wellington during early January.

The Ranji season has reached the stage at which teams have to keep an eye on other results in their respective pools. Karnataka, sitting in fifth place in the Super League Group A with eight points from three games, will want to make the most of this match against Rajasthan. Already thrashed three times this season, the young Rajasthan team are under intense pressure to avoid relegation.Rahul Dravid’s role in Karnataka’s first two games was crucial, but he and Anil Kumble are back in the Indian side and won’t be returning this Ranji season and Karnataka will have to rely on their core strength going forward. The star is Robin Uthappa, but he is yet to ignite this domestic season as he did last season with his exciting hundred here at the Gangothri Glades. Thilak Naidu, the wicketkeeper-batsman, and C Raghu, the offspinning allrounder, are key players and have done well this season.The bowling will again be led by Vinay Kumar and NC Aiyappa, the right-arm medium-pace duo, and Sunil Joshi, the veteran left-arm spinner. There’s little to speak of in terms of back-up, but with Rajasthan’s batting struggling so far that could well prove enough.Gagan Khoda, who played two one-day internationals for India in 1998, is the only Rajasthan batsman in form. His 244 runs are the high for the team by some distance, and highlight his side’s plight this year: they just haven’t been able to put up big totals. Pankaj Singh, the 22-year-old fast bowler, has done well in the last two seasons and has India A experience. That aside, the cupboard looks fairly bare this year. Rajasthan appeared to show a bit of fight in their last game, against Maharashtra, but the bowlers need runs to defend.A cursory palm across the surface showed it was hard, but there’s a tinge of green too. Vijay Bhardwaj, Karnataka’s coach, and Nagaraja, the curator, concurred in their readings of the wicket. “We’ve tried to make a sporting pitch,” Nagaraja said. “It is definitely looking like a four-day surface, with lots of bounce for the quick bowlers. That said, it will also assist the spinners late on the second day.” Bowling first may seem like an option, but it might still be better to bat first and see out the first session.This is only the second match at Gangothri Glades since the Ranji Trophy returned to Mysore last season after 18 years. Karnataka won that match against Haryana by 253 runs, with Uthappa and Barrington Rowland lighting up the third day with a stunning 213-run opening stand. Rowland has been dropped for this game following a string of average performances following that innings.Situated on the scenic University of Mysore campus, with the Chamundi Hills in the background, the large, tree-ringed ground bore a festive look. (tents) were being set up, as were loudspeakers and an array of coloured chairs. A good amount of sponsorship has been generated for this match, the sponsors including Reid & Taylor.A good weekend crowd is expected, made up primarily of university students. Spreading cricket into the smaller parts of the country is important and a rollicking innings from the likes of Uthappa or a stellar spell from the likes of Pankaj would be apt advertisement for a town where top-level cricket seldom rolls through.Teams:Karnataka (probable): 1 Robin Uthappa, 2 KB Pawan, 3 Sudhindra Shinde, 4 C Raghu, 5 Yere Goud (capt), Thilak Naidu (wk), 7 B Akhil, 8 Sunil Joshi, 9 R Vinay Kumar, 10 KP Apanna, 11 NC Aiyappa.Rajasthan (probable): 1 Rohit Jhalani (wk), 2 Gagan Khoda, 3 Nikhil Doru, 4 Vineet Saxena, 5 Robin Bist, 6 Rajesh Bishnoi, 7 Afroz Khan, 8 Shamsher Singh, 9 Pankaj Singh, 10 Mohammad Aslam (capt), 11 Nishan Singh.