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Brendan Taylor, who took Zimbabwe to a thrilling two-wicket win against Bangladesh with a last-ball six, was full of praise for his partner Tawanda Mupariwa. The pair added a record 81 for the seventh wicket, with Mupariwa scoring 33 and giving valuable support to Taylor, the only recognised batsman at the crease.”I should give him (Mupariwa) credit for a job well done because he really was gathered up from the time he came into play and showed good skills that really helped us to win”, Taylor told , a Zimbabwe daily, at the end of the match. “It really feels great to be in the winning team and this was just a sweet victory.”Mupariwa was run-out in the penultimate ball of the final over, and Taylor said that his biggest challenge was to maintain his focus despite the dismissal. “There was a big blow when Mupariwa injured his ankle as he tried to run back to the crease and with the partnership that was going on so fine, and only a ball to go”, he said. “I just kept on telling myself to be calm and I managed to control myself, especially at the last three balls where I had to take the game ball by ball.”With Zimbabwe leading the series 2-1 with two games remaining, Taylor said that this would be the ideal opportunity for his country to clinch the series.”At a stage like this we cannot afford to slacken and in the next game (on Friday) we really have to give it our all because we believe we are going to win. We are at home and we have to show that we are capable of pleasing our fans as did Bangladesh last year.”In the previous ODI series between the two sides, Bangladesh won 3-2 in front of their home crowd, coming from behind after they lost the first two games.

Mickey Arthur, the newly appointed coach of South Africa, has asked his team to stick to their own gameplan on the tour to Australia in December 2005.”When we play against them at the end of the year I want the team to play our own game and not try and follow their play,” Arthur was quoted as saying in News24.com website. “When they bat at four runs per over I don’t want us to try and bat at four-and-a-half runs to the over. We should not worry about what they do, but rather play to our own strengths and as well as we possibly can.”The tour includes three Tests and a triangular series also involving Australia and Sri Lanka, and Arthur said that there was a possibility the team might leave a week early to fit in an extra warm-up game before the first Test, which starts on December 16. “We’d like to play such a game at the WACA where the Test is being played. The match against Western Australia can’t be played on that pitch because it will then be prepared for the Test.”Speaking about Australia’s below-average one-day show against England, Arthur said, “There seem to be a few cracks in the ODI team, but with the return of Shane Warne their Test side is still tops. What I do like, however, is that they are increasingly being put under pressure and they don’t seem to handle it very well. Their major problem is that the senior players are not performing as expected.”

Cricket lost one of its most dedicated and colourful servants on Wednesdaywhen Krish Mackerdhuj, the first black president of South Africa’s UnitedCricket Board (UCB), died in hospital in Durban. He was 64.Mackerdhuj underwent knee surgery on Saturday, and seemed on the mendbefore showing signs of heart congestion on Tuesday. He suffered a fatalheart attack in the early hours of Wednesday morning.Not the least of Mackerdhuj’s achievements was the important role he playedin South Africa landing the right to host the last World Cup. Ali Bacher,the former UCB managing director, explained: “He and I went to Lord’s inFebruary 1993 for a 12-hour meeting on future World Cups, and he played akey role in South Africa securing the 2003 World Cup.”Bacher described Mackerdhuj as a “champion for non-racial sport andcricket”, and an “outstanding ambassador for South African cricket”. Heexpanded: “We had a warm and close relationship. Before unification he wasperceived as a hard-liner, but he was a soft, compassionate person.”Ray Mali, the current UCB president, also paid a fulsome tribute. “SouthAfrican cricket has lost a visionary leader,” he said. “Krish played a keyrole toward unity, both in his position as president of the [non-racial]South African Cricket Board and the UCB. His strength, determination andspirit were inspirational to all as he led South Africa into theinternational fold. He was a fine man and a wonderful leader.”Mackerdhuj, a chemist by profession, crowned a successful career in cricketadministration when he was elected the South African board’s president in1992. He remained in the position until 1998, and was then appointed SouthAfrica’s ambassador to Japan, a job he took to with relish and held untilthe end of 2003.Cassim Docrat, the chief executive of the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union,summed up Mackerdhuj’s important place in the history of South Africancricket. “The first part of his involvement in sport was in the struggle,”he said. “He believed all South Africans should be equal in sport, and thatnon-racial sport could only be played in a free South Africa.” Docrat saidthat Mackerdhuj was a vital figure in the 1991 unification of a previouslyracially divided game in South Africa: “He was pivotal, and he was theright man for the job of UCB president.”Mackerdhuj was an eloquent and persuasive speaker, and a skilled negotiatorwhose lively sense of humour in the midst of heated debates was often hismost effective weapon. He was an executive member of the apartheid-eraSouth African Council on Sport, and served as National Sports Congressvice-president. He was presented with the State President’s award forsports administration by Nelson Mandela in 1994.Mackerdhuj’s funeral will take place in Durban on Saturday. He leaves hiswife, Sminthara, and two sons, Prashim and Arvin.

As Mumbai and Tamil Nadu toil in the morning sun at the Wankhede Stadium, Swamiji walks past me. He is not the kind of man you would expect to see at a cricket match. Lean and white-haired, he wears a cream satin lungi and kurta. An elegant red tilak adorns his forehead.Swami A Parthasarathy is a specialist in Vedanta. And yes, that has plenty to do with sport. Sportstars go to him regularly in an effort to become better at their game – Geet Sethi, former Billiards World Champion, paid him one such visit a short while back. But what draws him to cricket?To begin with, he used to play it. "I played cricket in my youth," he tells me, "and just when I had started to represent Madras in the early 1950s, I left it." He is 76, but looks anywhere from one to two decades younger. The secret of his vitality – and the area in which he has helped many sportsmen in his time: concentration."The human mind is always wandering," Swamiji – as he is known – tell me. "That affects concentration, which is vital for a human being and even more so for a sportsperson. Vedanta helps you concentrate better. What makes you lose concentration is the nature of the mind, which is constantly worrying about what happened in the past and anxious about what is going to happen in the future."In the process of controlling the mind, peace of mind is achieved. Swamiji elaborates: "players are very tense: thinking about past failures or future selections, the cricketer’s mind is always lost." He says that when there is peace of mind one becomes more productive.So what is the route to peace and productivity? Swamiji says: "At the Vedanta Academy in Malavli, in Maharashtra, we have developed this scientific course by which we try to teach the student to achieve the balance between peace and productivity."Swamiji has never worked with any particular cricketer individually, but he had conducted a session for Sourav Ganguly’s men during the India-Australia Test match at the Wankhede in 2000-01. He had spoken to them about the three Cs. "I told them how to concentrate, how to be consistent and how to cooperate with each other."What about sports psychologists? Don’t they teach players the same things? "They are mad men," Swamiji retorts, "some of the psychiatrists attend my sessions themselves." His face turns red, and before he can lose his peace of mind, I change the subject.In all his years of watching cricket, I ask him, how has cricket evolved? Swamiji says that during his time the cricket was more relaxed, but "unfortunately these days there’s a lot of money involved in professional cricket". He has no problem with cricketers earning money – but he feels that the financial stakes can make a cricketer anxious about his performance, and thus affect the way he plays.Swamiji says that there is scope for improvement even in a player like Sachin Tendulkar. "He [Tendulkar] is also a human," Swamiji says. "Where he differs from others is in his talent, but when it comes to concentration, he too needs to train more."

Leicestershire sealed a comprehensive CricInfo Championship victory over Glamorgan by 10 wickets at Grace Road to confirm their Division One status for next season.Glamorgan were bowled out for 245 in their second innings leaving 20 to win which Leicestershire knocked off in just 21 balls.Following-on 236 runs behind Leicestershire the Welsh side had resumed their second innings on the third morning on 126-2, still confident they could get something from the game.Glamorgan, who are now all but relegated to Division Two, needed Jimmy Maher and Mike Powell to build on their overnight partnership of 64 and looked well set until both batsmen went in the space of two overs ending a 97-run partnership.Powell was caught at slip off Darren Maddy and Maher was snaffled behinddown the leg side off the next delivery after he had reached his 111-ball century that had included 17 fours.The innings crumbled after that with Robert Croft adjudged lbw not offering a shot but he did save the ignominy of a third successive championship pair.Mark Wallace, Darren Thomas and Andrew Davies followed rather tamely after that but Steve Watkin hung around long enough with Adrian Dale, who passed 1,000 first-class runs for the season, to ensure Leicestershire had to bat again.By lunch Glamorgan had reached 230-9, an overall lead of four, which they extended to just 20 before Simon Jones was holed out to cover.Leicestershire’s fifth win of the summer was confirmed when Trevor Ward took three consecutive fours off Jones with a day and 62.3 overs to spare.Leicestershire took 19 points out of the match to Glamorgan’s three.

A case of mistaken identity:
One of the posters outside the FerozShah Kotla introduces you to “The Speedy Daredevil”. You may call FarveezMaharoof a lot of things, including a Glenn McGrath wannabe, but speedy?Dale Steyn was playing for the opposition.Lights, camera, no action:
The started was delayed by 10 minutes asa result of a glitch in the TV transmission. Were it not for the crowdgetting restive, the pause might have gone on longer. Steyn filled thetime with rolls and stretches on the outfield, and it wasn’t until theseventh over that pictures were available.No country for old men:
Sunil Joshi is even older than McGrath, andlooks a stranger to this format. His only over was pounded for 19 byGautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan, and when Jacques Kallis was flayed inthe next over, Bangalore’s reliance on experience wasn’t looking thatclever.Are you watching, Jens Lehmann?:
When Dhawan powered one in thedirection of midwicket, most eyes went to the boundary rope. But wait. Whowas that diving full length to his right to pouch a stunning catch? RahulDravid may no longer be part of the one-day team, but at this rate, an I-League football club may come calling next season.Not quite perfect:
Most bowlers would bite your hand off if youoffered them figures of 4 for 29 in a T20 game. In his final over, McGrathcame back to claim the wicket of Dravid and tilt the game decisively inDelhi’s favour. His last ball, though, was tucked away for four by MarkBoucher. Cue a frustrated kick at the air. The true champions are neverhappy.

The World Anti-Doping Agency have put pressure on the ICC to fully implement their code on doping offences, and say they are “looking forward” to their full co-operation in the fight against drugs in sport.WADA recently appealed against the reversals of the bans imposed on the Pakistani fast bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who were initially suspended by the Pakistan Cricket Board for two years and one year respectively after testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.Their appeal, however, had to been turned down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who ruled “with considerable regret” that they had no jurisdiction in the case. Although the ICC adopted the WADA code on doping offences a year ago, they have not yet implemented it, and so there is no provision for any appeal against the PCB’s decision.A statement from WADA read: “While regretting the absence of jurisdiction of CAS in this specific case, WADA noted with satisfaction that the CAS panel considered the exoneration of the two cricketers by the PCB Appeals Committee as an “unsatisfactory” decision.”Point 8.8 of the CAS award states that ‘The panel reached this conclusion with some considerable regret. The fight against doping will be severely hampered if international federations, such as the International Cricket Council (ICC), and national governing bodies, such as the PCB, do not ensure that their anti-doping rules are able to avoid unsatisfactory decisions as the majority decision of the PCB Appeals Committee in this case.”That decision was inconsistent with a long and invariable line of CAS’ decisions which hold that it is the athlete’s duty to ensure that what he or she ingests does not contain a prohibited substance, and with the World Anti-Doping Code which is to the same effect’.”Furthermore, the panel stressed that ‘it is the responsibility of the ICC to ensure that its members promulgate anti-doping rules which are consistent with the World Anti-Doping Code and which enable either the ICC or its members or WADA to appeal against what might be termed as ‘rogue’ decisions’.”The ICC, in reply, acknowledged that “lessons had been learnt” from the experience, but stressed that the organisation remained committed to a “zero tolerance approach” to the used of banned substances in cricket. “We are working hard with our members to ensure a case like this does not happen again,” said Faisal Hasnain, the acting chief executive.”Since we became a WADA signatory in 2006, we have been striving to make sure cricket does not develop a major problem in this area,” added Hasnain. “I believe we are getting it right. The menace of drugs has been visited upon most sports over the years and cricket is no exception,. “The challenge for us is to make sure they do not become a major factor in our game and that everyone can continue to watch safe in the knowledge that they are viewing a fair contest between top athletes untainted by banned substances.”The ICC began implementing drugs tests at all of its major events in 2002, and to date no-one has yet tested positive during an ICC competition. “That is not to say we can be complacent – far from it,” said Hasnain. “We are engaged in a robust campaign to make sure all our Members become WADA-compliant by 2009 at the latest.” This date has been moved forward from an original deadline of 2010.

Andrew Flintoff has handed England a boost by saying it may not be too long before he is back in action. But he hasn’t played since the final Test against Sri Lanka when he suffered a reoccurrence of his ankle problem, has yet to start bowling again, and admits the first test against Pakistan will be cutting it fine.However, he has spent hours working with Dave Roberts, the physio who has overseen his previous rehabilitations, and is pleased with his progress. He told Sky Sports: “I’ve been doing five or six hours a day with the physio…so fingers crossed I’ll be back playing cricket sooner rather than later.”When that exact date is, at this stage I’m not sure. We’ll investigate it a bit more at the end of this week, and hopefully I can get back on the pitch and do what I like doing best, playing cricket.”But when asked about the chances of taking his place at Lord’s on July 13 he added: “At this stage, that’s a big ask.”While he has been sat on the sidelines England have crashed to a humiliating 5-0 whitewash against Sri Lanka. The team has been a shadow of the side that played against Australia last summer with a number of key players missing.”It’s frustrating. I don’t like being injured and I don’t like not playing cricket. That’s what I do and that’s what I enjoy, and it’s the same for the other lads too,” Flintoff said. “Michael Vaughan, Ashley Giles, Simon Jones – they are all the same. They want to get back playing cricket. It’s unfortunate that we’ve all got injured together and the injuries have taken a while to heal.”With Flintoff’s continued absence from the team, Andrew Strauss is expected to named captain for at least part of the Pakistan series. Flintoff led England to a 1-1 draw in India before the same result against Sri Lanka, but he hopes that Vaughan will eventually be back in charge”We want Michael back, I’ve said that on numerous occasions and the rest of the side feel the same way. He is our captain, he is our leader. In his absence I’ve enjoyed captaining the side, but as soon as he comes back he’s England captain.”

Gloucestershire have signed Steve Adshead, a wicketkeeper/batsman, on a one-yearcontract as cover for Jack Russell.Adshead, 23, was on the Leicestershire staff 2000 to 2002 – he played one first-class match in 2000 and a handful of one-day games – and moved to Worcestershire, the county of his birth, for 2003. He played two Championship matches last season after Steve Rhodes was injured, scoring 63 against Glamorgan at Cardiff, but then lost his place to James Pipe.

Titans 184 for 5 (Rudolph 46, Kemp 48) beat Eagles 94(Bosman 42, Thomas 3-20, Reddy 3-27) by 90 runs
ScorecardThe Titans demonstrated how much they had learned from their first match of the Standard Bank PRO20 series, as they compiled 184 for 5 second time around, against the Eagles at Bloemfontein. After winning the toss and batting first, Jacques Rudolph anchored the innings with 46 from 45 balls, allowing Justin Kemp to crack 48 from 24 deliveries, including three boundaries and four sixes. Gerald Dross then added 35 from 20 and right at the end of the innings Daryll Cullinan had a ball, belting 16 off only five balls.The Eagles stumbled at first, as they lost three wickets in four overs, all to Alfonso Thomas. Loots Bosman briefly looked as though he might repeat his efforts at the weekend, but he was running out of partners when he was bowled for 42. Brendon Reddy then wrapped up the tail, taking 3 for 27 in his four overs to help the Titans to the bonus point.