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John Wright is looking forward to his stint with New Zealand Cricket (NZC) in a yet-to-be-disclosed role. Amid speculation that he would be appointed a national selector, Wright said he was prepared to work on a variety of projects ranging from grooming emerging players and seasoned internationals to the overhauling of talent-spotting programmes.The reported that one of his first tasks will be to coach New Zealand A on their visit to Australia in October, although he is reluctant to spend too much time away from home. “It’s probably best that Justin [Vaughan, NZC’s chief executive officer] nailed down the specifics, but I think he wants me to work on things as disparate as the A team and emerging players, and a study into the relationships between the major associations and New Zealand Cricket,” Wright told the Sunday Star Times.Wright’s signing with NZC has already been welcomed by John Bracewell, the head coach, who hopes Wright will be available to work with the openers before and during the tour of South Africa in November. Wright said he was prepared to work with New Zealand’s senior and contracted players, if and when they needed assistance.”I’m definitely keen to help the current internationals if they want me,” he said. “I don’t want to interfere or step on anyone’s toes, but I’d certainly be available if someone wanted me to work with a specific player or players.”But, to be honest, I’m not that keen to tour. After 10 or 11 years abroad I wouldn’t be leaping enthusiastically back into a suitcase, put it that way. I guess I’ll see what happens. I might feel differently in a year or so.”His reluctance to travel was one of the reasons Wright opted out of the head coaching role with Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence. “I just couldn’t stand the thought of being away again,” he said.A major concern for Wright in this new endeavour was whether he would be effective enough. “If you’re willing to get involved in top-level professional sport, you’ve got to try and make a difference, and that’s what I’ll be looking to do over the next couple of years,” he said.”I don’t want to simply make up the numbers, I want to try to help. I don’t know whether I’ll be any good or not, but I think if I didn’t try to help at some stage I’d regret it. I’m a New Zealander first and foremost and this is where my heart’s at.”

Scorecard

Plenty of eyes were focused on Trent Bridge as Sussex piled up the runs and, following a late wobble against the second new ball, Lancashire’s dream of their first outright Championship in 72 years is hanging by a thread at The Rose Bowl. Despite attractive half-centuries from Mal Loye and Stuart Law no batsman took charge leaving Lancashire scrambling to reach 350.Four batting points is the vital mark for Lancashire because it leaves them on track for a 21-point win, which would force Sussex to secure a win at Trent Bridge rather than play for a draw. If Lancashire fall short of 350, a 12-point draw would be sufficient for Sussex and, depressingly for Lancashire, they are well placed for that after their first day.Still, though, nothing is decided and it was a curious opening day on the south coast for many reasons. Lancashire’s top seven all passed 26 yet Law’s 75 was the highest score; Shane Warne went wicketless through 29 overs and the Hampshire spinner to make his mark was Greg Lamb. To top it all Lancashire started the day by picking James Anderson who, according to the ECB’s directive, is restricted to 12 overs per innings.The return of Anderson to Championship action will be the focal point of the second day – he might even have some batting to do first – but the first skirmishes were all about the batsmen setting a foundation. Lancashire’s run-scoring throughout the season has revolved around Loye and Law, the only two to pass 1000 runs, and again they provided the heavyweight contribution in the middle-order.Hampshire had been restricted to the wickets of both openers in the morning session and after lunch Loye, especially, took the attack to the bowlers in typically forthright manner. His fifty came off 98 balls, with a powerful square drive, and the crispness of the strokeplay again suggested England have missed a trick in not at least trying him in one-day internationals.It came out of the blue when Lamb spun a delivery between bat and pad for his first Championship wicket of the season, following his match-winning 4 for 38 in the Pro40 against Yorkshire at the weekend.Law, though, despite suffering from a knee injury that has dogged the latter stages of his season had progressed comfortably past his half-century in a typically unflustered manner. His dismissal, a lame chip to midwicket, needed a second glance as it was so unexpected and celebrated in a very tame manner by the Hampshire fielders.With the big guns back in the pavilion Hampshire had a chance to pull themselves back into the match and reignite their hopes of second place. However, Luke Sutton and Glen Chapple formed a stand of 63 for the sixth wicket – Chapple providing the biff, with his straight drive six off Lamb the day’s only maximum, and Sutton the block.Hampshire took the new ball at the start of 97th over and James Bruce used it to impressive effect as he’d done in the morning session. In his second over back, he produced a delivery that nipped back off the seam and removed Chapple’s middle stump via an inside edge.When Dominic Cork lost his off stump to Dimitri Mascarenhas a comfortable skip towards maximum batting points was transformed into a battle to earn a vital fourth. There are 17 runs to go, a margin that will have a huge bearing on whether the Championship is still bubbling come tomorrow evening.

Glenn McGrath has emerged as an injury doubt for the fourth Test at Trent Bridge after experiencing pain in his right elbow. The problem arose during Australia’s practice session on Tuesday, and he was sent for a scan at a Nottingham hospital. A final decision on whether he plays will be made in the morning.”He will continue to be treated and assessed,” Eroll Alcott, Australia’s physiotherapist said, “and a further update on his fitness will be provided in due course.” McGrath was said by sources close to the team to be responding to treatment and Ricky Ponting was reported to be confident that he would be fit to lead Australia’s attack.McGrath missed the second Test at Edgbaston with an ankle injury after treading on a stray cricket ball, and though he was passed fit ahead of the third match at Old Trafford, he was not at his incisive best. However, with the series tied at one apiece, McGrath’s absence would be a huge blow to Australia after Shaun Tait was named to replace Jason Gillespie, his South Australia team-mate, and make his debut tomorrow.Tait’s promotion ahead of Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz, who remain in contention after McGrath’s scare, was confirmed during a fiery net session at Trent Bridge when he discomforted team-mates and hit Justin Langer in the groin. Kasprowicz was expected to be the first-choice replacement, but Australia have decided to risk Tait, 22, in their bid to retain the Ashes.Jeff Thomson tipped Tait for the fourth Test and said the side deserved a “rocket”. “Not just the bowlers but the batsmen as well,” he told the . “For the first time in a long time they have had bowlers good enough to stick it up them and they don’t like it. The bloke [Tait] took 65 wickets in Pura Cup cricket last year. He can obviously bowl and that’s all that matters.”

The troubled North Indian state of Kashmir, at the heart of innumerable border disputes with neighbouring Pakistan, may soon be playing host to international cricket, if the region’s chief minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, has his way.”I will take up with the BCCI president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the state’s demand to allot at least one match to Kashmir,” said Sayeed in a prepared statement, which comes in the aftermath of the BCCI’s decision to award Kashmir two matches in this year’s Ranji Trophy. Jammu & Kashmir will take on Orissa and Himachal Pradesh at the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium in Srinagar later this year.Dalmiya, who gave a positive response to a similar request last year, was warm to the idea. “The state government has told me the time is ripe to bring back big cricket to the valley,” he told AFP. "We may decide to host a Test match or one-day international there in the near future, but all factors will be taken into account before that happens.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is planning to include Wasim Akram in their one-day side to face South Africa later this year as a formal farewell to his remarkable international career – despite Wasim announcing his retirement last month.”He [Wasim] had given nothing to us [the PCB] in writing and we want to give him grand send-off from international cricket,” explained Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, chairman of the PCB. Zia said the plan is for Wasim to be included in either the match at Lahore or Karachi: “It would be great to bid him farewell in front of his home crowd,”And Zia added that they wanted to utilise Wasim’s experience. “We want him to train Pakistani youngsters,” he told reporters. “It would not be in our interest that he coach and train in England.”

Playing some top flight cricket that included aggressive batting sustained over a period of time and quick bowling that put the batsmen on the back foot, New Zealand ‘A’ enjoyed the sweet taste of success in their semi-final match of the MRF Buchi Babu Tournament, when they, to use a cliché, derailed Indian Railways, beating them by 23 runs.The Kiwi’s now face the Cricket Association of Bengal XI in the final of the MRF Buchi Babu Tournament.The wicket at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is one that cricket experts over the years have found to read. Typically it is a track that has a bit in it for the fast bowlers early on, but slows down quickly and takes turn fairly early. New Zealand ‘A’ showed today that the role a wicket plays can be overcome with positive cricket. Lou Vincent creamed the Railways bowling to all parts in his run a ball 102, and gave his bowlers something to play with. One must remember that Vincent made a century in the last match he played too. Playing the spinners and pacemen with ease, Vincent spread the field in a hurry.Beginning the day on 216/6, with an overall lead of just 66, New Zealand ‘A’ had but a small chance of forcing a result in the match. Vincent, overnight on 57 struck nine boundaries in his century and in the company of Kyle Mills (37) took New Zealand ‘A’ to 318/8 declared off just 62 overs. This left Indian Railways with a target of 169.For New Zealand ‘A’ to win, they needed at least one stunning performance. In the event there were two! If Vincent’s ton won praise, then Shane Bond’s sensational bowling analysis of 14.3-2-45-7 deserves a lot more. Bowling in temperatures over thirty five degrees centigrade, Bond produced a spell of genuinely hostile bowling. More than anything, it was the sheer pace of Bond that knocked the wind out of Indian Railways. Constantly pitching the ball just short of a length and outside the off, the Canterbury mediumpacer scythed through the Railways batting line-up.After removing the Railway openers with just 9 on the board, Bond cooled off for a while, as the Railways middle order batsmen offered some resistance. When Brooke Walker ran out Murli Kartik (30) with the score on 49, the beginning of the end was signaled. Soon after, Bond ran thorough the innings, picking the last five wickets to fall. Bond’s 7/45 skittled Railways out for 145, handing the visiting side victory by 23 runs.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:38

Williamson’s 90 leads NZ to series win

New Zealand’s total of 273 appeared to be inadequate on a few occasions, particularly when Hamilton Masakadza was raining powerful blows, but the visitors eventually whipped up sufficient bowling ammo to snuff out Zimbabwe’s challenge and win their first ODI series after the World Cup. Sean Williams, with 63 off 62, took the game deep but once he holed out to deep midwicket in the 46th over, Zimbabwe were effectively down for the count.After captain Kane Williamson had made 90 off 109 balls – his sixth consecutive fifty-plus score – to guide New Zealand’s innings, Zimbabwe’s fairly placid chase was scuppered by wickets at inopportune moments. It was Mitchell McClenaghan, who finished with three wickets, who triggered the first slide by dismissing Chamu Chibhabha after the batsman put on 97 runs for the opening wicket along with Masakadza.Masakadza’s dismissal in the next over set Zimbabwe back further. The nature of his exit would particularly rankle the opener: he deposited a long hop from Williamson straight into deep midwicket’s palms. Zimbabwe continued to lose their wickets softly, as captain Elton Chigumbura drove legspinner Ish Sodhi straight to covers.The home side’s hopes lifted again when Williams and Craig Ervine put on 45 runs for the fourth wicket. But, Ervine’s dismissal in the 33rd over when he backed up too far only for bowler Ben Wheeler to effect a direct hit sent Zimbabwe towards a freefall. Apart from some persistent hustling from McClenaghan and Wheeler, the spinners, Nathan McCullum and Sodhi, played a part in suffocating Zimbabwe.After being inserted in the morning, New Zealand betrayed caution in the beginning – the tempo not dissimilar to that in the first ODI which was played on the same surface – rather than any attempt at smash-mouth stuff. Their first fifty runs, in fact, came off 76 balls – their second slowest in ODIs against Zimbabwe since 2001.Guptill, who played out a maiden in the first over, ensured he accounted for Tinashe Panyangara’s difficult angles. Panyangara, like he has often done this series, bowled from wide of the crease, and was either getting the ball to stay the course or shape away. The breakthrough for Zimbabwe, however, came through offspinner John Nyumbu, playing his first game of the series, in the 10th over.Williamson, though, came in and weaved substantial partnerships with Martin Guptill and Grant Elliott. Williamson had spoken at the toss about the difficulty of identifying a “good total”, and he ensured nothing was left to chance. Between the 11th and 41st overs, Williamson’s presence was the only constant even as the way he batted kept changing over the course of the innings.During the early part of his 56-run association with Guptill, Williamson played a risk-averse game, not giving in to twitchy urges to score. But even then, he did not miss out on bashing loose deliveries, like in the 17th over when he carted Chibhabha over wide long on for six, and then, after three dot balls, slapped a back-foot punch uppishly between long off and sweeper cover.Williamson was equally efficient against the spinners, using his feet to drill Nyumbu on the on side whenever the ball was tossed up. On other occasions, he shuffled across off stump to get inside the line of Nyumbu’s deliveries, most of which turned appreciably from outside off to middle or leg. Williamson, on 53, also enjoyed a reprieve in the 26th over when Regis Chakabva missed a stumping off Sikandar Raza’s bowling. It was at this point that Williamson was cranking up his scoring rate.Legspinner Graeme Cremer, though, kept Williamson and Guptill guessing by melding slow flight with sharp turn. Guptill was excised by one such delivery that took his edge and was pouched at slip. Soon after, Colin Munro played across the line only for the leg-break to fizz through a big bat-pad gap.Williamson, along with Grant Elliott, then added 70 runs in 13.1 overs to set New Zealand up for a strong finish, but their dismissals in successive overs nearly derailed the visitors. While Elliott was out sweeping to Cremer, his leading edge going only as far as short fine leg, Williamson was subdued in the 90s for the fourth time in his last six innings at long on where Ervine showed incredible presence of mind. Cremer and Nyumbu finished with 5 for 96 between them and stunted the visitors’ progress in the middle stages.New Zealand’s scoring, however, received a leg-up through some late hitting from James Neesham, replacing an injured Ross Taylor in the XI, and Nathan McCullum, who raised 50 runs in 4.1 overs for an unbroken seventh-wicket stand. They pushed the visitors’ score beyond 260, as New Zealand muscled 54 runs in the last five overs. Those strikes proved decisive in the end.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:40

Unbelievable that modern batsmen can play like this

In their final innings of a long and wretched series, South Africa’s batsmen produced their most unyielding display, responding with dour defence in the face of a mountainous fourth-innings task. Hashim Amla was at the forefront of their defiance, playing the slowest innings of 200 balls or more in the history of Test cricket*, but South Africa’s job, notwithstanding their captain’s monumental effort, was less than half done.India declared half an hour from lunch, after Ajinkya Rahane had become the fifth Indian batsman to score twin tons in a Test match, setting a target of 481 with just over five sessions remaining. At stumps on day four, South Africa had only lost two wickets while eating up 72 overs. They only scored 72 in that time, but it hardly mattered to them: South Africa were batting time, and runs were simply not on their minds.At stumps, Amla was batting on 23 off 207 balls and with him was AB de Villiers, on 11 off 91. Their third-wicket partnership was worth 23 off 29.2 overs. Before that, Amla and Temba Bavuma had put on 44 in 38.4 overs.South Africa began their fourth innings with a possible 158 overs remaining in the match. Given the sheer amount of time left, a draw seemed out of question, but South Africa have shown themselves capable – in Adelaide three years ago and in Colombo last year – of defying that sort of logic. South Africa’s batting has been far from its best during this series, but they kept faith in their ability – unique in this era – to bat long without thinking of runs.They had five overs to see out before lunch, and did not survive that period unscathed. R Ashwin looped one up to Dean Elgar from around the wicket, drifting it into the left-hander and getting it to leave him from a middle-stump line. Elgar didn’t reach the pitch while trying to drive straight, and Rahane took a comfortable catch at slip.In walked Amla. It took him 46 balls to get off the mark, and the first runs were unintentional, his back-foot defensive stroke off Ravindra Jadeja squirting away into the fine leg region. Bavuma, blocking with comparable single-mindedness at the other end was on 8 off 50 balls when Ashwin sent down a rare half-tracker – possibly slipped in deliberately to break the batsman’s rhythm – that left him with almost no option but to pull for six.The overs ran by quickly, hypnotically, and the close-in cordon grew in strength. It was fascinating to watch. South Africa, perhaps, were making things more difficult for themselves by contributing to India’s rapid over rate and leaving themselves more overs to face. When their innings began, 68 overs remained from the 90 scheduled for the day; India bowled 72.And while neither batsman was making too many mistakes – their control percentages hovered in the low-to-mid-90s – every little mistake was amplified by the presence of four, sometimes five, fielders around the bat at all times.Between lunch and tea, the edges weren’t finding fielders though. Amla came forward to defend Jadeja, and nicked him between first and second slip. Ishant Sharma, replacing Ashwin in the 28th over, found Bavuma’s edge twice in the second over of his spell, and the ball streaked through the slips on both occasions.By tea, India had bowled 22 maidens in 39 overs, and had only one wicket to show for it. It took a ball of great beauty from their best bowler, Ashwin, to finally break the stand in the fourth over of the final session. It drifted away slightly from Bavuma’s off stump, and hit it as he played for more turn than there was. The length was key, punishing the batsman for his lack of a front-foot stride.The pitch seemed to have slowed down slightly, but the batsmen were still being tested, forced to stay vigilant every ball. Ashwin continued to confound with his flight, and slipped in the odd legbreak for variety. Jadeja got a couple to turn sharply past de Villiers’ edge. Umesh Yadav got one to lift from a length and smack Amla’s left glove. It was, perhaps, the moment that best summed up Amla’s impregnability: his hands were as close to his body as possible, and they cushioned the impact of the ball to make it drop right next to his feet.Amla and de Villiers had been at the crease for 62 balls without scoring a run, when Kohli decided to shake things up by bringing on his part-timers. Shikhar Dhawan sent down two wide full-tosses in his first over, and Amla had no option but to smash them to the cover-point boundary, but in between he got one to spit up from a length. Amla was fully stretched out in defence, his head over the ball and his bat face almost parallel with the ground, when the ball popped up off his glove and over Cheteshwar Pujara at silly point. Pujara spun around and dived full-length, but could only get his fingertips to the ball. It was barely a half-chance, but also the only chance India would get during the partnership.In the morning, Rahane shifted gears effortlessly as India resumed 403 ahead, looking for quick runs. On day three, he had scored 52 off 152 balls, shutting South Africa out of the contest in a display of cool professionalism in the company of Virat Kohli. On the fourth morning, Rahane made 48 off 54 balls.The only major change in his batting was a willingness to go after anything remotely wide of the stumps. He picked up two fours and a six in the first four overs of the morning, all in the arc between third man and deep cover, the pick of them a perfectly timed ramp over the slips off Morne Morkel.Kohli, who began the day on 83, only added five to his overnight score before he was lbw to a ball from Kyle Abbott that crept through at shin height. It didn’t hamper India’s scoring rate as Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha kept playing their shots. Rahane raced through the 80s with sixes in successive overs off Imran Tahir and Dean Elgar, and Saha used his bottom hand to telling effect in swiping three fours in two overs.The declaration was just around the corner. Tahir bowled one full at Rahane’s pads, and he clipped it away through the leg side to bring up a hundred that he barely celebrated, raising his arms momentarily before walking off towards the dressing room. It was an understated reaction to an outstanding achievement. Among Indian batsmen, only Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (three times), Rahul Dravid (twice) and Kohli had made hundreds in both innings of a Test match before Rahane.*

Kapil Dev, the former Indian captain, has said that it is now up to the younger players in the side to take the lead and win games for the team. Kapil felt that as the future of Indian cricket, players like Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Zaheer Khan have to take up more responsibility if India are to have long-term success.”As long as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are there, they should be the anchor, the platform to ensure that nothing should go wrong,” Kapil told . “England is always a tough tour and this series will be a real test for India after the World Cup.”Kapil said that India were going through a rough period post World Cup. “They needed to get their heads together and sort things out,” he said. “But the issue of who will coach the side has dragged on too long.” The Indian board is yet to appoint a coach and the team is touring England with Chandu Borde, the former Indian batsman, as the team manager.Zaheer’s county experience, Kapil said, will prove useful to India, who have no other fast bowler in the squad with a knowledge of English conditions. “He [Zaheer] knows more about English pitches and English conditions than any of the other seamers. If he can also take responsibility it will be lovely.”In an endorsement of the Indian Cricket League (ICL), a potential rival to the Indian board, Kapil said that young Indian players would benefit a lot if they got a chance to play some of the best international players in the world. He also said that the problem at the moment was that the leading Indian players didn’t play enough domestic cricket.The ICL, which has signed up Kapil, Kiran More, Sandeep Patil, Dean Jones, and Tony Greig, will consist of 20-overs-per-side matches. Each side will have two top Indian and four foreign players. The prize money for the tournament, which will be telecast on Zee Sports, includes $1 million for the winners.

Cricket Australia has confirmed its plans for a Champions Trophy warm-up series in the “new frontiers” of Malaysia and Singapore in September. Australia, West Indies and India could line-up in the mini-tournament and James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, hoped more details would be finalised this week.”It would be exciting to bring the game to newer cricketing frontiers and to showcase some of the best players in the world,” he said. “I’m sure such a tournament will be a great success and further strengthen our relationships with Asian cricketing countries.”The Malaysian and Singapore cricket associations have supported the proposal and Sutherland said the matches would be an important lead-up to the Champions Trophy in India in October. “We hope we’re close to being able to put this important tournament in place,” he said. “The Australian team last played one-day international cricket in Bangladesh in April, so it’s important for us that this opportunity is used.”