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Australia 250 for 2 (Blackwell 91, Nitschke 82, Sthalekar 62*) beat New Zealand 249 for 7 (McGlashan 50, Browne 50, Devine 40) by eight wickets

Shelley Nitschke picked the right time to hit her highest ODI score to help Australia come back from a 2-1 deficit and win the Rose Bowl in the final match in Lincoln. Nitschke’s 82 was part of a 144-run opening stand with Alex Blackwell, who made 91, and laid the platform for back-to-back wins to ensure Australia remained unbeaten in any series this decade.Saturday’s fourth match was not without its alarms as they edged a tight success, but Sunday’s contest was a dominant eight-wicket thumping set up by the batsmen. They were left to chase 250 following fifties from New Zealand’s Sara McGlashan and Nicola Browne – Sophie Devine also thrashed 40 off 27 balls – and did it with 3.1 overs to spare.Nitschke and Blackwell remained undaunted during their record opening stand for Australia in New Zealand. It was Blackwell’s second fifty in two days, but the first of the series for Nitschke, which came off the back of two half-centuries against England.After Nitschke fell to Lucy Doolan, having just passed her previous high of 81, Lisa Sthalekar (61 not out) combined with Blackwell to add 80 for the second wicket. Blackwell fell just short of her second ODI hundred before Sthalekar, who reached her second half-century of the weekend, and Karen Rolton added the final six runs.Though Australia have taken every Rose Bowl since 1998-99, New Zealand have given them tight contests in the past three series, while England also tested them with a 2-2 draw in February. England then went on to beat New Zealand.Australia showed their fighting spirit with a courageous comeback but they are now world leaders by a nose only. This has been a packed calendar for three of the top four sides and the aim of the games was to see where the teams were at and gain some decent experience for next year’s World Cup and proposed Twenty20 World Cup.On the evidence of the three recent series, the verdict is an open one. There is more cricket to play before 2009 but next year is an increasingly mouth-watering prospect.

After trying more than a dozen times on Wednesday Australian captain Ricky Ponting finally got the opportuntiy to apologise to BCCI chief Sharad Pawar on the phone on Thursday over the incident during the presentation of the Champions Trophy last Sunday.Peter Young, Cricket Australia spokesperson told that Pawar has now accepted Ponting’s assurance that no disrespect was intended. “It was a very amicable telephone call and the two of them decided they would take a sporting approach and move on, ” he said.”Ricky offered an apology on behalf of himself and the team and it was accepted in good spirit.” Ponting’s apology comes close on the heels of Martyn’s who, on Thursday, had said that he was sorry for any misconduct.On Friday Indian media had quoted top BCCI officials saying that Pawar had indeed spoken to Ponting, and as far as the BCCI was concerned the matter was closed.Ponting and his team-mate Damien’s Martyn’s conduct, where they were seen trying to usher Pawar off the victory podium in their eagerness to celebrate, drew ire from the Indian officials and media. Pawar, himself had called the Australians’ attitude as “totally uncivilised”.Ponting, who arrived back home on Tuesday, said there was no offence intended and he was unaware there was a problem until he saw the television footage of the incident on Thursday morning. “It doesn’t look great on television, but I think the more times you look at it, you probably realise that there’s no intent to offend anybody,” he said.”We all probably got a little bit caught up in the excitement of the moment. That’s why I think it’s so important for me to be in personal contact (with Pawar) and if there is anything lingering on, to get it sorted out as quickly as we can.”James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, admitted the episode had the potential to damage the image of the Australian team.”I think it’s definitely a concern about how this has been perceived in India,” he said. “I think everyone in Australia sees and understands that it was certainly an unfortunate incident and can perhaps understand to some extent how it may have happened.”The disrespect that people have gathered from this is obviously more heartfelt in India and that’s something that we need to accept and obviously deal with.”Sutherland said Cricket Australia chairman Creagh O’Connor had spoken to BCCI senior vice-president I.S. Bindra on Thursday to pass on Australia’s concern.Since Australia and India had recently signed an agreement where both teams would play Test and/or one-day matches against each other annually for the next four years, Sutherland felt there will be plent of opportunities for his team to make amends.”There’ll be plenty of opportunity for them to make amends and to show the Indian public what they really think about India and its people.”

James Anderson has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka after scans revealed he is suffering from a stress fracture of the lower back.”It’s a huge blow to Jimmy,” said Mike Watkinson, Lancashire’s coach. “He’s worked hard and patiently at his cricket to get back into the Test and one-day environment and obviously was hoping to be involved with England right through this summer. But he is a fighter and he will get all the help possible at Old Trafford to overcome this setback.”This is a further blow for England a day after Simon Jones was forced to leave the field when he felt a twinge in his knee. Anderson has recently forced his way back into the Test team, playing a major role in England’s victory at Mumbai, which levelled the series at 1-1. He then played a significant role in the one-day matches that followed and has been rested since his return home from the tour.Anderson has had injury problems before, involving his heel and ankle. On the 2003-04 tour of Sri Lanka he injured his ankle playing squash and was then forced to withdraw from the England squad to play New Zealand, at Headingley, in 2004 with a heel problem.

Jamaica coasted to a seven-wicket win against Guyana at Kensington Park, chasing down the target of 63 in just under two hours. Fast bowler Andrew Richardson picked up the last two Guyana wickets as the visitors were dismissed for 232. Darwin Christian, the overnight batsman, was bowled by Richardson for 37 and Veerasammy Permaul drove Richardson straight to Danza Hyatt at mid-on.Jamaica got off to a shaky start, as Esuan Crandon bowled Brenton Parchment off the inside edge and had Hyatt caught at slip to leave them at 9 for 2. Wavell Hinds hung around to polish off the remaining runs and seal the victory.Amit Jaggernauth’s five-wicket haul helped Trinidad & Tobago register a comfortable 215-run victory against Leeward Islands at Couva. Chasing 403, Leewards were dismissed for 187, with offspinner Jaggernauth finishing with 5 for 48.Leewards, resuming at their overnight score of 118 for 4 showed little resistance as they lost their last six wickets for just 69 runs. Jaggernauth sliced through the middle and lower order and was supported by left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed, who took two wickets. This was T&T’s maiden victory in the tournament year’s Carib Beer Series, and they now have 20 points from three games.Windward Islands crashed to 91 all out to give Barbados a 141-run victory on the final day at Portsmouth. Set to chase 233 in a minimum of 60 overs, the home side crumbled, losing their last six wickets for just 10 runs. Earlier, Barbados declared their second innings on 183 for 9 shortly after lunch, giving either side a shot at registering an outright victory.Barbados offspinner Ryan Austin was the most impressive bowler, taking 4 for 26 in 12 overs to engineer the collapse. Liam Sebastian, who retired hurt in the first innings, resisted with 32 in the second while the rest faltered. The strong Barbados seam attack of Corey Collymore, Tino Best and Pedro Collins shared the first three wickets, before the spinners took over. Windwards paid the price for some rash strokes.Barbados, in their second innings showed a lot of urgency to push the scoring but lost wickets at regular intervals in the process. After an opening stand of 81, they were suddenly caught off guard, losing five wickets for 33 runs, with Kenroy Peters, the left-arm seamer, claimed four top-order wickets. Kevin Edwards and Patrick Browne consolidated, adding 40 for the sixth wicket, before Ryan Hinds declared the innings.With this victory, Barbados now have 30 points, ahead of Jamaica while Windwards are languishing at the bottom of the table with seven points.

Glamorgan have pulled off a major coup after the ECB awarded Cardiff the opening Ashes Test for next summer.The announcement was made public on Friday, and the first Test is set to get underway at the newly refurbished Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on July 8, which is a Wednesday instead of the traditional Thursday.The ground has been undergoing a £9.4million refurbishment since it was announced in 2006 that it had won the right to host its maiden Test match. The capacity will have been raised from 5,500 to 15,643 in just under two years. The first Test of the famous 2005 series took place at Lord’s, but Australia will not have fond memories of Cardiff, after their shock defeat against Bangladesh in that summer’s NatWest Series.David Collier, the ECB’s chief executive, said: “Already there is great expectation surrounding the Ashes Test Series which will follow the 2009 Twenty20 World Championships in an exciting summer of cricket for cricket followers.’We have been in full consultation with the England management about the structure of the series and our summer programme in 2009 and this was ECB’s preferred programme . I think everyone is now looking forward to the summer with relish.”Cricket Australia’s CEO, James Sutherland, said: “While it’s still more than a year away, the 2009 Ashes Series is already generating significant interest both here and in the UK. The 2005 series was a remarkable contest and the catalyst for huge growth in our game Australia and the UK. I’m sure that the 2009 Ashes will be another eagerly anticipated series.”Commenting on the announcement, Kevin Pietersen said: “As a member of the victorious England team in 2005, I’m looking forward to facing the Australian team again on home soil. The 2009 series promises some great cricket, at some great venues and no doubt some tough challenges along the way.”I’m pleased that interest in cricket continues to grow and the spectators can look forward to another thrilling Ashes duel,” said Pietersen, “arguably the biggest cricket contest of them all.”In addition to Cardiff and Lord’s, next summer’s other venues will be Edgbaston, Headingley and The Oval.The Ashes itineraryWed 8 – Sun 12 July, 1st Test, Cardiff
Thu 16 – Mon 20 July, 2nd Test, Lord’s
Thu 30 July – Mon 3 Aug, 3rd Test, Edgbaston
Fri 7 – Tue 11 Aug, 4th Test, Headingley
Thu 20 – Mon 24 Aug, 5th Test, The Oval

Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has said that the decision of the appeals committee to overturn the drugs ban on Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif is an honest and open one and should be respected.Ashraf told Cricinfo, “We respect the decision because the committee was set up and acted in an open, transparent matter. It has considered evidence from all parties, it has given players ample opportunity to present their case and come to a decision based on that.”The judgment has questioned the workings of the previous committee, finding flaws in the manner in which it operated. In particular, concern was raised over the fact that while it was constituted to work within the guidelines of the PCB’s anti-doping policy, the punishment it decreed – and the benchmarks it derived them from – were based on the ICC’s anti-doping regulations.”It is worthwhile to note that the ADC (Anti-doping commission) which was a creature of the PCB Anti-Doping regulations, while repeatedly referring to the various PCB regulations under which the players were charged, proceeded against and even punished, without any ostensible rationale sought to rely on distinct benchmarks of ‘No fault or negiligence’ and ‘no significant fault or negligence’ from the ICC’ anti-doping code in its decision,” the report states.It states later that ‘exceptional circumstances’, on which the players defended themselves, were defined by the PCB ‘on a significantly different plane’ than the ICC. “The standard of ‘exceptional circumstances’ under the ICC code and the PCB regulations is entirely different in terms of language, scope and meaning…The confusion between the applicability of standards of ‘exceptional circumstances’ fatally plagued the final decision of the ADC.”Ashraf said the crux of the decision to overturn the ban was based on this technicality. “Shahid Hamid (chairman of the original committee) accepted the fact the PCB rules should have applied to the matter and that it was an internal matter. But the judgments his tribunal gave were according to WADA and ICC rules. It was this technicality that formed the crux of the new decision.”But the report also points out that while under ICC regulations it is the players’ responsibility for what substances are taken, irrespective of intent, fault or negligence, the PCB’s anti-doping regulations impose no such “onerous burdens on the players,” instead placing responsibility on the PCB to ensure its players are educated. This responsibility, says the report, has not been fulfilled comprehensively.Also, in light of the lawyers for Shoaib Akhtar arguing that providing players booklets and lists were not enough, Ashraf acknowledged that the PCB would have to become more strenuous in the future.”I think there are lessons from this to be learnt for everyone. For all players this is a very good lesson because the responsibility ultimately lies with them for what goes into their body. But the PCB will have to be much more stringent and strenuous in educating players of the dangers of such issues. Under our own policy appeals are allowed for players and they have used that to establish that exceptional circumstances did exist.”Ashraf added that there were lessons from this case for the international cricket community and not just Pakistan. “Cricket has only had Shane Warne as a case example before this. Nobody really had any experience in this matter and there are lessons to be learnt from this.”That is why we called in Mark Gay, who is a world renowned lawyer especially in sports doping matters, to offer advice on the matter. Some of his observations were quite important as the report reveals.”

Sreesanth gets lucky
Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma introduced the first bit of cheek to a match that has seen a lot of pluck on the first two days. Edges, half hits, catches off no-balls, all added to South Africa’s agony today in a 46-run last-wicket stand that could have decisively taken the match out of South Africa’s reach. Nothing would have frustrated them more than the edge off Sreesanth in the fourth over of the day. It flew through the six-inch space between first and second slip, where both Neil McKenzie and Jacques Kallis thought it was the other’s catch, before McKenzie dived as an afterthought. But by then the ball had already passed him for four crucial runs.New ball, what new ball?
It took a whole innings before Mahendra Singh Dhoni came up with a trademark surprise move in his first Test as captain. The South African batsmen would have expected spin pretty early on in the innings. They wouldn’t have been surprised had a spinner opened, but they wouldn’t have expected a short leg and a silly point from the first ball of the innings. Harbhajan has opened an innings four times before, but this time he was bowling the first over. To the South Africans’ credit, they handled him pretty well before he finally struck with Hashim Amla’s wicket in his seventh over.That’s all right, but where are the runs?
Graeme Smith played a determined innings, cutting down any strokes that would fall prey to a ball that bounces unevenly. So much so, he seemed to have forgotten about scoring for a while. Smith swept Piyush Chawla from outside leg in the 25th over of the innings to score his first boundary. It was 67 balls coming, which has to be one of the longest waits for his first four. Smith’s score then: 21.Sehwag rolls over dangerously
For more than 16 overs, Smith and Kallis ensured that there was no damage, scoring 38 runs and making sure no wickets fell. Given their 60-run lead, India hadn’t started feeling restless yet, but the third-wicket pairing were beginning to look comfortable. Dhoni then turned to Virender Sehwag. The first ball he bowled was a quick offbreak that kicked viciously and hurried Kallis into edging in onto his pad and then lobbing up for an easy catch for Wasim Jaffer. Sehwag was not done yet, he proceeded to bowl Smith round his legs off a fullish delivery, something he has a knack for doing.

Mumbai’s Abhishek Nayar did not get a chance to impress in an unofficial one-day series against South Africa A last month, what with two of the three games washed out, but pitted against his team-mates from that series, he showed his talent.Nayar, a left-hand middle-order batsman and right-arm medium-pace bowler, walked in when his side were threatening to collapse from 164 for 4 on a good batting surface. He didn’t curb his natural instincts, instead trusting his attacking method. Neither did he let the Rest of India bowlers hit with any sort of rhythm, taking Mumbai towards a competitive total with 118 off 108 balls, including 20 fours and a six.Nayar later said that his second first-class century, coming as it did against mostly the same team, was special. “At this level, at this point of my career, this innings is important. I was in the A side, but didn’t get to play. I had got a hundred before that, and to get another now is special.”That hundred was a 162-ball 152 against Karachi Urban last month which helped seal the Mohammad Nissar Trophy for Mumbai. But Nayar rates this a lot higher “because it came at a more crucial juncture”. “At that point I wasn’t thinking about India A and all, but now I am.”What satisfied him most, though, was that the situation was tough and he still managed with his natural game. “I rate it as a good knock because of the situation. We were on the back foot and I got my team into a better position. It’s not because of the quality of the opposition, but because the situation demanded a lot out of me. That’s why it was satisfactory.”If a situation demands something, it’s not necessary to change your game. And if I get out after changing my game, I would come back unhappy that I didn’t do what I do best. I did what I do best and it worked for me.”It is not usually that a team rattles up close to 400 on the first day of a big match in Indian domestic cricket, but thanks to Nayar’s aggressive batting Mumbai managed 385 in 86 overs. The pace at which the runs were scored will prevent this game from degenerating into a first-innings affair as happens with high-scoring domestic games. Being a five-day match and given the strength of ROI’s batting and the quality of the surface, Mumbai would have wanted more, as Nayar’s fellow centurion Sahil Kukreja agreed.

Bennett King has resigned as West Indies coach after their failure to reach the World Cup semi-finals, according to the West Indies Cricket Board director Jackie Hendriks. The Jamaica Gleaner also reported Hendriks confirming Ian Bradshaw, the left-arm fast bowler, had followed Brian Lara into international retirement.”The West Indies Cricket Board [WICB] has accepted with regret the resignation of coach, Bennett King,” said a WICB statement. “Mr King, in his resignation, offered to remain in office until May 31 to facilitate the establishment of the regional cricket academy. Mr King was responsible for establishing and managing the Australian academy and developed the basic plan for a WICB academy structure.”His presence during the month of May will provide us with an opportunity to better understand the challenges facing the board as it implements the new structure. Mr. King will not accompany the team on the England tour and the board will subsequently announce the management team, including the coach, for that tour.”King moved from the Australian Academy to West Indies in 2005 but has been unable to reverse the side’s inconsistent form. “I have heard that he recommended his assistant David Moore to take the team to England,” Hendriks told the paper. The tour is due to start next month.King has continued the trend of coaches leaving after the World Cup. Greg Chappell, Duncan Fletcher and Dav Whatmore have resigned while John Buchanan will walk away when the tournament ends.Bradshaw, 32, played only three matches during the World Cup and his last appearance was in the loss to South Africa on April 10. He appeared in five Tests and 62 ODIs, taking 78 wickets at 29.47.

Clive Lloyd threw his weight behind West Indies, saying they are capable of playing better than they have done in the Super Eights.”This West Indies team can play much better than they have done. They played well in India and advanced to the final, something no one had expected them to do so,” said Lloyd, referring to West Indies’ runners-up finish in the Champions Trophy last year.After three successive defeats in the Super Eights, the hosts face an early exit from the World Cup and need to win all three remaining matches against South Africa, Bangladesh and England to have any hope of reaching the semi-finals. After an all-win record in the group stages, Brian Lara’s men suffered a 103-run defeat against the defending champions Australia, a seven-wicket thrashing by New Zealand and a crushing 113-run loss to Sri Lanka.Those defeats have left millions of Caribbean fans disappointed, former players looking for scapegoats and organisers fearing for the financial implications if seeing even emptier stadiums for the remaining matches.Lloyd, the most successful West Indies captain of all time who led them to victory in the 1975 and 1979 World Cup finals and a runners-up spot in 1983, said he would do his utmost to lift morale. “I hope to motivate the players by making them realise the pride of representing the West Indies at cricket,” said Lloyd, who was also a former coach, manager and is now an adviser.Lloyd said the West Indies team lacked experienced players. “We have a lot of young and inexperienced players, who have not been exposed to much international cricket and they need backing,” said Lloyd.Brian Lara has been singled out as the main culprit for the team’s demise, with former fast bowler Michael Holding demanding his removal as captain.Even a ten-day break, for which some players headed home to rest, has not been met with enthusiasm by some former players. “We are hearing they need time to go home and relax and that’s unbelievable in the middle of the tournament when they should be representing their people. Aren’t other teams tired?” questioned former captain Richie Richardson. Another former fast bowling great Joel Garner asked: “Going home, for what? “You can’t walk off in the middle of the battle. We have to be together and correct the errors,” said Garner.