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Pakistan’s ever-nervy batting line-up was left to rue another poor displaythat left their side in considerable trouble at the end of the second dayat the MCG. After Ricky Ponting’s positive declarationapproximately halfway through the day, Pakistan lost four wickets,including the crucial one of captain Mohammad Yousuf in the last over ofthe day, on what Intikhab Alam, their coach, later maintained was still ablameless surface.It continued a poor recent run of Test batting performances from the NewZealand tour, not helped by the continued absence of Younis Khan at onedown. Intikhab said Yousuf’s dismissal, given only after a review, wascrucial to determining the mood of the day. “He was out, no doubt aboutthat,” Intikhab said. “You could see it very clearly in replays. But itwas very sad, in the last over, a very important batsman. But we have madethings difficult for ourselves. It is still a very good batting track. Ouropeners did well, but then they threw their wickets away and this is not apitch where you can give wickets away when chasing 454. “Pakistan still have two recognised batsmen to come, and a potentiallyobdurate nightwatchman at the crease, and an unusually placid MCG trackled Intikhab to believe the game can still be saved.”Misbah is still there as is Kamran Akmal and the young Umar [Akmal], who is very exciting, is still there and Mohammad Aamer can bat as well. They have to stay at thewicket and try to get near this total. You can never tell in this game.Funny things happen. We just have to make sure that we stay at the wicketand fight it out. It is still a very good wicket.”I don’t think I have seen a wicket like this at MCG. It is a drop-inpitch, but I haven’t seen one like it. It is still good for batting. It isslow and not turning either. There is occasional bounce, but we would’veplayed two spinners here but [Danish] Kaneria got hurt and we have missed him inthis game.”After dropping two critical catches yesterday, Pakistan endured anotherclumsy day in the field. One catch was dropped and there were severalother fumbles as Nathan Hauritz and Michael Hussey took the innings awayfrom Pakistan.”Our fielding was very disappointing and it is the weakestdeparment of our game,” Intikhab said. “Had we taken two early catches itwould’ve been different. This is a grassroots problem in Pakistan andpeople don’t take it seriously enough, but we are trying. The problem hasbeen there for a very long time. We are trying to sort it out in Pakistanbut there is not enough emphasis on fielding at domestic level yet.”

Iain O’Brien overcame a dislocated finger to take the crucial wicket of Kamran Akmal•Getty Images

The Akmals, Umar and Kamran, had flayed the New Zealand attack during the first innings in Dunedin and, at tea on the final day, they were all that stood between New Zealand and victory. Pakistan needed 86 more to win and the talk in the New Zealand dressing-room was focused on separating the brothers.”There was talk the whole way through of just hanging in there, if we put the ball in the right areas the wicket will take over,” Vettori said after his team secured a 1-0 lead in the series. “It was about breaking that partnership, probably in my own head about throwing the ball to Ober [Iain O’Brien] and Shane [Bond] and having a real crack at it.”New Zealand didn’t break through immediately after the break, though. Instead it was Pakistan that surged ahead with a flurry of boundaries from Kamran, while Umar sensibly rotated strike. They confidently whittled the runs required down to 56 when Shane Bond, in the fifth of an eight-over spell, held a sharp return catch to dismiss Umar. It was the finishing touch on a splendid comeback for the 34-year-old fast bowler, who was Man of the Match for his eight wickets.”It was perfect really,” Bond said when asked if his comeback could have been better. “I am pleased to come through. It was different playing with four bowlers, the first time I’ve done that. You bowled a spell, someone else was on, and then it was ‘Christ, they are going to give me the ball again,’ which is pretty tough.”I firmly believed that we were good enough to win the Test. Whether that was going to materialise or not was another matter. I suppose that’s why you want to play Test cricket, because it is a true test, it’s the mental highs and lows.”Another component of New Zealand’s four-man attack, Iain O’Brien, had suffered an injury as the situation was growing increasingly tense. Umar, before his dismissal, had hammered the ball back at O’Brien, dislocating the bowler’s finger as he attempted a tough return catch. He needed treatment and the physio spent a few minutes trying to straighten his digit.”I saw the pain he [O’Brien] was in, his eyes welled up, so he must have been in agony, and also it [the finger] was out of place,” Vettori said. “He had a tough time in the first innings, [so] for him to bounce back and bowl as well as that showed a lot of heart.”I’ve always backed Ober [O’Brien], I’ve always liked the way he bowls, liked the effort he brings to a game. He always wants the ball, you saw the turnaround from the first innings. I probably bowled him a little bit too much, kept him a bit fresher in this one and he responded. That spell with him and Shane after tea was the real difference.”It was Kamran’s wicket, lbw O’Brien, to a delivery which cut back sharply that Vettori singled out as “the one where everyone started to believe” New Zealand could win. From thereon, though Pakistan’s tail resisted, it was only a matter of time and it was Vettori who mopped up the last two wickets to secure a 32-run win.Vettori also emphasised the effect a small, but vocal, crowd at the University Oval had on his team. “Special mention to the atmosphere that was there, the crowd – however small – was amazing. It lifted everyone and it was almost the first thing we spoke about once we came off the field. I felt there were 80,000 people out there rather than how many ever there were.” Bond also said that the crowd’s involvement whenever the game was “drifting away” gave everyone a lift.Vettori, however, was not entirely pleased with New Zealand’s performance over all five days, saying there was “some frustration” that they had managed to set a target of only 251 even after securing a 97-run lead in the first innings. “We want to control the game better than we did. We put ourselves in a difficult and precarious situation, but it’s always a fourth-innings wicket, and if you look at the history of the game, there’s not many teams that get 250 on the last day of a Test match.”

The fourth day’s play between New Zealand and Pakistan in Dunedin revealed a minor loophole in the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), making its official debut in this Test. When Mohammad Asif challenged Billy Doctrove’s decision – in favour of Grant Elliott – the replays showed that while the batsman was plumb lbw, Asif had marginally overstepped. It would have been a successful challenge but for the no-ball that was originally missed by Doctrove. Yet it ended up costing Pakistan a run and, more importantly, it counted as an unsuccessful challenge.It raised the question of whether the bowling side should be expected to keep an eye on no-balls, or actually be penalised for having missed one. The ICC’s regulations remain silent on the issue. A guide to the system circulated several days ago by the ICC offered this: “If the original decision of ‘out’ is upheld but for a different method of dismissal than the on-field umpire originally intended, then the review will still be regarded as being unsuccessful.” But it doesn’t advise on cases when the original decision of “not-out” is upheld for reasons other than originally intended by the on-field umpire.The ICC’s Umpires and Referees Manager Doug Cowie admitted a solution for the blip had yet to be found. “We’ll look into that one,” Cowie was quoted as saying in the “It might be one of the things we fine tune when we look into the whole business later on.”We did explore that idea about what happens in a no-ball situation. It’s an interesting one, but I don’t know how you get around it.”When contacted after Friday’s incident, Dave Richardson, the ICC’s cricket operations manager, said it was not a loophole but an issue that needs sorting before every series. “It was something that was not covered specifically in the playing conditions. But I know that in the Australia series it was decided beforehand if that happens [a no-ball which is initially overlooked], the fielding team would not lose out on a review. Obviously in the New Zealand series they haven’t decided, and now they can’t introduce it in the middle of the play.”The umpires followed the book in New Zealand, and Doug Cowie, the ICC’s umpires manager, said that the final decision remained not-out so it is counted as unsuccessful.

The ECB has described as “hugely detrimental” the decision to return England’s home Ashes Tests to a revised list of major sporting events that should be shown on free-to-air TV. The findings of the review panel, headed by David Davies, the former chairman of the FA, were unveiled on Friday, but there will still be a huge number of hurdles to cross to get the Ashes back on terrestrial television.”Sporting events with a special national resonance should continue to be protected for the widest-possible audience,” said a statement issued by the panel. “There is still a place for a listed events regime, but its long-term future in a changing media landscape is by no means certain.”Test matches in England were de-listed in 1998 which meant that pay-TV operators could bid for the rights. Initially BSkyB gained one home Test per season with Channel 4 showing the rest, which ensured international cricket was still available on a free-to-air platform, but since 2005 all England matches have been shown live on BSkyB with just highlights available on Five.When England regained the Ashes, at The Oval, in August the viewing figures peaked at around two million compared to the seven million who tuned in when Channel 4 had the rights for the 2005 series.”On that night in August when England won the Ashes, the BBC One national news was led by cricket, the ITV news was led by cricket, Sky News throughout the day was led by cricket,” Davies told the BBC. “Throughout that summer for five Test matches, cricket figured prominently on the national news in this country every day.”My only question is if that was not an event of national resonance, what was it? I was also uneasy about the fact that millions of children were unable to see it live. We are asking cricket that once every four years – and not until 2016, in six years’ time – that 25 days of cricket are free-to-air in one summer.”The ECB’s current deal with BSkyB and Five, which is worth a combined £300 million, runs until 2013 and includes the next home Ashes series. Under the recommendations the first series that could possibly be back on terrestrial TV would be the 2016 contest.Newspaper reports are suggesting that the Government’s move to shift the Ashes back to free-to-air is an attempt to gain revenge on Rupert Murdoch, the owner of BSkyB, after the Murdoch-owned backed the Conservatives for the next general election.An ECB insider told Cricinfo that the fears were genuine, and with the report coming out so close to an election, there was a fear that they were being used as “the piggy in the middle”While the move from terrestrial to pay-TV has hit viewing figures, the money pumped into the game at grassroots level has helped develop the game.The ECB are already braced for a battle to ensure that this proposal never sees the light of day.Privately, they are furious that the committee did not commission an independent report into the economic impact of the decision, after estimating that some £30 million per year could be slashed from their budget, which amounts to more than a third of their annual turnover. They will be lobbying the government on that very point during the 12-week consultation process that will follow the announcement.”The last time the Ashes were on terrestrial TV it was a tremendous series in 2005, but it still went off air on terrestrial for a horse race,” David Collier, the ECB chief executive, told Cricinfo. “You just can’t do that and retain any credibility. Why does the report believe that the competitor broadcasters will bid competitive rates for the 2016 series, when they had the opportunity in the last two rounds of bidding [in 2004 and 2008], and they failed to put in a bid?””The objective evidence is overwhelming. The overwhelming evidence says this is a nonsense and that is what we’ll be presenting to the secretary of state. It would be disastrous if this implementation went through, as it would cut cricket’s income by 50%. We’ve been very clear from the outset that they must take account of economic evidence, and that has not changed one iota.””Both Secretary of State Ben Bradshaw and Minister of Sport Gerry Sutcliffe are big supporters of our grassroots programmes and the recent success our investment in women’s cricket has had on the international stage,” read an official ECB statement. “In the coming weeks we will set out to them the hugely detrimental impact the panel’s recommendations would have on our successful community projects.

Robin Singh, the former India allrounder and current fielding coach, has been appointed coach of Mumbai Indians for the third season of the IPL, and former fast bowler Paras Mhambrey as his deputy. Jonty Rhodes will continue as fielding coach while Shaun Pollock will remain a part of the team management. The other members of the Mumbai support staff include Praveen Amre, Nitin Patel, Dhananjay, Ramji Srinivasan and Donald Shugg.Robin coached Deccan Chargers in the inaugural edition of the IPL, when they finished last; he was replaced by Darren Lehmann. Robin represented India in 136 ODIs, scoring 2336 runs at 25.75 and picking up 69 wickets at 43.26.Mhambrey has long been associated with Mumbai cricket, having played first-class cricket over a 19-year period, taking 284 wickets at 24.36. He also played for India in two Tests and three ODIs on the tour of England in 1996.Mumbai finished fifth in the inaugural IPL and seventh this year in South Africa.

Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, will miss his team’s two practice games against the Highveld Lions this week as part of his rehabilitation from a tennis elbow surgery. However, the team physiotherapist Brandon Jackson assured that Smith was progressing well, and that he should be fit for the Champions Trophy warm-up match against West Indies in Potchefstroom on September 17.”Graeme’s elbow is healing well post surgery,” Jackson was quoted as saying in Cricket South Africa’s official website. “He is in week 11 of a structured 13-week return to full activity programme. He is currently batting against tennis balls and against underarm bowling with a cricket ball, together with intensive gym strengthening and boxing.”This excludes him from matches this week. We expect him to return to full batting activity in ten days’ time.”Smith first suffered the tennis elbow injury during the IPL in 2008 and that forced him to miss the last three ODIs against England in August. He was adviced to undergo surgery but was still fit to continue playing. He kept postponing the surgery, in order to make himself available for South Africa’s busy season later in the year, which included the tour of Australia. He finally went under the knife after the World Twenty20 and was confident of recovering before the Champions Trophy at home, starting September 22. He has already been named in South Africa’s squad for the tournament, as well as the Cape Cobras’ squad for the Champions League in India next month.

ScorecardIt was a frustrating day for Yorkshire as the 123rd Scarborough Festival opened under gloomy grey skies. They made all the running in just under an hour and a half, which was all the play permitted by the weather. Good bowling in difficult conditions, especially by Ajmal Shahzad, removed the top four batsmen in the Warwickshire order, and the home team will at least face the second day with anticipation.Rain in the early morning meant that the start of play was delayed by thirty minutes. It was a good toss for Yorkshire to win, as it enabled them to put Warwickshire in to bat in unsettled conditions. There was a gusty wind blowing, which may have accounted for Matthew Hoggard’s first three deliveries being well off target. At the other end, Shahzad, given the rare privilege of bowling with the new ball, had no such problems with his first delivery. It rose just outside the line of the off stump and Ian Westwood, jabbing indecisively, edged a catch to second slip, with just a single on the board.Shahzad struggled for consistency, though, and Ian Bell quickly put him in his place with a handsome off-drive and then a cut, both for four. After three overs he was removed temporarily from the attack. Ant Botha also hit Hoggard for two classy boundaries in an over, through midwicket and point respectively. When he faced Kruis, who had replaced Shahzad, though, one South African broke through the other’s defences and hit his off stump, removing him for 13.There was a four-minute break for rain after 47 minutes of play, and on the players’ return Bell edged the first delivery, from Hoggard, straight into second slip’s chest, but it fell to the ground as Joe Sayers failed to cling on. It could have been an expensive miss, but after he had scored 23, Bell fatally shouldered arms against a ball from Shahzad that came in and clipped his off stump.Another wicket was to fall before lunch, as Jim Troughton, who scored a century the previous week against Durham, this time made only nine. Shahzad, working up a good pace and making the occasional ball fly, had him edging to third slip, where Jonny Bairstow took an excellent low catch. Warwickshire were in some disarray at 53 for 4 at lunch.That was all the cricket that was possible for the day. Rain during lunch lasted on and off until the tea interval, when bad light took over and successfully saw that the players never took the field again – except, of course, for those who wished to risk their all too fragile 21st-century bodies by playing football in front of the pavilion. The weather forecast predicts better for tomorrow.

Herschelle Gibbs will represent Cape Cobras in the Champions League, and not the Deccan Chargers, with whom he won the IPL. Gibbs was earlier quoted as saying that he had opted for Deccan ahead of Cobras. However, he was named in the 20-man Cobras squad named Tuesday.”The Chargers confirmed over the weekend that Herschelle would not be in their squad and we are thrilled that a player of his pedigree will now be in the team,” Andre Odendaal, Cobras’ CEO said. It also means that Cobras will lose out on the $200,000 they would have got as compensation had Gibbs opted for Deccan. “It means a loss of potential income, but our first priority has always been to go to India to win.”Deccan will lose out on what was a key component in their IPL triumph earlier this year. Gibbs was the second highest run-getter for them (behind captain Adam Gilchrist) with 371 runs at a strike-rate of 112.08, including four half-centuries, in 14 matches. When contacted, PK Iyer, the managing director of Deccan Chargers’ parent company, refused to comment.Cobras’ Champions League campaign will be led by the South Africa captain, Graeme Smith. They will play the first match of the tournament, against Royal Challengers Bangalore on October 8.Cape Cobras squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Derek Brand, Ryan Canning, Henry Davids, JP Duminy, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Herschelle Gibbs, Claude Henderson, Rory Kleinveldt, Charl Langeveldt, Richard Levi, Carl Nieuwoudt, Justin Ontong, Vernon Philander, Francois Plaatjies, Andrew Puttick, Gurshwin Rabie, Leonard van Wyk, Stiaan van Zyl, Monde Zondeki

Division One

Hampshire’s middle-order batsmen fought valiantly to earn a draw against Somerset after beginning the final day in a precarious position at Taunton. Resuming on 122 for 3 in the follow-on, still trailing by 124 runs, Hampshire followed England’s example in Cardiff and batted with determination, first wiping out the deficit and sealing the draw with a sizeable lead. John Crawley did a Paul Collingwood, batting 247 balls for his 81, and he was supported by Liam Dawson and Sean Ervine who scored 69 and 58 off 70 balls respectively. Nic Pothas, batting with Jimmy Adams as a runner, was unbeaten on 49 with Crawley, who was returning after a month on the sidelines because of a broken finger, when the match ended with Hampshire on 357 for 5.Click here for John Ward’s report on the final day’s play between Yorkshire v Durham at Headingley.Division One points table

Division Two

Kent and Surrey played out a tame draw at The Oval. Kent began the final day on 509 for 5 and extended their lead to 234 before declaring. James Tredwell scored 60 and Justin Kemp made 183, five runs short of his career best, and Kent declared as soon as he was dismissed with the score on 620 for 7. Murtaza Hussain’s 2 for 208 were the second most expensive figures ever by a Surrey bowler. Surrey’s innings had a hiccup when Michael Brown and Mark Ramprakash were dismissed in the space of eight runs but Mark Butcher, even though he was hampered by his knee, scored 60 and saw the game to its close with Usman Afzaal, who was unbeaten on 24. Surrey finished on 170 for 3 in their second innings.2nd dayA four-wicket spell from Steffan Jones, who is on a month’s loan from Somerset, helped Derbyshire secure the advantage against Gloucestershire on the second day at Cheltenham. Replying to Derbyshire’s first-innings total of 362, Gloucestershire began the day on 10 for 0 and their innings soon lost direction. They sputtered to 121 for 4 before losing three wickets for six runs and eventually getting dismissed for 164. Alex Gidman’s 55 was the top score followed by opener Kadeer Ali’s 25 while Jones picked up 4 for 44. Derbyshire also stumbled in their second innings, losing two early wickets, before Wayne Madsen (69 not out) and Daniel Redfern added 89 for the third wicket. They ended the day on 122 for 3, with a lead of 284 runs.Division Two points table

Adrian Barath, the promising Trinidad & Tobago batsman from whom much is expected, has been called up to the West Indies squad for the first Test against Bangladesh along with Ravi Rampaul, who impressed in the ODIs against India.Barath, 19, has had an outstanding regional first-class season (845 runs at an average of 44.47) and has been tipped for a maiden Test call-up. As one of only two specialist openers in the squad the young batsman has a chance to stake a claim as partner to his captain, Chris Gayle.”When I started playing cricket, I had goals from the youth level to the first-class level. I gave myself before the age of 20 to make the West Indies Test team,” Barath told the . “I think it’s something that I worked hard to achieve. It was a challenging road for me, especially this year, to be consistent.”I got a great feeling, I couldn’t say much. I was speechless for a few moments when the chairman of selectors [Clyde Butts] called and told me. A lot of people don’t expect a lot from the Bangladesh team but I think they have a fairly good team. It’s just for me to make the most of the opportunity.”With Fidel Edwards still recovering from a lower back injury and unavailable for selection, the selectors called up Rampaul, who impressed in the India ODIs, and the uncapped Andrew Richardson. Rampaul is yet to play Test cricket.Runako Morton, who last played a Test in May 2008, was the highest West Indies run-scorer and third-highest overall in the ODI series against India. He and Guyana’s Narsingh Deonarine are the two top batsmen in the first-class competition and have been recalled to the Test team. Brendan Nash, not part of the recent ODI and Twenty20 sides, has returned to the scene.The notable omissions from the West Indies’ previous Test series in England include Lionel Baker and Lendl Simmons. The first Test starts on Thursday in St. Vincent.West Indies squad: Chris Gayle (capt), Denesh Ramdin (wk), Adrian Barath, Dwayne Bravo, Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Runako Morton, Brendan Nash, Ravi Rampaul, Andrew Richardson, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor