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Jason Gillespie will become the latest of Australia’s thirty-somethings to call time when he announces his retirement during South Australia’s Pura Cup tie against Queensland which starts on Friday.Gillespie, who will turn 33 in April, is widely reported to have signed with the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League, and that means he has delayed any announcement to allow him to bow out in the match. Gillespie would have been barred from playing were he to confirm a deal with the ICL .A source close to the player told The Australian newspaper that there would be a press conference at the close of the first day of the match. “He’s not allowed to announce it prior because it is not a sanctioned league.”Gillespie was one of Australia’s leading quick bowlers during their outstanding period of dominance. In 71 Tests he took 259 wickets at 26.13 with a best of 7 for 37 at Headingley in 1997. His last major act for Australia came in his final Test when he was recalled in 2006 after a dismal Ashes campaign the previous year and hit 201 against Bangladesh.Although Gillespie enjoyed a good season in 2006-07, taking 30 wickets at 28.43 for South Australia, this summer he managed 24 wickets at 35.87 and there was speculation that his contract would not be renewed.The news also caught Glamorgan, who Gillespie had signed to play for in 2008, on the hop. Only yesterday they issued the details of their squad to the media, but if he does sign with the ICL then he will be unable to honour that commitment.

The Women’s World Cup qualifiers have been switched to South Africa in mid-February following political turmoil in Pakistan in November which forced the ICC to postpone that event. The tournament had to be rescheduled within six months and following some quick work by the ICC and the South African board, it has been rearranged within just three months.The new dates are 18 to 24 February for the tournament which will be held in the Stellenbosch region. An ICC statement said: “The decision was arrived at following independent security reports and extensive discussions by ICC management and the ICC Women’s Committee.”Pakistan couldn’t host it because of the general elections which start on 18 February. The proposed election date had been 8 January, but following the rescheduling, the decision was made to move the event to South Africa.Zakir Khan, PCB’s director cricket operations, confirmed to Cricinfo: “It was clashing with election dates and the ICC couldn’t organise it much later. We tried to find a way but the schedule clash meant we couldn’t go ahead with it.”Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, regretted that the tournament couldn’t be in Pakistan. “It is unfortunate that the timing of the event ended up clashing with the elections and forcing us to change the venue,” he said.”I would like to thank all those from the PCB who so enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to host this event. We remain committed to international cricket being played in Pakistan but, sadly, events beyond the control of the ICC and the PCB have conspired against us on this occasion. Thanks are also due to Cricket South Africa and particularly those from Boland who have been able to take over the running of this tournament at short notice.”The safety of all participants is our number-one priority and on the basis of the independent advice we have received – as well as the material concerns expressed by many of the participating countries – we concluded it was not appropriate to stage the tournament at this time.”So now South Africa have the home advantage. They were disappointed to have just missed out on the previous World Cup, when a tight finish in their last match handed the fifth automatic spot to the West Indies. They are one of the favourites to qualify in this tournament, where the top two sides go through to the eight who will contest the World Cup in Australia next year.Ireland and Zimbabwe were particularly disappointed that the Pakistan event was, rightly, called off as they were coming into some decent form. Ireland’s players will now have to come in from the off-season and hope to get used to conditions immediately.The players, all of whom are amateurs, will of course have to arrange time off work and study to attend this event. Ireland are already down one player. Jillian Smythe has had to withdraw due to a clash with her final year examinations – she will remain in the senior squad but will not travel. Instead, Melissa Scott-Hayward will now travel in her place with Carol McGuire being named as the non-travelling reserve.An Ireland spokesperson told Cricinfo of their tentative plans which are still to be finalised with less than a month to go. “We’re all set. We intend to travel out on Saturday 9 February and spend a week in camp in Stellenbosch or Port Elizabeth – all to be decided – and rejoin the formal ICC event on 16 February.”Pakistan have already announced a 20-player list of probables for a month-long training event which will start next week. The camp will run from 13 January to 11 February at Lahore Country Club, Muridke.Training squad Bismah Maroof, Taskeen Qadeer, Sana Javed, Almas Akram, Sabeen Abdul Samad, Saima Jamil, Sana Mir, Urooj Mumtaz Khan, Nain Abidi, Batool Fatimam Arman Khan, Javeria Khan, Sajida Shah, Sumaiya Siddiqui, Asmavia Iqbal, Naila Nazir, Qanita Jalil, Nida Dar, Sadia Yousaf.

Brad Hogg will face another last-minute battle to resume his Test career after he was named in a 12-man squad alongside Shaun Tait for the first match against India. Hogg lost a bowl-off to Stuart MacGill for the opening game of the Sri Lanka series, but he is now in a different fight as the selectors decide whether to field an all-pace attack at the MCG on Boxing Day or include his left-arm spin.Steve Waugh has pushed for Hogg’s inclusion and Harbhajan Singh would love him to play, believing he is significantly inferior to MacGill or Shane Warne. “Brad deserves the opportunity to once again represent Australia in Test cricket,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said.Hogg, who has not appeared in a Test since 2003, has been an outstanding performer in Australia’s one-day sides, but he has struggled in first-class fixtures since taking eight wickets against Victoria, adding another five victims in three games. With MacGill out following wrist surgery for at least two matches, and probably the entire series, Hogg has an opportunity to play a string of games.However, containing India’s batsmen during 25 overs a day is a much harder task for Hogg than attacking them during a one-day international when they are obliged to hit out. India’s plans could involve going after Hogg or sitting on him – and his hard-to-pick wrong’un – while waiting for a loose delivery. The threats are much easier than the dangers provided by Tait.India have come from a series on their low-bouncing pitches and they have only three days to acclimatise during a match against Victoria at the Junction Oval. Tait’s pace has been fierce against New Zealand over the past week and Australia will wait to analyse the drop-in surface at the MCG before making a call. Originally in the opening squad for Sri Lanka, Tait pulled out with injury and is looking to play his first Test since 2005 after regaining his spot from Ben Hilfenhaus.Australia already have three bowlers who complement each other, with Brett Lee providing the pace, Stuart Clark the consistent steep bounce and Mitchell Johnson the left-arm variety. If four fast men were employed Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds could break things up with their part-time spin, but it is a risky option against players who mastered MacGill and Shane Warne in previous series.Australia squad Matthew Hayden, Phil Jaques, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait.

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

Few gave West Indies any chance of breaking their downhill slide when they started the three-Test series in South Africa, but it has taken them just four days to turn things around in a quite spectacular manner. Thirty-one months after they last won a Test match, West Indies demolished South Africa by 128 runs, and inside four days, to take a 1-0 lead in the series. It provided a glorious finish to their year, and a glorious start to Chris Gayle’s tenure as captain.West Indies dominated large parts of the Test, but it seemed they had given South Africa a sniff when they collapsed on the third evening. They managed just 175 in their second innings, but their fast bowlers turned in another awesome display to ensure that 389 was more than enough runs to defend.For South Africa, it was a shock defeat, their first at home to West Indies. For the second time in the match, the top order collapsed without a trace – the first four wickets went down with just 45 on the board. Jacques Kallis revived the run-chase with a flawless 85 and added 112 with AB de Villiers to give them a chance, but once he was at the receiving end of an unfortunate decision, the result was never in doubt.The blows that made the difference were delivered within the first ten overs of the run-chase. The last time West Indies won an overseas Test against meaningful opposition – against England, in June 2000 – Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were the new-ball operators, but Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell turned in the sort of display that even those legends would have been proud of.Powell and Edwards began in superb fashion. They raced in, consistently clocking around 140 kph, and tested the batsmen with pace, swing and bounce. Powell kept it mostly on a good length around off, and attempted to beat the batsmen by swing and seam, while Edwards varied his length cleverly, either bowling it full, or attacking the body with well-directed short balls. One such delivery accounted for Graeme Smith, who tried to fend off a snorter, and could only glove it for Daren Ganga to take a diving catch at short leg.By then South Africa had already lost two wickets: if Smith had a poor game with the bat, his opening partner had a nightmare. For the second time, Herschelle Gibbs was done in by Powell without scoring – this time, he shouldered arms to one which came in with the angle and was crashing towards off stump. It was his second pair in Test cricket – both of which have come in his last ten Tests – and his extended poor run suggests South Africa will have serious questions to answer before the next match. Hashim Amla, coming off successive hundreds in his previous two Tests, failed to negotiate Edwards’ pace and swing, and when Smith fell soon after, South Africa were reeling at 20 for 3. It got even worse immediately after lunch, when Ashwell Prince failed to come up with the answers to Jerome Taylor’s probing off-stump line.South Africa’s best batsman, though, was still around, and he batted like one. The footwork was precise, the defensive technique was immaculate, and the strokeplay was fabulous. Three glorious fours just before lunch – a cover drive, an on-drive, and a square cut, all off Taylor – were ominous signs for West Indies, and the break only made Kallis’ concentration stronger. The on-drives were a feature of his innings, but he also cut and pulled powerfully. Powell tested him midway through the afternoon session with a fiery spell peppered with plenty of short stuff, but Kallis negotiated it all with scarcely a hiccup.de Villiers, meanwhile, continued from where he had left off in the first innings, driving strongly square on the off side. Not only did the pair get plenty, they also did so quickly, scoring at more than three-and-a-half an over. Gayle even tried a few overs of spin, but nothing worked till Edwards banged in a short ball that Kallis tried to hook. The ball missed bat and glove, took his shoulder, looped to Denesh Ramdin who dived, held on to the catch, and then threw the ball in the air in sheer delight. Umpire Russel Tiffin agreed with the appeal, but replays indicated Kallis was hard done by.Once Kallis fell, the rest was easy. Mark Boucher fell to the pull shot for the second time in the match, Paul Harris chopped one on to his stumps, and de Villiers holed out to mid-on. Dale Steyn and Andre Nel prolonged the innings with an entertaining 67-run partnership, but that was only delaying the inevitable. The end finally came when Makhaya Ntini spooned a top-edge to Powell. The celebrations were fairly low-key, which perhaps suggests West Indies are looking for much bigger rewards from this tour. The three-match Test series is, after all, only one game old.

Nasir Hossain has played six innings in 12 ODIs for Bangladesh this year, never batting higher than No. 7. It is a position from which, given the nature of limited-overs cricket, one doesn’t always get a chance to build an innings. He has faced only 143 balls in ODIs in 2015, an average of less than 25 balls per outing. In his last two matches against India A, Nasir has faced a total of 167.On Friday in the second one-dayer against India, Nasir went out to bat at with Bangladesh A at 82 for 5 after 18.1 overs. He had plenty of time to get his eye in, build an innings and stretch the score as much as he could, with the only risk being a lack of batting partners. And that’s what he did. He started out playing second fiddle to No. 5 Liton Das, who was middling the ball better than the top-order batsmen, built a solid base as the sun shone more and more, and after Liton fell, launched an attack in the company of the tail-end batsmen.Nasir had been waiting for such opportunities to score big and bat under pressure. He later said he didn’t have a clearly defined plan when he walked out but knew that he wanted to bat out 50 overs.”I like batting at No. 7, I’ve batted there for the national team so I’m happy to do it here also,” he said. “When I was there, the wicket was good for batting, I just wanted to bat throughout. I always enjoy batting with Liton. There was no particular plan when I went out to bat, we were just looking to build a partnership and play till the end. So we played accordingly and the plan clicked.”Nasir had enjoyed Liton’s company in the first one-dayer too, when the pair added 120 runs from a score of 87 for 5 to give India A a scare in their defence of 322. Nasir followed that innings of 52 with a century today to steer the team out of a storm and then, with returns of 5 for 36, ensured they reached the shore, too.His only moment of weakness with the bat came in the 23rd over off Karn Sharma when he went for an aerial drive. Luckily for Nasir, the ball landed wide of a diving Gurkeerat Singh at deep cover. Those mistakes were corrected the next time he came down the track. It was against Karn again in the 28th over, but the ball was middled better and hit well wide of long-on for four.But Nasir knew that one small mistake, one mis-hit, would expose the tail. So he reduced the risks but still found the boundaries. There was a late cut off Gurkeerat in the 31st over, a back-foot punch off Rishi Dhawan along the ground soon after Liton was dismissed, and a sweep to bring up his fifty off 54 balls in the 37th over.The tougher parts came with the tail-end batsmen. Nasir’s 50-run, seventh-wicket partnership with Arafat Sunny had taken the score past 200. Arafat fell in the 43rd over, but Nasir chose to wait before switching gears. It was only once Shafiul was run out, in the 46th over, that Nasir floored it.He followed his nudge to third man for four with a single to keep strike. And on 76, he targeted Suresh Raina, who had conceded only eight runs from his two overs, with a slog sweep off the first ball and then a cover drive over the in-field. Two balls later, he unleashed another powerful drive to sprint to 88, and made his way into the nineties with a boundary in the next over.His celebration on reaching the three-figure mark was not as dramatic, a manner perhaps similar to his first ODI hundred, but he knew he had done what he was expected to do, and what he was eagerly waiting to accomplish.”Every partnership was very important, the one with Liton was a big one, but runs with Sunny and Rubel were equally important to post 252,” Nasir said. “The pressure was always there but I wanted to bat all 50 overs, I didn’t have a target in mind.”He batted for over two hours when the chips were down, something he enjoys and something he was first selected for back in 2011.”I really enjoy batting when the team is under pressure,” Nasir had said after his maiden ODI century nearly four years ago. “When four or five wickets are down, I love batting in those situations. I really don’t know why but I really enjoy it.”

A forthright 94* from Mark Wallace, supported by a fine 70 by Matthew Maynard, plus a resolute 66from Adrian Dale, saw Glamorgan finish the second day of their Championship matchagainst Durham at Cardiff on 331/6, just 24 runs behind the visitors, with four wickets in hand.The day had begun with Glamorgan polishing off the Durham innings inside five overs, as thevisitors added just 2 more runs to their overnight score of 353, with Michael Kasprowiczbowling Phillips and Robert Croft having Mark Davies caught behind to finish with 6/98.Glamorgan then suffered an early setback as they lost Jimmy Maher in the 7th over when theleft-hander was caught at backward point driving at Neil Killeen. His opening partner Jonathan Hughescontinued to play fluently against the seam bowlers, and had struck 7 boundarieswhen he was bowled in Bridge`s second over, after Jon Lewis opted for left-arm spinrather than seam at the Cathedral Road End.The introduction of Phillips` off-spin at the River Taff End put a brake on Glamorgan`s progress,before Dale broke the shackles by hitting Bridge for two successive fours through the off-side. After acircumspect start before lunch, Mike Powell appeared to grow in confidence after the interval, twicedriving Phillips to the boundary for four, but Phillips gained his revenge with a classicoff-spinners dismissal as Powell popped up a ball to Peng at short-leg after after 47with Dale.Dale continued to play patiently, reaching his half century after facing 127 balls and striking 7fours, but on 66 he drove Phillips to mid wicket where Gary Pratt took a good diving catch tomake it 161-3. Glamorgan mighyt have lost a fourth wicket, but Matthew Maynard had a life on 11as Vince Wells failed to cling onto a top edge from an attempted sweep,Maynard continued to play patiently up until tea before before unleashing some furious strokes after tea,hitting Phillips for three fours in an over after he switched to the Cathedral Road End, toreach his half century from 82 balls with 7 fours. Four more crisp boundaries saw Maynard to 70,but he was then trapped leg before by Bridge, after adding 84 runs in 37 overs with Mark Wallace.Wallace continued to play some sweetly timed drives, and he became the third Glamorgan man to the fiftymark with his ninth four that bisected the two gullies that Lewis had placed in an attempt tosnaffle the Glamorgan wicket-keeper.With Croft dropping anchor at the other end, Wallace continued to punish anything offline, andthe doughty Glamorgan wicket-keeper played a delightful array of shots all around the wicket. Healso used his feet to nullify any threat from the Durham spinners, and together with Croft he had added86 runs for the sixth wicket when the day`s play ended in identical fashion to the first, as Croft wasdismissed leg before by the penultimate delivery of the day.However, Wallace remains just 6 runs short of his first Championship century of the season, and if he continues to playassertively with the remaining batsmen, he should help Glamorgan build a useful first innings lead.

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

In a match dominated by South African stars, the batting efforts of Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis edged the all-round contribution of Shaun Pollock, as Bangalore Royal Challengers recovered from Friday’s mauling to register their first win of the tournament. Set a challenging 166 by the Mumbai Indians, Bangalore rode on an unbeaten 39 from Boucher, and his 55-run stand with Kallis sealed a five-wicket win with two balls to spare.The absence of Sachin Tendulkar would have been a huge downer for the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium, but none of them could complain about the quality of action. The bounce on the pitch kept the bowlers interested, and the batsmen on their toes – one of them, Mumbai’s Dominic Thornely, was so surprised by a Zaheer Khan bouncer that he copped a blow above the eye which required 15 stitches. Robin Uthappa and Pollock were the two major contributors for Mumbai, with Sanath Jayasuriya chipping in with a cameo at the start.A target of 166 suggested a close finish, and that’s exactly how it panned out. Bangalore had contributions from all their batsmen, though none of the top five stayed through the chase. Shivnarine Chanderpaul biffed a few before getting a painful blow on the knee, while Rahul Dravid alternated between the sublime – with glorious straight- and extra-cover drives – and the tentative – five runs from 14 balls off Pollock. Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli both made 23 in identical fashion, but when Kohli fell, the match hung in the balance, with 60 needed from 39 balls.While Kallis played a typically patient hand, Boucher put in the decisive knock which turned the match Bangalore’s way. Striking the ball freely and cleanly, he ensured the asking-rate never climbed beyond ten, and got the boundaries so regularly that the pressure slowly moved to the home team. Harbhajan Singh, the Mumbai captain, was creamed through point in the 15th over, while Jayasuriya was clubbed for a straight six. When Nehra was pulled for four and blasted out of the ground for the biggest six of the game in successive balls, the requirement had suddenly come down to 11 from 12 balls, after which the result was never in doubt.Mumbai’s innings was built largely around Uthappa’s 48, which held the innings together, and a whirlwind 12-ball 28 from Pollock which turned an average total into a substantial one. The absence of Tendulkar was felt at the top of the order, as Luke Ronchi, his replacement as opener, lasted just ten balls before falling to an outstanding catch by Kohli. Jayasuriya gave every indication of making up for Tendulkar’s absence, creaming the hapless Kallis for three fours – two bludgeoned down the ground, one flicked fine – and a huge six over long-on. When he fell against the run of play, run out by a direct hit from Zaheer, Mumbai needed a steady hand to guide the innings, and Uthappa played that part well.

His familiarity with the opposition bowlers – Vinay Kumar, Sunil Joshi and B Akhil are all state-mates in first-class cricket – helped him along too, as Vinay was late-cut delightfully and then hooked for six off successive balls. Uthappa improvised cleverly, moving to leg to clip the ball fine, or walking down the pitch to upset the bowlers, but he also reined in his attacking instincts, knocking the ball in the gaps during the middle overs.When he fell just two short of his half-century, though, Mumbai only had 125 on the board with just 19 deliveries to go. Enter Pollock, who immediately turned it up a few gears. After Abhishek Nayar had creamed a straight six off Vinay, Pollock dismissed the same bowler for a four and a six off consecutive balls. Praveen and Zaheer were taken for boundaries as well, as 40 came off the last five overs. The opposition team, though, had two other South African heavyweights to seal the deal.

Close Pakistan 401 and 137 for 1 (Taufeeq Umar 61*, Imran Farhat 58) need 24 runs to beat South Africa 320 and 241 (Gibbs 59, Kaneria 5-46, Akhtar 4-36)
Scorecard

Pakistan stand on the threshold of a famous victory after an engrossing day at Lahore. Set 161 to win after Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria combined to shoot South Africa down for 241, Pakistan were within 24 runs of victory when the light closed in. A late wicket for Graeme Smith persuaded the batsmen to go off with the target tantalisingly close. But barring a downpour, Pakistan should complete their win early tomorrow morning.South Africa had held most of the aces when play began, and it required the shock-and-awe bowling of Akhtar and the guile of Kaneria to alter the script. Akhtar mainly concentrated on bouncing the batsmen, and in his second over nearly had Boeta Dippenaar lbw when he pitched one up. In the next over, Dippenaar, trying to fight fire with fire, attempted to pull a wide one, got a top edge and was easily caught by Yousuf Youhana at midwicket (104 for 2).Gibbs had reached 59 when he received a peach of a bouncer that climbed and kissed the glove before hitting his shoulder and lobbing up to Taufeeq Umar at first slip. Jacques Kallis drove with a flourish during his short stay, but he too was undone by an Akhtar short one. The bouncer homed in on him, and Kallis, trying to pull, was hit on the shoulder as the ball zoomed through to the keeper. But the umpire thought it had touched the bat, and sent Kallis packing (149 for 4).Akhtar had to leave the field shortly lunch with a hamstring tweak. It was at first reported that he would be out for three weeks, then this gloomy diagnosis was replaced by a chirpier one suggesting he might be fit to play in the second Test – if his appeal against his ban is successful and he is allowed to play.But the damage was done, and Kaneria stepped into the breach. He bowled unchanged from the start of play, and stuck to a probing line, but didn’t claim any wickets during Akhtar’s spell. But eventually Neil McKenzie surrendered his wicket, playing a premeditated paddle-sweep and being embarrassingly bowled around his legs (159 for 4).Mark Boucher was swinging the bat aggressively, and Gary Kirsten (46) showed real grit as they looked to rebuild the Akhtar-bulldozed ruins. Kirsten played a memorable knock, considering the facial blow he received in the first innings, and the way he went after every bouncer hurled down at him was a lesson in courageous batting.

Trying to score off every ball is fraught with risk, as Boucher learnt when he pushed at a good-length ball without negotiating the bounce, and only lobbed a catch to forward short leg (192 for 6). Then Kirsten, unusually aggressive, tried to break the shackles by smashing Kaneria out of the ground. But he only managed a leading edge, and Yousuf Youhana gratefully gathered the steepler (237 for 7).And then the procession really started. Paul Adams didn’t read the straighter ball that crashed into his back leg, and was plumb lbw (238 for 8). Mushtaq Ahmed – in his first over of the day – bowled Andre Nel through the gate, and Shaun Pollock was also flummoxed by Kaneria’s googly, which sneaked and bowled him. South Africa lost their last four wickets for four runs – to four googlies.The openers, Taufeeq and Imran Farhat, started the chase for 161 as if possessed. Farhat was the more dominant, and slashed his way to a powerful 58. He had shown glimpses of some powerful back-foot play in the first innings, but this time he wasn’t going to throw it away. The bowlers served him delicious balls that were short and wide and he feasted on them with a swirling bat. Taufeeq, though not as cavalier, made sure he swatted the loose balls to the fence as well.Nel bowled a testing, pacy spell, and Pollock was treated with respect, but the rest were disposed of with disdain, mainly to the square fence. Finally, with the winning post in sight, Farhat holed out (a rare Test wicket for Smith), and the players trooped off for the light.The final rites will be enacted tomorrow, but the turning point came early today, with Shoaib Akhtar’s sensational speedy spell.

Scorecard

West Indies won the opening one-day international against Zimbabwe by 51 runs in a rain-affected match at Bulawayo. Chris Gayle scored a one-day best of 153 not out, and he put on an electrifying 176 with Brian Lara, who smashed 113 off 82. West Indies made an imposing 347 for 6 and, in their reply, Zimbabwe had reached 173 for 3 from 34.5 overs before the heavens opened and brought an early end to the contest.There is not much any bowling attack in the world can do when Lara is at the top of his form, and Zimbabwe’s hard working, but limited, resources had little chance of keeping him quiet.The word Bulawayo means ‘place of slaughter’, and that was exactly what it was for the bowlers, as Lara tore them to shreds as he moved from 50 to 100 in only 24 balls. Zimbabwe did not bowl badly, and at times they did bowl well, but they were nothing more than cannon-fodder for Lara.Lara came in on the back of a sound opening partnership of 77 in 16.5 overs between Gayle and Wavell Hinds after West Indies won the toss on a superb batting pitch with a fast outfield. Lara’s innings overshadowed another fine century, by Gayle, who has not had much success so far on this tour.Gayle began cautiously, but gradually opened up to dominate the opening partnership. Heath Streak and Andy Blignaut, Zimbabwe’s opening bowlers, managed to keep the brakes on without looking dangerous, and they were backed up by some excellent fielding, with Vusi Sibanda in particular distinguishing himself.Astute field placings also forced the West Indian openers to work hard for their runs, but they had maintained a rate of more than four an over when the first wicket fell, as Hinds (28) flashed outside the off stump to Blignaut and edged a straightforward catch to Tatenda Taibu (77 for 1).Lara soon left his stamp with two superb boundaries through extra cover. He was in awesome form, and after passing fifty he unleashed the full range of his repertoire, with his cover-drives and fierce pulls being the most memorable shots. It was his 18th one-day century and it took a brilliant run-out to remove him – he attempted a quick single to mid-on and Gary Brent pounced on the ball and threw down the stumps (253 for 2).Then there was a flurry of activity as a fine throw from the covers by Streak removed Ramnaresh Sarwan without him having faced a ball (289 for 5). Shivnarine Chanderpaul was lbw sweeping at Sean Ervine for 8 (282 for 4) and then Marlon Samuels, after hitting his first ball for six, went down the pitch to Stuart Matsikenyeri and was bowled off his pads (289 for 5). Ricardo Powell played a cameo innings, scoring 17 off eight balls, before driving Streak to Sibanda at long-on (328 for 6).Gayle stayed until the end, taking a two off the final ball to reach 153, the highest of his six one-day centuries. He faced 160 balls and hit 19 fours and two sixes. The nearest he came to giving a chance was when he skied a ball just clear of the covers when on 76. The only time he and Lara had any trouble was when Streak returned to reverse-swing the old ball, but they handled it the easy way – by complaining to the umpires that they couldn’t see the ball and having it changed.Sibanda and Trevor Gripper began Zimbabwe’s reply with some good running between the wickets, but the possibility of rain soon persuaded Lara to bring on his spinners to hustle through the overs.Sibanda and Gripper put on 40 before Gripper (16) drove Gayle, only for Lara, running from mid-off, to get a hand to the ball and catch the rebound. Incredibly, Zimbabwe lost another wicket the very next ball when Mark Vermeulen edged the ball low to slip, where Chanderpaul juggled the ball and finally held it.Sibanda, on his one-day debut, played some classic strokes, though, and Craig Wishart settled in well. They shared a stand of 110 in 21 overs, with Sibanda just beating Wishart to his fifty. He was out for 58, though, checking a cut and lobbing a catch to backward point off Vasbert Drakes (150 for 3).Blignaut came in next, but the rain soon followed. Two attempts were made to restart, but light showers kept intervening, and the match was eventually called off. West Indies won handsomely, thanks to batting of the highest class, but Zimbabwe at least went down fighting.Wishart finished unbeaten on 72, and the wonder remains why such class shines so intermittently. There was a joyful crowd of several thousand who provided a wonderful atmosphere, and most of them stayed in hope until the end.

Border’s chief executive, Reunert Bauser, has resigned before the results of an investigation into alleged financial irregularities are made public later this week. Bauser had been in charge at Border for 11 years.Vido Mgadle, the president of the Border Cricket Board, confirmed the move. “He has resigned with immediate effect, and we [the board] have accepted his resignation as we felt it was in the interests of all concerned,” he told the South African Press Association. “Somebody else will be appointed and the post will be advertised via the normal channels.”Last month Bauser was accused of using some of the proceeds from the 2003 World Cup for air tickets to the UK worth R20,000 (£1800), and a further R400,000 (£36,000) that had been earmarked for the Border team. During his time as chief executive, Bauser had been responsible for East London becoming the headquarters of the Warriors, the East Cape cricket franchise, ahead of Port Elizabeth.