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The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has announced it is to pay West Indies players $135,000 of outstanding sponsorship fees and incentive payments for their tour of Australia last year.The board were quick to confirm that the sponsors, Digicel, weren’t responsible for the delay in payment. In a press release on Saturday, the board said that “it has put facilities in place to settle these outstanding liabilities,” which would take place on Monday January 30. The board also reiterated that “payments from the team sponsors Digicel are fully up-to-date and Digicel is in no way responsible for the delay in payment.”This isn’t the first payment dispute to surface in the West Indies. Speaking to CaribbeanCricket.com, a source was quoted as saying “[the] WICB is always in breach of the contract. This is something that happens all the time, every time”.

Jason Gillespie roared back to life after some advice from the stands© Getty Images

A piece of technical advice from two of Australia’s most zany Test bowlers revived Jason Gillespie’s first Test and helped repel the threat of Brett Lee. Gillespie struggled with 0 for 87 in the first innings at Christchurch, when Lee was a surprise choice as 12th man, before sealing three important lbw decisions in the second after Merv Hughes and Colin ‘Funky’ Miller spotted a flaw in his action.Hughes and Miller, who now take supporters’ tours instead of Test wickets, popped into the dressing room to find Gillespie and the tip worked. “There was a bit of a difference between the first and second innings because big Merv and Funky came into the rooms and said, ‘Dizzy we reckon you’re running in on too much of an angle, straighten up your run-up,'” he said.Gillespie said he would give it a try because he couldn’t bowl any worse. “So I straightened up and it went really well,” he said. “So I’ve got big Merv and Funky, the pink-haired goon, to thank.” Gillespie captured the wickets of Craig Cumming and Nathan Astle in his first spell yesterday before returning to trap Brendon McCullum.The haul took his Test record to 244 and he could pass Graham McKenzie, who collected 246, and Richie Benaud (248) in the second match at Wellington beginning on Friday. Only Shane Warne, Dennis Lillee, Craig McDermott and Glenn McGrath have taken more than 250 wickets for Australia.

Scorecard

Chris Gayle: highest ODI score © Wisden Cricinfo

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.

All-rounder John Stephenson, who was released by Hampshire at the end of last season, declared the sum of £192,092 from his 2001 Benefit.

John Stephenson

Stephenson joined the club in 1995 from Essex, captaining them for two seasons, and in all played some 212 First-class and Limited-Overs matches for Hampshire.His First-Team appearances were limited during his benefit year, but he played a pivotol roll in captaining the Second XI to the 2nd XI Championship.John who has returned to Essex in a coaching capacity, is retaining his residence in the county, was delighted with the support. “I have really enjoyed my years with Hampshire” said John, “and would like to thank all those who supported my benefit.”

Bangladesh inningsTh match commenced at the Asghar Ali Shah Stadium Karachi with Nepal winning the toss and opting to field first.Bangladesh opened the innings with Mohammad Ashraful and Nafees Iqbal losing the 1st wicket at a score of 20 when Nafees was run out for 6. Ashraful and Shafiul Alam took the score to 88 when Shafiul alam was out after scoring 27 runs.While the wickets kept falling after regular intervals, Ashraful continued to dominate the field punishing all types of bowling. He was run out after scoring prolific 102 runs in 131 balls. His innings contained 7 fours and 2 fantastic sixers. Nasir ud Din 23 and Shariful Islam 27 not out were the other contributors to the total. Bangladesh ended up with an impressive total of 225 for the lost of 4 wickets.Nepal inningsFacing a massive target of 226 runs Nepal opened with Monik Shreshta (10) and Sagar Pant (1), both of them being out at a total of 18. Not having a solid start, Nepal lost 4 wickets for 41 runs in the first 20 overs.Although the batsmen tried their best to resist but Bangladesh’s bowling proved too good for them. The whole team was out for 82 runs in 40 overs. Kaniska Chaugai (13), Bidod Das (11) Amit Shrestha (12)and Basanta Regmi (13) were the batsmen to reach the double figures. The bowlers equally shared the wickets. Bangladesh defeated Nepal by 143 runs.

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

	Daren Powell gave West Indies the early breakthrough by dismissing Herschelle Gibbs for a pair © Getty Images

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.

Stephen Fleming: on the up with his team© Getty Images

Buoyed by his side’s first win of the triangular one-day series, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming believes his team is poised to build momentum as the World Cup approaches.Their 90-run win over England on Tuesday ended a run of four straight one-day international losses for the Kiwis, who have been criticised for their rotational policy in one-day games. While Fleming conceded his team’s results had been disappointing, he said the focus was on laying the foundation for a successful World Cup campaign.”We’ve been doing a lot of good things off the field, but it has been worth nothing because our performances have let all that down,” he said in Adelaide on Tuesday. “It has been pretty frustrating for all the people at home because we have played a pretty poor brand of cricket.”But if we can get a bit of confidence into it – you’ve got the likes of [Scott] Styris, Jacob coming back in and performing the way he did, Kyle Mills coming back and the guys that have been competing over here – then we are not in bad shape.”Fleming, whose captaincy was also criticised by former teammate Adam Parore, said he believed the win over England, with powerful allrounder Jacob Oram returning from injury with a man-of-the-match performance, showed his side were on the right track.”We are hoping to get a couple more [wins] and then get a little bit of momentum towards the end of this tournament,” he said. “It would be great to make the finals of this tournament and then we have another tough series with Australia at home. Then when you hit the World Cup you are pretty sure you have covered all your bases and that has really been our plan over the last six months.”Fleming said New Zealand’s top-order frailty was still a concern and he admitted he was one of the main culprits, his 20 against England continuing his dry run in Australia. With Oram and Mills joining the squad in Australia, and Styris also expected to do so, New Zealand have sent the 31-year-old allrounder Andre Adams home without playing a game in the tri-series.New Zealand general manager Lindsay Crocker said Adams was sent home to get some match practice. “Because Andre offers similar skills as Jacob, Kyle and James Franklin he was going to struggle to get game time,” Crocker said. “This way he can get home and play some cricket and remain in contention for the World Cup in the West Indies in March and April.”

Mark Ealham will bowl on at Trent Bridge until 2007 © Getty Images

Nottinghamshire have handed contract extensions to Mark Ealham and Andrew Harris which will keep them at Trent Bridge until the end of 2007.”They were very influential in our success and deserve to be rewarded,” Mick Newell, the county’s director of cricket, told BBC Sport. “Their experience and enthusiasm were very important in the dressing room.” Ealham and Harris were star performers for Nottinghamshire last season, sharing 103 wickets.”We do have an ageing squad and we have to be very conscious of that,” said Newell. “It will soon be time to introduce fresh blood into the team – but having older and wiser heads around will help the youngsters to progress.”Ealham, who topped 50 wickets in a season for the first time and won his first championship medal, said: “I’ve enjoyed two great seasons with Notts and still remain as keen to play cricket as when I started my career. This club is going places, and I have no intention of missing out on that.”Harris, whose career has been hampered by injury troubles, took a match-winning 6 for 76 as Nottinghamshire clinched the title. “I’m delighted to have signed the extension and am looking forward to helping the squad collect more silverware,” he said. “My personal target is to play for another five years.”

North Central Province 68 for 0 (Gunawardene 37*, Kalavitigoda 19*) trail Western Province 228 (Mubarak 82, Ramyakumara 3-24) by 160 runs
ScorecardJehan Mubarak’s dogged 82 rescued Western Province from a dismal start to their match against North Central at the SSC in Colombo, after a thrilling burst from Gayan Wijekoon had reduced Western to 14 for 3 after five overs. Wijekoon, a left-arm seamer, removed the talented trio of Ian Daniel, Upul Thuranga and Russel Arnold all for ducks, and when Michael Vandort fell to Chanaka Welegedara for 34, they really were on the ropes at 53 for 4.But Hashan Tillekaratne and Mubarak sowed the seeds of recovery, before the wicketkeeper Rashan Peiris chipped in with a valuable 19 in a sixth-wicket stand of 61. From 216 for 7, Farveez Maharoof then lopped off the tail with three quick wickets to bowl Western Province out for 228, although North Central were in the ascendancy by the close, as Avishka Gunawardene and Shantha Kalavitigoda added 68 unbeaten runs for the first wicket.Southern Province 293 for 9 (Suraj 71*, Malinga 8*) v Central Province
ScorecardSuraj Mohamed demonstrated a never-before-seen batting prowess to flip Southern Province’s fortunes on their head against Central Province at Kandy. Suraj, whose previous highest first-class score was 19, finished the day unbeaten on 71, after hauling Southern from a wobbly 154 for 7 to a promising 293 for 9 at the close.The day started badly for Southern, as Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya fell cheaply, closely followed by their international colleague, Saman Jayantha (29 for 3). Anushka Polonowita and Indika de Sarem rebuilt the innings with a composed stand of 99, but Polonowita’s dismissal triggered a collapse of four wickets for 26 runs. Suraj was on hand, however, to stem the demise.