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Former Hampshire and England opening batsman Paul Terry has been unveiled as the county’s new first XI manager, following the sacking of Jimmy Cook midway through last season.Terry, who struck in excess of 25,000 runs and hit 50 centuries during his 18-year career with Hampshire, has been brought into a new position, but will have a hands on role with the team during the season.Capped by England twice, Terry enjoyed an excellent career with the county and is excited about returning. “Hampshire have played a big part in my cricketing like and I’m looking forward to the next step in the journey,” he said.

“Led by the ambition of the Chairman, Rod Bransgrove, Hampshire are looking to go places and with some of the changes that will be in place by next season, I am confident we will have a team ready to challenge again for honours.”The opener, who left Hampshire seven years ago, has maintained links with the club through his highly successful coaching company in Perth, with many players going to him in the winter months and also coaches at nearby Canford School in Dorset during the summer.This winter will be no different, as many of, not only Hampshire’s but players from all across the English counties, will be travelling to learn under Terry’s wing.

Second-tier New Zealand provincial players will have their competition after all.New Zealand Cricket (NZC) reinstated the second XI competition today.It had been a victim of NZC’s withdrawal from the bargaining process last week when a final offer was not accepted by the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association.NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said the Provincial A competition, as it is known, was a necessary part of the elite player development pathway.He said the reinstatement was a gesture of goodwill by NZC to the players and was a demonstration of the intention to work with players and to return to business as usual as quickly as possible.Like other tournaments on the New Zealand scene, a large proportion of the competition will be staged at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University between January 2 and January 14. The second round of the competition will be played at various centres around New Zealand in February at venues, and on dates, still to be finalised.Snedden also announced that the Indian tour opener, a Super Max international to be played at Jade Stadium on December 4 will continue as planned.”There has been some confusion among cricket fans about this match. The State Max competition to be played between our domestic first-class teams was cancelled as a result of the player payment dispute. The Max Blacks v India match will continue as scheduled,” he said.

It’s mighty tight at the top in the ECB Southern Electric Premier League’s individual performance award competetions.Just four runs separate Bashley’s Luke Ronchi from BAT teenager Damian Shirazi in the Premier 1 batting stakes.And Dan Goldstraw, the BAT left-arm paceman, and Havant’s Malcolm Hobson are neck and neck in the bowling department, with 26 victims apiece.But both Charles Forward and Purbrook’s Willem Prozesky are beyond reproach in the Divisions 2 and 3 run scoring stakes.The June Southern Electric Cricketer of the Month awards were won by BAT pair Damian Shirazi and Dan Goldstraw (BAT Sports), Charles Forward (OTR) and Damian Carson (US), and Willem Prozesky (Purbrook) and Bashley-Rydal II’s veteran spinner Bob Paul.Latest figures – Premier 1
Batting: Luke Ronchi (Bashley) 472, Damian Shirazi (BAT) 468, Matt Swarbrick (Bournemouth) 436, Russell Rowe (South Wilts) 408, Paul Draper (South Wilts) 374, Neil Thurgood (Bashley) 356, James Hibberd (Calmore) 352, Roger Miller (Andover) 344, Alistair Gray (Liphook) 310.Bowling: Dan Goldstraw (BAT) 26, Malcolm Hobson (Havant) 26, Richard Dibden (BAT) 24, Terry Rawlins (BAT) 19, Richard Hindley (Havant) 19, Paul Drapr (19), James Hibberd (Calmore) 19, Kirk Stewart (BAT 18, Kevin Nash (Bashley) 18, Christof Bothma (Calmore) 18.Premier 2
Batting: Charles Forward (OTR) 500, Iain Brunnschweiler (Academy) 399, Aaron Heal (Lymington) 373, Danny Peacock (Lymington) 366, Owen Dawkins (Hungerford) 356, Jeff Anning (Rowledge) 356, Max Smith (OTR) 333, Jason Laney (Hungerford) 330, Gary Hounsome (US) 329, David Wheeler (Academy) 316.Bowling: Nick Wood (OTR) 25, Damien Carson (US) 22, Aaron Heal (Lymington) 20, Steve Green (Easton) 19, Jeff Anning (Rowledge) 19, Shaun Green (Easton) 17, Danny Peacock (Lymington) 17.Premier 3
Batting: Will Prozesky (Purbrook) 563, Matt Digweed (Hartley Wintney) 469, Mike Howard (Leckford) 426, Mark Parker (St Cross) 403, Colin James (Paultons) 396, Ian Hunter (Purbrook) 336, Steve Watts (New Milton) 335, Chris Baumann (Waterlooville) 335, Simon Greenfield (Havant) 330, Martyn Isherwood (Leckford) 327, Ian Turner (Hambledon) 317, Michael Heffernan (Alton) 313,Richie Morgan (Alton) 301.Bowling: Nathan Collins (Gosport) 24, Neil Dodds (Ventnor) 21, Ben Neal (New Milton) 20, Julian Ballinger (Alton) 20, Bob Paul (Bashley) 20, Andy Cattle (Leckford) 19, Andy Snellgrove (New Milton) 18, Nick McMurray (Flamingo) 18, John Barrett (Hambledon) 18, Matt Truckle (Redlynch) 18.All divisions
Wicketkeeping: Martin Miller (Bournemouth) 15, John Burton (Redlynch) 14, John Harris (Hursley Park) 14, Dave Banks (BAT) 14.Catches: Richard Hindley (Havant) 10, Stu Tulk (OTR) 9, Damian Shirazi (BAT) 8, Ben Adams (St Cross) 8, Richie Morgan (Alton) 8, Steve Watts (New Milton) 8.

KINGSTON – Amidst another significant break between matches, Barbados manager Tony Howard is bemoaning the length of time it is taking to complete the 2002 Red Stripe Bowl.His comments come against the background that Barbados could end up spending as many as 20 days in Jamaica to play a maximum of six One-Day matches should they qualify for Sunday’s final.”It certainly could have been condensed. The extra week is a bit too long. It could have been done in two weeks. It would have given all the teams more activity,” Howard told NATIONSPORT yesterday during an evening practice session at Sabina Park.After winding down their preliminary phase last Saturday, Barbados have a break of five days ahead of their semifinal contest against defending champions Guyana on Friday at the Kaiser Sports Club in Discovery Bay.Between their third and fourth matches, Barbados also had four days off.”With five days between games, it takes a lot to keep the guys on track, keep them motivated and keep them focused on what needs to be done,” Howard said.”When you’re kept indoors for a while, it does take a lot out of the youngsters.”The length of the tournament also raises concerns after a decision to use only umpires from host countries in an effort to cut costs.”We’ve been complaining about not having any money. Yet we have made the competition longer,” Howard said. “We’ve made it more expensive, yet we say we have no money. It doesn’t add up.”The long breaks have not triggered anything negative among the Bajans, but Howard said a tighter schedule could have created a more positive effect.On their days off, Barbados have opted for mainly practice sessions.”The only time we haven’t done that is on the day after the game which is deliberate for us because the grounds have been very hard and to keep the muscles ready we’ve gone to the pool to do some exercises which have been beneficial, especially to the older guys,” Howard said.With so much time between matches, one team opted to journey to the north coast last week to visit the Dunn’s River Falls, among other tourist attractions.

Central Zone could not have been too disappointed with their bowling effort on the second day of their Duleep Trophy match against South Zone, but their batting on the third day at Jaipur certainly left something to be desired.That was, in part, thanks to M Suresh Kumar, who took five wickets for 54 runs with his left-arm spin, hastening the end of the innings by decimating the tail for next to nothing.Central’s first wicket fell with the score on just one, but Jyoti Yadav and Paresh Sutane added 83 runs in 20.4 overs for the second wicket, and South Zone were struggling to come back into the match.The breakthrough was finally made by Vijay Bharadwaj, who had Sutane caught by Venkatesh Prasad for 32 off 64 balls. Yere Goud, next man in, made 23 off 56, but he and Jyoti Yadav departed in quick succession, leaving Central staggering at 136 for four.The wickets continued to fall after Devendra Bundela was dismissed with the score on 159. Jai P Yadav hit a steady 33 off 58 balls, but he was the only other significant contributor, and Suresh Kumar’s spin proved too much for the tail. Central were bowled out for 193, a deficit of 48 runs.That deficit only widened as Sridharan Sriram continued his fine form. A centurion in the first innings, he ended the day unbeaten on 57 off 79 balls with seven fours. His opening partner, MSK Prasad, was run out early, but first A Nand Kishore and then Arjun Yadav gave him good support.At the close of play, South were 99 for two, with Arjun Yadav unbeaten on eight. South now lead by 147 runs, and this match may yet see a result on the final day’s play.

Stephen Fleming knows precisely why New Zealand won Wednesday’s fourth Cable & Wireless One-Day International in which contentious calculations raised eyebrows around the region.Duckworth/Lewis! the New Zealand captain responded when asked what was the difference between this match and the preceding eight on the trot the Black Caps had lost.The Duckworth/Lewis method, which has attracted its fair share of criticism since it was introduced a few years ago to set revised targets in rain-affected One-Dayers, was brought into the play after the elements intervened at the Queen’s Park Oval.It appeared to give New Zealand a distinct advantage and they went on to win the match by nine runs to keep alive their hopes of clinching a series tie.While West Indies captain Carl Hooper went as far as to say the system needs to be fine-tuned, Fleming was much more conservative and it’s not because the rule favoured New Zealand on the day.I’m not bright enough to work that out and answer that question, Fleming said when asked if the method used to arrive at adjusted targets should be changed.I don’t know how to beat the system. If you say it is not good enough, you’ve got to come up with another one that is better.I’m not a person who is going to thrash something without giving it another alternative and I haven’t got one.When the rain which had been forecast interrupted the match just after 12:30 p.m., New Zealand were going well on 212 for five in 44.3 overs with Nathan Astle and Scott Styris moving merrily along in a sixth wicket century stand.Play was not possible again until 3 p.m. and by then only 33 overs were available to the West Indies.When the tabulations were made on the high-tech computers, the West Indies’ target was set at 212 in 33 overs.In short, the Black Caps scored at a rate of 4.78, while the West Indies were asked to score at 6.42. Such are the advantages or disadvantages of a system that was devised by two highly-qualified British mathematicians.We know what it is, Fleming said about the system.It provides a balance. It’s the only system we have. We’ve been on the other end of it a lot as well.He is perfectly correct when he says the system tries to provide a balance. Under the old rules when run-rate was used, West Indies’ target would have been 158 in 33 overs.Run rate has its issues as well. It’s not fair on the team batting first, Fleming said.Fleming’s opposite number, Hooper, called for some amendment to the Duckworth/Lewis rule after his side came up on the wrong at the same venue where they lost the decisive match against India in the preceding series.There is nothing you can do about it. It definitely needs fine-tuning, Hooper said. I think it has cost us two games this summer. We are probably not the first team to be hard done by it, but it needs to be looked at.Once the team batting first bats well and put up a decent score, and the minute rain intervenes, the team batting second is always going to be up against it.Bearing in mind New Zealand did not have the chance to take advantage of their final 5.4 overs when they had wickets intact, one can see to some extent the thinking behind the Duckworth/Lewis system.At times, however, when the calculations are done, they appear to give the side batting first the distinct advantage.And it was exactly the case on Wednesday when New Zealand’s decision to bat first on winning the toss was influenced to some extent by the anticipated afternoon rain.At the start of the day, you know there might be an option of that and you just have to work accordingly, Fleming said.The pitch, which appeared to be slightly under-prepared, had a bigger say in New Zealand’s choice to take first knock for the fourth successive time in the series.I really wanted to get the side performing well by getting a score on the board and putting pressure on the opposition because things like rain and Duckworth/Lewis are going to work in your favour, Fleming said. They had wickets in hand so they could go at a good rate. Even though people say they had to go over six, they had wickets in hand.

• It was the 1545th Test match in cricket history.
• It was Zimbabwe’s 50th and Bangladesh’s third Test.
• Enamul Hoque was making his Test debut. He became 16th player to represent Bangladesh in Test cricket.
• Umpires Doug Cowie and Russel Tiffin were officiating in their 21st and 19th Test respectively.
• Alistair Campbell and Andy Flower were playing their 50th Test. They became first and second Zimbabwean and 168th and 169th player overall to do so.
• Campbell and Flower also became the 35th and 36th player to appear in 50 Test matches at a trot. India’s Kapil Dev and Australia’s Ian Healy had two separate sequences of 50 consecutive Test matches. Among the contemporary cricketers who are still continuing with their streak of consecutive matches, only Australia’s Mark Waugh (90), India’s Sachin Tendulkar (82) and England’s Alec Stewart (55) are ahead of these two Zimbabweans.
• The catch of Akram Khan in first innings was 50th for Campbell. He became first Zimbabwean and 68th fielder (excluding wicket-keepers) to do so.
• When Guy Whittall was run-out in the first innings, this was the sixth instance of getting out in this fashion for Whittall – maximum for Zimbabwe. He was earlier at level with Alistair Campbell who had been run-out on five occasions in 85 innings. Just for the record, Australia’s Allan Border with 12 run-outs (in 221 innings) holds the record of most such dismissals.
• Heath Streak’s while making his highest Test score (bettering the 67 in the first innings of first Test against Bangladesh) recorded the highest innings by a Zimbabwean at number seven. The previous highest was 81 by Andy Flower against New Zealand at Bulawayo in 1992-93.
• Four fifties in Zimbabwe’s first innings equalled the record of most fifties in an innings for Zimbabwe. The other two occasions being versus India at Nagpur in 2000-01 and versus Bangladesh at Bulawayo in the last Test. Incidentally the Test record is of seven fifties made by England against Australia at Manchester in 1934.
• The four catches in the match by Campbell equalled the existing record of most catches by a fielder in a match for Zimbabwe. It was the second such instance for Campbell. He had also taken four catches against England at Harare in 1996-97. Others to take four catches for Zimbabwe are Mark Dekker against Sri Lanka at Harare in 1994-95 and Grant Flower against England at Nottingham in 2000.
• Guy Whittall, on 40 in second innings, completed his 2000 runs in Test cricket. He became fourth Zimbabwean after Andy Flower (3721 runs from 50 Tests), Grant Flower (2647 from 48) and Alistair Campbell (2249 from 50) and 207th batsman in Test annals to reach this landmark.
• With 50 wickets on his name Whittall also became the first Zimbabwean to complete the allround double of 2000 runs and 50 wickets in a career. He also became the 35th allrounder in Test chronicles to achieve this milestone.
• Mohammed Sharif and Manjural Islam suffered the ignominy of bagging a pair in the match. They became first and second batsman from Bangladesh to suffer this fate. Other batsmen to bag a pair in a Test against Zimbabwe are Pakistan’s Manzoor Elahi at Harare in 1994-95 and Mushtaq Ahmed at Peshawar in 1998-99 and West Indian Adrian Griffith at Port-of-Spain in 1999-00.
• The five ducks by Bangladesh batsmen in the match is the maximum by any side against Zimbabwe. The previous record was of four ducks recorded by three teams-Pakistan (twice), New Zealand and West Indies on four occasions.
• The series win by 2-0 margin ended Zimbabwe’s streak of nine consecutive series without a win from 1999-00 series with Australia to 2000-01 series with New Zealand.
• At the end of the series: Zimbabwe’s overall Test record : played 50, won 5, lost 25 and drawn 20.Heath Streak’s captaincy record: played 7, won 2, lost 3,drawn 2.Bangladesh’s overall Test record: played 3,lost 3.Naimur Rahman’s captaincy record: played 3,lost 3.
  

New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns’ latest knee injury is being assessed by his surgeon Paul Armour tonight.Armour operated on the leg last year when Cairns had knee surgery which kept him out of all cricket until the Australian tour.Cairns took no part on the third day of the first National Bank Test at Jade Stadium today as the England batsman feasted on rich pickings.But whether Cairns will play any further part in the Test series will be decided after he is assessed by the surgeon. A decision will be made on his situation tomorrow.He will bat in New Zealand’s second innings.Meanwhile, the reason the umpires called play off early was because the light at the ground was well below the specified standard according to light meters and both captains agreed that play should be called off for the day.Play will start tomorrow at 10am.

The last time South Africa debuted a pace bowler against Australia* he took five wickets in his first match and fifty after seven Tests. Vernon Philander created giant footmarks and very few will be expecting Rory Kleinveldt to fill them when he appears for the first time in whites on the international stage in Brisbane.A relative unknown to anyone outside South Africa, Kleinveldt’s call-up was reported like Philander’s, as a coming in from the wilderness. Like Philander though, Kleinveldt was not discovered in a cabbage patch in Cape Town fully formed as an international bowler. His hard yards have included two Twenty20 matches for South Africa with two years between them, and massive improvements in his first-class game over the course of half a decade.The most popular story written about him so far though, has been his being caught for smoking marijuana in March, weeks after being reselected in South Africa’s ODI squad. He was not the first cricketer to dabble in illegal substances but the timing of his dalliance with dagga (as it is known in South Africa) put his career on pause.Kleinveldt’s star was on the rise after he was named in the ODI squad to play Sri Lanka in January, but he did not get a game before he was withdrawn with an injury. Two months later, he tested positive and was immediately dropped from the Cobras’ T20 campaign. Kleinveldt confessed at the first opportunity and conceded that he had “behaved irresponsibly and made a big mistake.”He was more remorseful than the situation called for, not just because of how close he was to international cricket but also since his actions had hurt more people than just cricket coaches and team-mates. Kleinveldt had set back a community desperate for their young players to gain recognition after decades of being ignored.Kleinveldt hails from an area in the Cape with a rich history in cricket despite it being largely unwritten about. His family have long been involved with the Victoria Cricket Club where his father, who is on the tour of Australia to watch him, and uncle, Johnny were stalwarts. Johnny is one its legends along with JP Duminy, Ashwell Prince and Monde Zondeki also all played there.Johnny opened the bowling with Vincent Barnes, South Africa’s former bowling and current national selector who also works on the High Performance Programme, during their days playing under the South African Cricket Board (the body under which sportsmen of colour could play cricket). Ask around those Cape Town streets and they will tell you that Johnny could well have played for South Africa had the opportunity been afforded to him then.Kleinveldt carried the hopes of people like that and knew he had let them down and compromised his chances severely. Tony Irish, chief executive of the South African Cricketers’ Association, described him as “distraught,” at the time. Kleinveldt’s subsequent apology and admission saw leniency applied and he was banned for three months during the off-season, which had no real impact on his career.All he needed to do was regain some respectability, and that was achievable through taking wickets. Kleinveldt had already ended the first-class season well – seventh on the wicket-takers list with 32 scalps at an average of 17.93 – and had winter tours. The selectors kept the faith in him when they included him in the South Africa A side to play against Sri Lanka A. His 4 for 47 was instrumental in the team’s innings victory.Kleinveldt was also part of the group who went to Ireland to shadow the senior side in England, and it was there that his challenge for a place in the Test XI took real shape. “Rory was definitely my best bowler in both those series,” Barnes told ESPNcricinfo.Even though Kleinveldt only took five wickets compared to Wayne Parnell’s 12, Barnes was impressed with his control and the bounce he extracted from hitting the deck hard. “He has always been a very good cricketer and very skilful and his maturity really showed over the last year,” Barnes said. “He has bowled a lot with Vernon in the first-class competition and the two of them together caused a lot of problems for the batsmen.”Philander and Kleinveldt built a reputation as the Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel of the Cape. Although they don’t have the pace of the former two and rely more on discipline, consistency and subtlety to take wickets than swing or bounce – they claimed many scalps together. Now, they foursome will combine in a Test match and Barnes expects nothing more than great success, even though Kleinveldt may not have been expecting to play.Word out of the South African camp in the lead up to the Test was would be reluctant to consider an all-pace attack. Gary Kirsten, AB de Villiers and assistance coach Russell Domingo all said they would, “Always like a spinner in the side,” but they sprung a surprise at the toss when Imran Tahir was left out and Kleinveldt was named to debut. He performed well in the warm-up match at Sydney on a dead pitch where he bowled economically and took wickets as he looked to stake a claim for himself.”Rory understood when he went over that he would be back up and that if the opportunity came along through conditions or injury he had to be ready,” Barnes said. “He has done a lot of work with me and he has really come along. He knows that very few people get second chances and he doesn’t want to waste it.”* November 11, 2012 10.45 GMT This first sentence of this story has been amended

Railways are virtually through to the semifinals of the Ranji Trophychampionship. By close of play on the fourth day of the quarterfinalagainst Karnataka at the Karnail Singh stadium in New Delhi on Sunday,Railways had taken an overall lead of 599 runs with four second inningswickets intact.After having gained a first innings lead of 214, Railways had putthemselves in a commanding position by scoring 106 without loss at stumpson the third day. On the penultimate day, Railways batted the whole day tofinish the day on 385 for six, shutting Karnataka out of the match.Openers Amit Pagnis (68) and Sanjay Bangar (59) put on 131 runs off 35overs. Dodda Ganesh dismissed both in quick succession.The middle cover didnot contribute much and Railways were at one stage 219 for five. Then YereGoud and Shreyas Khanolkar came together for a sixth wicket stand thatrealised 136 runs off 32.4 overs. Khanolkar, who scored 64 in the firstinnings, was the dominant partner hitting 90 off 120 balls, inclusive of 13fours and a six. The in form Goud carried on till stumps, having made 78from 230 balls with nine boundary hits. The last day’s play will now onlybe of academic interest.