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This was last year in South Africa; Manpreet Gony’s IPL 2010 has been a nightmare (file photo)•AFP

It’s not over yet
Welcome to the IPL, where things are so exciting no one’s even sure when thegame’s over. With seven deliveries remaining and Chennai Super Kings needingthree to win, R Vinay Kumar charged in to bowl. Suresh Raina slapped thewide full toss served up through covers for two, and umpire Rudi Koertzensignalled a no-ball – the extra run should have ended the match, but itdidn’t. Raina faced another delivery from Vinay, crashing it for four totake Chennai’s total five runs beyond Royal Challengers Bangalore’s and giving cricket statisticians something to quarrel about in their next meeting. The extra ball and runs were eventually discounted, and Chennai finished the game on 162.Such is life
With Chennai’s chase off to a cracking start, Harsha Bhogle, in the commentary box, was chatting to Virat Kohli, who was fielding at point, over the microphone. M Vijay slashed the next delivery towards Kohli, who was nutmegged when attempting aregulation stop. Bhogle asked after the misfield whether talking on-airhad distracted Kohli, to which his reply was: “Shit happens”.Gony baloney
It’s hard to think of a player having a worse tournament than ManpreetGony. He’s leaking runs at nearly two-a-ball, being butter-fingered in thefield, and the one chance he had to bat ended in an outrageous swipe thatcontributed to Chennai’s choke inthe match against Kings XI Punjab. It continued today, with his threeovers being smashed for 39 runs, and him dropping a straightforward catchoff Robin Uthappa at mid-off. Chennai had let off Uthappa twice in theteams’ previous encounter, but this time the batsman didn’t turn on thefireworks as he had at the Chinnaswamy.Vijay runs amuck
There’s already been a game in which Virender Sehwag was outscored by his openingpartner 29-0. It is not so far-fetched when you notice that the one makingthe runs is the explosive David Warner. It is a bit more freakish to seethe scorecard reading 38-0 (ML Hayden 0*, M Vijay 37*). Vijay isn’texactly renowned for his big hitting, but he showed off his ability tosmash the ball in the fourth over, lashing 24 leg-side runs off PraveenKumar. The over read: 0, 6, 2, 6, 4, 6.Keeping the crowd guessing
The last time Chennai played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, they made a mess of a game theyshould have won with ease. At one stage today, Chennai had needed 57 off54 with eight wickets remaining. But some tight Bangalore bowling and thewickets of MS Dhoni and Albie Morkel left Chennai needing 16 off the finaltwo overs, and the crowd remembering last week’s collapse. S Badrinath’scheeky four turned the crowd gung-ho again, before his dismissal switchedthem back to nervy. The very next delivery, though, Raina settled their worries by clubbing a no-ball for six to start the celebrations.Edgy Kallis
Jacques Kallis may have reclaimed the Orange cap with his fourthhalf-century of the tournament, but it wasn’t a classic Kallis inningstoday. He started off confidently, but couldn’t find the boundaries as theinnings progressed. In fact, his last three fours were all fortuitousoutside edges to third man. After failing to connect with five out of sixdeliveries in a row, he was dismissed attempting a sharp single off the seventh.

Craig Young, who represented Ireland at the Under-19 World Cup, has signed a one-year deal with Sussex. The offer was made following his performance in a bowling camp conducted by the county in Dubai.”I got news that I was being offered a contract following my time with them [Sussex] in Dubai. I’m delighted, and hopefully it’ll work out for me,” Young said. “I’ll be going over shortly for pre-season, and they’ll be in touch with Ireland to see what my likely commitments will be during the summer. After they speak with them, a plan will be drawn up which will hopefully work for everybody.”A new-ball bowler, Young, who plays his cricket for Bready in the NW league, came to the attention of the club’s scouts when he took 5 for 22 against Guernsey in the European Under-19 Championships in Jersey last summer.He travelled over to Sussex for a trial and was invited to the Dubai camp after the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in January. Young took nine wickets at an average of 18.44 in the tournament, including a match-winning 4 for 14 in Ireland’s seven-wicket win against Zimbabwe.

Victoria 9 for 282 (Hastings 82*, Hussey 72) v Tasmania
ScorecardJohn Hastings top scored for the Bushrangers•Cricket Victoria

The allrounder John Hastings dragged Victoria to the useful position of 9 for 282 after some serious slips on an eventful opening day against Tasmania. Hastings showed strong batting form again, having posted a valuable 84 against New South Wales last month, and his 82 was needed as the visitors dropped to an uncomfortable 6 for 116.Hastings and Matthew Wade (33) put on 76 to settle the side and Damien Wright added 36 to take them further forward. But it was the work of Hastings, who struck 10 fours and a six in his battling 194-ball stay, that was most effective as Victoria looked to build on their position at the top of the Sheffield Shield table following the Twenty20 break.In the morning David Hussey raced to a half-century to lift the Bushrangers from 2 for 11 and had 74 from 72 when he was caught at slip off Tim Macdonald. His dismissal added to the visitors’ troubles and left them six-down after the debutant Aaron Finch (8) and Rob Quiney (8) had both fallen to James Faulkner in his opening two overs after lunch.George Bailey’s decision to bowl first paid off quickly when Nick Jewell (2), Lloyd Mash (2) and Chris Rogers (24) went in the first session. Brett Geeves returned the best figures with 3 for 61 while Faulkner, Macdonald and Luke Butterworth had two each.

Even if the IPL auction on January 19 is a subdued affair, compared to the much hyped ones in the previous two years, one aspect that might generate attention is the case of the 11 Pakistan players in the final auction list of 66. The players, who remain good bets, were granted NOC’s from the PCB to participate in the competition, but the uncertainty due to strained relations between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks could prompt some franchises to exercise restraint.Most franchises agree the Pakistan players are bankable options, but some wish to remain cautious. “They [Pakistan] are the world champions and by that token they are definitely a good buy. But we still don’t know if they might face any problem with getting the visas,” an official from one of the franchises told Cricinfo.His concern was echoed by another official from a rival franchise, who said he was open to buying the Pakistan players but would like to wield restraint. “Teams would definitely have some of the Pakistan names on the top of their lists but there still remains uncertainty with respect to the Indian government’s stand, which can change any time.”The Pakistan government had not permitted its players to participate in the tournament last year, owing to security fears after the Mumbai attacks. Later, when the Pakistan players failed to procure the NOCs, the IPL shut its doors on them for missing out on the December 7 deadline. But, eventually, there emerged an opening when Pakistan’s interior ministry cleared the players for participation in the IPL and, subsequently, the tournament’s organisers extended the deadline for registrations into the auction pool to December 31.Twelve Pakistanis sent in their requests directly to the IPL chairman Lalit Modi, out of which 11 have now been shortlisted.Still, speculations have been rife in sections of the media that the IPL has advised franchises not to bid for Pakistan players, and thereby avoid any pressure from the Indian government. But Sundar Raman, IPL’s chief operating officer, rubbished such reports. “That is rubbish. Then why would we put them in the auction,” asked Raman.Raman’s query is valid, considering the IPL finalises the auction pool only after receiving the list of names from all the franchises, who decide on the players they want in the auction. “We haven’t received any communication or directive from the IPL to avoid bidding for the Pakistan players in the auction,” said an official from a third franchise.The auction this year will be held in Mumbai.

ScorecardOverseas signings Shahid Afridi and Kieron Pollard starred in South Australia’s victory over Western Australia in the Twenty20 Big Bash encounter at the WACA. Afridi, the player of the tournament in this year’s World Twenty20, shrugged off a first-ball duck in the first innings and produced a mesmerising spell of leg-spin bowling that gave him figures of 4 for 19 and the Man-of-the-Match award.Afridi entered the attack in the eighth over of the chase with the score on 81 without loss. The rousing start was thanks to Chris Gayle’s brutal assault that yielded 40 runs in 16 balls. The scoreboard damage he inflicted was minimal in comparison to what some spectators might have suffered if struck by one of his three massive sixes.Such was the power of Gayle’s bat-swing, the West Indies captain strained a side-muscle and had to retire hurt. The severity of his injury is yet to be determined, but it could have ramifications not only for Western Australia’s fortunes in this tournament but also for the West Indies’ campaign in the ODI series in February.Following Gayle’s retirement, Afridi knocked over Ronchi and began to stifle the run-scoring in telling fashion as his second over went for just four runs.Gayle returned, clearly sore, to join Adam Voges and the game hung in the balance before Shaun Tait removed them both in the 18th over to atone for spraying four balls in his first spell which cost 12 wides. Afridi then cleaned up the tail to seal victory for the Redbacks.Earlier, South Australia’s other import Kieron Pollard proved his performance in the Champions League for Trinidad and Tobago wasn’t a one-off when he clubbed 45 from 31 balls to set up the match-winning total of 196. He was ably supported by Mark Cosgrove (42) and Cameron Borgas, whose unbeaten cameo of 34 in 16 balls was part of a 60-run stand that propelled the Redbacks to a monumental score.

Bangladesh’s domestic season is facing chaos after leading players threatened to pull out of the National Cricket League unless the BCB increased their match fees and reverted back to the previous format of the four-day competition.The dispute came about after the BCB altered the existing first-class competition. The number of games has been reduced but the match fees have been increased from 10,000 Taka (US$ 144) to 12,000 Taka (US$ 173). Per this modification, the finalists will play nine matches while the two teams who fail to quality for the Super Four stage will play five matches, which is five less than the previous home-and-away format.The changes have not gone down well with the country’s players, not least the leading internationals such as Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al Hasan. The Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) demanded that match fees be fixed at 35,000 Taka (US$ 505) for four-day games, 20,000 Taka (US$ 288) for one-day games, and 10,000 Taka or Twenty20 games. Aside from the issue of remuneration, CWAB also demanded reinstatement of the original format, and the league, which is due to start on January 1, now faces postponement by four days.”Considering the proposals, cricketers have decided to refrain from playing the upcoming National Cricket League until their demands are met,” CWAB general secretary Debobroto Paul said at a press conference in Dhaka. “To ascertain cricketers’ interest in different matters, we carried out a survey amongst the first-class cricketers last year and we informed the outcomes of the survey to the tournament committee chairman [Gazi Ashraf Hossain] and BCB’s senior vice-president [Mahbub Anam], both of whom expressed their inability to implement our proposals.”We then requested them to fix match fees considering that of other Test playing nations and our socio-economical condition or to fix match fees in line with the number of matches first-class cricketers played. But the meeting ended without any directive or promise,” said Paul.”We also let them know the cricketers’ disapproval of the new format. We believe that when the experts prefer to play more longer-version games in a bid to improve cricket, the introduction of a new format that will reduce the number of first-class matches will hinder the development of cricket. Later we even tried to meet the BCB president and cricket operations chairman but failed to get any response from the board.”Naimur Rahman, the former Bangladesh captain turned CWAB president, was present at the press conference along with leading national players Shakib, Ashraful, Shahadat Hossain, Mahbubul Alam, Nafees Iqbal, Enamul Haque jnr, Tushar Imran, Alok Kapali, Hannan Sarkar, Rajin Saleh, Javed Omar, Mohammad Sharif, Faisal Hossain, and Tareq Aziz.According to Naimur, the crop of budding players in Bangladesh could lose interest due to a lack of monetary incentive. “We are not here for any movement, we have come here to request the authority concerned to meet our proposals through you because we had earlier got no promise from the board which it was very disappointing,” he said.Added Ashraful: “We, who are playing in the national team, will continue with our national duties, but we will stick to our demands regarding the national league and we hope the authority will sit with us before the start of the national league.”The last season’s national league was very competitive only because of the increment in the match fees and the level of competitiveness in the league will step up as match fee is increased,” said Shakib. “There is no alternative to first-class cricket if we want to improve our cricket.”

ScorecardTim McIntosh, on the day New Zealand’s Test side was announced, continued his pre-series form with an unbeaten century against the touring Pakistanis in Queenstown. Resuming the final day on 7, with a draw the most likely result, McIntosh batted his way to 131 from 196 deliveries in 291 minutes as the New Zealand Invitational XI drew the practice match ahead of the bigger picture.Daniel Flynn, also included in the Test side, followed up his first-innings 49 with 56. He and McIntosh put on 137 for the second wicket. The captain for this match, Grant Elliott, picked up some batting practice with an unbeaten 22.As many as nine bowlers were used by Mohammad Yousuf but none could dislodge McIntosh.The first Test begins on November 24 in Dunedin.

Andrew Symonds’ Queensland comeback will begin on Saturday after he answered a call to help out the injury-depleted one-day side in Alice Springs. Symonds, who had his Cricket Australia contract torn up in May, was due to play only Twenty20 matches for the state as a guest signing, but a recurrence of Chris Swan’s groin problem and a knee injury for Glen Batticciotto led to an early return.Symonds agreed on Wednesday to join the FR Cup squad to face South Australia and will be paid on a match contract. Queensland’s selection chairman Ray Phillips said Symonds had been waiting for the call.”At this stage, this is a one-off with Andrew, but we will look at how things sit with the recovery of the injured players during the tour game with the West Indies and make some plans from there,” Phillips said. The Bulls are currently on top of the FR Cup table but are also without Ryan Harris (knee), James Hopes (hamstring), Ben Laughlin (abdominal strain) and Grant Sullivan (hamstring), leaving Symonds to provide some much-needed experience with bat and ball.Until now Symonds was destined for a life as a Twenty20 specialist following his axing from the Australia side for drinking in public in England. That misdemeanour followed a string of more serious offences which had him on a last warning with his Cricket Australia bosses. The decision ended his international career at 26 Tests, 198 ODIs and 14 Twenty20s.Queensland were prepared to include Symonds in their squad but he did not want to commit to a full season. His last major tournament was the Champions League Twenty20 in India, where his side the Deccan Chargers were knocked out in the first round.Queensland squad Ryan Broad, Chris Hartley (wk), Lee Carseldine, Andrew Symonds, Wade Townsend, Craig Philipson, Nathan Reardon, Chris Simpson (capt), Nathan Rimmington, Scott Walter, Ben Cutting, Alister McDermott.

Scott Walter, the left-arm bowler, has replaced James Hopes in Queensland’s squad for their opening Sheffield Shield encounter against Western Australia at the WACA from Tuesday. Hopes, the Australian allrounder, will miss the game to recover from some minor injuries and prepare for the seven-match ODI series starting in India on October 25.Walter, 20, adds to the Bulls’ inexperienced line-up as they consider handing debuts to Glen Batticciotto and Wade Townsend. The legspinner Daniel Doran has been cut from the squad leaving Walter in contention to join a four-man pace attack with Ben Laughlin, Ben Cutting and Grant Sullivan. Walter took eight wickets for the Queensland Academy of Sport against the ACT last week and wants to appear in his second first-class match.The Bulls are looking to spark their season after a narrow loss in Sunday’s FR Cup match, which ended with Ashley Noffke, their former team-mate, stealing victory for his new side. Noffke and Steve Magoffin, another Queensland-raised fast man, have been named in Western Australia’s squad, which also includes Michael Hogan, a signing from New South Wales who will be on debut if he makes the XI.Queensland squad Nick Kruger, Ryan Broad, Lee Carseldine, Wade Townsend, Glen Batticciotto, Chris Hartley (wk), Nathan Reardon, Chris Simpson (capt), Ben Laughlin, Grant Sullivan, Ben Cutting, Scott Walter.Western Australia squad Shaun Marsh, Wes Robinson, Luke Towers, Marcus North (capt), David Bandy, Adam Voges, Luke Ronchi (wk), Ashley Noffke, Brett Dorey, Steve Magoffin, Brad Knowles, Michael Hogan.

It could get ugly. England, abysmal England, their top six a mess of indecision and nerves, coming across an unusual spinner they haven’t played before; at the Wanderers, it might not be pretty on Friday. When England take on Ajantha Mendis, they are not just taking on their own dodgy past against quality spin, they are taking on their own dodgy past in the ODI game.This will be the first time England face Mendis in an international and generally, sides which come up against Mendis for the first time are sides that do not live to tell a happy tale. Some of the England players faced him as a net bowler in Sri Lanka a few years ago and even then the results weren’t impressive. The obligatory video tapes have been studied – Mendis’ rise incidentally has coincided with a rise in the sale of video machines – and players who have succeeded against him have been approached. The pool is not that big. Now it only remains for England to play him but, as South Africa discovered on opening night, you cannot remote control Mendis into submission.Pakistan are one of the teams to have consistently succeeded against Mendis – an anomaly given how poor their record is against all kinds of spinners ordinary and otherwise. They play him as they might a medium-pacer and in an ODI series earlier this year in Pakistan, they got similarly-styled bowlers to bowl at their batsmen on marble surfaces. Though Pakistan lost the series, their top order tore into Mendis, always attacking him early.England don’t have a collective strategy but Andy Flower, the coach, believes that they are equipped to handle him and Muttiah Muralitharan. “There is no team plan on how to play their spinners. There will be very much individual plans on how they play the spinners. That is a good challenge and I want to see who comes out of that well.” Flower, a fine player of spin, would’ve loved it, but his players, who are not so fine, are not likely to relish it as much.”Seeing Mendis for the first time is surprising. But our guys have had a good look at footage, we’ve spoken to other people who had success against him. The guys are as prepared as they can be without actually playing against him.”There is hope, for far stranger things have happened on cricket fields, and not just in the fact that England cannot possibly be as bad as they were against Australia, but in the match’s location. The Centurion is this tournament’s designated turner and the Wanderers, if the Pakistan-West Indies game is anything to go by, a handy track for fast bowlers.”Certainly we’re happier playing them here than at Centurion. Centurion would’ve played right into their hands,” Flower said. “The Wanderers turned a little yesterday but the bounce and pace of the pitch might suit us better.”It might but it might also suit Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers equally well, if not more. That has been behind a fair bit of their success and if there is something in the surface, or in the air, few people have exploited it better this year than Nuwan Kulasekara, or even Thilan Thushara. And it’s not as if England’s pace men have set the world alight recently, something Flower acknowledged. “It will help the quicks for sure but we struggled to take wickets against Australia as well. We contained them reasonably well but we struggled to take wickets.”Ultimately there is nothing as appealing, or a greater spur, as the mirage of redemption, of any kind and amount. What will drive on England more is the opportunity to distance themselves from the wreck of their last ODI series; being thrashed day in, day out by the same team is still worse than being thrashed day in, day out by a different team.”We didn’t end the summer well, and it was very frustrating for us all,” said Flower. “That doesn’t mean we give up on the players. We’ve picked these guys because of their performances in the past. Now they have opportunities in an exciting environment to play good cricket. I am confident and looking forward to seeing how they perform under pressure, which is the exciting thing about international cricket.”