Craig Kieswetter, Somerset’s wicketkeeper-bataman has pledged his future to England despite appearing for his native South Africa Under-19 at the World Cup last year. Kieswetter, whose mother is Scottish, holds a British passport and will qualify for England through living there for four years.The talented player, who made his senior debut this summer, is on part of the National Academy skills set, which he will attend this winter.Kieswetter started the 2007 season playing for Somerset 2nd XI, but after some impressive early form, soon forced his way into the senior side and helped them to promotion to the Championship top flight.”I want to make it in first class cricket and eventually go on and play for England,” he told the . “I have to say that I was a bit surprised to get invited [to the Academy] after just one season in the game over here.”I am very grateful to have been given this opportunity and thrilled to think I have been noticed.”

Sridharan Sharath, the former Tamil Nadu batsman, is all set to come out of retirement and represent Assam in the coming Ranji season. He expects to be named the captain of the side. He had retired at the end of the last season after having represented Tamil Nadu for 15 years.Sharath, along with two other Tamil Nadu players – former India opener Sadagoppan Ramesh and Somasetty Suresh – and Karnataka left-arm spinner Anand Katti, will join the Assam trials, set to get underway at the NF Railway Stadium tomorrow.Speaking to Cricinfo, Sharath confirmed the move. The Assam team is likely to be announced in two days’ time. “I am likely to captain the team this season,” Sharath said. “There was a vacancy open with regular captain J Arunkumar playing for Goa this season.”While moving to Assam may not be a big surprise, what with player transfers becoming common in domestic circles these days, his coming out of retirement that lasted only a few months is. His retirement was accompanied by a sense of disappointment, after being overlooked for countless Board President’s XI teams and A sides in over a decade. What made him change his mind now? And what made him choose to play in the Plate League?Sharath is excited at the opportunity to represent and help a weak side like Assam. Their coach, Sanat Kumar, for the last three years, has been keen to have him on board. “Over the last three-four years the coach has been inviting me,” Sharath said. “Around April this year, after my retirement, I gave it a serious thought. I spoke to a few guys and made my decision within months.”More significantly, Assam losing players to the Indian Cricket League (ICL) made the decision easier. “We’ve had teams like Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad losing several players to the ICL and Assam too has suffered.If a team like Tamil Nadu loses six-seven players, they can always rebound fast. But it’s not the case with Assam, which has only a few prominent players and loses them due to different reasons. Now is when youngsters badly need senior players by their side. Financially also it would be good for me if I kept playing domestic cricket.”The role he plays with Assam will be different from what he did with Tamil Nadu. “I see myself as a player-cum-coach, and that concept seems to have caught on across the world. I have coaching experience in Chennai and in fact, I have plans of taking it up full time after I finally quit the game.”Sharath hopes other veterans would follow his lead. “Senior players should consider giving something back to the game. Players like Yere Goud, Amol Muzumdar and Pankaj Dharmani will have a tremendous impact on them.”Coming back to cricket after over eight months of a lay-off will be a big test of his fitness, especially when he is a week shy of his 35th birthday. “I haven’t been doing any hard training over the last few months. Of course, one cannot expect me to run around the field like a 25-year old. My aim is to ensure I contribute usefully, both as a player and a coach, and I hope to derive as much motivation from them [youngsters] as they can from me.”The new role of mentoring a team through tough times sits well with Sharath. He spoke of the number of times he had to rescue his side from crisis situations, staging middle-order recoveries, giving credence to his reputation of a stalwart. In less than a year since his retirement, he takes on another crisis – of a different magnitude, in a different role, miles away from home.

He arrives a minute before his team-mates and sits on the grass to do some stretches. The camera crews close in immediately. Even when he’s not hurtling in to bowl his thunderbolts, Shoaib Akhtar is news. After his latest misadventure at the T20 World Cup, he’s also on his best behaviour.This is the tour where he wants his bowling to make the headlines. Having made his name at the Kolkata Test on Pakistan’s tour here in 1999, he missed the 2005 series through injury. With the schedules being what they are, this could be his final tour of India, and he wants to leave his mark in front of the biggest audience of all.”I’m fit and feeling good,” he says. “Everything’s gone well so far on this tour.” He certainly looks relaxed enough, laughing and joking with team-mates during fielding practice and then walking across to the nets humming an old Hindi tune. He doesn’t really strain himself at the netseither, but after five one-day games packed into 14 days and a Test match just two days away, you don’t expect him to.It’s the identity of the men who will partner him that remains a bit of a mystery. Umar Gul looks certainly to share the new ball, which leaves Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Sami to contest the third pace slot. Sami was outstanding at times on the last tour of India, and has been in red-hotform in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy back home, but Tanvir, in addition to being a handy batsman, offers a left-handed option that Pakistan haven’t had since Wasim Akram departed the scene.On a flat, low pitch, they should also go in with two spinners, even if that means a rather long tail. In conversation with journalists during the net session, Talat Ali Malik, the team manager, seemed to hint that the team management would keep faith in specialist openers. That should mean that Yasir Hameed, who played a superb innings in Bangalore on the 2005 tour, gets a chance to build up a partnership with Salman Butt.The middle order is where there are fewest problems, with Faisal Iqbal joining the old firm of Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. Yousuf’s Grey-Nicholls bat is almost incapable of inelegant strokes and he went through almost the entire repertoire in the nets this morning, whileYounis was at his ebullient best during the throwing games organised by David Dwyer, the fitness trainer.Dwyer is the nephew of Bob Dwyer, who coached the greatest Wallaby side of all time to the rugby World Cup in 1991. But working with some of these players is a far cry from training superb athletes like Tim Horan, Jason Little and David Campese. “It’s certainly a challenge,” he says with a smile. “In Australia, you grow up with such a strong sporting culture. You play cricket or rugby or Aussie Rules, and if anything else, you pop down to the beach for a spot of surfing.”One of his drills has the batsmen up against the bowlers, with the ball being thrown around before someone from the other team can tag you. Initially, it’s done with throw to hand, and after that with throws on the bounce. The players enjoy it, and there’s plenty of camaraderie withinwhat is largely a young group. After India’s dominant displays in the one-day games and their series win in England, they’re clearly favourites for the Tests, but as Pakistan showed the last time they journeyed across the border, these tags count for very little.

Ricky Ponting will not play in Tasmania’s Pura Cup match against Western Australia starting in Hobart on Monday. Ponting has been withdrawn from the Tigers line-up at the request of Cricket Australia.Many of Australia’s front-line players have niggling injuries or are resting during the rare lull between the Sri Lanka Test series and the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy games. Ponting played in Tasmania’s one-day match against the Warriors on Saturday but Cricket Australia’s “no-risk” strategy has meant he will not take part in the four-day contest.”The call’s been made by the Australian team physio and chairman of selectors,” Tony Harrison, the Tasmanian Cricket Association deputy chairman and a Cricket Australia director, told . “We’ve been aware he’s been carrying a couple of niggles this season and he’s got a busy six months coming up, so it’s just part of player management.”Tasmania squad Michael Dighton, Michael Di Venuto, George Bailey, Travis Birt, Daniel Marsh (capt), Luke Butterworth, Sean Clingeleffer (wk), Jason Krejza, Brendan Drew, Brett Geeves, Ben Hilfenhaus.Western Australia squad Chris Rogers, Justin Langer, Adam Voges (capt), Michael Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Brad Hogg, Sean Ervine, Mathew Inness, Steve Magoffin, Darren Wates, Ben Edmondson.

With one day of the league matches left, we finally know the teams that will be relegated: Bengal, for the first time since the introduction of the relegation system, and Himachal Pradesh, who were promoted last year.Delhi, Saurashtra and Uttar Pradesh seem likely to join Baroda in the semi-finals, though things may yet turn out otherwise. Saurashtra have frustrated Mumbai long enough to almost ensure the one point they need to make it to the semi-finals. Delhi are 95 short of an outright win, which will take them clear of Mumbai who can at best draw against Saurashtra. UP need eight Hyderabad wickets on the final day to end as Group B leaders. If they can get only three points from the match, they will be tied with Andhra at 17 points, but with a better quotient.
ScorecardDelhi shot out Tamil Nadu for 174 to lay the foundation of what should be an easy win to seal a semi-final place and possibly also take them to the top of Group A. Chetanya Nanda took his third five-wicket haul to hasten the end for Tamil Nadu after Pradeep Sangwan and Rajat Bhatia had removed the openers. It was a quick half-century from No. 8 R Ramkumar that took Tamil Nadu beyond 100 as Ramkumar and H Gopinath, from 61 for 6, added 82 for the seventh wicket.Delhi were 10 for 0 at stumps, chasing 105.
Scorecard
Mohammad Kaif’s unbeaten century and three other half-centuries helped Uttar Pradesh set Hyderabad an improbable target and UP took two wickets before stumps, leaving Hyderabad needing another 383 on the final day. UP started the day at 28 for 0 and the opening stand between the Srivastavas – Tanmay and Rohit Prakash – continued for another 72 runs. After both of them got out for half-centuries, Kaif and Ravikant Shukla took over, scoring at a strike-rate of over 60 to enable UP declare 16 overs before stumps. This was Kaif’s second century of the season, making him UP’s leading run-getter so far.When Hyderabad came out to bat, Praveen Kumar struck in the third over with Abhinav Kumar’s wicket and in the last over Praveen Gupta accounted for Anoop Pai.
Scorecard
With their fourth loss in six matches which yielded only eight points, Bengal have been relegated to the Plate League for the 2008-09 season. Andhra’s P Vijay Kumar and Y Gnaneshwara Rao took five wickets each to ensure a sixth successive batting failure for Bengal. Chasing 214 for a win that would have given them some chance of avoiding relegation, Bengal were shot out for 112, captain Laxmi Shukla being the top scorer with 39. Manoj Tiwary was the only other batsman to reach double figures; he scored 35.Resuming the day at 147 for 6, with a lead of 170, Andhra added 43 more, thanks to MSK Prasad who scored 54. Ranadeb Bose finished with 7 for 74.
ScorecardRajasthan turned the tables on Himachal Pradesh as they bowled them out for 122 in the second innings, knocked off the 185-run target easily, and won the relegation face-off even after having conceded a 62-run first-innings lead. Sumit Mathur was the chief destructor for Rajasthan as he took 7 for 49 to wreck the Himachal innings after they were 56 for 0 at one stage. With a healthy opening stand, and a first-innings lead already in the bag, Himachal looked on their way to avoid relegation, but they lost seven wickets for 31 runs to be reduced to 87 for 7 in a characteristic collapse. The last three wickets showed some resistance, but could take them to 122 only.Rajasthan then batted with intent, and riding on Vineet Saxena’s unbeaten century and Rajesh Bishnoi’s unbeaten 63, they chased the target down in 41.5 overs.Maharashtra 276 and 18 for 3 (Vinay Kumar 3-3) need another 251 runs to avoid an innings defeat against Karnataka 545 for 9 dec Chipli 135*, Goud 122)
Scorecard After Bharat Chipli and Yere Goud piled the runs on for Karnataka, R Vinay Kumar struck with a hat-trick to set up a depressing end to the season for Maharashtra after they led the Group A halfway into the Ranji Trophy. At the end of the third day, Maharashtra required 251 runs to make Karnataka bat again, with seven wickets in hand.Vinay Kumar’s hat-trick was the fourth in the last three rounds of Ranji Trophy and second against Maharashtra after Delhi medium-pacer Parvinder Awana had demolished Maharashtra with one in the fifth round.Earlier Chipli and Goud feasted on an inexperienced attack to score centuries and take the lead to 269 before they declared with seven overs to go in the day. Goud scored 122, while Chipli stayed unbeaten on 135. Thilak Naidu chipped in with a a half-century.
Scorecard
A solid batting display by Amol Muzumdar and Ajinkya Rahane might not be enough to take them to the semi-finals as Mumbai ended the day 297 behind Saurashtra’s 484, with eight wickets in hand. Even if they manage to take a first-innings lead, they will have to hope Delhi don’t beat Tamil Nadu outright, which seems highly likely.To begin the day, Mumbai were frustrated by Shitanshu Kotak furthermore, as they took 11.2 overs to take the last Saurashtra wicket, No. 11 Sandip Maniar who partnered Kotak for 73 mintues out of his 796-minute stay at the wicket.Ajinkya Rahane and Amol Muzumdar scored unbeaten eighties, but with a run-rate of 2.46 per over to score 187 for 2 they were always operating against the clock.
ScorecardBaroda took the last seven Orissa wickets for 81 runs, but could not prevent them from taking a first-innings lead. Three points from this game would have ensure Baroda the top position in Group B. In the second innings, Baroda had scored 120 for 3 by stumps, sending the game down the draw path unless there is a dramatic collapse on the final day.Rajesh Pawar took five of the Orissa wickets to fall today to finish his 10th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.

Adam Gilchrist’s retirement from international cricket will be short-lived after he confirmed he would appear in the Indian Premier League in India during April. Gilchrist will step down from Australian duties in March, but will be back in action for the lucrative Twenty20 series.”I’m signed up like most of our players have,” he said. “I see that as an amazing entertainment package.”Eleven players contracted to Cricket Australia have IPL deals, but the Test team is due to be in Pakistan when the tournament begins. The crowded schedule no longer bothers Gilchrist and he will be free to take part alongside Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, his fellow retirees.The new format has grown on Gilchrist, who was a reluctant Twenty20 participant when it was first played internationally four years ago. “I was a bit of a traditionalist,” he said, “and wasn’t so sure about this short version of the game.”But over time, and having played more of it and seen the way it works, I’ve realised it’s an important part of the cricket structure now. It is entertainment and I feel like I’ve tried to be entertaining all through my career, but I’ve done the real serious hard yards and enjoyed that and loved all the sweat and the tears and the laughter.”While the huge sums of money being reported will add to Gilchrist’s retirement package, he is also excited to be involved in the innovative concept. “I hear guys talk about World Series Cricket and how exciting it was to be a part of that,” he said. “I see this IPL situation being very similar to that. Who knows where it could grow to? To be part of that founding group would be a huge thrill.”

Scorecard

Liam Davis outshone his more-fancied top-order colleagues with a century in his second match but Doug Bollinger’s five wickets helped New South Wales fight back late on the first day in Sydney. Davis, a late addition to the side, posted 116 and at the close Western Australia had 6 for 312, with Marcus North unbeaten on 13 and Aaron Heal (2) falling on the final delivery.The Warriors were well on top at 2 for 278 when a late rally from Bollinger with the new ball changed the situation significantly. Bollinger collected three wickets in five overs, the first of which was Davis lbw, ending a five-hour innings that would never have happened but for Shaun Marsh’s late withdrawal with a hamstring injury.Bollinger then grabbed a return catch to send back Adam Voges, who had made 84 and combined with Davis in a 153-run stand, and added Luke Pomersbach (10) to his collection. His 5 for 69 catapulted him to the top of this season’s Pura Cup wicket tally and he now has 39 at 14.35 from only six matches.But not even Bollinger could stop Davis, 23, from registering his maiden first-class century, which came up with a six over square leg off the medium-pacer Greg Mail. He opened with Australia’s latest Test recruit, Chris Rogers, whose return to state duties ended when was caught behind off Bollinger for 16.Another former Test opener, Justin Langer, then joined Davis and the pair added 94 for the second wicket. Langer (54) was Bollinger’s second victim but Davis kept the runs coming and ensured that even allowing for Bollinger’s heroics, the Warriors would have a healthy total to defend.

Western Australia 7 for 362 (Rogers 166, Marsh 53) v Victoria
Scorecard

Chris Rogers dominated Victoria on a warm opening day in Perth as the visitors’ decision to bowl first at the WACA backfired. The Bushrangers wanted early wickets in their push for an outright win to move away from New South Wales, who they will meet in the final, but Rogers punished them with 166 and the Warriors posted a commanding 7 for 362.Allan Wise captured the early wicket of Justin Langer for 14, but the pitch did not offer the bowlers much assistance and Rogers combined with Shaun Marsh in a partnership of 146 that set up the innings. Marsh edged behind to Shane Harwood for 53 before Rogers reached his 24th first-class century on the way to his highest score of the season.Bryce McGain, who is being mentioned as a national spin candidate after Brad Hogg’s retirement, struggled in his first six-over spell, which went for 28, but he returned to remove Rogers, who struck a full-toss to Cameron White at midwicket. Rogers’ heavy scoring included 26 fours and one six and he managed to operate at a strike-rate of 75.11 from his 221 balls.McGain struck again when, four balls after Andrew McDonald had Marcus North lbw for 42, he confused Luke Pomersbach (13) with a short ball and trapped him in front. He picked up 2 for 60 from 15 overs and out-bowled White, who went for 29 from four.Harwood’s second wicket came with his first delivery with the second new ball when Luke Ronchi drove to Brad Hodge at gully and the Warriors had lost 4 for 37. Adam Voges (27 not out) was out-scored by the bowler Steve Magoffin, who picked up 30 before slipping four overs before stumps.

Steve Harmison, the England fast bowler, has struck back at Geoff Boycott after the former opening batsman had launched a scathing attack at him in a column for .Boycott had virtually written off Harmison after his poor display in the first Test against New Zealand in Hamilton, urging the selectors not to give him a central contract. “Since the Ashes series of 2005 he has been poor, indifferent to bad. He’s not got enough wickets and been given so many chances,” Boycott wrote in his column. “There comes a point when the public and selectors get fed up and disillusioned with a guy not delivering. That time has come. If he gets a central contract this summer over some of the new kids, or any sort of central contract, then a lot of us will be screaming: favouritism and a total waste of money. England should forget him.”Harmison’s reply was equally cutting. In his column for , Harmison wrote: “No one can dispute the man could bat but over the years he has developed an equally well deserved reputation as someone who thrives on kicking a man when he is down … Enough is enough. His remarks about me this week have gone beyond what is acceptable and it is time someone stood up to him and told him so.”People who only have a passing interest in the game hear the famous Geoff Boycott Yorkshire accent and may think it gives some status to his opinions. But inside the dressing room he has no status, he is just an accent, some sort of caricature of a professional Yorkshireman.”Harmison went on to add that a couple of batsmen currently in the England team didn’t have a high opinion of Boycott either. “Their shared experience was that when things weren’t going well for them all they heard from Boycott was him nailing them in the newspapers or on radio or TV, then, if they made a century or played well, he would come up to them full of compliments and try to ingratiate himself with them. I’m not the only England player who has been forced to take it in the neck from Boycott and I won’t be the last.”Harmison also took a dig at Boycott for his comments on Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait’s decision to take a break from the game due to exhaustion. Boycott had said Tait’s decision had “lacked character”.”I wonder what Australia’s Shaun Tait thought recently, when, after announcing he was taking an indefinite break from the game due to physical and emotional exhaustion, Boycott reacted by claiming he should have shown more desire to work through his problems,” Harmison wrote. “You get the feeling that Boycott is an insecure man who needs to be heard.”As a parting shot, Harmison had this to say to Boycott: “You say that if England give me another central contract come October that would be waste of money. To me, you are a waste of space.”

Thilan Samaraweera, whose century rescued Sri Lanka from a dicey 99 for 6, said the key to securing a win in the second Test at the Queen’s Park Oval would be how the visitors utilise the new ball.”The pitch is still allowing the bowlers to seam the ball around, and the bounce is up and down,” he said. “If we can get two or three wickets with the new ball, we can put some pressure on them, since we have a world-class spin bowler (in Muttiah Muralitharan). Chris Gayle was getting the ball to turn a little bit, but the new ball will be the key.”Samaraweera’s 138-run partnership with Chaminda Vaas for the seventh wicket left West Indies chasing a challenging 253 for victory. “My approach when I went in to bat was to play as straight as possible,” he said. “I played a bad shot in the first innings – a ‘nothing shot’ – and found playing straight and playing off the front foot was the key.”My strategy was to bat through the innings, but I think Chaminda (45) helped a lot since he was batting so well at the other end. When I came to the crease, we were 32 for 3 and I felt that we could still get a good score since Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, and Vaas were still to come.”Besides shoring up Sri Lanka’s fortunes, his sixth Test century is also likely to guarantee him an extended run in the side. “This innings is important for me, since there is a lot of Test cricket coming for us this year – we have about six Tests remaining – and I feel strongly that I can establish myself in the side again,” he said. “I have a key role to play in the side. I have to play among a host of stroke-players, and I can play the long, patient innings which I did a few years ago when we were in a similar situation and I scored a hundred against Pakistan.”I also thought this innings was crucial because I had set myself the goal in this series to take the pressure off Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, since they have been tremendous for Sri Lanka over the last three or four years.”Looking ahead to the fourth day’s play, and a possible series win, he said: “We want to create history by becoming the first Sri Lanka team to win a Test series in the Caribbean, and whitewash West Indies in a series at home for the first time in their history.”