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Cricket Australia remains confident its domestic one-day competition will have a naming-rights sponsor by the time the first match is played next Wednesday. The 45-over split-innings format is being promoted under the generic National One-Day Cup title, after Ford Ranger’s deal came to an end last summer.If a new sponsor is not found, it would be the first time in the competition’s 41-year history that it would be played under a non-branded name. Cricket Australia’s general manager of public affairs, Peter Young, said the worldwide economic situation had made it a tough environment for sponsors.”As of now we don’t have a sponsor,” he told ESPNcricinfo on Thursday. “The feedback we got from the market was that things are a bit tight with the residual effect of the global financial crisis. However, once the controversy, if you like, took off about the new format we found that the interest seemed to warm up a bit.”At the moment it’s the National One-Day Cup, which is a generic title, but we’re hoping that by the time we bowl the first ball we’ll have a naming-rights sponsor and that will then flow out for the balance of the season. The discussions are at an advanced stage.”The one-day competition, which features a range of new rules, will begin at the Gabba next Wednesday when Queensland take on Tasmania. The main alteration is the separation of each team’s innings into 20 and 25-over sections, which Cricket Australia hopes will be popular with fans.

The Pakistan team was warned about meeting Mazhar and Azhar Majeed by the team management at the start of their tour to England. One of the brothers, Mazhar, was arrested last night by Scotland Yard on suspicion of a conspiracy to defraud bookmakers, after being caught on video by the (NOTW) offering to bribe Pakistan’s bowlers to bowl no-balls on demand during the Lord’s Test.The brothers are agents who represent a number of Pakistan’s players in the UK, helping them secure sponsorships for cricket equipment among other things.”When we started this tour, I told the players they should not be entertaining these two in their hotel rooms,” Yawar Saeed, the team manager, told Cricinfo. “These boys are their agents and, anywhere we tour in the world, we tell our players that they are not allowed to have agents in their hotel rooms. It is the policy on the tour.”The team management had warned players as soon as they landed in London against meeting these two brothers because of suspicions about some of their activities, Pakistan’s leading Urdu paper had reported on July 27. The reporter, Abdul Majid Bhatti, said he received calls from men claiming to represent the brothers soon after the story appeared, threatening legal action.NOTW claimed that seven Pakistan players were involved, though only four have been named so far. Saeed confirmed to Cricinfo that “one or two were questioned by Scotland Yard,” last night soon after the story broke. He dismissed reports that the passports of several players had been taken away, saying that all passports were in the possession of the team management.”Scotland Yard are now investigating and we will assist them in whatever way they may need,” Saeed said. “I cannot say anything more right now.”

ScorecardMarcus Trescothick was a class above everyone else at Colchester•Getty Images

Marcus Trescothick destroyed the Essex attack with the third double century ofhis career as Somerset carved out a commanding position in the CountyChampionship Division One clash at Colchester.Trescothick’s knock of 228 not out was the highest score by a Somerset playeragainst Essex and carried the visitors to 367 for 8 declared in their secondinnings.It left Essex with a monumental victory target of 432 and in the 10 overs leftbefore the close they lost Jaik Mickleburgh, caught behind off CharlWilloughby. They will resume on 38 for 1 and needing something bordering on themiraculous or the intervention of the weather to steer clear of a defeat whichwould make their hopes of preserving their First Division status very remote.As Trescothick dominated the Castle Park stage, he punctuated his innings witha series of magnificent drives as he smashed seven sixes and 23 boundaries inhis 230-ball innings.It fully made up for his third-ball duck on the opening day and leaves hiscounty odds-on favourites to secure the victory they require to add impetus totheir title quest.The opener did survive a couple of chances while underlining his class andputting the bowlers to the sword. On 85 he was put down at slip by Mark Pettini off Matt Walker and again on 178 by Chris Wright on the square leg boundary in the same over in which he haddespatched leg spinner Danish Kaneria for two successive sixes.Trescothick took part in two substantial stands. The first was with JamesHildreth who stroked his way to his second half century of the game while making59 in a fourth wicket stand of 157. And then Murali Kartik rubbed further salt into Essex wounds with 52 from 59 balls during an unbroken ninth-wicket partnership of 127 in 19 overs.David Masters was the only Essex bowler to command any real respect, picking up3 for 53 in 18 overs. In contrast Kaneria’s solitary success, which arrived when he had Hildrethcaught by Ravi Bopara when reverse sweeping, came at a cost of 120 in 20 overs. Tony Palladino conceded 67 in a dozen overs while Wright’s 15 overs cost 83, although both had the consolation of picking up a couple of wickets.Earlier in the day, Essex lost their four remaining wickets for an additional 25 runs as they were bowled out for 151 to finish 64 adrift on first innings. They were shared by Willoughby and Alfonso Thomas who ended with 4 for 67 and 4 for 44 respectively.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza and coach Jamie Siddons had contrasting views on the side’s tour of England. The visitors secured a historic victory, against England in the Bristol ODI, but otherwise it was a forgettable trip, including embarrassing defeats against Associate nations Ireland and Netherlands. While Mortaza believed that his team had to take responsibility for the losses against the less-fancied teams, Siddons chose to instead savour the happiest moment of the tour.”There were some issues like losing the toss in both the matches [against Ireland and Netherlands] and the conditions but still I believe the players should take the responsibility for the defeats. We didn’t play well and that’s why we lost the matches,” Mortaza said on the team’s arrival in Bangladesh. “I am very much aware of the fact that everybody shared the joy when we won the match [against England] but players are only responsible when we lose.”We should have won the series against Ireland against whom we secured a 3-0 victory at home. We will get some time before the World Cup and we must rectify the mistakes we made in the last series. I’m really concerned with our bowling. We should focus on this area ahead of the World Cup. I believe this team has got the quality to play much better cricket than the performance had against the two weak teams,” he said.While Mortaza expressed concerns over the ineffectiveness of his bowling, Siddons gave the batsmen credit for performing in tough conditions. He believed the toss played a crucial role in deciding the outcome against Ireland and Netherlands. “You’ve got to listen to the whole story. The ground was under covers for five days and was under water four days earlier. Had we won the toss we would have had a chance. You weren’t there; you don’t understand what the wicket was like, what the conditions were like.”The pitch was damp, we missed two catches and bowling was poor so we lost the game [against Netherlands]. Don’t be dramatic over that loss; it was a 30-overs game not a 50-overs game. Why don’t you remember the win against England? It was a fantastic win,” he said.Siddons also blamed hectic travel schedules and lack of adequate preparation time for the defeats. “You don’t understand how much rushed we were to travel, we didn’t get time to practise. There were real excuses. I think the team performed reasonably well and shouldn’t have lost that game yesterday, but we did and we got to move on. We remember the win against Australia [in Cardiff] ten years later but we forgot the win against England two days later. That’s not really fair.”

Josh Hazlewood, the teenage fast bowler, has been catapulted into Australia’s one-day squad after Mitchell Johnson was ruled out of the series in England with an elbow infection. Australia are hopeful Johnson will be fit for the two Tests against Pakistan that follow the limited-overs portion of the tour.”Mitchell had an infected right elbow during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, which had resolved towards the end of the tournament,” Alex Kountouris, the team physio, said. “Since returning to Australia he has had a flare-up of the condition and is currently being treated for it.”As part of the treatment he requires specialist medical management over the coming weeks and as such he’s been ruled out of the six ODIs against Ireland and England. It is hoped that he will make a full recovery in time to join the tour and take part in the Twenty20 internationals and the Test series against Pakistan in England.”Johnson has had his right arm tattooed since the Australian summer, but it is unclear whether that had anything to do with the infection. His absence could open the door for Australia’s youngest ever one-day international debutant, as Hazlewood doesn’t turn 20 until next January.The only two men to have played ODIs for Australia at 19 are Ray Bright and Craig McDermott, but if Hazlewood debuts on this trip he will beat them by roughly three months. Although his one-day form for New South Wales has been solid rather than brilliant, Hazlewood was a standout in Australia’s Under-19 World Cup-winning side this year and has been marked down as a star of the future.”Josh Hazlewood has been identified as one of a crop of young fast bowlers who the national selection panel consider can impact for Australia at international level,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. “He will be well suited to English conditions and this provides a great opportunity for him to be part of the Australian setup on a tour of Ireland and England. We are sure if he gets an opportunity he will perform very well.”The Australians fly out on Friday for their tour of the British Isles, which begins with a one-day international against Ireland in Dublin next Thursday. That is followed by five ODIs against England, two Twenty20s with Pakistan and two Tests against Pakistan.

New South Wales will look to the West Indies and New Zealand for an overseas player after Sri Lanka blocked Tillakaratne Dilshan from playing in the 2010-11 Big Bash. Dilshan, the explosive opener, signed with the Blues in March but his country wants him to avoid any unnecessary setbacks before next year’s World Cup.The move is a blow to the Blues and a spokesman said they had already started searching for a replacement after learning of the development over the past week. Nishantha Ranatunga, the Sri Lanka Cricket secretary, said their contract holders would not be able to play in overseas domestic leagues before the World Cup in February.”The board has taken the position in consultation with the selectors and coaching staff,” Ranatunga told Cricinfo. “The players will be focusing on the World Cup in 2011 and the decision has been made not to release any of them for any domestic tournament.”Dilshan was Northern Districts’ overseas signing last season in New Zealand’s domestic Twenty20 competition before planning his switch to Australia. He has scored at a strike-rate of 120.50 in 31 Twenty20 internationals, but New South Wales will still have a powerful top order including the locals David Warner, Phillip Hughes and Phil Jaques.While the Blues won the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 in India, they failed to qualify for the 2010 event after finishing second last in the Big Bash. West Indians have been in high demand with the states, who are allowed to bring in two overseas stars each.Chris Gayle and Kemar Roach have been contracted by Western Australia and Dwayne Bravo (Victoria) and Kieron Pollard (South Australia) will also take part. Securing the best New Zealanders could also be difficult as their internationals are involved in local campaigns in January.Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor and Daniel Vettori are the most attractive options from New Zealand, although they will also want to try qualifying for the Champions League through their domestic sides. Vettori (Queensland) and Taylor (Victoria) both made guest appearances last summer while McCullum was a controversial late addition in New South Wales’ final victory in 2008-09.Tasmania were initially hopeful of attracting Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews before being told of Sri Lanka’s plans to protect their players. Instead the Tigers re-signed the Pakistani Naved-ul-Hasan, who is currently banned for a year by his country following his performances on the 2009-10 tour of Australia.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outHashim Amla eased to his second century of the series•AFP

It really shouldn’t have got so close. South Africa appeared to have the match in the bag while Hashim Amla was at the crease and for a while after too, but somehow found a way to press the pressure button and take the game to the final ball. Some inept West Indian fielding towards the end, and lack of intensity in pushing for an unlikely win, let them down and it was left to AB de Villiers to steer the more deserving team home.The required run rate soared to 8.60 at the end of the 45th over, when South Africa had to take the mandatory batting Powerplay. Two missed chances in the outfield gave South Africa a breather and it came down to the final over, when the visitors needed a more manageable three. The scores were level after the first two balls, but Dwayne Bravo tightened the noose in the next three. de Villiers pushed the third to mid-on, shouldered arms outside off to the fourth expecting it to be a wide before failing to dig out a yorker. The infield was packed and the din around the ground increased with the expectation of a great escape. de Villiers squirted the last ball to Darren Sammy at short midwicket, who ought to have effected an easy run-out but failed to gather the ball and fluffed a throw at the stumps.Though both teams made blunders under pressure towards the end, West Indies had more wounds to tend to, primarily because of an underwhelming display in the field. With both Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor out injured, they lacked a raw quick bowler to hurry the batsmen with bounce on a good batting pitch, and the support cast of medium pacers were ineffective with the new ball. South Africa exploited that weakness for the most part and it seemed that only complacency could cost them the game, which it almost did.Their response to 303 was set up by Hashim Amla, who was at the centrefold spread again with an ice-cool century, his second in the series . His is not a commercially driven slam-bang approach which would make IPL scouts sit up and watch. He relies more on conventional strokes and a risk-free approach, accelerating according to the match situation and picking up singles whenever possible. He battled exhaustion, scored the bulk of his runs in singles – only 30 of his runs came off boundaries when he reached his century – and could have batted till the end if his body allowed him.Using the crease, Amla drove through the covers, played short-arm pulls, cut past backward point and even scooped Sammy for six over long-off. West Indies set innovative fields for Graeme Smith – placing two short midwickets – but not for Amla. Having taken so many runs off them in the series so far, West Indies could have identified a weakness and forced him to do something different, but instead just went through the motions. The intensity dropped after Smith’s dismissal as Amla calmly collected the singles and reached his fifty, off 45 balls.He took charge of two stands of 59 and 119 with Smith and Jacques Kallis respectively, and continued grafting it out till he neared his century. A squirt to backward point got him there, but he was already running low on battery, squatting on the pitch whenever he had a breather. He tried hitting out to conserve energy, but eventually fell to a tired shot to long-off. As he trudged back, South Africa were still in control with 80 needed off nearly 12 overs with seven wickets in hand.They were lucky to have an in-form de Villiers at the crease, but the man at the other end, JP Duminy, wasn’t as fluent. West Indies plugged things back to such an extent that they didn’t concede a boundary for close to nine overs. The required rate soared to nine before de Villiers eased the pressure with a paddled-four off Ravi Rampaul. Duminy was let off twice, first by Dwayne Bravo and then Darren Bravo. An 18-run over off Kieron Pollard tilted the game back in South Africa’s favour before fortunes oscillated again till the final ball.The drama overshadowed what was an impressive comeback by the West Indian batsmen after the third ODI. It was a lesson in crafting an ideal one-day innings – start off aggressively, consolidate in the middle overs and keep wickets in hand and then let loose in the slog overs. The three main players in each of those phases were Dale Richards, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo, who dictated terms in different styles to take West Indies to 303 and give the Sunday crowd at Windsor Park a match to watch.Richards compensated for Chris Gayle’s failure with an attacking knock, using the crease well to unfurl elegant shots down the ground. The South Africans were disciplined through the middle overs to peg West Indies back, but importantly, the duo of Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo were prepared to see off the period by grafting, instead of letting the frustration get to their heads.West Indies took the Powerplay in the 45th over and the pair of Darren Bravo and Pollard inflicted maximum damage in a stand of 59. Darren Bravo, who has a style to match Brian Lara with his trademark high backlift and stylish foot movements, punctuated the passage of play with carved boundaries over extra cover and a one-handed six over long-off. Pollard, under pressure to deliver for West Indies, brought out a couple of monster hits off Charl Langeveldt to take West Indies towards 300.Unfortunately, it was a day the hosts couldn’t get their batting and bowling to click in cohesion and as the series rolls into the final dead rubber on Thursday, the same questions on skill and commitment will be asked.

Australia’s coach Tim Nielsen is confident the Kensington Oval pitch will favour the team’s fast bowlers when they take on Bangladesh on Wednesday. However, the chances of Australia taking an extra fast man in to the game have diminished with Mitchell Johnson in doubt due to an infection in his right elbow.There had been a possibility that Australia would name Ryan Harris to join Johnson, Dirk Nannes and Shaun Tait in a powerful pace attack, at the expense of the spinner Steven Smith. However, Harris appears more likely to replace Johnson with the Australians hesitant to risk their most experienced bowler with their path to the Super Eights almost assured.”[Johnson] could probably play if it was the World Cup final tomorrow, but there’s a lot of the tournament to go,” Alex Kountouris, the team physio, told AAP. “We just want to make sure we knock it on the head and get it right. It’s not affecting his muscles or his joint itself.”The surfaces in St Lucia and Guyana have proven sluggish over the past week but the Australians always felt Barbados would provide more pace and bounce. “The conditions in Barbados will suit our quicks,” Nielsen said, “so I hope they’ve been practising against fast bowling.”Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach, conceded that an all pace attack was not a bad idea against his team, who prefer facing up to slower men. However, Siddons was not convinced that Barbados would provide as much zip and carry as the Australian squad anticipated.”It’ll be quicker than most other wickets, definitely quicker than St Lucia,” Siddons said. “But it’s also spinning and that will suit us. Firing away with four quicks is probably a good plan against Bangladesh but it can also backfire if the wicket’s not as fast or bouncy as they think it might be. We’ve played practice matches here. There’s nothing lightning quick about it.”Bangladesh must beat Australia to have any chance of progressing to the Super Eights. They would need to win by enough to pass Pakistan on net run-rate, while a much bigger victory would be required for Australia to drop below Pakistan and out of the tournament.

Offspinner Sachithra Senanayake continued his outstanding form for the 2009-10 season by bowling Ruhuna to their first win in the Inter-provincial four-day tournament. His haul of eight wickets coupled with a career-best knock of 89 off 108 balls enabled Ruhuna to thrash Wayamba by an innings and 63 runs at Colts Cricket Club.Ruhuna never lost their grip on the game after dismissing Wayamba for 161. Sri Lanka one-day opener Mahela Udawatte’s pleasing knock of 90 off 106 balls was the only redeeming feature of the Wayamba innings. Despite interruptions due to bad weather, Ruhuna managed to build a substantial first-innings lead of 298, through contributions from Geeth Alwis who scored 123, and half-centuries from Sri Lanka’s only uncapped player in their World Twenty20 side Dinesh Chandimal and Senanayake.Wayamba, once again, fared disastrously in their second innings to be dismissed for 235, with the major contributions coming from Jeevantha Kulatunga (85) and Shalika Karunanayake (95 n.o.). Senanayake picked up four wickets in each innings and was well supported by fast-medium bowler Tharanga Lakshitha, who ended up taking seven wickets in the match. Senanayake has captured 113 wickets so far in all three forms of domestic cricket for Sinhalese SC and Ruhuna and has been one of the most prolific wicket-takers for the season.Basnahira North went to the top of the table with their second win of the tournament, getting the better of their southern rivals Basnahira South by eight wickets in Moratuwa. Their first-innings lead of 97 proved crucial, as they were left to chase only 163 in the fourth innings.An unbroken third-wicket stand of 118 between Dimuth Karunanayake (84) and Kaushal Silva (52) saw them home. Basnahira South were put out for totals of 224 and 259, rocked by the pace of Sri Lanka Test fast bowler Dammika Prasad who took 6 for 74 in the second innings and eight wickets in the match, and the offspin of Sachitra Serasinghe, who took four wickets in the first innings.In-form opener Dilshan Munaweera reached his second successive century, scoring 136 off 109 balls to give Basnahira North the edge. Munaweera is the leading run-getter in the tournament so far with 412 at an average of 101. Basnahira North, led by Sri Lanka one-d ay batsman Thilina Kandamby, remain the only unbeaten team in the competition with two wins and a draw, and their current form indicates they are firm favourites to win the title.

Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, has said his team’s victory in the Chappell-Hadlee trophy, was a fitting response to the 3-0 defeat inflicted by New Zealand two years ago. The hosts, then, had won the first game comfortably by ten wickets before going on to chase 300-plus targets in the next two.”It doesn’t matter how many series you play but you always remember the last series you played, especially if it’s a losing one,” Ponting, who didn’t play in that series, said. “That was just before the World Cup, and we were throroughly outplayed in that series and it led to people to write us off. We regrouped pretty well over there and obviously played well, and we’ve regrouped very well since we’ve been here.”Australia scaled down their revised target of 200 in 34 overs with almost three overs to spare, but the bulk of the hard work had been done by their bowlers, who hit back to bowl the hosts out for 238 after their openers had delivered a fiery start. Ponting, acknowledging the importance of change bowlers, lauded the performance of James Hopes and Nathan Hauritz, who shared five wickets to cripple the middle order and help consign New Zealand to a below-par score.”I think that’s pretty important out here,” Ponting said. “On this sort of ground, the new ball flies off the wicket and off the bat at a pretty good pace. And that’s what they [the New Zealand openers] did particularly well today, using the pace of our new ball bowlers really well, hit the boundaries and got the momentum going their way.”Then when Hauritz and Hopes came into the game, it was a lot harder to score. It was harder to hit those boundaries, we restricted them, took those boundaries away and created chances which we took. We got on a bit of a roll then, the momentum was in our favour.”Australia won their third consecutive game of the series to clinch the trophy, and Ponting, who led his team to its eighth successive ODI series win, said the turnaround, after the defeat in the first game, was a result of attacking cricket. The hosts have been bowled out in each of the last three games.”New Zealand got off to good starts in every game, it’s sometimes hard to reverse momentum in one-day games but we’ve been able to do that really well,” he said. “They got off to a fine start, we weren’t very good with the ball early on, so we just kept attacking and set attacking fields. We told the bowlers to keep hitting the areas and if they continued to play the big shots, we’ll take our chances and that’s how it worked out.”If you hit your spot and you challenge the batsmen to play big shots, or take risks to hit boundaries, then you have half a chance. The brand new ball didn’t do that today, we gave them too many soft balls to hit to the boundary and once we tightened things up a bit and challenged them, that’s when we were in the game a bit more.”Our fielding, too, has improved throughout the series and once you’ve put them under the kind of pressure that we did today, it becomes really hard to get back into the game. Our wicket-taking ability in the middle has been the difference in the game.”The Duckworth-Lewis system came into play again, and this time it was Australia who were left chasing a stiff target despite dominating with the ball. Ponting admitted the revised score had given New Zealand an opportunity to fight back, though his batsmen secured the target comfortably. “It was a bit stiff, I actually thought it might have been wrong,” Ponting said.”I thought that was about 30 runs too many. It just goes to show that none of those equations are going to be perfect. We probably needed to be rewarded more for having bowled them out in 44 overs. But when you’re chasing 200 in 34 overs on a ground like that – 200 in a T20 game is only a good score out here – we knew that if we didn’t buy ourselves out of the water early and lose too many wickets early, we should be able to manage the chase.”[Cameron] White played a very sensible and mature innings, and it was a good run-chase in the end.”Ponting hinted at changes for the final ODI in Wellington, and added the presence of experienced players in his side made his job easier despite the absence of Michael Clarke, who had to return to Australia for personal reasons. “It does present an opportunity to include some new names,” Ponting said. “A couple of guys are a little sore after the game tonight. We’ll see how they pull up in the morning. We’ll look at giving McKay a go. We need to look ahead at the Test matches.”I’m lucky to have people like Hussey and White, who have good cricket brains. . Although you’ve lost your vice-captain, there are plenty of experienced guys around. Little things like, I’d like to think, bring good teams closer.”