The Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) has urged the Indian board to order an inquiry against Kiran More and Pranab Roy, the two selectors who accused Abhijit Kale of offering a bribe for a place in the national team. Balasaheb Thorve, the MCA chairman, insisted that the board should look into both sides of the story.”Merely conducting an inquiry against Kale would not suffice as it is also necessary to find out whether there was any substance in the allegations made by the selectors that Kale had offered them a bribe,” Thorve said, according to the Press Trust of India. “I am writing a letter to the BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya that just like the inquiry against Kale, there should also be an inquiry against those who have made the allegation or else it will be a one-sided affair.”The allegations were of a very serious nature and have put cricket, known as gentlemen’s game, in very bad light. Hence, it is imperative that both the parties should be probed.”The BCCI had ordered an inquiry against Kale and suspended him from playing all matches conducted by the board after the bribery issue had come to light. Meanwhile, the MCA also set up a three-member panel to investigate the affair.Earlier reports suggested that Kale would appear before the panel today (November 22), but Avinash Ghatpande, the MCA joint secretary, clarified that no particular date had been allotted. “We have not given him any deadline. The inquiry will begin as soon as he comes to Pune,” he said. “I tried to contact him on Saturday but he could not be reached. I have left a message at his residence that the MCA Managing Committee wants to probe the whole matter.”

Daryll Cullinan continued where he left off last week, scoring anotherhundred (125) and 61 not out, but it was his Easterns team-mate Zander deBruyn, with a career-best 266 not out, who took the batting laurels in the second round of matches in the SuperSport Series.Batsmen generally continued to hold the upper hand. A total of 11 centuries were scored, by Justin Ontong, Hashim Amla, Justin Kemp, Martin Gidley, James Louw, Laden Gamiet, Davie Jacobs, Sven Koenig … and Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan one-day star, who hit 111 for Griqualand West in that match against Easterns. Afridi also took 5 for 92 in a match that finished in an exciting draw that went down to the final over.Elsewhere a remarkable spell from Russel Symcox, the son of the former Test offpsinner Pat, enabled Natal to run through Free State. In 8.3 overs Symcox jnr wrapped up the innings with 4 for 13, after Lance Klusener grabbed 4 for 27 with the new ball.Paul Harris helped Northerns make short work of their neighbours from acrossthe Jukskei river, taking six Gauteng wickets for 59 in the second innings.Match figures of 7 for 162 earned the North West paceman Francois van der Merwethe Man of the Match award as North West opened their season with a winover Border.SuperSport Series Pool AKwaZulu-Natal beat Free State by an innings and 115 runs. Free State 93 (Symcox 4-13, Klusener 4-27) and 185 (Khan 4-37); KwaZulu-Natal 393 for 6 dec (Amla 159, Khan 53*, Benkenstein 50).Griqualand West drew with Easterns. Easterns 528 (de Bruyn 266*, Cullinan 125, Koenig 51, Shahid Afridi 5-92) and 215 for 5 dec (Koenig 100, Cullinan 61*); Griqualand West 485 (Gidley 143, Shahid Afridi 111, Malao 4-129) and 140 for 9.Eastern Province drew with Boland. Boland 534 for 6 dec (Ontong 166, Magiet 92, Baxter 86, Marais 52*, de Lange 51*) and 109 for 5; Eastern Province 426 (Louw 124, Thyssen 56*, du Toit 4-97).
SuperSport Series Pool B North West beat Border by 5 wickets. Border 369 (Gamiet 116, Kreuch 56, Strydom 53, van der Merwe 5-94) and 215 (Bruyns 59, Gamiet 57); North West 443 (Jacobs 110, J Henderson 84, Cilliers 54, C Henderson 4-74) and 145 for 5.Northerns beat Gauteng by 223 runs. Northerns 402 (Kemp 143, Petersen 89, de Villiers 62, Dros 54, Powell 4-125, Eksteen 4-80) and 227 for 7 dec (de Villiers 54, Kemp 77); Gauteng 217 (Cook 63, Mbhalati 4-55, Thomas 4-48) and 189 (Bacher 51, Harris 6-59).

Close South Africa 368 for 3 (Smith 132, Gibbs 60, Kallis 87*, van Jaarsveld 69*) v West Indies
Scorecard

Graeme Smith said this Wanderers pitch was a belter before the match started, and right from the second ball – the first one he could reach – he set about proving it. In his first home match as captain, Smith pasted 132 to lay the foundations for a huge total. By the close South Africa had amassed 368 for 3, and West Indies’ limited bowling resources were increasingly stretched.Smith shovelled the second ball of the day, from Fidel Edwards, over short leg’s head to the fence, and there were 21 more fours in all for Smith as he bustled past his fifth Test century. He was in ominously solid form from the start after winning the toss. Those characteristic clunking pushes off his legs, so evident during his big scores in the early part of last summer’s series in England, were again to the fore. He went to his half-century from 76 balls, and played the major role in an opening stand of 149 with Herschelle Gibbs.Shortly before tea Smith reached his hundred, which came up from 147 balls in 226 minutes. His closest shave came from the last ball before tea, when he had 110. Ramnaresh Sarwan looped down one of his rarely-seen legbreaks, and Smith pushed it firmly round the corner. At short leg Brian Lara knocked the ball up, but couldn’t quite hold on to the bobbling rebound. Smith walked off, relieved; Lara held his head in frustration.The torture continued for a while after tea, before Smith drove at a wide one from Edwards and edged it low to slip, where this time Lara gratefully held on. Smith said later: “Throughout my innings my feet did not work well” – the bowlers would probably dispute that – “but my hands did and I felt good on the drive.”That wicket made it 240 for 3 – but it was the last celebration of the day for the West Indians. Jacques Kallis was equally solid, once tonking Daren Ganga’s rusty offspin for a big six. He also collected eight fours, but was outscored in a lively fourth-wicket partnership so far worth 128 – a Test record at the Wanderers – by Martin Jaarsveld, who reached his maiden half-century in his fourth Test with two crunching fours off Corey Collymore. There were ten other boundaries as van Jaarsveld cruised to 69 not out and flogged the tiring bowlers.Earlier the openers had put on 149. Gibbs was more restrained than usual, and he was lucky to escape when one from Vasbert Drakes moved sharply back into him but flew just over the top of middle stump. Drakes caused the batsmen to hop about a bit, and Edwards’s slingy action pushed them back on their heels at times, but generally the West Indian attack toiled on an unforgiving track.

Gibbs reached his own half-century, in 90 balls with eight fours, and cantered to 60 with a vast pull for six. But the bowler, Collymore, got his revenge shortly afterwards, when he brought one back to beat Gibbs’s forward push, and clipped the top of the stumps (149 for 1). The TV replays suggested that the umpire, Darrell Hair, had missed the fact that Collymore had overstepped the crease.Jacques Rudolph joined his captain – but not for long. He had made only 2 when he stretched to drive at one from Drakes which was moving away, and edged it low to the diving Lara at first slip (160 for 2). On TV one of the Afrikaans commentators observed acidly: “If Rudolph went back to school now he would struggle to make the first team.”But the departure of the red-faced Rudolph only brought in Kallis, his eyes wide open – perhaps he couldn’t believe how flat the track was – and he set out his stall for a big score. He finished the day 13 short of what would be his 12th Test century.In the morning South Africa had left out Andrew Hall and the uncapped Garnett Kruger from their assembled squad, preferring the pace of Andre Nel to Hall’s batting potential. West Indies, wracked by injuries which have led to Marlon Samuels, Omari Banks and Jerome Taylor flying home, decided not to risk the untried left-arm spin of the recently arrived Dave Mohammed, and went in with four fast bowlers.Lara was philosophical after losing the toss: “We won the toss here five years ago and batted, and you know what happened then.” Five years ago South Africa won a low-scoring game by four wickets: this time, on a perfect pitch, high scoring was always going to be the order of the day.After his innings Smith reflected on a fine first day in charge at home. “It’s my first hundred at the Wanderers, and a very good way to start the series. Herschelle and I worked well together, talking and encouraging each other. I had some nerves in the nineties, and had to fight off some demons.” After South Africa’s display most of those demons will have decamped to the other dressing-room, where the West Indian bowlers have a lot of hard graft ahead of them tomorrow – and then their batsmen will need to outSmith the South Africans.

Dhaka 143 and 318 for 9 dec (Al Sahariar 87, Sanwar 52, Mahmud 45) beat Chittagong 134 and 101 (Faisal 43, Naimur 5-16, Rafique 4 for 39) by 226 runs
ScorecardThe offbreaks of Naimur Rahman and the left-arm spin of Mohammad Rafique proved too potent a combination for Chittagong, who were skittled out for just 101 in their second innings, to lose the match by 226 runs. Faisal Hossain, Chittagong’s top-scorer in the first innings, led the way in the second as well, providing lone resistance with a fiesty 43, off just 59 balls. But Naimur’s 5 for 16, which included Faisal’s wicket, sealed the day. Rafique, who had taken 6 for 45 in the first innings, made it 10 for the match with a second-innings haul of 4 for 39 in 17 overs.The victory had been set up by Dhaka’s batsmen, who finished with 318 for 9 declared in their second innings, a towering total in a relatively low-scoring game. Much of the credit for this fine performance was due to a 116-run second-wicket partnership between Mohammad Al Sahariar and Sanwar Hossain, two men who have repeatedly flirted with the Test team without quite managing to settle down. Al Sahariar made 87 and Sanwar made 52. Khaled Mahmud, who has been in fine form this domestic season, made a sparkling 45 at No. 8.Dhaka’s performance lifted them to the top of the points table, with 12 points.Sylhet 102 and 233 (Parvez 91) beat Rajshahi 200 and 122 (Tapash 4-28) by 13 runs
ScorecardOne would scracely have thought it possible when Rajshahi took a 98-run lead in the first innings, but Sylhet came back magnificently to win by 13 runs in Rangpur. Much of the credit for the fightback went to Syhet’s batsman, who compiled a doughty 233 in 97 overs in their second innings. The batsman around whom their innings revolved was Parvez Ahmed, their captain, who made a spirited 91, an effort for which he was later named Man of the Match.Sylhet’s other star was Tapash Baisya, who made early breakthroughs, and then cleaned up the tail, to finish with 4 for 28. Rajshahi, needing 136 to win, finished heartbreakingly close on 122.Khulna 219 for 7 dec (Tushar 103*, Hasibul 42) drew with Barisal 112 for 4 (Nahidul 35*)
ScorecardAfter the first two days of the match between Khulna and Barisal were washed out, a result was never likely. Khulna, batting first when the game eventually got underway on the third day, made 219 for 7 declared, of which Tushar Imran made 103 not out. Barisal were 112 for 4 in reply at close of the play on the fourth and final day of the match.

Beau Casson, the Retravision Warriors most successful bowler of the summer, will return to action for the WA Second XI in their Cricket Australia Cup match against South Australia.Casson has missed the Warriors last two Pura Cup matches with strained ligaments and split webbing in his left hand.Casson injured the hand while fielding in WA’s win over NSW in their ING Cup match at the WACA Ground on January 21.Casson strained ligaments behind the large knuckle on his left ring finger, the finger that imparts the prodigious spin on the ball for which he is renown.The 21-year-old has taken 17 wickets in four matches for the Warriors this season and was man-of-the-match against the Queensland Bulls in his last first-class game when took eight wickets at the WACA Ground.Scott Meuleman captains the talented team that includes nine players with first-class experience. Only left-arm paceman Justin Coetzee (Scarborough), batsman Steve Glew (Subiaco-Floreat) and right-arm quick Andrew James (University) are yet to earn a Baggy Yellow cap.The four-day encounter begins on February 9 at Adelaide Oval.WA Second XI Team
Scott Meuleman (c), Beau Casson, Justin Coetzee, Steven Glew, Aaron Heal, Andrew James, Shaun Marsh, Luke Ronchi, Craig Simmons, Callum Thorp, Adam Voges, and Peter Worthington.

Tony Dodemaide, MCC’s head of cricket, is to leave England to become Western Australia’s chief executive.He spent five years at Lord’s, and oversaw several major operations, including the re-laying of the outfield and the development of portable pitches. He was also at the heart of the MCC’s efforts of encouraging the game in schools.”In five years, Tony has made an impressive impact at Lord’s – both personally and professionally," said Roger Knight, MCC’s secretary. "He has always been an extremely popular member of our senior management team. While we all congratulate him on his exciting new appointment, which is richly deserved, we shall be very sorry to see him go. Everyone at MCC wishes Tony every success in the future.”

Sri Lanka’s coach, John Dyson, had his chin up as he spoke about the team’s performance in the first one-dayer. But he felt that the dismissals of Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana were a bad setback. "I thought we did a terrific job to restrict them to 262 after their start on what was a good wicket," Dyson said. "It was a great tragedy though to lose both Sanath and Romesh like we did at the start. They’re the kind of players you want to hang around for a few overs. We’re not too disappointed, though. Mahela and Kumar batted well and so did Dilshan. It’s just a shame that the lower order couldn’t stay with him any longer.""We came back well after the initial assault and 250-odd on this track was very gettable," Marvan Atapattu said, sharing Dyson’s views about the loss of the openers. "We had a shocking start though and never recovered from that loss. It was a tragedy because we know the firepower that they have. Australia played really well and are a very good side. They did very little wrong and bowled extremely well. We will have to consider our line-up for the next game and make sure we minimise our mistakes."

England probably can’t wait to get home, after a fortnight of rain interruptions and on-pitch reversals that have taken the sheen off one of their most clinical Test triumphs in recent years. But before they can board that plane and fly back to Blighty, they have to lift themselves for one last one-day match in Barbados.England’s one-day development has been stunted, to say the least, this winter. After three inconclusive thumpings of Bangladesh, one record-breaking defeat against Sri Lanka, and a litany of washouts, they were stunned by back-to-back defeats by West Indies in St Lucia over the weekend, and Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, has demanded that his charges raise their game for tomorrow’s series showdown.”We’re just not putting a total game together,” admitted Fletcher, after England had failed to defend scores of 281 and 280 on consecutive days. “On the batting side, we’re not playing those last 10 to 15 overs correctly. With the bowling, once we got them where they needed nine an over, we should have been capable of ensuring they couldn’t hit us out of the park.”Though England’s scores in each match were similar, the circumstances of the two defeats were very different. On Saturday, England were cruising to victory when Dwayne Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan turned the match on its head with a barrage of sixes. On Sunday, England were easing towards a total in excess of 300 after a disciplined top-order performance, only to lose five wickets in five overs.”It is those last ten overs when we have not had a senior player take us all the way through,” said Fletcher. “That can be down to inexperience, but it is also something that is down to decision-making, and could come from the way they play in county cricket. When they do play at this level, one of the senior players has to stick to his plan and try not to panic. They have to realise that eight overs is a lot of cricket to play.”England’s Test triumph was built around the experience of Nasser Hussain, Mark Butcher and Graham Thorpe in the middle order, but Hussain and Thorpe have retired from one-day cricket, while Butcher has been overlooked in limited-overs throughout his career. “We have made no decision about anyone, apart from those that have retired,” said Fletcher – a statement which hinted that Butcher, 31, may yet have a role to play.If England’s batting needs a father figure to guide it through the middle overs, then the bowling might be better served by sticking to the young guns. For Darren Gough cut a sorry figure during the weekend matches, and speculation is rife that this Bridgetown game could be his international swansong. Gough’s spirit is as willing as ever, but his flesh is weak, and his return of 1 for 67 from 8.1 overs on Sunday was the first time in his one-day career that he had been carted for eight an over.With a share of the series already in the bag, West Indies have sensed the opportunity to go for England’s jugular in the final match, by calling Tino Best into their squad. Best was one of West Indies’ few bright sparks in the Test series, bowling in excess of 90mph for long spells and giving Marcus Trescothick – among others – plenty to ponder with the new ball.The clouds haven’t exactly lifted over the Caribbean, but there is definitely a ray of sunshine glimmering through. That is the case both metaphorically and meteorologically, with the prospect of Wednesday’s game being interrupted by scattered showers. But nothing will be able to rain on West Indies’ parade if they can carry their momentum through to the final ball of the series.

The voice of Australian cricket is about to become the face of Australian culture. Richie Benaud is fronting a series of funny, glossy TV advertisements, which will be screened all round the world in an attempt to reinvent Australia’s image as a tourist destination.The ads depict Benaud, wearing his favourite beige suit, strolling through Queensland rainforests and across Sydney’s Bondi Beach.He is pictured at the Camel Cup in Alice Springs, perched atop breathtaking escarpment, sticking his head out of a helicopter, riding a hot-air balloon and living it up outside the Bat & Ball Hotel. At every new location he delivers his trademark pronouncement: “Mmmmaaaarvellous.”The ads are a new variant on the pioneering “throw another shrimp on the barbie” commercials fronted by the actor Paul Hogan in the 1980s. Entitled”Australia: A Different Light”, they are part of an ambitious $360m campaign to show that Australia is about more than just beer and barbecues, sun and surf.Benaud, who appeared free of charge, confirmed this morning that the ads were not shot on location.”I’ve been to all of those places or similar places in all the years I’ve been in Australia,” he told Channel Nine, “but I wasn’t actually there. It was a brilliant piece of technology and I’m very happy to be part of it.”Benaud looks in magnificent shape at 73 and had no hesitation in starring in the ads. Nor was he worried about the fact that they, ever so affectionately, take the mickey out of him.”It was just one of those fun things,” he said. “You need a very, very good director to do anything like that and you must always obey your director, and that’s exactly what I did.”There can now be no doubt that Benaud is on something of a late-life roll. He played 63 Tests for Australia as a daring and innovative captain, legspinner and middle-order batsman. He has been the friendly, vaguely reptilian, face of Channel Nine’s cricket coverage for 27 years. Never, though, has he been more famous.He delivered the eulogy at Don Bradman’s funeral in March 2001 and has since stepped effortlessly into The Don’s shoes as cricket’s wise old king. In 2003, Wisden revealed that he had seen 486 Test matches – more than any man alive. By my calculations, this week’s first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord’s will be his 500th.It was widely feared Benaud would hang up the microphone when his Channel Nine contract expired at the end of last summer, prompting jittery speculation about who might succeed him. Simon O’Donnell, Ian Healy, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, James Brayshaw, Mark Nicholas and even Brendon Julian were mentioned. Instead Benaud declared that he was happy, the fans were delirious, the station was cock-a-hoop and he planned to bat on indefinitely.His distinctive voice – dry, wry and nasally – is mimicked by schoolkids, taxi-drivers, housewives and CEOs alike. His commentary shines on as fresh and droll and economical and astute and understated as ever. His fame now extends beyond cricket: last year he was an outside, though not entirely far-fetched, tip to become Australia’s next Governor-General. And it reaches beyond Australia too: the readers of Wisden Cricket Monthly voted him best commentator in England, by ever-expanding margins, six years in a row.The pop singer Delta Goodrem and poet Les Murray appear in similar ads. But Benaud’s ranks as the funniest and the campaign’s centrepiece. “Richie’s been an icon for years, not just of Australian cricket but of Australian culture,” said Australia’s Tourism Minister Joe Hockey. “When I rang Richie it was an immediate: `Yes, I’m prepared to do it.'”The ads have already been roadtested in the UK, Italy and Singapore – and “for some of the ads people had tears in their eyes”, according to Hockey. But can this same smooth-talking, silver-haired 73-year-old conquer the land of baseball and woo potential US visitors to Australia? That might be Benaud ‘s biggest challenge in decades.”When Hoges was taken to America 20 years ago nobody knew Hoges,” Hockey points out. Benaud is equally, and typically, confident.”Don’t worry about America,” he purred. “The Americans will be down in Australia. I’m patron of a cricket club in America, would you believe, the Sarasota Cricket Club in Florida, have been for many years, and you’ll get a few people wandering down to Australia with that.”He’s rarely been wrong before. Only a fool would doubt him now.

John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, has admitted he is unsure of what types of pitches to expect in the forthcoming NatWest Series after the tracks used in the Tests.Bracewell, who coached Gloucestershire for five years, said England had produced pitches to suit their style of play during the Test series, rather than using the typical early-season seamers.”The types of wickets they produced are not consistent with the ones they produced over the last five years in the early season,” Bracewell said. “They obviously found a combination playing in the West Indies of playing on drier wickets suited their bowlers who hit the deck, and they found that variable bounce.”Bracewell insisted he now wasn’t sure what to expect in the one-dayers. “They’re a canny bunch and they may come up with something completely different for the one-day series,” he said. “Last year they varied them, they played one team on faster wickets [Zimbabwe] throughout the series and one team [South Africa] on slower wickets.”He added that preparing pitches was not something not in the rule book in New Zealand. “Good luck to them. While we’re not allowed to do it in New Zealand, they’re obviously allowed to do it over here,” Bracewell said. “Our policy is to produce the best cricket wickets possible, not ones that suit the home team. I’m quite happy to go along with our policy.”England have done it well. It hasn’t been a surprise, it’s been a surprise it’s taken them so long to work it out.”New Zealand began their preparations for the NatWest Series with a loss against Derbyshire, and they face Essex and Northamptonshire before their opening game of the competition, against England at Old Trafford next Thursday (June 24).