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Essex have signed Andre Adams, the New Zealand allrounder, as their second overseas player for the remainder of the season.Adams, 29, had been playing in the Lancashire leagues before he was called up to New Zealand’s one-day squad for the NatWest Series. But while the national flew home after their triumph in last week’s final, Adams stayed on and has been snapped by Essex, who are without Danish Kaneria, their original second overseas player, who is playing for Pakistan in the Asia Cup.Adams has played just the one Test for New Zealand, but 31 one-dayers, with 44 wickets at just over 28, and David East, Essex’s chief executive, was happy with his latest signing. “We are delighted that we’ve been able to sign Andre,” East said. “His international experience will be very valuable in all forms of cricket and we are sure he will make a major contribution during his time with the club.”Adams will make his debut against Lancashire at Old Trafford in the National League today.

Scorecard

Just when it looked as if South Africa might be about to turn around a wretched losing streak, with Sri Lanka showing signs of panic for the first time in the series, Marvan Atapattu produced an inspirational captain’s innings. With hios side chasing 192, Atapattu finished on 97 not out, and guided Sri Lanka to a tense four-wicket victory, and an unassailable 3-0 lead to clinch the series – Sri Lanka’s first against South Africa.South Africa had started brightly. The toss was won and Herschelle Gibbs was given an early reprieve. Chaminda Vaas roared his lbw appeal triumphantly but, contrary to television replays that showed Gibbs to be palpably plumb, Billy Bowden kept his finger down. But after 12 nervy balls without scoring, Gibbs finally found the middle of the bat. A short-arm punch through the covers and an audacious pull-sweep behind square off Vaas set him on his way.Graeme Smith, who never looked convincing, helped add 44 for the first wicket before spooning a chance to mid-on, where Sanath Jayasuriya snaffled a fine diving catch. Lance Klusener, the latest pinch-hitter at No. 3, failed to fire, but Jacques Kallis knuckled down for a hardworking 52 from 108 balls. When South Africa reached the 40-over mark on 142 for 3, a respectable total was on the cards.But when they tried to push down the accelerator, it all went pear-shaped. First, Jacques Rudolph (18) was bowled trying to reverse-sweep a straight one from Tillakaratne Dilshan. Soon after, Kallis was caught behind off Rangana Herath as he tried to pummel a cover-drive. Suddenly, South Africa were 147 for 5, with two new batsmen at the crease.Gradually, the spinners picked their way through the middle order: Mark Boucher drove to short cover, Shaun Pollock top-edged a sweep, J-P Duminy was trapped lbw, again sweeping, Alan Dawson skied into the deep, and Nicky Boje was stumped. South Africa had lost seven wickets for 47 runs.

Herath, competing with Kaushal Lokuarachchi for the last place in Sri Lanka’s Champions Trophy squad, played the most crucial part, dismissing Gibbs, Kallis and Boucher. Picked ahead of a third fast bowler, as Sri Lanka read the pitch correctly, Herath finished with 3 for 28. Dilshan, struggling with a swollen ankle that needs frequent ice treatment, chipped in for the second successive game and mopped up the tail to finish with 3 for 25.South Africa’s fast bowlers came out fighting after another lame batting display, and gave their team a glimmer of hope when the two openers were whipped out cheaply. Dawson pinned Avishka Gunawardene (7) lbw with a delivery that pitched in line and would have flattened off stump (7 for 1).At the other end, Pollock was striding in purposefully under the bright lights. Bowling a full length, he was wobbling the new ball a smidgen and hitting the pitch hard. He surprised Sanath Jayasuriya (11) with some extra bounce, and Gibbs swallowed an easy chance in the gully (34 for 2). The breakthrough brought up Pollock’s 300th one-day wicket, in his 217th match. He became the seventh bowler in history to reach the landmark, and continued to threaten throughout an eight-over spell, finishing with 1 for 18.His replacement, Boje, South Africa’s only slow bowler, dampened the spirits of the festival crowd just after the drinks break when Kumar Sangakkara, not for the first time on the tour, got in a pickle with his footwork against Boje and was stumped down the leg side for 14 (65 for 3). Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene (21) settled the dressing-room for a while, adding 46 in 75 balls.But the arrival of Duminy, a part-time offspinner, sparked a late-innings wobble, and revived South African hopes of a dramatic turnaround. First, Jayawardene was bowled through the gate, and then, Dilshan’s stumps were splayed by a grubber from Klusener (126 for 5). A nervy contribution from Upul Chandana, who could have been dismissed twice before he finally chipped a simple catch to midwicket, left Sri Lanka under serious pressure at 145 for 60.However, with Sri Lanka needing 46 from 54 balls, on a slow-paced pitch that was growing increasingly inconsistent in bounce, Atapattu punctured the pressure with a brace of boundaries off Klusener. Vaas, cheered to the crease like a gladiator by the boisterous crowd in the grandstand, also held his nerve and played positively. Had Kallis held a difficult diving catch in the deep off Vaas, Sri Lanka might still have been in trouble, but Atapattu finished the job with 14 balls to spare.

Phil Simmons, Zimbabwe’s coach, dismissed criticism aimed at him following the 3-2 one-day series defeat by Bangladesh and said that the loss was a result of complacency on the part of the players and the technical team.Simmons was lambasted by Richie Kaschula, a member of the national selection panel and a former national player, in the aftermath of the defeat. “Phil must be held responsible for what has been happening in Bangladesh,” Kaschula said. “Phil was left in charge and we, as selectors, are not happy with what has been happening. Phil was in charge of the team and he was doing his own things in selecting the teams that played, ignoring some of the things we told him."But Simmons mounted a spirited defence on his return to Harare. “We played beyond expectations in the first two games and I think when we took the 2-0 lead in the one day series against the hosts the guys were surprised by the results and that led to the guys being excited," he said. “I think I was also excited by the result that the guys had posted and we seemed to have lost direction. Because of that and I believe that is where we got it all wrong.”The batsmen let us down in the third game and that was the major reason we lost but we could have done better. The batsmen failed to reach 240 runs in the last three games."Kaschula had slammed Simmons for his team selections, especially picking the out-of-sorts Dion Ebrahim. “Dion had not performed well in the third game and I thought of dropping him from the team for the fourth game but there is more that I as the coach saw in the young man than just playing on the field," Simmons argued. “I didn’t drop him in the fourth game as he had impressed me during the practise sessions as he showed a lot of confidence in batting and seemed as if he had finally settled and I thought of including him in the team.”

Justin Langer admits Australia’s batsmen haven’t cracked the troubling reverse-swing puzzle, but Ricky Ponting has confirmed the side has developed strategies to nullify its damaging effects. England’s pace bowlers have mastered the movement of the older ball and have embarrassed Michael Clarke and Simon Katich into leaving deliveries hitting their stumps, and confused the rest.Langer said the movement caused the batsmen to change from instinctive play to using a shorter back-lift as they coped with the restricted scoring options. “We definitely haven’t cracked it,” Langer said in the . “There is a lot of discussion going on. This is like a new little puzzle we have to solve. When we do crack it, it will be a very satisfying feeling. I think we are getting close.”Writing in his column in , Ponting said his players were working hard in the nets to improve. “We’ve already come up with some strategies to make sure we practise against it as much as we can,” he wrote. “If you look at when most of the wickets have fallen, it’s been between overs ten and 30 which is just after the lacquer comes of the ball and it starts reversing.”Ponting said it was important to survive the early stages because after that “it’s not so bad”. “The hardest thing about facing reverse-swing bowling is the pace it’s delivered at because then it tends to swing a lot later,” he said. “When it’s swinging late at 145kph it’s pretty difficult to play and we’ve only got one guy – Brett Lee – who can do that. We have to make sure we’re bowling him at the right times.”

Mathew Sinclair followed his first-innings century with 53 in the second, as Central Districts finished on 130 for 3 on the second day against Auckland at Palmerston North. Earlier, Michael Mason and Lance Hamilton starred with the ball, taking nine wickets between them as Auckland were bundled out for 180. Mason had exceptional figures of 5 for 26 from 18.5 overs, while Hamilton took 4 for 39. Their combined effort ensured Central Districts ended with a 65-run first-innings lead. By close of play, they had stretched that lead to 195.Alun Evans was in sight of only his second first-class century as Northern Districts recovered from a poor start to a respectable 158 for 3 at Hamilton, still 208 behind Wellington’s first-innings total. Evans was unbeaten on 90 and helped his team bounce back after losing two wickets with only 12 on the board. Wellington’s total was largely built around Michael Parlane’s 154, an innings which included 26 fours and two sixes. None of the other Wellington batsmen managed even a half-century, with Jeetan Patel’s 45 at No.10 being the second-highest.Otago took charge of their State Championship match against Canterbury at Queenstown. After scoring 384, Otago put in a superb display in the field on the second day, bundling Canterbury out for 114, and then reducing them to 46 for 3 as they followed on. The stars for Otago were James McMillan, a right-arm fast bowler, and Nathan McCullum, an offbreak bowler and the brother of Brendon, New Zealand’s wicketkeeper. McMillan got rid of the top order and finished with 4 for 32, while McCullum polished off the tail and ended with 5 for 28, his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.

West Indies may have had a reasonable start to their tour of England results-wise (the hiccup against Ireland notwithstanding) but, according to a report on a Caribbean website, they didn’t receive the warmest of welcomes to the UK.According to CaribbeanCricket.com, no-one from the ECB turned up to welcome them after they had touched down at Belfast airport, and they had to collect their luggage for themselves. Once outside the airport, there was no transport arranged to take them to their hotel, and they had to hang around for over an hour before a coach arrived to pick them up.Things were then made worse the following week when their coach journey to a warm-up match in Kent was caught up in heavy traffic following a road accident. The bus was not given a police escort to get them to the game on time, something which, the article claimed, would have happened for a touring side in the Caribbean.In response to the article, Andrew Walpole, the ECB’s media relations officer, said that both boards had jointly agreed there would be no press conference on the West Indians’ arrival at Belfast, hence the ECB didn’t send anyone there to meet them.Tony Howard, the West Indies team manager, refused to comment on the report, adding that the team were totally focussed on the NatWest Series. West Indies’ first game of the tournament is against New Zealand at Edgbaston on Saturday, June 26.

Brian Lara believes that the youngsters in West Indian cricket need to be made aware of their rich cricketing legacy if the team is to regain its lost pride. Talking about the 2007 World Cup, Lara said the event was important to “ensure we will have players for the future” and added that the current crop of talent should be handled with patience.”You have to realise that we have a bunch of young guys who are learning to play at the international level, which is never the best thing,” he told while in Chennai. “We’ll have to be patient and see this period through.”Lara, Test cricket’s highest run-getter, spoke passionately about restoring pride in a side having a rich cricketing past. “Anybody who has been part of the success we had in the past should pass it along because we’ve got a young team, some of who have played 10-11 Tests without a win,” he said. “That’s my motivation so late in my career, to try and get West Indies to the top, well if not quite the top, to make us a very competitive team.” He added that it was imperative that youngsters in the West Indian ranks should be made aware of the feats of “some of the greatest cricketers — George Headley, the three Ws [Worrell, Weekes, Walcott], Sir Garry [Sobers], Viv Richards”.Lara also admitted that scoring runs in losing causes was very difficult. “There was this press conference at Adelaide after I went past Border’s record [for most runs in Tests] and scored a double-hundred and I was asked how it felt to make a double-hundred and end up losing for the third time. To be asked something like that with the match still not over was a significant indicator of where our cricket is,” he said. “Lengthening my career is not something in my hands, it’s up to the selectors. But, I’d like to continue till I’m an asset, the moment I become a liability, I’ll give it up. As long as I feel I’m mentally and physically ready, I will go along.”Lara also backed Sachin Tendulkar – his “best friend in the Indian team” and “most favourite batsman in the world” – to overcome his current slump and shoulder injury. “Form is temporary, class is permanent. He is my favourite batsman in the world, as I’m sure he is of many others,” he said. “He’s a class act and he’ll come through.”

Division One

2nd dayYasir Arafat’s three wickets gave Sussex the upper hand on the second day against Kent at Canterbury. Resuming on 355 for 8 Sussex’s tail bashed their way to 399 before James Lewry trapped David Fulton with the first ball of Kent’s reply. Kent soon stumbled to 34 for 3 before Matthew Walker (87) and Darren Stevens (118) rescued a sinking ship with a fine fourth-wicket partnership of 188. Arafat struck back, though, removing both batsmen and Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies allrounder, to leave Kent still trailing by 160 runs.1st dayEd Joyce struck a magnificent unbeaten 158 for Middlesex who dominated the first day against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. However, the visitors were in early trouble when they lost Ed Smith (30) and Owais Shah (10) to leave them in the tricky position of 56 for 2. Enter Nick Compton with whom Joyce put on 71 vital runs for the third wicket. Though Compton fell for 52, Joyce found good support from Jamie Dalrymple (43) and David Nash (35*) as Middlesex closed on 344 for 5.John Crawley and James Adams launched a firecracking assault on Nottinghamshire‘s bowlers at Trent Bridge, each striking unbeaten centuries to leave Hampshire on a majestic 303 for 1. Mike Carberry fell on Nelson, and was unlucky not to make his half-century. He was on 49 when Ryan Sidebottom induced his edge, but by that stage Hampshire were healthily set. Then Crawley joined Adams and together they put on 192 at just under three an over.Anthony McGrath struck is third and highest century of the season to steer Yorkshire out of trouble against Durham at Chester-le-Street. After choosing to bat, Ottis Gibson and Mick Lewis reduced them to 186 for 7 despite a stand of 97 between McGrath and Darren Lehmann. But McGrath found solid support from Jason Gillespie, then Mitchell Claydon contributed a positive 38 in a ninth-wicket stand of 80. McGrath’s ton came off 183 balls and Yorkshire’s day ended on a fine note as Gillespie and Deon Kruis struck with the new ball.

Division Two

Day TwoAndy Flower was Essex‘s mainstay as they closed on 265 for 4 in reply to Gloucestershire‘s 394 at Bristol. He reached his century with a clip for four to the long-leg boundary as he ended on 114 not out to make a fine return to action following a recent back injury. Gloucestershire had earlier added 39 to their overnight score of 355 for 8 with Ian Fisher (45) and Jon Lewis (38) dispatching a flurry of boundaries at the start of the day. The home side narrowly missed out on their final batting point, however, as Lewis was first stumped by James Foster after advancing down the track to James Middlebrook before Fisher edged low to Ravinder Bopara at second slip off Andy Bichel.Essex lost Varun Chopra early in their reply, caught nibbling behind. Mark Pettini (59) fared better but chipped to square leg after sharing a stand of 111 for the third wicket with Andy Flower. In-form captain Ronnie Irani laboured for 12 off 69 balls before giving a catch to short-leg as Fisher claimed his second wicket. Fisher, the slow left-armer, had less success against the Flower combination, however, as they took their side to the close with an unbeaten stand of 74 for the fifth-wicket with Grant Flower on 28 not out.1st dayAli Brown made another fine century to help Surrey make a solid 328 on the opening day against Northants at Northampton. Mark Ramprakash added yet more runs to a mighty first-class haul, with a half-century, and there were runs, too, for Rikki Clarke, who was out three short of his fifty. But Northants stuck to their task with Matthew Nicholson picking up 4 for 84 to dismiss them before the close. Bilal Shafayat fell for a duck early doors, bowled by Mohammad Akram (1 for 1), but that was the end of the drama for the day, with Northants closing on 27 for 1, still 301 runs behind.Marcus North’s exquisite century put Derbyshire in a strong position on the opening day at Taunton. They closed on 374 for 9 and were helped to that total by Chris Taylor; he added 145 runs with North for the third wicket to pick their team up from an early wobble at 30 for 2. Taylor eventually fell to Andrew Caddick, who bagged three wickets, while North was undone by Simon Francis, who also took three.HD Ackerman led the way for Leicestershire with an unbeaten 177 as they recovered from a wobble to take the opening day honours against Glamorgan at Cardiff. Leicestershire lost wickets in clusters to find themselves on 178 for 5 midway through the afternoon. Ackerman and Paul Nixon then combined in a sixth-wicket stand of 160 to turn the innings around. Ackerman took 168 balls over his century, while Nixon showed all his fighting qualities during a 123-ball 60.

Edgar Schiferli, the Netherlands medium-pacer, could miss the World Cup after he injured his left hamstring during a warm-up session ahead of the practice match against India at the Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica.Schiferli missed the practice match that Netherlands lost by 182 runs. “He is our experienced opening bowler and it doesn’t look good,” Hans Mulder, the Netherlands manager, told Reuters. Mulder was of the opinion that the injury was serious enough for Schiferli to be replaced in the squad.Schiferli’s injury is a big blow to Netherlands as he was the joint highest wicket-taker in the 2005 ICC Trophy held in Ireland. He took 17 wickets in seven matches at an average of 14.64 in the tournament. Netherlands are in Group A along with Australia, South Africa and Scotland.

David Hussey, the Victoria batsman, has warned the new domestic Twenty20 competition could harm the games of players as they swing from four-day matches to the abbreviated contests. Hussey is a veteran of 14 matches after playing mostly for the English county Nottinghamshire and his message came as Cricket Australia launched its Twenty20 Big Bash, which starts in January.”All players should be wary of it,” Hussey told . “It’s not easy to transfer your game from Twenty20 into a four-day competition. They’re both very different competitions and both are very difficult.”Hussey came second behind Dominic Thornely in a big-hitting contest at the Junction Oval yesterday, with Thornely striking a ball 130 metres. Thornely, the New South Wales batsman, told the paper he expected Twenty20 specialists to become a feature of the competition.”The separation of the one-day and Test teams was a big deal, but since then selectors have picked specialist teams for not only different versions of the game but also for different grounds,” he said. “The style of player in Twenty20 may not be the style of player you would pick in a Test or even a one-day team, so you would have specialist teams for that game as well.”James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said the competition was aimed at attracting new audiences and was one of the most revolutionary steps in Australian domestic cricket since the introduction of a limited-overs competition in 1969-70. “New rules, fast paced, action packed – the Twenty20 Big Bash will be a fun and easy way to connect with the sport for both the uninitiated and ardent cricket fans,” he said. The Big Bash, which has each state playing two preliminary matches, starts on January 6 and the final will be held on January 21.