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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.”

An outstanding innings by Tim McIntosh ensured that Auckland came away with an honourable draw at the Eden Park Outer Oval today. And McIntosh added his own touch of honour to the proceedings when he walked, after being caught by Chris Nevin, the Wellington wicketkeeper, after making a splendid 104. McIntosh batted for 329 minutes and hit 13 fours, in an innings that proved crucial to the final outcome. Rob Nicol scored 45 in 160 minutes, but it still required Reece Young and Paul Hitchcock to hold out for more than an hour to secure the draw that saw Auckland move back to the head of the points table. For Wellington, Mathew Walker picked up 3 for 55 in a fine display of controlled medium-pace. Luke Woodcock’s steady 86 in the third day had given Wellington the advantage.A determined batting performance by Northern Districts paid off in the rain-affected match against Otago at Carisbrook in Dunedin. Nick Horsley scored a useful 69, spread over 229 minutes, while Hamish Marshall and Bruce Martin shut up shop and added 97. Marshall, who had a great one-day series in Pakistan, was unbeaten on 65, while Martin chipped in with an undefeated 54. For Otago, Brad Scott was the most impressive bowler on show, and finished with 3 for 50.Palmerston North doesn’t enjoy the greatest reputation with regard to its weather, but Canterbury won’t be complaining after this match – they were better off for the wet weather that disrupted play on the last day. Some defiant batting from Gary Stead (44) and Aaron Redmond (29) kept the Central Districts bowlers at bay, before weather came to the Cantabs’ aid. Regan West, the left-arm spinner, snapped up three victims, but Paul Wiseman and Brendon Donkers defied them until play was called off. The draw left Canterbury in second place on the State Championship table behind Auckland. The next round of matches begin on December 27.

Work has just started at The County Ground on building the new turnstiles which will be in place for the start of the 2002 season. Over the course of the next few days both the brick walls either side of the Jack White Gates in St James Street will be demolished, and the gates will be taken down.New walls, which will comprise of brick topped with a metal rail, will be built and will include the new turnstiles. After the work is completed the Jack White Gates will be re-hung.Whilst the work in St James Street is being undertaken the entrance is out of use, and traffic is being re-directed through the museum gate, which is approximately fifty metres further along the street.Over the next few weeks work will also begin on building the new Sir Vivian Richards Gates at the Priory Bridge entrance to the ground. All the work is due to be completed by April 26th in time for the first home match at The County Ground which is against Glamorgan in the Benson and Hedges Cup on April 30th.The Sir Vivian Richards Gates will be dedicated, and the Jack White gates will be re-dedicated on Sunday May 12th, which will be a very important day for the club.Not only do Somerset Sabres entertain Yorkshire Phoenix, but in the morning the club hold their annual church service at St James, when former Sussex player John Barclay will be the preacher, and during the afternoon the club will present the twelve Golden Jubilee Cricket Awards.

Superb spin bowling performance by Harbhajan Singh (5/40) and SandeepSanwal (4/41) helped Punjab score a convincing victory of an inningsand 166 runs over Services in the fourth round of Ranji Trophy NorthZone League on sunday.Services started the third day of the match at 69/1 needing another274 runs to make Punjab bat again. Deepak Sherawar who had compiled ahalf century (56) was caught by Vikram Rathour off the bowling ofGagandeep Singh at the score of 97. Sandeep Sawal with his leg spinhad the following three wickets to finish with a tally of 4 for 41 of19 overs. After the fall of the fifth wicket, India test discardHarbhajan Singh came into his elements as he removed all the remainingfive wickets. The latter half of Services had no answer to the guileof Harbhajan Singh’s off spin.The Services innings collapsed like a house of cards and came to anend on 177. This enabled Punjab to notch up their fourth straightInnings victory of the season. The other highlights of the match werethe wonderful bowling performance by the Punjab seamer Bharat Bushan(8/51) who ran through the Services first Innings and the brilliantcentury by Punjab’s Pankaj Dharmani (128).

West Ham are expected to be set for a busy summer at the end of this season, particularly if they qualify for the Champions League via the top four spots, or by winning the Europa League.

With a number of players linked with moves away like star man Declan Rice and club hero Manuel Lanzini, as well as captain Mark Noble’s contract expiring, there could be a number of departures and arrivals.

One way manager David Moyes could save a bit of money to add to his transfer budget is by selling “clumsy” ‘keeper Darren Randolph, and replacing him with academy graduate Nathan Trott, who is currently on loan with Nancy in the French Ligue 2.

With Randolph, who is valued at £900k by Transfermarkt, currently on an extortionate £40k per week, even if they sold the Irish shot-stopper for nothing, it would effectively earn them an extra £2.1m next year, if they promote Trott to third-choice.

Trott, who at just 23-years-old has already made 49 senior appearances while playing for three different teams, has earned regular first-team football for Nancy, where he has struggled at times  – largely due to the poor defence in front of him which has landed them at the bottom of the table, while he has averaged a match rating of 6.63 according to SofaScore.

A couple of matches ago he was one of their standout players though, in their 3-0 victory at home to second-placed Paris FC, averaging a 7.9 match rating after making four saves including two excellent ones from close-range as he lived up to his own billing of being a “powerful” stopper.

He should have also had an assist too after sending one of his ten accurate long balls over the top of the defence to create a big chance – which his teammate squandered.

The former England youth international, who was once “highly thought of” by former Hammers academy director Terry Westley, may be worried about lack of game-time should he remain apart of the squad next season as opposed to going back out on loan or signing elsewhere permanently.

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Liverpool ‘keeper Caoimhin Kelleher is proof that a third-choice keeper can become the club’s hero, after he was drafted in ahead of former Hammers star Adrian to the starting XI for the Reds’ Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea, and Trott should take inspiration from that as he attempts to forge a career at the top level.

In other news: West Ham plot enormous bid to sign £36m-rated “destroyer”, just imagine him and Soucek

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Aakash Chopra scored 215 to enable Delhi to come back in the match and go for the kill on the final day © Cricinfo Ltd

Aakash Chopra’s double-century set up a declaration and Ishant Sharma’s burst threatened to bowl Himachal Pradesh out inside 36 overs, but Maninder Bisla and Barun Sharma hung on desperately for 18.1 overs to bat out a draw, which gave them the three points for the first-innings lead they had attained.Chopra, who started the day at 146, continued to pile on the runs and reached his double-century with a six off Sarandeep Singh. Delhi declared as soon as Chopra got out for 213 and Ishant took four wickets to get Himachal down to 34 for 5 in the 17th over. But Bisla, who has impressed with his fighting innings in the middle and lower order, in company with Barun denied Delhi till stumps.Delhi now have 12 points from four matches and are placed second behind Maharashtra in Group A.
ScorecardOn a dramatic final day, the Karnataka spinners bowled Rajasthan out for 131, which set them a target of 196 in 27 overs. Robin Uthappa got the chase off to a flier, scoring 54 off 38 balls, but once he got out the asking-rate proved too much for the ones to follow.Earlier veteran spinner Sunil Joshi, who had taken six wickets in the first innings, set the match up. Opening the bowling, Joshi took four wickets to finish a 10-wicket haul and bowl Rajasthan out in 75 overs. Six of the Rajasthan batsmen failed to make it to double digits. KP Appanna and C Raghu took two wickets each.Rajasthan got their first points in the season, but they were still at the bottom of Group A after Himachal notched up three points against Delhi.
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Praveen Gupta followed his five-wicket haul with a valiant half-century down the order, but the Baroda spinners – Yusuf Pathan and Rajesh Pawar – proved too much for Uttar Pradesh who fell 48 short in their chase of 274. Resuming at 58 for 0, UP got the worst possible start to the day with Tanmay Srivastava run out in the first over of the day. Irfan Pathan got Baroda two breakthroughs before the spinners took charge.Pawar got Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif while Yusuf scythed through the lower-middle order as UP lost eight wickets in the first session of the day. Gupta strung together partnerships with Amir Khan and Sudeep Tyagi, but there was just too much left for the last wickets to do. Yusuf took 4 for 68 to end up with match figures of 9-99 and Pawar took 3-83. Baroda now have 14 points from three matches and lead the Group B by a fair margin, with Andhra at second place with nine.
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The Bengal medium-pace trio of Ranadeb Bose, Sourav Sarkar and Ashok Dinda took three wickets each to bowl Punjab out for 315 in their second innings and set an easy win for Bengal. Punjab started the day at 64 for 1, still 208 behind Bengal, and Bose struck in his first over of the day to start Bengal’s march.Although every batsman in Punjab’s middle order got a start, only Sunny Sohal went on to play a big innings – 95, which was his maiden first-class fifty. His was always a vain effort, scored in company of the tail and at a strike-rate of 107.95, but he prevented an innings defeat, which would have given Bengal a bonus point. Bengal could have still gained the extra point, but they lost one wicket in getting the 44-run target. The bonus point would have taken them to nine points and placed them at joint-second with Andhra.

Debasis Mohanty took 5 for 25 to set up an outright win for Orissa against Hyderabad (file photo) © Cricinfo Ltd

ScorecardOrissa scored their first points in the Super League as Debasis Mohanty’s five-for set up a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Hyderabad. Hyderabad resumed the day at 143 for 5, 85 in front, but Mohanty struck with the fourth ball of the morning and three more times to bowl them out for 160, an addition of just 17 today.The Orissa openers – Bikas Pati and Shiv Sunder Das – gave them just the start they needed as they knocked off the required 103 with ease. But, at the scores level, Pati got run out to become the first wicket to fall. It meant Orissa missed out on the bonus point, which would have taken them clear of Hyderabad at the bottom of the table. The teams are not joint-last in Group B with five points each.
ScorecardFor all practical purposes, the derby at the Wankhede ended nine overs before lunch on the final day, when Maharashtra claimed the last Mumbai wicket to secure a 15-run first-innings lead that would give them three points. Mumbai, who started the day 61 behind Maharashtra’s 451, lost Ramesh Powar for 106 early in the day. A tense period followed as Vinayak Samant and debutant Murtuza Hussain slowly inched towards Maharashtra’s total. They added 39 for the ninth wicket, but when Samant got out Mumbai were 18 adrift and the last wicket could add only three.Hrishikesh Kanitkar, playing his first match this season, scored an unbeaten 50 to ensure there were no mishaps as Maharashtra grabbed three points and retained the top position in Group A. They now have 15 points from four games.
ScorecardTamil Nadu duly bowled Saurashtra out for 211 to ensure that they secured the first-innings point. Rain and bad light had slowed down their march after they had declared their first innings at 531 for 2 but C Suresh, the left-arm spinner, hastened the end. Resuming at 120 for 5, Saurashtra added only 91 and were bowled out in the first session itself. R Ramkumar finished with 4 for 68 and Suresh took three wickets for 19. The second innings was slow progress as they scored only 105 in 64 overs.Saurashtra batted out the remaining 64 overs with ease in the second innings and gained one point for the draw.

Prosper Utseya is expected to lead the final 15-man squad © AFP

Zimbabwe have named their provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup, which will be trimmed to 15 by the February 15 deadline.When the final squad is announced Prosper Utseya, the offspinner, is expected to be named captain and will rely heavily on players with a modicum of one-day international experience including Gary Brent, Brendan Taylor, Mluleki Nkala and Charles Coventry.Many of the players have very limited exposure at the top level and Zimbabwe are not expected to put up much resistance at the tournament in West Indies. They are in Group D for the qualifying section alongside West Indies, Pakistan and Ireland so will have to pull off an upset to move into the Super Eights.Squad Prosper Utseya, Gary Brent, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Tendai Chisoro, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Keith Dabengwa, Terrence Duffin, Trevor Garwe, Ryan Higgins, Tinashe Hove, Anthony Ireland, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Friday Kasteni, Blessing Mahwire, Timycen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Tinotenda Mawoyo, Christopher Mpofu, Tafadzwa Mufambisi, Tawanda Mupariwa, Mluleki Nkala, Edward Rainsford, Piet Rinke, Vusumuzi Sibanda, Gregory Strydom, Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams.

Ata-ur-Rehman was banned in 2000 after admitting to perjury during a match-fixing inquiry © Getty Images

Ata-ur-Rehman, the former Pakistan fast bowler, is planning to appeal to the ICC to let him resume his career as a club professional in England.Rehman, 30, was one of those implicated in Pakistan’s controversial match-fixing inquiry five years ago – he admitted to lying under oath after initial statements – and has been serving a life ban from the game handed him by the ICC.Speaking to BBC Sport, Rehman now claims that he has been cleared by a judge. “I am a British citizen now,” he clarified. “But I am not getting any contract from any club because they say I must get clearance from the ICC.” For its part, the ICC maintains that permission must be granted by the England and Wales Cricket Board since it governs English county cricket.In 2000, Rehman was called upon by Justice Malik Qayyum and asked to testify in regard to the allegations against him. Rehman initially told the court that Wasim Akram, his former team-mate, had given him £942 to under-perform in a one-day international in New Zealand in March 1994; subsequently, he withdrew his testimony and admitted to perjury in an affidavit signed in London.Akram, fined for failing to co-operate with the inquiry, had no action taken against him as far as the scandal is concerned. It was advocated by Justice Qayyum, however, that he never be allowed to captain his country again.Rehman, only 17 when he made his debut for Pakistan in England in 1992, played 13 Tests and 30 one-dayers. He has turned up for the English club Blackburn Northern in the past as well. He is one of five players to receive life bans as a result of match-fixing investigations, the others being Salim Malik, a former Pakistan captain, India’s Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma, and the late Hansie Cronje, perhaps the most controversial cricketer of them all.

Waqar Younis: looking forward to his new role© Getty Images

Waqar Younis, who has been approached to be bowling coach of Pakistan for their tour against India, has indicated that he would be interested in performing that role for the long term. Speaking to the BBC, he said, "If it is only for the India series, it will be waste of time.”BBC’s website reveals that Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, agreed with Waqar. "I support Waqar," he said. "He is not a magician who can correct things in a week."Inzamam added that the team needed a bowling coach like Waqar to help out the young fast bowlers. "When we had Wasim [Akram] and Waqar in the team," he said, "the new bowlers could learn a lot from them while playing with them. But now there is no senior bowler in the team, so we need an experienced fast bowler like Waqar as our bowling coach. We had many victories in the 1990s and that’s all because of two guys – Wasim and Waqar. They taught the whole world about reverse swing – that was our main weapon."I would like this weapon to be passed on to the juniors now."

When Steve Waugh said Australia would come hard at India, he wasn’t kidding. A team scoring 400 for 5 in a single day was not something the Adelaide Oval had experienced before. Australia went on a run-riot and overtook the 387 they scored against West Indies on the second day of the fourth Test of the Frank Worrell Trophy in 1968-69.A closer look at the scoring pattern lets slip an interesting ploy.

Session	Runs	Overs	Runrate
Morning session	135	27	5
Afternoon session	106	24	4.42
Evening session	159	39	4.08

Australia played to put India on the defensive as soon as the game began, and once the pressure was on, the batsmen could step off the gas, play a relatively safer game, and still end up with a huge total on the first day.

Batsman	Strike rates
Langer	80.6
Hayden	80.0
Ponting	71.5
Martyn	76.9
Waugh	56.6
Katich	68.8
Gilchrist	90.0

Ricky Ponting was unbeaten at the day’s end, with a score of 176 in 246 balls with 24 boundaries. His strike rate of 71.5% suggests a poor bowling performance, but on closer inspection, it was Ponting’s frame of mind and the pitch’s true bounce that attributed more to his final score. Ponting had an in-control percentage of 87.4, compared to the team total of 84%. His back-foot strokeplay was authoritative, and the number of runs he scored off the front foot reveals how consistent the bounce was.

	Front foot	Back foot
Runs scored	99	62
Balls faced	169	60

When Ponting reached his hundred, he achieved the rare distinction of scoring all 16 of his boundaries on the offside. It had a lot to do with the line the Indians bowled.

Percentage of deliveries bowled to Ponting on the offside
Bowler	% offside
Agarkar	100
Pathan	88.2
Nehra	91.8
Kumble	82.4

For a large part of the day, India bowled a good length, and just short of a good length. The arrival of Steve Waugh, unsurprisingly, brought a change in tactics. Of the nine bouncers bowled in the day, five were directed at Waugh. Ironically, it took a half-volley – just the delivery the bowlers were trying to avoid – from Ashish Nehra to dismiss him.