If there was one question in recent years that has been asked more than any other in New Zealand One-Day International cricket it would have to be, “How does Craig Spearman keep his place in the Black Caps?”The answer has been confined to the New Zealand cricket selection panel.Glenn Turner first picked Spearman to international duty in 1995/96 as one of his choices to implement the blazing top order assaults Turner wanted.Going into yesterday’s ODI with Zimbabwe in Harare, Spearman with an average of 17.41 after 44 matches had seen off Turner and Ross Dykes as selection conveners and had won over the new man Sir Richard Hadlee.This despite the fact that his best score was 78 scored against the United Arab Emirates in the 1996 World Cup. He twice scored 68, in the 1996 World Cup against the Netherlands and against India at Rajkot last summer.He was overdue, well overdue.However, New Zealand cricket is still overdue for some fire at the top of the order.It is amazing that since the days when Turner and Bruce Edgar were paired in the mid-1980s and John Wright and Edgar shared the duties before that, New Zealand has not enjoyed a consistently successful opening pair.There were some heady days at the 1992 World Cup when Mark Greatbatch and Rod Latham were paired but they were fleeting.What makes the opening question all the more frustrating is that another of Turner’s selections, Nathan Astle has blossomed as a one-day opener. He’s scored eight ODI centuries and has had five scores in the 90s.He is New Zealand’s most successful one-day batsman even if he has yet to claim the overall run scoring aggregate from Martin Crowe.Ironically, Spearman produced his highest score yesterday with 86 against Zimbabwe when he was originally named as a lower middle-order player. He only moved to No 3 when skipper Stephen Fleming was laid low with a stomach complaint.It is one of the indictments of New Zealand’s one-day play that only 14 centuries have been scored by openers, eight of them by Astle and three by Turner. Wright, Edgar and Crowe have scored the others.While Spearman lifted the monkey from his back, the problem at the top of the order still exists for New Zealand. Wicketkeeper Chris Nevin has a great opportunity to make his mark as a partner for Astle.With such a concentration of limited overs cricket at the start of the season, it would be helpful to New Zealand’s future, and its build-up to the next World Cup, if Nevin could solidify the opening berth and if Spearman could reap a harvest of consistency in the middle-order.Few batsmen hit the ball harder with so little effort than Spearman. He is capable of taking good attacks apart.If New Zealand could rely on a top order assault from Astle, Nevin and Spearman, what fireworks there could be.Zimbabwe was just a start for Spearman. He has had generous selectorial support. It is dividend time for New Zealand.A final thought on the Zimbabwe match.Zimbabwe was always going to struggle after the loss of Neil Johnson and Murray Goodwin.But New Zealand went into the game without Chris Cairns, Dion Nash and Geoff Allott who were all injured and Fleming couldn’t bat due to illness.Daryl Tuffey and Glen Sulzberger made their ODI debuts. They have both been part of New Zealand’s coherent development policy. It is but one step but some depth is finally starting to emerge.

Even from my perspective, and I do not give kudos easily, Glenn McGrath is quite special. He certainly knows something about fast bowling. Many spectators at the WACA will not have noticed a few things of engineering and mechanics that were implemented by the lanky fast bowler.Firstly, although the pitch at the Western Australia Cricket Association seemed even and somewhat grassy, McGrath did not try to bowl as quickly as we all know that he can. Instead, he more or less decided that he must allow the batsman to play most of the time. To do that, he had to slow down slightly, not noticeably, but enough to allow his body and arm to reach their elongated peak.The mechanics of fast bowling then came into play. At a slightly slower pace, the ball, on pitching, would ‘grip’ a bit more than usual, even though there was a considerable amount of grass on the pitch. Thus, it was no surprise that McGrath, master that he is, managed to get the ball to ‘dance around’ somewhat.The sequence of McGrath’s hat trick was fast bowling magic, the bowler showing splendid control. The first two wickets also confirmed his boast last week; that he would get both Sherwin Campbell and Brian Lara as his 299th and 300th Test wicket. Do you not love a sportsman who can follow up a boast? That is why Muhammad Ali is my all-time favourite sportsman.The first two deliveries to Campbell were good length off-cutters, Campbell having to play them. The change came in the next delivery, with a bit of a flick of the bowler’s wrist. The ball held its line, but bounced a bit more. Campbell, out of position, fooled by the previous deliveries, sparred at the ball, the edge ending up nicely in the hands of Ricky Ponting at first slip; McGrath’s 299th Test wicket.In came Brian Lara, with great expectations from the crowd, and tremendous responsibilities on his shoulders. McGrath bowled his standard ball to a left-handed batsman. Pitched on leg stump, at good but not great pace, but angled across the batsman. Lara also sparred at the ball, trying to ‘ride the bounce.’ He could not. Stuart MacGill took the edge at fourth slip, suggesting that Lara nearly succeeded in keeping the ball down. Lara was gone, from the first ball that he received, and the West Indies were not only in serious trouble at 19-3 in the ninth over, but McGrath was on a hat trick, and he had taken Lara as his 300th Test wicket.The third wicket was the one that was especially well thought out by the big fast bowler. Instead of bowling at the stumps, or perhaps angling the ball towards the slips, McGrath dug the hat trick delivery in short, but ‘skidding it’, so that it didn’t bounce as much as the batsman expected. Furthermore, McGrath had directed the ball into the ribs of West Indies captain, Jimmy Adams.That was planned, as McGrath explained afterwards. “I expected the ball to bounce a bit more, but the direction was right, straight to the batsman’s body.”All Adams could do was to try to use his bat to turn the ball down to fine leg. The pace of the delivery deceived Adams, and he could only spar the ball to Justin Langer at forward short leg. That was the hat trick, the 10th for an Australian in Test cricket, the 27th overall. As McGrath said afterwards, “The last ball did not go as I would have liked, but I will take it anytime!”It was a wonderful display of controlled fast bowling, and McGrath deserves every credit for it. Anyone who thought that fast bowlers do not have any knowledge of sciences, physics in particular, should think again. I know of at least four international fast bowlers, including McGrath (who did have a helicopter’s license), who are actually pilots!The recovery for the West Indies came from two rather ungainly, but very effective left-handers, Wavell Hinds and Ridley Jacobs. Like Jeff Dujon and Larry Gomes in 1984, both of whom hit centuries in the corresponding Test for the West Indies at the WACA, Hinds and Jacobs fought the West Indies back into the game. Indeed, Wavell Hinds, who opens the batting for Jamaica, but bats at No. 3 for the West Indies, could not have found out his position in the batting order until, just before play started on Day One. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was ruled out with a foot injury, only about 45 minutes before the game started.Hinds effected the plan suggested by former West Indies middle orderbatsman, Seymour Nurse. Simply, hit the ball very positively. He did so.From 22-5, he and the more circumspect Jacobs helped the West Indies to 97 before the next wicket fell. During that partnership, Hinds hit seven boundaries in his 87-ball half-century, playing with such fluidity that many asked why he hadn’t been selected for the first Test. Sometimes disappointments are for the best.Hinds’ only fault was his dismissal. After riding his luck somewhat; he was badly dropped by Ponting at first slip on 16, and again by wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist when he was 33, the bowler being Brett Lee on both occasions. He was actually caught, from a no-ball, when he was 19.Then Hinds slashed at a wide ball from MacGill, only for Mark Waugh to take a comfortable catch at slip. Hinds had made 50 precious runs, for both himself and for the West Indies.On losing Hinds, Jacobs, who played the innings of the day, then assumed the responsibility and the ascendancy. He played with his normal flamboyance, hitting everything ‘in his half’, but doing it sensibly. He probably would have known that Jeff Dujon made a century here in 1984, when the West Indies were in the hunt, ironically, for the record that Australia are trying to break if they win this game. Jacobs’s 50 came from 92 balls, with six boundaries; bearing witness that he knew his responsibilities. He even managed to cajole Merve Dillon into putting on 55 magnificent runs, through some very hostile bowling from Brett Lee, for the seventh wicket. Dillon contributed 27.That is the commitment that is required at this level. No quarter is asked, none given. Day one of this Test showed that both sides knew what was at stake, and were willing to fight for it. The West Indies have a lot to be thankful for from their later order batsmen, especially Ridley Jacobs and Merve Dillon, while Wavell Hinds, coming back in, took his opportunities well. The fight-back was great to see!

Jehan Mubarak expressed disappointment at squandering two starts in his first Test in more than seven years, but said he has refined his game enough to now belong at Test level. Mubarak had underwhelmed in several early stints in international cricket, averaging less than 16 from his ten previous Tests. However, a pair of exceptional domestic seasons has seen him selected for the national team again, at 34.”I did have the opportunities earlier on, but I didn’t do enough to cement my place in any form of the game,” Mubarak said. “I feel I am a different player from what I was seven years ago. A better player. I have come to know my game inside out. I understand what my strengths, weaknesses and limitations are. I worked on my weaknesses during the club season – I was not a sweeper but I started to sweep against the spinners and use my feet. I was hungrier for runs.”I always felt I was good enough to play at international level. Still feel I am good enough. Hopefully I can build on from what I have got. I need to step it up a bit more. But I think I can get there.”Mubarak made two modest scores in this match, hitting 25 in the first innings and 35 in the second. However, on each occasion he was involved in fifty-plus partnerships that stemmed the fall of quick wickets. On day three, he put on 81 alongside Angelo Mathews, to lift the team from 80 for 4.”I think it was very important to build a partnership there. Another wicket down and with five gone, it would have been tough. Pakistan would have been on top and they would have put lot more pressure. The bowlers were bowling really well at that time. The fast bowlers were bowling well with the newer ball and Yasir was bowling his best at that time.”I felt comfortable in the middle. I’m disappointed to get out after getting a start. Both innings it was a tough situation. I had done the hard work and reached a position from where I can consolidate, but couldn’t go on. Second innings I got a good ball out of the rough.”Sri Lanka had lost 22 wickets to Yasir in this series until today, and Mubarak said Mathews’ partnerships with him and with Chandimal helped defuse the legspinner’s threat. “As a team, we did the right thing by seeing Yasir Shah out. Our plan was to take Yasir to 20 overs and force the loose balls out of him. Then we saw that once he went past 20 overs, there were a few short balls and full tosses.”We’ve struggled against him this series – mainly the left-handers. He bowls tight lines with seven fielders on the leg side, and no scoring options.”Mubarak said Sri Lanka would feel comfortable with a further 80 runs on the board. Their lead is already 291 with two full days to play, though the threat of bad weather is ever-present at this venue.”We’d like to at least bat one session tomorrow. With two days left, there’s a result either way. If we can push the game away from Pakistan, we can attack all the time. If we can get something like 350 or 380, that will be a good target I think.”

Sri Lanka left-arm seamer Chanaka Welegedara has migrated to Australia after being overlooked for the home Test series against Pakistan. The move makes a Sri Lanka comeback highly unlikely.His club, Tamil Union, hosted a farewell event for Welegedara on Monday, before he left the country this week. “Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan selectors preferred to go with younger options against Pakistan recently, and Welegedera has decided to pursue his career in Melbourne, where he’ll be playing out his days in club cricket,” said Suresh Murugaser, vice president of Tamil Union. Murugaser said Welegedara had received permanent residency in Australia, where the bowler believes his family would be better off.”He had a good domestic season, even setting a T20 record for the most economical spell, against SSC this year,” Murugaser said. “But despite that he was not chosen.”Welegedara, 34, had been Sri Lanka’s leading seam bowler in a handful of matches, memorably taking a five-wicket haul to help Sri Lanka win their first Test in South Africa. However, his international career was affected by a slew of injuries. In the eight years since his Sri Lanka debut, he has only played 21 Tests and 10 ODIs. He had 55 Test wickets at an average of 41.32.

Albie Morkel has played for his country, played for his franchise, played for three IPL teams, three counties, and a CPL team. He has played a Test, played more than 100 limited-overs internationals and over 500 representative matches. Until 22 games ago, he had played more T20s than any other player, a title which now belongs to Kieron Pollard, but that does not take away from Morkel’s myriad achievements.”He has done everything in the game, except lead,” Mark Charlton, the coach of provincial side Northerns, told ESPNcricinfo. But this Saturday, that will change.Morkel will captain Northerns in the Africa Cup, the new T20 tournament being played by South Africa’s provincial team as well as invited teams from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya, as a precursor to taking over the leadership of the Titans franchise in limited-overs formats. Morkel’s accepting of the armband is an admission of what most already knew: his international career is probably over and he is looking at other ways to play a part. Mentorship has emerged as one of them.”He is a very calm, assured, respected player and he is a guy everybody can take something from,” Charlton said. “He has already been spending a lot of time with the young bowlers and guys are seeing that they can lean on his experience. We’re hoping he’ll have the same kind of effect Jacques Rudolph had at the Titans.”In the last two seasons, Rudolph had provided stability to a Titans’ team in transition. He provided experience both in batting terms and behind the scenes as the squad went through retirements of some of their senior-most men like Martin van Jaarsveld and Paul Harris besides change in coaches. Rudolph has decided to finish his career in England and it is hoped that Morkel will take over from where he left off.Titans, the franchise team which both Northerns and Easterns feed into, are still experimenting with a mix of players as they filter through a talented younger pool. Twenty-two year-old-opening batsman Theunis de Bruyn is one of them, while last year’s Under-19 World Cup winners Corbin Bosch and Aiden Markram are two others. All three of those players will turn out for Northerns in the Africa Cup and Charlton hopes they will blossom under Morkel, with Markram in particular identified as someone who can feed off Morkel.”Aiden is someone we have earmarked as a potential future leader, although we haven’t quite decided in what capacity,” Charlton said. Markram, who captained the national Under-19 side to World Cup glory last year, could end up as part of the leadership group of provincial team, for example.Markram was awarded a semi-professional, provincial contact for the 2015-16 season after solid performances for Northerns last season. He played 10 first-class matches, scoring 424 runs at 30.28, including three fifties. He has not yet pushed on to franchise cricket but Charlton thinks that could change soon.”He has been steadily going about his work and learning his game,” Charlton said. “Quietly, he has been building his career and I think big things could come for him. He has a good base and a competition like this, the Africa Cup, is a chance for a player like Aiden to show he can compete with franchise players and to learn from them with guys like Albie also involved.”

ScorecardJake Ball helped put Warwickshire under severe pressure•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire pressed home their advantage on the second day of their LV= County Championship match against Warwickshire at Trent Bridge.Having begun the day on 404 for 5, the home side advanced their first innings score to 600 all out, their highest total since 2007.After first-day centuries from Alex Hales and Steven Mullaney, the lower order capitalised to good effect. Chris Read made 69, Samit Patel scored 46, Brett Hutton 37 and there was an explosive cameo from Jake Ball, who ended unbeaten on 49.In response, Warwickshire reached stumps on 100 for 4 with Laurie Evans on 39 and Tim Ambrose on 18.The visitors removed Luke Wood and Patel in the first hour but were then frustrated by an eighth-wicket partnership of 91 between Read and Hutton.Read went past 50 for the eighth time this season, reaching the landmark from 74 deliveries. A couple of runs later saw him reach another milestone as a standing ovation greeted the announcement of his 15,000th first-class run.Hutton hoisted to mid-on off Jeetan Patel, a wicket which gave the spinner his only success at a personal cost of 155 runs, and then Boyd Rankin induced Read to clip into the hands of Jonathan Trott at deep midwicket.There then followed a delightful last-wicket partnership which saw Ball and Harry Gurney add 40 from only 16 balls, which included a maiden over.Ball, who struck four sixes, blazed his way to a career-best score but was left stranded one short of his 50 when Gurney’s stumps were rearranged by Chris Wright for nought.Warwickshire were soon reduced to 10 for 3 in reply, as Ball and Wood put them under early pressure. Sam Hain was fourth to go, failing to make the most of being dropped by Hales in the gully by nicking Gurney into the safer hands of Mullaney at second slip.Evans offered dogged defiance in the final session, which was disrupted by two short stoppages, and added an unbroken 59 with Ambrose, who had to wait until his 40th delivery before getting off the mark.Warwickshire ended the day 500 runs adrift and still require a further 351 to avoid the follow on.

South Africa women’s tour of Bangladesh, which was scheduled for later this month, has been postponed due to security concerns, the BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said. South Africa women were supposed to arrive in Dhaka on October 15 to play three ODIs and five T20s.The development comes four days after the Australian men’s team also postponed their Test series in Bangladesh.Hassan said a decision will be taken on the series after a discussion on the sidelines of the ICC meeting in Dubai next week.”They [CSA] had wanted a security report but we thought it would be better to speak face to face in Dubai during the ICC meeting,” Hassan said. “I think the terror alerts would be taken off by the next five-seven days. We also need to know what type of security plan they have in mind. Since both these teams are mostly free, it won’t be a major problem to delay this series by a few days.”To make sure they don’t have a negative view, we need to sit with them rather than exchange emails. The series is temporarily postponed by mutual consent. They are not coming on October 15, and I think they will come a little later.”Hassan said he will ask the ICC for a solution to the problem of teams not willing to visit a country where there are isolated threats.”We have to find a solution to play even when there are threats. I think Zimbabwe will come early for the Test series but I don’t want to show the world or the people of Bangladesh that a team has visited. I want a permanent solution.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTamim Iqbal stroked eight fours during his 51-ball 67•BCB

Tamim Iqbal and Tillakaratne Dilshan struck fifties and toyed with Sylhet Superstars’ attack as Chittagong Vikings broke their four-match losing streak with a 10-wicket win, their first at home. This was only the second 10-wicket victory in the BPL since the inaugural match in 2012.Shahid Afridi had earlier hit his first T20 half-century after three years to resurrect Sylhet after they were reduced to 22 for 4. Afridi’s 41-ball 62 set Chittagong a 140-run target but his effort ended in vain as Tamim and Dilshan helped Chittagong ace the chase thanks to the biggest opening partnership in this year’s BPL and the third 100-plus opening stand in two days.Tamim set to work immediately, clattering three fours off Mohammad Shahid’s first over. Tamim then took Dilshan Munaweera for back-to-back fours in the fourth over. Tillakaratne Dilshan soon laid into Abdur Razzak who had returned after recovering from a hamstring injury. Dilshan followed a slog-swept six over midwicket with a brace of fours through the offside. He then unfurled his signature Dilscoop for another six, this time off Rubel Hossain, as Chittagong raced to 69 in 6 overs.Afridi was welcomed into the attack with a cut past backward point and Tamim reached his third fifty in the competition, off 36 balls, when he drove Sohail Tanvir past cover. An over later Dilshan brought up a fifty of his own and went on to claim six fours, the last of which was the winning blow, to add to three sixes.The match would have finished much earlier had Afridi not hauled Sylhet from trouble. Dilshan Munaweera, Nurul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Ravi Bopara all fell inside four overs. Munaweera was run out, courtesy some brilliant direct hit from Mohammad Amir. Bopara was also run out while Nurul skied Bilawal Bhatti and Mushfiqur was out leg-before to Taskin.Mominul Haque and Nazmul Hossain Milon also failed but Afridi rallied with the lower order to give his side some late boost. The first of his four sixes came off Shafiul Islam in the seventh over before the same bowler was creamed over mid-on in the eleventh over. Afridi also struck two sixes off Asif Hasan and Bhatti and reached his fifty off 33 balls, after being reprieved at square leg and fine leg on 14 and 25.Amir finally got rid of Afridi with a peach of a ball that skidded from outside leg to hit the top of off, in the 18th over. Dilshan and Tamim then combined to hand Sylhet their fifth loss in six games.

The match was played at Quetta, the capital of the province of Baluchistan. It is a hill station surrounded by snow-clad mountains and chilly winds in winter and a pleasantly cool weather in summer.Malaysia won the toss and elected to bat, losing wickets at regular intervals till they were 46 for 4, after which the innings appeared to have stabilized. In 29 overs they were 79 for 4 with S. Vickneswaran (23) and Eszafiq Abdul Azis (14) fighting out the medium pacer Mohammad Usman, who had dominated the game, claiming 3 of the 4 wickets.Abdul Azis continued with his fighting innings till he was out for a defiant 46 scored in 65 balls with 5 hits to the boundary. K. Sathiaseelan was the other batsman to contribute a useful 18. As usual Mr. EXTRAS was again the second highest contributor with a valuable 39.Malaysia was 9 for 166 in 45 overs. This was atleast one team, which consumed its full quota of overs. Mohammad Usman took 3 wickets for 18 while other bowlers evenly shared the rest.UAE inningsConfronted with a fighting target of 167 runs to win, UAE had an excellent start of 78 runs provided by its openers. Playing a cavalier innings of 50 in 31 balls that contained 7 scintilating boundaries, Amir Hussain laid a solid foundation for his team’s victory. His partner Amir Shahzad strengthened the foundation by contributing 21 useful runs with a similar innings of 27 by Mohammad Abdullah. With 18 hits to the boundary in a total of 166, this was one of the most enterprising innings of the tournament.The batsmen, who followed, however, faltered in their efforts, turning an easy victory into a difficult situation that caused the match to end in an exciting tie. The team was only able to manage 166 runs by the time the 10th wicket fell. They must thank Malaysia for conceding massive 35 extras, otherwise UAE would have lost. With the points evenly shared, UAE still jumped into the semis.

A crowd of 17,500, most of them British Asians, basked in glorious sunshine at the Oval Saturday, to watch the Rest of the World edge out Asia in a tightly fought contest. The match, the brainchild of former Prime Minister and Surrey stalwart John Major, was an attempt to raise funds for further developments to the Oval. The capacity crowd did not just see an exhibition match: they saw a tightly fought contest go down to the wire, only for the World to triumph by 15 runs.Whilst many were disappointed that Sachin Tendulkar was ruled out of the Asian side due to an untimely bout of chicken-pox, those who watched the match will be delighted that they made the effort.The Rest of the World won the toss and elected to bat. Batting in England is a very different prospect to batting in Dhaka, and runs were always going to be hard to come by. The Asian openers, Wasim Akram and Javagal Srinath turned the screw, nipping out the World’s openers with the score on only 16. Nasser Hussain and Nathan Astle launched a recovery mission, putting on 97 in fine style. Both men looked intent on attacking, and both pulled square with a great deal of force. Hussain lost his head: having lofted Chopra into the stands for a big six, he tried to repeat the feat, only to see the ball drop into Kumble’s hands at long on. Astle reached his half century, but was removed by a brilliant Saqlain, mystifying the Kiwi batsman with his `magic ball.’With Thorpe going quickly, and a brief flurry between Stuart Law and Chris Cairns stopped by the Pakistani spin-wizard, it was left for Ben Hollioake and Heath Streak to put some respectability in the Rest of the World’s total. Hollioake crashed 23 from 16 balls, lofting his Surrey team mate Saqlain into the stands, whilst Streak’s cameo of 17 took 16 balls, as the World closed on 219.Asia set about the Rest of the World straight away. Though Courtney Walsh was impeccable as always, Streak struggled against an onslaught from Aravinda de Silva, which saw the little man pull and drive with such timing and apparent lack of effort that it leaves one to wonder just why he is not playing for the Lankans at the moment. De Silva made 35 when a leading edge saw him caught and bowled by the excellent Chris Cairns.Mohammad Azharuddin too gave a glimpse of old, and he worked the ball to the leg side with masterful skill, using the bat like a wand when he decided to change line and drive through the covers. Ajay Jadeja too, looked a picture, with three crafted off side fours.Sadly for Asia, these knocks were only cameos. Azhar was caught behind by Stewart, whilst Jadeja was run out thanks to a 70 metre direct hit from Streak’s catapult arm. Wickets were tumbling far too quickly for Asia’s liking. Wasim came and went, and it was left to Nikhil Chopra and Anil Kumble to try and see Asia home. Chopra was underway with a scorching hook, then lifted Neil Johnson straight for the biggest six of the day. With Kumble swinging merrily outside off, the pendulum swung toward Asia once more. Chris Cairns however, got rid of Chopra, and when Mullally rearranged the stumps of first Kumble then Saqlain, the game was all but gone. It was too tall an order for Prasad, and he missed a swipe at Cairns, the Rest of the World completed a 15 run victory. Saturday’s game was played in a terrific atmosphere, with a result that barely mattered. The crowd saw everything that is good in cricket, particularly ironic as three of the days star players have match fixing allegations hanging over them. A sobering thought to what was an otherwise very fine day.