Andrew Hall has pledged his future to South Africa and hopes to be selected for the tour to Sri Lanka starting next month. Over the past few days there has been speculation in South Africa about Hall quitting international cricket. However, Hall debunked this by saying that playing for Worcestershire in the English county season was a means by which he enhanced his skills, which would ultimately help him at the highest level.The Sky Sports website quoted Hall as saying, “To say I am thinking about quitting playing for South Africa is absolute rubbish. That’s one of the reasons why I come to England to play county cricket – to sharpen up my skills before tours with my country. I’m very much hoping that I’m going to be selected for the tour of Sri Lanka coming up.”Hall also insisted that had fully recovered from the back problem, for which he had undergone surgery in March. He also exspressed his satisfaction with his form. “Earlier in the month I was struggling a little bit with my form but things are starting to come together. For the past two or three weeks I have been playing really confidently and starting to feel more comfortable. The back problem is behind me.”If he is selected for the Sri Lankan tour, Hall will have to cut short his stint with Worcestershire and return to South Africa for a preparatory training camp, which starts on July 10. Hall, however, insisted he would like to return for a third season with Worcestershire and added, “I’ve had a great time here and I’d love to come back for another season, or maybe another two if I could.”

In the latest round of Twenty20 Cup matches, there were wins for Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Lancashire, while Gloucestershire triumphed over Northants in a game reduced to just 5-overs-a-side by rain.At Headingley, Darren Maddy smashed 111 off 60 balls with eight fours and two sixes – the highest Twenty20 score by a Leicestershire batsman – as Yorkshire were set an imposing total of 221. Phil Jaques lead their reply with 92 off 49 balls, but despite a late flurry of runs Yorkshire fell 10 short.Bradd Hogg bowled Warwickshire to victory at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, taking 4 for 30 as Glamorgan fell 26 runs short of Warwick’s 152. Matthew Maynard’s 31-ball 53 was the only highlight of Glamorgan’s innings, with only two other batsmen – neither of whom reached 20 – making it to double figures.At Derby, Dinesh Mongia completed his three weeks as Carl Hooper’s replacement by guiding Lancashire to a 5-wicket win against Derbyshire – their first victory in all domestic cricket since May 29. Mongia cracked 50 off 34 balls, falling just before the winning runs were it, as Lancs successfully chased Derby’s total of 142.Persistent rain reduced Gloucestershire’s game against Northamptonshire to just 5-overs-a-side. James Averis picked up three wickets in his solitary over, and still managed to go for seven runs, as Northants made 42 for 5. Tim Hancock lead Gloucestershire’s reply with 28, and despite Carl Greenidge bowling his over for just one run, Gloucs romped home with five balls to spare.
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Tino Best, the West Indian fast bowler, is to miss the rest of the tour of England with a back injury he sustained in the first Test at Lord’s.Best, 22, was forced to leave the field during England’s seconds innings at Lord’s after developing a stress reaction in his back, and the West Indian board, in consultation with the medical team, have decided to send him home for further treatment. It is hoped, however, that he will be available for selection for the ICC Champions Trophy in England next month.Best will be replaced by Dave Mohammed, the left-arm wrist spinner, who has played only one Test, against South Africa at Cape Town at the beginning of this year. Mohammed will join up with the rest of the squad on Monday. He is currently in America on tour with the Trinidad & Tobago team.

Not content with jettisoning most of the international playing experience at its disposal, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) has also axed Ian Robinson, its stalwart umpire and an experienced administrator.However, Robinson, 57, a veteran of 28 Test matches, 90 one-day internationals and three World Cup tournaments, has refused to go quietly and is challenging the terms of what the ZCU has told him is his retrenchment. “I’ve not accepted the package they have offered me,” said Robinson from Harare on Tuesday, “and we are now locked in negotiations with lawyers.”Besides being Zimbabwe’s most senior umpire – he has been a fixture on their first-class panel since 1978, and made his international debut in Zimbabwe’s inaugural Test against India at Harare in 1992 – Robinson fulfilled an important function as the ZCU’s international cricket manager. He became a cricket administrator in 1978. He was a ZCU board member for 14 years, and a ZCU employee for the past nine years.Robinson said he did not understand why the ZCU wanted to get rid of him. “They can’t say it was due to poor performance in my job because they’ve never told me that,” he said. “No-one has actually told me anything. All I have in writing is that it is due to a restructuring exercise.”Robinson was told on August 13 – Friday the 13th – that his services would not be required from the end of the month. However, his challenge to that decision means he remains on the payroll until the dispute is settled.Robinson said the bigger blow had been his complete removal from the umpiring ranks, a decision he is prepared to fight. “I hope there’s some way for me to be of service to cricket, especially on the umpiring side,” Robinson said. “That seems to have been taken away from me, but I am challenging it because I have it in writing.”During the retrenchment talks they spoke about retaining my expertise as an umpire, retaining me on a consultancy basis to do some training and development of umpires, and umpiring local cricket. I was reassured I would be reappointed as an umpire, but that hasn’t happened. It would be very sad if I was to have nothing to do with cricket in the future, because it has been a major part of my life.”The chairman and acting managing director of the ZCU, Peter Chingoka, declined to discuss the issue and told Wisden Cricinfo to put its questions on Robinson’s position in writing. However, a ZCU receptionist in Harare confirmed that Robinson had been sidelined. “Mr Robinson is no longer with the organisation,” said the receptionist, who declined to be named.Robinson said his son, Brad, had resigned as the Zimbabwe team’s physiotherapist and returned to private practice.Chingoka has denied reports from Zimbabwe that the controversial ZCU board member Ozais Bvute had become the organisation’s acting managing director. The position became vacant after Vince Hogg resigned in June. Asked who the acting MD was, Chingoka said: “I am. I get assistance from various board members, but in the main I am assisted by Ozais Bvute.”Bvute has been accused of “guerrilla behaviour” by the 15 rebels whose refusal to play for Zimbabwe prompted an International Cricket Council investigation into allegations of racism in Zimbabwean cricket.

Spotting a non-cricket star at a Test match is a thrill which provides sufficient justification to friends that the game is enjoyed by more than just flannelled fools. Band members from INXS and Powderfinger are welcomed into Australia’s dressing-room like lost brothers, and cameras pan to Mick Jagger whenever he is at Lord’s.The same applies to other sports. When Steve Waugh led his team to the 2001 Wimbledon final, it excited Pat Rafter and thousands of itinerant Australians. Evonne Cawley, in a return gesture, is representing tennis at the Adelaide Oval.Cawley won the Wimbledon women’s singles title in 1971 as Evonne Goolagong, her Aboriginal name, and was successful again in 1980 after her marriage to Roger Cawley. Husband and wife have fallen in love with cricket since returning from the USA 12 years ago and sneak a few sessions in whenever their hectic schedules allow. They went to Australia v India at Brisbane last year and have enjoyed two days in the Sir Donald Bradman Stand watching New Zealand’s travails.Growing up in Barellan, a small country town in New South Wales, Cawley was told to hide under her bed whenever someone knocked unexpectedly at the door, something she later realised was to prevent her becoming part of the Stolen Generation. Cawley now hosts the Getting Started tennis programme for young girls, including many who have never played before, and next month hopes to take a group to the Australian Open.Another celebrated guest at the ground is the acclaimed motivational speaker, Barry "Nugget" Rees. Nugget has no trouble attracting attention and is sometimes stopped more between the nets and the standsthan the Test players he runs drinks for and gives team talks to. At 60, he has been dressing-room furniture since the days of Jim Burke, Colin McDonald and Les Favell.”Sometimes the players get me to stand up on a table and give them motivational speeches, so I tell them to bowl line and length, keep concentrating and watch the captain’s signals,” he says. “Darren Lehmann is one of my favourites, but they are all my favourites.”Kitted out in spikes, whites and usually the Test cap of Barry Jarman, Nugget is adored at the Adelaide Oval and will have a lengthy hit in a post-Test match with the team. He may have to share the field when this game finishes, however, as Lehmann is earmarked to take on New Zealand’s slowcoach, Mark Richardson, in the now-traditional "Sprint of the Snails".A special lycra costume has been ordered for Lehmann, although he was hobbling on Saturday night after being struck at short-leg. And the view of Nugget, the Oval’s A-list celebrity? “Darren can beat him.”

Ray Jennings, the South African coach, has hinted at a return to the national team for Mark Boucher. “I don’t really know why he [Boucher] was taken out of the equation, but I think he’s paid his dues, or whatever the case may be, and I think he will definitely be back in contention for the national team,” said Jennings to the SuperSport website. “If we want to beat England, we’ve got to come out blazing with our best players.” Boucher was left out of the South African team that toured India, and his replacement, Thami Tsolekile, hardly distinguished himself.But, Jennings was less optimistic about Herschelle Gibbs, the opening batsman, making it back to the national team in a hurry. “There are no guarantees,” he said. “We have found other opening batsmen, for instance, so Gibbs won’t necessarily just walk back into the team. And do we go on past performance or on current form?”Jennings also stressed on how important it was for South Africa to develop world-class spinners. “You don’t know until you get there how much the ball spins,” he said. “Our spinners may be called spinners in South Africa – in India people would laugh at that. They will have to work on their skills and extend their attention to detail.”Meanwhile Grame Smith, the captain, speaking ahead of South Africa’s series against England, praised his team for their performance in India. “We played a lot better cricket, and we extended ourselves,” he said. “We took a younger side, and we performed a lot better than people had expected.”I think we all gained something from the experience, especially the younger players – the heat, the crowds, the intensity. I don’t think you can get any more intense than in Kolkata when you’re trying to get the best out of a Test match.”

Shoaib Akhtar has refused to shorten his bowling run-up, a suggestion put forth by Bob Woolmer, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain. Shoaib compared himself to a jet plane gathering speed on a runway and said he would not compromise on his 40-yard run-up.Woolmer was concerned about Pakistan’s sluggish over-rates in the first Test at Perth, where they were humbled by a massive 491-run margin, and pinpointed that as one of several areas that needed to be rectified ahead of the Boxing Day Test. Woolmer had termed the over-rate “ridiculous and very poor”. Shoaib, though, whistled a different tune and told the : “We’re going to go through our overs quickly. We talked about it. I’m not going to change, but I’m going to go back to my run-up quickly.”I’ll ask you a question. Can a plane take off without a run-up? No, so I’ve got to take the run,” he said. “It’s how I generate my pace and everything flows into the right action. I’m not going to cut down.”Imran had spoken to Shoaib in Kolkata recently, where Pakistan played India in the BCCI’s Platinum Jubilee game. “I used to bowl all day at his age,” said Imran. “He sprints such a long way that he could easily cut it down without losing any pace, but he would have more stamina.”

Pakistan’s captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, has been fined 100% of his match fee, after being found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct for his side’s slow over rate in their victory over West Indies on Tuesday.Chris Broad, the ICC’s match referee, found Inzamam guilty of breaching Clause C1 of the Code of Conduct, which states that players shall at all times conduct play within the spirit of the game and that, in particular, captains are responsible at all times for ensuring that this is adhered to.At a hearing conducted after the close of play on Tuesday, Inzamam was found guilty of a Level 2 breach, and because he was captain, he was fined an additional 30% of his fee, which means that he was actually paying for the privilege of playing. The rest of the Pakistan players were fined 15% of their fees.All Level 2 breaches carry a minimum penalty of a 50% fine, and a maximum penalty of a full match fee and/or a one Test or two one-day international ban. The match referee’s decision is final and binding.Actually Inzamam should have received a ban under the strict interpretation of the code, since this was his second such offence within the last 12 months. But since the hearing did not take this into account before the fine was announced the ICC has decided not to take the matter further, in fairness to Inzamam. Chris Broad admitted: “In applying the provisions of the ICC Code I neglected to consult Inzamam’s past record. It was an honest mistake and the matter has been dealt with.”

The Eagles confirmed their top-of-the-table finish and headed for thefinal of the Standard Bank Cup with a convincing six-wicket win overthe Lions at Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein on Wednesday.Winning the toss and batting first on a very good pitch the Lions made a conservative start against some tight bowling from Johannes van der Wath and Cliff Deacon. With the total on 12, at the start of the 6th over, Deacon induced Andrew Hall into an edged drive to be caught by the keeper, Morne van Wyk, for 10. A recovery of 52 runs was halted when Bacher pushed towards Craig Thyssen at mid-on and, calling too late, ran out HD Ackerman, at the bowler’s end for 17. Neil McKenzie (6) did not last long – he was beaten by turnand the bounce, pushing forward to Nicky Boje, for Van Wyk to take his second catch. At 73 for 3 the run rate had slipped below four to the over.Bacher, continuing with the form that he has shown all season, went tohis 50 off 81 balls. In trying to up the tempo he then top-edged a short ball from Deon Kruis to Thyssen at squareleg to be well caught for 52, and the Lions in trouble at 95 for 4 in after 27 overs.Forced into a more defensive mode, Justin Ontong and Vaughn vanJaarsveld put together a vital 50-run 5th wicket partnership, as theyconsolidated the innings with some excellent running between thewickets. Deacon got the breakthrough when Van Jaarsveld forced a fulltoss straight at Davey Jacobs at mid-on to be caught for 28, having puton 58 with Ontong.Ontong brought up his 50 in 54 balls as he increased his rate byimprovising well during the final slog overs. A near controversy wasalleviated by the television umpire Marais Erasmus when Jacobs at deepmidwicket, after dropping and palming the previous ball over the ropesfor six, took a good catch millimetres from stepping back on the rope to get rid of Ontong off Roger Telemachus for 73. His final 23 runs hadcome off just 11 balls.Ahmed Omar ran himself out for three while Derek Crookes played a little cameo of an innings as he ended undefeated on 21 having helped the Lions to 215 for 7.The Eagles made a quick start to their innings scoring 52 for the lossof two in the first 10 overs. Loots Bosman was trapped in front by David Terbrugge for seven and he was followed in a similar fashion by Morne van Wyk for 21 off the bowling of Crookes. Jacobs continued the momentum and when he was bowled by Hall for 23 the platform had been set for Boeta Dippenaar and Nicky Boje to pace themselves towards the target.Boje was caught at point for 60 with just 31 runs needed. He had timedhis innings well and was just starting to accelerate when he failed toget over a ball from Bacher.Dippenaar, in the end, saw the Eagles home and into the final as hefinished undefeated on 84 having played the anchor role once Boje cameto the wicket.

Non-Test issues have dominated the lead-up to a match that could settle the three-Test series. Daryl Tuffey’s sex, spies and videotape inquiry had tongues wagging while travel agents were closely monitoring the developments of Brett Lee’s will-he, won’t-he fly back for the Pura Cup final routine. Neither bowler will have any playing roles in this match so it’s time to move on.New Zealand’s series hopes could be sucked from Wellington’s Basin Reserve unless they have recovered from the demoralising shift of power at Christchurch. For seven sessions they were holding the present and at the end of day three the contest was thrillingly even. From there they quickly gave up the win, folding for 131 when 250 might have done.Batting has been Stephen Fleming’s and New Zealand’s problem throughout the summer. As the captain and the side’s world-class batsman – in the past 17 Tests he has averaged 51.96 – he has been a double target. In case he had forgotten, Glenn McGrath reminded everybody that Fleming was again going to be plug-hole pressured.Fleming has added to his burden with the selfless decision to walk up to the top of the order and cover Mark Richardson’s retirement-enforced gap. He cannot be any more exposed than facing new balls from McGrath and Jason Gillespie, and the glare was too bright during the one-day series when Lee actually got to bowl.Where does Fleming look for cover? Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan, the side’s next most experienced batsmen, are locked down at No. 5 and No. 6. Craig Cumming will play his second Test after 74 and 7 on debut while Hamish Marshall, who showed he could learn quickly with a first-innings 146 at Christchurch, is due for his fourth match and Lou Vincent his 17th. In the baggy-green corner will be McGrath, Gillespie, Shane Warne and Michael Kasprowicz with 327 appearances between them.The first-Test mismatch took three days to materialise, but the collapse from the threat of enforcing the follow-on to a redundant fifth day was as swift as the 80kph southerly winds expected to buffet Wellington over the next couple of days. Australia will be sweating on sweaters in the cool conditions and the frosty hands may make for more sloppy slip catching. Three easy chances were grassed last week and Fleming must hope for further donations from the cordon, and much more.Australia’s main worry continues to be Matthew Hayden. His injured shoulder is fine, although it affects his fielding, and his form rose at the start of the tour but fell again at Christchurch. Worse still for a great-outdoors man, the injury prevents him fishing or surfing. The frustration will be directed at Chris Martin and James Franklin, who must move and control the ball as they did for the first 50 overs of the opening Test.

Daniel Vettori is a name that does a rare thing in Australia dressing rooms by scaring the inhabitants. In 11 Tests he has 59 wickets against them and only Adam Gilchrist was able to escape his twirling clutches in the first innings at Jade Stadium as he picked up 5 for 106. Vettori’s record at the Basin Reserve is modest, 29 wickets at 40.96 in 11 matches. New Zealand will again have to ask more of him, but he could have more support in Paul Wiseman as Fleming decides between offspin or the seam of Iain O’Brien.Australia have played seven times at the ground for wins in 1945-46 under Bill Brown and a six-wicket victory in 1999-2000 with Steve Waugh in charge. Four draws have dominated the results and a fifth would not only be a great result for New Zealand, but it would keep the series afloat.Australia 1 Justin Langer, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Simon Katich, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Shane Warne, 9 Jason Gillespie, 10 Michael Kasprowicz, 11 Glenn McGrath.New Zealand (Probable) 1 Stephen Fleming (capt), 2 Lou Vincent, 3 Nathan Astle, 4 Craig Cumming, 5 Craig McMillan, 6 Hamish Marshall, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 James Franklin, 10 Paul Wiseman, 11 Chris Martin, 12 Iain O’Brien.Peter English is Australasian editor of Cricinfo.