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The fourth ODI of England’s India tour, on November 23, has been shifted to Bangalore from the original venue, Jamshedpur, following concerns over the state of the stadium. The galleries at Jamshedpur’s Keenan Stadium are reportedly in bad shape, raising doubts about the safety of spectators.The Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) withdrew its hosting rights for the match last week, after the deadline set by the BCCI for the association seeking confirmation about hosting the match ended at 12 noon on Thursday, and the final decision to switch venues was made at the BCCI over the weekend.Tata Steel, which maintains the Keenan Stadium, said it regretted the JSCA’s decision. “It is indeed a pity that the JSCA has taken this hasty step without consulting the company, as the Tata Steel has always maintained that the request from JSCA is ‘under active consideration’ and its engineers’ report on the status of the galleries was awaited,” said a statement from the company.Named after John Lawrence Keenan, a former general manager at Tata Steel, the stadium was built in 1939 at an estimated cost of just Rs 25,000. The Keenan Satdium last hosted an ODI between India and England in April 2006.

ScorecardAn extraordinary opening day, on which 25 wickets fell, was followed by an incredible second as Ireland kept their hopes of making it to the final alive with an eight-run win in Windhoek. Leading by 27 with just five wickets left in their second innings, Ireland stretched it to 114 and the bowlers ensured Namibia, already in the final, didn’t overhaul the target. It was the bowlers who dominated the day again, medium-pacers Kola Burger and Boyd Rankin completing five-wicket hauls with no batsman crossing 30 in the match.Ireland’s comeback began confidently with Andrew White and Trent Johnston, their former captain, adding 27. Left-armer Kola Burger dismissed the two in quick succession to make it five for the innings, but Regan West (27) and Kyle McCallan (19) put on 47 for the eighth wicket. Kola’s brother, Sarel Burger, took two lower-order wickets.Set 115, Namibia’s hopes of a win were quickly jolted when they were reduced to 31 for 4. Gerrie Snyman top scored with a 14-ball 28 (three fours, two sixes) but Namibia managed just four double-figure stands. The best was the seventh-wicket stand of 27 between Craig Williams and Bjorn Kotze, both of whom scored 16. The tail failed to wag enough to take Namibia to victory; Rankin took 5 for 39 as Ireland sealed the win. Johnston took 2 for 9 off his five overs, while Rankin’s new-ball partner Peter Connell had three wickets in his nine, conceding 49.Ireland now need an outright win, without conceding a lead on the first innings, in their final game, against second-placed Kenya, to qualify for the final. The four-day clash begins on October 11 in Nairobi.

Live scorecard

The Stanford Superstars sent out a major warning to England ahead of Saturday’s main event as they swept aside Middlesex by 58 runs. Five matches into the tournament and at last there was an innings where the batsmen dominated or, more accurately, one batsman as Andre Fletcher sped to a career-best unbeaten 90 with the Superstars racking up 173 for 4, comfortably the highest total of the week. Middlesex didn’t threaten to get close.Fletcher, who has four one-day internationals under his belt, secured his place in the US$20 million match with a superb display of cleaning hitting. It was finally a taste of what Twenty20 cricket is meant to be about – boundaries. Fletcher managed seven sixes off his own bat as the Superstars collected 14 in the innings. Ahead of the match the outfield had been given a close-cropping to try and increase the number of boundaries, but the way Fletcher, Kieron Pollard and Sylvester Joseph connected the length of the grass didn’t matter.One of Fletcher’s sixes sailed out of the ground as he reached fifty off 45 balls, and the eye-catching aspect of his batting was the majority of his biggest hits were from authentic shots, not slogs. Fletcher wasn’t on his own in managing some massive blows as Joseph launched one effort which carried over 100 metres in the stands.Fletcher kept battering the Middlesex bowlers, taking 10 off two balls from Steven Finn in the penultimate over to give him an outside chance of a century. But the final-over glory went to Pollard who crashed Tyron Henderson’s first three balls onto the grass banks. The Superstars showed the value of not panicking if the early rate isn’t electric: after nine overs they were 51 for 2 and the last five overs produced 69 runs.It was a far better innings for the young stars than their more famous colleagues. Chris Gayle collected a second-ball duck, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul also failed to spend much time in the middle and Ramnaresh Sarwan lofted down to long-on against Shaun Udal.Gayle’s failure leaves him short of practice ahead of the match against England having missed the first warm-up against Trinidad and Tobago to visit ill family members. However, he can count himself unlucky after receiving a horrid grubber from Tim Murtagh, which barely rose above ankle height and would have taken middle stump.Asad Rauf, the umpire, asked for confirmation from the TV official as to whether the ball pitched on leg stump – which was swift in arriving – and again called in the services of his colleague to determine Chanderpaul’s bottom edge.However, curiously there was no evidence from Hotspot, but Simon Taufel gave the decision based on a sound from the stump microphone and Eldine Baptiste, the Superstars coach, confirmed Chanderpaul “got a thin one”. But despite the early breakthroughs Middlesex couldn’t keep control and missed Murali Kartik, who had gone back to India, in the middle overs.The county had the batting talent to make a decent fist of the chase, but needed a solid start. Daren Powell made sure it didn’t eventuate as he dislodged Ed Joyce with a short ball into the body, which was deflected down into the stumps. Another aspect of the Superstars’ performance was their impressive fielding and Rayad Emrit took a sharp caught-and-bowled chance to remove Neil Dexter.Middlesex briefly rallied with a stand of 36 between their two best Twenty20 players, Eoin Morgan and Dawid Malan, but Morgan scooped Darren Sammy’s first ball straight to short fine-leg. To cap off a fine team effort Sarwan, not always the fleetest-foot of fielders, sprinted to his left to hold a full-length catch at deep midwicket to remove Ben Scott.The Superstars showed they have all the bases covered, now all they need to do is repeat this performance on Saturday for a million dollars each. No pressure, lads.

The announcement of the 2009 English domestic fixtures has been delayed by up to a month because of the uncertainty surrounding who the first set of tourists will be.Sri Lanka were meant to be arriving at the end of April for a two-Test and three-ODI tour, but that has now virtually been abandoned because of 13 leading Sri Lanka players who have IPL contracts and wouldn’t tour.West Indies have been lined up as replacement opposition but details of the trip have yet to be confirmed and this is having a knock-on effect for the county programme. Fixtures are normally announced around the middle of November, but now they are not expected until some time in December.If the West Indies visit is confirmed they will become familiar opponents for England who will have just completed a four-Test and five-match ODI tour of the Caribbean in early April.The rest of the international schedule for the English season includes the World Twenty20 in June and the main event of the Ashes in July and August.

After much negotiation Chris Adams, the former Sussex captain and batsman, has joined Surrey as their professional cricket manager on a three-year deal.”I am delighted to join Surrey at this stage. Although there is sadness that I won’t walk out again as a player, that is overridden by my desire to take on this new challenge,” Adams said. “It is a huge privilege for me to leave one role and walk straight into this amazing opportunity. Surrey are a big club with some high performing players and I look forward to working alongside the guys as we look to bring long-term success back to The Oval.”There is nothing more rewarding than leading a group of men to great success. I’ve done that as a captain and now intend to do it again as a manager.”Adams’ move from Hove was on the cards ever since Gus MacKay quit as Sussex’s chief executive at the end of September to take up the post of Surrey’s managing director. Adams was shortlisted for the vacancy at Hove but lost out to David Brooks. And although his move to management has been viewed as almost inevitable, even this week he remained uncertain about switching allegiance when he told that he had “hugely split feelings. Leaving the county has been incredibly difficult”.Adams, who led Sussex to three Championship titles in 2003, 2006 and 2007, has a big task on his hands to turn around Surrey’s fortunes. The club were relegated at the end of last season and their coach, Alan Butcher, departed over the winter. But in renewing his alliance with Mackay, there is hope that one of England’s biggest clubs can once again become a force to be reckoned with.”Securing Chris’ services after what was a very thorough recruitment process is fantastic for the club,” Mackay said. “His experience, expertise and work ethic is exactly what we need to help instill a culture that will help us become a successful club once more.”From his time at Sussex he knows a thing or two about winning trophies and I’m confident that he is the man to bring these winning ways back to Surrey in the coming years. We firmly believe that we need strong leadership off the field during this period of rebuilding and Chris is a natural leader of people. I wish him every success.”

The participation of the Lahore Badshahs in the next ICL season remains unclear, given the state of India-Pakistan relations, and league officials are contemplating a format without the team from Pakistan.Kiran More, ICL executive board member, said the prevailing political situation does not guarantee the participation of Lahore Badshahs and the players had been made aware of the situation.”It is not favourable at the moment and that is what we have discussed with the Pakistan players,” More told Cricinfo.He said Moin Khan, the Lahore Badshahs coach, had asked for an update on their participation in season three and was told conditions weren’t favourable. “I told him [Moin Khan] this is nothing new as things have been stalled in the past in similar situations.”Things will get clearer, he said, when the ICL executive board meets in Mumbai on January 5-6 to chalk out plans for the new season. “Himanshu Mody, Kapil Dev and other top officials, will discuss the change in format where we can think of continuing with the World Series even in the absence of the Badshahs,” said More.Asked about the outcome of the internal review process for the second season, More said the members mainly discussed the state of the cricket played and the new features that could be added to enhance both the quality of play and the player.”We will be looking at some young international faces, not necessarily players who have represented their country. We also want to hold more games including more 50-overs tournaments at the Under-15 level, ” More said.However, he denied that the ICL were facing a stiff challenge to find more venues with the BCCI warning state associations, and said two new grounds were likely be added to the existing venues. “Lucknow has been very keen to host the ICL as there are a lot of Uttar Pradesh players and Vishakapatnam will be the other venue likely to feature next year.”

Australia 9 for 341 (Katich 83, Clarke 62, Symonds 57, Ntini 3-66) v South Africa
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Round one of the battle between the world’s top-ranked teams could not have been more magnetic on a first day when the sides swayed between being in control and needing to catch up. At stumps in the absorbing tug-o-war South Africa and Australia were eyeballing each other, with the hosts scraping and, at times, exploding towards 9 for 341.For the first 29 minutes South Africa opened with a flamethrower, burning Australia to 3 for 15 after they won the toss, but then they countered with a 149-run partnership between Simon Katich and Michael Clarke. It felt as though the brutal start had never happened and that the batting side reaching 400 was as certain as the wind picking up in the afternoon.Looking ahead, or trying to decide which side would finish on top, was not wise. With Katich and Clarke appearing untouchable while picking up half-centuries, both departed within two runs before tea and Australia’s position was a wonky 5 for 166.South Africa were back in front but it does not look like their preferred position. Having chased Australia since their readmission in the early 1990s, they entered this series with their best chance of success. Twice on the first day they had their opponents in tender positions before allowing them to escape to a more comfortable pose through a mix of defensive settings and an insecure outlook.Andrew Symonds and Brad Haddin emerged for the third session determined to attack and did it so comfortably. The situation was tense but they weren’t fazed, with 93 runs coming at more than five an over. The momentum, which lapped like the edges of the Swan River, was on Australia’s bank. Then, once again, the tide changed briefly as Symonds, whose 57 from 68 balls was a blast from his pre-fishing past, miscued in a similar manner to Clarke. Both players were horrified.For the teams it was a game of tag. Whenever one side was caught the other sprinted away. Haddin kept Australia ahead as the shadows from the light towers grew across the ground, looking a high-class batsman, especially when hitting Jacques Kallis for a straight six. His lapse came on 46 when Ntini took the second new ball and he slashed to deep point.Like Katich’s display in the morning, Australia were desperate for the contributions of Clarke, Symonds and Haddin to secure their total. South Africa’s bid to topple the world champions, who are still trying to prove they are an all-conquering force, started in stunning style with Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini frightening the home batsmen. However, Katich wasn’t scared and despite some uncomfortable fends he out-performed his more highly-respected team-mates during a crucial 83.Clarke was streaky at times during his 62, but his exit was costly. An over after Katich was lbw to a Morne Morkel full toss that was heading for leg stump, Clarke chose a poor time to loft the spinner Paul Harris and was caught at mid-on.Australia needed Katich’s fight on a pitch that was not as brutal as expected, but still offered enough bounce to make the fast men smile, especially when running in to the tail-enders. Katich, who grew up in Perth before moving to New South Wales, made his first Test at his old home ground memorable, settling well after watching Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey depart by the sixth over.He drove hard, relaxing with a push through cover off Steyn for a boundary, and then swung three fours in a row from Kallis. A sliced cut carried over the rope at third-man to bring up his half-century and he followed with a textbook shot through the gully.While Katich hit seven mostly crisp boundaries and a six, Clarke was happier to work the ball around before lunch and then became more desperate to follow through after the break. His fifty came when he skipped down the pitch to Harris and chipped a boundary over the spinner’s head. An attempt at a repeat caused his downfall.In a surprise move Harris delivered 21 overs on the first day, earning two wickets, while Ntini was the most successful with 3 for 66. Morkel, who ended the day with Mitchell Johnson’s lbw, took 2 for 62 and appeared the most difficult to negotiate. Steyn was better when the ball was shiny and his head-to-head with Brett Lee started well. Lee (29) popped an awkward delivery to point as Steyn collected a couple of victims.At the toss Ponting said his senior batsmen had to stand up, but within 32 balls three of them had departed. Ntini and Steyn were nervous initially, spraying their opening deliveries, and then suddenly, with help from the edgy Australians, they were world beaters.The career crisis of Hayden, who hit two fours off Ntini in the first over, worsened on 12 when his feet were stuck and his bat waved a catch to Graeme Smith at first slip. Next ball Ponting attempted an off drive and his push was well taken by de Villiers at third slip. Ntini was on a hat-trick, but Hussey was allowed to leave his first delivery.Hussey received the best ball of the dismissed trio when Steyn angled one across him and the batsman was forced to play, nibbling to de Villiers who accepted a stunning catch diving forward from third slip. The pace of the action slowed, but something was always happening throughout the day. It could be a classic series.

This really has been a season of evolution in Australian cricket. For the past 16 years the sight of Australia crushing whoever visited for Tests was as much a fixture of the Australian summer as the one-day tri-series, which lasted nearly three decades. Now both eras have ended. Friday’s ODI at the MCG is the first of a five-match series against South Africa, after which New Zealand will visit separately for the same number of games.The three-team format was stale. It was a hangover from the 1980s and early 1990s, when there was far less cricket on offer and fans would gladly watch two visiting teams go head to head to get their international fix. Now, in the era of future tours programmes and matches all year round, there will be no more clashes between neutral sides and Ricky Ponting is pleased.”We and probably the public to a certain degree over the last few years have probably been screaming out to have this sort of series that we’ve got at the moment,” Ponting said on the eve of the first game. “We’ve identified with crowds and even viewership on the television that the triangular series had probably reached its use-by date.”The format will not be the only alteration this season. Ponting’s men – and spectators – must also get used to the new rule that allows the batting team to choose when one of the three powerplays takes effect. It is a regulation that has been used in domestic one-day games but never in an ODI in Australia.It is such a change that Ponting has had to ask for tactical advice from the younger members of his squad, men who have spent more time in their state sides than in Australian colours. However, players like David Hussey, Cameron White and Ben Hilfenhaus are likely to become more permanent fixtures in the one-day side as Australia prepare to defend their World Cup title in 2011.”It’s about that time of our preparations when we do start looking ahead to the World Cup,” Ponting said. “We were talking this morning, I think there’s about 80 games of one-day cricket for us to play between now and the World Cup. [There’s an] opportunity to give plenty of experience to some of these younger guys before the World Cup comes around.”It’s not only the Australian line-up that is changing. South Africa are also looking ahead and will blood some new men in the ODI series. They will be hoping for a smoother effort than in their two Twenty20 losses, when the stand-in captain Johan Botha at times seemed to be struggling to maintain control in the field. Ponting said it was natural that the team would lose some of its solidity without Graeme Smith at the helm.”Smith’s been their leader for such a long time now,” Ponting said. “That’s always going to happen when someone that’s been around for that long, and probably commands the respect that he does from his team and from the public, that that will happen.”Yeah, I think we did notice that. Even more so at the end of the game the other night where there seemed to be three or four skippers out on the ground up in Brisbane, trying to control things. That’s for them to worry about.”Point made and point taken. Botha said South Africa had addressed the captaincy issue following the Twenty20 games, when he was in charge of a side that included Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis, who have both led South Africa in the past, and the experienced domestic skipper Neil McKenzie.

“I’ve got some input back from them,” Botha said. “We’ve spoken about it, not to have too many guys say too many things on the field because it does get a bit crazy at times. We’ve definitely spoken about that. In the one-day series that will be sorted out.”The constant on-field discussions contributed to South Africa being fined for a slow over rate in both Twenty20 matches, although Botha was confident that would not be copied in the 50-over format. It is a hard task for a man who was not part of the Test joys and has captained his side only six times in Twenty20 or ODI matches.”I’ve picked up a bit of experience,” Botha said. “I have to probably handle myself a bit better, not show so much emotion on the field. So far it’s been good and I’ve really enjoyed it.”Replacing [Smith] makes it a huge thing. It does make it quite difficult, the guys had something good going and it’s difficult just to carry on. You’ve got to almost start the tour again and then see it as a second part of the tour.”After their Twenty20 struggles, he might prefer to see this as the beginning of the third part of their trip. Whatever the case, Friday’s game represents change – for Australia, for South Africa, and for the Australian cricket public.

The ICL’s move to obtain ICC recognition has entered a critical phase with both sides meeting in Johannesburg next week along with the BCCI, the third party in the issue. The ICC is making a serious push for a settlement at that meeting, on February 21, and is so hopeful of a solution that David Morgan, its president, has alerted Subhash Chandra, the ICL owner, on the possibility of having to stay back an extra day to finalise any agreement.The issue was discussed in detail at the ICC board meeting in Perth last month following which, it is learnt, the ICL was offered a masters/veterans tournament as a compromise formula. However, the ICL is sticking to its demand of being granted “authorised unofficial cricket” status under existing ICC rules though they are open to providing certain assurances – particularly a guarantee against poaching players contracted to their respective national boards.The ICC recently drafted new rules on official and unofficial cricket making it virtually impossible for future ICL models to come up but these rules are effective in June. The ICL request falls under existing rules, which state: “In the event of anybody wishing to stage an ‘unofficial cricket event’, ICC approval should first be obtained before full members could release their players for the event”.The rules also stipulate that any such approval will require an assessment of various criteria, including the home board’s approval if the event is in an ICC member country. The ICL’s request is currently stuck in this legal wedge.The ICC is clear that the matter has to be sorted out between the BCCI and ICL but it is also keen for an early resolution in the best interests of the game, particularly for the 150 ICL cricketers who have been banned by their boards. Officially at least, the BCCI continues to insist that its stand on the ICL remains the same – it has banned all players associated with the ICL from its tournaments and denied them access to facilities managed by the board or its affiliates.In fact, the first meeting, in September, between the BCCI and the ICL collapsed in 20 minutes after Chandra refused the Indian board’s offer to disband the ICL and take up an IPL franchise instead. The BCCI and ICC subsequently came up with the Masters offer, which the ICL is yet to accept because it goes against their basic philosophy of identifying and nurturing young talent.But Sharad Pawar, the former BCCI president and ICC vice-president, has been known to enjoy a longstanding personal equation with Chandra, which is what the ICL and the ICC are banking on. There is a strong conviction within the ICL management that it’s only a section of the BCCI, particularly Lalit Modi, its aggressive vice-president and IPL chairman, that’s standing in the way of a resolution. Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president and Pawar associate, is expected to represent the Indian board in Johannesburg.If efforts to reach a settlement by this month-end fail, the ICL is planning to move the courts in various countries that have banned ICL players from their domestic competitions – or, more likely, focus on England, where the trade laws governing a player’s right to earn a livelihood are considered very strong.In this context, last week’s ruling by a Pakistan court lifting the ban on ICL players from participating in the Quaid-E-Azam tournament in that country is significant.According to a copy of the court order, counsel for the ICL players quoted a letter dated December 6, 2007 from the PCB referring to “a new playing condition, 2.2.” Under this, the PCB said players participating in any cricket event either at home or abroad not approved by them will not be eligible to participate in the board’s cricket tournaments.Crucially, the Sind High Court upheld the players’ subsequent plea that the PCB’s writ did not extend to tournaments outside the country. The ICL believes this is a template that could be followed in other countries to have banned its players from their official domestic events.It is this legal quagmire the ICC and some of its members want to stay clear of. Asked about the ICL issue in Australia recently, Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive told Cricinfo the ICC-BCCI-ICL discussions were a work in progress.”We are advanced in possible discussions that could hopefully determine settlement,” Lorgat said. “I think we must always be optimistic that we can work out somethingbut there are still some miles to cross.”(With inputs from Brydon Coverdale)

The England fast bowler Jenny Gunn’s bowling action has been deemed legal after an investigation by a specialist ICC panel.Gunn, who plays for Western Australia, was suspended from bowling in domestic cricket in February mere days before the Women’s World Cup got underway owing to an “illegal bowling action”. Ten days later, she was reported to the ICC by Gerard Abood and Kathy Cross, the umpires for the World Cup match between England and Sri Lanka, who said they had concerns over Gunn’s short-pitched deliveries.Now, however, her action has been cleared by the ICC’s Dr Mark King, part of the board’s panel of Human Movement Specialists.”The recordings are consistent with the rear view recordings (from both March 2009 and April 2007) which clearly shows that Miss Gunn’s bowling arm goes from a near straight position when the upper arm is horizontal into extreme hyperextension and then back to a near straight position around the time of ball release,” said King.”The unusual amount of hyperextension and abduction may well create the illusion that Ms Gunn throws but that is not the reality. Her action complies with ICC regulations and the laws of cricket.”