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MELBOURNE, Nov 3 AAP – Tasmania set a record for the highest score in a domestic one-day cricket match at the MCG when it amassed 8-311 from its 50 overs against Victoria today.The Tigers’ total beat Victoria’s 4-280 against Queensland in the 1998-99 season at the ground.Opener Michael Dighton and middle-order batsman Graeme Cunningham shared the top score of 69 after Tasmania won the toss.Dighton and Michael Di Venuto set the tone of the innings when they thrashed 133 from the first 19.5 overs.Part-time spinner Brad Hodge removed them in the space of two overs, but a fourth-wicket stand of 93 between Cunningham and Jamie Cox (43) helped ensure Tasmania would pass 300.Apart from his two wickets, Hodge took a great overhead running catch at deep mid-on to remove Damien Wright for nine and his direct hit ran out George Bailey for two.

PERTH, Oct 24 AAP – England allrounder Craig White has been called into the Ashes touring party as cover for the injured Andrew Flintoff.The decision to draft the 32-year-old White reinforces fears in the England camp that Flintoff will not be fit for the first Ashes Test in Brisbane on November 7.Yorkshireman White, who has been playing grade cricket in South Australia, will fly from Adelaide to Perth tomorrow and is available for selection in next week’s three-day tour match against Western Australia at the WACA ground.Flintoff, who underwent a hernia operation only seven weeks ago, heads in the opposite direction to Adelaide tonight for intensive treatment.In a statement England coach Duncan Fletcher said: “Craig performed well against India this (northern) summer and is now fully recovered from injury.”He will provide us with cover in the allrounder position until Andrew Flintoff is able to return to competitive cricket.”White came over from England two and a half weeks ago to work on his fitness and play grade cricket for Adelaide CC.He scored 118 for Adelaide at the weekend and also got through nine overs with the ball.

A young Somerset Second team travelled to Street to play against Millfield School in a fifty over match, but proved to be far too strong for the opposition cruising to a comfortable 201 run victory.Batting first at the attractive Millfield School ground, Somerset got off to a good start as Neil Edwards and Chris Budd shared an opening stand of 72.But the highlight of the innings was a 158 fifth wicket partnership between triallist Dominic Joyce and Millfield old boy Wes Durston. Joyce looked impressive as he scored at ease before being out of 101. Durston stayed almost until the end of the innings before he was run out for 76.By the end of their allotted overs Somerset had reached 328 for 8.The Millfield batsmen were soon in trouble and had slipped to 13 for 3, before they were rescued by a gutsy innings from their skipper. In the end however their batsmen were no match for the Somerset attack and were all out for 107.Somerset return to Millfield School to play a second fifty over match tomorrow.

Northants Steelbacks have breezed to a seven-wicket victory over Derbyshire Scorpions in a floodlit Norwich Union League second division tussle at Wantage Road.The Steelbacks were stronger in all departments as they made light of the Scorpions lowly 143 all out, crossing the winning line with more than 17 overs to spare thanks to Mike Hussey’s fine unbeaten 72.The win takes the Steelbacks second, and in a good position to push for promotion. The Scorpions are left in the bottom three, contemplating another season in the second division.Earlier in the day the Scorpions, shorn of Dominic Cork (England duty), Michael Di Venuto and Graeme Welch (both injured) simply could not get going against a disciplined attack, despite choosing to bat on a pitch that remained good for batting throughout.A tight opening spell from Cousins and Greenidge (who finished with career best one-day figures of 3-22) set the tone, with Stephen Stubbings falling to a good, low catch by Sales at slip off Greenidge as he played an extravagant drive.Gait, slashing at Greenidge without any foot movement, followed for 23 and after 15 overs the Scorpions had compiled just 42-2.Selwood, who came out to bat to Kenny Rogers’ ‘Coward of the County,’ lived dangerously. Dropped by Sales at slip off Penberthy, he eventually fell to the same bowler. In attempting to turn the ball on the leg side he succeeded only in dollying a leading edge to Hussey at point.Bassano’s innings was tortuous. His 11 occupied 49 balls, and included a reprieve from Sales at slip, slashing at Penberthy. But the bowler got his man, when the batsman missed an expansive heave and was struck on the back leg. Penberthy, the Steelbacks beneficiary, finished with 2-16 from nine miserly overs.The Scorpions could ill afford another slip up, but when Sutton drove to a diving Brophy at cover and was sent back by his Dowman it left the innings in disarray at 63-5.A couple of good drives from Jason Kerr, in partnership with stand-in skipper, Matthew Dowman, gave the visitors some hope in a stand of 39, though the pair enjoyed plenty of fortune. Kerr was lucky not to be caught when turning Brown away on the leg-side, but instead benefited with five runs as the throw-in struck Dowman and the ball ran away to the boundary.Together the pair brought up the 100, before Jeff Cook responded to being driven through the covers for four with a quicker ball that Dowman, attempting to dab away on the off side, nicked to Bailey, standing up behind the stumps.Kerr greeted Swann into the attack with the shot of the innings, dancing to the pitch of the ball and drilling it for four. His 65* against the same opponents earlier in the season took his team to victory, and for a while he made batting look easy. Certainly his foot movement and straight hitting were an example to his less orthodox team-mates as he compiled an attractive 45.But when he was sent back by Lungley, looking for an optimistic single, the Scorpions were 135-7 and their last hope of setting a really competitive target was over.A super direct hit to the bowler’s end from Hussey at point did for Mohammad Ali, Dean skied Greenidge to Swann at long-on and Lungley became the fourth man run out when attempting a pretty desperate single off Swann as the Scorpions failed to bat out their overs. The target was never likely to be enough.In reply Hussey, the Steelbacks skipper, and Loye started as if they had a train to catch, taking 20 off the first two overs.Loye was in particularly aggressive mood, following an on-driven boundary with a swept six over mid-wicket off Kevin Dean to bring up the 50. But later in the same over Loye fell, caught at cover-point, driving uppishly.The Steelbacks wobbled somewhat as Sales fell to another Kerr long-hop, helping it straight down the throat of Selwood at long leg and Brophy, a South African who qualifies through EU regulations, was beaten for pace by Mohammad Ali, edging an attempted pull to the keeper.But Hussey continued untroubled, first pulling, then driving Dean for boundaries before swatting Kerr’s first ball, a pretty friendly long-hop, to the square leg fence. His 50 came up in just 47 balls, with seven boundaries.Cook provided the stability Hussey needed. He on-drove Kerr for four before square cutting Ali for four more in an attractive cameo of 37 not out as the pair added an unbroken 58 for the fourth wicket to see their side to the most comfortable of victories in just the 28th over.

MELBOURNE, Nov 22 AAP – Paceman Mick Lewis became the silent assassin today as he took a career-best 6-64 to give Victoria the upper hand over South Australia on day one of the crucial Pura Cup cricket clash at the MCG.Lewis ripped through the Redbacks’ top order to help the Bushrangers dismiss South Australia for 202 and also notched his first five-wicket haul since the 2000-01 final against Queensland.In reply, Victoria was 1-75 at stumps with Matthew Elliott (38 not out) and Graeme Rummans (12 not out) steadying after the loss of Jason Arnberger, caught behind off Ryan Harris for 25.Lewis’ pace wrecked South Australia’s batting after Shane Harwood (1-34) gave Victoria a dream start.Harwood had Ben Johnson caught in slips with the score on three after Redbacks captain Greg Blewett won the toss.Lewis then took the next five wickets in bursts to blunt any chance of a decent Redback recovery.The Victorian hardman credited his figures to curbing his sometimes fiery on-field manner although he was tempted to give former teammates John Davison and Damien Fleming a spray when they batted today.”I’ve tried not to say much this year,” Lewis said.”I’ve just tried a different approach, I found last year I used to get aggro and direct my anger at the batsman verbally and I’d just get more frustrated then.”So now I’ve just sort of gone away from that – still be physical at them and get in their face, but try not to mouth off as much.”Lewis said he had bowled well without reward this season and felt today’s haul was a fair reward since “busting to get a five-for”.”I used to get really uptight and try really hard and now if I just relax it’ll all just come along,” he said.Lewis showed good pace to dismiss Blewett (11) with a ball that quickened on him as he tried to pull and next over yorked Chris Davies for a duck.After lunch, Lewis knocked over David Fitzgerald (31) and Shane Deitz (2) in successive overs to have the Redbacks reeling at 5-68 before allrounder Mick Miller steadied the innings with a gritty 63, his maiden first-class half century.Victoria and South Australia are locked on 14 points atop the Pura Cup table

Changes to the nature of the contracts that New Zealand’s players have with New Zealand Cricket were behind the 24-hour delay in the naming of the sides to tour the West Indies.The sides were finally announced today after discussions on an interim contract went longer than anticipated.As a result of the discussions, 20 players have now been placed on interim contracts until after the ICC Champions Trophy tournament in Sri Lanka in September.The contracts were finalised this morning when matters of player payment were resolved.Negotiations between New Zealand Cricket, the major associations and the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association over a longer term contract will continue during the duration of the interim contract.”We had discussions to review the player contract system’s structure and of details within that structure,” NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said.”This is the first time this has been undertaken and it was not possible to complete this before the West Indies tour,” he said.”There were a lot of issues that had to be thrashed out for the first time.Snedden added that he had not wanted NZC to suffer from something like the “Brad Thorn” situation suffered by rugby last year when a player was named in the All Blacks but then withdrew because he didn’t know if he had the commitment to play at that level.The interim contract would offer some security to players for their short-term future.Those players contracted are: Andre Adams, Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Ian Butler, Stephen Fleming, Chris Harris, Matthew Hart, Robbie Hart, Paul Hitchcock, Matt Horne, Craig McMillan, Chris Martin, Chris Nevin, Jacob Oram, Mark Richardson, Mathew Sinclair, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori and Lou Vincent.Snedden said another reason for the delay had been the original decision to have discussions when the players returned from their tour of Pakistan, but once that tour was abandoned after the Karachi bomb blast he had wanted to allow players time to recover from that experience and that had resulted in a tight time frame this week for the discussions.Snedden said he had been contacted by several players in the last few days who were expressing real excitement about the West Indies and who took the opportunity to reassure him that they wanted to go.”They are really excited about the trip. They watched parts of the West Indies series with India on television while they were in Pakistan and they are anticipating a real challenge when they go and they are really looking forward to getting into it,” he said.

A win, a win at last!And not just an ordinary win but one against opponents presently ratedsecond only to Australia, a win hard-fought and comprehensive, a winachieved through a team effort in which the bit players contributedeven more than the established stars.By defeating South Africa by 130 runs in the fifth and final Test atSabina Park yesterday, after the collapse of the last six wickets for46 in 15 overs after lunch, the West Indies ended a sequence of 13Tests and almost a year without a victory.In contrast, it was South Africa’s first loss in the same number ofTests.For the West Indies, there have been ten losses and a distressinglitany of chaos and controversy in that time. It makes a refreshingchange to be able to report something positive.It could not save a series already secured by South Africa throughvictories at Queen’s Park Oval and the ARG, and it was Shaun Pollock,not Carl Hooper, who stepped forward to collect the impressive new VivRichards Trophy at the end. But there was justified satisfaction forHooper’s first win as captain and for his players.The result was an appropriate parting gift for the great CourtneyWalsh who ended his celebrated career as he began it 17 years and 132Tests earlier against Australia at Perth, with a West Indies triumph.Inevitably, he was in the thick of things at the end, claiming two ofthe last three wickets with the second new ball to the delight of thesmall Sabina Park crowd that, only a year ago, was hailing him as hesurpassed Kapil Dev as Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker.Now he waved them goodbye for the last time from the middle and leftthe field to heartfelt hugs from West Indians and South Africansalike.As significantly, the win was a boost for the collective confidence ofthe generation to follow.They will depart for their next Test series, in Zimbabwe in July,unquestionably weakened by the loss of Test cricket’s highest wickettaker who was, once more, their most successful bowler in the series.But they are now assured they have the capacity to compete with thebest, a status not evident after their thrashings in England lastsummer and in Australia subsequently.For a long time yesterday it seemed as if the self-doubt that is theupshot of failure was again hindering the West Indies.It had often affected them during the series and, as Walsh and MervDillon trundled away ineffectively to mainly defensive field placings,South Africa’s overnight pair Neil McKenzie and Jacques Kallis solidlysettled.Cameron Cuffy had a bowl but did nothing to compensate for his earlierclumsy fielding. Dinanath Ramnarine took over from Dillon and, afterfour overs, Hooper replaced Cuffy.The closest the West Indies came to separating the pair was on an lbwappeal from Hooper against Kallis an hour and ten minutes into theday.Lunch was 20 minutes away when the breakthrough finally came.McKenzie, never entirely sure against Ramnarine, prodded forward tothe leg-break, failed to cover it sufficently and Leon Garrick snappedup the catch inches from the ground at silly point.McKenzie had defied the West Indies for four hours, 20 minutes for his51, yet South Africa still seemed on course for safety at 209 for fourat lunch, with Kallis entrenched with 51.Ramnarine changed that within four balls of resumption.Kallis, as always, had been keen to get after him before lunch, threetimes stepping down to lift him to the extra-cover boundary.Second ball into the second session, he was again on the attack,pulling. The ball was too close to him for the shot and he chopped itinto off-stump off the inside-edge, and the main stumbling block wasgone.Two balls later, Mark Boucher, who has had a miserable tour with batand gloves, reached forward to a leg-break and snicked to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs.These were match-winning blows and South Africa’s resistance crumbled.Once Lance Klusener and Pollock batted together for half-hour afterRamnarine’s double-strike, Hooper handed Walsh and Dillon the secondnew ball three-quarters of an hour into the final session.The outcome was still not certain, for the left-handed Klusener wasbeginning to find the middle of the bat for the first time in theseries with blows for which he is renowned and Pollock’s battingcredentials were obvious in a series average of over 100.This time, Pollock had nothing left. Dillon removed him to a catch toJacobs off a wild cut shot with his second delivery and, to universaldelight, Walsh claimed Justin Kemp first ball to a clear-cut lbwdecision.Next ball, Walsh’s fellow Jamaican Marlon Samuels, 18 years hisjunior, embarrassed himself and his former watching classmates atKingston College, by dropping Allan Donald at cover.It prolonged Walsh’s next wicket for a few minutes before he knockedout Donald’s middle stump, his 519th and, as it turned out, last Testvictim.It would have been fitting for Walsh to formalise the victory with awicket with his last ball in Test cricket. But West Indiansentimentality did not extend that far. They have had enoughdisappointments of late to care only about finishing off the match.It came 50 minutes before tea when last man Paul Adams skied a catchoff Dillon that Samuels, pedalling back from cover, this time caught.Then, and only then, could the celebrations begin.

England’s ability to adapt, especially the younger players, to New Zealand conditions at Jade Stadium will determine the course of the first Test match of the National Bank series according to captain Nasser Hussain.England went into the game, and the series, slightly under-cooked but with Graham Thorpe and Marcus Trescothick returning to the side after the Canterbury game, and backed by himself and Andy Caddick, England would be prepared.”It is how the young lads step up on Wednesday and adapt to the conditions,” he said.Hussain said pitches were never of concern to him and, in fact, he got quite excited about wickets that did a bit.”It is a cliche but it is exactly the same for both teams,” he said.Wickets that did a bit meant there was never dull cricket.”It’s exciting, it might do anything. I prefer to play on a variety of wickets,” he said.But at the same time he said the drop-in pitch being used for the game was a very new experience for him and he would need to have a good look at it over the next two days.In England, most grounds had wickets that had a historical perspective which would give a fair idea of how they were going to play.This portable pitch had no real history and no-one could honestly say how it would play, he said.”You have to back your gut feeling. You can’t presume the best or worst about it,” he said.”The first session will be crucial, that will determine the course of the series,” he said.However, even if the strip was the greenest of green he didn’t think that would necessarily mean the non-selection of left-arm spinner Ashley Giles. Although Hussain said he was suffering a strain in his back that was not Test-threatening.Conditions with breezes often blowing across grounds in New Zealand meant there was still a role for slow bowlers and the contest between two very similar bowlers in Giles and Daniel Vettori would be an interesting one.It wasn’t only because Hussain was Vettori’s first first-class victim, back on the 1996/97 tour of New Zealand, that he regarded him as a “very fine bowler.”As with Giles, he had natural flight and guile and was a left-arm bowler of the old variety and the two were probably the best in the world of their kind. And Vettori had progressed nicely, as borne out by the fact he was the youngest spinner to get to 100 wickets.England were keen to reverse the 2-1 series loss they suffered in England in 1999.”I think we should have won that series,” Hussain said. He blamed himself for not having led the side better in the last Test at The Oval.But the side had also moved on since then and Duncan Fletcher had come in as coach. The performances of the side and the selection policy were more consistent as well, and young players brought into the side had come in and held their hands up which had been a good thing for English cricket.Some of those young players were still a little short of experience but the three Tests would advance that process.The young players, like Michael Vaughan, Trescothick and Matthew Hoggard now knew that they had every chance of having a good, long run in the side and that was important for their development.Hussain repeated his assertion that the Kookaburra ball in use for the game would demand accurate bowling in the first 25 overs before the seam softened.The side will have a final practice session tomorrow to complete their match preparation and a Test 12 will be named tomorrow evening, if Giles is fit for consideration.

A day that was twice interrupted by rain belonged entirely to Northern Districts, who should maintain their title challenge with six points for an outright win tomorrow. Northern’s dominance was down to some attritional batting by Matthew Hart and Joseph Yovich and some spectacular hitting from Simon Doull.For much of the day the scoring rate struggled to get above one and a half an over. When Doull came to the crease it increased fourfold.After the dismissal of James Marshall for a season’s best 29, Hart and Yovich settled into a partnership of 98 for the sixth wicket, one short of the Northern record against Central. Their priority was survival. The first boundary of the day did not come until 15 minutes before lunch. The Central seam attack continued to be testing and accurate, with Hefford giving away half run an over for much of the first session.Before and after the first break for rain Hart increased the runflow, hitting eight fours and a six before being dismissed for 69 from 191 deliveries. Yovich followed soon after. He owed his survival to the judgement of the umpires on several occasions, but battled through, facing 133 deliveries without finding the boundary.Simon Doull passed Yovich’s score in 109 fewer deliveries. After hurting his leg at the start of his innings he apparently decided to avoid running between the wickets, opting for boundaries instead. Four successive balls from Andrew Schwass went to the fence, three to long on and one to square leg.Doull was last out for 59, including two sixes and nine fours. He faced 58 deliveries. His attack today was more selective than his largely-successful pinch hitting in the Shell Cup. He picked the balls to hit and usually his judgement was sound. When he came in Northern were on the verge of being bowled out with a lead of a little over 200. Doull’s knock probably put the game beyond Central’s reach.Andrew Schwass took the first five-wicket haul of his first-class career. Even in the face of the Doull onslaught his figures of 27.3-8-53-5 were impressive. At 26 he is something of a late developer, but is set to become a key member of the Central squad in both forms of the game. He bowls deceptively innocuous-looking seamers with accuracy, intelligence and great competitiveness.Northern coach Chris Kuggeleijn spoke to CricInfo about the key figures in his team’s domination of the day. He said that the key to Matthew Hart’s resurgence is his organisation.”He has got his game worked out. He gets into line and his feet move well.”Kuggeleijn agreed that Joseph Yovich has had an outstanding match with bat and ball.”He battled well today. Joey is improving all the time. As a bowler he has genuine pace and works at his game.”And Doull?”He is just enjoying his cricket and playing well. He bowled well and unluckily yesterday. He deserved a couple of wickets.”Kuggeleijn agreed that the pitch was better than the performance of the batsmen on the first two days suggested, but insisted that it was “not a belter. There is a lot of bounce, especially with the new ball. There has been some very good bowling. The bowlers have not given away many freebies.”Yesterday, Kuggeleijn’s opposite number, Dipak Patel, suggested that lack of application was the problem. Hart and Yovich provided this in quantity today, and Northern should be victorious tomorrow as a result.

Dean Elgar, JP Duminy’s replacement in the South African squad, is counting on his ability adapt to strengthen his case for a spot in the Test XI. Elgar arrived in Brisbane on Wednesday and has four days to settle in before the squad regroups on Sunday.It is thought that Elgar is unlikely to play because Faf du Plessis was already in the touring party and will probably be promoted, but Elgar’s selection indicates he is in the national selectors’ future plans. He was called a “like for like replacement” for Duminy by convenor of selectors Andrew Hudson because apart from being a frontline batsman, his left-arm spin is a useful part-time option.But there is dissimilarity too, because Elgar has played most of his cricket in the top order and if he were to come in for Duminy, he would have to bat in the lower-middle order. It will require him to play a slightly different role, one which Duminy noted provides less batting time but more freedom because “the bowlers tend to forget about you.”Elgar thinks it’s a position he will be able to fit into with ease. “I don’t think it will be a problem to adjust to the middle order, it’s just a bit of a mind-set change,” he said. “I see myself as a versatile, flexible player and I can bat in the top order or middle order, whatever the case may be. It’s one of my better assets.”During South Africa’s one-day series against England in August, Elgar batted at No. 4, No. 3, where he made his top-score of 42, and No. 7 as part of the floating line-up. Although he did not manage any milestones on the trip, Elgar believes the experience he gained from being around the team will stand him in good stead on this tour.”Being someone who is not as active in the side and then coming for the first time to a place Australia tour, which is a tough tour, could be quite difficult.” He said. “But luckily I have had a taste of some international cricket and that does help.” He has also toured Australia before with the South African Emerging side in 2008 and 2009.Elgar’s previous involvement also means he does not need the Gary Kirsten coaching method explained to him. He understands it as being based on a philosophy in which players are accountable for their own actions. “You can prepare like an adult, they don’t treat you like children. It’s an adult’s set-up and they trust you to do what you have to do before a game. They trust you to prepare the way you want to prepare for a game or for a net session. There is a lot more responsibility on you.”Those who have followed Elgar’s career may believe he will develop quicker in an environment like that, especially as his ability to lead is clear – he captained the Under-19s in the past – and his discipline has been obvious. They may also believe he is finally getting an opportunity in the format to which he appears best suited. When Elgar was making his name at the domestic level, it was in the longer version that he was most proficient. Elgar has played in the South African A side with great success over the last few years, most recently during his 177 against Sri Lanka A in June.Elgar, too, is pleased that he has been recognised in the longer format. “I love first-class cricket because that’s the finest, purest form of the game,” he said. “I also love my one-day cricket because it adds a different dimension to the game, but if you had to put the two on the table and say chose one, I would have to say the longer format.”His penchant for spending hours at the crease is something the circumstances may not allow for on this tour, but Elgar hopes it will remain a feature of his game. “I think you reach a point where you just want to keep on batting – ask guys like Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla. It’s just the enjoyment factor. You’ve got to look at the finer things and realise that the longer you bat, the more you are going to score and the better it is for your side. That’s something I have worked on in the past, especially in four-day cricket.”