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Bangladesh A 214 for 4(Nazmus Sadat 90, Mehrab Hossain*) beat Zimbabwe A 211(Masakadza 45, Farhad Reza 3-29) by six wickets
ScorecardOpener Nazmus Sadat was the hero again after his half-century inspired Bangladesh to a six wicket victory in the third one-day match against Zimbabwe played at Queens Sports Cub. The result means that Bangladesh have secured the five-match series 3-0.Sadat followed his hundred in the opening match with 90 today, sharing in a third-wicket stand of 106 with Mehrab Hossain, who scored an unbeaten 65, as the visitors reached their target for the loss of just four wickets in 46.3 overs after restricting Zimbabwe to 210 in 50 overs.Zimbabwe A made one change, bringing in pace bowler Trevor Garwe for fellow seamer Admire Manyumwa, while Bangladesh named an unchanged XI.Stuart Matsikenyeri won the toss for the second time in a row and again elected to bat.Zimbabwe were in trouble as early as the second over when they lost Chamu Chibhabha. After realising the success that slow bowlers have enjoyed in this series, Bangladesh brought left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak into attack in the second over and he struck with his first ball when Chibhabha shuffled across to be trapped leg before wicket for 5.Hamilton Masakadza joined Mawoyo and the two shared in a stand of 63 which was broken when Mawoyo fell to Farhad Reza, playing a wild hook to be taken at leg gullyby Enamul Haque.Matsikenyeri joined Masakadza and the two most experienced batsmen in the team contributed 51 runs for the third wicket, broken soon after the second drinks break whenMasakadza was given out leg before wicket to Haque for 45. Matsikenyeri made 42 before he was bowled by Tushar Imran and the remaining batsmen only added 62 runs.Bangladesh got off to a fine start with their openers Sadat and Nafees Iqbal putting 71 forthe first wicket. Sadat was give his first life on 28 when he lifted a delivery from Garwe but Sean Williams appeared to have had his vision blocked by the sun as he dropped the catch at backward point.Bangladesh A lost their first wicket when Iqbal was bowled by Matsikenyeri for 28 with the bowler first appealing for leg before wicket before realising that the bails were down.Sadat was again given a let off on 47 off Bradley Staddon, Williams putting down the catch at backward point and the left handed Sadat went on to reach the half century markafter facing up to 50 balls, stroking eight fours in 95 minutes.Williams was introduced into attack and made amends for his poor fielding with a wicket with the third ball of his first over when he had Imran brilliantly taken in the deepby Ryan Higgins for 19 runs. Saqibul Hassan lasted six minutes at the crease before hefell to Staddon, caught by Williams for 1.With the tourists needing two runs to win the match, Sadat lost his leg stump trying to reverse-sweep Staddon, but Hossain drove Garwe four a straight four in the next over to seal the match and the series.

The PCB has made a plan B of holding the Pentangular T20 Cup in case the proposed India-Pakistan series does not go ahead.Although the Pakistan government has given the nod to play India in Sri Lanka, the PCB has been fretting over the continuous delay from their Indian counterparts. While there were ideas to engage an international team, PCB believes it is not feasible to arrange an international tour in such a short notice.”We are concerned and given the short time we have to have a back-up plan,” a senior PCB board official told ESPNcricinfo. “We were expecting them [BCCI] to respond by this week, but unfortunately news coming from India is extremely discouraging. We, in the meantime, are planning a five-team T20 tournament for next month in case BCCI pulls out of their commitment.”The tournament, which is a new addition to the domestic calendar, will be a one-off and feature provisional sides – Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and Federal Areas. The format is in-line with the already planned Pakistan Super League, with the top 75 players distributed among the five teams. Should it materialise, it would be the third T20 tournament organised by the PCB this year.According to the Future Tours Programme, a series of two Tests, three ODI and two T20 was originally scheduled between India and Pakistan in the UAE in December 2015.With the BCCI insisting they would play Pakistan only at home, which the PCB categorically rejected, a compromise formula appeared to have been reached when Sri Lanka was proposed as an alternate venue for a short limited-overs series following meetings between Shaharyar Khan and Shashank Manohar in Dubai, with Giles Clarke, the ECB chief, playing the role of a mediator.While the Pakistan government has responded positively, there has not been much said by India yet. On their part, the BCCI confirmed earlier that they had written to their government asking for a clearance for the tour. But the delay in granting permission has put a cloud over the revival of the series.

Geoff Boycott has called Duncan Fletcher “a hypocrite” for his comments about Andrew Flintoff’s drinking habits on tour. Flintoff’s father has also complained about Fletcher’s new book and says his son is “not a happy man” after the revelations surrounding his behaviour in Australia and the Caribbean over the past year.Fletcher wrote Flintoff attended a fielding session while drunk and the former coach also had doubts before naming him as captain for the Ashes. Boycott, who was also targeted in Behind the Shades, was unimpressed with Fletcher.”After the stuff he has come out with in the last couple of days, I find it ironic that he spent his eight years with England spouting on about loyalty and keeping everything within the team,” Boycott told the . “There he was, taking the moral high ground at every opportunity. And as soon as he finishes, what does he do? He gets stuck into Flintoff.”I have no problem with cricket people writing books, telling the truth, and making some money. I have done it myself. Fine. But it seems a bit rich coming from someone who has made such a big deal about not “talking out of school”. Fletcher is a hypocrite and he should be ashamed of himself.”Colin Flintoff said his son felt betrayed and was upset with Fletcher for speaking out. “The golden rule is that what goes on in the dressing room stays in the dressing room,” he told the Guardian. “Fletcher has betrayed Andrew’s confidence. I am upset that he has done this for the sake of his book.”There is no bigger team player than Andrew. These comments have really upset him. I have spoken to Andrew about this and he is not a happy man.”Paul Nixon, who was part of Flintoff’s one-day squad in Australia and at the World Cup, supported his former captain by saying he did not have a drinking problem. “Freddie’s such a competitive guy and a passionate guy, he wants to win every game ferociously for England,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “I think that the hiding they got in the Ashes really affected him more than people realise.”Alastair Cook also added his support for Flintoff. “All I know is when I was playing under Freddie for England, he was my leader,” he told . “He gave everything for England and I just wish him successful rehab on that ankle.”It’s his third time, which must be tough, but we hope he gets back as soon as possible because a fully-fit, firing Freddie Flintoff is what we need for English cricket.”He said he had not read the book. “It is just a book isn’t it? We are not bothered about what people are writing. We have moved on. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but personally I am not bothered what he has written now because we are under Peter Moores.”It doesn’t affect the squad as a whole and we are more worried about how we are going to play against Sri Lanka in two weeks’ time.”

Simon Helmot has been named the Victorian Cricket Academy coach, a newly-created position as part of the state’s revamped high-performance structure. Helmot, a former club cricketer in Melbourne and coach of the ACT Comets, will be in charge of Victoria’s male and female elite pathway squads and will coach the men’s Under-19 team.Helmot’s coaching career began when he led two Melbourne grade sides, Hawthorn-Waverley and Fitzroy Doncaster, to premierships before moving to Canberra. He was handed the reins of the Prime Minister’s XI, which crushed England by 166 runs in the lead-up to the Ashes last November.Tony Dodemaide, Cricket Victoria’s chief executive, said Helmot was the ideal candidate for the new role despite not having first-class playing experience. “Simon has an excellent record as a coach and leader,” Dodemaide said. “He has proved to be extremely talented, innovative and enthusiastic.”Helmot said he was indebted to ACT Cricket for giving him the chance to develop his coaching skills but was keen to return to Victoria.

On a day dominated by the announcement of Australia’s new coach, another coaching decision almost slipped under the radar. Greg Shipperd has benefited from Victoria’s outstanding 2006-07 season with a two-year reappointment as the Bushrangers’ coach.Victoria sit on top of the Pura Cup table and second in the Ford Ranger Cup, having last month claimed their second successive Twenty20 title. Shipperd said Victoria were well-placed heading into the last few rounds in each competition, despite the likely continued loss of their captain and vice-captain to the Australia side.Shipperd said Cameron White and Brad Hodge were key players but Victoria’s depth would mean the Bushrangers could get by without them. “There are a couple of good prospects there,” Shipperd told the .”Robert Quiney and Aiden Blizzard are probably the two we’ve looked at closely throughout this season with their second XI and Premier Cup form.” Quiney struggled in his few limited-overs outings for Victoria this season but an unbeaten 215 in Melbourne’s grade cricket on the weekend could make him the frontrunner to replace Hodge.Shipperd, who in 2003-04, his first season as coach, took Victoria to their first Pura Cup win in more than a decade, said hosting and winning the final this year was the team’s focus. “It would be foolish not to be positive about that possibility,” he said.

Orthodox and effective
India had just been buoyed with the early wicket of Lou Vincent, but Brendon McCullum pushed them right back with three outstanding shots in the very next over, from Sreesanth. The first one was a classical straight drive, with the bat making a clean, crisp sound as it hit the ball. Next was a mere push to the covers, but with such precise timing and placement that the ball sped to the boundary. The next one was full and slightly wide, and this time McCullum creamed it between cover and mid-off. Three balls, three glorious orthodox shots, 12 runs on the board. Who said Twenty20 cricket was only about slogging?Bull’s Eye
You know the India are really getting into stride when direct hits earn them wickets. They had missed a couple of opportunities earlier in New Zealand’s innings, but Yuvraj Singh got it just right when he charged in from midwicket, swooped down on the ball, and picked it up and threw down the non-striker’s stumps in one clean motion. Scott Styris was on his way, and the huge Indian contingent in the stands had another reason to celebrate.McMillan the mauler
After 15 overs, New Zealand badly needed someone to take charge of an innings that was going nowhere, and Craig McMillan was the man for the moment. He first turned his attention on Yuvraj, smashing a six and a four, before turning his attention on Sreesanth: a slower ball was clubbed straight over the bowler’s head for a 94-metre six, and in the next ball, with Sreesanth bowling from round the wicket, McMillan got his left leg out of the way and sent the ball soaring high over midwicket. A snarl, a pumped fist, and a roar followed.Clever Dhoni
Knowing that the batsmen would be dashing for a run even if they missed theball in the last over, Mahendra Singh Dhoni cleverly had the big wicketkeeping gloves off from his right hand even as the bowler was delivering the ball. When Mark Gillespie missed and McMillan dashed off towards the striker’s end, Dhoni was ready, without his glove, and his throw at the stumps was accurate. He repeated the act off the nextball and managed to win a run-out at the non-striker’s end.Bond dismantled…again
After going for just four in his first over, things fell apart again for ShaneBond, who had leaked 45 in four overs against Sri Lanka on Saturday. GautamGambhir started it off with an outstanding stroke, swinging a good-lengthdelivery high over midwicket for six. Two lovely cover-drives and aslashed four followed in the same over, which cost New Zealand 18 and putIndia on track.Canny Vettori
With Irfan Pathan looking for quick runs, Daniel Vettori knew exactly whatwould do the trick: varying his pace quite magnificently, Vettori slippedin the quick arm ball which completely befuddled Pathan, who backed awaybut was far too late on his stroke. The off stump knocked back and the was gamealmost in the bag for New Zealand.

Shahriar Nafees, the Bangladesh opener, has been fined 20% of his match-fees for dissent during the third one-day international against Australia at Fatullah.Nafees was found guilty by Jeff Crowe, the match referee, for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct that relates to “Showing dissent at an umpire’s decision by action or verbal abuse”.After he was given out leg before to Mitchell Johnson, Nafees shook his head and gestured with his bat in the direction of the Bangladesh dressing-room as he walked back. He was reported by Ian Howell and Nadir Shah, the on-field umpires, and AFM Akhtaruddin, the third umpire.”The player admitted what he had done was wrong and I took this, together with his previously exemplary conduct, into account,” said Crowe. “However, it is important to show that dissent of any sort at an umpire’s decision is unacceptable and the player’s punishment for his actions illustrates that fact.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
The Indians dominated the first two days of their warm-up match but Andy Hodd led a stubborn fightback on the third as Sussex, and rain, ensured that the chance of a result was rather unlikely. Hodd scored his maiden first-class century and led Sussex to 300 for 6 before Michael Yardy declared, giving the Indians a lead of 88. After that solid batting effort, James Kirtley and Jason Lewry rattled the Indian batsmen during a short burst before stumps and reduced them to 21 for 2.After two days of sunny weather, it began raining minutes before the scheduled start at 11.00 am and conditions did not improve through the morning. Over four hours of play were lost when the players finally took the field at 3.15pm.Sreesanth continued where he left off last evening and bowled an outstanding opening spell. He consistently hit a good length, extracted sharp bounce and got the ball to swing considerably away from the right-handers. RP Singh wasn’t as controlled though. He tried bowling to a plan, angling the ball across the right-handers from over the wicket, trying to swing it back into them to hit the pad. His execution was poor for he often strayed down leg side. However, he was difficult to play when he got it right and unsettled the batsmen with sharp in-swing and well-directed bouncers. Ranadeb Bose, playing his first game on the tour, was the least impressive of the seamers. He also found swing but his line was too wide outside the off stump to trouble the batsmen. And when he made an effort to bowl straighter, he was unable to generate as much swing.

Both Hodd and Martin-Jenkins were tested by some terrific deliveries in the afternoon but MS Dhoni had an equally torrid time behind the stumps. Sreesanth and RP Singh sent down deliveries that swung prodigiously after passing the batsmen and Dhoni frequently struggled to collect them cleanly. Sreesanth could have had a wicket early on but Dhoni was late in moving towards an outside edge from Martin-Jenkins, on 6, and dropped what would have been a comfortable catch for Yuvraj Singh at first slip.Sussex began the day trailing by 242 runs with just five wickets in hand with Hodd on 21 and Martin-Jenkins yet to score. Hodd was the more aggressive of the two, cutting and driving through cover point whenever offered width outside the off stump. A couple of his boundaries were streaky edges over slips and gully but, in all fairness, he would have had more had the wet outfield not thwarted several well-timed drives through the off side.Martin-Jenkins overcame a nervous start and grew in confidence as the session progressed. His first boundary was a crisp drive through covers off Sreesanth and by the time tea approached he was settled enough to use his feet and loft Anil Kumble over mid-on.The Indians could have had a wicket soon after tea but Kumble, running backwards to catch a top-edged pull from Martin-Jenkins off his own bowling, lost balance when he collided with the stumps at the non-striker’s end and messed up a simple catch. Martin-Jenkins went on to make 42, his highest first-class score of the season. He added 125 for the sixth wicket with Hodd before he was stumped down the leg side off Kumble.Hodd played Kumble confidently, driving him twice to the midwicket boundary. He calmly moved into the nineties before suffering several nervous moments on the verge of his century. Laxman, standing in for Rahul Dravid who was nursing a calf strain, took the second new ball with Hodd on 99 and Sreesanth backed up the decision with an outstanding maiden over, beating Hodd’s outside edge several times. Hodd played out 13 dot balls on 99 before RP Singh offered a loose delivery on the pads that he flicked to the square leg fence and raised his arms in triumph. Sussex declared shortly afterwards, and tested the Indians with a few awkward overs before stumps.Wasim Jaffer never looked comfortable and failed for the second time in the match when he was hit on the pad by one that swung back into him from Lewry. Dhoni, who also failed in the first innings, began aggressively by cutting Lewry twice through point for four. It didn’t last though and Lewry had his second wicket when Dhoni tried to pull a short ball that got big on him and top-edged it to Chris Nash at long leg. Dinesh Karthik and Yuvraj, promoted to No 3, took India through to stumps without further damage.

South Africa’s convincing 4-0 series win against India has pushed them up to within five points of the Australians, while the Indians slid back to sixth place in the latest ICC team rankings for one-day internationals.India were third on the table as recently as April this year, but since then they have fallen after a sharp drop in form which has resulted in just three wins in their last 17 matches. South Africa, on the other hand, have reached their highest rating since January 2003. If they continue their form against Pakistan early next year, and if Australia slip up in the VB Series against England and New Zealand, South Africa could even be the top team going into the 2007 World Cup.India, meanwhile, are in danger of slipping to seventh place – where they were in October 2005 – if West Indies snatch a series win against Pakistan in the five-match series which starts on December 5. West Indies are currently only marginally behind India.Among the individual ratings, Shaun Pollock had plenty of reason to celebrate after his outstanding display against India. Pollock, who won the Man-of-the-Series award with ten wickets at 8.30 apiece, moved up to 910 points in the bowlers’ ratings, an astonishing 111 points ahead of the second-placed Glenn McGrath. In fact, Pollock’s rating is the fourth-highest in the all-time list for ODI bowlers. Only Joel Garner (940 points in April 1985), Richard Hadlee (923 in June 1983) and Muttiah Muralitharan (913 in April 2002) have ever had more points.Click here for more details.

The USA’s Under-19 cricketers got an opportunity at last in Los Angeles to display the skills that had carried them through unbeaten in the Americas U-19 tournament in Canada five months ago.The 2005 U-19 tournament had been postponed, and then relocated from Florida to Los Angeles a month ago. Given the uncertainties caused by the assorted hurricanes in Florida, this was probably an expedient move – southern California is one of the few places that can promise an equable cricket climate in mid-November, and Los Angeles has certainly proved that it has the facilities to organize and hold major tournaments – after all, it was also the default location last year for the delayed US national finals.The tournament format was a somewhat truncated form of the 2004 version. Instead of three days of cricket during with each Zone played the other three, there were only two days of cricket with the first-day winners automatically placed in the second-day finals and the losers playing for third and fourth places.Judging by the results, the new format definitely worked to the disadvantage of last year’s finalist, the Atantic/SE Zone. They were beaten handily by the West (NW/SW) Zone, with their U-19 USA players Ravi Timbawala and Abhimanyu Rajp among the runs and the wickets respectively. This automatically put them out of the finals. Had there been a third match for them to play, they might have had a chance to break back into the tournament with a possible victory over New York who they had defeated in 2004. As it was, they showed what they were capable of in their decisive win over the Central Zone (CE and CW) for third place.Meanwhile, New York/NE faced few problems in their march to the tournament victory. Having skittled out the Central Zone with almost as much ease as the Atlantic/SE Zone were to do the following day, they eked out a closer but comfortable victory over West Zone in the finals and captured the 2006 National tournament. Again, the New York/NE stars in the USA national team, Akeem Dodson and Hemant Punoo (USA U-19 captain), were credited with their batting for the New York victory.Compared with the 2004 tournament, fewer runs were scored in 2005. There were no centuries this time (there were two in 2004); Akeem Dodson’s 76 and unbeaten 71 for New York were by far the highest scores in the tournament, and established him as the best batsmen for the weekend; he was followed by Timbawala’s unbeaten 60 against Atlantic /SE. On the bowling side, there was one five-wicket haul by Dominc Auden for NY/NE against Central Zone, and one four-wicket haul, by Nisarg Patel (West) against Atlantic SE.Atlantic/SE 117 in 34.3 overs ( Romero Deane 22, Renardo Francis 19; Nisarg Patel 4-29, Nadir Malik 2-23, Abhemanyu Rajp 2-10) lost to West (NW/SW) 118 for 3 in 24.4 overs (Ravi Timbawala 60*, Mrunal Patel 19*; Tim Allen 2-30) by seven wicketsNew York/NE 242 in 44.3 overs (A Dodson 76, K Ramsabad, D. Audain, N Hay, T Walters 16, K Ganesh 14; S Singh 3-46, J Makwana 3-60, R. Siddiqi 2-49, Wakas Khan 1-37, Shaham Mumtaz 1-33) beat Central West/Central East 64 (D Audain 5-19, F Mughal 2-15, T Walter 2-19) by 178 runsChamionship Game : West (NW/SW) 159 for 9 in 45 overs lost to New York/ NE 160 for 3 ( Akeem Dodson 71*, H Punoo 34*, K Ganesh 30 ) by seven wicketsThird & Fourth Place Game Atlantic/SE 322 for 9 in 45 overs (Bhatt 52, Francis 42, Allen 41,Nathaniel 58*) beat Central (CW/CE) 121 (Allen 3-45, Nathaniel 3-24) by 201 runs