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Matabeleland Tuskers and Mountaineers surged to easy wins as the Stanbic Bank 20 Series got rolling in Harare.Natsai Mushangwe was the hero for Mountaineers after they chose to field against Mid West Rhinos at the Harare Sports Club. Rhinos were in a dominant position at 55 for 1 in the eighth over, with Brendan Taylor and Riki Wessels on menacing 30-plus scores. Mushangwe, however, accounted for Taylor, who had struck two sixes, to spark a slide in which nine wickets fell for 60 runs. Shingi Masakadza and Prosper Utseya chipped in with two wickets apiece, while Mushangwe scalped 3 for 19.The target of 116 posed Mountaineers with few problems, after Hamilton Masakadza laid the foundation with a steady 34. Former New Zealand allrounder Chris Harris then controlled the chase with an unbeaten 39 to take his side home with seven balls to spare. Fast bowlers Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes – the Australian imports in the two sides – finished wicketless in their economical spells.Njabulo Ncube was Mashonaland Eagles‘ bugbear as they struggled to 120 for 8 in their 20 overs, a target that Matabeleland Tuskers hunted down with four overs to spare also at the Harare Sports Club. Keegan Meth started the damage, picking up 2 for 15 as the power-packed Eagles top order faltered. Rory Hamilton-Brown, Peter Trego and Ryan ten Doeschate were the notable casualties as they stumbled to 51 for 5 in the 10th over. A series of 20s from Forster Mutizwa, Elton Chigumbura and Andrew Hall steadied the situation, setting the Tuskers a run-a-ball chase.Tom Smith’s early dismissal gave Eagles some hope, but Chris Gayle was only warming up to the task. He did not clear the field, but struck three fours in a crisp 27, and along with Paul Horton (30) took the game away from Eagles. Charles Coventry then sealed victory in a blaze of big hits, smashing four sixes and two fours in 44 off 19 balls.

Nottinghamshire chief executive Derek Brewer has been named the new secretary and chief executive of MCC, replacing Keith Bradshaw who stood down earlier this year.Brewer, 53, has been in his role with Nottinghamshire since 2005 and recently oversaw the club’s successful bid for a gold package of matches from the ECB which ensures Trent Bridge will host Ashes Tests in 2013 and 2015.Brewer joins MCC at a slightly controversial time for the club. The MCC committee recently voted in a scaled-down development plan for the ground which has led to the resignation of John Major, the former British Prime Minister, from the committee. Under Bradshaw’s leadership, the MCC gained a reputation as a forward-thinking body and it has played a leading role in pushing innovations such as day-night Test cricket.”I am very excited and honoured to have been selected as the next secretary and CEO of MCC,” Brewer said. “Lord’s is the most iconic Test match venue in the world and I look forward to bringing the experience I have gained in leading the Trent Bridge redevelopment to opportunities which lie ahead at Lord’s.”I know that I inherit a very strong team and, having worked closely with Keith Bradshaw during his tenure, I would like to pay tribute to his outstanding contribution.”I would also like to thank the Nottinghamshire committee, staff and local partners for making the past seven years at Trent Bridge so enjoyable and successful. Trent Bridge, like Lord’s is a special place.”MCC president Phillip Hodson said: “We were looking for someone with a successful track record of running organisations and CEO experience, ideally from within the cricket world. We wanted a strategic thinker, with a passion for the game – Derek fulfilled all the criteria, and more.”Previously, he has worked closely with Colin Maber – the incoming chairman of MCC’s estates committee – to create, at Trent Bridge, what I consider to be the second-best Test ground in the country,” he added. “The development of both Nottinghamshire and Trent Bridge in his time at chief executive was hugely impressive. The ECB’s award of the Gold A package of major matches to Nottinghamshire was, I believe, testament to his excellent work and strong leadership.”Brewer is expected to take up his position with MCC in April 2012 at the start of the new English domestic season.

A controversy has arisen over a statement made by Vinod Kambli, the former India batsman, that he “doubted” crucial decisions made during the 1996 World Cup semi-final between India and Sri Lanka in Kolkata. Several of Kambli’s team-mates in that match, including captain Mohammed Azharuddin, and the team manager Ajit Wadekar, have denied the allegations.Kambli said, in an emotional interview with television channel in India on Thursday, that he “doubted” the semi-final. He said the team had decided at its pre-match meeting to bat first if India won the toss and he had noticed that opener Navjot Sidhu had padded up before the toss, as was his habit, indicating that if India won the toss, he would be batting first.Kambli then said he was surprised when India decided to field first. The semi-final was abandoned following crowd trouble after India, chasing 252, were 120 for 8 – they were 98 for 1 at one stage – with Kambli unbeaten on 10. Kambli said in the interview that he would never forget the match because his career had ended after that game. “This ended my career. I was dropped from the team, I was made the scapegoat,” he said. Kambli was not available for comment following his TV interview.Saba Karim, the former India wicketkeeper who also appeared on the programme, told ESPNcricinfo that he had reminded Kambli that his career did not end then. “I said to him, Vinod, you played for India after that, we played together in Canada.” After the World Cup semi-final on March 13, 1996, Kambli played 35 ODIs for India.Azharuddin, appearing on , sought to dismiss Kambli’s allegations. “Absolutely rubbish. [He] doesn’t know what he is talking about.” Azharuddin said a “team decision” to field first was made at a meeting where, “Everyone was there, including the manager. Kambli must have been sleeping during the team meeting.” He said that after a discussion India had decided to field first. He conceded there were different points of view at the meeting but said the final decision was taken collectively.Azharuddin was handed a life ban by the BCCI in 2000 after a federal inquiry found him guilty of match-fixing. He denied the charges and is awaiting judgement on a suit filed by him.After the Indian sports minister Ajay Maken called for an investigation into Kambli’s claims, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla denied any further action was needed. “The BCCI had decided to ban Azhar on the basis of CBI report and there are no new circumstances to review the decision.”Sharad Pawar, the ICC president, also rejected the claims. “Kambli’s allegations are not logical. If he had concentrated on his game, we might have got another Sachin Tendulkar.”Sanjay Manjrekar, another member of that team, also sought to dismiss the allegation on Twitter. “1996 world cup semi-final – The decision to field first may have turned out to be a wrong decision but it was an honest cricketing decision.”Ajit Wadekar, who also spoke to Kambli on on Thursday night, said the decision to field first had been based on the Sri Lankan team’s excellent record at chasing scores at the World Cup. “The entire team felt that the Sri Lanka players were good chasers. Hence, the team felt that if India fielded first, Sri Lanka could be easily defeated. In the team meeting before the match it was decided that India would field in the event of winning the toss. The decision was taken after consultation with the entire team.”Former national selector Venkatapathy Raju, who also played that match, said that in the meeting Navjot Sidhu was the only person who believed they should have been batting first because the wicket was dry. Raju, speaking to Star News, called it “surprising” that Kambli was claiming this after 15 years.

India’s 126-run win against England in Hyderabad was a dramatic turnaround after they had been battered by the same opposition all summer, but Virat Kohli said they had been playing good cricket from the one-day series in England. Rather than any drastic change in approach, Kohli said it was the fact that the team had continued to stay positive through the 0-3 loss in the ODIs in England that allowed them to win the game.”I think we played really well in the ODIs in England,” Kohli said. “It was just a matter of crossing the line which we couldn’t do there. Unfortunately, a few times we had rain and Duckworth/Lewis coming in at the wrong time, though we can’t really blame that. We fought hard through that series and kept our heads high; and that probably made the difference in this first game here.”India were also helped by home conditions in Hyderabad and Kohli said the spinners would be the key through the series. The second ODI, on Monday, is at Kohli’s home ground – the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, where the pitch had been quite inconsistent during the IPL in April-May.”This pitch has always been on the slower side and there isn’t much bounce,” Kohli said. “Apparently it’s improved from before. You might not see too much bounce but it should be better than before.”In Hyderabad, it was slow and it spun, and the spinners did well. That’s our strength and we would like to exploit it as much as we can. The spinners know the conditions in India really well; it’s about them expressing their skills and if they get it right it’s very difficult to tackle them on Indian wickets.”England lost six wickets to the spinners in Hyderabad, and though they had more than a week in India to prepare for the series, Jade Dernbach says they are still adjusting to conditions. “Conditions here are very different from what we experience back home,” he said. “We have just got to adapt; we can’t use the different pitches as an excuse. We know what to expect and have had good preparation for ten days.”The pitch does play a part in how quickly I bowl, and how much pace I take off the ball for the slower ones. If the pitch is very slow, then obviously you get a lot more pace taken off if you bowl a slower ball, so it gives the batsman a bit more time to see it. Those are the things you have to adapt to in terms of deciding what variations to use, and you also have to consider boundary sizes and other things.”After the first one-dayer, MS Dhoni had said that while the pitches would help the spinners, the possibility of dew could play a big role in the series, as that would affect the spinners’ ability to grip the ball. “There will be some dew here in the winter,” Kohli said. “The team batting second will also have an advantage as the wicket will settle down. This is my home ground but I have played just two games here this year so I’ll have to see what happens in the match tomorrow.”England’s coach Andy Flower admitted his side had been out-fielded by India in the first ODI, something he said did not happen often. India have a young squad for the one-day series with several senior players missing, and Kohli said there had been a concerted effort to raise the standard of fielding.”We have started to warm-up for practice sessions with fielding now. It’s a daily routine though it’s left up to the individuals how much time they want to spend on fielding practice. Whenever you have time before nets or after practice, you go and put some time in on fielding.”All of us are trying to improve as a fielding unit because it makes a huge difference if you can save 10-15 runs in the first ten overs. It sends the opposition a message and from then on they are wary of taking you on for an extra run. It’s enjoyable fielding at home because you have 60,000 people backing you. If you are feeling a bit off one day the crowd lifts you. You can’t really teach someone to enjoy fielding as it comes from within.”

ScorecardWarwickshire moved to the top of the County Championship and into pole position to win the competition for the first time since 2004 with a crushing innings and 114-run win over Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston.Warwickshire needed only 80 minutes to take Nottinghamshire’s last four wickets and romp to their ninth win of the season this morning, with seamer Chris Wright taking his second five-wicket haul in three matches since he joined on loan from Essex. Wright, who is in negotiations with Warwickshire about a contract for next season, has now taken 19 wickets since he arrived at Edgbaston.Only Alex Hales, who carried his bat for 106 out of Nottinghamshire’s 222, offered prolonged resistance but Warwickshire still climbed above previous leaders Durham, who sat out the penultimate round of matches. It represents a remarkable turnaround for Warwickshire who were battling relegation 12 months ago while Nottinghamshire were on their way to the title.But the roles were reversed here with Warwickshire completing only the fifth double over Nottinghamshire in their history following a nine-wicket success at Trent Bridge in May.The biggest threat to Warwickshire’s victory hopes was posed by the weather. There was light rain around when the players arrived at the ground and further showers were forcecast for midday.But the rain cleared in time to allow play to start on time and Warwickshire made an early breakthrough when Paul Franks thick edged Rikki Clarke’s sixth ball of the day to Chris Metters at third slip. Andre Adams came out with the intention of attacking and he managed to pull Wright for one four.But the former New Zealand all-rounder was bowled next bowl when he tried to repeat the stroke against Wright and succeeded only in bottom-edging into his stumps. Hales, the only Nottinghamshire batsman to play with any composure in the second innings, survived a confident lbw appeal from Clarke and then drove the same bowler through the covers for his first boundary of the morning.Darren Pattinson never looked comfortable, even though he twice flayed Clarke through mid off for boundaries, and he was eventually undone by a yorker from Wright which he failed to dig out. Hales turned down easy singles in his last-wicket partnership with Luke Fletcher to ensure that he farmed the strike and completed his third century of the season.He got there by off driving Wright for his 12th four from 169 balls after which Fletcher went for his shots, including a huge pulled six off Boyd Rankin. Warwickshire turned to Chris Metters to wrap up their first innings win over Nottinghamshire since 1966, and the slow left-armer struck with his fourth ball of the match when Fletcher drove a long hop to cover.

Somerset 97 (Pitcher 5-42) and 248 (Kelly 6-73) lost to St George’s 188 (Anderson 52, Hurdle 5-38) and 148 for 8 (Crockwell 54, Cann 49*, Gilbert 5-30) by two wicketsFans celebrate after St George’s last-gasp victory•Bermuda Sun/James Whittaker

Ice cool Lionel Cann led St George’s to a thrilling Cup Match victory in a nerve shredding finale at Wellington Oval.Cann finished the innings in emphatic style with a six and a four to take St George’s past their victory target with two wickets in hand. He raced to the boundary and pumped his fists in a victory salute after striking the winning runs. His audacious counter-attacking innings of 49 not out was the pivotal performance in the match.Somerset’s teenage spinner Joshua Gilbert had turned the game on its head demolishing St George’s top order to give the west enders a scent of victory. Gilbert’s superb five-wicket haul, including the crucial scalp of opener Fiqre Crockwell who had looked untroubled on his way to 54, had St George’s teetering on 84 for 6 chasing 148 for victory in the final innings of the game.At that point Somerset’s tails were up. After being down and out for much of the match they were now the favourites, closing in on a first win in the east for three decades. But Cann had other ideas.Two huge sixes off the spin of Gilbert pushed things back in favour of the holders. As Cann counter-attacked, west enders skipper Jekon Edness suffered a loss of nerve. He pulled off his game-changing slow bowler after one expensive over and resorted to an all-seam attack.Malachi Jones and Kevin Hurdle continued to apply the pressure. And Delyone Borden, who blocked and parried for 20 balls, was soon back in the pavilion for just two, lbw to the pace of Jones. At that point it was 92 for 7, with 56 runs required to win the match and just Cann and the tail to bat.But Justin Pitcher, the five-wicket hero for St George’s in the first innings, stepped up to the plate alongside Cann. The two St David’s islanders crashed thier way towards the target, senior partner Cann clearing the ropes again with another huge six off the bowling of Janeiro Tucker. By the time Pitcher was out for ten, St George’s were 13 runs from victory.With Kelly looking nervous against the pace of Hurdle and Jones, Cann took matters into his own hands once again. He dispatched Jones for a huge six and followed it with a hook for four to spark wild celebrations in the east.An exultant Cann, stumps in hand, was quickly mobbed by crowds of youngsters as the blue and blue flags flew over Wellington Oval. Somerset were left to reflect on what might have been and the small consolation of having played thier part in one of the most exciting matches in recent history.From the moment the west enders collapsed to 97 all out before lunch on day one it was clear that the dreaded draw was out of the equation. Somerset contributed to thier own undoing on day one. Justin Pitcher and Stefan Kelly bowled tidily enough. But they were gifted a percentage of the nine wickets they shared in the Thursday morning demolition job.Jason Anderson showed them how it was done, batting sensibly to make an accomplished half-century that was the highlight of St George’s response of 188 all-out. Cann also contributed 38 in that first innings total but the east enders were almost made to pay for a late order collapse that saw them fall from 165 for 5 as Janeiro Tucker’s medium pace claiming four for seven late on Thursday.Somerset made a better stab of their second innings. A solid 31 from Terryn Fray gave them a platform. But their top order had no answer to the relentless pace and accuracy of the tireless Stefan Kelly.Kelly ran in all day, finishing with figures of 6 for 73 to claim a ten-wicket haul in the match. But with Pitcher unable to bowl after aggrevating an injury, it was largely a one-man job.Kamau Leverock, the 16-year-old colt, led the fightback for Somerset with a bullish 43. And a defiant tenth wicket stand of 53 from Kevin Hurdle and Joshua Gilbert edged the challengers towards a respectable total.Gilbert and Hurdle, looking organised and accomplished, showed the batsmen a thing or two about how to play two-day cricket. By the time the youngster was caught by Rodney Trott off the bowling of spinner Delyone Borden for 21, they had reached 238 all out, setting St George’s a challenging victory target of 148. Hurdle finished unbeaten on 27.Gilbert’s innings was his first significant contribution in the match, but it wouldn’t be his last. St George’s had looked to be crusing to victory, despite losing Jason Anderson for a duck in the second over of the innings. A commanding half-century from Crockwell, supported by Oronde Bascome put them in control on 72 for 1.But then Gilbert – a 17-year-old in his third Cup Match – changed the game. First Bascome was the victim of a smart stumping after coming down the track to the young spinner. Then key man OJ Pitcher was caught behind for 2. With the ball gripping and turning, St George’s were on the ropes. Allan Douglas managed one straight driven four before falling victim to Gilbert’s deadly off-breaks, skying a top edge to Jekon Edness.Next to fall was Rodney Trott, chipping aimlessly to Hurdle at midwicket, leaving Gilbert on his knees in ecstasy. He wasn’t finished yet. Crockwell, who had looked in supreme form on his way to 54, crumbled as the close fielders moved in and Somerset amped up the pressure.He top edged to Fray to give Gilbert his fifth wicket. This time the teenager embarked on a solo sprint to the boundary before collapsing in a heap. The huge grin etched across his face told the story. Somerset were on their way to victory.St George’s had crumbled from 70 for 1 to 84 for 6. Could this be the biggest turnaround in Cup Match history? At that point anything seemed possible.But Cann, who defied Somerset here two years ago with a match saving century, lives for pressure situations like this. He survived a dropped catch on four off the bowling of Jones, who jostled angrily with the batsman inbetween deliveries.But he shrugged off the sledging, accelerating from a measured start to crash a game-winning 49 from 42 balls. Not the longest innings or the highest total in the history of Cup Match, but surely one of the best.

In a series where a half-baked DRS is being used after Hawk-Eye was made optional, England are unconvinced by the Hot Spot technology after they were sure VVS Laxman had edged a delivery but the third umpire couldn’t overturn the decision.England were trying to force any early wicket on the second morning when James Anderson and the slips were convinced Laxman had got a thin edge which led to Andrew Strauss calling for a review. However, the Hot Spot camera didn’t show any white mark on the bat and despite the third umpire, Billy Bowden, saying he could hear a sound there wasn’t enough evidence for him to suggest to Asad Rauf that he should change his call.It led to a small confrontation between Laxman and Kevin Pietersen, but while that was soon nipped in the bud Broad admitted the players are beginning to have reservations about the part of DRS that is now the mandatory requirement.”All of our players thought that was quite a clear edge and Hot Spot hasn’t really shown up the faint edges which is a bit of a flaw I think,” he said. “There was a question of what it hit and the answer wasn’t what KP thought it was.”There is a suggestion that using Vaseline on the edge of a bat makes it difficult for the Hot Spot cameras to detect an edge, but Broad confirmed for himself that Laxman had used nothing on his equipment. “I actually had a cheeky feel of his edge when the ball went past, but there’s no Vaseline or anything on there,” he admitted. “I think it’s just Hot Spot, we’ve found the really faint edges don’t show up. It’s just one of those things.”The DRS can only be used for catches in this series after an agreement between the teams that it wouldn’t be implemented for any element of lbws following the ruling at the ICC meetings in Hong Kong last month to make ball-tracking optional. India are very sceptical of the accuracy of the Hawk-Eye technology, but England have always said they would prefer the full system to be used.They have experienced both sides of the current set-up during this Test. In the first innings Alastair Cook was lbw to a delivery passing over the stumps but on the second day they benefited from the lack of reviews when Harbhajan Singh, the middle victim of Broad’s hat-trick, was given leg before despite a big inside edge. In the previous Test at Lord’s, Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina survived lbw shouts that would have been overturned with the full DRS. Overall, though, the standard of on-field umpiring in the two Tests has been outstanding.Although the potential flashpoint at Laxman’s survival didn’t escalate there was an England player who found himself in trouble. Graeme Swann was reprimanded by the ICC after kicking off the bails in frustrating at the end of his 12th and final over during a tough day with the ball where he conceded 76 runs.Swann is the second player to be pulled up by the ICC on the opening two days of this match after Praveen Kumar was fined 20% of his match fee on Friday, following an outburst at Marais Erasmus, when an lbw appeal against Pietersen which was turned down.

ScorecardSouth Africa A beat Zimbabwe XI by one run in a nail-biting match in Harare, to score their first points in the tri-series. Chasing 239, Zimbabwe needed two off the last ball, but came off second as Rusty Theron held his nerve to bowl a wicket-taking dot.Zimbabwe were steered through most of their innings by captain Brendan Taylor, who scored 98. While there were no other half-centuries from the line-up, the next six batsmen got into double figures, making sure Zimbabwe were on course in the chase. They took the third Powerplay in the 43rd over, needing 77 off 48 balls with seven wickets in hand. With a close finish looming, a five-ball 45th over did the hosts no favours. It came down to the last ball, off which Theron had Forster Mutizwa stumped.Choosing to bat, South Africa’s innings was similar to that of Zimbabwe’s in that it was guided by a patient 98 by the captain-opener, Jacques Rudoplh. Three wickets went down in the first 15 overs at the other end, leaving South Africa in a spot of trouble at 52 for 3. But wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn complemented Rudolph well, scoring 61 off 70 balls as the pair added 116 runs. Cameos from the lower-middle order followed, pushing the score to a competitive 238. Prosper Utseya was the pick of the bowlers, picking up four middle order wickets.Rudolph was named Man of the Match. Zimbabwe take on Australia A on Sunday, at the same venue, in the next game of the tournament.

ScorecardAlex Hales and Samit Patel staked their claim for England one-day selection as Nottinghamshire extended their unbeaten start to the Friends Life t20 with a ten-run victory over Warwickshire at Trent Bridge. Opener Hales struck 11 fours in an innings of 67 from 40 balls, while Patel hit a quick-fire 37 not out before excelling with the ball, conceding just 18 runs from his four overs and claiming one wicket.Nottinghamshire totalled 173 for 6 after batting first, with Adam Voges contributing 39, and the their disciplined bowling held back the visitors as three wickets fell inside the first four overs. Powerful blows from England seamer Chris Woakes gave Warwickshire a degree of hope but needing 21 off the final over bowled by Darren Pattinson, they could only manage 10, Woakes finishing on 44 not out.After Riki Wessels was caught at mid-off in the second over, Hales and Voges put on 83 for the second wicket in nine overs, capitalising on loose bowling to push the hosts to 96 at halfway. Voges was outfoxed by a slower ball from Steffan Piolet, who accounted for Nottinghamshire captain David Hussey in his next over to finish with excellent figures of 2 for 28.Piolet’s medium-pace combined with the offspin of New Zealander Jeetan Patel to slow Nottinghamshire’s run-rate, with Darren Maddy removing Hales and Chris Read in consecutive overs. But having played himself in and being dropped on 19 by Woakes off Maddy in the 19th over, Patel then hit three fours and two sixes off the final nine balls to push to 173.Pattinson then gave the hosts the perfect start having Varun Chopra caught behind first ball, before Luke Fletcher yorked William Porterfield and trapped Neil Carter lbw.Patel and Steven Mullaney strangled the Warwickshire batsmen after the Powerplay overs, with Maddy (28) driving a return catch to Mullaney and Patel having Jim Troughton caught on the boundary. Mullaney dismissed the dangerous Rikki Clarke before Woakes smashed 20 off Andy Carter’s third over to restore Warwickshire hopes. Hussey had Tim Ambrose caught at short third man and despite another six from Woakes, the 22-year-old could not force a remarkable Warwickshire victory.

An embryonic proposal for cricket to match Australian football’s financial contribution to the Adelaide Oval redevelopment has been passed on to Cricket Australia.The AFL has stated its intention to make a significant financial investment in the Aus$ 535 million Oval upgrade, and CA are understood to have been informally asked for a similar investment in the project. However the prospect of CA providing money to help take the Oval’s capacity to 50,000 has been met with little enthusiasm by cricket administrators.Unlike the AFL, CA have never taken on a responsibility to invest in the upkeep of grounds around the country. Its board comprises representatives from the state associations who are each responsible for the maintenance of their own venues. Money earned from the game at a national level is funnelled back into the states, while CA’s coffers are committed to the development of the national team and the growth of the game around the country.”Cricket Australia doesn’t make capital investments in venues. Our charter is based around organising and implementing cricket programming – we don’t invest in infrastructure,” a CA spokesman told . “It is nothing to do with our financial situation, all to do with our governance structure. The states are responsible for their cricket grounds.”Adelaide Oval’s upgrade, due to be completed by 2014, was cleared to proceed earlier this month when South Australian Cricket Association members voted overwhelmingly in favour of changing the SACA constitution to allow control of the venue to be handed over to the Stadium Management Authority, comprising representatives from cricket and football. The arrangement will effectively cede major control of the ground to football as the venue’s major revenue-raiser ahead of cricket.The SMA has publicly stated its desire to seek out all possible options to add funding to the project.Football’s financial strength was placed in sharp relief by the meeting of Australian sports CEOs at an annual lunch in Sydney. Having just negotiated a new television rights deal that reaped a staggering $1.253 billion for the AFL, the league’s chief executive Andrew Demetriou spoke of the war-chest available for the creation of two new expansion clubs in Queensland and New South Wales.”We spent three years planning for both those clubs,” Demetriou said. “We’ve budgeted $20 million over the first six years and we’ve allocated those funds. There’s a contingency fund if things don’t go right, but we are working with those clubs to promote off-field revenue and on-field success with the support of the other 16 clubs.”Clearly the AFL has the sort of financial clout that CA, and all other sporting bodies in Australia, can only dream of, allowing the league to invest in projects like the oval upgrade. By contrast, part of the $535 million cost of the project, to be largely funded by the South Australian government, is destined to go towards debt relief for the SACA following the earlier construction of the new Western Stand.Cricket in Australia remains largely dependent on Indian money to balance budgets, something that has struck a slight hurdle in recent months due to the strength of the Australian dollar relative to the Indian and US currencies. Meanwhile the AFL is yet to finalise exactly how much it will contribute to Adelaide Oval.”We haven’t had a discussion on that yet, it’ll be in the millions but we’re waiting for costings and the financial planning to be completed,” an AFL spokesman said.