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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Rahul Dravid ended his fallow run with a determined century© Getty Images

India, led by Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir, put on a show of batting might at Chittagong, ending the first day on 334 for 2. Dravid ended his dry run with an unbeaten 145 that made him the first cricketer to score Test hundreds in all ten Test-playing nations, while Gambhir scored his first, an attractive 139. They came together when Virender Sehwag fell early on, and went about decimating a modest attack on a heartbreakingly flat pitch. There was no respite for Bangladesh even when they were parted, for Sachin Tendulkar took control and ended the day with a flurry of boundaries.After his 270 against Pakistan in April, Dravid endured a run of low scores and batting seemed to have become a struggle. In the last Test he had the mortification of being bowled for duck while offering no stroke. But today, the confident strokeplay returned as he marched to his 18th Test hundred, which he brought up with a cover-driven four off the back foot in the first over after tea. It took him 196 balls to reach the mark.A feature of the 259-run stand between Dravid and Gambhir, India’s highest second-wicket partnership abroad, was the beauty of their strokes. Gambhir was fed a stream of hittable deliveries outside off, which he eagerly cut and drove to the boundary. In one over by Nazmul Hossain, Gambhir effortlessly split the field on four occasions. He brought up his 50 in 60 balls, and scored his next 50 in 71. By then he had hit 16 fours, many of which had enviable placement and timing, and allowed Dravid to bat himself in.

Gautam Gambhir struck his first Test hundred against a largely ineffective attack© Getty Images

Dravid began circumspectly, but quickened the pace after lunch. He scored a number of his runs down the ground as the bowlers strayed in both line and length. There were cover-drives and on-drives as well. One push off Talha Jubair, timed well, threaded through a narrow gap between two fielders in the covers and raced to the ropes.Barring Mashrafe Mortaza, none of the bowlers threatened the batsmen. Hossain found swing but no pace, while Jubair – who swung the ball at 130kph – was wayward and expensive. However, Hossain, making his first-class debut as well as his Test one, claimed his first wicket when Gambhir attempted a pull and dragged the ball onto his stumps instead (273 for 2). His 139 came off 196 balls.Then Tendulkar asserted his dominance over the bowlers, playing a series of cover-drives and flicks to the leg side to end the day on 36. He ran hard, hit hard, and displayed form that would worry most teams. Bangladesh struggled, and had a hard time on the field, while India had it easy. A little too easy, perhaps, for this game to be an accurate barometer of their form.

Khaled Mahmud warms up under the watchful eye of Dav Whatmore

It is just as well that the England tour party has received a massive injection of new blood for the one-day series against Bangladesh, which begins at Chittagong tomorrow morning. Because on paper at least, the only thing that could possibly prevent them from achieving a 3-0 clean-sweep would be fatigue, borne of the most brutal fitness regime they have ever been subjected to.The recent Test series may have showcased Bangladesh’s new competitive spirit (albeit briefly) but it would be nothing short of a miracle if they reproduced that same defiance over the coming week. Forty-four matches have gone by since Bangladesh’s last victory of any description, that dubious performance against Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup. In the intervening four-and-a-half years, they haven’t even threatened a repeat performance in one-day cricket. Kenya have rolled them over in six matches out of seven all told, and even Canada had their day in the sun at the last World Cup. If one-day cricket is a lottery, then Bangladesh would be better off investing in stocks and shares.Once again, it is Bangladesh’s batting that is their biggest drawback. In Test cricket, Dav Whatmore’s influence is slowly being brought to bear, but it takes more than a gritty attitude to overcome years of batting on puddingy pitches in a sub-standard club competition, particularly when runs are of the essence. After 79 one-day internationals, just one batsman – Mehrab Hossain – has made a century, and he has since retired. Their fielding may have improved markedly in recent months, but in the absence of Mashrafe Mortaza, their one genuine strike bowler, Bangladesh face being run ragged by an England side brimming with big-hitters. This will be all the more likely if the top wicket-taker in the Test series, Mohammad Rafique, is ruled out with a thigh strain.Quite simply, England have to win, and win well. For once, the ICC one-day championship table is in agreeance. Its convoluted ratings system currently believes England to be the third-best one-day team in the world, although with six countries separated by three points, any slip-up would leave them dangling in a highly appropriate eighth place.

James Anderson: back in England colours

England have traditionally treated one-day matches with a somewhat blasé attitude, but Michael Vaughan admitted that the pressure to perform was all-too-apparent in this brief series, especially after England’s victories over South Africa and Pakistan in the summer. “We are building for the future, but I expect us to win out here,” he said. “[In the summer] we were up against some good teams and I guess the pressure was off us in some ways. But we’ve come to Bangladesh and we expect to win, so the pressures are different straightaway.”For a team that has left nothing to chance on this tour, England have taken quite a punt on Bangladesh’s lowly reputation. In tomorrow’s opening fixture, they will be fielding one of the least inexperienced teams in their history, with an average of 30 ODI matches per head. Darren Gough has been left at home to contemplate his last (and first) hurrah in the Caribbean next April, which means that Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Flintoff are the only survivors from England’s last match against Bangladesh, in the 2000-01 ICC Knockout at Nairobi. There is no doubting the huge potential of England’s line-up, however, especially if the middle-order triumvirate of Flintoff, Rikki Clarke and Ian Blackwell come good. Clarke must first recover from a virus, along with England’s bowling hero of the Chittagong Test, Richard Johnson.England will have learned nothing from yesterday’s farcical warm-up fixture against the BCB Development XI. But Flintoff and Blackwell will have enjoyed the feeling of bat on ball, while Ashley Giles will be grateful for three cheap wickets after an ignominious Test series. He has now sorted out his run-up and regained a spring in his step, and should be heartened by a drier, balder Chittagong wicket than the greentop that was prepared last week.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Vikram Solanki, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Rikki Clarke, 7 Ian Blackwell, 8 Chris Read (wk), 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Richard Johnson, 11 James Anderson.Bangladesh (from) 1 Khaled Mahmud (capt), 2 Hannan Sarkar, 3 Nafis Iqbal, 4 Moniruzzaman, 5 Habibul Bashar, 6 Rajin Saleh, 7 Alok Kapali, 8 Mushfiqur Rahman, 9 Khaled Mashud (wk), 10 Mohammad Rafique, 11 Manzural Islam, 12 Jamaluddin, 13 Tapash Baisya, 14 Anwar Munir.

FULL NAME: Richard William Sims
BORN: At Chinhoyi, 23 July 1979
MAJOR TEAMS: CFX Academy (1999/2000), Manicaland (2000/01 to date). Presentclub team: Mutare Sports Club.
KNOWN AS: Richard/Richie Sims. Nicknames: Gwil (from his father’s name)
BATTING STYLE: Right Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE: Right Arm Off Spin
OCCUPATION: CFX Academy student
FIRST-CLASS DEBUT: 10-12 March 2000, CFX Academy v Midlands, at Kwekwe
TEST DEBUT: Still awaited
ODI DEBUT: Still awaited
BIOGRAPHY (updated January 2002)Unusually, Richie Sims comes from a family with no interest in cricket, yet he had an outstanding record as a player at junior school. In his early adult career he did not quite maintain the promise he showed in his earliest years, but was rather belatedly offered a place at the CFX Academy and thus given a new chance to make a name for himself in the cricket world.Richie’s first encounter with the game came in his Grade Two year at Rydings Primary School in the northern area of Mashonaland. His father, who was a baseball player and obviously passed on his ball skills to his son, was a farmer at Banket, northwest of Harare and not far from Chinhoyi, where Richie’s mother went for his birth. Richie lived all his life on the farm until he left school.Richie says that he first played in the small school’s Colts side in Grade Two as they were short of players, and did well enough to keep his place, spending four years in the colts side and then two in the senior team. His highest score for the school team was 144, which he made twice, and his best bowling 10 wickets for 15 runs and 8 wickets for no runs, bowling as fast as he could, but he cannot remember the opposition. He thinks he scored four or five centuries at junior school, opening the innings and also captaining the side. He represented Northwestern Districts in the primary schools cricket week, although he cannot remember his performances, and in his final year he was selected for the national primary schools team. His coach then had the name, as far as he recalls, of Pat Geary, and he did most to prepare Richie for cricket.He progressed to Lomagundi College and played in the team throughout, captaining all his age-group teams until Form Three, when he started playing for the school senior side halfway through the year. He did not maintain quite the same prodigious standard he had shown at junior school, scoring just one century during his years there, against an English school touring the country. “I got a few wickets here and there,” he said, now bowling medium-pace seamers. “The coaches weren’t really qualified at high school and we just went through the motions, really.” He does not offer this as an excuse, but perhaps it accounts for his less productive years.Despite his lesser performances at high school he played for national teams at Under-13 and Under-15 levels, and says his deeds there were `fairly average, really’. He later changed his bowling style again to off-spin, considering himself and all-rounder, although his bowling at first received limited opportunities. “There aren’t many of us [off-spinners] around,” he says. “So I thought I would give it a bash and see how it goes.”He left school at the end of 1997 and did a computer-programming course in Harare for two years before applying to join the Academy. He played cricket for Old Hararians and also winter league for Chinhoyi, where he regained some of his best form, recording three centuries for them. For Old Hararians he `scored a few fifties and took a few wickets’.His interest in cricket was still great, though, and he decided, largely on his own initiative, to apply for the CFX Academy for the year 2000, and was duly accepted. His parents, despite their lack of interest in cricket, gave him their backing. Richie thinks it was mainly his record as a representative player in age-group teams over the years that earned him selection over other candidates. He pays tribute to Dave Houghton who has recently joined the coaching staff at the Academy and has helped him develop his game.Richie played in two of the Academy’s four Logan Cup matches early in 2000, but without success. He had little personal success, “but it was very good fun and I learned a lot from it. I learned how to approach things better mentally, instead of just walking out on the field and playing.” In 2001 he was been posted to Manicaland for the remaining two years of his contract. “It will be quite a good experience,” he said at the time, although as yet he knew little of the area. When given the choice of Harare or Mutare, he enterprisingly chose the latter and has not regretted it. He speaks enthusiastically about the progress made by cricket in the province and his coaching at the local high school.Richie flourished in Mutare, making runs and taking good wickets for the Mutare Sports Club side. His performances, which included league centuries against Harare Sports Club and Universals, and two Logan Cup fifties, earned him recognition in the Zimbabwe Board XI. His best performance for them to date is his eighty in the match against Gauteng B, which was a vital contribution towards victory in a run chase.As a batsman Richie likes to bat between numbers four and six. He feels his main strength is in the drive, and considers himself as a straight hitter, although he also plays the pull well. He has only recently taken to bowling off-spin, but has developed an arm ball – `and a fast straight one and a slow straight one!’. He suffers, though, from the lack of an off-spinning mentor in the country now that John Traicos has immigrated to Australia. He usually fields in close as he cannot throw well after an arm operation after a rugby injury at school, or `in the ring’ in one-day cricket.Richie was also a notable rugby player at scrum-half who represented Zimbabwe Schools, and the injury took place on tour in South Africa, during Craven Week. It does not affect his bowling, but he still cannot throw well, and persuaded him to give up rugby to concentrate on cricket. He has had no major cricket injuries, although he did suffer some back trouble in Form Two which persuaded him to give up fast bowling. He represented national rugby teams from junior school upwards and says, “I’ve actually made more rugby national sides than I’ve made cricket!”In 2000 he played for Helensburgh, west of Glasgow in Scotland, and had a good season, taking `lot of wickets, with two hundreds, three nineties and a lot of fifties’. He averaged about 51 with the bat for the season. He returned again in 2001, and despite having a great many matches rained off managed a good season with three centuries. He also did plenty of bowling, with success.When his career is over he may well put his computer training to good use or perhaps take up farming, although he knows that the present situation for farmers in the country is not good. “But it’s quite far away, I hope!” he says.Cricket heroes: Ian Botham, Shane Warne and Steve Waugh. “I haven’t really tried to model my game on anybody, but I admire Steve Waugh because of the way he plays, and I try to play like him.”Toughest opponents: “The fastest bowler I ever faced was Travis Friend. Heath Streak is accurate and it’s hard to score runs off him. I haven’t really played against any of the higher-class batsmen; there are no really outstanding players at club cricket.”Personal ambitions: “Obviously to play for Zimbabwe; that’s about it at the moment. I’d like to play club cricket for England for a long time still, and maybe in New Zealand.”Proudest achievement: “Funnily enough it was getting Sportsman of the Year at high school, and also making Zim Schools rugby in Upper Sixth.”Best friends in cricket: “I’ve got a lot of friends: John Vaughan-Davies, Colin Delport, Greg Lamb, Travis Friend, Ryan King . . . everyone at the Academy, really!”Other sports: “Occasionally I play squash and golf, and go fishing.” He also played tennis, hockey and athletics (cross-country) as school besides rugby.Outside interests: Fishing, going to Kariba and the Zambezi, relaxing and watching videos, hanging round with my mates. “When I’m not playing cricket I’d rather hang around with my mates who aren’t playing cricket so we don’t talk about it!”

After beginning both their bowling and batting in lacklustre fashion,Indian Railways came through strongly thanks to a thoroughlyprofessional performance. Beating West Zone by 74 runs, IndianRailways notched up their second win of the series and handed WestZone their first loss.West Zone have won both the matches they have played so far. IndianRailways have played one match (against Central Zone), winning it inconvincing fashion and are looking to further their chances in thetournament. The clash between the two teams at the Railway Stadiumwould decide who had the upper hand in the tournament.Indian Railways along with Air India are the established big teams. Inthe past they have dominated tournaments almost completely. A lot ofpeople expected the same of the CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy 2000. WestZone apparently were not told about this. In what must be called aspirited effort, the West Zone team snatched the initiative from thefirst over of the innings.As she has done so efficiently in the past, the West Zone skipperKalyani took the new ball herself when she lost the toss and was askedto field. Beginning with a maiden, Kalyani set the tone for the restof the bowlers. At the other end, Neelima Waghmare bowled withdetermination. Having bowled out her 10 overs on the trot yesterday,she proceeded to the same today. In just the 4th over, she beatPurnima Chowdury for pace, leaving the stumps in disarray. Despitebeing injured while fielding, she soldiered on, never losing out onpace. Attempting to field a ball on the rather uneven outfield, shewas surprised by uneven bounce and took a knock on the side of herhead.Turning down offers of treatment till she finished her spell, Neelimaended with figures of 10-5-10-1. What more could a captain ask for?What made the spell specially valuable was the fact that it cameagainst one of the better teams of the tournament. In starting withsuch a tight spell, the advantage was with West Zone.Sonali Chandok who has been the pick of the spinners so far once againdrove the point home, beginning her spell with a wicketmaiden. Beating Reshma Gandhi through the air, she had her caught atmid off by Neelima. After the fall of two early wickets IndianRailways were forced to spend a period of time consolidating theirinnings.West Zone too had its share of problems. After the frontline bowlershad done their bit, they seemed to be short of one bowler. SonaliChandok was clearly not at her best and was taken off after an initialspell of 4-2-11-1. Batting all rounder Chandarani bowled her offspinners rather loosely and was taken apart by Hemalatha. The 32ndover of the innings, bowled by Chandarani read 4 4 4 . 4 1. That tookall the pressure of the Indian Railways batswomen.Hemalatha grew in confidence as the overs progressed and the runsbegan to come thick and fast. She swung the ball effortlessly throughthe on side, unafraid to take the aerial route. Even the few chancesthat were on offer for West Zone went abegging as Sulakshana Naik hada bad day behind the stumps. Failing to collect the ball cleanly onmore than one occasion, the ball squirted through and stumpingopportunities were missed.When Hemalatha was finally caught in the deep by Vaishali playing atired shot, she had already made an invaluable 69. Kalyani had thedismissal to her credit, but by then, the damage was done. 45 overshad were completed and Indian Railways were well on their way to afighting total.After Hemalatha’s dismissal, Deepa Kulkarni took on the mantle ofsenior batswoman and continued the assault. Hitting crisply throughthe line, she helped herself to an unbeaten half century, crossing thelandmark in the last over of the innings. Indian Railways ended theirinnings on 184/5.Star of yesterday’s game Amutha Shinde and experienced campaigner ArtiVaidya got West Zone off to a flyer. Tackling the Indian Railwaysopening bowlers with ease, the right and left combination carted theball to all corners of the park. Driving and cutting powerfullythrough the off side the two took West Zone at a pace of almost fourruns an over till the 10th over. Then Indian Railways veteran DianaEduljee made her presence felt.Coming in to the attack with the score on 38/0 after 10 overs, Dianacompletely sealed one end, giving away no runs. Bowling two maidens onthe trot, she began to apply the brakes on the West Zone batting. Inher third over, she let two balls slip down the leg side and waswhipped away behind square for boundaries by Amrutha. Was thestranglehold broken? Far from it. When she was on 44, Amrutha tried toheave Rupanjali Shastri through the on side and missed theball. Rapped on the pads, she was adjudged leg before. With the scoreon 61, the momentum shifted completely towards Indian Railways.West Zone skipper Kalyani walked in amidst high expectation. Indeed,it would take an innings of character from her to see West Zonethrough. What happened in the next few minutes sealed West Zone’sfate. Running late on what was a tight single to begin with, Kalyaniwas found well short of her ground by a direct hit from RenuMargaret. With the captain gone without scoring West Zone’s hopes wereall but dashed.While Arti Vaidya waged a lone battle at one end, wickets tumbled atthe other. Spinners operating in tandem made run scoring verydifficult. Arti showed vast reserves of defiance, not getting boggeddown by the tight bowling. Every once in a while she took theinitiative, came down the wicket and lofted the ball over the infield.When Arti was caught behind attempting to cut spinner Deepa Kulkarniit was curtains for West Zone. Her innings of 33 bolstered WestZone. While she was at the crease there was at least the hope of alate charge.A silent West Zone dressing room watched the proceedings gloomily astheir side slumped to 110 all out after being 61 for no loss.Diana Eduljee proved to be the big difference between the twoteams. Having played the game for years now, she knew every trick inthe trade and did not hesitate to unveil a few. When Indian Railwayswere batting her voice could be heard loud and clear from the dressingroom appealing for wides. When Arti Vaidya, in some ways the lasthurdle for Indian Railways, was dismissed, Diana ran across andcongratulated the umpire for upholding the appeal. Needless to say,the umpire did not appreciate the gesture. Call it playing the gamehard or call it gamesmanship (gameswomanship in this case?). Eitherway, it won Indian Railways a game that had virtually slipped out oftheir grasp.

Despite Tottenham’s demolition of Everton, Antonio Conte has admitted some issues in translating his style to the players at Hotspur Way without a full pre-season.

The Lowdown: Conte’s start to life at Spurs

The Italian has experienced mixed results since arriving at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

In Conte’s first six league games in charge, Spurs won four times and drew the other two – embarking on a strong start to life in north London.

More recently, the Lilywhites have suffered some major inconsistencies in form. Spurs have lashed out in bizarre fashion following a defeat at Burnley.

However, Tottenham have now scored nine goals in their last two games, potentially illustrating the initial stages of the Italian’s transformation of the team.

The Latest: Conte’s claim

In his press conference following his side’s 5-0 thrashing of Everton, Conte made a claim about his management style at Tottenham, admitting it is difficult to implement without a pre-season period as games come thick and fast.

As quoted by football.london, he said:

“The problem when we have to prepare to play in two or three days is not simple. Don’t forget that with this team I didn’t start the season. I haven’t had the possibility to have one month to work with the team in pre-season and try to work and instil my idea of football. We did this playing games, important games for three points.

 “I think that I am seeing my work. I am seeing what we are working on every day, what we are trying in this situation where I’m trying to improve them.” 

The Verdict: Slow burner?

Whilst the Italian is renowned for instant results which are often shortly lived, demonstrated by his stints with Inter Milan and Chelsea, Conte may be more of a slow burner at Tottenham.

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For example, Spurs have averaged 1.75 points per match with the 52-year-old in charge. Whereas, during his previous two-year tenures with Inter and Chelsea, they averaged 2.11 and 2.12 points per game respectively.

Indeed, Daniel Levy will need to give the gaffer time and resources to make fundamental changes at the club, allowing them to eventually get to the level of those former Conte squads.

In other news: Tottenham Hotspur: Conte shares Sessegnon injury ‘problem’

Ricky Ponting: “Other countries have to start looking at not playing as many drawn games” © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting has challenged the rest of the world to adopt a more attacking attitude in a bid to get more people interested in Tests. Television audiences for the first game in Brisbane were down and barely 1200 people watched the final day of Australia’s success, but Ponting believes his players are making the game entertaining.”That is one thing we’ve done particularly well over a long period of time,” he said before Friday’s second game in Hobart. “If you look at the way we score our runs, the way we have been able to bowl in Test cricket, we have made the overall game a lot more attractive than other countries have.”The emergence of Twenty20 has shifted the focus from the longer forms of the game, but Ponting, who considers Tests the pinnacle, did not believe the problem was Australia’s domination. In Hobart, Australia will aim for their 14th win in a row and they have not lost a Test since 2005.”Maybe it’s not so much us,” he said. “Maybe the other countries have to start looking at maybe not playing as many drawn games, maybe challenging themselves a bit more to start winning and having results in Test matches. If you do that I think you will see people come back to the game.”The Australian team meetings have not contained talk of their assault on the 16-match winning streak achieved by Steve Waugh’s side in 2001, but it is on the players’ minds. However, they are not motivated by trying to achieve rule changes as a mark of their reign, which was a goal raised by Waugh and John Buchanan when they working together.”That sort of stuff is a fair way off yet,” Ponting said. “Let’s not forget that it was one win up in Brisbane and this game can change really quickly. It’s up to us to keep a reasonable-sized step ahead of the pack, but you only do that with hard work and performances when it matters. We’ve got that ahead of us yet.”

Jason Gillespie in action for Yorkshire in 2006 © Getty Images

Jason Gillespie has rejoined Yorkshire as the county’s second overseas player for 2007.Gillespie, 31, will join Pakistan batsman Younis Khan at Headingley. He claimed 36 wickets in last year’s County Championship at an average of 36.33.”His performance in the latter part of 2006 played a significant part in maintaining our Division One status and his work-rate, attitude and commitment to Yorkshire were exemplary,” chief executive Stewart Regan said. “Jason is a model professional who always spends time with our younger supporters and is always willing to assist the club however he can.”Gillespie has played 71 Tests for Australia and 97 one-day internationals, but has rarely featured since his country’s Ashes tour of 2005 and did not play in the first three Tests of the current series and is not in the squad for the fourth.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials have met with the interior secretary and other government officials to discuss next month’s home series against India, The News has learnt.According to available details, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and director board operations Abbas Zaidi met with interior secretary Kamal Shah and other interior ministry officials on Saturday in Islamabad to discuss some security issues related to the Indian tour.”The Pakistan Board has got some feelers from India that they still have some security concerns regarding playing a Test in Karachi and the Indian board will probably send a high-level security inspection team soon to finalise security arrangements for the tour,” a board source said.He said that even during the meeting with President General Pervez Musharraf, Shaharyar had discussed the Indians’ tour and had been told in clear words that India must play a Test in Karachi after the successful organisation of the one-day game against England. “The fact is that again there are some issues related to Karachi which is one of the reasons why the Indian board is delaying approving the proposed itinerary sent to them by Pakistan.”Under the proposed itinerary, which has already been amended twice, India are due to arrive in Lahore on January 5 and then play Tests at Lahore, Faisalabad and Karachi with the one-dayers at Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan and then Karachi. Pakistan are keen to get the itinerary finalised and released by next week due to logistical and other reasons.Last year when India toured Pakistan for their historic ground breaking series, they refused to play a Test at Karachi and only played a one-dayer in the southern port city which was a major incident free success. England also shunned Karachi as a Test venue on their current tour but relented to a one-dayer. Touring teams have shunned Karachi which has been at the centre of militant and sectarian related violence which, however, has been controlled by the government in the last one year.The source said Shaharyar and Zaidi had met with Kamal Shah to get a clear directive and guideline on security issues surrounding the Indians’ tour specifically Karachi. The Indians say they have sent the proposed itinerary to their government for final clearance and want to discuss it one final time with their team management before approving it.

Ian Harvey: will he pass the fitness test?© Getty Images

The Victoria selectors have named the squads to play against New South Wales in the upcoming ING Cup and Pura Cup matches. The teams will clash at the Junction Oval, first on Sunday, in the ING Cup encounter, and then on Tuesday in the Pura Cup.The team for Sunday’s one-day match remains unchanged from the side that were narrowly defeated by WA in last week’s rain-interrupted clash. Ian Harvey was named in the Pura Cup squad but will undergo a fitness test prior to the game.Squad for ING Cup game
1 Cameron White (capt), 2 Adam Crosthwaite, 3 Gerard Denton, 4 Matthew Elliott, 5 Brad Hodge, 6 David Hussey, 7 Brad Knowles, 8 Michael Lewis, 9 Andrew McDonald, 10 Jonathan Moss, 11 Graeme Rummans,12 Tim Welsford.Squad for Pura Cup game
1 Cameron White (capt), 2 Matthew Elliott, 3 Ian Harvey, 4 Brad Hodge, 5 David Hussey, 6 Mathew Inness, 7 Brendan Joseland, 8 Michael Lewis, 9 Andrew McDonald, 10 Jonathan Moss, 11 Peter Roach, 12 Graeme Rummans, 13 Allan Wise.

Behind the bullet points and corporate speak, what does ‘Pushing the Boundaries’ really mean?The simple answer is:New Zealand Cricket intends to pursue the goal of excellence, not only on the New Zealand stage, but the world front by:Producing clear, decisive and innovative leadershipRecognising that people are critical to successContinued growth of the gameA relentless drive to win and to dominate international cricketHaving a strong and sustainable commercial base.Some key factors in achieving this will be the adoption of an organisational risk identification, assessment and management programme. This will allow NZC to monitor the financial performance of the Major Associations and also its various processes.Service Level Agreements (SLAs) will be established with each Major Association and funding will be provided with the SLAs to ensure NZC strategies can be delivered.As part of the policy’s plan, special emphasis will be placed on the retention of young women in the game, and on increasing the participation of Maori and Pacific peoples. It is also intended that the national development policies and programmes must have the best possible support infrastructure providing quality coaches, umpires, scorers, statisticians and playing facilities to stimulate the continual development of the game. The place of volunteers will be recognised and encouraged.Central to these aims will be specific development pathways in the playing and coaching of the game at all levels. Current and former players will be encouraged to become coaches and past coaches will be targeted to come back to the game. Umpires and scorers and statisticians will also be targeted to increase their respective contributions.At the lower levels, administrators will be encouraged to indulge in succession planning with training also provided for future administrators. Playing facilities will continue to be addressed with more in-depth research programmes and the implementation of a warrant of fitness for standards at international and domestic levels for pitches and outfields, practice and player facilities.A strategy will also be developed to protect cricket’s right to have access to dual-purpose grounds while NZC will also develop and/or support new technology to enhance playing facilities.The administration has also signalled that at the elite level it is not prepared to be satisfied with a No 3 Test ranking or No 5 in the one-day structure. Beefed up coaching strategies are to be sought at elite and domestic levels while coaching development will see reseach aimed at development world leading coaching and performance enhancing practices, which will be central to the overall coaching network in the country.Those players chosen at the front end of the strategy should want for nothing as they seek to push their own performance boundaries. Those players will also have a greater role to play in the presentation of the game to the public.It is a radical upgrade to the policy already enacted by the Hood Report, but it is vital to New Zealand Cricket’s continued expansion as one of the leading sports performers on the national and international scene. And it starts now.