A statement issued by Clive Field, chief executive of the Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers’ AssociationDespite a number of recent attempts to find a way forward with ZC regarding the various issues outstanding in the negotiations between ZPCA and ZC, I have not been able to provide ZPCA with any progress.ZPCA have thus instructed me to issue the following public statement on their behalf:1. ZPCA fail to comprehend how ZC can close its offices early and at short notice for its annual shutdown, when important operational issues still remain outstanding between ZPCA and ZC. To recap briefly on these:Contractual issues

David Shepherd, who last season retired from international umpiring, has been awarded Honorary Life Membership of MCC – the guardian of the Lawsof the game.Shepherd made an immense contribution to cricket, first as a player with Gloucestershire and, more recently, as an umpire who stood in 92 Test matches and172 one-day internationals – including three successive World Cup Finals between 1996 and 2003.”I am honoured and delighted to have been given lifetime membership of MCC,” said Shepherd. “It has capped a truly memorable year for me. I have many cherished memories from my career as both a player and umpire, and standing in a World Cup Final at Lord’s – the `home of cricket’ – is right up thereamongst them.”Lord’s is a wonderful ground and I look forward to returning there, as an MCC LifeMember, for many seasons to come.”Roger Knight, MCC’s secretary & chief executive, said: “It is fitting that MCC, as the guardian of the Laws of the game, should recognise David Shepherd’s immense contribution to cricket. No one could have done more to uphold the Laws and Spirit of Cricket than `Shep’ – a much respected umpire whose levels of performance and consistency were of the very highest class.”We are delighted that David has accepted our offer of Honorary Life Membership ofthe Club and I look forward to welcoming him back to Lord’s once the new seasonhas started.” Other Honorary Life Members of MCC include Sir Garfield Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Botham, Henry Olonga and Dickie Bird.David Shepherd began his 40-year cricketing career in 1965, as a middle-order batsman with Gloucestershire, and became a first-class umpire in 1981. He retired from the elite panel of international umpires almost 25 years later – in July 2005 – after the England v Australia NatWest Challenge match at The Oval.

ScorecardFifties from Arindam Das and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala saw Bengal close the second day at Kolkata 90 runs behind Railways’ first-innings 259. Ranadeb Bose was the star performer for Bengal earlier in the day, putting a poor season behind him by bagging a five-wicket haul that saw Railways collapse before lunch. Vineet Saxena top-scored with 65 before he fell leg before to Bose, while Yere Goud pulled his weight for a vital 47. Railways, who were relegated to the Plate Group following a draw with Maharashtra last week, have only pride to play for in this match.
ScorecardSachin Rana led Haryana’s reply to Services’ first-innings 241 with a gritty half-century before Siddharth Verma and Joginder Sharma safely negotiated the final session of play on the second day at Palam. Services, 226 for 5 overnight, were unable to add much to that total as Joginder and Rana ran through the tail following Sarabjit’s run-out for a well-made 89. Following a four-wicket haul with the ball, Rana turned in a credible showing with the bat. Coming to the wicket with Haryana on 77 for 4, Rana shouldered the responsibility of building an innings admirably. Following his dismissal, Verma and Joginder have added 58 runs for the seventh wicket and Haryana will look to the duo to extend that partnership into a sizeable innings lead tomorrow.
ScorecardDelhi, troubled by a crucial spell from Aashish Kapoor, the veteran offspinner, trail Tamil Nadu by 396 runs after Subramaniam Badrinath’s maiden double hundred allowed TN to declare it’s first innings on 481 for 6 at Chennai. Badrinath and Hemang Badani, the former TN captain, added 196 for the third wicket before Badani was dismissed by Chaitanya Nanda six short of a deserved century. Vital contributions from Dinesh Karthik, the wicketkeeper, and Sridharan Sharath aided Badrinath in his marathon innings. Delhi, at the lower half of the Elite Group A points table and with little going their way this season, have their task cut out in the two days remaining in this match.
ScorecardBaroda returned from an indifferent batting display yesterday to completely outclass Hyderabad on the second day at Vadodara, dismissing them for just 131 and then extending their lead to 244 at stumps thanks to Connor Williams’s second fifty of the match. For Hyderabad, it was a poor showing with the bat as nine wickets fell for the addition of just 103 runs. Shekhar Joshi, the medium fast bowler, and Yusuf Pathan, who got Baroda out of trouble with a vital fifty yesterday, shared seven wickets between them. Kiran Powar, who fell for a seven-ball duck in the first innings, was at the wicket unbeaten on 46.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh backed up a fighting lower-order contribution earlier in the day by restricting Andhra to 155 for 6 on the second day at Anantapur. Krishna Singh, Venugopal Rao and Ambati Rayadu all got starts but fritted away the initiative as UP’s bowlers turned in a tight spell in the second half of the day. With UP 217 for 5 at the end of yesterday’s play, Andhra would have been looking to dismiss them for under 300. However, UP’s lower order had other ideas and combined for an invaluable 148 runs in the first two sessions. Gyanendra Pandey extended his overnight score to 88 while P Kumar went on to smash a career-best 78 off 68 deliveries, complete with four sixes. D Kalyankrishna, though often bearing the brunt of the UP innings, collected figures of 5 for 105.
ScorecardFive wickets from Munaf Patel dismissed Mumbai for 175 – despite an unbeaten 78 from Ramesh Powar – as Maharashtra tightened their grip over the opposition on day two at the Wankhede Stadium. Resuming the day on 20 for 2, Mumbai were soon reeling on 47 for 6 as Patel produced a fine opening spell. Vinit Indulkar (40) and Powar resurrected much of the damage in a 94-run stand for the seventh wicket before Patel and Suyash Burkul returned to mop up the lower order. In their second innings, Maharashtra have progressed to 73 for 3 and will hope that Mansigh Nigde – unbeaten on 27 – can carry on the good work on day three.
ScorecardContrasting fifties from Hemal Watekar and Asif Makda gave Gujarat an 84-run lead earlier in the day, but Karnataka had whittled that down to just 16 by stumps at Ahmedabad. With Gujarat precariously placed at 67 for 6, Watekar was forced to put his head down and graft for 226 minutes and 164 balls for an unbeaten 64. His partner in a vital 85-run stand for the eight wicket was Makda, clubbing three sixes in a 49-ball 62, a career-best innings for the Gujarat fast bowler. Karnataka, for their part, have batted with much more composure than in their first innings, and with Robin Uthappa at the wicket as play resumes tomorrow, fireworks are never far away.

An injury crisis and the retirement of Chris Cairns has forced the New Zealand selectors to pick an experimental line-up for the one-day series against West Indies starting next week. Cairns will play his final game for New Zealand in the Twenty20 international at Auckland on Thursday, and while the top order borders on being settled for the opening two contests the bowling stocks are less impressive.”There are some issues around selecting allrounders of international quality,” John Bracewell, the coach, said. “Michael Mason is currently the best line-and-length bowler in the country. With the gap left by injuries to Kyle Mills, Andre Adams and Jacob Oram, he has a real opportunity to prove himself at international level.” Mason has played one Test and five one-day internationals, but his last appearance for New Zealand was in 2004.Mills is suffering from a groin strain and was not considered, Oram is missing as he recovers from a bruised heel and Adams has a fractured hand. Bracewell said Mills was returning to club cricket this weekend and would play a State Championship match before the squad for the final three matches is selected.”With a return to form of many players at domestic level there was fierce competition for top-order batsmen,” Bracewell said. “It was very much a case of deciding who to leave out rather than who to select.” The first ODI is at Wellington on February 18 followed by a game four days later at Queenstown.New Zealand Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Lou Vincent, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori, Jeetan Patel, James Franklin, Michael Mason, Shane Bond.

Abdul Razzaq will not be playing for Ireland in the C&G Trophy, even though it was announced less than three weeks ago that he had agreed terms with the Irish board.”It appears that the player has simply had a change of heart,” a spokesman for the Irish board admitted. “Everything was in place, but at the last minute, he has decided to stay in Pakistan.”We are currently examining our options as regards to a suitable replacement, and indeed, we would be hopeful of announcing a high profile signing in the next 48 hours. We have of course already signed Saqlain Mushtaq, who is a quality bowler, so it’s no secret that we are targetting a batsman/allrounder.”Ireland will need to move quickly as their C&G Trophy campaign starts on April 23 with a game against holders Hampshire.

Derbyshire’s preparations for the 2006 county season have hit a damp patch. Their opening fixture, against Surrey starting on April 19, will now be played at The Oval … because the County Ground in Derby is under water.”We have had exceptionally wet weather in Derby for the last six weeks,” explained the chief executive, Tom Sears. “We did look at other possibilities in the area, but everywhere in the county is in the same boat.”The return fixture, starting on Wednesday, September 20, will now be played in Derby – weather-permitting, of course. “We are desperate to play our opening fixture of the season, and the best chance we have of doing that is to play at The Brit Oval and subsequently the return fixture at Derby at the end of the season.”Paul Sheldon, chief executive at Surrey, added: “We have been happy to co-operate with Derbyshire to ensure the game has the highest chance of going ahead. The short notice will give our staff some logistical challenges, and we are committed to a hasty communication process to ensure members and spectators are made aware of the changes.”The Oval groundstaff, led by Bill Gordon, along with other key staff, will now work over the Easter weekend to prepare the wicket and venue for April 19. The first scheduled competitive game was originally against Sussex in the C&G Trophy on April 30.”We’ve had an excellent pre-season and the squad is raring to go,” said Surrey’s coach, Alan Butcher. “We had fully prepared to go to Derbyshire, but with all of us so keen to play we want to give ourselves the best of opportunity of gaining as many points as possible in our bid to regain Division One status.”

Scorecard

The last County Championship meeting between Sussex and Warwickshire was notable for two things: a Jonathan Trott double-hundred and the reporting of James Kirtley’s action after Warwickshire had filmed his bowling from several angles.The repercussions are still being felt. Having remodelled his action, Kirtley is rehabilitating and requested not to be selected for this match. Meanwhile Trott’s love affair with the Sussex bowling continued. His ninth first-class hundred was his third against Sussex. His first came on his Warwickshire debut in 2003.Trott, who turns 25 on Saturday, is endeavouring to follow the Kevin Pietersen route to fame and fortune. Born in Cape Town, he is the owner of a British passport and, although he has played for South Africa Under-19, qualifies for England at the end of this season. He has played for Boland in South Africa and last winter won the State Medal in New Zealand after a stellar season for Otago.He celebrated his hundred by kissing the badge on his helmet, just the sort of under-stated gesture so beloved of Pietersen. But seriously, Trott has been a league above any other batsman in this match so international recognition looks like a perfectly legitimate ambition. He looks polished, confident and has a tasty cover-drive. He is believed to be a distant relative of Albert Trott, the only man to hit a ball over the Lord’s pavilion.He seems to have his public relations sorted too: his girlfriend is Abi Dollery, granddaughter of Warwickshire legend Tom Dollery and the Bears’ press officer.Trott was dropped on 56 by Mike Yardy at slip off Mushtaq Ahmed, who also had Alex Loudon missed on four in similar circumstances. The unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 127 between Trott and Loudon put Warwickshire in the ascendancy. Their fourth-wicket partnership of 134 in 45 overs took Warwickshire to within seven runs of Sussex’s first-innings total before Loudon gloved an attempted hook off Luke Wright after completed a hard-earned fifty off 114 balls. Trott followed soon after for 109 to balance the books somewhat.Loudon’s innings started scratchily and he should have been run out on nought. But he stuck at it and the manner of his dismissal was out of keeping with a dogged innings. After a hundred for MCC in the season opener against Nottinghamshire, Loudon continues to show that he is a multi-faceted cricketer of some substance.While Ashley Giles continues to ail, England fret over the balance of the side. Loudon is not an immediate solution but middle-order runs will count highly on Duncan Fletcher’s scorecard.Sussex’s seam attack looks a bit light without Kirtley and it is a bit much to expect Mushy to bowl sides out in April. Wright bowled a sharp spell at the end of the day and started to reverse-swing the old ball. Duncan Spencer, though, bowled only four overs all day for 27. It was a disappointing sequel to the previous evening when he took a wicket in his third over after a 12-year absence from first-class cricket. Clearly Hans Christian Andersen had saved all his fairytales for Freddie Klokker.

Hashim Amla was both happy and relieved after his maiden Test century helped guide his side to safety in the second Test against New Zealand.”It was quite a relief”, said Amla of his century. “I felt that I was under quite a lot of pressure and I was fortunate to have Boeta [Dippenaar] there, and then later, Jacques Kallis. He’s a fantastic influence at the crease, very calm and collected, and he helped me through some tough patches.”Amla, who had replaced a ‘mentally tired’ Herschelle Gibbs for this Test, has faced criticism about his technique but said his focus has always been to keep it simple. “I spoke to several top coaches, and they all told me to keep it as natural as possible,” he said. “When I’m batting, I try to concentrate on what I’m doing and stay as calm as I can. I always try to keep it simple. I was disappointed to go out on 149 – no-one wants to go out on 149. But I was happy with my first century. I hope it will be a long Test career, and maybe if I can score 50 centuries in my career, no-one will question my technique.”With just one day left and the wicket looking increasingly benign, a result seems unlikely. “It’s going to be hard work taking 15 wickets in 93 overs,” Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand spinner told reporters. “The deck has only got better, it hasn’t scuffed up as much as we thought it would and it’s just a good batting deck.”

Having saved the St Lucia Test with his marvellous 120, Brian Lara told the press after the fifth day’s play that he had been inspired by the Soca Warriors. Rahul Dravid, meanwhile, admitted that luck had gone against his side, with a day rained out, but said that he was happy that they’d excelled in whatever was in their hands.Listen in!Brian Lara’s press conference
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Streaming Audio: Real :: WMARahul Dravid’s press conference
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Zimbabwe 258 and 353 for 8 (Masakadza 131, Mufambisi 45, Matsikenyeri 41) drew with Bangladesh 380 and 356 for 6 dec
ScorecardThe second A-team Test at Mutare between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh ended in a nail-biting draw when bad light prevented what was set to be a gripping finale. When the players trooped from the field, Zimbabwe needed 28 more to win with two wickets in hand and three overs remaining.That they had got so close to their target was thanks to a six-hour hundred from Hamilton Masakadza, Zimbabwe’s captain, who struck 131 to provide the platform for the chase. Tafadzwa Mufambisi (45) and Stuart Matsikenyeri (41) then took Zimbabwe within sight of victory before the weather intervened.Givemore Makoni, the Zimbabwe A manager, was delighted with the team’s performance. “The guys played good cricket this time around and it was a marked improvement in batting compared to the first game,” he told The Herald. “We scored about 600 runs in total and a number of the top-order and middle-order batsmen like Masakadza and Matsikenyeri are showing signs of improving.”We could have won this game but the performance and the result leaves us in a stronger position ahead of the decider in Bulawayo and we are now looking forward to a competitive match at Queens.”The third and final match starts at Bulawayo on Friday before the teams meet in a five-match one-day series in Bulawayo and Kwekwe.