The ACT President’s XI has made an impressive start against the touring New Zealanders to be 2-177 at tea on the first day of the three-day match at Manuka Oval, Canberra.The ACT side, which includes five New South Welshmen, has made the most of an injury to Test spin bowler Daniel Vettori which forced him to leave the ground in just the 18th over.Vettori twisted awkwardly when trying to retrieve a full-blooded drive off his own bowling by ACT batsman Matthew Phelps on the last ball of the 18th over.He was stretchered from the ground and taken to Canberra Hospital, where his right leg was x-rayed.He was discharged and while he is doubtful to take any further part in this game his injury might not be as bad as first thought.A report from a specialist on his injury is expected soon.For the ACT, Matthew Phelps was out shortly after lunch for 51 and Jack Smith (82) and David Hazel (37) are the not out batsmen.

Otago had reason to feel aggrieved over its treatment in last summer’s Max semi-finals and they go into tomorrow morning’s playoff State Max match with Wellington with more incentive to overcome the odds.Last year, Otago, Wellington and Auckland won regional playoffs and played off among each other in Auckland.The only problem was that while Wellington and Auckland had one game each on the first day, Otago was required to play two and missed out on a finals berth.This time with Wellington and Auckland given preferential treatment to ensure they had a two-life advantage, Otago found it would have to play four games if it was to reach and win the final.It will have to overcome Wellington first, after the defending champions were humbled by a rampant Auckland team today.Otago beat Canterbury today in a match dominated by two features – its own slow scoring and the weather.Canterbury batted poorly in their first innings. Slow scoring in the top order and the regular loss of wickets meant Canterbury could only notch 85/4 in their 10 overs.While Canterbury responded and kept Otago to only 95 in their 10 overs, the 10-run advantage was inflated when rain affected Canterbury’s second innings. Rain had forced the players from the field briefly during the first innings and a re-assessment of overs was made at the end of the two first innings.Initially, two overs were taken from each side in their second innings, but the second delay saw two more overs deleted to make it a six-over affair. With Canterbury already batting in its third over it was immediately at a disadvantage.But with Warren Wisneski boosted up the order, Canterbury launched an all-out assault and took 19 runs from the most frugal bowler of the tournament James McMillan.Peter Fulton, Chris Harris and Cleighten Cornelius each contributed to a battling 64-run lead.Otago took 16 runs from the first over but Stephen Cunis bowled a fine second over to yield only five runs. Ryan Burson followed up tightly and captain Harris must have been delighted when his first three balls went unscored from.However, sensing the need for urgency, the hard-hitting Otago batsman Andrew Hore hit a Max six, valued at 12 runs.But from the first ball of the fourth over, Hore ran himself out when attempting a run from the bowler’s end, only to see Burson grasp the ball on his follow-through and then lob the ball into the wickets with Hore short of his ground.Brendon McCullum and Craig Pryor worked together to usher the side through the latter stages and by the time the last over started they needed 10 runs to win. Pryor took control and sealed the success with a Max four worth eight runs from the penultimate ball of the game.Otago shapes as a big rival for Wellington and the match in the morning will be a fascinating do-or-die struggle.

The England and Wales Cricket Board is hoping that the issue of whether Virender Sehwag plays in next week’s first Test against England at Mohali can be settled amicably between the International Cricket Council the Board of Control for Cricket in India.It follows the refusal of India’s cricket chief Jagmohan Dalmiya to drop Sehwag from the squad for the Mohali Test. Sehwag was banned for one Test for excessive appealing in the second Test between South Africa and India by match referee Mike Denness.The ICC has already ruled that Sehwag is not eligible to play in Mohali since the current game in Centurion, which Sehwag has missed, has not been granted official status.”As far as we are concerned, Sehwag is eligible to play the first Test,” Dalmiya told a press conference after an emergency meeting of the BCCI in New Delhi.”He has served his one-match ban by not playing the ongoing Test against South Africa at Centurion Park.”The BCCI regards this match as official since it is a five-day match played by the national teams of both countries under the supervision of ICC-recognised umpires.”A spokesman for the ECB responded: “We hope that an amicable solution can be reached by the ICC and the BCCI in this matter. First and foremost, it is an issue for the ICC to resolve.”But the ICC chief executive, Malcolm Speed, later made it clear that his organisation is sticking to its guns.”The ICC has confirmed the one-match ban served on Virender Sehwag by MikeDenness,” he said.”This means that he is ineligible for selection for the first Test againstEngland starting in Mohali next Monday.”We have notified this fact to Denis Lindsay, the properly appointed ICC match referee for the series.”As England warmed up in Jaipur for their match against India which starts tomorrow, their captain Nasser Hussain admitted that the furore was affecting his team’s preparations.”There has been far too much comment off the field,” said Hussain. “We want to concentrate on on-field matters and the cricket has suffered. It has been ashambles over the last 10 days or so.”We are a nation that plays to ICC rules and if there is an official Test going on in Mohali we will be there and up for it. If it is an unofficial Test we will cross that bridge when we come to it.”As players we play cricket and do whatever our authority (the ECB) or the ICC tell us. If the ICC say there is a Test match on in Kathmandu or Mohali we go and play there, that’s how the ICC run the game. And I as England captain will take 10 people with me.”The 15-man Indian squad for the first Test will be named in Jaipur on Wednesday. Sehwag’s inclusion would not guarantee his selection in the final XI.Sehwag and five other Indian players were penalised by Denness, a former England captain, for various irregularities during the second Test at Port Elizabeth.Sehwag, 23 and playing in his second Test, was the only player to be banned.India then refused to play the third Test unless Denness was sacked, which the ICC refused to do. Fearing loss of revenue, the United Cricket Board of South Africa went ahead with the game.The ICC declared the match unofficial and threatened India with further punishment if it continued to flout the authority of the game’s governing body.”The decisions by Denness were too harsh and biased,” said Dalmiya today.”There is no code of conduct for match referees, like it is for the players, and I hope the ICC will address the matter seriously.”

In the last twenty Test matches, Sourav Ganguly has not been able to reach the magical three-figure mark even once. The Indian skipper has come under tremendous fire for his run of low scores and one recent advertisement encapsulated his position succinctly – ‘Sorrow, Ganguly’ it read, making a play on the Bengal southpaw’s first name.During the second Test against England at Ahmedabad, Ganguly enlisted the services of former Indian batting star Mohinder Amarnath to help set things right. Amarnath, arguably one of the finest players of short-pitched fast bowling India has produced, made adjustments to Ganguly’s stance and back lift. The advice however, did not seem to help much as Ganguly continued to fail.At the end of the Test series against England, and before the limited-overs matched begin, Ganguly has taken the opportunity to get back to the basics. Back home at Kolkata, the Indian skipper spent a long session at the nets at the Eden Gardens. Since the Bengal Ranji team was away playing Orissa, Ganguly enlisted the help of four local bowlers to have a knock. If batting proved to be a bug bear, Ganguly took some solace in bowling, rolling his arm over in the nets after his session with the willow.Predictably, the Indian skipper stayed away from the press, although he obliged autograph hunters and fans alike!

The one-day cricket season that Auckland would rather forget came to its expected limp finish at Eden Park’s outer oval today when Wellington gained an easy win with 18 overs and about 90 minutes to spare.Wellington thus headed for the State Shield final at the Basin Reserve next Saturday (meeting either Northern Districts or Canterbury who will play off on Wednesday) and Auckland Cricket Association officials should have started a survey of what really went wrong with their one-day season.Today Auckland had the advantage of winning first use of their home pitch, but they were immediately in trouble against well-controlled and accurate Wellington bowling. Wickets fell with indecent speed and regularity as if to suggest Wellington were trundling hand grenades along a minefield.The early wickets fell at 8, 22 and 22. The seventh, eighth and ninth fell at 85 and to add to the incongruity of it all Richard Morgan (18) and Gareth Shaw (9) put on 30 runs for the last wicket – and the next best stand in the innings score of 115 was 19.Andrew Penn started brilliantly, cutting the ball back to bowl Matt Horne who did not play a stroke, and ripped out three quick wickets at the end – giving Penn five for 19 from 10 overs, three of them maidens. Ash Turner got three early wickets and had the glamorous figures of three for 20 from 10 overs.In sharp contrast Auckland could offer only one batsman Tama Canning (22) with a score above 20.With plenty of time, overs and sunshine making conditions still good for batting, Wellington did not race after their win. They lost Chris Nevin to the second ball of the innings, Richard Jones at 19 and Matthew Bell at 53, but David Sales (63 not out) made sure the win was achieved with comfort at 119 for three in the 32nd over.Tony Sail, the Auckland coach, said before play started today that he would not be available as coach next summer. He wanted to put his energies into coaching and developing the elite players coming through the schools and teenage ranks.The fact that Auckland should field several players below first-class ability in recent weeks shows that once past the upper crust Auckland cricket is not producing the outstanding young players. Sail maintained that while he wanted to fill in some gaps with leading Under-19 players he could not find any of suitable class.Auckland started the one-day competition at full strength, but with not quite enough polish to turn narrow losses into wins.Once Auckland lost six players, Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent, Adam Parore, Dion Nash, Andre Adams and Kyle Mills to the New Zealand side, the playing side began to rely too heavily on a small number of players. Injuries to Aaron Barnes and then Chris Drum meant that Auckland fielded a below-strength side today – and it showed.What it also showed was Auckland’s ability to lose players to other centres. Otago are doing very nicely with Kerry Walmsley and Craig Pryor, neither really encouraged by recent Auckland team managements.Welllington are getting along nicely with a couple of Auckland rejects, Jones, the batsman and Paul Hitchcock, the medium-fast bowler.Until Auckland can manufacture a new breed of talented teenage players they should try and retain the use of what might be called marginal first class players such as Pryor, Walmsley, Jones and Hitchcock.Otherwise Auckland will continue to suffer defeats equally as decisive and embarrassing as was the one-sided and dismal affair at Eden Park today.

Western Australia’s Ryan Campbell hammered an unbeaten century to leave the Warriors firmly in control at stumps on day one of their Pura Cup cricket match against NSW at the WACA.The wicketkeeper-batsman was in superb touch, smashing 16 fours in his 108 not out to leave the Warriors at 4-333 after being sent in by Blues captain Shane Lee on a green-tinged wicket.NSW was on the back foot all day against the resolute Warriors batting lineup spearheaded by opener Michael Hussey (86) before Campbell steadied the inningsafter it wobbled a little at 4-196.Left hander Chris Rogers (31no) had to take a backseat as Campbell smashed the Blues bowling attack in then pair’s unbeaten 137-run fifth-wicket partnership.The Blues have lost four of their last five matches outright in the West and their wretched record looks set to continue.The match is crucial for the Warriors with an outright victory keeping them on track for a berth in the Pura Cup final while NSW is just looking to get off the bottom of the table.The Blues were unable to make an early breakthrough despite opening bowlers Stuart Clark (0-57) and Nathan Bracken (0-52) beating the bat on severaloccasions.Hussey should have been back in the pavilion a lot earlier but Michael Bevan dropped him on 17 in slips off the bowling of Don Nash with the score at 0-45.But after weathering the early storm, Scott Meuleman (35) was trapped in front by debutant Grant Lambert (1-64) before Hussey and WA skipper Simon Katichcombined for a 101-run partnership for the second wicket.Hussey was just 14 runs short of a century when he hit a full toss back to spinner Mark Higgs (1-69).The Warriors then handed back some of the advantage just before tea when Marcus North (7) was run out by Michael Clarke.North was caught mid-pitch after Katich squeezed a ball to square leg where Clarke reacted sharply with a direct hit.Katich (52) looked dumbfounded when he was given out caught behind off Nash’s (1-49) bowling with the Blues given a sniff at 4-196.But Campbell then came out and quickly changed the course of the game with his century coming off just 106 deliveries.

Australia thrashed New Zealand by 57 runs at the MCG today to take a clean sweep of the home leg of the women’s one day cricket international series.The Kiwis never got their run rate above three an over and lost 6-21 halfway through the innings to finish with 8-137 from 50 overs.The Australian bowlers, led by medium-pacer Julie Hayes who took a career best 3-17 off 10 overs, made the most of an inconsistent pitch.Today’s match was only the second women’s one day international played at the MCG and the first since 1988 when Australia defeated England in the World Cupfinal.While few were on hand to watch today’s match, Australian captain Belinda Clark told her team to try not to be distracted by the setting.”I tried to tell them not to think about it with all the atmosphere of the ground, but I did see a few minds wandering and people looking around the place,” she said.It was Australia’s third straight win over the 2000 World Cup winners but Clark said her team was committed to looking ahead rather than dwell on that narrow loss 15 months ago.”Although I still remember aspects of the `93 World Cup where we didn’t make the final I am sure the scars will be there for quite a while, but that’s not a bad thing because it keeps you focused on what you are doing,” she said.Clark and opening partner Lisa Keightley put on 63 before vice captain Karen Rolton lifted the tempo, top scoring with 44 off 59 balls.Haidee Tiffen was the pick of New Zealand’s bowlers with 4-43.Despite losing late wickets, Australia’s total was always a tough ask for the Kiwis especially after Cathryn Fitzpatrick conceded just eight runs in her first seven overs.Both teams will fly to New Zealand tomorrow with the remaining three matches in the Rose Bowl series to be played in Lincoln, just outside Christchurch, early next month.

NSW batsman Michael Bevan is no stranger to achieving the impossible on the cricket field, but even his claims that the Blues can still make the Pura Cup final sound hollow.Bevan, once again one of the leading run scorers in the Pura Cup competition this season, will lead a sputtering Blues batting line-up into the four day game against Queensland at the SCG starting tomorrow.And the Australian one-day star says NSW is still a chance of making the Pura Cup final despite sitting eight points behind second-placed South Australia and 16 behind the Bulls on the four day ladder.”We have two games to go,” Bevan said.”It would be great to finish on a positive note in the Pura Cup competition.”It’s feasible for us to make the final. That’s really our goal, our objective.”I still think we can win the last two games. Whether that gets us to the final (remains to be seen).”In truth, it would take nothing short of a miracle for the Blues to make the final.Even their one-day heroics – NSW won the ING Cup against Queensland on Sunday – failed to disguise the fact the Blues haven’t picked up a point in the Pura Cup competition since November last year.Only a defiant last wicket stand between Mark Higgs and Stuart Clark against Western Australia saved NSW from its fourth outright loss this season at its most recent Pura Cup outing.Bevan, who is expected to be named in the Australian one-day side this weekend to tour South Africa, chimed in with a pair of half-centuries in that game and has once again been the mainstay of NSW’s batting attack this season.The one day wizard has scored 685 runs in six Pura Cup matches at an average of 68.50 and has been a shining light for the Blues along with youngster Michael Clarke and Clark.Clarke and Clark have both been mooted as candidates for the one-day series against the Proteas after enjoying break-out seasons.Clarke heads into the game against the Bulls with 498 runs at an average of 41.5 while Clark has taken 35 wickets at 22.74.They can expect another searching test from Queensland, which will be bent on revenge after the one-day loss and welcomes back captain Stuart Law after he made his return from a broken knuckle in the ING Cup final.Former Test paceman Michael Kasprowicz also returns to the Pura Cup competition after playing in the ING Cup final following a hamstring injury.”We have had a couple of players out of form, senior players have been missing with injuries and Australian commitments,” Bevan said today as he explained the Blues’ disappointing Pura Cup form.”But as NSW players we don’t look to make excuses, I just think it’s players not stepping up to the plate.”But I’d like to think the motivation is there to play well for NSW and to finish up as high as possible in the competition.”NSW: Shane Lee (c), Michael Bevan, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Mark Higgs, Grant Lambert, Don Nash, Matthew Phelps, Corey Richards, Dale Turner.Queensland: Stuart Law (c), Jimmy Maher, Brendan Nash, Martin Love, Andrew Symonds, Lee Carseldine, Wade Seccombe, Ashley Noffke, Nathan Hauritz, Michael Kasprowicz, Joe Dawes, Scott Brant.

BRISBANE, Jan 21 AAP – Makeshift opener Clinton Perren posted the highest Pura Cup score of the season today as Queensland left South Australia struggling to avoid defeat at the Gabba.At stumps on the third day, South Australia was 2-46 in its second innings in pursuit of a victory target of 409.The Redbacks lost openers Ben Johnson (seven) and David Fitzgerald (nought from 34 balls) during a 22-over stint before stumps as they tried to repair the damage inflicted by Perren.The right-hander scored 224 – the 10th highest total by a Queenslander in an interstate match – as the Bulls surged to 8-487 declared in their second innings.Perren batted for 501 minutes, justifying the decision of selectors to promote him to the opening spot vacated by Australian one-day players Matthew Hayden and Jimmy Maher.With Stuart Law (72) and Wade Seccombe (70) posting half-centuries, the Bulls continued the fightback which seemed unlikely when they crashed for 129 on the first day.South Australia claimed first-innings points but the visitors finished the day in desperate trouble, plenty of hope riding with captain Greg Blewett (21 not out), who has made centuries in his last two first-class matches at the Gabba.Johnson fell to Joe Dawes (1-19) before Fitzgerald was given out LBW to Adam Dale (1-11) without playing a shot.The Gabba wicket held up well for batting but the Redbacks’ confidence won’t be boosted by some low bounce late on the third day.

"As James has said, I was shocked and absolutely devastated to be informed by ASDA yesterday that a test sample which was collected in Australia on the 22nd of January indicated the presence of a prohibited substance.The full process of analysing and testing procedures are not complete until my B sample is fully examined in Australia later this week.I am shocked because I do not take performance-enhancing drugs and do not condone them in any way shape or form.I am proud to be in the shape I am in at the moment and that is due to nothing other than hard work and looking after myself with diet.I did take a fluid tablet before my comeback game in Sydney which I did not know contained a prohibited substance.The tablet actually dehydrates you and gets rid of any excess fluid in your body, and as I understand, it is not performance enhancing.I have decided to return home in the best interests of the team in their World Cup campaign and to address the situation personally, which the ACB are very supportive of.As I said I have never taken any performance enhancing drugs and am confident that this matter will be cleared up very soon.ASDA has conducted random tests for a long time now in conjunction with the ACB and my previous tests have always come back negative. So will any future ones.I have spoken to my team-mates, and they are very supportive.I wish them luck for the rest of the tournament. Whether I play a part will be decided shortly.Once all the testing and analysing has taken place there will be a hearing with the Australian Cricket Board’s anti doping Committee.Until then I will just have to deal with the situation as best I can.I would like to thank the World Cup squad for their collective support and friendship.I believe that they have the talent and the spirit to retain the World Cup with or without me.I wish them luck.As James has said, it is not appropriate to go into further details at the moment and I apologise that circumstances mean that I cannot answer questions right now."