Taufeeq Umar, former Pakistan opener, has been appointed captain of the Patron’s XI side that is scheduled to take on South Africa in its first warm-up match of their tour to Pakistan. Umar, who has represented Pakistan in 25 Tests and 19 ODIs, has not been able to feature for Pakistan on a regular basis even with a Test average of nearly 40.The match will also provide selectors to test out a few youngsters viewing the hectic international schedule that lies ahead of Pakistan.”Umar will lead the Patron’s XI, and we have tried to accommodate some youngsters who have done well recently,” Salahuddin Ahmed, the chief selector, said.Asim Kamal, another batsman who has been sidelined even though he has performed well not only on the domestic circuit but also while on international duty, earned a recall to international reckoning by being named in the eleven. Fawad Alam and Yasir Arafat, both allrounders who are representing Pakistan in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20, were named in the initial squad but were later withdrawn and replaced by Mansoor Amjad and Zohaib Khan.South Africa arrive in Karachi on September 26 for their three Test and five ODIs series to be played in October. The first Test will take place in Karachi from October 1.Patron’s XI squad: Taufeeq Umar (capt), Asim Kamal, Mansoor Amjad, Khurram Manzoor, Zohaib Khan, Babar Naeem, Shahid Yousuf, Rizwan Ahmed, Adnan Raza, Sarfraz Ahmed, Junaid Zia, Anwar Ali, Ahmed Shahzad, Umar Ameen, Uzair-ul Haq

Geoff Lawson, Pakistan’s coach, believes the side “would have been better off” for their tour of India had they beaten South Africa in their recent home one-day series. “Five overs of bad cricket spoiled our good work in the series, but it gave us lessons which we need to learn and work hard on the India tour, which will be tough,” he told .”Having toured India on a number of occasions I know people follow an India-Pakistan match with extreme passion and at times it is a bit more than the sport, bigger than the Ashes, so I look forward to it.”The tour begins with a five-match ODI series, beginning in Guwahati on November 5, and Lawson felt the team could learn from the disappointing loss at home. He also felt both Pakistan and India were on a learning curve, with the newcomers making their mark. “The exciting thing is that new stars are replacing the superstars in both the teams. There are a couple of exciting newcomers, so all in all it’s good progress for both the teams,” he said. “India have a balanced squad with a combination of good spinners and fast bowlers and Pakistan match them. I think a good bowling spell, a great innings or a few good catches can make the difference in the one-day series.”Lawson commended the captains of the two teams – Shoaib Malik and Mahendra Singh Dhoni – for their “fresh ideas” that could only boost their sides. “Both have brought their teams forward and are doing great work, performing well and both are learning as captains.”Like Lawson, Malik felt his team needed to lift themselves. “I do not think we will go to India with any negative thoughts in our mind. Our players are capable of handling the pressure,” Malik told . “The Indian tour is going to be a challenging one as they are also rebuilding their team. But we have learnt a lot from the series against South Africa.”Malik, whose team choked while chasing 234 in the series decider at Lahore, admitted they failed to press home the advantage. “Our finishing has to improve, that is for sure,” he said. “We controlled 90% of the game against South Africa but in the 10% that really mattered we were not good enough.”He refused to blame any of his players, however. “I know we tried hard but you have to give their bowlers some credit too. I will not tell any player to stop playing his natural game but, yes, we just need to be responsible at times. We will continue to play positively in India as well.”Shoaib Akhtar’s comeback was welcomed by both coach and captain. Akhtar took four wickets in his final ODI against South Africa, returning after serving a 13-match ban. “He is a big asset to the team when he is fully fit and he showed he is hungry for success by bowling very well despite making a comeback after such a long time,” Malik said. “It is great to have Shoaib back for the Indian tour.”Kamran Akmal, included in the ODI team despite his poor recent form behind the stumps, was backed by his captain. “Anyone can drop catches, even Jonty Rhodes dropped catches,” Malik said. “But we know Akmal is a bit down and we need to sit down and talk to him and boost his confidence. We know he can be a key player for us in India.”Pakistan will play a warm-up one-dayer against Delhi on November 2.

Table-toppers Rajshahi let themselves down on the opening day of their first away game on a sluggish pitch at the Bir Shrestha Ruhul Amin Stadium. Electing to bat first, Rajshahi’s opening duo of Junaid Siddique and Jahurul Islam eased to 68 in 25 overs with no discomfort against Tareq Aziz and Aftab Ahmed, handed the new ball as Chittagong banked on its spinners to do the job at home. Rajshahi’s slow scoring-rate, however, hurt the batting side more as wickets fell at regular intervals. Siddique (78 off 210) continued to graft in an uncharacteristically dour fashion but when he spooned a tame return catch to Aziz with his side on 164 for 5, the wheels suddenly came off their innings. Showing excellent control over his reverse swing, Aziz inspired a batting collapse that saw Rajshahi lose four wickets in just over four overs. He then picked up his fifth wicket of the innings to wrap up Rajshahi’s first-innings for a modest 192. Chittagong, failing to take a cue from a poor Rajshahi performance, replied in an even more listless manner. Mohammad Shahzada usually enjoys bowling on pitches with a bit of moisture and with this pitch under covers for a whole day, the stage was set for the Rajshahi paceman. He tore into Chittagong’s batting line-up and accounted for Nafees Iqbal, Nazimuddin and Aftab for a combined score of 12. Farhad Reza (3 for 20) joined in the fun and Chittagong were reduced to 60 for 8 before No. 10 Aziz stroked an unbeaten 35 to help his team reach 115. Rajshahi declared their second-innings on 232 for five, with an overall lead of 309, with Reza making a run-a-ball unbeaten 69 and sharing an unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 106 with Mushfiqur Rahman (50*). Chittagong didn’t falter like the first innings despite Shahzada picking up Nafees in the first over and reached 115 for 3 when both captains decided to accept a draw.Imrul Kayash’s maiden first-class hundred and Shakib Al Hasan’s third fifty in as many matches took Khulna to 274 after the first day of their match against Sylhet at Fatullah got washed out. Kayes and Shakib both fell to the Enamul Haque jnr, the left-arm spinner, who claimed 5 for 65 while preventing Khulna from reaching an imposing total. Sylhet looked on course with Rajin Saleh, Mushfiqur Rahim and Alok Kapali scoring half-centuries on the third day after Mashrafe Mortaza had removed the openers cheaply. From a promising 200 for 3, Sylhet crashed to 232 all out as four of the last six batsmen were dismissed without scoring as Syed Rasel and Ziaur Rahman took four wickets each. Rezaul Haque inflicted early damage as Khulna lost four wickets with only 43 on the board, but Habibul Bashar (73) played his more fluent innings in recent times to take his side to 174 as Sylhet decided against starting the second innings with not much time left in the match.

Dhaka’s tussle with Barisal turned out to be the match of the round. Mohammad Ashraful opted to bat first at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in overcast conditions and saw his side dismissed for 157 as left-arm medium-pacer Sajidul Islam (4 for 40) moved the ball sideways with great precision. Dhaka’s bowling attack lacked genuine firepower as Shahriar Nafees and Hannan Sarkar, the Barisal openers, progressed slowly to 63 in just under 35 overs, determined not to give Dhaka any early impetus. Sarkar’s laborious 85 took 273 balls as Barisal racked up 304 in 148 overs. Sensing a kill after picking up three wickets for 64, Barisal received a bonus when Ashraful’s wild swing off Talha Jubair resulted in a disturbed set of stumps. A sixth-wicket 106-run partnership between Shamsur Rahman (66) and Mahmudullah (39) stretched the Dhaka innings to 257 and with 111 runs to get from just over 40 overs, Barisal were the firm favourites. Mahbubul Alam and Mohammad Sharif, however, had different ideas as they decimated the batting order with swing and the first six wickets went down for 38 inside 16 overs. Arafat Salahuddin and Shahin Hossain halted the slide with a 63-run partnership before left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain achieved a double breakthrough in the 35th over. Sharif sent back Jubair in the next over and at 102 for 9, the match was evenly poised. Feeling that the batsmen would walk off if offered the light with a fast-bowler operating, the off-spinner bowled the last two deliveries of that over. However, neither side were able to progress from that point onwards as the umpires called off the match due to bad light.

For the second game running, Siddique (68) and Islam (89) shared a century opening partnership and Rajshahi followed their 295 in the previous match with 290 for 5 against Chittagong . It needed a typical cameo from Aftab (65 off 49) to keep Chittagong in the game as he raced to his half-century off only 27 deliveries. Rahman, however, got rid of Aftab and then Dhiman Ghosh for 66 as the wicketkeeper threatened to take the match away. Dhiman’s dismissal left Chittagong needing 34 off 29 deliveries with four wickets in hand. However, they fell seven short of the target as Rajshahi celebrated their third successive win.The Fatullah crowd were treated to another Kayash special as a fluent 121 allowed Khulna to finish on 259 for 9. In reply, Sylhet slumped to 116 for 8 by the 35th over as Rahim contributed a quickfire 55. Tapash Baishya’s fighting 68 at No. 10 only delayed the inevitable as Sylhet could only manage 203 for 9.Dhaka restricted Barisal to 151 for 9 at Mirpur but then made a rash of an easy run-chase as they went past the target with only three wickets left and three overs to spare.Player of the week Imrul Kayash
Little was known about Kaysh before this season apart from the fact that he was a doughty opener with ambition. In a Khulna side filled with stars – Bashar, Tushar Imran and Shakib to name a few – he has managed to hold his own. His success so far has come through the simple ploy of offering a straight bat and his footwork against the spinners has been a treat to watch. After making 127 in the first innings of the four-day match and 121 in the one-day match against Sylhet, Kayash is well on track to win a bet against himself – scoring five hundreds in NCL this year and push for a trip to New Zealand.

Points table

National Cricket League

Note: Points include bonus points for batting and bowling and points for the first-innings lead in the drawn gameNational Cricket League one-day

The Indian board has announced a hike in allowances for selectors following Dilip Vengsarkar’s threat to resign as chairman of selectors if he wasn’t compensated for not writing his newspaper column.BCCI’s Finance Committee met in Delhi and decided to increase the selectors’ dearness allowance (DA) from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 (US$127 to $254) and raise their travel allowance (TA) from Rs 7000 to Rs 10,000 ($178 to $254). These recommendations are set to be ratified in the Working Committee meeting to be held on December 16.The BCCI had issued a seven-point diktat to the selectors which included: “The selectors shall not write any column for any newspaper nor shall they appear on any Electronic Media as an expert.”Vengsarkar claimed he would lose Rs 40 lakh if he stopped writing his newspaper column and said he would not accept any of the guidelines issued by the BCCI. The standoff between him and the board was resolved when Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, assured Vengsarkar that he would sort out all his issues after the selection meeting to pick the squad for Australia.The two, along with President-elect Shashank Manohar, met at Pawar’s residence for a meeting which lasted for about half an hour. “It was a very good meeting,”Vengsarkar told PTI. “We discussed a lot of things about Indian cricket and all the other issues. The meeting went very well.”Pawar, on his part, sought to downplay the meeting, saying “whenever I am in Mumbai, I meet Vengsarkar”.

A Ranji Trophy is always hard to predict, what with so many teams playing in a league format. To make it even more unpredictable was the loss of players to the Indian Cricket League. Living up to the expectations and in truly unpredictable style, the Ranji Trophy 2007-08 went right down to the last round with as many as 10 teams still alive in the competition.Halfway through the league matches, nobody had expected two of the four teams that eventually reached the semi-finals to get there: Uttar Pradesh were hopeless after a bright start, Saurashtra didn’t just have the firepower.And although Delhi and Baroda made it comfortably in the end, they were far from being overwhelming favourites at the start of the season. Delhi were struggling to win matches last season with much the same personnel and were universally regarded as a muddle house of dirty politicking and infighting.Baroda, semi-finalists for the last two years, are the only team that was expected here, but as the relegation of Bengal – runners-up in the previous two seasons – shows, nothing can be taken for granted in the Ranji Trophy.

UP: the strife lovers

They fought to avoid relegation during their title defence last season, and midway through this season they were candidates again for demotion to the Plate League. With eight points to their credit and two matches to go, they couldn’t have chosen a better time to peak. There has been an uncanny similarity in their late-season rise to the 2005-06 season when they won the Ranji Trophy – they had four points from four matches then when Mohammad Kaif joined the team. Throughout the season they have sat on extremes, huge wins in three matches and listless shows in the other three.Best batsmen
Kaif, with 562 runs, and Suresh Raina, with 555, have been the major run-getters, and have carried an inexperienced and an inconsistent batting line-up, which has always been a major concern for them. Piyush Chawla and Praveen Kumar have provided useful runs down the order, making them adequate allrounders at the domestic level.Best bowlers
Their bowling is a much more potent aspect of their game. Sudeep Tyagi, who has played all their games, has carried on from a dream debut where he took 10 wickets against Orissa. Tyagi and Chawla were their main bowlers for the earlier half of the season, while Praveen Kumar and left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta have added extra sting in the latter half. The Praveens have been a major factor in their last two outright wins.Best match
The moment of truth, their last chance, the match against Bengal in the penultimate round. They needed to win their last two matches to have any chance of progressing and that’s exactly what they did, gaining a bonus point in one of them as well. The match against Bengal was pretty close if not perfect: they shot Bengal out in two sessions, batted for nearly two days, and needed a bit more than two sessions to bowl Bengal out for a second time. All the bowlers and the batsmen, right till Praveen Kumar at No. 9, contributed.

Delhi: so far so good

Delhi had an anxious last two rounds with rain washing out their penultimate game, against Karnataka, allowing the other contenders in the group to catch up. Eventually they went through with an emphatic win over Tamil Nadu. In the initial half of the season, they let the opposition off the hook twice to give themselves some anxious moments. First they couldn’t take the last two Saurashtra wickets in 48 overs and had to be content with a first-innings lead. Then, in Dharamsala, the batting imploded as they were bowled out for 75. Apart from those two glitches, their batsmen have done well and the bowlers have done enough to help them emerge leaders in Group A.

Best batsmen
Aakash Chopra has been his stable best, Gautam Gambhir mercurial in the three matches he has played, and going into the semi-finals each one of their top five has made two centuries. The only batsman to have failed in the three matches he played is now in Australia with the Indian team.Best bowlers
The earlier victories against Rajasthan and Mumbai were built not on the batting, but bowling and the main architect was debutant left-arm swing bowler Pradeep Sangwan, who has 24 wickets at 21.20 from six matches. The bonus for Delhi has been Rajat Bhatia’s bowling which has been economical while collecting 20 wickets at a stellar average of 10.30. Bhatia is handy with the bat as well, as a century against Maharashtra shows, and provides the team much-required balance.Best match
First morning of Ranji Trophy and Delhi are bowled out for 113 and a familiar story looks in store. The bowlers bring them back into the game by bowling Rajasthan out for 85 and the batsmen put up a much-improved show in the second innings to put the matter beyond Rajasthan. That was essentially the turning point for them and the main difference between another lukewarm season and one where they are now the favourites to go all the way.

Baroda: cruising along

Baroda have had a smooth run leading up the semi-finals. The campaign was off to a great start with two wins in three games: they began with a crushing win against Bengal before beating Uttar Pradesh by 48 runs. Coached by the astute Paras Mhambrey, it has been an all-round display from the batsmen and the bowlers. The only concern is they might have peaked too early and the bowling is definitely feeling the absence of Irfan Pathan. The last two games have not gone according to plan. They followed-on – but hung on to a draw – against Andhra and gave away a first-innings lead to Orissa, but the batsmen bailed out them again in the second innings.Best batsmen
Rakesh Solanki and Connor Williams, the captain, have each amassed over 500 runs in this season and have found support from the likes of Yusuf Pathan, Pinal Shah and Azharuddin Bilakhia. Shatrunjay Gaekwad too has come on nicely with 206 runs from three games. Satyajit Parab, the opener, has had an off-and-on season, but Williams has ensured that they get off to a good start more often than not. Yusuf has attacked with vigour in the middle order to make full use of the starts.Best bowlers
It’s the spinners who have stolen the show. Yusuf has been the leader, claiming 25 wickets with his offspin, while the left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar has bagged 20. The pair has even opened the bowling on occasions. In the absence of Irfan Pathan, Sumit Singh, with 15 wickets, has been the lone seamer who has pulled some weight.Best match
It has to be their third game of the season when they clinched a close game against UP. Parab top scored with 77 as they posted 334 before Yusuf combined with Irfan to bowl out UP for 209. But the batting collapsed in the second, giving UP a target of 275. It was Yusuf again who led the charge, supported this time by Pawar, as Baroda succeeding in bowling UP out for 225.

Saurashtra: the bolt from the blue

Last season, they lived with the fear of relegation. Things changed with the Moin-ud-Dowlah tournament, just prior to the Ranji campaign, where they beat Bengal. Self-belief and confidence kicked in and the team started to gel as a unit. With three outright wins and a No. 2 position in the group, they have surprised everyone by entering the final four. It is even more creditable as they have played away from home all season. They are a bunch of amateurs enjoying the journey towards professionalism. Can they continue their dream run?Best batsmen
Cheteshwara Pujara is the undoubted star with 796 runs, highest by any batsman this season, while Shitanshu Kotak has been the backbone of the team, scripting some typically gritty knocks that have worn down the opposition. Pujara, a natural opener, has been batting down to strengthen the middle order but with the aggressive Ravindra Jadeja, who hit 87 against Mumbai, slated to miss the semis, there is extra responsibility on the shoulders of Pujara and Kotak.Best bowlers
Don’t look further than Sandeep Jobanputra. The 25-year-old left-hand seamer has matured this season and has been their bowling spearhead. With the guidance of the coach Debu Mitra, a big influence over the team, he has been working on swinging it back in to the right-hand batsmen. Thirty-two wickets show that the hard work is paying off. The left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhurv, with 18 wickets, leads the spin department. His average has been under 25 in the last three seasons and the wickets tally has gone up steadily. Jadeja’s absence could hit them again, but offspinner Kamlesh Makvana and Sandeep Maniar, a seamer with 13 wickets this season, will provide able support to Jobanputra.Best match
If the game against Bengal gave them confidence, the fear of playing in the Elite group disappeared after a creditable draw against Delhi in the first Ranji game. Jobanputra grabbed a five-for, Kotak compiled a 203-ball 77 in the first innings and Pujara hit an unbeaten 148 in the second to stave off defeat. The last two wickets frustrated Delhi for more than 48 overs on the last day to earn that one point, which in the end proved crucial too. But more than that it brought them the self-confidence that they could come out victorious from tight situations.

Andrew Symonds says he was surprised by the on-field incident that led to Harbhajan Singh being suspended for three Tests because there had been “no bad blood” in the series before that moment. The match referee Mike Procter found Harbhajan guilty of making a racist comment directed at Symonds while Harbhajan was batting in the Sydney Test, although India can appeal the decision.”This is what happened before our confrontation,” Symonds said in the . “Brett Lee had just sent down a delivery and Harbhajan took off down the wicket. When he was returning to his crease, he decided to hit Brett on the backside. I have no idea why he did it.”I was standing nearby and when I saw what happened, I thought, ‘Hold on, that’s not on’. I’m a firm believer in sticking up for your team-mate so I stepped in and had a bit of a crack at Harbhajan, telling him exactly what I thought of his antics. He then had a shot back, which brings us to the situation we’re facing.”Whether that situation was handled in the best way possible remains a subject of debate. The umpires spoke to Harbhajan on the field – Mark Benson even covered his mouth to avoid lip-reading television viewers – and reported him to Procter after they received a complaint from Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting.”I must admit the incident was pretty surprising, because relations between the two sides so far have been very good,” Symonds said. “It’s been a series played in really good spirit. There’s been no sledging or bad blood.”There was definitely animosity between the teams after the Harbhajan-Symonds incident, however, with Australia’s strong appealing on the final day drawing the ire of India’s captain Anil Kumble. He questioned whether Australia were playing within the spirit of the game, while Ponting strongly defended his team’s integrity.Adam Gilchrist has responded to Kumble’s allegation with caution. “I didn’t see his comments,” Gilchrist told . “I would like to think that’s not quite right. We haven’t gone outside any boundaries. I don’t know what Kumble was exactly referring to.”Talking about his appeal against Dravid, Gilchrist said: “There are times when you don’t know. So, you ask the question. Every player has right to ask the umpire. I will say I don’t appeal if I don’t think they are out. If I am not sure, I will ask the umpire and I’ll accept his decision.”

One of the features of the first three Tests in Australia has been India’s constant changing of their slip cordon and close-in fielders in front of the batsman. Throughout the games Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Wasim Jaffer have often switched positions in the slips.Robin Singh, India’s fielding coach, revealed the logic behind shuffling around the close-in fielders and trying to put senior players close in when the new batsman walks in. He also admitted that a young one-day side selected for the forthcoming CB Series would field with a higher intensity.”We have been working on certain things,” Robin said after arriving in Adelaide for the final Test. “Sometimes it’s difficult for some guy to stand at short leg for the whole day, especially when Anil Kumble is bowling. We don’t really want to miss a catch.”Fielding has a lot to do with experience as well. Sometimes a younger guy may not know where to stand. He may not be able to gauge the bounce and pace of wicket. VVS [Laxman] and Rahul [Dravid] have played a lot with Anil [Kumble]- for the zones and states. Sachin [Tendulkar] has played a lot with Anil. Sometimes it makes sense to have stalwarts of the game in the opponents’ face. They [Australia] were really under pressure in this game and at any given point of time, with these guys who have done well and their confidence behind them, it definitely makes an impact. You see Ricky Ponting goes and stands at silly point. He need not stand there but sometimes I think it’s done for effect. And it really puts pressure on a new guy that comes in.”Even at practice India have been trying out different combinations in the slips, with players switching positions in every session. “VVS has put his hand up, Sourav [Ganguly] has too,” he said. “I spoke to him and said, ‘Why don’t you have a go’. Sometimes when the game is tight you want senior guys at your opponents’ face. I think Sourav did that well last game.”Sachin has been available to stand in the slips and Rahul is our best fielder against Kumble. You try and juggle these guys around. Wasim [Jaffer], in fact, has been working a lot in the slips. I’m working on RP [Singh] too because I think he can be a really good slip fielder. What we need to focus on is ground fielding. Grounds are really big and we don’t have the strongest arms. Sydney game and Perth game, even first innings and second innings, things were different. At least we have noticed the effort from everyone.”India’s one-day squad, though, consists of a bunch of youngsters and can be expected to be a far better fielding unit. Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman were left out and Tendulkar will be the only member of the side on the other side of 30.Robin, while admitting it was an advantage, preferred to look at the pros and cons. “You can look at it both ways. If you take the senior guys and the batting experience they have, it’s a big asset in Australian conditions. It’s a question of how you want to go ahead.”The younger guys are better fielders and easier to work with but senior guys are thorough professionals too, Sourav for example is somebody who’s done exceptionally well along with Sachin. Definitely his experience is going to make a huge difference. But people have to fill the gaps. It’s a balancing act and somewhere along the line you have to see how to go forward.”Ganguly’s omission has been a major talking point in India but Lalchand Rajput, India’s assistant coach, didn’t think it would distract the team from the job at hand. “All these guys are professional cricketers who will focus on the game rather than what’s happening outside,” he said. “At the moment they’re concentrating on the Test series and not looking ahead to the one-dayers. It’s a very, very important game for us and we’re focussing on the upcoming Test.”

John Buchanan, the former Australia coach, will take charge of the Kolkata side in the Indian Premier League, has reported.Buchanan will join fellow Australians Tom Moody and Greg Shipperd in coaching IPL sides. The Mohali franchise has signed on Moody, the former Sri Lanka coach, while Greg Shipperd, the Victoria coach, will join the Delhi team. This is Buchanan’s first serious coaching role since stepping down after Australia’s victorious World Cup campaign in 2007.Buchanan dismissed suggestions that having players from different countries in the same team will be a hurdle. “I don’t ever see that as a problem, once players merge together as a side you are actually trying to achieve a result,” Buchanan said. “What will be interesting is that you will have Australian players, Indian players, New Zealand players, Sri Lankan players, Pakistani players … and they could all end up in the one franchise.”Besides ‘icon’ player Sourav Ganguly, the Kolkata franchise includes Shoaib Akhtar, Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Ishant Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, David Hussey, Murali Kartik and Tatenda Taibu – who came on board following Wednesday’s player auction.”That will make for an interesting cultural exchange no doubt … and that will be one of the exciting parts, bringing together cultural differences in a very short period of time,” he said.Although the ICC has ruled out any special window in the international cricket calendar for the IPL, Buchanan had a different viewpoint. “It has the potential to revolutionise the game, at least in the way of delivery and to take it globally,” Buchanan said. “I think that [a scheduling window] is what will happen in the next 12 months, and it does have the potential to be damaging either way if it is not worked out properly.”

ScorecardRobin Peterson, the left-arm spinner, took career-best figures of 7 for 24 to guide Warriors to a 42-run win over Eagles in a low-scoring first semi-final of the MTN Domestic Championship at Buffalo Park. Almost singlehandedly, Peterson brought the Warriors back into the contest after they had made a modest 193.The Eagles openers, Morne van Vyk and Boeta Dippenaar, began steadily with a stand of 46 in just over 12 overs before a run-out ended van Wyk’s stint for 22. The chase progressed slowly, as the Eagles went along at a rate of close to three an over before Peterson struck. He removed Dippenaar – who scored a patient 38 of 86 balls – in the 28th over, and nailed Jacques Rudolph in his next over to reduce Eagles to 90 for 4. Peterson deceived the batsmen with his flight and turn and ran through the batting order to wrap up the match in the 42nd over. It was an ideal way to justify his inclusion in the Test squad for the forthcoming tour of India. His returns are the fourth-best in all limited-overs matches in South Africa.Earlier, the Warriors recovered from a shaky 34 for 3, thanks to a 79-run stand between Hylton Ackerman and Davey Jacobs. On a pitch with with good bounce and carry, Ackerman carved out a patient 44 off 90 balls, while Jacobs finished unbeaten on 79. Roger Telemachus, the South African seamer, finished with 3 for 41.Warriors will play the winner of the second semi-final between Titans and Cape Cobras at Centurion on Sunday.

Middlesex have signed Dirk Nannes, the Australian left-arm fast bowler, and Vernon Philander, the South Africa allrounder, for 2008.The pair replace Friedel de Wet and Ashley Noffke, neither of whom will be available to the county. Noffke was included in Australia’s squad for the Caribbean tour starting next month.Philander, 22, joins as an overseas player and will stay at Lord’s until the arrival of Murali Kartik in June. Nannes, meanwhile, holds a Dutch passport and is not classed as an overseas player.