Boland have a full day to score 112 runs to win their Supersport Seriesmatch against North West in Paarl, with seven wickets in hand.North West resumed play on Sunday with the score on a potentially disastrousscore of 92 for five. They managed to move to 225 by the time their secondinnings was up, thanks in the main to a fifth career century from middle-order batsman Craig Light.The right-hander scored 101 and shared valuable partnerships of 50 and 76with Mark Lavine and Alphonso Thomas respectively, which set the hosts atarget of 218-runs to win the match.Ezra Poole was the first wicket of the day when right-arm seamer CharlLangeveldt clean bowled him for six.Lavine only scored 11, but his share of a 50-run stand with Light frustratedthe Boland bowling, which was exactly what North West needed to do.Thomas came to the crease once Lavine was caught mistiming a pull off NeilCarter to Brad Player at mid-off.He immediately set about playing in the same positive fashion that saw himscore a century last weekend and steadily built a decent score while Light’sown progress slowed as he approached his century.His hundred came midway through the afternoon session off 205 balls andincluded 16 boundaries. Three balls later Light edged leg-spinner JustinOntong to Koen at slip.Thomas eventually mistimed a Brad Player delivery to mid-off for 43, but thevalue of his knock will only be known if North West eventually triumph.Boland skipper Louis Koen was unbeaten on 57 at stumps and will be the hingearound which the run chase will hang when play gets underway on Mondaymorning.

At 180 for three, Tamil Nadu seemed to be cruising along when Kerala’s NJ John caused a sharp collapse on the opening day of their three day Cooch Behar Trophy South Zone league match at the Medical college ground in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. John took four wickets as Tamil Nadu slid to 212 for seven before an unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 32 runs off 9.1 overs pushed the score to 244 by stumps when play was called off about ten minutes before before the scheduled close due to heavy rain. The downpour rendered the ground unfit for play on the second day which was abandoned on Thursday. The decision to call off the day’s play was taken after lunch when the umpires had made a second inspection.The start of play was delayed for 140 minutes because of the dampness in the pitch. Put in to bat, Tamil Nadu lost R Sainath (18) at 31 but K Vasudevadoss (35) and R Prasanna (36) steadied the boat with a second wicket partnership of 64 runs off 21.2 overs. Both batsmen fell in the space of two overs but then V Kudawla (45) and Aditya Srikkanth (41) added 80 runs for the fourth wicket off 16 overs to put Tamil Nadu in a position of some strength. This was when John struck. He had both Kudawla and Srikkanth leg before and then he bowled skipper S Vidyuth (24) and T Dushyanth (0). John finished the day with the splendid figures of 9-1-13-4. E Suresh (14) and wicketkeeper KKD Karthik (12) were in the midst of a rescue act when the day’s play was halted.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) unveiled a hectic international home season that includes hosting South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia.South Africa arrive first and are scheduled to play two Tests and five ODIs between September 26 and October 29. Pakistan then tour India from November 2 to December 13 for three Tests and five ODIs.Zimbabwe are scheduled to arrive for a series of five one-day internationals in January and February next year while world champions Australia tour from March 10 to April 27, 2008. Soon after, Pakistan will also host the Asia Cup.The U-19 and A teams are likely to be as busy. Pakistan U-19 travel to England this July, while their Australian and Bangladeshi counterparts are expected to tour Pakistan in October and November. Pakistan then return to Bangladesh before taking part in the U-19 World Cup in Malaysia in February. The Australia A team also tours Pakistan in September.Meanwhile, the PCB is confident that South Africa will have no problems playing a Test in Karachi in October. “We have sent a tentative itinerary to the South Africans which includes Karachi as a venue for one of the two Tests,” Shafqat Naghmi, chief operating officer, told . The city is in line to hold an ODI as well.Naghmi added that thus far, South African officials had not raised any objections though the final itinerary will only be announced after full approval from board officials. He also added that it is unlikely South Africa will send officials to inspect security arrangements before the tour. “We have assured them that the South African cricketers will get foolproof security cover.”Karachi has missed out on international matches in the recent past due to security concerns. After the events of September 11, 2001 and in particular, May 14, 2002, when a bomb blast outside the visiting New Zealand team’s hotel killed 14 people, Australia, West Indies, South Africa, India and England have all refused to play Tests in the port city.The trend was broken last year when England played an ODI there and India stayed for a Test.

Middlesex batsman Fran Wilson has been called up to the England women’s squad of 14 for the standalone Ashes Test next week in Canterbury. Wilson’s inclusion, in place of wicketkeeper-batsman Amy Jones, is the only change from the ODI squad that lost to Australia 2-1.Wilson was rewarded for her back-to-back fifties, 55 and 64, for England Academy Women in the warm-up matches against Australia. “Fran has been in excellent form with the bat for club and county this summer, and in particular has put in a couple of notable performances for the England Women’s Academy against the Australians during the 50-over and 2-day warm up matches,” ECB’s head of England Women’s Performance, Paul Shaw, said.Jones was dropped after producing scores of 0 and 15 in the two ODIs she played and her score of 18 in the two-day match against Australia in Loughborough last weekend. Wilson, uncapped in the Test format, has played two ODIs and five T20Is so far since her debut against Sri Lanka in 2010, but hasn’t scored any runs in the one-day format yet.Australia currently lead the Ashes four points to two. The Test, which carries four points for a win and two each for a draw, will be followed by three T20Is at the end of the month.England Women Squad: Charlotte Edwards (captain), Heather Knight (vice-captain), Katherine Brunt, Kathryn Cross, Georgia Elwiss, Lydia Greenway, Rebecca Grundy, Jenny Gunn, Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor, Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield.

Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal has dismissed speculations of retirement, insisting he’s still a “good limited-overs bowler”, even as chief selector Haroon Rasheed said he was looking forward to “judge him” in the national T20 main round beginning next week in Rawalpindi.Ajmal, who completed his county stint with Worcestershire recently, felt he had “two years of competitive cricket” left in him. “I never wanted to retire in obscurity as I have done enough for Pakistan to win matches singlehandedly,” Ajmal told ESPNcricinfo. “I want to retire with respect and honour. I will definitely sit with the selectors and discuss my future plan with them.”Ajmal has seen his career nosedive ever since he was banned from international bowling in September last year. He remodelled his action – it was cleared five months after he was banned – but his bowling was shorn of its earlier menace.He returned less than impressive numbers for Worcestershire as well, having played nearly an entire season for 16 wickets at an average of 51.25. Ajmal’s fallow phase coincided with the rise of Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar, who have cornered Pakistan’s spin-bowling spots.”Obviously I needed some time to settle down with my bowling action,” Ajmal said. “I could have persisted for the national selection earlier but it might have been a risky case as we have seen [Mohammad] Hafeez is reported again after been cleared. So it’s a matter of getting things right and wait for the right time.”Ajmal didn’t play a single international till he was nearly 31, but he made up for that over the next few years, stacking up more than 400 wickets across formats. While at the height of his powers, he was even offered Pakistan’s T20 captaincy, but he declined, reckoning he was better as a “team player.””Cricket is cruel sometimes but I always said one can’t relax,” Ajmal said. “People forget the good and make the bad part our defining feature. There are ups and downs in cricket and you can’t deny the fact every day is a new day and you can’t be taking five or ten wickets in every match. We are human and its natural to have good days and bad days.”Regardless of being reported, there were odds that I might have faced a dip in form, could have struggled taking wickets with previous action as well and then what? Actually it’s not really a case that I am not effective, it’s a matter of form and confidence that I just need to hit and I have started to get flow.”I know I am not able to get wickets in four-day cricket maybe because the pitches [in England] are green, soft and it rains a lot but at the same time I am still a better limited-overs bowler and taking wickets in the shorter format. I was assured that I will be considered and won’t be discarded. I also understand that Yasir and Zulfi are doing very well and I don’t want to dislodge their place but I think there is some room for me in limited-overs cricket and I will prove that in the T20 cup in Pakistan.”Rasheed acknowledged Ajmal’s persistence and said he was ready to assess him. He said the doors were never shut on any player, including Ajmal, but there was a yardstick in place by which he would be judged. “I understand Ajmal has been a No. 1 bowler and has been a great servant for Pakistan cricket and we never wanted to discard him. But we want an effective Ajmal and we are always open for any discussion with him.”Ajmal, who will turn 38 next month, will be playing for Faisalabad Region under Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq. He will have at least five group matches to impress the selectors – who will be monitor the performances of the players for the upcoming Zimbabwe series starting from September 27.”We are not asking him to retire or stay away but he needs to realise the situation realistically where he stands and what is the requirement,” Rasheed said. “We have created such an environment for anyone to come to us and discuss with us about anything. But at the same time he has a opportunity to play in the T20 cup next week and there we will consider his performance.”

ScorecardEd Cowan scored the fourth century of his one-day career•Getty Images

Mitchell Starc has continued to dominate the Matador Cup, with a four-wicket haul that helped ensure a third successive victory for New South Wales. However, Starc missed out on the chance for a third consecutive Man-of-the-Match award, with opener Ed Cowan given the honour after his century that set up the win over Western Australia.Set 265 for victory, the Warriors struggled against the class of Starc and the awkward lengths served up by Gurinder Sandhu. Western Australia collapsed to be 4 for 18 in the ninth over and it was only through a 93-run partnership between Michael Klinger and Sam Whiteman that they fought their way back into the contest, although they were eventually bowled out for 189.Sandhu claimed the first wicket, Shaun Marsh caught behind for 1, before Starc picked off three more in the space of two of his overs. Cameron Bancroft found scoring almost impossible and on 5 from 28 balls he edged Starc to slip, before Mitchell Marsh was bowled next ball. Adam Voges survived the hat-trick delivery but played on for 2 in Starc’s next over.Whiteman and Klinger rebuilt as best they could, but Sandhu all but confirmed the result when he dismissed them both in the same over. Whiteman (45) toe-edged an attempted hook and was caught at midwicket, and Klinger (51) chipped a catch to midwicket to leave the Warriors in serious trouble at 6 for 112.Sandhu claimed another wicket to finish with 4 for 29 from his ten overs, Sean Abbott chipped in with two victims and Starc finished the job by bowling Andrew Tye in the 45th over. Starc ended up with 4 for 23 to add to the 6 for 25 he claimed against the Cricket Australia XI and his 4 for 27 against South Australia. He has 14 wickets at the remarkable average of 5.35 in this tournament.The shaky Western Australian start was quite the opposite of the opening New South Wales had earlier in the day, when Cowan and Nic Maddinson put on 133 for the first wicket. Maddinson made 74 before he fell to the bowling of Mitchell Marsh, who then had Steven Smith caught behind for a duck two balls later.But Cowan steered the innings at a calm tempo, striking six fours in his 100 from 139 deliveries. It was the fourth one-day century of his domestic career, and although he eventually provided Marsh with a third wicket Cowan had given New South Wales the platform to build to 5 for 264, which was enough not only for a win, but in the end for a bonus point as well.