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Andre Adams, the bustling all-rounder, was probably the only Aucklander who could raise a smile as Northern Districts outplayed Auckland by 60 runs with a smart all-round performance in the State Shield one-day cricket match on Eden Park’s outer oval today.Adams’ place in the New Zealand World Cup squad became firmer as he survived a stiff test on his back injury. He bowled at about three-quarter vigour to take four for 37 from ten overs in leading the Auckland bowling effort as Northern Districts scored 218 for seven in their 50 overs.However, Adams scored only a seven-minute two as the Auckland batting struggled and finally expired at 158 in 44 overs.Ross Dykes, one of the New Zealand selectors who must deliver the 15-man World Cup squad by the middle of next week, said he was heartened by Adams’ vigorous bowling, and by the way he was able to come back for a strong second spell.”He will have to come through a similar test at Alexandra on Monday when Auckland play Otago,” said Dykes, “but Andre gave a very encouraging performance and that pleases me.”If a stranger without World Cup favourites in his head had watched the game he would have lavished more praise on the two Northern Districts men – Joseph Yovich, the 26-year-old all-rounder, and Matthew Hart, the former New Zealand left-arm spinner – who saved their team’s cause in the early afternoon.After choosing to bat first on a tired-looking pitch – a relic of the Auckland-Wellington State Championship match earlier this month – the Northern Districts first innings stuttered along. Adams and Richard Morgan reduced Northern to 26 for two and then three (the third being Scott Styris, another World Cup candidate, for a four-ball duck) and eventually Northern were on then ropes at 81 for five.Half Northern Districts’ overs had been used up, and 150 or 160 seemed an optimistic target as the old pitch was not the easiest of batting surfaces. By the time Yovich arrived at this critical point, Hart had dug in with his dogged left-handed batting.Yovich is usually a low-order struggler, but he started today at No 7 as if he regarded himself as the confident batting star of the team. Soon he was stroking fours about the smooth outfield. A couple of sixes rocketed over the long-on line. Heartened by this (pardon the pun) Hart increased his scoring rate.Very soon the Auckland bowling began to look a little thin, the fielding not as keen and sharp as it had been early in the innings. They scored 50 runs together in 37 minutes from 66 balls and kept up the momentum with a second 50 in 40 minutes from 56 balls.By the time Adams bowled Yovich, the tall young man had scored 70 from 90 balls, including two sixes and seven fours, and the 107 runs he added with Hart had carried Northern Districts to 198, considerably better than the early limp batting had suggested.Hart went at 204 for seven, 153 minutes for his 62 from 81 balls, and Northern Districts probably had a very comfortable lunch.Matt Horne might have upset them with four quick fours in the opening Auckland attack, but he hit himself out at 30, Llorne Howell did the same at 39 and when Mark Richardson was caught behind after an unwise slash outside the off-stump, Auckland were three for 52, and worse at 55 for four when Tama Canning was run out.Hart, aided by Styris, then stifled the Aucklanders with their pin-point accuracy (Styris’ first spell read 6-3-6-0), and Hart thoroughly deserved figures of 10-0-30-2, although why he should concede eight no-balls must remain a mystery.Brooke Walker, the Auckland captain, led a dogged rearguard action with 33 not out from 79 balls, but the smart Northern Districts fielding wrapped up the rest of the innings.James Marshall was the star in this department, with superb catches to remove Horne, Howell and Rob Nicol, and them a brilliant stop and dive-pass of the ball to run out Morgan.

One-day cricket may be a different ball game but today’s Australia v England contest was bound to give the two teams a fair idea of what to expect in the Ashes Series.

Ponting gets his ton Photo © CricInfo

In the most exciting match of the NatWest Series in Bristol, Australia bettered England in a nail-biting finish. Chasing 269 runs, Australia just got there for the loss of five wickets but with only three balls spare. It was the type of contest that makes modern cricket nerve wracking, for not many nails were left unbitten. While England’s Nick Knight (84) and Marcus Trescothick (69) had raised their team to a commanding position, for Australia, Ricky Ponting with his fabulous century, lead the way to a glorious victory.Earlier, England started steadily, losing Ally Brown (12) and scoring only 25 runs in the first 10 overs. The highly projected pace attack of Glenn McGrath and Bret Lee was accurate but not deadly.After grafting themselves in, Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight opened up to hit a flurry of fours and sixes, hoisting the 50 in the 14th over and continuing briskly.

Trescothick cuts a Warne delivery Photo © CricInfo

The way Trescothick (45) and Knight (40) brought up the 100 in 20 overs through a volley of fours and sixes, made Australia’s bowling look ordinary. After completing their individual half-centuries both the batsmen continued with their aggressive style to add quick runs.England lost their second wicket on 137 through a mix up between the two players resulting in Trescothick getting run out after scoring a flawless 69. After 30 overs England was 147 for 2.Australia got the third break at 189, when Shane Warne at mid-wicket smartly caught Nick Knight off Brett Lee after a marvellous innings of84. With this great innings Knight also completed his 2000 runs in one-day cricket. His partner Alec Stewart (25) followed him quickly bringing England down to 198 for 4.Assuming better control of the game, Australia managed to restrict scoring to such an extent that England’s 200 came in the 43rd over; puzzling given that they still had the major chunk of their batting intact.

Knight slams a 6 Photo © CricInfo

Some fire works, however, thrilled the crowd, in the final stage of the innings. A 70-run partnership between Ben Hollioake (37*) and newcomerOwais Shah (28*) in 45 balls took England’s total to a fighting 268 forfour. Brett Lee captured two wickets while McGrath could pinch only one.Scoring only 16 runs in the first seven overs, and losing Adam Gilchrist’s wicket on 12, Australia did not take a brilliant start. The arrival of Ricky Ponting brought some thrill to the game when the next four overs yielded 28 runs. Both Ponting and Mark Waugh delighted the crowd by hitting a six each off Alan Mullally and hoisting 50 of the innings in the 13th over.Australia registered their 100 in the 23rd over, but lost the important wicket of Mark Waugh who was bowled by Dominic Cork for a useful 46. In the meantime Ricky Ponting had completed his 50.Ponting and Damien Martyn were in complete command of the game. Though the required run rate was above six, they were constantly maintaining it, getting closer and closer to the target. They raised the total to 171 in 35 overs.The game changed all of a sudden when Martyn, having made a useful 46 was bowled by Mullally at 198. The man who had built up Australia’s innings, Ricky Ponting, was then run out after scoring a glorious 102.England was now almost back in the game.Australia lost the fifth wicket on 230 when Gough bowled Andrew Symondsfor a quickfire 23. Needing 29 runs to win in 29 balls, the match was evenly poised. The crowd was excited and chewing their nails away. The onus of victory rested with skipper Steve Waugh and Ian Harvey, fighting the battle against a fired up England side.In conditions packed with tension and excitement the batsmen were stealing the runs required per over. Australia hit the crucial blow when Harvey hit Hollioake for a towering six on the last ball of the 49th over. By scoring 272 for 5 with 3 balls to spare, Australia defeated England in a photo finish. Darren Gough clinched two wickets while Cork and Mullally shared one each.

Celtic have now reportedly set their sights on signing a Championship striker who Parkhead fans already love.

Henry tells Celtic "let Nancy cook"

Whilst many around Parkhead are quickly running out of patience with Wilfried Nancy, Premier League legend Thierry Henry has urged the Bhoys to give the Frenchman time in Scotland.

The former Arsenal man worked as Nancy’s assistant at Montreal several years ago and recently told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I see people calling for him to leave the place. As a coach myself, I think it’s too early to say that. Let him work and let him cook and judge him maybe at the end of the season.”

There’s no denying that the pressure’s on Nancy, however, after he made history by becoming the first Celtic manager to lose four-straight games since 1978.

The new manager had his own say on the matter in the build-up to his fifth game in charge against Aberdeen on Sunday, saying: “On Wednesday I think that what we did was interesting, with the way we attacked. And we had many opportunities. So the idea is not to stay still, we add improvements all the time.

“I have to change certain things to see players, but also see how I can adjust a few players, how I can mix players together. And I think that every game, I did that. My job is to still do it for the next game, and again, and again, and again. So that doesn’t change.”

Related Celtic can land dream Nancy upgrade by hiring "kamikaze" 4-3-3 manager

Celtic could already land an upgrade on Wilfried Nancy by swooping to appoint this manager as a replacement.

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What should help turn things around is the January transfer window if Nancy lasts that long in Scotland. It’s then that the Hoops could turn to a familiar face to rediscover their attacking spark.

Celtic plotting move to re-sign Kyogo

As reported by Football Insider, Celtic have now registered their interest in signing Kyogo Furuhashi from Birmingham City in the January transfer window.

The Japan international has endured a tumultuous time since swapping Celtic for Stade Rennais back in January and soon found himself at Birmingham in the summer. Just like in France, however, Kyogo has failed to make his mark in the Championship. Now, one year on from leaving, he could be on his way back to Parkhead.

Kyogo Furuhashi

Celtic record

Appearances

165

Goals

85

Assists

19

The forward arguably needs a reunion with Celtic just as much as those in Scotland. The Parkhead fan favourite scored 85 goals in 165 games for the Bhoys and earned plenty of praise from former Celtic star Chris Sutton, who dubbed Kyogo “unplayable” back in 2021.

Subscribe for deeper Celtic transfer analysis and updates Get in-depth context on Kyogo, Nancy and Celtic’s transfer plans by subscribing to the newsletter. Expect expanded analysis of transfer links, squad impact and what a Kyogo return would mean for tactics — all including in-depth Celtic coverage you’ll actually read. Subscribe Subscribe for deeper Celtic transfer analysis and updates Get in-depth context on Kyogo, Nancy and Celtic’s transfer plans by subscribing to the newsletter. Expect expanded analysis of transfer links, squad impact and what a Kyogo return would mean for tactics — all including in-depth Celtic coverage you’ll actually read.

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Whether Birmingham are ready to give up on their summer signing just yet is the big question. Kyogo cost the Blues as much as £10m, but is yet to show signs of coming good in the Championship.

	Matt Nicholson: back in Surrey colours © Getty Images

Matt Nicholson, the Australian fast bowler, will deputise for Mohammad Asif at Surrey for the first half of the season – and possibly the entire summer.Nicholson took 44 wickets for Surrey last season in the Championship, but with uncertainty over Asif’s involvement, he could play a fuller role than was first anticipated. Asif, the Pakistan fast bowler, will be unavailable until June at the earliest, and his board have also expressed concerns about his workload.”The Pakistan board have said they are not going to allow their quick bowlers to play county cricket, which is understandable as most of their first-choice bowlers are on the sidelines at the moment,” Alan Butcher, the Surrey manager, said.”So while we have a contract, it must be said it’s far from certain that he’ll be able to take up that contract. At the end of last season Matt made it very plain that he’d be delighted to come back and play for us, and I know that everyone in the dressing room is really delighted he will be with us for at least the first part of the season.”I would have no qualms at all if it turned into a full season’s contract.”

David Hemp will be one of the key batsmen for Bermuda © ICC

Bermuda’s 15-man squad for the World Cup was along expected lines, as they retained all but one of the players that contested the ICC World Cricket League (WCL) competition earlier this month – Oliver Pitcher, a batsman who missed the WCL because of injury, has been included ahead of Arthur Pitcher Jr.Most of the players virtually picked themselves and have occupied spots in the team ever since Bermuda gained a place in World Cup two years ago. Irvine Romaine will captain the side with wicketkeeper-batsman Dean Minors as his deputy.There is also room in the squad for left-handed batsman David Hemp. Born in Bermuda, the 36-year-old Hemp is currently the captain of Glamorgan. The squad also includes South Africa-born allrounder Saleem Mukuddem, and 17-year-old allrounder Malachi Jones, whose selection will make him one of the youngest players to appear in the tournament.Bermuda are making their first appearance at the World Cup and have been slotted in Group B, where they face Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh. The Bermudians play warm-up matches against England and Zimbabwe in St Vincent on March 5 and 8.Squad
Irving Romaine (capt), Dean Minors (wk), Delyone Borden, Lionel Cann, David Hemp, Kevin Hurdle, Malachi Jones, Stefan Kelly, Dwayne Leverock, Saleem Mukuddem, Steven Outerbridge, Oliver Pitcher, Clay Smith, Janeiro Tucker, Kwame Tucker.

Gauteng prospered against Free State while heavy rain fell in Johannesburg and Durban and prevented play from getting under way in the other two SAA Provincial Challenge matches. A the Wanderers Gauteng scored 316 for 4 in the 70 overs of play that were possible. Having been put in by Free State, Gauteng made the most of the fair-weather conditions with William Motaung scoring 101, Diaan van Wyk not out on 76 and Douglas Gain adding 71 not out. At the close the two had put on 127 for the fifth wicket.The game in Benoni has every chance of getting underway on day two, while the chances of any play in Durban looks very slim. Rain is predicted for the second day and with the outfield waterlogged day the third day may also be washed out.

Shane Warne turned up the heat, and New Zealand could not resist© Getty Images

Jason Gillespie was supposedly out-of-form and leaving Brett Lee out looked to be a mistake. Both myths were quickly dispelled as New Zealand’s new-look top order flopped today in the toughest of acid tests.Only the retired Waugh brothers and the 12th man Brett Lee were missing from the side that met New Zealand in the last Test series in 2001. The result for New Zealand was an opposition with the same old faces presenting the tightest of on-field units and forcing the sudden reappearance of pressures unique to past battles with the world’s best bowling attack.Such is the unrelenting consistency of this attack that New Zealand’s first-innings ability to absorb the opening burst was quickly replaced by technical inadequacies hastened by Australia’s extreme mental pressure. Of the top seven batsmen, only Craig Cumming was genuinely undone by a good ball.A slow but steady start of 30 for 1 after 15 overs soon became a precarious 34 for 3 in 18 overs. From Shane Warne’s standard “oohing” and “aahing” post delivery, to Gillespie’s pounding of a perfect line and length, to Adam Gilchrist’s laughter at a struggling Craig McMillan, it was a blitzkrieg only the Australians are capable of.During the one-day series New Zealand turned to its sports psychologist for answers. If there is to be a repeat visit, McMillan should be first in the queue. After a heated verbal spar with Gilchrist at Brisbane in November, McMillan fell to the next ball. Gilchrist was at it again today as Warne claimed McMillan in comical circumstances.After a decent warm-up bowling around the wicket to Hamish Marshall, Warne chose the same approach from the first ball to McMillan. In the space of five leg-breaks into the footmarks, McMillan, the right-hander, went from confident to confused to incompetent.On his Test debut at the Gabba in 1997, McMillan went to 50 by lofting Warne back over his head for six: today he inexplicably padded off two full tosses. The second one had Gilchrist and others around the bat in hysterics and it proved too much for McMillan when he unnecessarily prodded the outrageously wide next ball to short leg.McMillan was not the only one to get in a tangle. Stephen Fleming and Lou Vincent both got pads in the way of bats and Nathan Astle blew a solid start with indecisiveness around off stump. Marshall did not have the confident air of a first-innings centurion. Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz unsettled him with short-pitched deliveries and after a gusty 77-ball stay, Marshall lost his concentration and was bowled behind his legs by Warne.New Zealand’s collapse to 87 for 6 was a direct result of the bowlers devising a plan and executing it with precision. Gillespie was a standout, claiming Cumming with the perfect three-ball over. After seaming two away from the right-hander, Cumming was deceived when Gillespie cut one back. Vincent’s dismissal was a virtual replica. A Gillespie leg-cutter found Vincent’s edge but also Matthew Hayden’s butter fingers at slip. Two balls later Gillespie beat Vincent’s defensive lunge for a second lbw.Cricket fundamentals rather than complicated science underlie the Australian approach to bowling. The magic comes from the quick men putting the ball on the spot and hitting the seam with regularity. There is nothing stopping New Zealand from trying to emulate this. The other critical basic central to Australia’s performance today – a quick bowler in tandem with a quality legspinner – is something New Zealand can only dream of.

The Ricky Ponting of today is a new man: an inspiring leader, stirring speaker and fierce critic of sledging. This is the story of how he did it.

Ponting’s road to success has not always been an easy one &copy Getty Images

It was one of the sadder sights of recent times. There was Australia’s best young cricketer, Ricky Ponting, his face marked by embarrassment and a black eye, seated at a bare table next to the Australian Cricket Board’s chief executive Malcolm Speed.Against the beautiful backdrop of Hobart’s harbour, Speed announced that Ponting had been suspended for two one-day internationals for misbehaving at a Sydney nightclub. Ponting admitted he had a drinking problem. He and Speed explained it wasn’t that Ponting drank too much too often, but that when he started drinking he found it hard to stop – and often got himself into compromising situations. Ponting said he would seek counselling.It looked at the time, January 1999, as if the board was hanging Ponting out to dry, when previously it had tried to protect players in trouble. We soon learned it had little choice. A Sydney newspaper was poised to publish photos of a drunk and dishevelled Ponting standing outside that nightclub with a group of people he didn’t know.Here was the classic morality tale of modern cricket. The wonder boy, seen by many as a future Test player from the time he was 12, had now been exposed as a flawed character with a destructive social problem, someone who had embarrassed the game and himself in public. Here, too, was someone regarded as a future Test captain, someone who was now jeopardising that future.That is how it appeared at the time. But when you talk to some of the people involved back then, you realise that few lost faith in Ponting’s ability to mend his ways and recover the lost ground. They knew their man pretty well. Ponting’s impressive past two years prove it.The following season the Australian vice-captaincy was up for grabs. Adam Gilchrist won a three-way “contest” over Shane Warne and Ponting, then 24. Although many insiders believed the latter two were better candidates in a pure cricketing sense, Gilchrist got the nod because of his impeccable public and private image. The board, wearied by the misbehaviour of some players – especially Warne – took the safe route.Ponting’s path to the captaincy had hit a roadblock, a crossroads. Not only was the nightclub affair the lowest point in his career and life – for the two have been much the same for a cricketer destined from an early age to play for Australia – it was also the turning point in that career.As Ponting underwent counselling and gradually straightened himself out, Warne continued to get into scrapes, forever damaging his leadership prospects. Gilchrist, meanwhile, found the triple duties of captaining, batting and wicketkeeping too onerous. Eventually Ponting got his chance.Even then his supporters in the highest levels of administration had to push his claims against the long entrenched view in New South Wales and Victoria that, as the senior states, the captaincy should be theirs by right. And yet since taking over the one-day side Ponting has commanded Australia to a World Cup victory, made consistently high scores and generally led in fine style. It has been quite a turnaround for a kid from the tough northern suburbs of Launceston.Ponting grew up in a sporting family and played cricket for an uncompromising club, Mowbray. What the Mowbray players lacked in subtlety and worldliness they made up for in grit. It was not the most sophisticated environment but it did help make Ponting a determined character, a fighter. One of the ways of life in that environment was for young players to be left to learn on their own. There was little advice from senior men about how a youngster should behave in public. The view was that this kid could play – so let him get on with it.In the short term that approach landed the young Ponting in trouble. Perhaps in the longer term it worked for the best. These days, those who watch him at close quarters say he is self-reliant, a quiet and close observer, who prefers to learn from watching rather than asking. They also say they never lost faith in his ability to come through 1999 and go on to better things.”It’s not obvious how Ricky learns,” says David Boon, the national selector and former Test batsman. “You don’t have to sit him down and go through things with him. He picks things up from watching and listening. You don’t see him do it but he’s learning all the time.”Boon is a key figure in this story – first as a figurehead to Ponting, and secondly as a former team-mate and colleague. Boon’s role in Tasmanian cricket cannot be overstated: he doesn’t have a statue of himself at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval for nothing. He was the first born-and-based Tasmanian Test player, the one whose ambitions and talents were not thwarted by the casual cricketing environment of the early 1980s.Like Ponting, Boon was a star from an early age, a kid destined to go places. But unlike other gifted Tasmanian players of that time, Boon kept his eye on the main game. He liked a joke and a drink but he never stopped being professional.There were few senior mentors in Tasmanian cricket when Boon was coming through, no former greats who might turn up to state training to have a word with the next generation. You had to do it pretty much on your own, and Boon broke new ground by doing exactly that. Denis Rogers, chairman of the Tasmanian Cricket Association and a former ACB chairman, cites Boon as a key factor in Ponting’s development.”Boonie is still Ricky’s hero,” says Rogers. “Not because they are necessarily close but because of what Ricky has seen Boonie do. David has been a major influence but it’s never what he says – it’s what he’s done, and how he went about doing it. David doesn’t say a lot but when he does talk people listen.”Boon, naturally, plays down this view. “I think Denis is exaggerating there,” he says. “Ricky and I talk quite a bit and we did play together for a while. But I don’t interfere in anything. I leave him to do his job, which he’s doing very well.” Boon says he didn’t take Ponting aside during that difficult period in 1999 because he had confidence in him.”I never doubted he would come through that episode,” says Boon. “He’s got plenty of strength of character. You have to remember he saw leaders like Allan Border, Mark Taylor and now Stephen [Waugh] up close, and I know he watched them and learned from them.”He’s always been an outstanding talent but not all talented players are leaders. Ricky has always shown leadership qualities. And it showed great guts to admit he had a problem with drinking. He had the perceptive skills to identify the problem and the guts to do something about it. People forget he was young and in the limelight, and when you’re young you do a few stupid things. As you get older you learn from your mistakes. Ricky realised he had to sort himself out – and I knew he would.”That enforced self-reliance during Ponting’s early years has turned into a positive in recent times. Boon says no player has been a particularly close influence on him. One of his strongest supporters, however, has been Trevor Hohns, the national chairman of selectors, who says Ponting stood out years ago as a “shining light”.”Apart from the fact that he was a fantastic player, to me he exuded enthusiasm,” Hohns says. “He’s had a deserved reputation as a good tactical thinker, and all of this was pinpointed a few years ago. I wouldn’t say we had long-term plans for him as early as 1999 but we did have our eye on him. Certainly in the past few years some of the rough edges have come off. He’s taken the right sort of advice from the right people and gone out of his way to make the best of himself.”Hohns notes that Ponting has had the same manager for several years, unusual in someone whose career rose so quickly. “I think Sam Halvorsen has been a good influence on Ricky and helped him adjust to the public exposure players face these days.” Ponting has had to deal with it more than most. From that tough club environment at Mowbray he graduated straight to the academy in Adelaide, making him perhaps the first fully fledged youngster to move through that exclusively cricket system.A feature of Ponting’s leadership has been his stance on sledging, which seems stronger than that of the Test captain Steve Waugh. When South Africa’s Graeme Smith went public about the crudity of Australia’s sledging, Waugh implied it was part of the rough-and-tumble of Test cricket. Ponting took a harder line. “I don’t mind a bit of the friendly banter and gamesmanship,” he said, “but I’ve said right from the word go that I don’t like, and won’t like, any real personal barrages towards anyone. And if that does happen I’ll be more than happy to pull the guys aside and let them know that’s not acceptable.”Hohns believes Ponting’s stronger condemnation of excessive sledging was influenced by those dark days of early 1999. “I think the origins of his views on sledging were influenced by that issue. It made him aware of the public view players are under. They’re just normal people like us but they have had to realise that they’re famous. If they do something wrong people will see it. He realised back then that, to some extent, he is public property.”After a series of minor and major disasters caused by the poor behaviour – or perceived poor behavior – of this Australian team, Ponting’s rise to the leadership has been an under-recognised positive story. Those people, like Hohns, who spotted his strength of character years ago are now seeing their faith repaid. Ponting is the best fieldsman in the game, one of the very best batsman and a World Cup-winning captain. He will soon be a fine Test captain.As Rogers says: “Ricky’s come a long, long way.”Mark Ray is a cricket author, journalist and former Tasmanian player.

Former captain Wasim Akram was recalled Saturday to the Pakistan squad for the three-match one-day series against the West Indies in Sharjah.Also back in the side was off-spinner Shoaib Malik but there was no place for all-rounder Azhar Mahmood. Unconfirmed reports said Azhar was injured.The two will replace Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal and Mohammad Zahid. Zahid’s comeback to international cricket was abruptly halted with the sad demise of his mother last week. He had to return from the desert city after joining the team a day later owing to delay in travel formalities. But the big news was the return of Wasim Akram who had bowled just 20 deliveries on the tour to Dhaka before limping off with a hamstring injury. Wasim underwent a series of tests before he was declared fit and available for selection by the panel of doctors.However, it is yet to be seen if Wasim will bowl with full throttle and is at his best. Since his 20-ball first Test in Dhaka early last month, he hasn’t played any competitive cricket.Wasim, who has over 440 one-day wickets, has been hampered by a series of injuries in the twilight of his career which has left big question marks over his fitness, endurance and chances to make the squad for next year’s World Cup in South Africa.After the three one-day matches, Pakistan has a demanding season ahead with the Asian Test Championship final against Sri Lanka proposed in March and followed up by the Sharjah Cup in April. New Zealand are also expected to make a rescheduled tour to Pakistan between April 20 and May 18.In September, Pakistan will appear in the ICC KnockOut tournament and then immediately host Australia. They leave for African safari in November and return in March after the World Cup.The three one-day matches against the West Indies will be played on Feb 14, 15 and 17 under lights.

England managed to put their CricInfo Women’s World Cup campaign back on track today with a solid all-round performance to defeat Ireland by eight wickets at Lincoln University’s BIL Oval.The Irish luck still continued with the toss but it then deserted the team for the rest of the day. The top order failed against the pace of Lucy Pearson and Clare Taylor and the game was vitually all over by the end of the 14th over when Ireland found themselves 23 for five.It is not in the Irish nature to lie down and we saw it again today as Catherine O’Neill and later Isobel Joyce, Saibh Young and Nikki Squire fought to the end but it was a rear-guard action after the early collapse. While 103 was a good effort in the circumstances, it was never going to be enough to defend against an England team ruthless in their search for respectability.Pearson picked up two wickets, Clare Connor two for one off her 4.2 overs and Taylor turned in the CricInfo Player of the Match performance with four for 25 off her 10 overs. The England fielding showed signs of frustration at times as a partnership between O’Neill and Squire developed in the middle of the innings. The pair took the score from 23 for five in the 14th over to 61 for six in the 30th when O’Neill, on 25, fell to an endemic Irish disease at this tournament, the run-out.Joyce’s 26 batting at number nine offered a lesson to the top order on how to accumulate but England had the fielding answers, accurate work by Arran Thompson in covers effecting two run outs and Kathryn Leng picking up a sharp catch at short cover.It was Thompson again in the thick of things when England started their chase for the modest target. She was dropped in the first over at first slip off Barbara McDonald and celebrated by carrying her bat through the innings, showing a preference for scoring through the covers on her way to an unbeaten 44. Barbara Daniels was the other main contributor to England’s total as they cruised to victory in the 30th over.With tight bowling and committed fielding, Ireland had the satisfaction of restricting batsmen who were looking for runs to just 24 off the last 10 overs but the total was never big enough to defend on another quality Lincoln pitch.The England coach, Paul Farbrace, took satisfaction from a performance in which his side had fielded and bowled “reasonably well” and “had got the job done” in the batting department.What he was not happy with was the mix-up early in the match that saw his team facing a potential problem over the failure to record a late change on the official team list. Laura Harper, named in the original line-up, aggravated an injury during warm-ups and the designated 12th man, Nicky Shaw, took her place on the field. It was not until the sixth over that the switch was noted.After much discussion, officials ruled that Shaw could remain as a substitute fielder and that, if required, Harper could bat but only at seven or lower.Farbrace said it was a mistake that no one involved would ever make again. He took responsibility as the coach: “I should have checked.” But from the sheepish looks around there would have been nightmares for other members of the camp if Shaw had bowled or batted before the switch was noted and the match had been forfeited.Noting that the technical staff had dealt with the matter very sensibly, Farbrace summed up the incident to the point: “Extremely embarrassing.”Looking ahead, he said this was the first of four matches the team had to win. “People might think that is pie-in-the-sky stuff but that is the only way we can approach it.” Australia is next!John Wills, the Irish coach, somewhat glumly reflected on two or three players performing in each match but never the same two or three. “We just can’t gel.”He was pleased with the fielding – “but, oh that catch” in the first over. He also had praise for the youngest member of the team, Isobel Joyce: “She looked completely at home.” And he acknowledged the work of Anne Linehan, the stand-by keeper, who recover from one blemish to bring off a superb stumping.Of the mix up at the beginning, he said that Ireland had been told of the substitution by the officials and had said that the rules should be abided by. “It was all dealt with very amicably.”Result: Ireland 103; England 105 for two; a win to England by eight wickets.