Dinesh Mongia reminded the selectors of his first-class credentials by hammering an impressive 101 not out for the Indian Board President’s XI against West Indies.Mongia, who has yet to play a Test match despite featuring heavily in India’s one-day plans, rescued his side from 186 for 7 as they declared on 275 for 8. He added 56 for the eighth wicket with Amit Mishra, with three sixes and 12 fours in his 14th first-class hundred.The Board XI had been reduced to 17 for 2 during a fiery opening spell from Mervyn Dillon, who dismissed Sanjay Bangar and Gautam Gambhir in his opening five overs. Hemang Badani (67) and Mohammad Kaif steadied the ship with a 91-run partnership, but after Carl Hooper snared Kaif for 40, three more wickets fell for 20 runs, with Jermaine Lawson grabbing two of them.West Indies reached 20 for 0 in reply at stumps, with Chris Gayle not out on 14 and Wavell Hinds on 5.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out

In an enthralling contest which ebbed and flowed throughout, Nathan Astle’s unbeaten 115 proved to be the crucial difference as New Zealand clinched the Videocon Cup with a six-wicket win at Harare. Set a challenging 277 for victory, New Zealand got off to a stunning start, as Stephen Fleming (61) and Astle put together 121 in 18.1 overs, and then rode on that momentum despite a few wobbles against the spinners.Astle’s matchwinning effort overshadowed a couple of fine Indian batting performances – Mohammad Kaif played the outstanding hand for the second time in three games with a beautifully paced unbeaten 93, while Virender Sehwag finally got some batting form back with his first half-century in 16 ODIs.The last time the two sides met in a final, Chris Cairns had struck a magnificent century to make light of a stiff target. This time, he was the supersub, sitting in the pavilion and ready to walk out if the need arose, but as it turned out, his contribution wasn’t even needed, thanks primarily to an astonishing onslaught at the start of the run-chase.India’s bowlers have often stumbled in finals, but it appeared they might have finally got their act together when Irfan Pathan started off with a maiden. The next five overs went for 62, however, as Fleming and Astle rocked the Harare Sports Club with strokes all around the park, taking full toll of the bowlers’ proclivity to bowl on both sides of the wicket. Fleming was especially severe on Pathan, spanking him for five fours in his third over. Astle hammered boundaries square of the wicket on both sides, and Sourav Ganguly was forced to run for cover, spreading the field out after two power plays.India’s seamers leaked 137 from 18.1 overs, but the introduction of spin staunched the runs immediately. Sehwag nailed two wickets in one over, Harbhajan Singh bowled a tidy line and length, and even Astle found run-scoring far more difficult than he had earlier.However, India had one power-play still to use, and when it was finally taken in the 24th over, New Zealand made use of it to get back their momentum – Jai Prakash Yadav was tonked for 14 in his only over. India fought back with their spinners – Yuvraj Singh was almost as effective as Daniel Vettori had been for New Zealand earlier – and the asking rate even climbed to 6.4 in the last ten overs. However, with wickets in hand, and Astle around to provide the steadying hand, the result wasn’t in much doubt.India’s start had been pretty impressive too, but from 155 for 1 the batsmen, save Kaif, lost their way, finally being all out four balls short of 50 overs. After missing New Zealand’s last match, Shane Bond and Vettori both returned to the line-up, and as expected, they were the two class acts in the attack: Vettori bowled with guile, varied his flight and pace cleverly, and deserved his returns of 2 for 35. Bond bowled an incisive first spell, but was clearly below par when he returned, finally hobbling off three balls short of his complete spell.Sehwag provided the early impetus to the innings, but the crucial steadying hand in the middle and the late charge came from Kaif, who batted with all the fluency he showed in Friday’s match, but was even more impressive for the manner in which he read the situation and played according to its demands. When Sehwag was firing away, Kaif played second fiddle sensibly, When Sehwag fell, Kaif took on the mantle of batting through to the end, and when wickets fell in a heap towards the end, he took on the role of main striker, belting three fours in a four-ball sequence off Styris and Bond to help the innings get the momentum it was quickly losing.Kaif’s innings ensured that the early contributions of the openers, especially Sehwag, wasn’t wasted. Struggling for form before this match, Sehwag got into groove early, slashing a couple of fours off Bond, and then carried on from there, taking full toll of the width on offer. Ganguly was all at sea against Bond, but found the lesser pace of Kyle Mills much more to his liking. He fell against the run of play after an innings played in two halves – his first 22 balls fetched him a single, his last 22 got him 30 – but Kaif joined Sehwag in what was the best passage of the innings for India. The 81-run stand came in less than 12 overs as both batsmen made full use of Fleming’s decision to use all the power-plays at a stretch.After 24 overs, India were 153 for 1, a run-rate of 6.37, with Sehwag on course for a hundred. Vettori then stepped in, taking two wickets in an over, including that for Rahul Dravid for a second-ball duck, to peg India back. India continued to lose their way thereafter. Kaif kept his cool to guide the team to a competitive total, but that wasn’t enough to prevent India from sliding to their 12th defeat in their last 16 finals.Speaking of his side’s victory, Fleming said: “It was a great match, a great win and a great series. The all-round strength of our team was what mattered in the end.”Ganguly highlighted his team’s fielding as the weak part of their performance: “We got off to a good start, but couldn’t sustain it. Virender Sehwag put us back in the game for a while with three wickets but our fielding was not up to scratch.”India now face Zimbabwe in a two-Test series, with the first starting on September 13.

IndiaSourav Ganguly c Marshall b Oram 31 (44) (72 for 1)
Virender Sehwag c Vincent b Vettori 75 (65) (155 for 2)
Rahul Dravid lbw b Vettori 0 (2) (155 for 3)
Yuvraj Singh c Bond b Mills 20 (32) (185 for 4)
Venugopal Rao c McMillan b Oram 8 (16) (203 for 5)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni lbw b Styris 11 (16) (230 for 6)
Jai Prakash Yadav c McCullum b Oram 0 (2) (231 for 7)
Ajit Agarkar c Mills b Bond 6 (5) (255 for 8)
Irfan Pathan c Vincent b Oram 10 (7) (272 for 9)
Ashish Nehra c Oram b Mills 0 (2) (276 all out)
New ZealandStephen Fleming c & b Sehwag 61 (66) (121 for 1)
Hamish Marshall lbw b Sehwag 3 (3) (125 for 2)
Scott Styris st Dhoni b Sehwag 37 (41) (183 for 3)
Craig McMillan c Dhoni b Yuvraj 13 (14) (206 for 4)

England A will play two unofficial Tests and five one-dayers against their West Indian counterparts on a one-month tour in February-March next year.Announcing the itinerary, Zorol Barthley, the chief operations officer of the West Indian board, mentioned that West Indies A have two more series planned in 2006: a tour by Sri Lanka A in May, and a visit to England in July-August. “These tours will be of tremendous benefit to our young players,” Bartley said. “They will give promising West Indies players more international exposure and encourage them to push for places in the senior team.”The West Indian squad for the series in February will be named after the Carib Beer domestic four-day tournament, which starts next month. The England A squad will be chosen after the national team’s tour of Pakistan.England A in West Indies tour itinerary

ScorecardJamaica finished the first day on top after Andrew Richardson (5 for 32) ripped through Leeward Islands, destroying the middle order by taking five wickets for four runs, as they collapsed for 196 after a solid start. Jamaica, in their reply, were 35 for 1 at stumps.Leeward Islands had done well to get to 185 for 4 but Richardson, in his first over after tea, took three wickets and later scalped Sylvester Joseph (47) and Alderman Lesmond (2) to send them crashing to 196. Nikita Miller also returned fine figures of 3 for 37.After losing Austin Richards (20), Shane Jeffers and Runako Morton put on 57 runs for the second wicket. Gareth Breese, who had accounted for Richards, broke through again by dismissing Jeffers for 55 (103 for 2). Morton and Sylvester Joseph had another 50-run stand but soon after Nikita Miller removed Morton (62) and Tonito in quick succession. There was a brief resistance as the score inched past 180 but soon after Richardson returned to blow the rest of the batsmen away.

Canterbury completed the formality of knocking off the paltry 89 runs set by Otago at Carisbrook. They did so with just the loss of two wickets, Peter Fulton (31*) and Craig McMillan (30*) were the not-out batsmen. Otago’s innings ended early on the third morning, with Hamish Bennett finishing with 4 for 43. It was a difficult match for batting, with no total above 200 and only Brendon McCullum, with 80, looked assured at the crease.Central Districts beat Wellington by 54 runs at the Basin Reserve but that wasn’t the big news from the day. It was confirmed that Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, had broken his finger. The injury might keep him out of the new-year series against Sri Lanka. Attempting to chase the target of 329 for victory, Wellington slumped to 103 for 6 with only Michael Parlane (54) of the top order getting any traction at the crease. Jesse Ryder was run out for 0 while Fleming managed just 7 before being trapped in front. Chris Nevin (90) and Jeetan Patel (50) offered spirited, but ultimately futile, resistance. Ewen Thompson took 4 for 52. Central picked up their first points of the championship, while Wellington still lead on 16 points.Auckland’s match with Northern Districts was destined for a draw after another rain-interrupted day at Eden Park’s outer oval. Chasing Northern’s 255 for first-innings points, Auckland was deep in trouble at 172 for 9 when rain chased the players from the field. Scott Styris (51) scored a breezy half-century but no other Auckland batsman got going, though Kyle Mills battled hard for his 36. Joseph Yovich’s golden summer continued as he took 7 for 61 off 18 overs after top scoring in Northern’s innings. In the likely event that Northern will take first-innings points and nothing else from this match, the result will leave both these sides at the bottom of the State Championship table. One of the highlights of the day was a magnificent catch by Mark Orchard in the gully to dismiss Tim McIntosh for 3. Lou Vincent (0), one of the few in-form batsmen in the New Zealand line-up injured an ankle and could only bat down the order.

Greg Chappell, India’s coach, has once again said that the spat between him and Sourav Ganguly was “blown out of proportion” and added for good measure that the two had “moved on”, suggesting there was no reason why the two could not work together. “The drama that surrounded the episode was much greater than actually was the case,” Chappell said in an interview to . “He almost needed to go through this catharsis for his other side to come out, and for him to take stock of what he needed to do.”The problems he had in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe were due to the fact that his mind was in the wrong place,” Chappell continued. “Sourav has come back. He has indicated that he understands what he needs to do to be a part of this team, what his role is. One thing I have learnt about life is that forget the past, but do not forget the lesson you learn from it.”Chappell added that both he and Ganguly were professionals, and keen on doing a job for the Indian team. “He wants to play cricket for India. I want to be a good coach. And I want to be the coach of a good Indian team. But for that to happen, you need to have the group that blends well.”Chappell also refused to respond in kind to the allegations made against him by Yashpal Sharma, who was recently removed from the national selection panel. “They don’t know me very well,” he said. “All I can say is that the individual at the moment doesn’t really understand what is going on,” Chappell said. “I don’t want to get sidetracked. I don’t want to get involved in a slanging match. He is frustrated that he lost a job which he obviously wanted to keep. I had no part in him losing his job, but he had to take it out on someone. One thing I have learnt in life is that you cannot please everyone all the time. It’s all a part of the fabric of life.”

Phil Jaques’ rollicking 61 propelled New South Wales into the final as Tasmania were bashed big-style, losing by a whopping 69 runs. The visitors made hay, galloping to 6 for 188 although Adam Polkinghorne did manage to puncture NSW’s middle order, taking 3 for 31.But by then the visitors were well on their way after Jaques and Daniel Smith put on 90 for the first wicket. Tasmania’s start contrasted a touch – their opening pair, Travis Birt and Michael di Venuto both made ducks.Such a setback in the confined sphere of Twenty20 is hard to recover from and so it proved, with Tasmania quickly folding to 119 all out. NSW will now face Victoria in the inaugural final on Saturday.If that win was straightforward, another contest at the same ground was less so. Controversy reigned in the mascot race as Tyro Tiger crossed the line despite appearing to have made a false start. Tully Tiger certainly thought he had – believing that his fellow beast hadn’t fairly earned his stripes, Tully took a full-on swipe at the victor. But perhaps Tully was just a paw loser.Meanwhile, another mauling was taking place in Adelaide – this time, Western Australia consigned South Australia to a 54-run defeat.The storyline was broadly similar to that which was played out at Hobart, with the side batting first piling up the runs – WA made 174 for 6 largely thanks to Ryan Campbell’s 55 – then both openers falling cheaply in reply – Darren Lehmann made 1, Graham Manou a duck – to leave another insurmountable run chase. SA, always up against it, were eventually bowled out for 120.

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.

Simon Jones and all three England spinners are indisposed ahead of their second warm-up match against Board President’s XI at Baroda beginning on Thursday.Ian Blackwell, Monty Panesar, Shaun Udal and Jones were diagnosed with a stomach bug and their participation in the warm-up game will be decided tomorrow.Paul Collingwood suffered a back spasm after scoring 47 in the first innings against CCI President’s XI in Mumbai and has been ruled out of the match.

Andrew Flintoff has been named as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2005, as the 143rd edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack prepares to hit the bookshops tomorrow.The award, which was instituted two years ago and has previously been won by the Australian duo of Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne, was a reflection of Flintoff’s towering performance in last summer’s Ashes, a series that the editor, Matthew Engel, unequivocally describes as “the greatest”.”We took soundings from writers and commentators in all the cricketing countries, and there were only two people in it, Flintoff and Warne,” said Engel. “Our cover picture sums up the year as we saw it. Flintoff and Warne are shown embracing after the Ashes series – but the one is just a fraction above the other. We felt in the end that 2005 was the year when Freddie touched greatness.”Both men were ineligible for Wisden’s more traditional honours list: the Five Cricketers of the Year, which dates back to 1889 and is the oldest honour in cricket. By ancient custom, no-one can be chosen twice for this list, but each of the five recipients did nonetheless play their part in the Ashes: three for England, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones and Kevin Pietersen and two from Australia, Brett Lee and the captain, Ponting.’The Five’ invariably stir a debate among the cricket-watchers of the world, but as Engel points out, the criteria for selection is steeped in Wisden’s traditions of editorial independence. “The Five have never been the world’s top five,” he explained in The Times this week. “The choice is based on their influence on the English season, and successive editors have cut themselves enough slack to pick players who just happen to appeal to them. It has always been accepted that there is room for whimsy, idiosyncrasy or downright eccentricity. Cricket followers like that.”Cricket followers also liked the events of last summer, when England regained the Ashes after an 18-and-a-half-year gap, in a cliffhanger of a series that will echo down the ages. “It was a triumph for the real thing,” Engel wrote in his typically hard-hitting Notes by the Editor. “Five five-day Test matches between two gifted, well-matched teams playing fantastic cricket at high velocity and high pressure with the perfect mix of chivalry and venom. Here was the best game in the world, at its best.”To mark the occasion, Wisden has revved up its traditional coverage and introduced a special 72-page Ashes section – plus 12 colour plates. The coverage includes “Notes and Quotes” from each Test, reviews of the media by Quentin Letts and Malcolm Knox, afterthoughts by John Woodcock, Simon Hughes and the former Australian captain, Mark Taylor – and even an analysis of how the Ashes changed the English language.And several of the articles in the Comment section also derive directly from the Ashes: