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Walter Hadlee, the former New Zealand captain and administrator, has died in Christchurch at the age of 91. He had been seriously ill ever since suffering a stroke after hip replacement surgery six weeks ago.For almost three-quarters of a century he was at the forefront of New Zealand cricket as player, captain, selector and manager, and three of his five sons – Sir Richard, Dayle and Barry – went on to play international cricket for New Zealand.”Spare, slight, angular, nimble and trim,” wrote Denzil Batchelor, “he wore white flannels as a fish wears gills.” An attacking batsman, Hadlee made his Test debut in England in 1937, but like many he lost his best years to the war, and with New Zealand not a major Test-playing nation, his chances were limited anyway. He was appointed captain immediately after the war, and even then he only played two matches in four years.In 1945-46 he hammered 198 out of 347 against the touring Australians, and a year later he scored his only Test hundred – 116 in two-and-a-half hours against England after New Zealand had been put in to bat at Christchurch in cold and difficult conditions.The highlight of his eight Tests in charge was the 1949 tour of England when he led a strong and popular New Zealand side which drew all four Tests, driving home the point to the English authorities that awarding only three-day Tests to the New Zealanders underestimated their abilities. The stalemates, however, did not reflect his adventurous approach to the role.Although his Test average was a modest 30.16, he was never dismissed in single figures. In a 19-year first-class career he scored 7523 runs at 40.44, including 18 centuries. He continued to play club cricket for 15 years.After retiring following the 1950-51 series against England, he maintained strong links with cricket as a leading administrator, and was a decisive president of the New Zealand Cricket Council during the Packer crisis. He was also involved in women’s cricket, rugby and hockey. He was awarded an OBE in 1950 and was honoured again in 1978 when he became a CBE.

“We deeply appreciate the public support that we have received in recent weeks and ask that we now be given time to come together as a family,” Sir Richard Hadlee said in media release. “This is a difficult time for the family and we do request privacy. Dad will be laid to rest at a family funeral next week.”A public memorial service will be held at Christchurch Boys High School at 11am on October 14 for those who wish to acknowledge dad’s innings of a lifetime and his contribution to sport, business and the community.”Sir John Anderson, chairman of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and Martin Snedden, the chief executive, paid their tributes to Hadlee. “Walter was very much the patriarch of NZC and made an enormous lifetime contribution to cricket in New Zealand. He was one of the great figures of New Zealand Cricket and will have a long legacy in the sport.”Walter left his mark on cricket in New Zealand equally as a player and administrator,” said Snedden. “He will be remembered for his skill and dedication as a cricketer, selector, New Zealand manager, NZC Chairman and NZC President. Walter took an active interest in cricket right up until his death and will be greatly missed by NZC’s Board, management, staff and the wider New Zealand cricket community.”

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, believes that Darrell Hair’s Test career could be over after the controversy of the past week.Hair offered to quit top-level cricket in return for $500,000 after the ball-tampering furore which lead to Pakistan forfeiting their final Test against England. Throughout the week Speed has been quick to establish that the ICC were not ending Hair’s career or cutting him adrift from the game. However, he has admitted he doesn’t know whether Hair could shake off this latest controversy.”There have been other issues in his umpiring career where people have said ‘this is the end for Darrell Hair’ – after he called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing in 1996, and he then wrote a book, and people said ‘this is the end for Darrell Hair’,” Speed told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme.”Darrell survived that and has become a better umpire, he is one of the world’s best umpires, so I hope we can find a way for him to continue but I’m not sure that that will happen.”Why? Because there’s a lot of speculation…that Darrell’s career is finished, that he’s compromised. That’s not my wish, I hope we can find a way for him to continue. I would like Darrell Hair to continue umpiring in cricket matches at the top level.”Speed said it was up to the ICC adjudicator to decide whether Hair’s actions affected the charges against Inzamam-ul-Haq of ball-tampering and bringing the game into disrepute, brought up following the team’s sit-in at The Oval.Inzamam refused to bring his team out after the tea interval after Hair and his colleague Billy Doctrove’s decision to penalise them five runs for ball-tampering.Speed said: “The ball-tampering issue and the subsequent charge are very simple cricketing issues about what happened on the field. Whether it impacts on Darrell Hair’s credit I don’t know, that’s a matter for Pakistan’s lawyers whether to raise that, and then for the adjudicator to decide whether he takes that into account.”Shahrayar Khan, the PCB chairman, has insisted that Hair should not umpire another match involving Pakistan, but Speed refused to go that far. “It was said he could never umpire Sri Lanka again after 1996 but he has. Time will tell if water needs to flow under the bridge. I don’t know what his future is but I hope we can find a way for him to continue.”Speed confirmed the ball-tampering charge had been made by both Hair and Doctrove, and that he was not aware the England players had made any complaint.

Another top-order failure, another loss and a first ODI series loss in over a year; Pakistan’s top-order starts in this series have made for some horrific reading. After a 50-run stand in the first ODI at Peshawar, Pakistan collapsed to 68 for four at Rawalpindi and 82 for four at Lahore. In Multan, they disintegrated quicker, stumbling to 29 for four and this time, there was no Shoaib Malik-inspired rescue, as they fell for 161.With all games thus far won by the team batting second, losing the toss in the morning and being put in wasn’t the best start. Inzamam admitted he would have fielded first had he won the toss but although India bowled accurately throughout, the majority of batsmen were out to rash shots; some like Kamran Akmal’s cut to short point were poor, others like Imran Farhat’s ugly pull to mid-on, awful. An understandably dejected Inzamam-ul-Haq said later, “Today we just didn’t put enough runs on board. It’s disappointing to lose such a big series against team like India at home. We made some mistakes early on and that’s why we lost too many early wickets.”Inzamam refused to blame the absence of key players such as Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar for the loss, instead highlighting his own side’s fallibility and India’s strength. “One or two of our players were not there, but I will say my team was capable of doing much better than what we did today. The boys have tried hard but we couldn’t succeed. We were weak in some areas but India outplayed us in all three departments of the game.”Despite the rash of injuries and the poor run of form some players were in, only one change was made to the playing XI today; Mohammad Sami came in for Afridi. Umar Gul, also suffering from side strain, missed out. Salman Butt, under pressure after two successive first-over ducks, was under some pressure and many thought he might be replaced. But Inzamam was phlegmatic about changing the line-up. “Salman Butt had given us good scores in the series and it was not possible for me to drop him after just two bad knocks. I don’t think if I had made some changes it would have made a difference. I don’t think we played the wrong combination here.”He also ruled out that his side was under extra pressure after two defeats at home, either from the public or the media. “There is always pressure on the home team in a series, but all the players are used to it and I don’t think that was the reason for losing the series. Sometimes the team does not play well. We played well when we toured India and this time they played well against us – the performance doesn’t remain the same all the time.”Karachi beckons now and only face-saving remains at stake for Pakistan. When Inzamam said before this series began that he might become more selective in the matches he played due to his back injury, he would not have envisaged the rotation policy coming into effect in a dead rubber game. Changes seem likely however. “We will give a chance to some of the bowlers who haven’t got chance in the four matches. It will be difficult to motivate the team but we will try our best to win the last match.”

The 30 probables for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa will be picked by the selection committee at Mumbai on July 7, according to the Indian board (BCCI).The selectors, headed by Dilip Vengsarkar, will also pick the India A team that will tour Zimbabwe and Kenya later this month, said Ratnakar Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the BCCI.The list of 30 probables for the Twenty20 World Championship will then be pruned to a squad of 14, to be announced a month before the start of the tournament on September 11.India are scheduled to play their first match of the Championship against Scotland on September 13 at Kingsmead, Durban.

Division One

Darren Lehmann cracked a fine century as the honours were shared between Yorkshire and Lancashire on the opening day of the Roses clash at Old Trafford. Mark Chilton made the surprising decision to bowl first and Yorkshire were just one wicket down at lunch. However, Glen Chapple and Tom Smith fought back after the break as Yorkshire slipped to 164 for 5, although no one could shift Lehmann. He added 103 with his South Australia team-mate, Jason Gillespie, and support from the lower order helped him push the total past 300 as he reached his fourth Championship century of the season.Three half-centuries ensured Middlesex formed a useful first-innings total against Hampshire at Lord’s. Owais Shah led the way with 91 before he became one of Shane Warne’s three victims. Dimitri Mascarenhas had struck twice with the new ball, leaving Shah and Ed Joyce to steady the innings with a stand of 103. Jamie Dalrymple struck an aggressive 40 then Scott Styris took over with 63 off 104 balls. Warne used seven bowlers and ended the day with the best figures, but Hampshire really need to force a win in this match to stay in touch with Lancashire and Sussex at the top of the table.Luke Parker hit his first Championship half-century of the season as Warwickshire fought back against Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston. Despite 81 from Ian Westwood, Warwickshire slipped from 142 for to 180 for 5 with Mark Ealham and Ryan Sidebottom in the wickets. But Parker and Tim Ambrose joined forces to lead the fightback as they added 106 for the sixth wicket. Parker missed the chance to convert his 73 into a century when he was trapped lbw by Graeme Swann shortly before the close.

Division Two

Chris Rogers struck an electric career-best double-century as Northamptonshire flayed the Gloucestershire attack all over Northampton. He and Stephen Peters added 179 for the first wicket but that was only the start of the carnage. With Usman Afzaal playing the anchor role, he and Rogers then added 203, with Rogers sailing past the 200 mark. The Gloucestershire bowlers had a day to forget, especially Will Rudge who went at nearly seven-an-over, although at least he picked up one of the rare wickets on offer.Anil Kumble followed his eleven wickets against Northamptonshire last week with another bag of five as Surrey bowled Worcestershire out for 304 at Worcester. The home side were well placed at 138 for 1, with Phil Jaques in typically flamboyant form, when Kumble removed Vikram Solanki. His leg-spinning partner, Ian Salisbury, then removed Jaques and Worcestershire stumbled 192 for 5. Daryl Mitchell held the lower order together with a fighting half-century, but given Surrey’s batting power they will expect to overhaul the total.Steve Stubbings held Derbyshire together on the first day against Somerset at Derby but fell three runs short of a century. Travis Birt also hit a 63-ball 50 and the home side were well placed on 222 for 3. However, Cameron White and Charl Willoughby cut through the middle and lower order as Derbyshire fell to 316 all out. But after a brief stoppage for bad light, Steffan Jones hit back to remove Matthew Wood and leave the match interestingly poised.

“I’ve never seen so many policemen in my life,” said a local shopkeeper as I made my way past bamboo barriers, fortified steel gates and police keeping watch on every corner around Green Park in Kanpur, where India and Pakistan will play the fifth one-day international of the six-match series tomorrow. They have every reason to be watchful. The local arm of the Shiv Sena – a political party not known for peaceful protests – recently suggested that they would make their presence felt.Inside, business was frenetic, as the day preceding a major event tends to be. There was chaos around the stairs as a press conference was announced. The media hustled Rahul Dravid and Younis Khan, crowds swamped around the net area, and right in the middle of a circle of green, inspected by men in teapot poses, was a pale pitch, devoid of any colour. But the wicket, for which questions of the day are usually reserved, found itself upstaged by Sourav Ganguly’s six-match ban. Will he play or won’t he? Dravid appeared undisturbed: “We have not been intimated about it. We’re preparing as normal.” Later, a team member said that Ganguly was in Kolkata, so perhaps he would not be playing. Dravid spoke about the series now resting on two days, about how it was a task the team was eager to undertake: “It’s a great challenge. The team’s looking forward to it. I hope to get support from the squad.”The pitch then did garner its proper share of attention. “The pitch appears slow,” answered Younis when asked for his opinion. “It’s difficult to predict,” said Dravid. “There will be some low bounce, though not much help for the fast bowlers.”Even so, Dravid expects the bowlers to apply themselves with more verve than they did at Ahmedabad, where Pakistan finally achieved the first successful run-chase of the series. Both he and Younis said that batting first would be preferable, though Dravid thought the pitch would behave the same throughout the match. If Pakistan won the toss, he said simply, India would have to restrict them by getting past the more accomplished batsmen. “Their top order has done well. Inzamam [ul-Haq], [Yousuf] Youhana [and the others] have hurt us badly.”Younis added Shahid Afridi to that list: “Shahid is playing well. He hits 30-40 runs in 15-16 balls.” It was his primal batting that got Pakistan going at Ahmedabad. “The boys are playing well,” he summed up, and with regards to Pakistan being front-runners now, added: “When you play well, you win.” That was the underlying theme of Dravid’s talk with the press, too. “We’ll have to score big runs and play good cricket for 100 overs. We’ve played well in patches previously. We didn’t bowl or defend runs well. We’ve learnt from some of the things [we did wrong]. Sometimes it just comes down to utilising skills better.”

Dravid was reminded that India have not won a major one-day series at home for nearly five years. He smiled and said, “We believe we can do it. We have the players to do it.” Dhoni was one of those players, he suggested, but he needed to perform consistently. “He has to play a lot more. He has talent and has shown good cricket sense. He has the capability to do it.” Asked if Dhoni’s arrival came as relief for himself, Dravid said with a grin, “The team is relieved, the [opposition] bowlers aren’t.”Conditions, as they are in India in the awkward months between winter and the monsoons, continue to remain oppressive. And Kanpur, already regarded as a hot-spot for pollution, is more uncomfortable these days as it becomes hotter. But Dravid played down the weather, saying that there were only two more games to go; it could not be used as an excuse.Both teams were guarded about the team composition, though Younis inadvertently gave an insight into Pakistan’s likely team: “If there are no injuries, there are no changes.” But the Indians had more to contend with after back-to-back losses as well as Ganguly’s possible absence. There was the likelihood of Dinesh Mongia playing, and though Dravid said he was one of a few options, he acknowledged that Mongia’s bowling would be as important as his batting. Anil Kumble could also make the cut on a pitch that might assist slow bowlers.Ticket queues at 5am – as there were today – tell a story. A press card starts cricket conversations and debates with strangers in unlikely places. It wins you smiles. There’s a language being spoken here, one that has no need of words.India (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Mahendra SinghDhoni (wk), 4 Rahul Dravid (capt), 5 Dinesh Mongia, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 MohammadKaif, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Lakshmipathy Balaji, 11 Murali Kartik.Pakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Shoaib Malik, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Yousuf Youhana, 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Mohammad Sami, 10 Naved-ul-Hasan, 11 Danish Kaneria.

It’s been a long time coming, so I guess being a West Indian, I share the joy of people of my region. It’s a series triumph which nobody had foreseen, certainly not by a 4-1 margin.It adds to the zing if you remember that in the last nine or 10 matches West Indies have won, Brian Lara has contributed only one half-century. For long, people have held that this team cannot do without Lara’s hand. Now others too are beginning to make a difference.I would not rush to say this team is a world-beater yet, but certainly they have men who can perform more than just one role. There are a growing number of allrounders in the side and senior batsmen are putting up their hands more often. The string of wins is beginning to bring the best out of these guys.I have watched this Indian team from close quarters in the last few months and I can sense the disappointment of millions of their fans. There is now a pointed concern if they have gone about preparing for the World Cup in not the most ideal way.I personally feel that looking at the World Cup at this stage could complicate things. India needs to worry about the forthcoming Tests and not lose sleep over a tournament which is still nine months away.India needs to look at the balance of its Test side. I worry if they have the right blend of youth and experience and whether they could pull it off. It would be a major cause to cherish if Rahul Dravid’s men emerge victorious in Tests. It still is the booty which is closest to cricketers’ hearts.The win in Tests could also restore the sense of well-being in this side. This is the one-day side which has been the toast of the nation in the past few months and there is no reason why they cannot still be the darling of the masses. But they need to do a few things differently than they have been doing at home.It is not a major ask. If you are a good cricketer, you should be able to make that sort of adjustment. Otherwise, perhaps you were not good enough in the first place.I can understand if the bowlers’ find themselves at their wits’ end in these games because you cannot overnight find an alternative to seam and swing which these conditions do not support. But there is no excuse for the batsmen. These are still slow wickets and they ought to find a way of manoeuvring the ball rather than attack it all the time.This, I think, has been the most disappointing aspect of the Indian team on this tour. It might be unfair to pick on somebody like Suresh Raina who is young and undeniably talented but, for the second game running, he perished trying to play that stupid shot. He came in in a situation when, just by pushing the singles in the gaps, India could have come closer to victory.In that sense, even Harbhajan Singh cannot escape the blame. He had brought India into a situation where, if the eighth-wicket pair had continued to pick its singles and brought the matter to a head in the final two overs, India would have been deemed favourites. Instead, he tried a mighty loft when a long off fielder was perfectly positioned for such indiscretion.Still, I would say that India has missed the experience of someone like VVS Laxman on this trip. India needed men who could play long innings and experience is the key in such issues. Laxman is the kind of batsman who can work the ball around and consolidate the score without having to take recourse to big, indiscreet hitting. He is like Rahul Dravid in this regard.If India wants to be positive in this defeat, they can look at it as part of the learning curve. Defeats are only terminal if you do not have the mettle and I do not think that is the case with these young Indian boys.Men with less talent and weak minds can be shattered by setbacks but in the Dhonis and Rainas, the Sreesanths and Pathans, hopefully, that is not a worry.

Sridharan Sriram has been picked in the Indian squad that will take on Pakistan at Kolkata in the one-off one-day international being held to celebrate the BCCI’s Platinum Jubilee. He is the only change from the Indian squad that represented India in the Champions Trophy in England, replacing Rohan Gavaskar.Sourav Ganguly has been named the captain of the side, but that is subject to his passing a fitness test, which will be held in Kolkata on November 10. According to reports, though, he has already informed the board that he is fit.Irfan Pathan, another player who missed the last two Tests against Australia for fitness reasons, will be playing a couple of local one-dayers in Baroda to assess his fitness.Meanwhile, the Indian selectors have have also announced the Board President’s XI squad that will take on South Africa in their first tour game, beginning on November 14. Both Gautam Gambhir and Dheeraj Jadhav, the two openers recently picked in the Indian Test squad, have been included, as has Sadagopan Ramesh, the Test discard. MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik’s main competitor for a place in the Test side, will be the wicketkeeper.Sairaj Bahutule will captain the side, and the squad also included India discards Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia, Ramesh Powar and Amit Bhandari. The talented batsman from Andhra Pradesh, Venugopal Rao, has also been picked.India squad Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (capt), VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Mohammad Kaif, Ashish Nehra, Sridharan Sriram.Board President’s XI Gautam Gambhir, Dheeraj Jadhav, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Hemang Badani, Venugopal Rao, Dinesh Mongia, Sairaj Bahutule (capt),Ramesh Powar, Shib Shankar Paul, Amit Bhandari, MS Dhoni (wk), Suresh Raina, Avishkar Salvi, Joginder Sharma.

South Australia maintained their dominance of their ACB Cup match with Western Australia in Perth yesterday and left the home side battling to avoid the follow-on.The breakthrough for Western Australia came in the 12th over of the daywhen Shane Deitz was cleverly deceived by Michael Clark who held back on the delivery enough to have the ball played back to him and he held on with delight.Deitz had spent five hours at the crease amassing 140 runs with 16 fours and ahuge six. His defence was impenetrable, the array of his shot selectionvast. South Australia working up to an imposing first innings total of 347with six wickets gone.Together Deitz and Callum Ferguson put on 179 runs in three hours and 20 minutes to form the backbone of the South Australian firstinnings.Clark finally got some reward for his patience and diligence. Lookingmuch better from the River end as opposed to the Canning Road end where hehad bowled all throughout the previous day.John Davison didn’t last long at the crease. He became Clark’s second victim14 balls after the fall of Deitz – shaping to play toward off and beingstruck on the pad and ajudged leg before wicket. South Australia were 7/355.Ferguson hit a huge six off Karppinen when the bowler delivered the firstball of his fifth over of the day a bit short down the leg-side andFerguson pulled the ball four metres over the boundary backward of square legand it almost rolled through the door of the green keeper’s hut.Ferguson struggled a little bit through the nervous 90s but eventuallybrought up his maiden century at this level of competition after four and aquarter hours at the crease having faced 195 balls and striking theboundary 10 times while going over it once.Cleary opened the shoulders to the fourth ball of Casson’s third over ofthe day – a long hop – that Cleary dispatched with a forward pull (slog)shot that landed 10 meters over the boundary behind mid wicket.Having just posted a fifty-run partnership with Ferguson, Mark Cleary looked tobe getting on with the job of scoring when he lofted a straight drive offthe bowling of Beau Casson straight down the throat of Callum Thorp standing in off the boundary at long-off. The third wicket of the session saw South Australia eight wickets for a total of 409 runs and at that point lunch was taken at which point South Australia declared their innings.Seventeen-year-old Callum Ferguson remained unbeaten on 108, a much bettershowing than his pair in grade cricket for Prospect the weekend before.Neither Thorp (one for 49) nor Michael Thistle (one for 52) were bowled today. Casson (one for 60) and Clark (two for 63) were rewarded at last. Despite spells of fiery quick bowling, Stuart Karppinen (one for 77) and Andrew James (two for 96) were unable to add more scalps.Craig Simmons and Brett Jones opened the batting for Western Australia. TheSouth Australian attack was led by Mark Harrity from the Canning Road end andTrent Kelly at the River end.With a half-hearted push at the ball outside off from Kelly, Craig Simmons13 (20) feathered an edge through to Deitz who took it well down. WesternAustralia’s first wicket fell after 22 minutes had elapsed in the inningsand with 19 runs on the scoreboard.Brett Jones pulled a short ball on the line of leg stump from the third ballof Trent Kelly’s sixth over (the first of a new spell) for six that travelledover the boundary behind backward square leg.Geoff Cullen 13 (38) went to drive at Kelly but instead he edged into thegully where Cosgrove took a safe catch and the second wicket for WesternAustralia fell with the score on 63 in the 19th over.The aggressive innings of Brett Jones was tragically ended on 49 (67), whenbacking up at the non-striker’s end. He was out of his crease after adelivery from Harrity was driven by the striker Shaun Marsh, back at the bowler,who deflected the ball with his left foot into the non-striker’s stumps.Western Australia had 86 on the board but with three wickets down.At the tea-break, the score was 97/3 after 30 overs with Shaun Marsh 16 (42) and Adam Voges one (16). Kelly was the only successful bowler of five bowlers used by SouthAustralia.Cutting Davison toward backward point, Voges six (43) nicked the ball into Deitz’s gloves. Western Australia were in trouble at 4/118.Davison grabbed his second wicket when he had Casson trapped in front andleg before wicket after he had scored only five (29). At 5/121 Western Australia were under serious threat of having to follow on if the wicket of either Marsh or Luke Ronchi (the last of the recognised batsmen) were to beremoved.With trademark aggression, Ronchi set about hitting the ball hither andthither making the bowling look ordinary. Then with the last ball of hisfirst over Jamie Marsh delivered arguably the only poor ball of his overand was delighted to see it hit down the throat of Davison just back of midon. Western Australia had lost all hope with 166 on the board and only fourwickets remaining.With only his second ball faced, the WA captain Karppinen hit JamieMarsh out of the ground over the long on sending the ball crashing into thesecond story of the Melville CC pavillion scoring a six – his first scoringshot.His third, off the 12th ball he faced and the last ball of Marsh’s third over disappeared straight back over the bowler’s head, over the sight screen and into the pavilion car park, again scoring six behind long on, bringing wows and applause from the small crowd gathered.With his fourth scoring shot and the 14th ball faced, Karpinnensent the second ball of Marsh’s fourth over into the wall of the players’rooms at the side of the pavilion again scoring six over long on.Dancing down the pitch in an attempt to put the second ball he facedfrom Davison into the river behind the bowler, Karppinen missed and wasstumped. His entertaining knock contained the three sixes, a two and asingle for the total of 21 (17). Western Australia had slumped to 7/189 in the 64th over with stumps looming.At stumps Western Australia Marsh was unbeaten on 64 (156) and lookingvery solid. Callum Thorp, newly-arrived, was on two (5). The WA first inningstotal was 7/202.For South Australia, Davison was the best of the bowlers with 10 maidensduring his 21 overs gathering three wickets for 30 runs. Kelly bowled fromboth ends taking two wickets for 65 from 15 overs, Mark Harrity, Cleary, Wes Thomas and Marsh all bowled without success.The tail-end will have to wag for Western Australia to survive thefollow-on target of 259. But with a night’s rest and a new ball due just 14overs away, South Australia should easily achieve this mission. The mettleof the Western Warriors youngsters is sure to be tested.

Surrey’s game against Derbyshire at the Oval starting today had all the makings of a grudge match. Derbyshire were the last side to defeat the Champions in a first class match, but were fined eight points for the condition of the pitch on which Tim Munton took career best figures in the first innings and Surrey collapsed to their second defeat of the season.Since then though Surrey have looked back in neither league competition winning all of their NL and CC games since, mostly by large margins, Derbyshire meanwhile have settled on the bottom of the national league and in the championship are desperate for points to escape the relegation zone, the game against Surrey at Derby was their only four day victory this season. Both teams have lost players to this week’s test squad, Surrey are, as usual, without the services of Stewart and Thorpe, but Derbyshire are once again hamstrung by the absence of Dominic Cork.Other than that Surrey were without Ben Hollioake who made way for Gary Butcher who has played some impressive innings in the second team this year. Ben’s form with the bat has disappointed terribly at times this season with trouble getting started against the spinners and a marked tendency to lift the ball – and do so with insufficient power to clear the picket. He has though, played some significant one day innings and in the last few four day matches there have been definite signs of improvement but during this time Gary, also younger brother of a Surrey stalwart had been pressing hard from elevation. Hopefully the chance to concentrate on his game – and perhaps open the bowling – in the seconds will have the same effect on him that it did on Ali Brown when he was demoted in 1996 – Ali has since built himself into the sides most prolific and one of the countries finest batsmen with an unbroken sequence of 1,000 run seasons at ever higher averages.Having noted at the end of the morning session that Adam Hollioake was having to do without a fifth bowling ace for this game I was comprehensively proved wrong this afternoon by Gary Butcher who took an amazing four in four to rip out Derbyshire’s fragile tail to leave the visitors all out for just 118.First to go was Paul Aldred edging, appropriately to Gary’s elder brother Mark at second slip from the last ball of his seventh over. Then Tim Munton snicked to the safe but improbably located hands of Martin Bicknell at third slip and Dean followed the same way but left handed from the second ball of the over to give him a Hat-Trick before Gary struck yet again having the Wharton LBW to wrap up the innings. It brought Butcher his best figures by far for Surrey although not the best of his career (he took 7-77 for Glamorgan against Gloucestershire in 1996). It also made him the fifth Surrey bowler to take five in an innings so far this season.Until Butcher’s second spell Bicknell looked the pick of the Surrey attack although, yet again, nobody bowled less than well, for Derbyshire only top scorer Dowman, Di Venuto and wicket keeper Sutton ever looked comfortable on a blameless wicket. Given the circumstances and the quality of the bowling Dowman is to be congratulated on his 36 – he was also the only Derbyshire batsman to pass his average for the season. Derbyshire’s management should be less proud of their team selection, visitors to the Oval who bring a long tail can expect to fare little better than this – in recent years the England side have given enough televised demonstrations of frail tail syndrome to teach anyone that.Surrey, who had succumbed for 138 in their first innings at Derby continued to exact their revenge when they batted – Mark Butcher led the way as the home side set off at nearly a run a ball before easing back to a rate around the three and a half mark as they raced towards and then past Derbyshire’s total without the loss of a wicket, but he would have had to build a colossal total in order to win bragging rights in the family tonight.The first wicket did not fall until the score was on 137 when Matt Cassar, bowling from the Vauxhall end won an LBW decision with a Yorker that pitched on Ian Ward’s foot. Ward had played well for his 57. Butcher, too, fell before the close of play, caught from a skied hook by Stubbings from Aldred’s bowling as he sought to hasten the scoring rate when two men were set back for the shot, it was a poor, but typically selfless, end to an excellent innings.In this match the new batting points system and with the close situation at the top of division one, with maximum points only arriving at 400 will force Surrey to bat with some caution to maximise their already high chances of reaching that high mark for the fourth time this season.Derbyshire will pray in vain for the rain forecast to fall on Saturday to come early save them from what seems an inevitable, huge defeat, Surrey will sleep easy on what should be a seventh consecutive comfortable win. However, spare a thought for Derbyshire, like Glamorgan last season they won the toss on a humid morning here and was faced by a choice that came close to a direct decision of whether to be beaten by the spinners or the quick bowlers of a side on a roll that clearly and thoroughly plans and expects to win the championship.That his victims were tail-enders does nothing to diminish the enormity of Gary Butcher’s achievement, four in four will never be the top order of the Aussie test side, it is a rare and superb feat of which Butcher can rightly be proud for a long time to come. With Mark’s 78 and two catches it is a day their father and Surrey veteran Alan will remember for a long time too.After the day’s play Gary Butcher and Adam Hollioake had these words to say.Gary Butcher:The ball was doing what I do, I swing the ball, mainly away from the bat and today it was swinging a lot, So I just had to put it in the right place. My best since the sevenfer, in 1996, a long time ago.I was feeling confident after making runs & wickets last week, I’m not a youngster anymore it’s not like I’m going to beoverawed playing for the first team, Luke Sutton was a bad drop thoughI’ve had frustrating year but you just do what you have to to get selected. I had a good winter in Perth [playing for Gosnells] and opened the bowling in grade cricket. Now I’m getting closer to the stumps with my bowling arm higher and getting more swing with the higher arm.Adam Hollioake:It wasn’t a difficult choice to leave Ben out, Gary made 120 & 70 and took 4 wickets last week and looked a good selection move I’d like to say I knew he’d take 4 in 4 but you just look at the players and try to judge the best selections. He was welcomed into the side like everyone is.We have 15-16 quality players, like Man United I suppose, its tough on the good players in the seconds but its a nice position to be in. We’re not looking ahead, we’ll just play each ball as it comes we’ll just do what we can do. If Lancs or Yorks are goodenough to win their last 4 and we can’t do it, good luck to them. If we win here maybe we can win the championship at Scarborough or our next home game, it depends on the others.No bad feeling from the Derby game, I spoke to their captain and chief executive at the National League game. They had no problem and it was not me that had anything to do with the pitch penalty, I was asked my opinion of the pitch and I gaveit. We just look on Derby as a good competitive side who beat us last time out. We were 2nd or 3rd from the bottom then a lothas happened since.I think we are already up (promoted in the National League) but Sunday’s game could win it for us. Being division 2 champions is not a cause for popping champagne corks just chance to compete with the best, not a “double” We will still collect the prize money though!