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Victories for both league sides last weekend have given Manicaland their best start in several years. In Harare the first team defeated Old Georgians by 21 runs and although the margin seems small were never in danger of losing.Grateful to be put in to bat on a good pitch by Old Georgians skipper Lance Malloch-Brown, Manicaland made 229 all out in 49.5 overs. Richie Sims top-scored with 51 whilst Kingsley Went made 47. Leon Soma smashed 31 off 16 balls (including 17 off one Gus Mackay over) and Tafadzwa Madondo added 29. Best bowlers were Mackay (3/48), Quentin Steyn (2/25) and Brad McCoun (3/37).Old Georgians never came to terms with the run rate, reaching a flattering 208 for nine after a few late overs of friendly spin. Barney Rogers (67), W. Mwayenga (31) and Malloch-Brown (31) were the main scorers, whilst Alistair Campbell (3/54) with some slow and slower off-spinners and Guy Whittall (3/27) were the best bowlers. Whittall knocked over danger men Mackay and Craig Evans in a tight mid-innings spell which took the game away from OGs.Young Manicaland captain/wicket-keeper Neil Ferreira is benefiting from having former Zimbabwean captain Campbell in the slips where advice and explanations are given freely on field placements and general captaincy. This weekend when Manicaland play the powerful Harare Sports Club team in Mutare, Campbell and Whittall will be away with the Zimbabwe Board X1 in Potchefstroom.Richie Sims can consider himself unlucky not to be in the team having scored three fifties in four knocks this season, whilst Barney Rogers, who has made the side, has only scored one in four. Both are useful off-spinners.In Mutare Manicaland seconds had an equally emphatic win over Universals seconds. Winning the toss, Manicaland captain Deon Yatras sent the visitors in to bat with Mutare Sports Club outfield wet from overnight rain. The bowlers struggled to grip the ball, restricting Manicaland’s options and allowing Universals 50 more runs than were merited. They were finally dismissed for 223 in the 44th over with K. Taibu (younger brother of national player Tatenda) top-scoring with 43. Yatras took 3/36 and schoolboy leg-spinner Keegan Taylor a long-awaited return-to-form 5/33.After some early alarms Manicaland coasted home in the 31st over with Nayim Sheth (53), Alec Taylor (31 not out) and a majestically calm unbeaten 100 from 17-year-old Andre Soma. The second of three talented cricketing brothers, Soma has the goods to go all the way – the biggest threat to his success is his innate humility in the competitive arena of cricket brats and super-egos.Apologies to Adiel Kugotsi who was incorrectly identified as Adiel Makota in last week’s report.In Mutare in the early part of the week was Worcestershire and England wicket-keeper Steve “Bumpy” Rhodes. Under contract to the ZCU, the engaging 37-year-old Yorkshireman held a number of coaching clinics at schools and clubs around Mutare with CFX Academy coach Shane Cloete. Totally unfazed at his lack of celebrity locally, his drills and enthusiasm soon won over pupils and coaches alike.

ScorecardKumar Sangakkara fell only three short of a one-day best•Clint Hughes/Getty Images

A wonderful Royal London Cup semi-final which could have fallen either way bestowed its gifts upon Surrey by four runs when Tom Curran held his nerve and prevented Steven Mullaney hitting the last ball for what would have been a match-winning six for Nottinghamshire.So it is Surrey, a coming force again in the county game, who have the chance to follow promotion from Division Two of the LV= County Championship with a one-day trophy when they meet Gloucestershire at Lord’s on September 19. It is Nottinghamshire who despite their midsummer rally once again fail to prove their pedigree with a trophy. On such small margins are conclusions drawn.The stark contrast between the game’s two dominant batsmen – both of whom made hundreds – was just one facet of a match that showcased the county game at its finest and which questioned the sense of staging this semi-final as a Monday day game with the schools beginning a new term. One batsman is famous, even to those who don’t follow the game; one may not be known, even to those who do.For Surrey, there was Kumar Sangakkara, a legend of the game, extolled to the heavens during his several international retirements, a man who could become a Sri Lankan high commissioner, perhaps in London, if he wanted it badly enough. For Nottinghamshire, there was Greg Smith, loaned out to Leicestershire earlier this season, playing his first Royal London Cup game of the season, just another Smith to some, a jobbing county pro taking on the best, proving his worth, so close to glory.Sangakkara’s unbeaten 166 fell only three runs short of his record one-day score made against South Africa in Colombo two years ago. He has been chaired from outfields, chased by photographers, and has been the subject of endless appreciations. Smith’s response – 124 from 134 balls – was his only notable performance of a summer when appreciation has been in short supply. He only played because Alex Hales and James Taylor were away with England. But how pluckily and robustly he responded.”We were nervous,” said Surrey’s captain Gareth Batty. “Notts are a very good team. Kumar is the best player in the world still. What is a disappointment for world cricket is the best news possible for Surrey.”Sangakkara’s will to win remains as strong as ever. He carried Surrey to a Lord’s final with an indomitable innings of character and know-how, an innings which left him exhausted but ultimately triumphant. Michael Klinger saw off Yorkshire in the first semi with a hundred, now Sangakkara – just – did the same: two fine overseas stars earning their corn.Presented with a dry, benign pitch, he took the onus on himself to deliver. His first hundred including only six fours and a six as he worked deliveries towards a 90-yard long boundary and steeled himself for endless to-ing-and-froing. Then as responsibility also rested with him to lift the scoring rate, he stepped it up so successfully alongside Gary Wilson that 109 came off the final 10 overs, such acceleration harder now with five fielders allowed out in the deep, and he dropped to his knees with fatigue more than once, staring blankly into the distance and perhaps wondering what on earth he was putting his body through, at 37.Those thoughts were doubtless never stronger than as early as the fifth over when he took a jittery single off Harry Gurney to get off the mark and, diving to make his ground, demolished the stumps. They rarely looked in danger again as he chipped the ball into the gaps with precision, crucially taking 21 off the penultimate over, from Gurney, with a series of scoops, paddles and reverse paddles, before Jake Ball defeated a shot of similar intent in the last over.Surrey had other heroes. Watching the young Curran brothers for the first time is an intriguing sight. Sam is only 17, a wisp of a lad with a brisk, whippersnapper run-up, trendy haircut and an ability to swing his left-arm pace, as both Riki Wessels and Brendan Taylor discovered in the second and third balls of his first over.Greg Smith played the innings of his life•Clint Hughes/Getty Images

Tom, a comparative veteran at 20, sports a bob; his right-arm is delivered from a more loping run and he looks more of a workhorse. For Tom to cope with the pressure of such a run chase was admirable enough; for Sam to do likewise, as he delayed his return to A levels at Wellington College for a day, was utterly remarkable. Add Yorkshire’s Matthew Fisher and county cricket has witnessed the arrival of two 17-year-olds this season of great promise.Smith came in for Sam Curran’s hat-trick ball, soon to become 17 for 3 when Michael Lumb fended at a wide one. Smith’s response was admirable. Nottinghamshire said they had a dangerous one-day strokemaker when they signed him and he proved as much. If he had made a million, with Hales and Taylor to return at Lord’s, he would not have been sure of a spot in the finalAt first, he was accompanied by Samit Patel, the size of the task encapsulated by his characteristic haunted look. The wider his eyes, the tougher the run chase. There was no doubting the quality of his half-century – he remains one of the best players of spin in the country – but, as so often with Samit, he provided the odd comic moment.In the wake of Sangakarra’s guelling innings, he contrived to be treated for cramp himself, having made 6 from 12 balls. “I know how you feel,” one could imagine him saying to Sanga. His innings ended when he pulled a long hop from Zafar Ansari to deep square.Eighty-four off nine overs with Dan Christian in, and a clubbed half-century to his credit, was very much on for Nottinghamshire. After a chat with Sangakkara, Batty turned to Aneesh Kapil, his sixth bowler, three overs delivered for 23, a fixture in the 2nd XI. It seemed a left-field call, but Christian carved his third ball to one of three players around square on the offside.Notts’ fifth-wicket pair had luck on their side. Smith and Steven Mullaney found themselves together at the wicketkeeper’s end at one stage, but Surrey failed to take advantage. Lofted shots dropped repeatedly over despairing hands. Tom Curran showed a cooler head when he ran out Smith off his own bowling with 27 needed off 17 balls, a little run followed by a little throw.Then, to cap it all, Jade Dernbach bowled the bravest delivery of the season, a daringly slow back-of-the-hand yorker which struck the base of Chris Read’s middle stump. More than any other English cricketer, with the possible exception of Kevin Pietersen (an altogether different story), he is vilified on social media. He deserved recognition for that, especially as Batty revealed the pain he was under.”He epitomises Surrey – he bowled those late overs with a torn calf,” said Batty. Dernbach left Tom Curran to defend 14 off the last over – and with his last ball – full and wide outside off stump, guarding the short legside boundary – he accepted the offer with aplomb.

Mahela Jayawardene said that it was time his team showed some character and gave Australia some of its own medicine.”We’ve been pushed to the wall now. Where else can we go but push them back. The next two days are very crucial for us to show some of the character that we have spoken of,” said Jayawardene after scoring his maiden Test century against Australia on the third day of the second Test at Hobart.”We spoke a lot about finding within us to beat this team but unfortunately we still haven’t got that. That hunger for victory and success we need bring that out in ourselves.”Jayawardene was of the opinion that if you spend some time in the middle, as he did, runs would come. Some of Sri Lanka’s top-order batsmen got out playing loose shots before assessing the pitch which led to them being dismissed for 246 – 296 runs behind Australia in the first innings.Jayawardene scored 104 of those runs getting to his hundred with the help of the tailenders after his top order batsmen had deserted him leaving him the lone man standing defying Australia.”It was important for me to spend some time there in the initial period and get to a position where I could get something out of it,” Jayawardene said. “Mixed feelings, though, since it wasn’t a very good day for us overall. I was very disappointed with our batting today, we need to show a bit more character I guess.”He rated his hundred among the top of the 19 he had scored in his career because “it was tough and that I hadn’t scored one against Australia before. Australia is a very good attack. They kept asking questions and I was a bit lucky at times as I got beaten. It’s a very good wicket to bat on if you bat through the initial period to get used to the pace of it and then graft your runs.”I was very slow, I wanted to make sure I didn’t make many mistakes upfront and once I got into that position and got 70 runs with the seventh wicket down, I thought we need to push for more runs. I was the only person who could have done that. I took a few more risks and managed to get a few more boundaries going my way. That momentum carried me to the hundred. If you give yourself time to settle down you have a good chance of scoring a big one.”Jayawardene will be hoping that his responsible knock would rub on the rest of the team members when they set out to bat in the second innings some time tomorrow. “We need to show a bit more belief in our ability. As soon as you go [to the middle] is where you are most vulnerable against this attack.”

Younis Khan’s further participation in the ODI series against West Indies is uncertain after his elder brother, Farman Khan, passed away from a prolonged ailment in Germany on Thursday at the age of 40.Younis was batting in the second ODI in Faisalabad when the news of his brother’s death reached the team management. Younis only came to know about the situation after he returned to the pavilion at the end of his innings. Younis, immediately, left for his home town Mardan.Last year, during the England tour to Pakistan, Younis faced a similar situation when his younger brother died in an accident in Ukraine. Earlier in the year, Younis had to fly back from a tour to Australia after his father had passed away.Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, told a local news channel that the team’s thoughts were with Younis and that there wouldn’t be any pressure on him returning for this series.Pakistan will also be able to welcome back Mohammad Yousuf for the third ODI in Lahore on December 10. Yousuf left the squad before the second ODI to be with his wife who is expecting a child. Wasim Bari, chairman of selectors, told Cricinfo that Yousuf had confirmed his availability and they would only consider changes to the squad after the third ODI.”Yousuf will be available for the third ODI. I have kept in touch with Inzamam over these two matters and we felt there was no need for a change to the squad just yet,” he said. “After the third ODI we will see whether any changes or additions are needed.”

The renewal of contracts for Indian cricketers will be delayed till at least early next month, a top source in the Indian board said on Tuesday.With many of the top players unavailable for the October 19-21 preparatory camp ahead of the one-day home series against Sri Lanka, the committee formed by the Board of Control for Cricket in india (BCCI) to review last year’s contracts finds itself in a dilemma. According to earlier plans, Goutam Dasgupta, the BCCI joint secretary, and Ratnakar Shetty, the executive secretary-in-charge, were scheduled to submit a report to the board on the contracts for the 2005-06 season after holding meetings with players’ representatives on October 19.Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, who is yet to return from Australia, the injured Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly and V V S Laxman — who has been dropped — would not be in the camp.”So, we have decided not to rush things. We will hold discussions with the cricketers midway into the series, that is early next month,” the source revealed to PTI. Last season, 17 players were given contracts by the board after dividing the lot into three groups, with their annual retainership pegged at Rs. 50 lakh, Rs. 35 lakh and Rs. 20 lakh per player respectively depending upon which grade they belonged to.But with the review panel not having the jurisdiction to decide on the promotion or demotion of a player from one grade to the other, the BCCI would have to form another committee to finalise the individual contracts after the three-member panel places its report. The new committee would comprise the board president, secretary (also its convener), team coach and selection committee chairman.”But the players have nothing to worry. Irrespective of when the new contracts are signed, they will be given retrospective effect from October 1,” the source addded.The BCCI is mulling over changes in the new players’ contracts to include clear-cut provisions on the amount payable to cricketers who sit out with injuries. Several other grey areas in the previous contract would also be discussed thoroughly with players’ representatives before the fresh contract takes shape.Last season player contract detailsGroup A:
Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh.
Group B:
Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Lakshmipathy Balaji.
Group C:
Parthiv Patel, Aakash Chopra, Murali Kartik.

ScorecardBangladesh’s Under-19 team was left ruing a disastrous morning session on the third day of the first Test at Headingley, as England wrapped up a five-wicket victory with four full sessions to spare.Bangladesh had been up against it at the start of play, after slipping to 126 for 4 on Thursday evening. But with Samit Patel weaving an impenetrable web with his left-arm spin, Bangladesh lost their last six wickets for 30 runs in 20 overs, and a finely balanced game had been tilted decisively towards England.Patel finished with 3 for 31 from 17 overs, and with Ravinder Bopara providing (3 for 19) providing fine support, Bangladesh lost their way badly. Aftab Ahmed, 45 not out overnight, brought up his half-century but fell shortly afterwards for 54, and of the rest, only the wicketkeeper, Dhiman Ghosh, reached double figures.England’s target of 118 was briefly challenged when Joe Denly was bowled by Shadahat Hossain for a duck, and when Nadif Chowdhury and the captain, Enamul Haque jr, grabbed two wickets each, England were made to sweat just a touch. But Alistair Cook’s 57 anchored the chase, and Luke Wright steered England to victory with 14 not out.

Lightning struck twice in a week as a thrilling last wicket partnership between James Manning and Giles White again rescued the Academy from enbarrassment; failing to secure a winning draw by less than .1 of a run.South Wilts won an important toss and elected to take first use of a pitch that didn’t play as well as it looked; often subjecting the batsmen to “tennis ball” bounce. Having lost opener Rowe in the first over with no runs on the board, South Wilts made steady, if unspectacular, progress against a persevering Academy attack.Jamie Glasson rather rode his luck in making a valuable 74 (136 balls, 11 fours), supported in the main by Paul Draper (34) and latterly Tim Lamb with a well-organized 47 who became the second man to be run out taking on the arm of Mitchell Stokes on the deep cover boundary. South Wilts used the maximum number of overs allowed; Matthew Metcalfe (4-54) being the pick of the Academy bowlers, well supported by the leg spin of Ian Hilsum (2-56), having his first long bowl of the season.Again the young Hawks made a disastrous start, being at various stages 27-3 and 58-6; only Tom Burrows (22) achieving double figures. However, a 7th wicket stand of 37 between Hilsum (37 in 47 balls, 1 five, 6 fours) and David Griffiths pushed the Academy towards respectability.When Hilsum was brilliantly caught at short third man Hampshire were soon back in deep trouble at 114-9. Again the impressive Giles White joined his junior partner James Manning in another match-turning partnership; White mixing aggression with defence and farming of the strike in the, by now, somewhat cold and gloomy conditions for the first week in July. This was carried out so successfully against the tiring opening bowlers Senneck (4-66) and Seeary (3-48), who bowled 36 of the 54 overs between them, that the last over -bravely bowled by spinner and captain Draperwas reached with the Academy requiring another 8 runs to achieve a winning draw.White took 3 off the first ball before Manning used up another 3 balls in securing another single. The Academy Captain managed to again paddle-sweep 2 more runs off the fifth ball before only succeeding in on driving a single off the last in scenes of great excitement.Having put on 79 runs for the tenth wicket Manning and White lived to rue a decision of “one short” given by umpire Harrison as the Academy pair attempted a swift 2 early on in their partnership; a decision that meant the extra 5 points for a winning draw went to South Wilts.

With the Champions Trophy in Sharjah just around the corner Avishka Gunawardene looks to have hit form at just the right time after a blistering century in a practice match between the Sri Lanka national side and A team at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Grounds in Colombo today.Batting first, the A team scored 193 runs thanks to a well compiled 60 by skipper Thilan Samaraweera off 86 balls, which included a six and five fours. They had been in grave trouble at one stage having lost seven wickets for 92 runs before a late rally from lower order batsmen Gayan Ramyakumara, Prasanna Jayawardene and Muttumudalige Pushpakumara.Skipper Sanath Jayasuriya picked up four wickets for 45 runs. Senior squad newcomers Prabath Nissanka and Charitha Buddika impressed with two wickets apiece.In the reply, the Sri Lankan team cruised to their target in just 39.4 overs for the loss of just two wickets. Opening partners, skipper Sanath Jayasuriya and Avishka Gunawardene, led the assault. Jayasuriya reached his 50 off only 37 deliveries while Gunawardene got there in 34 balls. Gunawardene went onto make 109. His century came off just 70 balls and he hit eight sixes and 10 fours in all.Though the Sri Lankan national side reached the target in 39.4 overs with just two wickets down, they continued to bat on, to allow all the batsmen some batting practice. They finished up with 291.Summarised scores:Sri Lanka A 193 all out (49.2 overs)T. Samaraweera 60, M. Vandort 25, G. Ramyakumara 18, M. Pushpakumara 18.S. Jayasuriya 4-45, P. Nissanka 2-10.Sri Lanka 291 all out (43.3 overs)Gunawardene 109, S. Jayasuriya 51, M. Atapattu 38, Russel Arnold 32.Dinusha Fernando 2-46, R. Herath 2-52.

Virat Kohli walked into the post-match media briefing and, clearly and emphatically, pinned the onus of India’s defeat at the hands of the batsmen. They were, he said, “tentative” and minus the fearlessness he believed that was required to chase down a total of 176 against Sri Lanka.India’s 63-run defeat after lunch on day four of the Galle Test, which they had controlled for the better part of two days and a session, came about after a horror morning session. India lost six wickets for 55 runs in the space of 28 overs and Kohli said that India were not able to “counter what was being thrown at us. We should have been more smart with how we should have gone about playing the spinners in the second innings.”India came in to bat one wicket down with 153 more to win, for only their fifth victory in a Test in Sri Lanka and Kohli said the team had been, “Let down by our batting. There are no excuses there. The need of the hour in the second innings was to take calculated risk when you are chasing a small total in the fourth innings. Our intent was lacking. We let the opposition in today,” Kohli said. He said in the dressing room, “everyone is disappointed” as, “throughout the game we dominated and it is disappointing to be on the losing side.”Kohli cited the example of the Sri Lankan second innings when five down and trailing by more than 100, saying their response was, “a classic case of people going out there and being fearless and our display was a classic case of people going out there and being tentative.” He said that approach was the “major difference is us losing the game because we only had, apart from the way we batted today, an hour and a half which was bad in the game for us yesterday. Throughout the game, we dominated and it feels strange to be on the losing side but that is, sadly or unfortunately, Test cricket. You play one bad session and then you could be lagging behind in the race.”He would accept neither the controversial umpiring decisions, the absence of the DRS nor the state of the wicket to couch his reasons for India’s defeat. “I don’t think the wicket had too many demons in it, cricket is a game of pressure, when the pressure is mounted on you, the wicket looks difficult. If it’s not, it looks easy. The wicket did not really change much in all the four innings, to be honest. The turn and the bounce was pretty consistent throughout.”It was a case of us not playing fearless cricket – we were tentative.” Kohli said. He would not talk about umpiring decisions just before lunch on day three. Nor did he agree that the three decisions, two against Man-of-the-Match Dinesh Chandimal and one against Lahiru Thirimane, that helped Sri Lanka set up a partnership to eat up the Indian lead had proved, “dispiriting.””Well, not at all,” Kohli said. “I don’t want to speak about things that we cannot control, we kept bowling in the right areas and their batsmen took calculated risks and some risks that had some chances came off. Credit to them, they were able to think clearly.”About the DRS he said, “We are not using DRS in this series. It is not an issue I want to debate on.” When the series was over, he said, “we will sit down and figure out how important is it or how much we want to use it. As I said, we only have ourselves to blame. I don’t want to get into the debate of DRS or any other issues in this particular game. We should keep the questions to how badly we played today rather than things that are completely out of debate as of now.”The team management was not about to regret their decision to go with five bowlers and Kohli said he did not, at any stage, think he was a batsman short either, as India went down in a heap in 49.5 overs. The intention of playing five bowlers was to keep each man fresh to bowl four or five overs full tilt at every stage of the match and that he had no complaints from his bowlers.”If I have said I am going to play with five bowlers, I cannot go down after a performance like this and say I wish I had an extra player, you cannot play with 12 players. If I have chosen to play with five bowlers to take 20 wickets then it is our responsibility to bat in a better way which we did not do today. So I am not bringing up any excuses or wishing that we had an extra batsman. We should have done this better with six batsmen.”The difference between the batting in the two innings, he said, had nothing to do with external conditions but just mindset. “Nothing changed in the wicket, the changes that happened [were] in our mindset. Today we were a bit nervous in our approach and that is the only other difference that happened in our approach between the second day and the fourth day.”The specialist batsmen, Kohli said, could have learnt from Amit Mishra, who, other than Rahane, appeared the “most confident batsman out there. He was reading the spinners well and backing himself to get runs while the other batsmen failed.” Mishra batted for over 45 minutes, holding his own against the Sri Lankan spinners, spending more time at the crease with greater reward than all but two of the batsmen before him.Kohli defended Rohit Sharma’s inclusion in the XI: “You have to back your best players”•Associated Press

The decision to send Harbhajan Singh ahead of R Ashwin was, Kohli said, meant to launch a counterattack, help pick 20-30 runs off and put some pressure back on the home team. India had been in trouble far earlier, though, and Kohli countered questions about the selection of Rohit Sharma in the XI by saying that he had been picked because “you have to back your best players. People that you think can be match-winners for you, you have to back them.”He said Rohit had been given more chances again because “Cheteshwar [Pujara] was going through a phase where he wasn’t getting too many runs. So it was a case of giving another batsman a chance. Right now, Rohit has got three-four chances at No. 3. The idea has to been to persist with him.” Rohit’s miserable record in Sri Lanka, where he averages 14.31 in 21 matches across formats, may not instill much confidence in the batsman.Kohli did say, though, that there needed to be a discussion as a “batting unit as a whole about what guys are thinking, what the mindset as a whole is like and are they on the same page as far as executing the plans that we want them to. I think it’s a case of getting to know every particular batsman’s mindset at present and where he stands mentally and how comfortable or how relaxed they are to go out there and play free cricket because that’s what eventually the team needs.”You need people to go out there and play fearless cricket… Today everyone was tentative. You will have a couple of good catches taken, couple of good balls bowled but as long as the intent is there, you are always in the game. But if you are playing in a defensive way as a batting unit throughout the game, then you are always putting yourself under pressure.”

Scorecard

Ricky Ponting enjoyed his return to the Pura Cup with 96 before conceding first-innings points in an effort to set up a final-day chase for Tasmania. Michael Di Venuto made 138 – his second century in two games – in Tasmania’s 6 for 363 and at the close South Australia had extended their lead to 290.The Redbacks were on 4 for 171 at stumps with Mark Cosgrove on 66 and the debutant Andy Delmont on 26 after Darren Lehmann chipped in with a quick 47 from 39 balls. South Australia’s top three struggled again, with Matthew Elliott, Shane Deitz and Nathan Adcock all falling in the first ten overs.The visitors began their second innings with a 119-run lead thanks to Ponting’s declaration, which gave both sides hope of victory after the Tigers opened their season with a draw and South Australia with a loss. Ponting looked set for a century when he feathered behind while trying to fend off a bouncer from Shaun Tait, who is hoping for a spot in Ponting’s Test team.That was Tait’s only success of the innings, however, as he conceded 11 no-balls in collecting 1 for 117. Di Venuto began the day on 99 and had no problems posting his 44th first-class hundred before becoming the first of Dan Cullen’s two victims.Di Venuto’s form in the past 12 months has been remarkable – he had his best Pura Cup year last summer with 961 runs at 53.38 and opened this season with 178 against Queensland to salvage a draw at the Gabba. In between, he was fourth on the county run-tally in 2007 with 1329 at 66.45 for Durham.