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Dinesh Karthik, Tamil Nadu’s captain, has been banned for one Ranji Trophy match after being found guilty of breaching the BCCI Code of Conduct and has been warned over his future conduct. Karthik, the wicketkeeper-batsman, was found guilty of a Level 1 and 2 offence during Tamil Nadu’s Super League match against Gujarat in Ahmedabad.Sanjay Patil, the match referee, found him guilty of breaching Level 1 and 2 of the conduct rulebook, which refers to bringing the game into disrepute by excessive appealing and charging toward the umpire. Karthik was fined 75% of his match fee.The incident took place when Jay Desai was on 68 during Gujarat’s second innings and Karthik excessively appealed for a catch off offspinner R Ashwin, who was also issued a verbal warning for arguing with the umpire. Desai went on to score 108 as the match ended in a draw.Elsewhere, in Mohali, Hyderabad captain VVS Laxman was fined 20% of his match fee for bowling five overs less during Punjab’s second innings. The rest of his team-mates were docked 10% of their match fees per the BCCI’s ruling. Punjab just escaped copping a fine after their captain Ankur Kakkar rushed through 20 overs during the last hour of play on the final day, using a bunch of spinners.At the Eden Gardens, match referee Sanjib Paul fined both Bengal and Baroda captains, Connor Williams and Laxmi Shukla, 20% of their match fees for a slow over-rate. The players were fined 10% each. Satyajit Parab, on whose classy 154 Baroda made merry against the hosts, was given an official reprimand for aggressive appealing during Bengal’s innings.

Legendary New Zealand allrounder Richard Hadlee fears that too much cricket could shorten the careers of top-class athletes. Against the backdrop of all the talk about an overkill of cricket in the last few years, Hadlee urged the ICC to address the matter in order to prolong careers and preserve Test cricket.”Now if someone plays for 10 years, it should be considered a very long career. The frequency of injuries to players is perhaps a sign of overdose of cricket,” he told the . “Maybe the players are not in a position to complain on this front for there are huge rewards in playing in any format of the game now. It is imperative to retain its [Test cricket’s] sanctity.”Hadlee, 58, was concerned that a hectic cricket calendar would especially take a toll on the bodies of fast bowlers. “It is particularly harsh on fast bowlers,” he said. “I can only advice the current generation to be patient, keep working hard with greater focus on scientific physical conditioning programme on the advice of medical experts.”With spectator interest towards 50-over cricket waning in several countries, certain former and current players have suggested ways to alter the game. Sachin Tendulkar has suggested splitting 100 overs into four innings of 25 each, which would mean that no side would have the best of the conditions for the entire match, but Hadlee was wary of tampering with rules at the moment.”There are many exciting contests in one-dayers. However, who wouldn’t love to see Sachin bat twice in a day especially if he gets out cheaply,” he said. “Maybe for this reason, we can think of splitting the 50-overs format into 30 overs and 20 overs of Powerplay.”

Asim Butt, the Scotland left-arm seamer, has died in his sleep aged 42 in Lahore.He played five ODIs for Scotland in the 1999 World Cup, performing strongly against Australia, the eventual winners, taking 1 for 21 from 10 overs.Butt was born in Pakistan in 1967 and played first-class cricket for Lahore before settling in Scotland in the 1990s. He soon won his first Scottish cap, against Yorkshire at Boghall in May 1998, taking 3 for 42 in the Benson & Hedges Cup, on his way to 106 wickets for Scotland at an average of 24.86.He played in all of Scotland’s World Cup games and remained a consistent performer, taking 6 for 42 in the first innings against MCC at Lord’s in August 2000 and 5 for 47 in the second innings against Ireland four years later.He won the last of his 71 caps in the National League game against Somerset in May 2005.

Brad Hodge has played his last first-class game after a knee injury ruled him out of what was intended to be his finale against New South Wales in Newcastle starting on Friday. Hodge struggled with knee soreness after aggravating an existing problem during Tuesday’s FR Cup match against South Australia.He announced his impending retirement from first-class cricket last month after family commitments won out over the desire to add to his six Test caps. Hodge leaves the first-class arena with 17,084 runs at 48.81 from 223 appearances, with 51 centuries and a top score of 302 not out.However, Hodge is keen to play on for Victoria in Twenty20 and one-day cricket and he has not given up hope of making the Australia squad for the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies next year. The Bushrangers will reassess Hodge’s fitness next week before the one-day against New South Wales in Sydney.Victoria have also lost Darren Pattinson to a calf strain, while his brother James Pattinson is having his workload managed and will miss Friday’s Sheffield Shield match. Jon Holland, Steven Gilmour and the uncapped left-arm fast bowler Will Sheridan have been included in a 12-man squad.New South Wales will again be captained by Moises Henriques, who at 22 last week became the fourth-youngest skipper in the state’s history. The legspinning allrounder Steven Smith will rejoin the side after a quick trip to Perth to act as cover for Nathan Hauritz in Australia’s Test squad.Victoria squad Chris Rogers, Nick Jewell, Lloyd Mash, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Andrew McDonald, Matthew Wade (wk), John Hastings, Jon Holland, Bryce McGain, Steven Gilmour, Will Sheridan.New South Wales squad Phillip Hughes, Phil Jaques, Usman Khawaja, Moises Henriques (capt), David Warner, Ben Rohrer, Daniel Smith (wk), Steven Smith, Grant Lambert, Stephen O’Keefe, Aaron Bird, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc.

Scorecard
Abhishek Nayar struck eight fours and three sixes during his 154-ball stay•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Abhishek Nayar returned to form with an unbeaten, stroke-filled century which put defending champions Mumbai in control against Delhi in first semi-final at the Brabourne Stadium. When Nayar walked in this morning, the hosts were vulnerable at 86 for 3 with the top order – Wasim Jaffer, Sahil Kukreja and Ajinkya Rahane – wasting promising starts. But Nayar started on a bold note, never retreated from his aggressive approach, and cobbled together valuable stands with Onkar Khanvilkar and Ajit Agarkar to help Mumbai go past 300.Though the Brabourne pitch had a faint shade of green, Jaffer opted to bat. He had already decided to open to see off the danger Ishant Sharma posed with the new ball. A glide between slips and gully brought Mumbai the first boundary of the innings. At the other end, Kukreja lunged forward to punch Ishant through covers. Mumbai were off the block smoothly.But Jaffer didn’t last. He tried to defend a fuller one from Ishant that seemed to be going down leg, but it held its line and the umpire raised his finger. Kukreja and Rahane put their heads down and played the waiting game nicely, till the moment when Kukreja was surprised by a lifting delivery from Parvinder Awana. Trying to tap a length delivery, which had suddenly shot up after pitching, Kukreja edged to Puneet Bisht behind the wickets.Rahane, Mumbai’s best batsman in the last two seasons, was the architect of several rescue acts and without his contributions, including a double century in the league stage, Mumbai would not have got this far . He had already hit sumptuous strokes – a firm push against the left-arm spin of Vikas Mishra accurately through the narrow gap between short cover and mid-off. But with half an hour until lunch, Rahane played across to a fuller delivery from Ishant that hit the seam, beat him for pace, and knocked his off stump back.Ishant, who had been dropped for the tri-series in Bangladesh, was bowling quicker, hitting the length consistently and making the batsman play. As the teams went to lunch, Delhi’s strategy of playing three seamers instead of the second spinner seemed to have paid off.However, after the break, Nayar and Khanvilkar regained control with a more aggressive approach. In the second over following lunch, Nayar charged part-time offspinner Mithun Mahnas to hit the first six of the match over the sight screen. In the next over, Awana offered width and Nayar dispatched the ball to the point boundary. A couple of overs later, he once again charged Manhas for two more sixes over the bowler’s head. He soon brought up his fifty with a single and shook his clenched right fist in delight. It was a more than a celebratory gesture.Coming into the match, Nayar admitted he had not paid attention to the wrist injury he sustained during the Challenger Trophy last October. He had continued to play and aggravated it, resulting in a weakened wrist which gave no power to his strokes. He managed just one half-century in the previous five games he played during the league phase. But today, he was in no mood to reflect on missed opportunities and instead was busy in strengthening Mumbai’s position in the semi-final with Khanvilkar.Khanvilkar is one youngster the Mumbai think-tank bets on, but it was proving to be a frustrating wait. Khanvilkar, though, played the perfect foil to Nayar today. He rotated the strike, scampered twos and left the big strokes to his partner. In about an hour into the second session, the pair had gained the upper hand as they progressed at a healthy run-rate of 5.00 an over.Khanvilkar had started with a cover drive against Ishant off his second ball and he later lofted Manhas over long off for a one-bounce four to get to 47. His fifty arrived with a cut off the same bowler but he got lucky when his hard edge against Awana was dropped by a hapless Manhas at first slip.Khanvilkar was on 57 and Mumbai were 178 for 3. But the 145-run partnership for fourth wicket came to an end abruptly when Khanvilkar tried to defend a floater from Rajat Bhatia, another part-time offspinner. As he tried to ground the ball, his back leg was raised slightly, providing enough time for an alert Bisht to stump him.Nayar though, did not have to rue anything as he cut Manhas behind square to get to his first century in two years. The last one was against Tamil Nadu in the 2007-08 season, having started off with a cracking hundred in the Irani Trophy prior to that. Today, Nayar’s emotional release was understandable: he shrieked in delight and punched the air with his bat and then jumped in excitement. After turning back he acknowledged the Mumbai dressing room for their support and then folded his right arm, specifically the bulging biceps, to indicate his strength. Nayar remained the key for Mumbai and so did Ajit Agarkar, who hit a breezy half-century against tired opponents late in the day.Meanwhile, Delhi were left pondering whether the decision to play only one specialist spinner, when the part-timers Manhas and Bhatia were successful, was a wise one. Delhi were defensive when Nayar, Khanvilkar and Agarkar used the long handle. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for them to play a more attacking game tomorrow in order to prevent the match from completely getting out their grasp.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has described rookie left-arm fast bowler Andy McKay as one of the quickest bowlers in the country and even put him on par with Shane Bond. McKay has taken two wickets in each of his two ODIs so far, and was particularly impressive in the second game against Bangladesh in Dunedin, conceding just 17 runs off his ten overs.”He was definitely the quickest guy I faced in the HRV (Twenty20) Cup,” Vettori told the . “We took a chance on him because of that pace. I think he does have it. I think he can be on a par with Shane Bond when he gets it right, and that makes a real difference when you step up to international level.”McKay made a late entry into the national side, at 29, after entering the first-class scene in 2002-03. He played five seasons for Auckland before shifting to Wellington in 2009-10. He was the joint leading wicket-taker in the one-day competition when the national selectors came calling.McKay bowled to Vettori during a HRV Cup match between Wellington and Northern Districts in Mt Maunganui last month. He played them again at Basin Reserve, where he took three wickets. “I was looking to use my bouncer and hit the pitch and bat hard,” McKay said.McKay clocked 147 kph in the first ODI in Napier and he’s targeting speeds of 150 and above. “I’d never been radared before,” McKay said.” I didn’t see the radar so I wasn’t sure how fast I was bowling. I had bowled quicker spells for Wellington than [the one] at Napier.”Meanwhile, New Zealand announced one change for the third ODI against Bangladesh in Christchurch on Thursday, bringing in the spin allrounder Nathan McCullum for seamer Daryl Tuffey, who is nursing a hamstring strain.

With the ODI whitewash against Bangladesh complete, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is confident that his side can make the switch from the limited-overs version to Test cricket seamlessly, as they prepare for the first Test in Hamilton starting on Monday.”It’s just the nature of international cricket, good players are able to adapt from whatever form of the game you are playing in at the time,” Vettori said. “It’s the way cricket is going so if you want to be a good player you’ve got to turn up and expect to perform no matter what the discipline is.”After a hard-fought three-wicket win in the final ODI in Christchurch, which ensured the 3-0 scoreline, Vettori admitted to misreading the drop-in pitch at the AMI stadium.”There were a lot more runs in that wicket, so for us to put ourselves under so much pressure was a little bit disappointing,” Vettori said. “I still thought it was a 320 [wicket] once we saw how it started to play. I obviously got it wrong, with the toss because if it played that well then it was probably a bat first but that happens,” Vettori said.Vettori was also pleased with the performance of his bowling unit. “I was reasonably happy with how we bowled. I was pretty happy to only go for 40 in the last 10 [overs] and that was the area of concern from the last game. Tim Southee, in particular, was outstanding throughout his spell.”He explained that James Franklin, who was originally going to bat at No.5, had an injured heel which delayed his arrival at the crease. “Thankfully he could go out because he and Ian Butler were pretty composed at the end to bring it home for us,” Vettori said.

Elton Chigumbura, the Zimbabwean allrounder, has been signed as Northamptonshire’s overseas player, and is expected to be available for the entirety of the upcoming season.”We are pleased to confirm that Elton will be joining us for the 2010 season,” said David Capel, Northants’ head coach. “He is a talented young, athletic cricketer who has already played in over 100 ODIs for Zimbabwe.”Chigumbura was thrust into international cricket as an 18-year-old in 2004 in the midst of the disagreement between the Zimbabwe board and the ‘rebel’ players, and has since established himself as the side’s only genuine allrounder. In 108 ODIs he has scored 2241 runs, with 13 half-centuries, and picked up 79 wickets at 35.97 with his fast-medium seamers.”It is clear through watching him play against the West Indies recently, that he is an energetic, effervescent and enthusiastic cricketer, who is very keen to improve his game,” added Capel. “I know that Elton sees this as a massive opportunity, and is looking forward to joining us as soon as possible.”Northants’ second new signing is Vishal Tripathi, the Lancashire-born batting allrounder. Tripathi, 22, has been brought in on an initial three-month deal, with the potential to move on to a longer term contract.”This is a good opportunity for Vishal to impress everyone at Northants Cricket during his initial three-month phase,” said Capel. “He is a bright, young all-round cricketer.””I’m delighted to have signed for Northants Cricket,” said Tripathi. “I’ve been given a great opportunity to show what I can do at 2nd XI and 1st XI levels. I’m grateful of the opportunity and hopefully I can show everyone what I can do as an up and coming young player.”

In less than four months, Doug Bollinger has become the most important bowler in Australia’s Test team but he still hasn’t perfected his celebrations. When he completed his second Test five-for, he looked down and kissed his shirt, hesitated for a second as he realised he’d actually got the VB sponsor’s logo, and tried to recover by switching sides and finding the Australian badge.He laughed it off. He’s used to doing that. He did the badge-kissing thing in Perth in December, but joked it was only because he’d seen someone else do it. He was asked in the lead-up to this game how his hairpiece would stand up in the Wellington wind and said: “Next question”.He bugs his team-mates by repeating the same joke over and over in the change-rooms: “Two fish are in a tank and one says to the other ‘how do you drive this thing?'” He would be a fun but exhausting man to be around.Fortunately, there is more to Bollinger than a unique personality. His seven wickets so far in the Wellington Test put Australia firmly in control and it continued his outstanding summer in the five-day game. Since returning to the team at the start of December, he has collected 32 breakthroughs at 18.06, easily the most of any Australian player in that time.Mitchell Johnson keeps finding victims and Nathan Hauritz has discovered his niche but Bollinger has become the spearhead. He is the man to whom Ricky Ponting turns when a change in momentum is required, or to convert a couple of wickets into a collapse. He achieved both those feats on the third day, first running through the New Zealand tail to allow Ponting to enforce the follow-on for the second time this season, then breaking an opening stand that had swelled to 70.His speed and accuracy allow batsmen no respite and that was what upset BJ Watling, who had cautiously worked his way to 33 when he was lbw to a ball that pitched in line and straightened, for the second time in the game. His angle soon accounted for Peter Ingram and he edged behind.The 5 for 28 that he secured in the first innings was fitting reward for his persistence. The same energy that nags good-naturedly at his team-mates causes far more worries for his opponents and even late in the afternoon, after a day and a half of bowling, he was still peppering down bouncers and making the batsmen jump.”I’m trying to [intimidate],” Bollinger said. “That’s just how I bowl, I try to be aggressive and bowl in the batsman’s face and make them as uncomfortable as I can. That’s what a fast bowler’s job is to do. I felt really, really good today. I didn’t try to overdo anything. I just feel like the ball is coming out of my hand really well at the moment and I’m just really, really enjoying my cricket.”Bollinger makes otherwise pedestrian periods of Test cricket compulsory viewing. When he’s sprinting in it is impossible to look away for fear of missing a wicket, an appeal or a moment of mirth.This Test has had the lot: 7 for 58, a laughably optimistic appeal (he was the only man to go up for a bump ball return catch and you could sense his team-mates cringe) and a VB kiss that was replayed over and over. The team’s most important bowler is also its most watchable.

While MS Dhoni was hammering Juan Theron in the penultimate over of the match, Irfan Pathan grew restless at square leg. He began stretching his hands and was soon waving them up and down. He squatted on the grass, folded his right leg horizontally while simultaneously stretching forward, trying to get his forehead to the left knee, and repeated the exercise with the other leg. As the umpire handed Theron his cap, Irfan had raced to the other end, removing his jumper and walking to his mark to bowl the final over. He had 15 runs to defend.Irfan had already done it once at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, bowling a tight final over to force a tie and a Super Over, which Kings XI Punjab won. Dhoni had predicted at the time that the loss would cause a lot of misery for Chennai. It did, and only victory today would secure a semi-final spot.The pressure was shared by batsman and bowler. As the chase approached its climax, Dhoni had managed to sway the home support and a full house at the HPCA stadium had started chanting “Dhoni, Dhoni”.The brief in the final overs is simple: bowl yorkers. Irfan bowled an angled delivery on off stump and Dhoni made room to drive it into the gap between sweeper cover and deep extra cover for four. Irfan did not recover and his lengths were lengths were easy for Dhoni to pick up. After conceding two consecutive sixes to end the game, Irfan collected his jumper from the umpire, shook hands with Dhoni and walked towards the dressing room with head bowed.”I was hoping he [Irfan] would make a mistake and bowl in my area more than me playing an extraordinary shot. He did that thrice in four deliveries and it went my way,” Dhoni said later.Tom Moody, Punjab’s coach, gave credit to Chennai for staying strong even though Punjab were in control till the 18th over. “With two overs to go, you would have probably felt we were slightly in favour, but we didn’t execute our yorkers as well we should have done in those last 12 balls,” he said. It was not the first time Punjab had lost the plot from a winning position this season and Moody admitted failure on all three fronts. “Unfortunately there were too many games like tonight, where we had winning scores and we couldn’t defend them. We failed consistently in all three – bat, ball and field.”Barring Mahela Jayawardene, who found form mid-way into the season, the rest of Punjab’s batsmen struggled. Yuvraj Singh, who came into the IPL with a wrist injury, was the most consistent failure and that generated gossip and condemnation. So much so that Moody and Kumar Sangakkara had to perform damage control after every loss. “What simply was the case was we had a number of players out of form,” was Moody’s assessment. “It was not until the back half of the season that our batsmen came into form. The second thing we had is a number of injuries which really affected our strike power more than anything else.”Compounding the failure of the batsmen was the absence of an impact bowler, such as Dale Steyn or Doug Bollinger, capable of clinching tight matches. Brett Lee’s injury troubles made it worse, while James Hopes and Jerome Taylor failed to arrive due to injury.As for the Indians, Sreesanth, who had sarcastically announced on his return to the Indian team that his maverick self was ‘his-story’ – turned out a sad story, roaming around aimlessly in training sessions, as he found little support from team management, who reportedly decided to keep him out on disciplinary grounds. Moody admitted the Indian domestic players couldn’t raise their game to the level that players in the other teams had managed to.Responsibility fell on youngsters like Theron, who while impressive is still learning the craft. “Rusty did a great job but his role was towards the back-end of the innings, not as a frontline strike bowler. Our frontline lacked teeth,” Moody said. “Tonight was a good example where our spinners put us in a wonderful position but our medium-pacers gave away plenty.”