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The IPL is set to make its second major concession in a week, with executives close to a compromise with the South African provinces over the allocation of corporate suites. Indian officials had initially demanded control over the boxes, much to the chagrin of their South African hosts, but a series of meetings during the week have resulted in the IPL softening its stance considerably.The dispute over corporate suites had prompted several South African newspapers to speculate that the IPL could be cancelled. That, though, appears unlikely, with officials from both countries eager to reach a compromise.”We are close to resolving this,” Andre Odendaal, the chief executive of Western Province, told Cricinfo. “The IPL had very high expectations initially, but after talking through the issues, they have been very understanding and reduced their request. The request now is very reasonable. This is about striking a balance between our own members, and making (IPL franchises) feel welcome.”We are all facing a big challenge. We are hosting the biggest cricket tournament in the world in ten days time. There were always going to be certain issues, but I think all parties have done a good job of working through those so the tournament can go ahead.”Gerald Majola, the chief executive of Cricket South Africa (CSA), was similarly confident that the dispute over corporate suites would be resolved.”CSA will look to uphold the interest and rights of all stakeholders,” Majola said in a statement. “Discussions are in the final stages of an amicable resolution for all parties concerned and CSA is confident that this matter will be settled soon.Should Indian executives agree to fewer corporate suites, it would be the IPL’s second major back down in a week. The IPL relaxed the prohibitive terms and conditions it had placed on non-rights holding media on Thursday, prompting major news agencies, including Reuters and Associated Press, to end their boycott of the tournament.

Scorecard and ball-by-details
How they were out
Ben Laughlin’s stunning catch to dismiss Albie Morkel turned the game firmly in Australia’s favour•Associated Press

It may have been a dead rubber at the end of a long summer, but a resolute Australia scrapped hard in the field to secure a consolation win in Johannesburg and move up to No. 2 in the ODI rankings. Both innings in the match followed a similar pattern: significant contributions from the top four before the middle order collapsed. Michael Hussey remained unbeaten to make sure Australia capitalised on the batting Powerplay and shepherded them past 300, but none of the South African batsmen played that role, leaving the tail too much to do.South Africa appeared to be coasting towards victory when they had reached 186 for 2 after 34 overs, with Jacques Kallis and Man-of-the-Series AB de Villiers looking solid. Nathan Bracken then lured Kallis into a loose away-from-the-body waft which ended in Brad Haddin’s gloves. Mitchell Johnson turned up the pressure a notch when he ended JP Duminy’s short, shaky stay in the next over. It was still anybody’s game when Mark Boucher swatted James Hopes straight to Nathan Hauritz at midwicket.A stunning piece of fielding swung the match in Australia’s favour. Albie Morkel, who has established a reputation as a game-changing big-hitter, had started confidently, crunching the ball powerfully square either side of the wicket. One of his slog-sweeps off Hauritz swirled high in the air and looked headed for a six; Ben Laughlin, at the edge of the boundary, leapt with perfect timing to pluck the ball two-handed, keeping his balance to ensure he remained within the field of play. South Africa had slid to 226 for 6 in the 42nd over, still 78 adrift.With the wickets tumbling, de Villiers decided to take the Powerplay in the next over, but was bowled by Laughlin off the first ball. The match was effectively over, only the formalities remained.It hadn’t seemed as if South Africa would be bowled out when their top order was firing. Herschelle Gibbs had bludgeoned quick hundreds his two previous ODIs in Johannesburg, and he continued in the same vein on Friday. He got going with an effortless drive through the covers in the first over, which brought the nearly packed stadium to its feet. His cover-driving remained a feature of his innings, and he also routinely charged down the track to loft the bowlers in the arc between long-on and long-off.Kallis was also in fluent touch, and the pair had collected 104 runs before Gibbs was undone by a flatter one from Hauritz. Kallis marched on to his half-century and Australia’s chances were looking bleak before South Africa’s middle-order caved in.Australia had had their own collapse earlier. On a belter of a track, they were haunted by two of their familiar failings over the one-dayers against South Africa this year: their batsmen’s inability to make centuries, and their struggles against spin. Their 303 was a competitive score but a lot more looked on the cards after the top order scored almost at will to motor along to 215 for 3 in 36 overs. South Africa’s slow bowling was weakened by the absence of Johan Botha, but with Duminy filling the breach with three wickets and Roelof van der Merwe continuing to find international cricket easy, Australia’s charge was derailed.The spin pair choked the runs in a five-over period starting from the 31st over, and the attendant pressure fetched South Africa four quick wickets. Australia slipped to 246 for 7, but Michael Hussey kept his cool and capitalised on some less-than-satisfactory death bowling by South Africa, who allowed 45 runs off the final five overs.It was a decent total but the onslaught from their openers, Haddin and Michael Clarke, had some thinking of the “438 game”. It was Haddin who provided the initial impetus, carving a couple of short balls from Makhaya Ntini for four over the point fielder. Neither batsman was shy of chipping the ball over the infield, and Haddin was particularly keen on backing away and lofting over the covers.The experiment to use Kallis early was abandoned after he leaked 21 in two overs. Some amateurish fielding from Morne Morkel gave away four runs and let Clarke reach his half-century; nothing was going right for the hosts.South Africa came back into the game when both Haddin and Clarke gave catches to Duminy in the space of 11 runs. Callum Ferguson kept the momentum going, peppering the off-side boundaries to race to 41 before his dismissal in the 32nd over kicked off the phase where the spinners held sway.The performance of their spinners has been one of South Africa’s big gains over the ten one-dayers against Australia. The series may have ended with a loss, but South Africa can be proud of their ODI showings. They held their own against the world champions both at home and away to pocket the No. 1 ranking, and that after a 4-0 drubbing in their previous series against serious opposition.

England have had to radically downgrade their ambitions on this tour. The best they can now hope for from a series where in which they were expected to prevail is a draw. That would be enough to retain the Wisden Trophy, but it is hardly the emphatic statement that the post-Christmas problems demanded. Even if they can summon a huge effort in Trinidad to share the spoils their world standing has taken another knock.”If you look back to Jamaica we had a terrible session of cricket that cost us the game,” Andrew Strauss said. “Since then I think we have played some good cricket and maybe we haven’t quite got what we deserved. But we have one more opportunity to level the series. It was obviously a big goal for us to come out here and win, we can’t do that now. I don’t think we have any real excuses for where we are at the moment but it would be nice to be on level terms certainly.”The team has yet to win a significant match in any of their assignments since heading to Antigua for the ill-fated Stanford Super Series in October. The only games they have won have been a one-day warm-up in India and the three-day practice match against a St Kitts Invitational XI at the beginning of this tour – hardly the credentials of a team that strives to be the world’s best.They survived comfortably on the final day here, as they should have done on a surface that has offered the bowlers precious little, with Alastair Cook finally breaking his century drought after 14 months and 16 Tests. However, for a large part of the innings it was little more than an extended net as the featherbed surface refused to yield.England’s batting is in fine fettle with totals of 566 and 600 in the last two Tests, but the inability to claim that last wicket in Antigua has now become even more costly and worrisome. It took them 194.4 overs to claim nine scalps in this game and the impotent bowling attack will be the main concern heading to Port of Spain.”You’ve had eight, nine, ten bowlers on it [from both sides] and no one has really looked particularly threatening, so I wouldn’t blame the quality of the bowling by any means,” Strauss said. “And certainly from our point of view I thought they toiled exceptionally well. The way they continued bowling the right areas session after session was a great testament to the control they had.”But it isn’t a new problem for England. They haven’t bowled a side out twice since The Oval Test against South Africa in August and that came after three other matches where the bowlers struggled. “I think on all the wickets we have played on this winter both sides have struggled to take wickets, so it’s not something that is unique to our side by any means,” Strauss said.”But clearly you need to find a way and that’s something that we need to continue doing. I thought our bowlers innovated pretty well, we had a lot of cutters, slower balls, bouncers; round the wicket and over the wicket, so they are certainly thinking. None of those options had a huge amount of success for us but you learn from it. On a different wicket those options will stand you in good stead.”It’s difficult to know what else they can do. Two of the options, Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar, have been dropped during this series for being ineffective but their names will come back into consideration, along with the uncapped Amjad Khan. Somehow, England need to find a cutting edge and will be praying that the pitch in Trinidad offers them something, either in the form of pace or spin.The latter is more likely which raises the prospect of a twin-spin attack even without the availability of Andrew Flintoff to balance the team. Matt Prior, who missed this Test due to the birth of his son, returns on Tuesday and Strauss is going to have some tough decisions to make and serious thought will have to be given to playing five bowlers. What they must do is ensure those that are selected are fully fit because Ryan Sidebottom didn’t appear to be at Test readiness.The only way a five-man attack can realistically work is if the wicketkeeper bats at No. 6 and then it’s down to which batsman is unlucky. “Last in, first out” would cost Ravi Bopara his place, but he has just scored a maiden century, while the least productive in Barbados was Owais Shah, but he has been guaranteed a run at No. 3. Three Tests ago this team was bowled out for 51 and now the batting looks almost top-heavy. “It’s very clear that we need to take 20 wickets so that’s definitely going to be an option we’ll consider,” Strauss said on the prospect of strengthening the attack.So England will head to the Queens Park Oval in the next day or so and look anxiously at the surface. Strauss said it was important that the players don’t have preconceived ideas about what to expect and try to adapt to conditions. “One danger in Test cricket is to play the next game like the last game,” he said. “It would be wrong to assume it will just be a flat wicket again next week. Hopefully there will be more in the wicket in which case it will a completely different game of cricket.”The fate of Strauss’s first series in full charge of England rests largely on that strip of 22 yards. It isn’t quite how it was meant to pan out.

Group A

In Sheikhupura, Water and Power Development Authority managed to bowl out Habib Bank Limited for 202 despite opener Imran Farhat’s 100. Apart from captain Hasan Raza’s 31, there was not much support from the other batsmen for Farhat after HBL were put in. They were reduced to 29 for 3, with the rest in the top four besides Farhat scoring 1, 0 and 0. Farhat then combined with Raza to take them past 100, but HBL lost wickets regularly once Raza was out. WAPDA opening bowlers Naved-ul-Hasan and Azharullah took three wickets each. WAPDA lost opener Salman Akbar for 15 before closing at 29 for 1 in 15 overs.Second-placed Khan Research Laboratories were also dismissed for 200-odd after being asked to bat by Pakistan Customs, but Sohail Tanvir managed to wrest back the initiative with three strikes before close in Mirpur. Farhan Ayub snared 5 for 86 and fellow medium-pacers Aamer Yousuf and Waqas Qudratullah scalped two wickets each to restrict KRL to 208. Ali Naqvi top scored with 64, and rescued his team along with Bazid Khan (37) after they were reeling at 69 for 5. No. 9 Yasir Ali’s quick 23 was only the fourth double-digit score in the innings. KRL, however, lost their last five wickets for 51. Tanvir then removed Pakistan Customs’ top three to leave them at 67 for 3 at stumps. KRL are six points adrift of leaders National Bank of Pakistan.National Bank of Pakistan were also put in by defending champions Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited at Multan Cricket Stadium, but three half-centuries from the top four helped the Group A leaders to 248 for 4 at close on the first day. No. 3 Umar Amin made 84 – he had scored 85 in the second innings in NBP’s previous game – and strung together 85 with opener Nasir Jamshed (51). Naumanullah chipped in with 55. Left-armer Samiullah Khan took 2 for 41 off 21 overs.An unbeaten 112 from Fahad Iqbal helped Pakistan International Airlines score 291 for 7 on the opening day against Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited at Faisalabad’s Iqbal Stadium. Put in, PIA were reduced to 52 for 3 before Fahad combined with Kamran Sajid (45) for a 107-run partnership. Wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, fresh off his two half-centuries in PIA’s recent two-wicket win over SNGPL, made a brisk 65, but ZTBL bounced back with three wickets in the space of 12 runs, with Afaq Raheem striking twice in his two overs. Iftikhar Anjum and Iftikhar Anjum also picked up two wickets.Abid Ali made 114 and Sheraz Butt scored 96 to help Lahore Shalimar reach 270 for 4 in 83 overs on the first day against Sui Southern Gas Corporation at Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. The two put on a 211-run stand after Lahore lost two early wickets. Abid hit 16 fours; Butt was more patient but missed out on his maiden first-class ton. Murad Khan took 3 for 51 for SSGC.

Group B

Top-placed Sialkot dominated the first day against Faisalabad at the Jinnah Stadium, dismissing the visitors for 122 and ending the day 39 runs in the advantage with seven first-innings wickets still in hand. Sarmad Anwar, Bilawal Bhatti and Nayyer Abbas grabbed three wickets each as Faisalabad, put in, were dismissed in 44.2 overs. Top-scorer Mohammad Salman was the only batsman to make it past 25, scoring 39. Zahoor Khan struck twice to leave Sialkot wobbling at 59 for 3, but an unbroken 102-run stand steadied the hosts. Haris Sohail made a quick 61 off 70 balls, while Bilal Azmat was also unbeaten at stumps on 44.It was the day of the medium-pacers as 20 wickets tumbled on the first day of the clash between Peshwar and third-placed Rawalpindi at the Arbab Niaz Stadium. Peshawar captain Nauman Habib would have rued his decision to bat first after the fast-bowling trio of Rizwan Akbar, Mohammad Rameez and Sadaf Hussain ran riot, leaving the innings in tatters at 62 for 8. It was Riaz Afridi’s 66 and the 93-run partnership with Nauman (39) that helped Peshwar save face by reaching 156. Rizwan was the most successful bowler for Rawalpindi with 4 for 26. In reply, Rawalpindi were off on the wrong foot with Waqar Ahmed trapping Hamid Riaz early on. The bowler got good support from Riaz, and the Rawalpindi batsmen failed to put up any resistance. Zahid Mansoor was the top scorer with 33 as Rawalpindi were shot out for 157, the slenderest of leads. Waqar picked up a five-wicket haul while Riaz finished with 4 for 31. Rawalpindi need a win to have any chance of upstaging Sialkot for a place in the final.Twin centuries from Ashraf Ali and Sohail Ahmed helped Lahore Ravi post a strong 284 for 5 against second-placed Islamabad at the Diamond Club Ground. Islamabad, who also need a win to move ahead of Sialkot, put Lahore in. A partnership of 51 between openers Sohail and Raza Ali was followed by three strikes from Saad Altaf, the leading wicket-taker in the tournament so far. But an 89-run fourth-wicket stand between Sohail and Ashraf followed. Sohail hit 11 boundaries in his steady 102, before he was caught by Imad Wasim off Raheel Majeed. The day ended with Irfan Zaman’s dismissal, while Ashraf remained unbeaten on 111.Nasrullah Memon’s half-century firmed up bottom-placed Hyderabad against Karachi Blues on the first day at the Nawabshah Cricket Stadium. Choosing to bat, Hyderabad openers Aqeel Anjum and Azeem Ghumman put on 38 for the opening wicket before offspinner Tabish Nawab tore into the top order. He dismissed the openers and then had Abid Ali caught by Mohammad Faheem for 4. But Nasrullah continued strongly, eventually finishing with 70 off 110 balls. Tabish Khan then struck twice to leave Hyderabad at 244 for 7.A hundred for wicketkeeper Fawad Khan and a half-century from captain Ghulam Mohammad took Abbottabad to 295 for 5 against Multan at Okara. Ansar Javed gave Multan the early breakthrough after they chose to field, removing opener Adnan Raees for 10. In the first of three crucial partnerships thereafter, Ghulam added 66 for the second wicket with Hamman Ali and put on a third-wicket stand of 75 with Fawad. He fell leg-before to Zulfiqar Babar for 64, stroking 11 fours in his 146-ball innings. Fawad added 110 with Mohammad Kashif and brought up his century. Babar had Fawad caught and bowled, but not before he had struck 19 boundaries and a six in his 111. Rehan Afridi (10) and Rahim Khan (1) then guided Abbottabad through to stumps.

New Zealand 8 for 151 (Satterthwaite 49*, Farrell 3-26) beat Australia 8 for 150 (Fields 52) by 2 wickets
Scorecard

New Zealand struck first in the five-match Rose Bowl Series with a tight two-wicket success over Australia in Whangarei. Chasing Australia’s 8 for 150, the hosts were in desperate trouble at 7 for 74 before Amy Satterthwaite led the successful recovery with an unbeaten 49 off 91 balls.Satterthwaite added 74 crucial runs with Lucy Doolan to push the team within sight of victory before Doolan was run out for 34 with three still needed. Rachel Priest stayed with Satterthwaite and the win was sealed with 4.2 overs to go. The result was harsh on Emma Sampson and Rene Farrell (3 for 26), who took the first five wickets for 28 runs as Australia started their defence in brilliant style.Australia’s innings had also begun in horrible fashion as they slipped to 5 for 39 in the 16th over. Jodie Fields put her head down for 52, which included six fours from 94 deliveries, and she gained the most help from Ellyse Perry (29).Abby Burrows took 2 for 15, including the important wicket of Karen Rolton for 2, in an impressive debut while Suzie Bates also captured a couple of victims. The next game of the series is at the same ground on Tuesday as both teams prepare for the World Cup in Australia in March.

Scorecard

Victoria lead both the Sheffield Shield and FR Cup competitions after half-centuries to David Hussey and Andrew McDonald set up a four-wicket victory over Western Australia. The hosts were in trouble at 4 for 52 in their reply to the Warriors’ 198, but Hussey and McDonald combined in a 128-run partnership to help seal the success in the 46th over.Western Australia struggled in their innings and were deflated in the first over by the loss of Luke Ronchi to Dirk Nannes’ third ball of the game and a horrible injury to David Bandy three deliveries later. Bandy retired hurt and went to hospital for treatment for a fractured eye socket and a broken nose after the Nannes short ball missed his helmet and grille.Nannes returned to pick up Shaun Marsh for 21 before Adam Voges, the stand-in captain, guided the Warriors with an important 78. However, when he left caught-and-bowled to McDonald the rest of his team-mates struggled to lift the pace. McDonald picked up 3 for 41 while Harwood finished the innings with back-to-back wickets, capturing 3 for 32.Victoria were 0 for 36 before Brett Dorey removed Chris Rogers (14) and followed up next ball by bowling Brad Hodge. Rob Quiney and Cameron White also departed quickly, and Dorey went on to take 5 for 48, but he could not stop Hussey (66) or McDonald (67).

Mike Hendrick has parted company with Derbyshire after four years as their bowling coach.The move is a result of an internal restructuring by John Morris, the head of cricket. “I would like to thank Mike for the hard work he has put in during his time with Derbyshire,” Morris said.Don Amott, derbyshire’s chairman, told the club’s website: “First as a player and later as a coach, Mike has given the club long and distinguished service. I wish him all the very best for the future.”

Surrey’s captain, Mark Butcher, has called on the county’s younger players to prove they can reach the top level of the domestic and international game.”We have had a pretty lean time here in terms of having exceptionally talented young guys coming through and that has to change,” he told the . “You can have all the talent and coaching in the world, but there comes a time when the players have to apply that and take it forward themselves.”Batting coach Graham Thorpe and myself know only too well what it takes to reach the highest level and at times some of our youngsters have not appreciated that.”During what was a thoroughly disappointing season, Surrey handed Matt Spriegel a two-year contract on the basis of a promising start to his first-class career, yet were forced to release Neil Saker. Saker, 24, joined in 2003 but managed just 18 first-class matches during an injury-hit stay. His best performance was 5 for 76 against Lancashire in 2007.”The likes of Arun Harinath and Laurie Evans have the potential to blossom, while Matt Spriegel has shown he has the technique and temperament to progress,” said Butcher. “They will be given their chance, but it is not just a case of giving players 10 games to establish themselves. Players have to know that they will only get that chance if they score runs or take wickets.”Butcher himself started the season impressively, averaging 57.88 in ten matches, but without him at the helm Surrey endured a disastrous campaign. They failed to win a Championship match all season, and Mark’s father, Alan, was sacked as coach after their relegation to Division Two.Butcher expected to be back in action come March, and hoped Surrey would also change around their fortunes. “It is an exciting tome for the club and the chance to build a proper future. We might be able to look back in six years time and say relegation was the best thing to happen to us,” he said. “We are good enough to get promoted. The worst case scenario for me would be if we fail to go up and don’t discover performers outside of the core we already have.”

West Indies coach John Dyson is unhappy with team preparations for the three-match ODI series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.”We have not prepared well at all for the upcoming tour,” he said. “We wanted a camp to be held but that was not possible and hence we go to Abu Dhabi and have two days there before we take on Pakistan in the first limited-overs match.”A few of the members of the national team were part of the Stanford Superstars squad and played in the recently concluded Stanford Super Series. Dyson was critical of the long preparatory camp for the Stanford matches, which was from September 18 till the start of tournament on October 25. He said it made it difficult for the West Indies side to train together ahead of the Pakistan clash.”I think that having a six-week camp ahead of the Twenty20 match was an overkill for the game that was required to play,” he said. “This is not the ideal preparation for such a tour and we are hoping that the players who were with the Stanford Superstars had a good work-out at the camp and those other players who were not in that camp, we hope that they were doing their work and will be ready for such a tour.”Dyson also said the staging of camps for the regional team had been a problem since his arrival in the West Indies. “We have been requesting certain camps from the West Indies Cricket Board and for some reason we have not been getting these camps at all.”Having a camp prior to a tournament is very essential in conditioning your players for the task ahead. I think that these four-day and one-week camps we have been staging are not enough for our players and we need to have at least a two-week camp prior to a Test and one-day series.”The WICB, however, has managed to arrange a three-week camp in New Zealand for the team as a build-up to to the series. The West Indies play two Tests, two Twenty20 internationals and five ODIs from December 11 to January 13.West Indies last played an one-dayer back in August, when they won the final of a tri-series involving Canada and Bermuda. The first ODI between West Indies and Pakistan will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on November 12.

Shaun Tait has said that he would be ready and willing for an international return if Australia made a late decision to call him into the Test squad in India, where their fast bowlers have struggled. Tait produced a brilliant ten overs of aggressive and very fast bowling, including several wicked reverse-swinging yorkers, in South Australia’s one-day win on WednesdayHe said his sometimes injury-prone body was feeling good after a month back in cricket following his decision to walk away from the game in January, when he cited mental and physical exhaustion. Although he only bowled in short spells, Tait’s 5 for 27 against New South Wales served as a timely reminder that Australia’s best fast men are not necessarily all in India, where the attack has battled to find the reverse swing that Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma have mastered.”If picked and conditions suited I could bowl reverse swing but I would have still have to bowl well,” Tait told the after Wednesday’s game. “Reverse swing can play a key role in my bowling. It’s up to selectors and I am concentrating on the next game for the Redbacks. Traditionally the Indians have been good exponents of reverse swing and I think we still have a bit to learn about it in Australia.”Tait’s success came as Australia’s vice-captain Michael Clarke voiced his concerns about the lack of reverse swing that Australia had managed in the first two Tests. India’s fast men have been holding their fingers across the seam early in their spells to help the ball scuff and it has been reversing within the first ten overs.That tactic has surprised Australia’s bowlers, who will work on the issue with the bowling coach Troy Cooley ahead of the third Test in Delhi. Jamie Cox, one of Australia’s selectors and the high performance manager at South Australia, said the lack of movement Australia’s bowlers had extracted was a worry.”It does seem to be an issue. I am sure Troy Cooley is working hard with the bowlers in developing that,” Cox said. “It caused us some grief in England in 2005 as a batting group. We need to take that on and as a bowling group work out how to benefit from it.”