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South Africa 417 and 199 for 3 (Amla 64*, Kallis 60*)beat Pakistan 313 and 302 (Farhat 68, Nazir 40) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out – Pakistan
How they were out – South Africa

Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis staved off any threat from Pakistan to ease South Africa to victory in the first Test. Proceedings today weren’t about entertainment for the hosts – ironically Pakistan ‘s exciting and explosive batting of yesterday had put paid to that – they were just about getting the job done. In the end, a convincing victory came easily, by seven wickets, thanks to the pair’s unbroken stand of 119.Kallis’s efforts in particular would have made the most clinical of surgeons proud. He delivered a series of calm, precise dissections of the field, his soft hands delicately cutting into Pakistan’s morale.His were just small, neat cuts but they were enough to do the damage. He was in control from the moment he arrived at the crease, early in the opening session, following Harris’s uppish drive off Mohammad Asif to covers where Faisal Iqbal snapped up a tidy low catch.Amla didn’t exactly do a hatchet job, either, although Kaneria stitched him up twice in the first over and later he prodded the odd nick in front of gully. He also stabbed a leading edge which popped back just short of Kaneria. But he continued to play watchfully, grew in stature, and picked off the singles as South Africa solidified their position.The visitors looked to Kaneria’s wrist to provide the threat on a wearing pitch, but although he found turn and landed the ball in the right areas, Amla and Kallis played him well. Asif tired towards the end of his morning spell, allowing a host of no-balls to creep in. His lacklustre efforts were matched by Pakistan’s fielding, allowing precious singles to slip through their fingers.The nightwatchman Harris was the only faller in a rain-truncated morning session and his departure merely opened the way for a calm Kallis to join Amla in chipping away at the target. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan was brought into the attack after lunch, and though he found a touch of reverse, he couldn’t find the edge and the South African pair continued serenely on their way.They each reached their half-centuries with ease and, by the middle of the afternoon, victory was sewn up, eventually with just as much ease.

Muttiah Muralitharan has plans to work alongside Anil Kumble to coach subcontinent players in spin bowling after his retirement. “He [Anil] is one of the greatest bowlers I have seen and he knows a lot”, Murali told , a Mumbai daily.”We will see which country needs help. We are looking at subcontinent countries and academies.” Murali said they wanted to spend one to two weeks working with each academy. “I think bowling coaching is not about technique but how to access the conditions and bowl in those conditions. When both of us call it a day we will look at coaching together. Hopefully, it will help future generations.”Murali said he hoped to play for at least three more years so that he could complete 20 years in international cricket. “I am enjoying Twenty20 now so much so I might play a few years. I have signed for three years so I have to play for these three years. Then I have to see if I can play for one year or more. It depends on how I bowl.” In the IPL so far, he has taken three wickets in three matches for the Chennai Super Kings, who are at the top of the points table having won all their games.Murali said Twenty20 was as much a game for bowlers as it was for batsmen. The key, for bowlers, he said, was to read what the batsman is going to play very early. “Mainly people like to see sixes and fours and if there are wickets where batsmen can’t score then people will get bored. But bowlers also have to give themselves chances.”

The West Indies national team have called for the resignation of Bruce Aanensen, the WICB’s chief executive who has been in office for less than three months, highlighting what seems an almost irreparable divide between players and officials.In a strongly-worded letter, originally posted on caribbeancricket.com, to Dinanath Ramnarine, the chief executive of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), the players wrote that they were highly offended that Aanensen publicly labelled them as incompetent.”We are now left with the rather difficult situation of determining whether as players we would be able to continue working with Mr. Aanensen,” the letter concluded. “Unfortunately, given the unfair and frankly thoughtless nature of his comments we would not be keen in having any further interaction at a professional level with Mr. Aanensen. From Mr. Aanensen’s comments, for which, significantly, he has made no withdrawals or apologies, we would find it virtually impossible to engage him in any meaningful manner.”Gordon, who leaves office in 12 days, responded to Ramnarine, who forwarded the players’ letter along with a few asides of his own, by saying that he was not satisfied by the letters as there was no justification in the charges made.But he rounded on Ramnarine, accusing him of being “frequently abusive to Deryck Murray [WICB director] and his team at negotiations.” Gordon wrote: “You have stated at meetings with one of our board members and two executives of WICB present that I am a liar. You have since denied saying so, while everyone present heard your comment …”Reacting to the attack by the players, Aanensen said that he was anything but happy about it though he added that his response would be measured and forthcoming at the appropriate time. About the charge of calling the players “incompetent” following the second Test, Aanensen told the : “I had discussions with some of the players long after that interview [in the second Test] was done and I got no sense of animosity from them.” He accused Ramnarine of wanting to unleash an assault on him. “[He] thought that [the players’ letter] was a good support mechanism for his assault.”

Gary Kirsten believes the “spirit of cricket was breached” during the controversial Sydney Test, and feels both the captains need to sit together and resolve the issue.”I’m not sitting on the fence. The game doesn’t need two nations saying ‘I was right’,” Kirsten, who joined the Indian team as a consultant in Perth, told Cricinfo.Refusing to take sides, Kirsten, set to become India’s head coach from March 1, said there couldn’t be smoke without fire from either side. “One needs to be a careful. I have got to look at this thing objectively. I have got to be very careful in what I say. To me what’s going on is sad.”I’m looking at it objectively because I wasn’t in the heat of the battle. Maybe I’d have a different perspective if I was in the heat of battle saying India were unfairly treated, and there were comments made, but the way it’s going is not good for the game at the moment.”Kirsten felt it was up to the players to find the best way to resolve the issue. “I read that Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble are meeting up and that is very good. They need to sit down with the players and tell them, ‘Listen, we are the custodians of the game at the moment and we’ve got to make sure we uphold this game and the passion with it should be played’.”He wanted both teams to take a fresh approach to the way they go about playing in the remainder of the series. “No individual is greater than the game. These are two great cricket nations and as players, they need to stand up and say, ‘This is the way we are going to go about our business now’. I don’t think for one minute that takes away the aggressiveness and competitiveness with which you should play the game. I think there has been an overstepping of the mark and once players breach that anything can happen.”

There are three candidates seeking to become the new USACA president in elections set to take place on March 29.A list of all candidates for the various executive posts, including secretary, treasurer, and vice presidents, was announced by USACA after the vetting processes required under the new constitution were completed.As expected, Gladstone Dainty will be seeking re-election as president, and he faces a strong challenge from Ram Varadarajan. A third candidate, Kamran Khan, a former USACA president and captain of the US side, is also standing.The main battles for the other posts are between existing USACA officials and those who have lined up on Varadarajan’s ticket.Click here for a full list of candidates

A stroke-filled 69 by opener J Arun Kumar and some timely rearguardaction by the seventh wicket pair of B Akhil and D Ganesh helpedKarnataka to score 231 for seven off 92 overs at stumps on the firstday of their South Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Kerala atthe Nehru stadium in Kochi on Wednesday.Winning the toss, Karnataka lost Mithun Beerala (8) and BarringtonRowland (5) with only 49 runs on the board. Arun Kumar and VijayBharadwaj (18) initiated a recovery by adding 54 runs for the thirdwicket off 18.5 overs. Arun Kumar, who had dominated the scoring sofar, left at this stage. He faced 129 balls and hit nine fours and asix.Arun Kumar’s departure triggered off a mini collapse. Bharadwaj whostruggled for 89 balls to get 18 with only one boundary hit, wasfourth out. He was followed by AR Mahesh (6) and wicketkeeper VSTNaidu (23) and Karnataka were suddenly struggling at 144 for six.Akhil and Ganesh however performed the rescue act with a seventhwicket partnership of 74 runs off 23 overs. The stand ended whenGanesh was run out for 41. He faced 74 balls and hit five fours and asix. Akhil remained unbeaten with 45 at close, having faced 94 ballsand hitting four of them to the ropes. Keeping him company was skipperVenkatesh Prasad (2).

Seam bowler Andrew McGarry has joined Essex until the end of the season as the county search for injury cover. It is his second stint at Chelmsford after he played 15 matches between 1999 and 2003.McGarry was called into the Essex squad as a non-contracted player for the Championship against Glamorgan at the end of April. He went wicketless but did enough to encourage the club to sign him up.”Once you play somewhere you don’t expect to get a second chance, so to get another go is really good,” he told the Essex website. “I’ve matured and have a bit more experience. Obviously I haven’t played much on the first-class scene for three years but I’ve played a lot of minor counties cricket [for Suffolk] and have learnt a bit more about myself so will hopefully come back a better bowler.”David East, the chief executive, said: “Andrew has bowled well for us in our early season matches and demonstrated that he has matured as a cricketer. We have a number of injuries to our seam bowlers at present and Andrew’s addition to the squad will give us further options over the next few months.”McGarry went straight into the Essex squad for their three-day match against Cambridge University.

Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, fears for the future of international cricket if administrators don’t carve out a six-week window for the Indian Premier League. The tournament opens in Bangalore on Friday and while the cricket world is waiting to see how big it will be, Ponting is concerned about how it could influence players.”If they don’t [have an international window], I fear for the long-term impact that it will have on the game,” Ponting wrote in the Australian. “Much has been said about the veterans coming to the end of their careers, but what about those players just starting out?”I think it’s vital that we have a six-week period carved out of every international team’s program because the money being thrown around becomes very appealing to young kids coming into the game.”Ponting expressed concern that players might choose the lucrative Twenty20 league over national duties. “Seeing the big dollars there and having the chance to take that and turn your back on international cricket is the biggest danger that will be posed out of this event,” Ponting said. “For those young guys starting out who haven’t had a taste of international cricket, they might not want to put themselves through the rigours of travelling the world for the next 15 years.”And the guys at the end of their careers have family at home and it’s getting harder and harder for them to go away on tours every year. For them, they could make the equivalent amount of money in only seven weeks.”Ponting highlighted the exodus faced by countries such as New Zealand, with key players like Shane Bond having joined the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League. “I know it has lost a couple of its bigger and better players because of the difference in pay playing for New Zealand,” Ponting said. “The Kiwis’ IPL contracts are probably four times the value of their international contract.”That’s where the dangers are. You would hate to see a situation where New Zealand is no longer playing international cricket because it has no players.”John Buchanan, the former Australia coach who is with the Kolkata Knight Riders, expressed similar concerns in the . He said cricket needed to sort out its finances and the likes of Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire hoping to revive West Indies cricket, should be welcomed.”With the exception of Australia, England and India, every country in world cricket is struggling to pay their players sufficiently,” he said. “For example, we have Brendon McCullum with us, and there’s no way New Zealand Cricket could be paying him in a day what the IPL is.”But there shouldn’t be any debate in terms of him playing for his country. That is of utmost importance. But administrators should allow the IPL to subsidise his income with New Zealand Cricket.”

Canada 203 beat Kenya A 193 by ten runsCanada got their tour of Africa off to a winning start with a 10-run victory over Kenya A at Ruaraka Sports Club.Canada were stuck in by the Kenyans and struggled throughout their innings, with none of their batsmen able to go on and make a decent score as they ended on 203. Moses Otieno and Dominic Wesonga shared three wickets while Ashif Mulla top scored with 36.Kenya started solidly to reach 67 for 1 but lost regular wickets and fell short.With Canada set to meet the full Kenyan side in the Intercontinental Cup later this week, Steve Tikolo, the captain, said his side were ready. “The team is alright and we have been in intensive training for three weeks where we have worked on rectifying our mistakes,” he told The Standard. “We believe we will put a good performance to lay a platform to reach the Intercontinental Cup final next year as well as prepare for the next World Cup.”

Gareth Hopkins has transferred to Auckland for the 2007-08 season to avoid a clash with Brendon McCullum, who has returned to Otago. The two are New Zealand’s contracted wicketkeepers and the move should allow each of them to play first-class cricket while not on national duties.Hopkins joined Otago four seasons ago but spent the last two years commuting from Auckland, where his wife lives and works. With McCullum’s move back to Otago the time seemed right for Hopkins to switch teams. “I have enjoyed playing for Otago very much and it was a hard decision to make,” Hopkins said. “I appreciate the opportunities that have come playing for Otago Cricket, and the support they have given me.”Hopkins had a prolific season for Otago last summer, scoring three centuries and averaging 85.66. However, Auckland now have the challenge of deciding how to use Hopkins and their current wicketkeeper Reece Young, who has played 68 first-class matches.”Auckland Cricket is delighted to welcome a player of Gareth’s obvious class and quality,” Auckland’s CEO Andrew Eade said. “His batting will clearly strengthen our top order and our selectors will have an interesting choice to make regarding the wicketkeeping berth, as the incumbent Reece Young is also very accomplished behind the stumps and has served Auckland well for many years.”Ross Dykes, the CEO of Otago Cricket, said it was disappointing to lose Hopkins but he understood the decision. “We appreciate that in each of the last two years it has been difficult for Gareth to make the migration to Dunedin due to personal circumstances and we wish him every success in his future cricketing endeavours,” Dykes said. Hopkins, who is currently playing club cricket in Netherlands, will join the New Zealand A squad in Australia early next week.