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The four clubs chasing the Southern Electric Premier League, Division 3 bounty should all cash in with big wins tomorrow.Unbeaten leaders Alton chase a ninth successive win against South Wilts II at Lower Bemerton, while second placed Ventnor should be too strong for Hook & Newnham Basics, even though Andy Whyte is missing.Trojans, whose one-run defeat by Winchester KS last week was an untimely blow, will fancy their chances at Leckford and Rowledge ought to be too strong for Waterlooville.Flamingo will remain anchored to the basement unless they win at Southsea, but Hambledon will do well to get anything from their visit to New Milton, even though Lee Miller is injured.

The national league continued and the weekend was not a happy one for Bulawayo as far as the results show.Macdonald Club visited Harare and went down to the ever-improving Takashinga team (formerly Winstonians) by 63 runs. Chasing 235, Mac Club could muster only 172 as their poor season form continues. National team player Tatenda Taibu scored a fluent 82 off 84 balls and certainly stood out as the player of the day.Former champions Old Hararians recorded their second win of the season when they beat Bulawayo Sports Club by four wickets. Former Academy player Clement Mahachi showed his batting capabilities at last with a well compiled century, hopefully a glimpse of what is to come as the season progresses.In the other local derby, and many of Bulawayo’s former players will remember it as such, Queens, who have not won a game this season, lost to BAC. Batting first, Queens scored 232 all out with young Strydom 59 and Townshend 42 the main contributors, while BAC reached their target losing only six wickets, their main scorers – and both national hockey players -being veteran `Porgie’ Williams and young Mike Mckillop with 71 and 58 respectively. It is hoped that Mckillop will be available this season as he will not have the hockey commitments he had last year. This fine young sportsman, from whom many youngsters would benefit if they tried to emulate his attitude towards sport, would strengthen the provincial side for the Logan Cup.Over the weekend, the selectors will be naming the teams to play in a two-day game to get down to naming the squad for Logan Cup in February next year. One player who will be missing, as he was last season, will be Henry Olonga, who has opted to play for the Harare side Takashinga and will no longer be eligible to play for Matabeleland.The Matabeleland pace attack is likely therefore to be built aroundStreak, Nkala, Mbangwa, Townshend and Mahachi. Gavin Wren, a former Under-19 player, is showing an interest in cricket again and could well force his way into contention.

ScorecardChris Dent recorded the highest score by a Gloucesteshire player since World War II•PA Photos

Chris Dent’s superb career-best 268 put Gloucestershire in the ascendancy against old foes Glamorgan on the third day of their Championship match at Bristol.Gloucestershire’s formidable total of 558, founded upon a record-breaking stand of 166 between Dent and James Fuller, helped the home side establish a meaningful first-innings lead of 125. But a draw appears the most likely outcome after Glamorgan openers Jacques Rudolph and James Kettleborough overcame fatigue to negotiate 27 overs and reach the close on 88 without loss.Rudolph’s chanceless innings of 56 not out has occupied 87 balls and the captain will seek to steer his side, who trail by 37, to safety on the final day.On a day when the records tumbled, Dent posted the highest individual score by any Gloucestershire batsman in matches against Glamorgan since World War II, eclipsing the 254 made by Andrew Symonds at Abergavenny in 1995.His run-laden alliance with Fuller, who registered a career-best 73 from 99 balls, represented a club record stand for the eighth wicket in matches against Glamorgan, surpassing the 128 mustered by Mark Hardinges and Ashley Noffke at Bristol in 2007.And Dent comfortably bettered his previous highest first-class score of 203 not out, made against Cardiff MCCU in 2014, in the process becoming the only Gloucestershire player to pass 1000 first-class runs this season.Dropped by Colin Ingram in the slips before he had scored, Fuller made good his escape to eclipse his previous highest score of 57, made against Leicestershire at Cheltenham in 2012.With the exception of a couple of early setbacks, Benny Howell shouldering arms and losing his off stump to Michael Hogan without adding to his overnight score of 40 and Kieran Noema-Barnett chipping Craig Meschede straight to point for 5, it was pretty much plain sailing for the home side.Dent and Jack Taylor, who raised 35 from 33 balls and struck seven fours before top-edging a catch behind off Dewi Penrhyn-Jones, redressed the balance in an entertaining stand of 53 for the sixth wicket.With Gloucestershire opting to apply scoreboard pressure rather than pursue a contrived finish, Dent was presented with a chance to post a maiden Championship double hundred. In no mood to pass up such an opportunity, the Bristolian clipped Penrhyn-Jones to backward point and scampered a quick single to reach the mark in the 98th over. When he guided Graham Wagg to the fine leg boundary in the next over, the left-hander entered hitherto uncharted territory and County Ground regulars rose to acknowledge his achievement.Fuller must have had one eye on a maiden hundred when he advanced down the track to Andrew Salter and attempted to clear the long-on boundary, only to find Penrhyn-Jones, who took a fine catch just inside the rope.David Payne was bowled by Salter shortly after tea and Dent, having batted for eight hours, faced 347 balls and accrued 34 fours and 2 sixes, was last man out, superbly held by Wagg on the deep midwicket boundary off the bowling of Meschede. It proved tough going for Glamorgan’s seamers and Australian Hogan was the only bowler to emerge with credit, returning figures of 3-83.

The MCC president, Ted Dexter, has gone on record as saying that Nasser Hussain, the England captain, might have kept to the letter of the law when he told left-arm spinner Ashley Giles to bowl over the wicket into the leg-side rough against Sachin Tendulkar in the Test series against India, but he was outside the spirit of the law.Now, Dexter believes that there needs to be a revision of the laws by MCC, and he is supported in that by the game’s governing body, the International Cricket Council. The ICC has been in touch suggesting that MCC might look at ways of closing this particular loophole that allows negative tactics to be employed.The tactics employed by Hussain attracted widespread condemnation, especially in India where Sunil Gavaskar, one of the country’s greatest batsmen and now both a media personality and chairman of the ICC cricket committee, tagged England as “boring.”Dexter, who was himself an innovative captain of England, said that leg-side bowling represented “a matter of pushing the laws to their limit to gain advantage.”He continued: “The umpires could have been stricter on the leg-side wide, and what we detected was an anomaly in the ICC playing conditions – just one sentence – which allowed the umpires not to intervene.”Since then we’ve been in touch with ICC – I’ve been in touch personally withSunil Gavaskar – and we’ve corresponded.”We’re thrilled that the ICC has asked the MCC for our proposals as to how todeal with it properly in the laws and the playing conditions, and we’ll seewhere we go from here.”Some critics suggested that the tactic had actually cost England the chance of squaring the series in the final Test in Bangalore. Tendulkar faced 198 balls for 90 before Giles had him stumped, but time was on India’s side even before rain came to wash out any chance of a positive result.Nevertheless, Hussain’s plan was designed specifically to counter Tendulkar in the prevailing conditions and, if the fault lay with the ICC playing conditions as Dexter maintains, it seems strange that the laws of cricket should be amended rather than the faulty playing conditions.

Clive Lloyd, the former West Indies captain, believes politics could rule out the possibility of having a managing director for the West Indies team.”Politics-wise, that might be a little difficult,” Lloyd told Stabroek News when asked whether West Indies might follow England’s lead of appointing Hugh Morris as the managing director.However, he did not completely rule out that possibility. “Probably they [West Indies board] might come to that if they could find somebody that could carry those duties,” Lloyd said.Lloyd believed the route to Test success lies in developing a better domestic cricket structure. “If our inter-island cricket is strong, our Test cricket will be strong. We have the academies coming on stream, we have the colleges fielding a team to play in our domestic cricket and the Under-19s are now playing in the one-day competition.”At the moment we have a very vibrant cricket committee, there are Deryck Murray, Andy Roberts, Ian Bishop, Courtney Walsh, Desmond Haynes. They are very experienced individuals of high repute. We are doing our best to do the right thing. It is important getting the players to understand their purpose,” he said pointing out that the committee can only make recommendations to the Board as the Board has the final say.”Lloyd also supported the presence of the non-cricketers in the board of directors that currently comprises 18 administrators. “I would not say they [administrators] don’t have any interest in the game. It can’t be all cricketers; business people have a place on the board as well to play. What we need to do is get the right blend and I think at the moment we have the right blend. The common goal is to bring West Indies further up the ladder.”Speaking about his decision to quit the Standford Legends board, which organised the successful Standford Twenty20 competition last year, he said it was done to avoid any possible conflict of interest with his position as a WICB board member.”I am quite happy with what I am trying to do and the most important thing is to get West Indies cricket back on track. I will do that as long as I have breath in my body.”

Though the results of the B sample have yet to be confirmed, Shoaib Akhtarand Mohammad Asif testing positive for Nandrolone is just another peek atthe dirty subterranean world of professional sport. With cricket onlyrecently getting tough on drugs, you can rest assured that they won’t bethe last big names to be hauled up.What, though, is Nandrolone, and why have so many elite athletes testedpositive for it in recent years? According to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) system of nomenclature, the anabolic steroid has the name17b-hydroxy-19-nor-4-andro-sten-3-one, and can occur naturally in thebody, albeit in minute quantities. Structurally, it’s very similar toTestosterone, the male hormone that was recently the buzz word in sportsbulletins after Floyd Landis, the Tour de France winner, tested positivefor excessive levels.Like Testosterone and Creatine, the amino acid that Juventus’s footballteam were alleged to use regularly in the 1990s, Nandrolone too increasesmuscle mass. It can also produce the same side-effects, like overly aggressive behaviour, as testosterone. Clinical experiments have been conducted in the past to see itsefficacy in the treatment of HIV-affected men and also for other diseasesthat cause muscle wastage.The tests for Nandrolone, which involve urine samples, are consideredpositive if the level exceeds 2 nano grams per ml, the limit set by theInternational Olympic Committee which is considered the maximum possiblein natural cases. Most positive tests have involved athletes with levelshundreds of times above normal.Those caught in the past have included Linford Christie, Olympic 100mchampion in 1996, and Petr Korda, the Czech tennis player. Football,though, has had to endure the most scandal, with Jaap Stam, Edgar Davids,Frank de Boer (The Netherlands), Fernando Couto (Portugal) and JosepGuardiola (Spain) all having served bans for nandrolone use.The testing procedures have not been without controversy though. Athleteswho have been caught have often cited the use of Creatine and theconsumption of protein shakes as the reason for positive tests. AnAberdeen University study suggests that they may have a point. Accordingto that, consumption of dietary supplements in conjunction with heavyphysical training can result in the athlete returning a positive test forNandrolone. As with many drugs, including THG that was involved in theinfamous BALCO case, our knowledge is far from comprehensive. And as longas that remains the case, the protestations of innocence from those caughtmay just have a ring of truth to them.

Sourav Ganguly has revealed he was asked to step down as captain before this current Test against Zimbabwe, on a day in which he scored his first hundred for nearly two years. Ganguly, who made 101 – his 12th Test century – also reached a personal landmark of 5,000 Test runs when he passed 50. It was a timely century for him, after he went into the series with many in India demanding he be replaced by Rahul Dravid as captain.”I can tell you that before this match I was asked to step down as captain,” Ganguly told reporters. “So it was an extra determination that I found.” He wouldn’t, however, commit to revealing who called for him to step down.”I have been disappointed over the last six months so the century today was a great relief,” he added. “I accept that I have not batted well over that period. But this century has made my entire outlook change now. I am now hoping that it will make all the difference for me. It was not a great innings, but I was well satisfied with it under the circumstances.”India began the day leading Zimbabwe’s by 46 runs, with plenty of wickets in hand. And by the lunch break they reached 396 for 6. VVS Laxman resumed on 125 and Ganguly on 23. But things did not go to plan. Laxman was run out for 140 in a mixup with his captain, Yuvraj Singh managed to score only 12 and Dinesh Karthik only one.”Yes, [Zimbabwe are] not the best side of the world, but it has meant a lot to me,” he said. “I was happy for myself, as I had a bad time with the bat in both forms of the game. Lost [out] on a few centuries in the series against Pakistan.”Playing consistently at this level is important. I am happy that I fought it out,” he added.When asked about his detractors crying for his head, he said: “it has been fair. I struggled against Pakistan and the last year has been a disappointing one for me. It is not for me to prove anything, because the criticism has been fair. I have got the ability to play for the team.”Yesterday, Laxman hit out at critics while also mentioning the negative vibes in the team. Responding to this, Ganguly said: “I have always believed in his ability and I told him yesterday that he doesn’t have to prove himself to anyone. As far as I am concerned, I have always been a big supporter of Laxman and will always be.”But then there are people other than me who are deciding about Indian cricket. As far as I am concerned, Laxman is one of the best players India has produced.”

Just a couple of days after hogging the headlines at the ICC awards, Rahul Dravid insisted that he was ready to continue with his dual role – key batsman and wicketkeeper – in the Indian one-day side. “I’m extremely delighted at these awards but it hasn’t really sunk in, to be honest,” he said. “As for my cricket, there is a lot more I can still do.”A report in the quoted Dravid as saying that he would be willing to do whatever the team required, brushing aside speculation that he was unhappy with donning the wicketkeeping gloves. “It is not for others to presume that I like it or don’t like it,” he said. “Sure, it puts extra physical effort but I have been able to cope with it because of my improved fitness. To be honest, it is not so difficult to do it in these conditions compared to say Sri Lanka where the conditions can be hot and oppressive.”But according to a report in Kolkata’s , Dinesh Karthik was back in the wicketkeeping frame despite earlier hints from Sourav Ganguly that his appearance at Lord’s against England had been a one-off. Karthik missed the first 45 minutes of India’s training session on Thursday after getting the departure time wrong, but it’s unlikely to cost him in the run-up to India’s first match against Kenya.

In glorious summer sunshine, Hampshire Hawks lost their first ECB National League Division II clash for 5 games when they were defeated in the last over by Nottinghamshire Outlaws. Failure to post a decent score after being asked to bat first was the crux of the situation on a slow wicket at The Rose Bowl.Robin Smith missed the match after pulling a hamstring the previous Sunday, but the Hawks welcomed back Chris Tremlett after a month off injured, with Ed Giddins being left out of the side.Hampshire struggled early on, using the same strip that three days earlier had been used for the NWS One-Day International, their first run off the bat came in the fourth over. Kenway and Katich toiled against the acurate seam of Smith and Logan, before the former edged to wicket-keeper Read.Hamblin sent in as pinch-hitter managed just 4 in 14 balls. Skipper Crawley joined the Australian in a 61 run partnership, but both fell in quick succession. John Francis was joined by Nic Pothas as they upped the tempo,Francis hitting a hugh six off New Zealander Daniel Vettori, before the bowler gained his revenge next ball by bowling him. Pothas batted throughout the remainder of the innings for a run a ball 45, but the total of 208 seemed woefully short.A 51 opening stand set the tone for the outlaws, and despite a mid innings mini collapse, they seemed to be always in charge, and a flurry at the end by Chris Cairns and Chris Read saw the visitors home with two balls to spare.Chris Tremlett proved how much Hampshire had missed him recently, bowling economically in his 9 overs spell. Prittipaul and Udal took two wickets apiece.

Indian selectors on Tuesday named the 16-man squad for the three-match Test series against South Africa. Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, who were both found to be fit in the morning, were included. So also were Baroda opener Connor Williams and wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe.Deep Dasgupta, the young wicket-keeper whose performance in the one-dayers had reportedly not pleased the team-management , has also been surprisingly retained. Virender Sehwag was the other player making it to an Indian Test squad for the first time.The squad:Saurav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Shiv Sunder Das, Connor Williams, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Sameer Dighe and Deep Dasgupta (wicket-keepers), Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar, Venkatesh Prasad, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Javagal Srinath