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Cricket Australia (CA) will review its codes and policies for anti-doping breaches after a decision by an independent arbitrator according to James Sutherland, chief executive of CA. The arbitrator found that CA’s current policy did not specifically allow players suspended for anti-doping breaches to be banned from all cricket.The arbitrator also ruled that Shane Warne should be allowed to play incharity and testimonial matches during his 12-month drug ban. CA and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) had disagreed over a provision of the agreement between the two parties which allowed the former to prevent suspended players from playing in charity or testimonial matches.Both the CA and ACA sought a ruling, and in the opinion of independent arbiter and barrister Peter O’Callaghan the provision did not give CA the right to suspend players from all cricket.Sutherland said CA believed it was inconsistent and detrimental to the spirit of the game for suspended players to not be suspended from all cricket. “We had believed we had this right under our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the ACA but accept the umpire’s ruling that this is not the case. We now need to review our codes to determine whether it is appropriate to make changes to reflect what we believe the spirit of cricket demands.”The review is likely to take place over the next few months.

New Zealand’s failure to maintain the first day-last session strike power in the first Test at the Gabba was the feature of newspaper coverage of the rain-affected second day’s play.The New Zealand Herald: “Not even Craig McMillan, who masqueraded as the Caped Crusader on the opening day, was able to conjure up anything to stem the run flow as the Australian lower-order not only repaired the innings, but went on to leave their side in a virtually unassailable position.”[Adam] Gilchrist was a mercurial force, feeding heavily off the smorgasbord of short deliveries sent his way and taking toll of anything full, his 88 coming off 123 balls, including 13 fours and one gorgeous straight drive for six.”Following his Cinderella appearance at the bowling crease on the opening day, McMillan was back in ugly sister mode yesterday, giving up six boundaries off the blade of Gilchrist as Australia ticked the scoring over at a healthy 3.5 an over.Sydney Morning Herald: “Six times in his 22 Tests before this one, Gilchrist had dug Australia out of holes of varying depth to help them to success.”Probably the best effort came in only his second Test, when, with Australia chasing a daunting 368 against Pakistan, he came to the wicket at 5-126 and unleashed a superb 149 not out, teaming with Justin Langer in their 238-run partnership to ensure a four-wicket triumph.”He has the best average among the Australian top seven, his 54.69 shading Steve Waugh’s 51.60. If he was to be dismissed here today without adding a run, his average when batting at fifth drop would be 64.22, making him statistically the most successful batsman in that position in the game so far.”Gilchrist noted he had a better record when his side was in trouble, saying such situations helped him focus.”The Daily Telegraph: “Gilchrist and [Brett] Lee batted like they were in a hurry, hitting four consecutive boundaries and later two sixes into the northern stand.”Both sixes were caught by spectators and New Zealand might consider moving its fielders into the plastic seats tomorrow if their bowlers continue to bowl without brains.”The Kiwis were not helped by a grim outlook for left-arm quick Shayne O’Connor, who may not bowl again in this Test after suffering the potential recurrence of a knee injury.”The Herald Sun: “After 12 successive Test wins on home soil and two years without a draw, Australia might have last found an opponent it cannot beat: the weather. Rain is forecast for the weekend.”Australia has racked up a record 23-match run (20 wins, three losses) of results since its last draw, against Sri Lanka in Colombo in September, 1999…””…For all the gloom which descended over the Gabba, the day was not without its bright spots.”Gilchrist can burn off anyone at his best, but he was outscored 22 runs to 17 by [Shane] Warne and though he was 17 when Lee came to the crease, the youngster had closed to within a run when Gilchrist was 24.”Then he opened up with a starburst of pull shots off Dion Nash and Lee chimed in by lifting Chris Cairns for four, enticing a payback sledge from the bowler.”Lee strode out yesterday with a Test batting average of 21.75 and batted as if it was twice as high. At its best, his batting is a worthy combination of guts, technical assurance and a touch of flair.”He also has the big shots and clubbed the stroke of the day when he slashed Cairns over backward point for six, a sweet payback for several massive Cairns sixes in New Zealand last year.”The Australian: “The Kiwis were constantly frustrated on the field as well, continually complaining to the umpires about a wet ball as Gilchrist (13 fours, one six) and Lee (nine fours, one six) plastered it all over the damp outfield.”This prompted Gilchrist to join one of the conversations, claiming that he did not care how often the ball was changed in an attempt to keep the game moving.”He was surprised that New Zealand did not “come at” the Australians harder yesterday after ripping the heart out of the middle order on Thursday to rebalance the match.”They slowed down the over rate and set negative fields,” Gilchrist said.”The Australian vice-captain also believes that while the Kiwis have done their homework on the specialist batsmen, they were uncertain how to bowl to a free-swinging Lee, who played the shot of the day, a six sliced over third man from a Chris Cairns short ball.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsChris Gayle and Aaron Finch put on 84 in six overs•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Over the last week, Hobart has hosted the Taste of Tasmania event on the shores of its harbour. The festival showed off the best of the island’s fine food and drink, in a picturesque location, with the weather wonderful. It was evidence that Tasmania has much going for it.Tasmania, however, for all those abundant virtues, does not smack as Chris Gayle’s sort of place. Gayle is not renowned for his love of craggy coastline, picturesque woodland, or varied flora and fauna. In Hobart, there may be dancing girls, but they don’t immediately meet the eye, and it’s not a famous hub for collectors of bling. In this light, it was unsurprising that Gayle batted like a man in a hurry to get back to the mainland.After a slow start, welcome to the Big Bash League, Chris. Gayle faced only 15 deliveries. Three of the first five went for four, and the next two went for six. Another six, another four and a few drag-footed singles later and he was gone, his dismissal coming entirely in the spirit of Gayleism; a legside hoick shorn of its power as he slipped, tumbling as if a lumberjack had been hacking away at his trunk. Sensing a moment, Channel Ten bravely sent their reporter Mel McLaughlin to get some sharp, on the spot analysis from the West Indian, but, ever the opportunist, Gayle continued to play shots. “Hopefully we can win this game and we can have a drink after. Don’t blush baby,” he said. McLaughlin gave Gayle suitably short shrift, and minutes later, the network – after briefly exploiting the situation on Twitter – were issuing an apology.Gayle’s batting had been far more endearing. After a series of trademark, brutal biffs to legs and a superb straight driven six off Shaun Tait, he fell to the last ball of the Powerplay but by then, the game’s result was beyond doubt. Eventually, the Melbourne Renegades – having looked on for an even more comprehensive thrashing – only won by five wickets. Aaron Finch, playing his last game before joining up with Australia’s ODI squad, almost saw them home, before, like Gayle, falling to Cameron Boyce, who impressed once more, caught at deep midwicket.Finch had played a series of outstanding cover drives and flicks to leg in his 60, but it was his first act of the night that proved most decisive. Heading into this game, these two teams were travelling in different directions. The Renegades had lost their last three games, all batting first (having lost the toss); the Hurricanes had won their last three (having twice won the toss), all bowling first.It’s amazing what happens when the coin falls your way. Unsurprisingly when the coin landed in his favour for the first time this season, Finch chose to field first. This played to the Renegades’ strengths, leaving their powerful batting line-up to chase whatever their seemingly weaker bowling attack served them; in their last two games, they’d managed just three wickets in a pair of thumping defeats.The batsmen weren’t left with a great deal to haul down as, on a tacky pitch and after Finch sprung a surprise by opening the bowling with two spinners, they had three wickets – key wickets – by the end of the Powerplay and their season was back on track. Tim Paine played all round a Xavier Doherty turner, before the Hurricanes’ key men Kumar Sangakkara and George Bailey fell to peculiar shots as the pressure told. Sangakkara uppercut the excellent Chris Tremain straight to third man, and Bailey slapped Cameron Gannon straight to mid-off. The Renegades had found 14 consecutive dot balls, and two straight wicket maidens. The result was the lowest-scoring Powerplay of the tournament, as the the Hurricanes finished 20 for 3.Dan Christian led a Hurricanes fightback, of sorts. The allrounder carefully played himself in, with seven of his first nine deliveries dots, before pummelling Nathan Rimmington over the short cover boundary for six and continuing to accelerate. Cameron Gannon’s 14th over was taken for two more sixes, before one stroke too many saw Christian sky Xavier Doherty to long-on. Shortly before, Ben Dunk, who was far less fluent but held the innings together and played a pair of good off-side scythes, had been caught at deep midwicket.Some resourceful hitting from Jonathan Wells hauled the Hurricanes to 140, but it never looked enough. With Gayle in a hurry to get out of town, the drubbing – a major blow to the Hurricanes’ finals aspirations – was never in doubt.

Zimbabwe have suffered a blow with the news that Hamilton Masakadza has been ruled out of action for at least six weeks after injuring his finger in training.Masakadza tore his finger ligament in a fielding session last week. The injury rules him out of the whole tour by Sri Lanka A to Zimbabwe. There is a 50-50 chance of him making it on time for West Indies’ ODI tour. It has now been confirmed that Sri Lanka A will play two four-day matches and two one day matches against the full Zimbabwe side.Meanwhile, the recuperating Sean Williams is almost set to make a return against the Sri Lankan fringes. Williams is now training fully with the rest of the Zimbabwe side, giving a boost to coach Robin Brown, who asked his players to play positive cricket when he took over from former Zimbabwe team-mate Kevin Curran.

Darren Lehmann will lead a strong South Australian side containing two veterans of the 2005 Ashes, Jason Gillespie and Shaun Tait, when they take on England in the final warm-up fixture before the first Test at Brisbane.For Gillespie in particular, the fixture will be a chance to atone for his disappointing performances in England last year, in which he picked up just three wickets in three Tests, at an average of exactly 100.But it is Tait who has the most to gain from the match, having starred in Friday’s 166-run rout of the tourists at Canberra. Another good showing and he will be in with a shout of a place in the Ashes starting line-up on November 23.In a surprise move, South Australia’s vice-captain, Graham Manou, has been omitted from the 12-man squad, with Shane Deitz taking over the gloves. “[Shane] is more than capable of taking the gloves and batting in the No. 7 position,” said Paul Nobes, the chairman of selectors. “He has earned this opportunity.””Graham continues to show he has talent with the gloves, but we need a stronger return from that position in the batting order. We need our keeper to not only keep well, but also to bat well.”Matthew Elliott will be vice captain in Graham’s absence. The tour match starts at 10.30am each day. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children and pensioners and $17 for a family ticket.South Australia (from) Darren Lehmann (capt), Matthew Elliott, Cullen Bailey, Cameron Borgas, Mark Cosgrove, Daniel Cullen, Shane Deitz (wk), Callum Ferguson, Jason Gillespie, Daniel Harris, Paul Rofe, Shaun Tait.

Alarmed at Harbhajan Singh airing his opinion of the spat between Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappell earlier today, the BCCI has asked all contracted Indian players to keep quiet on the issue.The board cautioned them that any behaviour to the contrary would amount to a breach of contract. As well as contracted players, the release was sent to those who were on the recent tour to Zimbabwe and the Indian team’s support staff.A media release issued by BCCI secretary S Nair from Thirvananthapuram said the board has “appealed to all cricketers under its contract, as well as those who were selected for the tour of Zimbabwe and the support staff of the team, to exercise restraint.”In the gagging order, Nair said: “Your kind attention is invited to the relevant provision of the letter of selection that was issued to you prior to the tour to Zimbabwe in August 2005, or the contract entered between you and the board.”You are aware that the board has constituted a committee to review the performance of the Indian team and the role of all concerned. The committee is scheduled to meet on September 27, 2005 at Mumbai.”In view of this, you are adviced to apply restraint and not make any comments to the media that affects the interest of Indian cricket.”

On Andrew Hall as his opening partner
We thought we would go in a different partner, someone whom they wouldn’t expect and he [Hall] had already batted in the top order in one-day [cricket]. He has played a really good knock – he’s been patient and stroked the ball well. We took a risk but it’s paid off.What he felt generally
I’m happy; the guys have had a solid day. Forget the run-rate as the runs haven’t been scored that quickly [in the past] at this venue. [But] there were a couple of soft dismissals in the last two sessions.How pitch plays
There was [either] moisture early in the morning or there was a lot of overnight dew, but the wicket played pretty well all day.On wining the toss
It was a good toss [for us] to win. We knew that they wanted to win the toss and bat first considering they were going in with three spinners.Team selection
We thought about the batting order first and we needed a batter at seven, which Zan der Bruyn can do and [he can] also provide a lot of overs. With Jacques [Kallis] carrying a side strain, we are not too sure how much we’ll get from him with the ball, so it was important that we carried that extra bowler.And Hashim Amla
At this stage, he’s purely a batter – at three or six – and we saw him more as an allrounder in India.On the Indian spinners
All of them bowled tightly, bowled with a lot of pressure.

All Today’s Yesterdays – July 12 down the yearsJuly 11| July 131975
Thirteen men have bagged a pair on their Test debut, but only one in an Ashes Test in the 20th century. Step forward Graham Gooch, who on this day was caught behind off Jeff Thomson for his second duck as England lurched towards an innings defeat at Edgbaston. Gooch was dropped after the next Test – when he made 6 and 31 – but returned after three years to restart a career that would eventually yield an England-record 8900 Test runs.1965
Birth of Sanjay Manjrekar, who despite a very good Test career never quite lived up to his billing as the new Sunil Gavaskar. He was certainly good enough technically, and had the ability to bat all day – his 104 against Zimbabwe at Harare in 1992-93 took almost nine hours – but he ended up averaging 37 from 37, a steep fall from his first-class average of 55. But no Indian averages more than his 95 in Tests in Pakistan. Unusually for a modern-day Indian batsman, Manjrekar was more productive overseas, where he made all four of his Test hundreds and 79% of his runs. His father, the great Vijay, also played 55 Tests for India.1969
An old-style one-dimensional cricketer is born. Alan Mullally’s ordinary batting and dodgy fielding have not helped his attempts to establish himself in the England team. He was born in Southend but raised in Western Australia – for whom he made his first-class debut aged 18 in the Sheffield Shield final of 1987-88. Somehow you always feel Mullally is less than the sum of his parts: he has bounce, a left-armer’s angle, swing, and a natural economy. And he bowled quite majestically in England’s victory at the MCG in 1998-99, having driven Glenn McGrath to distraction by slashing 16 quick runs. The eventual margin of victory was only 12 runs. But in 19 Tests he only once took more than three wickets, though he was briefly second in the PwC one-day rankings, before being rumbled during last year’s NatWest Series. He has not played a one-day international since.1932
The cheapest ten-for in first-class history. Hedley Verity sliced through Nottinghamshire at Headingley with extraordinary figures of 19.4-16-10-10. Even more staggeringly, it’s the only ten-for to include a hat-trick. At 38 for 0 in the second innings, Nottinghamshire led by 99. Then came Verity, and appropriately enough, a ten-wicket defeat.1943
Whatever he did in 30 Tests, New Zealand allrounder Bruce Taylor, who was born today, will always be remembered for his startling debut. At Calcutta in 1964-65, Taylor belted a meaty 105 from No. 8 – his maiden first-class century – and then took 5 for 86 in India’s first innings. He’s still the only man to make a century and take a five-for on Test debut. And in seven Tests against West Indies, he had allround figures to die for: an average of 53 with the bat, and 23 with the ball. What Ian Botham (21, 35) would have given for those.1946
The Surrey batsman Graham Roope, who was born today, was picked by England as much for his fielding as his batting. A fine amateur goalkeeper and outstanding in the slips, he took 35 catches in 21 Tests. He also made seven fifties, but never reached three figures. The corkscrew-curled Roope was also a bit of a lucky charm – England only lost twice when he played. He was also the man at the other end when both Geoff Boycott (for England) and John Edrich (for Surrey) completed their 100th first-class hundreds.1986
A classic Benson & Hedges Cup final, as Middlesex beat Kent by just two runs in a low-scoring thriller. The match finished after 7.30, with the ground enveloped in darkness. The Man of the Match was John Emburey, who rushed through 11 overs for just 16 runs, biffed a useful 28 and took a cracking catch at slip to get rid of Chris Cowdrey, Kent’s captain.1996
The day cricket showed a bit of leg. The first Super 8s tournament began in Kuala Lumpur. In short, it involved eight-a-side matches of 14 overs, in which a six was rewarded with eight runs, and batsmen had to retire upon reaching 50. Australia A, led by Darren Lehmann and including Adam Gilchrist, won it, and Australia and India ended pointless. India even lost to a Malaysian Invitation XI. Mind you, the Malaysian side did include Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva, who had done pretty well in a slightly bigger one-day tournament earlier that year …Other birthdays
1935 Chris Burger (South Africa)
1947 Pochiah Krishnamurthy (India)
1972 Neil McGarrell (West Indies)

New Zealand’s bowling attack looks as fragile as Daniel Vettori’s ankle after the left-arm spinner was forced home from the cricket tour of Australia just two weeks before the first Test in Brisbane.Vettori will fly home on Thursday after severely spraining his ankle in the tour match against the ACT President’s XI here.Manager Jeff Crowe said the gangly 22-year-old would be out of action for four to six weeks but remained hopeful Vettori could still play in the third and final Test in Perth starting on November 30.”What we’re saying here is that the tour is not exactly over for Dan and hopefully, he’ll be back for the Third Test match,” Crowe told reporters today at Manuka Oval, where Vettori injured his leg while fielding from his own bowling on Sunday.A decision on a replacement has not yet been made.Vettori’s loss comes as a savage blow for New Zealand, who will severely miss his left-arm spin when the first Test starts in Brisbane on November 8.He has taken 106 wickets in 31 Tests and his six Tests against Australia have yielded 20 wickets at an average of 26.40.And he’s more than a dab hand with the bat, averaging 18.00 down the order with a Test best of 90.With Chris Cairns still fighting his way back to full fitness after knee surgery and Dion Nash waging a continuing battle against a debilitating back injury, the Black Caps’ bowling attack is far from settled.Vettori himself had only just returned from a stress fracture in his back which had kept him out of Test cricket for the past 13 months and New Zealand was looking forward to playing its best bowling attack for the first time in almost two years.”Daniel’s devastated. It’s another blow and I feel really sorry for the fellow. It’s one of those freak accidents (after) you’ve worked so hard to come back.”We’ve missed him throughout the year, really, when he’s been recovering from his back problems.”He’s a major part of our line-up and he will be difficult to replace.”The options for the Kiwis are pretty slim.Crowe said uncapped Glen Sulzberger, 28, who bowled 48 overs in the first innings of the ACT game, was now at the frontline of spin selection but journeyman Paul Wiseman and young leg-spinner Brooke Walker were also possible replacements.Neither has anywhere near the experience of Vettori, with Walker playing four Tests for three wickets at 100.66 and the 31-year-old Wiseman playing 14 Tests with little return.”If a replacement player came over here, it would only be cover until we know where Daniel is. If he was to return, that would be a cover scenario,” Crowe said.Crowe said a media ban was in place on Vettori until he returned to Christchurch.Team physiotherapist Dale Shackel said Vettori had strained the ligament at the front of the ankle, which virtually holds the front of the tibia and the fibula together.”(That) means any weight he bears on it, it’s just splitting apart a little bit.”That’s why it just takes a little bit longer than just a normal ankle sprain,” Shackel said.Meanwhile, the Kiwis gained valuable batting practice today, with Mathew Sinclair sparkling with 145 runs featuring some delightful cover drives.Opener Matthew Bell also got a ton but his 107 runs (retired) came laboriously, taking 422 minutes from 324 balls with 15 boundaries.Four centuries came from the match, with ACT batsmen Jack Smith (156) and Grant Lambert (101) taking a liking to the Kiwis’ bowling in the earlier part of thegame.New Zealand declared their innings closed with an hour to go so as to allow all-rounder, Chris Cairns, returning from injury, to bowl again.Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming said after the game that Cairns’ bowling could be better assessed on a Test standard pitch and, overall, he was happy with the progress of the team in this match.”We’re simmering away quite nicely. We arrived on these shores with quite a bit of work to do. We’re getting through that work,” Fleming told reporters.”We want the improvements to be quite substantial going into the next two matches, which will be quite important.”

Zimbabwe 139 for 5 (Taylor 60*, Clark 2-22) beat Australia 138 for 9 (Hodge 35*, Chigumbura 3-20) by five wickets
Scorecard

It was a night to remember for cricket fans everywhere except for Australia. Zimbabwe played out of their skins, Australia looked rusty, and, after the drama of a rain delay with Australia ahead on Duckworth-Lewis, Zimbabwe, who had been wobbling when the rain hit, edged to a memorable, wonderful five-wicket win off the penultimate delivery. Two years ago to the day Australia lost the Ashes at The Oval. This game might have lacked the importance of that one, but it was a damn sight more embarrassing for them.And lest anyone think this was a fluke, it was not. For almost the entire game Zimbabwe were, almost unbelievably, on top. Written off by everyone other than the ICC president, Ray Mali – the bookmakers had Australia at 50-1 on – they bowled sensibly, fielded like demons and, initially, batted with wisdom. A newcomer to Newlands might be thinking that they were the world champions and the side in the skin-tight yellow and grey lycra were the no-hopers.The hero of the chase was Brendan Taylor, a fiery character whose international career seemed to be over a month ago after the latest of many run-ins with the Zimbabwe board. He anchored Zimbabwe’s response with an unbeaten 60 off 45 balls, ran singles with ease and – as Australia began to tighten their grip – thumped two sixes off the 15th over from Brad Hodge to give his side renewed belief.And yet still Australia had their noses in front. Zimbabwe needed 12 off the last over. Taylor flicked the first ball for four past the grope of short fine leg. It came down to four off two as Ricky Ponting – who has said this format is not one he takes seriously but admitted afterwards “we’ve just got to start respecting the game now” – looked as stressed as anyone as he frantically marshalled his field. Nathan Bracken, so reliable, bowled full on leg stump, it brushed Taylor’s pad and bobbled agonisingly slowly towards fine leg where it just had the legs to beat Stuart Clark’s despairing slide. The Zimbabwe players were racing on to the pitch even before the ball hit the boundary markers.What was remarkable was that it was Australia who crumbled under pressure. Their batting, with the exception of Hodge, lacked fluency; their bowlers were too wayward; their fielders fumbled and gave away overthrows. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, threw themselves wholeheartedly into everything.Even though Australia’s total was poor by Twenty20 standards, few expected them to lose. But they had omitted Brad Hogg and opted for a seam-heavy attack. On a suet of a pitch their pace was nullified and simply allowed the batsmen to use the speed of the ball to good effect. Zimbabwe’s dobblers and gentle spinners were far more effective.Australia, who have been out of action as a collective unit since the World Cup final on April 28, looked out of sorts, and their strokeplay was not helped by a moving ball, a stodgy pitch and a pudding of an outfield. The dismissals of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist, both to Elton Chigumbura, appeared to be a minor setback, but when Ponting thick-edged a heave high to third man off Gary Brent, the situation became altogether more serious.Such is the strength in depth of the Australians, however, they had more hitters to come, and Andrew Symonds and Michael Hussey consolidated for a couple of overs and then cut loose, using their feet and scampering between the wickets.

As their nerves eased, a brilliant pick-up and diving throw from Vusi Sibanda found Hussey six inches short. Again Australia consolidated, eating into their overs, and again they started to hit out, Hodge smiting the first six as late as the 14th over. Symonds, who persevered but barely timed one all evening, was then neatly stumped by Taylor as he overbalanced. The wobble continued.Hodge, whose summer with Lancashire meant that his timing was never in doubt, batted with the kind of ease we expected from his team-mates. Lee offered some support, clouting a big six, before falling to Brent, the old man of the Zimbabwe side, who bowled cannily throughout. Still Australia, who mustered 139 for 9, were the favourites. Sibanda and Taylor got Zimbabwe off to a good start, Sibanda thumping five rasping fours as Taylor skillfully gave him the strike. As they reduced the target to double figures with 15 overs left, the first sign of Australian jitters became evident.The weather added to the drama as a light drizzle started and everyone, including Ponting – consulting a tatty and increasingly soggy crib sheet – rushed to work out the Duckworth-Lewis situation.Zimbabwe had their noses in front until Tatenda Taibu feathered a catch to Adam Gilchrist. Over the next three overs the two sides swapped the D/L lead, with Zimbabwe level going into the 11th over only for Stuart Matsikenyeri’s skied heave to Gilchrist to again put them behind. Within an over the players were off and Australia appeared to have got out of jail. But the rain gods were not on their side and after half-an-hour play resumed and the final, sensational, act was completed.