Despite threatening to sue the United Cricket Board of South Africa for unfair dismissal, Lance Klusener has attempted to build bridges with South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith, by offering his services if Jacques Kallis chooses not to rejoin the current tour of England.Klusener, 31, was dropped from South Africa’s squad after the World Cup, and was branded “disruptive” by Smith in a breakfast interview. His threat of legal action is based on his loss of earnings, as Klusener has claimed he turned down offers of work with English counties after being assured he would be included in the Test squad.But now, with South Africa waiting for Kallis to decide whether he wants to continue playing so soon after the death of his father, Klusener has offered himself up as a potential replacement. “I would like the captain to know that if he has a problem on this tour I am available to step into the breach if wanted,” Klusener told the Mail on Sunday, "with my boots already packed.”I care passionately about South African cricket and the team," added Klusener, a veteran of 48 Tests and 154 one-day internationals. “I will admit that I am reserved and unwilling to stand up and address a room full of people. There is no dark side to my character I need to hide."”I’d like nothing better than to be given the chance to share a beer with Graeme [Smith] and discuss the future. What is so sad is that he has made statements about me without even knowing me properly. But I bear no grudges and I would like to explain to him how I think we could still work together for the team’s benefit.”

Len Chandler, Sussex’s 1st XI scorer from 1982 to 2001, has died in hospital aged 77. He had been suffering from a short illness and finally passed away on September 2. A minute’s silence was observed in his honour before the Sussex v Middlesex floodlit NCL match the following day.Len was educated at Chichester High School, before joining the Royal Navy in 1943 and working for the Admiralty in Whitehall. He was then posted to Portsmouth where he served with HMS Royal Ulsterman, and saw action at Normandy on D-Day and in the Far East.After demob, Len worked in the building industry for many years before taking over as Sussex scorer from Geoffrey Saulez in 1982. During his time as scorer he moved from the pencil days to the laptop computer days – without batting an eyelid, but with plenty to say about it.Len was an important part of this Club and it won’t be the same without him. His irascible nature and great sense of humour will be missed. The thoughts and sympathies of Sussex CCC are with his family at this time.

On Saturday September 27th I went to investigate claims that a travelling Christian missionary had returned from his work in India a devoted cricket fan and endeavoured to start up his own club at `La Misión’, near the town of San Bernardo.I met the man in question, Miguel Angel Hernandez, at the recent AGM and was amazed by his passion for the game. To sit through a two hour meeting discussing the legalities of a cricketing association and financial implications of purchasing a `Flicx’ pitch in ones second language takes some serious character; and so afterwards I quickly arranged for a training session with him and his side to assess the situation at hand.Before journeying even deeper into the sticks than I currently resided, I fully expected to be confronted by some extraordinary hybrid of the glorious game, pieced together by memory and improvisation. However, as I soon found out, this was not to be the case.In true Chilean style the session started some two or so hours late, although to be entirely truthful the delay might have been perceived as my fault. I tried desperately to follow Miguel’s more than adequate directions but after some dubious `help’ from the local bus drivers I eventually had to be driven from the centre of the (wrong) town to La Misión by what turned out to be San Bernardo’s answer to Andrew Flintoff. Although this was before I had spent a good twenty minutes standing out sufficiently enough to warrant the attention of a young lady who obviously found the shorts-sandals-pouring rain combo endearing, inviting me as she did to a party that night and giving me her phone number. However, I digress…I met with Miguel Angel and we waited for the rain to stop before heading out to the ground (La Parcelina Arena), which Miguel had told me was not "100% grass". In tow was a troop of eight eager looking men and their kit, specially imported from India, of course.When I had found a patch, mostly of mud, to act as our wicket for the day, play got underway. I was pleasantly surprised by the standard of play that I was witnessing and was reluctant to switch from the role of umpire to that of coach. As should be expected there was the occasional chuck and some baseball-esque wild swings for the ball, but on the whole these guys knew what they were doing.When I did offer any advice on batting the players were keen to learn and soon put in to practice what they had been shown, driving, pulling and even leaving the ball. After half an hour’s training, the players split in to two teams of four (Miguel Angel appointing himself as scorer and spectator) and things started to get serious. The teams’ respective captains were talking tactics and I found myself explaining that, for me, it was sensible to bat first and take advantage of the relatively good condition of the wicket before it deteriorated.Owing to time restrictions we agreed to play eight over innings, with everybody bowling twice. This gave me a great opportunity to look at each player’s individual and, in my head, I had already chosen the opening bowlers, a batting all-rounder and a more than capable wicket keeper for their opening game against Viña del Mar.After the innings were up the team then showed me that they had not neglected perhaps the most important side of their game: the cricketing tea. And so we retired to the dinning room for a feast of mash potato where we discussed the finer points of faith, religion and leg spin.During my time in La Misión, Miguel showed me books on cricket that he had read, articles on the world cup that he had cut out and saved from Indian newspapers and playing cards of his favourite players. It was then that I realised he truly understood what it was to be a cricket fan.For Chilean cricket the creation of a side in San Bernardo is somewhat of a fairytale. Without any external help they have proven that miracles can and do happen and we can only hope that others can follow the pioneering example of this side from La Misión.

Pakistan’s Younis Khan struck form with a magnificent 191 and Hasan Raza slammed an unbeaten 103 as Habib Bank went on a run-spree against Saga on day 1 of the third round of the Inter-Department Qualifying Tournament on Tuesday.In his 217-ball innings Younis struck 32 fours and two sixes while Hasan hit 13 boundaries in his 90-ball knock as the pair plundered 207 runs for the third wicket to help a struggling Habib Bank team to 426-5 off 80 overs. Saleem Elahi also chipped in with 80 (8×4, 135b).ZTBL’s Imran Abbas scored his third century in as many matches as his team (previously known as ADBP) first bowled out PAF for 72 and then finished the day at 242-4 from 57 overs. Imran was batting on 113 (11×4) at close of play. In themorning, the Air Force batting was decimated by Rao Iftikhar (6-36) and Mohammad Saddique (4-20).The other ‘forces’ teams – Army and Navy – also had a poor first day. Pak Army were bowled out for 83 by KRL when Yasir Arafat took 5-30. KRL, at stumps, were 252 for two in 59 overs with Mohammad Ramzan batting on 105.The Navy team was dismissed for 86 by PIA who had batted to 148-3 in 46 overs at close of play.Pakistan Test opener Mohammad Hafeez missed a century against PEB when he was out for 92 as Sui Gas finished the day at 234-1 in 43 overs in reply to the students 127. The gas utility’s Mohammad Irshad took 5-47.There were some other fine bowling performances on the first day.
Pak PWD’s Riaz Sheikh took 6-68 as Customs were dismissed for 245, Rizwan Akbar bagged 5-58 when POF were bowled out for 139 by ARL who finished at 81-4, HEC’s Sajid Aziz scooped up 5-52 to help rout KPT for 263, Abdul Rauf snapped up 5-51 as LEO International were shot out for 172 and PTCL’s Mohammad Khalil took 5-86 against Wapda who reached 275 in their first innings.Scores in brief (day 1 of 3):Pool A
At PCB Academy, Navy 86 (Nadeem Babar 27, Hammad Khan 24, Najaf Shah 4-13, Fazle Akbar 3-37, Saqlain Mushtaq 2-8) vs PIA 148-3 in 46 overs (Yasir Hameed 55*, Kamran Sajid 28, Imran Farhat 26, Faisal Iqbal 20).
At Asghar Ali Shah Stadium, Pakistan Customs 245 in 79.4 overs (Aamir Bashir 75 [7×4, 146b], Azhar Shafiq 68 [9×4, 113b], Riaz Sheikh 6-68) vs Pak PWD 18-0.Pool B
At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Wapda 275 in 82.4 overs (Hasan Adnan 73, Tariq Aziz 63, Mohammad Zaman 33*, Rizwan Malik 30, Mohammad Khalil 5-86, Mohammad Hussain 4-84) vs PTCL.
At Pindi Club Ground, Army 83 in 28.2 overs (Yasir Arafat 5-30) vs KRL 252-2 in 59 overs (Mohammad Ramzan 105*, Ali Naqvi 71, Saeed Anwar Jnr 65).
KRL Stadium, POF 139 in 46.1 overs (Imran Ali 41, Rizwan Akbar 5-58, Alamgir Khan 3-18) vs ARL 81-4 in 26 overs (Nauman Aman 35, Nadeem Ahmed 3-17).Pool C
At LCCA Ground, KPT 263 in 80 overs (Maisam Hasnain 81, Rashid Hanif 43, Farhan Iqbal 32*, Sajid Aziz 5-52, Shoaib Maqsood 3-83) vs HEC 1-0.
At Jinnah Ground Okara, Service Industries 230 in 80.1 overs (Rizwan Ahmed 55, Masood Asim 55, Farhan Asghar 30, Qaiser Abbas 4-25, Shabbir Ahmed 3-54) vs NBP.
At Bagh-e-Jinnah Lahore, PAF 72 (Rao Iftikhar 6-36, Mohammad Saddique 4-20) vs ZTBL 242-4 in 57 overs (Imran Abbas 113*, Atif Ashraf 86).Pool D
At Jinnah Stadium Gujranwala, LEO International 172 in 72.5 overs (Shoaib Nasir 63, Faisal Ashraf 51, Abdul Rauf 5-51, Arshad Khan 3-31) vs Allied Bank 21-0.
At Jinnah Stadium Sialkot, PEB 127 (Mohammad Irshad 5-47, Wasim Khan 2-48, Imran Tahir 2-4) vs Sui Gas 234-1 in 43 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 92 [16×4, 92b], Ali Hussain 81 not out, Sufiyan Munir 45*).
At Saga Ground Sialkot, Habib Bank 426-5 in 80 overs (Younis Khan 191 [32×4, 2×6, 217b], Hasan Raza 103 [13×4, 90b], Saleem Elahi 80 [8×4, 135b]) vs Saga.

A Colombo Magistrate’s Court discharged Thilanga Sumathipala, the embattledpresident of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), on Monday. The judge ruled thatthe Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had not unearthed sufficientevidence to prosecute him for his alleged involvement with an underworldgangster.Sumathipala, who appeared in public for the first time in 10 days on Mondaynight, has been accused by a Sunday newspaper of helping a suspected mafiafigure, Dhammika Amarasinghe, travel to the UK in 1999 to watch the WorldCup.Sumathipala was alleged to have used board funds to finance the trip andalso help Amarasinghe obtain a British visa on a fraudulent passport. Thenewspaper had also accused Sumathipala of plotting the assassination oftheir editor.But, after a week of legal wrangling, Sumathipala won a discharge as amagistrate’s judge ruled that the CID had produced insufficient evidence tojustify his arrest. Discharging Sumathipala, the judge told the CID to referthe matter to court again if any new evidence – namely the allegedfraudulent passport and embarkation documents – were obtained.Sumathipala immediately organised a press conference at the cricket boardheadquarters and launched into an offensive against his accusers: “Thisorganised mud slinging has been launched to coincide with the Englandcricket team’s visit. It has caused irreparable damage to Sri Lankan cricketand my name has been tarnished”, he told reporters.”A Sunday paper repeatedly attacked me causing immense personal and mentalanguish to me and my family,” he said, adding, “They tried to connect mewith underworld, to which I had no ties.””Ten days ago the CID was ordered to arrest me, so I went to the SupremeCourt and filed a Fundamental Rights application. The Attorney Generalappeared on behalf of the CID and said they had not given an order to arrestme. But the next day the Magistrate’s Court ordered my arrest if there wasevidence. But the judge, after going through the case, said there was notenough evidence to frame any charges,” he said.Again, on Friday, the AG ordered his arrest. Sumathipala’s legal team wasforced to take further action on Monday morning. They appeared on Monday,convening a Magistrate’s Court despite a Poya day holiday, and once againwon a favourable judgement. “There was no evidence linking me to theunderworld,” Sumathipala declared.Sumathipala requested extra personal security from the government, claimingthat the scandal had put his life in danger: “I still receive threats on mymobile phone. I think the government should consider a high-level inquiryinto this matter and I hope to discuss this matter with the IGP and others.”

Shoaib Akhtar has agreed to return to Durham next season. He played seven first-class matches for them in 2003, taking 34 wickets at just over 17 runs apiece. He will team up with Herschelle Gibbs as the club’s two overseas players.”Shoaib is one of the world’s greatest bowlers and we are delighted that he is coming back to Durham for a second season,” said Jon Lewis, Durham’s captain. “He was a prolific wicket-taker during his short time with us last year”, he added. “We are expecting great performances from Shoaib and Herschelle, however, they will also play an important part in the development of our young talented players.”Bob Jackson, Durham’s chairman, was also pleased with the news. He said: “The prospect of Shoaib Akhtar and Stephen Harmison pairing up with the new ball is certainly mouth-watering and I expect opening batsmen around the country will not fancy the Durham fixture next year.”

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Scorecard

Pakistan were left in no-man’s land when bad light and rain forced an early end on the third day of their first Test against New Zealand at Hamilton. They were still far enough away from the follow-on mark to get into trouble, but New Zealand may not have enough time to force victory.The highlight of the day was a fine 80 from Yasir Hameed, a consistent thorn in New Zealand’s side in the recent one-day series back in Pakistan. But bad light, and light showers, conspired to keep the players off the field for large parts of a day in which the Westpac Park floodlights stayed on for most of the time. Only 38 overs were possible in total.The lack of play was frustrating for all concerned. By the watery close Pakistan were still 137 runs from the safety of the follow-on with six wickets in hand, while New Zealand, who failed to put as much pressure as they would have wanted on the batsmen, know that one more wicket will get them in among a longish tail.Pakistan scored 109 runs in the time available, never batting with thefreedom that the centurymakers Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori had enjoyed, although with the number of loose balls sent down their scoring rate was still respectable. New Zealand did pick up two wickets, those of Hameed and Yousuf Youhana.Hameed demonstrated just why he has had such a fine start to Test cricket. He came into this game with a Test average of 55.87, and enhanced that with his 80. It seemed inevitable that he was going to score his third century in only his sixth Test, but – having looked unflustered, despite attempts to contain him with a leg trap early in the morning session – he lost his momentum after lunch and was out soon afterwards, when a slower ball from Daryl Tuffey trapped him leg-before.That leg trap almost accounted for Hameed early on, after which he took some advice from Youhana and took a single to reach the safety of the other end. instead it was Youhana who got out, chasing a wider ball from Tuffey and offering a low chance which Lou Vincent accepted in the slips (134 for 3).Hameed’s steady approach was crucial, because Inzamam-ul-Haq was very tentative during the early stages of his innings. He batted as if he was expecting some of the demons that he found in this pitch when Pakistan were last in town in 2001. But there were none this time, and Inzamam was delighted to be offered some short-pitched balls which allowed him to get onto the back foot and punch the ball through the arc from gully to extra cover.When lunch was taken, five minutes early, Pakistan were 205 for 3. When play resumed, Tuffey soon trapped Hameed in front (209 for 4). Scott Styris came into the attack, and his controlled medium-pace tied the batsmen down more and allowed Fleming to apply pressure in a way that had not been possible during the morning session.Daniel Vettori found some spin, although he didn’t manage a wicket in his 12 overs, which cost 29. Tuffey continued the growth in stature that he has enjoyed this summer, and had 3 for 60 from 18 overs by the close. Interestingly, after all the no-ball problems the Pakistanis suffered – especially Mohammad Sami, who was called 15 times in New Zealand’s long innings – the New Zealanders have been similarly afflicted. They have bowled 12 so far, with even Vettori contributing three. There’s still some way to go to match Pakistan’s overlal total of 33, though.Play on the fourth day will start 45 minutes early in a bid to make up losttime (1015 local time on Monday morning, 2115GMT on Sunday night).

Jim Love, Scottish cricket’s former chief executive, has expressed surprise that his successor, Gwynne Jones, has emerged with so much credit after resigning from his post last Monday.Jones quit after two years in the post, after criticising his main investor Sportscotland and struggling to gain extra funds. Love, a straight-talking Yorkshireman who played three ODIs for England in 1981, cannot understand why he attracted so much praise.”If he was that bloody good, why haven’t they kept him on?” said Love. “It doesn’t make sense. It does rile me that he has been taking credit for things that Alex Ritchie [former Scottish Cricket Union manager] and I did. We put in a power of work to get things up and running, particularly at age-group levels.”Love took Scotland to the 1999 World Cup but was unable to repeat the feat four years later. “It seems Mr Jones has concentrated on raising his own profile and nothing has progressed at youth level.” His main achievement was to secure Scotland a place in the National Cricket League last summer, but much of the groundwork for that was put in by Love.Jones’ departure comes just a month before Scotland take part in the ICC Six Nations Challenge tournament in the United Arab Emirates. The prize for the winners is a place in September’s ICC Champions Trophy in England.

Bangladesh sealed their place in the semi-finals of the Plate Championship with a quick four-wicket win against Uganda at Chittagong. The pace of Nazmul Hossain and the spin of Enamul Haque jnr combined effectively to prove too much for Uganda, and secure Bangladesh’s progression through to the next stage.After Uganda won the toss and elected to bat, Hossain made early inroads, taking five of the top six wickets as Uganda slumped to 38 for 6. Haque then finished off Uganda’s crumbling resistance by grabbing the four remaining wickets. Uganda were all out for 78 from 33.3 overs with Hossain claiming 5 for 30, and Haque finishing with 4 for 18.For the second match in a row, however, Bangladesh made hard work of a simple run-chase. This time it was Uganda’s Emmanuel Isaneez who caused the problems, as he dismissed all six of the Bangladesh top order. Isaneez finished with the impressive figures of 6 for 37, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Bangladesh reaching the target in 19.5 overs.Despite Uganda’s defeat, Isaneez was named Man of the Match. His bowling figures were the second best in the tournament behind Zimbabwe’s Tishane Panyangara and the third best in the history of the event. “I was very happy with the way that I bowled today,” said Isaneez. “This is the first time I have ever achieved six wickets in an innings.”Meanwhile, Richard McInnes, Bangladesh’s coach, knows his side will have to bat better in the group decider against Ireland in two days time.”Our bowlers are doing well, but I’m worried about our batsmen,” he admitted. “They are playing badly and I’m not happy, but if they can rediscover their form from earlier in the tournament I am confident we can reach the Plate Championship final.”

Bangladesh A 287 for 7 (Al Sahariar 62, Faisal 61*) beat Zimbabwe A 227 (Rinke 49, Gripper 49, Razzaq 7-17) by 60 runs
ScorecardA devastating spell of bowling from Abdur Razzaq, a left-arm spinner from Khulna, took Bangladesh A to a comprehensive victory in their third one-dayer against Zimbabwe A at Dhaka. Razzaq took 7 for 17 in eight overs as Zimbabwe A collapsed, after an opening stand of 99, to 227. They fell short of Bangladesh A’s 287 by 60 runs.The run-chase had begun superbly, with Piet Rinke and Trevor Gripper hitting a flurry of boundaries off Tareq Aziz and Alamgir Kabir, as the score progressed to 99 in just 14.4 overs. But Razzaq’s introduction into the attack changed everything, as he got both Rinke and Gripper out for 49 – both batsmen were decieved into giving return catches.The Zimbabweans went steadily downhill from there, as Razzaq, mixing loopy flighted deliveries with quicker flat ones, tied the batsmen up in knots. Stuart Matsikenyeri smashed 48 off 50 balls in a rear-guard action, but he found no support from his fellow batsmen. Razzaq, who had taken 3 for 14 in the six overs of his first spell, returned to the attack to pick up four more wickets for just three runs. Matsikenyeri was one of his victims, brilliantly caught at gully by Jamaluddin Babu. That wicket, the sixth to fall, in the 44th over, with the score on 216, sealed the issue.Earlier, Mohammad Al Sahariar had anchored the Bangladesh innings with a sedate 92-ball innings of 62, to set Bangladesh A on their way towards a big score. Faisal Hossain, one of the rising stars of Bangladesh cricket, hit a sparkling 61 not out, off 67 balls, to ensure that their early momentum was not lost. The Bangladeshis finished on 287 for 7, and although the target seemed eminently gettable when Rinke and Gripper were flaying the bowling, Razzaq bowled to a script all his own.Bangladesh went up 2-1 in the five match series with this win. The last two games are due to be played at Khulna in April 5 and 6.