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Australia are considering unleashing four specialist fast bowlers to soften up England, but first Ricky Ponting has to be convinced the WACA surface will not trick him again. Ponting delayed naming his XI for Thursday’s crucial third Ashes Test until he has a final look at the pitch, which is much greener than usual.Ponting has misread this wicket before, most notably against India in 2007-08 when it looked fast but played low and slow, and had a rare discussion with the groundsman Cam Sutherland today. If Australia go with the pace quartet of Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus they will be flooded with options. Shane Watson’s availability actually makes a speed quintet possible, while the legspinner Steven Smith is also on call.The chances of Michael Beer, the left-arm orthodox spinner, making his debut have reduced slightly, although the hosts could quickly revert to a more traditional attack if the pitch dries out before the toss. To level the series 1-1 Australia require 20 wickets, four more than they have managed in the first two Tests.The WACA used to be a fast-bowling Mecca and every time teams come here they expect short-pitch tactics to stir up their opponents. Australia are preparing an attempt to bounce England’s top order and deliver some discomfort to the tourists, who have dominated since being dismissed for 260 on the opening day of the series. “I honestly feel the pitch conditions here are as foreign to English players as probably anywhere else in the world and hopefully we can exploit that this week,” Ponting said.It is impossible to understate the importance of this game for Australia. If they lose England will retain the Ashes and Ponting’s captaincy and playing future will be on the line. He usually announces his side the day before the game but will toss and turn for another night before deciding what to do.Western Australia, the local state side, have also been confused by the surface, which although it looks green is not always conducive to seam. Ponting is unsure whether it will play as it looks. “There’s a chance of that and that’s probably due to the different type of grass that’s on it at the moment,” he said. “It’s not the thicker, coarse grass that was on the wicket the last couple of years, it’s a finer leaf sort of grass.”When you’ve got wickets like that the ball tends to skip off that grass rather than holding on it. That’s why it’s important to get a good feel of it tomorrow morning and see how hard it is, and whether there’s any moisture left in the surface before we make our decision.”Hilfenhaus and Harris will be used as into-the-wind bowlers while Johnson, who has been trying to rebuild his action over the past week, will be able to charge in with the breeze. Siddle is another who will enjoy having the wind at his back if he is selected. Both Hilfenhaus and Johnson didn’t bowl in the nets during the final practice session in preparation for their returns after being dropped for the Adelaide game.Whether Siddle, who hasn’t take a wicket since his six on the opening day in Brisbane, or Beer fits in is still to be determined. Ponting said Beer’s inexperience would not be a factor in deciding the line-up.”It’s more so we can get the best four bowlers for us on that wicket, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “The fact that Michael is a debutant doesn’t come into it. If he’s in our four best bowlers for the wicket we see tomorrow then he’ll play.”Spinners have been successful over the latter stages of Shield games in Perth this season and Ponting planned to have lunch with Beer to talk tactics. Australia have Smith to bat at No.6 and bowl as well, but the team management seems confused by all the potential options.If he plays, Beer will be heavily involved in the second half of the game, while an extra paceman will be expected to cause more problems in the first innings. Ponting has too much to think about but must be wary about over-stocking his pace department on a surface that has bitten him before.

Pulled apart
Michael Hussey’s pull shot is one of his banker strokes. He used it to fillet Graeme Swann during his 195 at Brisbane, having learnt his trade on the hard bouncy wickets of the WACA, but against the lanky Steven Finn, he hasn’t had quite so much fun. It was Finn who denied him his double-century with a lifter that was swatted to Alastair Cook, and on the fifth morning at Adelaide, he was at it again, as Hussey attempted to swing Finn through the leg-side, only for James Anderson to back-pedal and snaffle a lobbed top-edge.King pair
Ryan Harris secured himself an unwanted niche in Test history when he marked his home debut with two first-ball ducks in a row, both of which involved the opinion of the TV umpire. In the first innings he appeared to be unlucky, as a potential inside-edge went undetected by HotSpot, but second time around he was the victim of his own misjudgement. Like Andrew Strauss in England’s innings, he padded up to a ball that was destined to trim the bails, and his hopes of a reprieve were quashed by HawkEye. His double failure means, incidentally, that no No. 8 on either side has yet made a run in the series, following Stuart Broad’s first-baller in the midst of Peter Siddle’s hat-trick, and Mitchell Johnson’s 19-ball toil at the Gabba.Sticky bails
Siddle made England wait for their moment of glory, as he and the No. 11 Doug Bollinger dug in for 24 deliveries to revive the prospect of a rain reprieve, but he might well have fallen for a fourth-ball duck when he propped forward uneasily to Swann, and allowed the ball to trickle back onto his middle stump. Despite a hefty impact, the bails refused to budge, leaving Matt Prior peering incredulously at the timbers, just to see if there was any chewing gum on display.

South Africa will not take part in a full Test tour of Australia until at least 2021 because the two boards have clashed over the rights to host the traditional Boxing Day and New Year Tests. Both countries are now guaranteed to host their lucrative home Test matches over the festive period for the next ten seasons.Previously, South Africa played Australia away every four years during December and January. “That was a contract that was drawn up before my time,” Gerald Majola, chief executive of CSA said at the CSA road show at the Wanderers on Thursday. “According to that agreement, we have always toured Australia over the festive season. When the 2012-2020 FTP was being discussed we brought forward a proposal that we would play them once in Australia and once at home. They didn’t accept our proposal.”Majola explained that Australia used the home Tests as tourist draw cards because of the holiday season and he even though he “understood” that reason, he decided CSA would be bullish as well. “We thought if they don’t want to tour here, we will also say we don’t want to tour there during that time so we can host our own Tests.”In 2008, when South Africa last toured Australia, CSA announced that the national team would not tour Down Under over the festive period again because of Australia’s refusal to give up their monopoly on Test matches during that time. South Africa went on to win the three-Test series 2-1.Following a breakdown in discussions over tours over the holiday period, CSA managed to convince the International Cricket Council that, like Australia, it should host Test matches over the festive season every season from 2012 to 2020. In addition, neither South Africa nor Australia will host each other in that time. That means that Australia’s visit to South Africa next year will be their last full tour until at least 2021. They are scheduled to play three Tests and five ODIs in September and October 2011.Majola added, however, that by avoiding each other during the festive season, the two teams would meet more frequently as a consequence. “We will play Australia every year from now until 2020 but not for a full tour,” Majola said. “Once a year we will either play them in Tests or in one-day internationals but not both at the same time.”South Africa are scheduled to host India this season and Sri Lanka in December 2011, with CSA keen to emulate the Australian model of creating tourist activities around the traditional Boxing Day and New Year’s Tests in Melbourne and Sydney respectively. In South Africa, the coastal cities of Durban and Cape Town have most often hosted the two, festive matches but Majola said that at least one of those venues may change.”Durban is still in question,” he said. “We have not had very good crowds there and we’ve tried Port Elizabeth as an alternative. We’ll have to see how Durban responds in the future before we decide what to do. Cape Town always had good crowds, so the New Year’s Test will be held there unless something drastic happens.”

Scorecard
Kenya’s bowlers, followed by their batsmen, made a strong rally on the third day, but Afghanistan were still in control and in sight of victory that would take them to the top of the table in the Intercontinental Cup.Resuming their second innings with a lead of 470 and five wickets standing, Afghanistan were not allowed to pile on the runs with the ease of the first innings. Offspinner James Ngoche, who had struck twice on the second day, ran through the lower order along with Elijah Otieno. Ngoche picked his first five-wicket haul while Otieno finished with four as Afghanistan were bowled out for 207.Chasing a mammoth 512 for victory, Kenya’s top order came together with a string of determined starts but, unfortunately for them, was unable to kick on. Seren Waters’ dismissal in the first over gave little indication of the resistance that was to follow. David Obuya led the chase with a patient 79 while his top-order colleagues Collins Obuya and Steve Tikolo played around him. Both scored fifties, adding 90 and 99 respectively with David Obuya as Kenya launched a strong riposte.Maurice Ouma took over the lead responsibility after David Obuya and Tikolo exited within 13 runs of each other, scoring 68 off 112 balls as Kenya crossed 300. Afghanistan breathed easy after Ouma’s dismissal with stumps in sight, and they have Thomas Odoyo and the tail to deal with on the final day as they press for a win.

ScorecardCharl Willoughby claimed 4 for 60 as Somerset bowled out Lancashire for 259 on the opening day of their County Championship clash at Taunton. The figures took the South African’s first-class wicket tally for the season to 50, a landmark he has achieved in all of his five seasons with Somerset, and raised hopes of a victory that could keep alive their title hopes.Only Shivnarine Chanderpaul (56) offered much resistance before the last two Lancashire wickets added 90, Gary Keedy making 34 and Sajid Mahmood 29. By the close Somerset had replied with 54 for 1, Marcus Trescothick falling to Keedy for 33.Willoughby produced a fine nine-over opening spell from the Old Pavilion End, sending back openers Tom Smith and Paul Horton with only 32 runs on the board. It was 77 for 3 when Mark Chilton was lbw moving across his stumps to Alfonso Thomas and 126 for 4 when Steven Croft was run out by Peter Trego as he was sent back by Chanderpaul attempting a single to square leg.Chanderpaul moved to his half-century in typically stubborn manner off 72 balls, with seven fours. But he then departed in totally uncharacteristic fashion, top-edging a reverse sweep off Murali Kartik to Trescothick at slip.From 153 for 4, Lancashire slumped to 169 for 8 as Willoughby removed Gareth Cross and Kyle Hogg either side of Kartik pinning Luke Procter lbw. News of Nottinghamshire’s struggles at Trent Bridge had reached Somerset, rekindling their hopes of a first ever Championship title. But they were then frustrated as Mahmood and Keedy added 34 for the ninth wicket.Mahmood became the second batsman to fall to the reverse sweep after hitting six fours, but Keedy went on to share another stand of 56 with last man Simon Kerrigan, who battled away for 80 balls to make an unbeaten 16. Keedy was bowled by Ben Phillips when the new ball was taken, having faced 87 deliveries and hit five fours.The left-arm spinner then did his side another big favour by having Trescothick caught at short midwicket by Smith just as he was looking to cut loose. Arul Suppiah and night watchman Thomas saw Somerset through to the close, but on a green looking pitch their team will need to bat well tomorrow to gain a meaningful first innings advantage.

Betting in cricket and other sports should be legalised in India, a Delhi court has said, pointing out that the police have failed to curb illegal betting in the country. Legalising betting, the court said, would help the government keep track of the transfer of funds and even use the revenue generated for public welfare.”It does not need divine eyes to see that ‘satta’ in cricket and other games is reaching an alarming situation. The extent of money that it generated is diverted to clandestine and sinister objectives like drug trafficking and terrorist activities,” said additional sessions judge Dharmesh Sharma, of a Delhi trial court. “It is high time that our legislature seriously considers legalising the entire system of betting online or otherwise so that enough revenues can be generated to fund various infrastructural requirements for the common man and thus check the lucrative business in organised crime.”The judge cited a media report that claimed more than Rs. 20,000 crores (approximately US$4.27 billion) were pumped in by illegal betting syndicates during the IPL last year.”A little surfing on the internet would reveal that in Delhi alone there would be operating as many as 2,000-3,000 bookies at any given point of time when cricket matches or even other matches are played all over the world. This could not be done under the very nose of police without their knowledge,” the judge said.The court was also critical of the police for its laxity in trying to keep a check on the illegal business. “The half-hearted and lackadaisical approach of the police in nabbing the perpetrators of this organised crime on business leaves an irresistible impression that police is not only ill-equipped to deal with such cases but probably they have higher stake in continuance of the same under their patronage.”The court made its remarks while allowing an appeal by two people held guilty by a lower court for betting under the Delhi Police Gambling Act. It said there was not enough evidence to convict the two, who were prosecuted for organising betting on the 2007 World Cup match between Australia and South Africa.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has said the organisation might send a hand-picked side to Pakistan late next year to give fans an opportunity to watch international cricket as he is worried the lack of top-level cricket will affect the popularity of the game in the country.”It will always be dependent on the expert advice of the security experts, but we think that perhaps towards the end of next year we must start looking at what the horizon looks like and if it is at all possible [to send a team to Pakistan],” he told .Lorgat said the ICC could not let the status quo continue indefinitely and that he would accompany any team that did go to Pakistan.”We will assess the situation very, very carefully. We know that we can’t leave things as they are if it is at all possible to play in Pakistan,” he said. “I’m not just suggesting a bi-lateral series; it may be an ICC XI. Whether it’s a youth team, an older team, or whatever… I would go with that team as well.”We need to look at it. We shouldn’t just sit back and do nothing. But we certainly would not do something that is not properly calculated.”In another attempt to bolster cricket in Pakistan, the ICC has appointed Mike Brearley and Greg Chappell as ambassadors to support the PCB. The two former Test captains have been tasked with getting the global cricket community to support the PCB and its players at a time when Pakistan is unable to host matches at home.Teams have refused to play in Pakistan since March 2009, when seven Sri Lanka players were injured after gunmen attacked the team bus on its way to Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

ScorecardLoots Bosman helped Derbyshire to an excellent start before the rain•Getty Images

Paul Collingwood shone with the ball on his first Durham appearance of the season before rain wrecked their Friends Provident t20 match with Derbyshire.England’s World Twenty20-winning captain conceded only 21 runs from his four overs, but the Dynamos were still facing a daunting run chase after the Falcons plundered 172 for 3 from 19 overs. Loots Bosman scored his second half century in the competition and former Somerset batsman Wes Durston hit two sixes and seven fours in an unbeaten 71 from 53 balls.Derbyshire were only five short of their biggest Twenty20 score at Derby before rain forced the umpires to take the players off the field and resulted in the North Group match being abandoned. Collingwood was the only bowler to trim the Falcons’ wings as his two England team-mates Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett came in for some rough treatment.Plunkett went for 18 off one of his four overs which cost 40 while John Sadler dispatched Harmison for two sixes in three balls over mid-wicket before the rain arrived. Durston followed his explosive century at Trent Bridge on Friday with another impressive display of clean hitting in an opening stand of 89 with Bosman.The South African cut Harmison for six and also smashed nine fours in a 32-ball 57 before he was run out going for a second by Plunkett’s throw from long on in Collingwood’s first over. Although Durston lifted Collingwood over long on for six, it was the only boundary off the England all-rounder who cleverly took the pace off the ball to restrict the batsmen.But the rest of the Dynamos attack suffered as Greg Smith and Robin Peterson also cleared the ropes to take the Falcons to what was their second highest Twenty20 total on home soil. It would have tested even Durham’s formidable line-up of big hitters but with no sign of an improvement in the weather, umpires Nigel Long and Michael Gough called the match off at 5.20pm with both sides taking a point.

Australia’s captain Alex Blackwell insists she never doubted her team could take home the World Twenty20 title despite their low score in the final. Australia battled to 106 for 8 from their 20 overs and it looked as though New Zealand should have little trouble with the chase, but they batted out their overs and could only manage 103 for 6.”We believed our total was going to be enough,” Blackwell said. “I know our bowling attack has the level-mindedness to get through whatever challenge was in front of them.”The New Zealanders needed 14 off the final over and Blackwell entrusted the bowling to the 19-year-old Ellyse Perry. She kept her cool and when a boundary from the final delivery would have tied the game, Perry stuck out her foot to stop a cleanly-hit straight drive from Sophie Devine that might have decided the outcome.”It’s a fantastic opportunity to win a World Cup for your country rather than lose it,” Perry said. “That’s how you have to approach things like that. I feel very grateful to Alex for believing I could do it and I felt I had the support of my team which was really obvious in the fielding of Rene [Farrell] and Shelley [Nitschke] down on the boundary.”There were two sliding saves that saved final-over boundaries and New Zealand soon discovered they had left too much to be achieved at the death. Wickets halted their momentum and they were disappointed to find themselves in trouble at 36 for 5 after 11 overs, following their strong effort with the ball.”I was very pleased with how we bowled but obviously Australia bowled slightly better,” the New Zealand captain Aimee Watkins said. “They bowled hard into the wicket and we saw a few variations in bounce.”They used that well to their advantage. But the loss of early wickets put us in a hole although the way Sophie Devine batted at the end was outstanding and it gave us a chance.”

ScorecardNew signing Steven Mullaney took three quick wickets to rip the heart out of the Hampshire batting and set up a convincing 35-run win for Nottinghamshire in their Clydesdale Bank 40 clash at the Rose Bowl.Mullaney, signed from Lancashire in the close season, finished with 3 for 24 as Hampshire’s poor start to the season continued. Hampshire have now lost all five matches in both competitions and there was never any doubt they would lose this encounter after overnight rain and persistent drizzle reduced the match to 24 overs each.Home captain Nic Pothas chose to field first and his decision was immediately called into question as second-wicket pairing Hashim Amla and Alex Hales put on 69 in only eight overs.Veteran former England all-rounder Dominic Cork put a break on the scoring by taking three wickets in 10 balls – removing Amla for 33, Hales for 41 and then Mullaney for nine to a catch at the wicket.But Hampshire struggled to build on their successes with Chris Read and Paul Franks putting on 48 for the sixth wicket to build a formidable total of 180 for 8 from their 24 overs. Hampshire gave a debut to Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Ragana Herath but he conceded 21 off his first two overs and 38 from his four, without taking a wicket. Cork finished as Hampshire’s most successful bowler with 3 for 30.The hosts never really looked like reaching their target. Openers Michael Carberry and Jimmy Adams put on 43 in 41 balls for the first wicket with the latter striking two fours and two sixes in his aggressive 29. But Mullaney came on to change the course of the match by dismissing Adams, James Vince and the hard-hitting Sean Ervine on his way to demolishing the Hampshire top order.Mullaney’s first spell was made up of three for five from three overs and, although he became more expensive later, the damage was done. Hampshire were 63 for 5 when Pothas was out, leaving his side still needing 118 from 10 overs.Only then did Hampshire cut loose, with South African Neil McKenzie and Liam Dawson putting on 67 in seven overs, but the cause was already lost. McKenzie fell at 127 and Cork went at 135, leaving Dawson to play for respectability with a top score of 47 from 28 balls which included three fours and two sixes.