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Kris Britt and Melissa Bulow have been dropped from Australia’s 14-player squad as the side bid to retain the Rose Bowl in New Zealand next month. After a drawn one-day international series and a Test loss against England, selectors have made two changes, with Western Australia’s Renee Chappell and Queensland’s Delissa Kimmince set to earn their first international caps.Jodie Purves has also regained her place and has been selected in the 14-player squad as a specialist batter after a broken thumb forced her to miss the series against England. Leonie Coleman will continue the keeping role.Australia is the current holder of the Rose Bowl having won last year’s series 3-2. The series comprises five one-day matches, with a Twenty20 international to be played in the lead-up. All matches will be played at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Christchurch.Chair of selectors Margaret Jennings said: “The Rose Bowl Series provides us with an opportunity to bring in new players and see what they can add to the squad in the lead-up to the World Cup next year. Both Delissa and Renee have been selected to fill positions we feel need improving.”The players excluded from the squad are not out of World Cup calculations by any means but they will need to go away and work hard to earn another opportunity.”The selectors are looking for a consistency of performance from the team and to maintain that standard. We’re looking to find players that are capable of producing those performances.”Squad Karen Rolton (capt), Lisa Sthalekar, Sarah Andrews, Alex Blackwell, Kate Blackwell, Renee Chappell, Leonie Coleman (wk), Sarah Edwards, Delissa Kimmince, Shelley Nitschke, Ellyse Perry, Jodie Purves, Emma Sampson, Kirsten Pike.

‘I have always enjoyed a challenge as a player, and would enjoy the challenge of instilling self-belief and confidence’ © Getty Images

Sir Viv Richards has offered to help India develop their mental toughness after what he called a “mind-boggling” ouster from the World Cup. Richards, widely regarded as the most destructive batsman in history, said a lack of self-belief sent India crashing to their worst World Cup performance since the 1979 tournament in England.”Like many of their fans, I find India’s ouster from the tournament as mind-boggling,” Richards, 55, wrote in a syndicated column that appeared in Indian newspapers. “I would not blame the team management for this debacle, but there has to be some reason why a team as supremely talented as India does not achieve more success.”The reasons have less to do with talent and potential and more to do with mental strength. Each player, especially the experienced one, is responsible for himself and capable of self-training and managing his mental preparation.”India, title holders in 1983 and runners-up in 2003 runners-up – were stunned by Bangladesh in their opening match before they suffered a second defeat against Sri Lanka to be knocked out of the tournament.Richards felt the blame should not be put on any on individual. “These are aspects that come from within, so blaming coach Greg Chappell or even captain Rahul Dravid is not going to take Indian cricket ahead,” he said. “I would certainly like to help India in this aspect of their preparation if asked to. I have always enjoyed a challenge as a player, and would enjoy the challenge of instilling self-belief and confidence in a group of players as talented and promising as the Indians.”Richards, who helped West Indies win the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979, said India would do well to learn lesson from his team’s experiences. “I remember we were devastated when we lost the 1983 World Cup final [to India]. That is why we came in full force and with great intent to win when we toured India later that year. We needed to prove to the world and more importantly to ourselves, that we were the best team.”Richards said he hoped India would bounce back on the tour of Bangladesh in May for two Tests and three one-day internationals. “They should regroup and convince everyone that what happened in Port-of-Spain was a blip, and nine times out of ten there can be only one winner in an India-Bangladesh encounter. Having said that, we must also acknowledge that the Bangladeshis are a talented, fast-improving bunch. They remind me of the Sri Lankans in the late 1980s, and therefore cannot be considered pushovers.”

Andrew Symonds will have a fitness test today on his injured hip © Getty Images

Australia should field their preferred line-up for the first time on the tour in the fourth ODI on Friday after Andrew Symonds completed a training session at Durban on Wednesday. Symonds will have a fitness test today and was confident of returning after missing the opening three matches.Ricky Ponting recovered from a stomach problem to play in Sunday’s 24-run victory, which cut South Africa’s advantage to 2-1, as Symonds battled a hip-flexor problem. “I haven’t been given the all-clear but it’s progressing nicely,” Symonds told . “It’s not sort of pulling like it was and it didn’t feel like it was going to go again or anything.”Symonds was picked in the squad for the three Test tour starting next week and he said that was a reason for the gentle recovery. “I had to be careful because if I did it again that would have probably been the end of my tour,” Symonds said. “So I have been slightly frustrated.”

Richard McInnes has been appointed senior coach at Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane. McInnes, who has already worked at the Australian Academy, joins four other senior coaches – Dene Hills, Brian McFadyen, Steve Jenkin and Jamie Siddons – to complete the set-up. Siddons will manage the centre’s cricket programs under the head coach Tim Nielsen.The appointment of McInnes marks a return to his native Australia; in the interim he had a successful stint as Bangladesh’s high performance manager, a position he held since 2003. The highlight of his tenure was steering the Under 19 side to success in the World Cup plate final in March 2004.But his time with Bangladesh was not without controversy: he allegedly threatened a journalist in February 2003 after a barrage of questions in one press conference suggesting his contract should be terminated and asking about his statement that there were only three qualified coaches in the country. But he apologised to the media in an official press release soon afterwards, and good relations were restored in the following weeks with success in the plate.

Three of the top four teams, Northerns, Gauteng and Easterns, had to settlefor shared points as the two Standard Bank Cup matches scheduled for the wetJohannesburg area were abandoned without a ball being bowled.PointstableEasterns v Northerns Match abandoned due to rain
ScorecardGauteng v Free State Match abandoned due to rain
ScorecardNortherns and Easterns shared the points at Willowmoore Park while Gautengand Free State did the same at the Wanderers.KwaZulu-Natal 272 for 4 (Pollock 134*, Amla 54) beat EasternProvince 194 (Bradfield 41, Klusener 2-28, McLean 2-38, Kent 2-40) by 78runs
ScorecardAt Durban, KwaZulu-Natal at last completed a match without any raininterruptions. Shaun Pollock, having been given permission by the nationalselectors to bat but not bowl, surprised everyone when he strode out forNatal batting at No. 3. Just 111 balls later, he had scored his second and highest one-day century. His 134 not out included 13 fours and four sixes. Hashim Amla scored 54 with Lance Klusener, who has been recalled to the national team, unlucky to be run out for 17 two overs before the end. A target of 273 was always going to be a daunting task for Eastern Provincewho were eventually bowled out for 194 with an over to spare. Carl Bradfield,back in the team after resigning as captain, scored a fluent 41 while therest of the batting crumbled against a useful attack. Klusenershowed just why he had been recalled. taking 2 for 28 in 8.5tight overs. Nixon McLean and Jon Kent also took two wickets each.Griqualand West 252 for 7 (Afridi 72, Bosman 36, Albertyn 2-44)beat Boland 235 for 7 (Davids 122*, Afridi 2-29) by 17 runs
ScorecardA whirlwind 72 off 32 balls from Shahid Afridi lifted Griqualand West to 252for 7 against a shocked Boland attack at Kimberley. Afridi posted eight fours and five sixes in his 52-minute knock, and helped his side reach the hundred in the 12th over. A dramatic decrease in the runrate, after the departure of Afridi, saw Griquas reach 252 for 7 at the endof their 45 overs. Henry Davids fought a lone battle for Boland, but even his maiden one-dayhundred was not enough to take his side home. With no real partnershipsdeveloping and the next-best score 22 from Ersamus Hendrikse, Bolandwere never in the hunt.Border 174 for 2 (Kreusch 106*, Pope 47*) beat North West172 for 8 (Celliers 40, Graham 4-32) by 8 wickets
ScorecardAt East London, Border restricted wooden-spoonists North West to 172 for 8,with Liam Graham taking 4 for 32. Grant Celliers (40) and Davie Jacobs (32) werenot able to build on fruitful starts as wickets fell around them. In need of a bonus point, Border made a disastrous start, losing both openerswithin the first seven overs. This brought Steven Pope and the captain,Justin Kreusch, to the crease. Batting at a run a ball and striking 17 superbboundaries, Kreusch went to his maiden one-day hundred, while Pope made surehe kept his end going with 47 not out. Victory in 34.3 overs ensured thatBorder still have an outside chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Bevan Griggs has become something of a match-saver in recent times for Central Districts and he produced the goods again to give his side a winning advantage in their opening State Shield match with Canterbury in Nelson today.He scored his maiden first-class century against India for CD earlier in the season and today his maiden Shield half-century, scored during a vital 103-run partnership with fellow wicket-keeper Ian Sandbrook gave CD the winning impetus in their match.CD were in dire straits in their innings at 85/5, a disappointing situation given they had chosen to bat first, but the glovemen knuckled down and took their chances to help their side to 208/8 which, if not outstanding, was at least competitive.Griggs scored 59 off 61 balls hitting seven fours while debutant Sandbrook took a more supportive role in scoring 57 off 104 balls with five fours and a six.Earlier, Glen Sulzberger had done a good job in restoring order for his side with 29 runs off 62 balls which set the scene for the later recovery.Canterbury must have been delighted to remove Craig Spearman, before he got into his stride, for one run while Jesse Ryder, making his debut, was out for five.Stephen Cunis with three for 32 from his 10 overs and three for 34 to Ryan Burson off nine were the key performers for Canterbury although Chris Martin with one for 30 off eight overs and Carl Anderson with one for 34 provided outstanding support.But needing a good start, Canterbury fell into the same hole as the CD top order and they were 13 for two with Paul Wiseman out for a duck and Michael Papps for 10 with only 13 runs on the board.Shanan Stewart and Gary Stead attempted a recovery, but Stewart was out for 17 and followed soon after by Chris Harris for a duck which meant Canterbury were 36/4 and facing a huge task against CD’s bowlers who were relishing the conditions.Michael Mason suggested he had benefited from his time in the TelstraClear Black Caps camp by conceding only seven runs from the seven overs he bowled and he eventually finished with two for 14 from his 10.Peter Fulton wasn’t prepared to be dictated to however, and he joined with Anderson and Cunis to get Canterbury up to 169 before he was out for 64 scored off 87 balls.He couldn’t avoid the home town bowling of Andrew Schwass and was held at mid off by Brent Hefford who had to have two attempts to make the catch.Cunis maintained the assault but the pressure was on and he was also a victim of Schwass halfway through the 48th over for 33 runs scored off 31 balls.Schwass finished with three for 31 from his 10 overs while the contrast between CD’s off-spinners was remarkable. Campbell Furlong took one for 20, that one being the vital wicket of Stead, while Sulzberger took none for 56 from 10 overs.

The West Indies’ arrival in Zimbabwe last week was completelyovershadowed by the hype surrounding the second Test between Zimbabweand India that started at Harare Sports Club the following day.The West Indies are in Zimbabwe for their first-ever tour sinceZimbabwe attained Test status in 1992 and it will be only their secondTest series after Zimbabwe’s tour of West Indies in March last year.West Indies won the series with a two-nil whitewash. This time too,West Indies are playing two Tests.West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt said that they were looking forwardto a competitive series against Zimbabwe. “We expect it to be a tightseries. Zimbabwe is a very competitive team and they have been doingvery well at home. We have a young team so it will be good experiencefor us and we are looking forward to it.”The triangular one-day series is also going to be very tough. Indiais one the highly rated one-day teams and we have not had a very goodrecord in one-day cricket of late. Zimbabwe is known to be a verycompetitive one-day team and this leaves us as underdogs. So for us toget into the final will be a great achievement.”We lost more games than we won in the last one-day series. InAustralia we got into the final but we struggled to do that. We beatZimbabwe but again it was not easy. We then had a home series againstSouth Africa and again we did not do well. They beat us 5-2 in theseven-match one day series after we won the first match.”But it was valuable experience for us. We have a lot of young playerswho have not had a lot of one-day matches. Our bowling attack is theworst affected as it is very inexperienced. And for the guys to handlepressure against sides like India and Zimbabwe will be a very goodtest.”Zimbabwe’s Test record has not been that impressive. They are, afterBangladesh, the newest Test-playing nation and the victory over Indiaon Monday was a very good win. They have had a very good run at homethis season. They are getting better, producing more players, andproducing a more competitive Test team. We are going through arebuilding phase and they have just come out with a very good winagainst India in the last Test and our series against Zimbabwe will bevery competitive.”I wouldn’t want to single out any players for special mention.Obviously the more senior players have established themselves, thecaptain and the Flower brothers. Zimbabwe has a well-balanced team,improving all the time so we will take them as a team and not asindividuals.”Captain Carl Hooper also spoke about the series against Zimbabwe.”It’s going to be a very good series with Zimbabwe playing some goodcricket at the moment. They have just beaten India in the Test to drawthe series. The tri-series will be close too and I think Zimbabwe area very good one day-side as well as India. We expect to give a goodaccount of ourselves.”The series against South Africa was a good one for us. They (SouthAfrica) are second only to Australia in the world. We are rebuildingthe side and we don’t feel under any pressure at all to win here inZimbabwe. We have a young side and it will take a while for them tocome through.”We are here to play Zimbabwe as a team and we are not going to singleout any individual players for special attention. We are just going toplay some good cricket over the next couple of weeks.”

Newcastle United will do what’s necessary in the transfer market to make ‘significant strides’ next season, Sky Sports journalist Keith Downie says.

The lowdown

Newcastle have lifted themselves away from relegation trouble with a run of 20 points from their last ten Premier League matches.

They’ve now climbed up to 14th place in the table, nine points clear of the drop zone ahead of the run-in.

That means they can afford to look up rather than down in this final stretch of games.

Newcastle’s new owners shelled out nearly £90million on five new signings in January, the largest winter spend from a single club in Premier League history.

The latest

Downie says a strong finish to the season would reduce the pressure on Newcastle ‘to go mad’.

But he still expects a ‘big’ spend in order to take the team to the next level.

“If the team does really well towards the end of the season, there’s not the need to go mad, but they will want to make significant strides in that first season, I think,” he told GiveMeSport.

“So, that’s why I expect them to spend big in the summer.”

The verdict

How much will Eddie Howe and Newcastle’s recruitment team have at their disposal this summer?

Well, The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards says it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact figure, but he’s ‘been told’ that it will be ‘less’ than the sum they spent in January.

He adds, though, that they can inflate that budget through player sales, and that they can bring players through free transfers and loan deals as well.

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And it’s worth stressing that a spend of, say, £80million, would still be fairly sizeable. That would have ranked Newcastle sixth in last summer’s spending table, for instance.

A reasonable goal would be to banish any relegation fears and finish in the league’s top ten next season.

In other news, a source has made this admission about the relationship between Howe & Saint-Maximin.

ScorecardAntigua and Barbuda cruised into the quarter-finals of the Stanford 20/20 with an easy 24-run win against United States Virgin Islands in Coolidge. Chasing 154, Virgin Islands had the wickets in hand but couldn’t quite match the asking rate as they ended at 131 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs.Opting to bat first, Antigua found it difficult to push the scoring early on as the opening bowlers Dane Weston and Hamish Anthony were on target for most part. Windel Cornwall, who came in at the fall of captain Sylvester Joseph’s wicket at 34, began aggressively and added 29 for the fourth wicket with Gavin Williams, the highest stand of the innings.However, a double-strike by Virgin Islands pegged the opposition back as the pair fell in quick succession with no addition to the score. Williams was bowled by the offspinner Calvin Lewis and two balls later, Cornwall was run-out by Sherville Huggins for 31. A lower order revival – including stands of 25 and 30 for the seventh and eighth wickets respectively – pushed Antigua to a competitive 153. Lewis was the most penetrative among the bowlers, finishing with 3 for 16.In reply, Virgin Islands recovered from the early loss of their openers courtesy a 66-run third-wicket stand between Huggins and Junie Anthony. Huggins found the boundary on a more regular basis, hitting seven fours and a six before falling to a top-edge, playing across the line to the legspinner Anthony Martin. He struck again soon after to send back Hamish Anthony and the pressure began to tell on the Virgin Islands as the required run-rate climbed over 12. Junie Anthony remained unbeaten on 32 as his side failed to push on in the middle orders, in the process conceding the match.

Bangladesh A 209 (Sahagir 86, Tushar 52, Broad 3-35) v England A 0 for 0
Scorecard

Stuart Broad wraps up the innings to complete figures of 3 for 35 © TigerCricket.com

Stuart Broad further enhanced his reputation with a haul of 3 for 35 from 16.5 overs, as the England A bowled their Bangladeshi counterparts out for 209 on the first day of the four-day unofficial Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.Broad was well supported by his fellow seamer, Graham Onions, who finished with 2 for 32, while the mainstays of Bangladesh’s innings were the former Test opener, Tushar Imran, who made 52, and Sahagir Hossain Pavel (86).Broad, who also took three first-innings wickets on a dead track in Mirpur last week, dismissed Jahirul Islam without a run on the board, before Onions grabbed Mehrab Hossain jr and Nasiruddin Faruq to reduce the Bangladeshis to 30 for 3.A sixth-wicket stand of 84 between Tushar and Sahagir revived their fortunes. On 129, Tushar eventually holed out to Michael Yardy off the spin of Alex Loudon, but Sahagir found a useful ally in Mohammad Sharif with whom he added another 68 for the seventh wicket before Sharif was run out for 28.Yardy had Sahagir caught by Nick Compton for 86, before Broad returned to mop up the tail. There was just time for one more over before the close, which Will Jefferson safely negotiated.