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ScorecardAnya Shrubsole marked a solid Twenty20 debut with 3 for 19 to bowl England to a 3-0 series win against South Africa. Shrubsole is the latest to slip off England’s pace conveyor belt and on to the big stage and the 16-year-old, who made her one-day debut recently, rewarded the selectors’ confidence by knocking over the top order.South Africa were in trouble at 31 for 4 and then floundering on 42 for 7 when Ashlyn Kilowan lifted them with 22. It was not enough though, and yet again they failed to make three figures.England had chosen to bat first for the second time on Saturday and again Charlotte Edwards topscored for them, although she had dropped herself down the order. Their batting display was more solid than in the first match of the day, built then as it was solely around Edwards, though Ebony Rainford-Brent bagged her third duck in three matches.Sarah Taylor finally came good with 31 while Beth Morgan chipped in 21 and shared a handy 49-run stand with Edwards for the fifth wicket to take England to 123 for 5. Again their total proved insurmountable.The Twenty20 game is still new to both sides, but England’s superior capabilities told and all experience ahead of next year’s World Twenty20 is welcome. This is what South Africa will have to tell themselves too – they came to England with a view to assessing the competition and now they have a marker as to what they need to do to compete with the top four in the world.South Africa now return home with an aim to keep working hard in provincial cricket, while England have the sturdier test of India, who arrive this week.

Australian batsman Martin Love has pledged his future to Durham by signing acontract for his third consecutive season as the Club’s overseasprofessional.Love has been forced to return to Australia this season because of a bad break to a little finger, which he suffered in June. But he will return for season 2003 when the Club will be allowed two overseas professionals for the first time.He says: “I am thrilled to be coming back next year where I can pick up where I left off, I just hope the injuries are kinder to me.”Durham Chairman Bill Midgley added: “We are delighted that Martin will be rejoining us next year. He is a fantastic batsman and his professional attitude provides our younger players with an ideal role model.”

Graham Thorpe has spoken of his delight at his selection in England’s Ashes squad following his decision to take a complete break from cricket earlier this summer.Thorpe hasn’t played since the first Test between England and India at Lord’s back in July, and plans to make his Surrey comeback in tomorrow’s championship match against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl.”I’m delighted to have been picked having not played for five or six weeks,” Thorpe said. “There was a lot of doubt as to whether I’d go and it’s up to me now to repay the faith the selectors have shown in me.”I feel the break has given me the chance to clear my mind and address the off-field issues which were there before. Everything is now more settled in my private life and I’m looking forward to playing cricket again.”I’m hoping to play for Surrey tomorrow and I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. It will be nice to have a bat in my hand again and I know that I’m going to have to work hard in the run-up to the tour because Australia is a tough place to tour.”Durham fast bowler Steve Harmison is also thrilled by his selection alongside Glamorgan’s Simon Jones.”It’s everyone’s dream to play against Australia, and I’m no different to anyone else and I’m going out there to enjoy it,” Harmison said.”I got injured at a bad time and that didn’t help, but I was involved in four Test matches this summer and played in one that I really enjoyed and I thought I’d done well enough to be in with a shout of making the squad.”Australia will be tough. To be a great side you have to beat Australia and I think we can go there and give them a good game. I think this is the best chance we’ve had for a long time to beat them, with batters in form and firepower amongst the bowlers."Jones added: “It’s been very frustrating for me having this injury over the last couple of months and now I’m really pleased the selectors have shown faith in me – I’m going to be working hard over the next few weeks to make sure I’m fully fit.”I think the winter I spent with the Academy in Australia has prepared me well for what’s going to come and I know in my own mind what to expect. It’s going to be really hard work. They’re the best side in the world but I’m looking forward to it.”Essex wicket-keeper James Foster, who will go on the tour as understudy to Alec Stewart, was relieved to be selected after missing most of the summer with two successive injuries.”It has gone pretty badly to be honest. It has not been a summer cricket-wise because of injuries so this has been absolutely great news and a great relief. It was a tough one. I did have a lot of doubts but was delighted to hear the news today.”The way this year has gone I didn’t know what was going to happen. I have a lot to prove this winter. I was disappointed about getting injured but I am going to have to try to do my best as understudy to Alec and just be a professional on the tour.”Surrey fast bowler Alex Tudor admitted he was surprised at his omission, although he will still travel to Australia as part of the England academy.Tudor will still travel to Australia this winter, but only as part of the Academy side.”I am surprised and disappointed not to be included in the Ashes tour party,” Tudor said. “It is every player’s dream to tour Australia and I had hoped to retain my place in the England squad.”However, I am still only 24 and hope that if I continue to work hard on my game I can still fulfil my dream. I wish the team the best of luck and hope they can bring the Ashes back home.”

Blues coach Steve Rixon admits his patience has run out with the NSW cricket team and he’ll break with tradition by bolstering his under-performing Pura Cup squad with interstate players this season.”We are having a look at a couple of guys from interstate for the first time ever,” said Rixon who was appointed to another one year term with the Blues today.”The patience has run out and there is a lot we have to do.”While the Blues have performed strongly in the ING Cup with back-to-back trophies in the one-day competition over the past two seasons, their four-day form has left a lot to be desired.After a promising start last season NSW crashed to finish last in the Pura Cup.A fragile middle order carried most of the blame for the performances with only Michael Bevan a regular contributor.Rixon would not reveal who he was considering bringing into the team but the Blues have been linked with West Australian batsman Simon Katich among others.”We’ve got a job to do with the four-day game,” Rixon added.”And that’s why I renewed (my contract) because the reality is when I start something I like to finish it.”After coaching New Zealand for three years from 1996 before returning to his old job with the Blues, Rixon welcomed the flexibility that a shorter term offered for both himself and Cricket NSW.”I love cricket and love being involved with it but if I felt that I wasn’t contributing or making ground then it would be time for a new challenge and I’ve never been short of those,” he said.”This means there is an option, so if it doesn’t work out this year it gives both parties a chance to move on.”I am simply the sort of person that leaves the door open for both parties – I always leave room to renegotiate.”Fresh after a couple of weeks on holiday, Rixon has returned to his post with vigour and is working towards patching up the NSW side.”I’m back fresh with some different ideas and some new thoughts towards how we’re going into the new millennium,” he said.

The day after reaching the national finals of the ESCA Under 13’s competition, Somerset went to Dowty CC in Gloucester to take on the old rivals Gloucestershire.Batting first Somerset score 225, with Patick Ost top scoring with 48, Ben Lyon making 32 and Bradley Derrick 30.In reply Gloucestershire were bowled out for 83, giving Somerset victory by 142 runs. There were two wickets each for Ben Lyons, Adam Howarth, and Alex Barrowman.

Some 66 overs into South Africa’s second innings Australia found inspiration under Durban’s blazing sun from an unlikely quarter. Mark Waugh, whom some speculated might be axed for this match, grabbed two unexpected wickets to keep Australia in what has been an extraordinary third and final Castle Lager Test match.Waugh’s breakthrough unlocked the South African middle order after a century from Herschelle Gibbs should have pretty much wrapped up his team’s first victory over Australia this summer. All this Australian team needs, though, is a scent of blood and before the South Africans had caught their breath, they had slipped from 216 for one to 232 for four.The victory target, after Australia had been bowled out for 186 seven overs into the day, is 335. At stumps South Africa were 264 for four and on balance you would probably have to favour the home team. But that is to assume that the locals are a happy, settled team, free from anxiety and confident of their own abilities.In fact, the opposite is true after five successive drubbings from Australia. The match is still there to be won by South Africa, but it will be a test of their nerve and it is a fact that more often than not this summer, South Africa have been found wanting whenever they have tried to go toe to toe with Australia.Waugh was brought into the attack by his brother Steve pretty much as a weapon of last resort. None of the four frontline bowlers had made an impression on a pitch that, despite all that happened on Saturday, continues to play as well as the batsmen of either side could have wished for.Waugh struck with his 11th ball when Graeme Smith top-edged a pull for Adam Gilchrist to allow the ball to drop into his gloves. The catch ended a 74-run second wicket partnership of which Smith’s contribution was 42.Gibbs then tried to hit Waugh over midwicket in the offspinner’s next over, failed to get the distance and was gone, caught by Damien Martyn for 104. It was his sixth Test century and his first against Australia. It was a splendid exhibition of his talents, but it was also a silly way to get out and at a bad time for his team.Neil McKenzie made just 4 before Shane Warne claimed his 100th wicket against South Africa, a magnificent catch by Matthew Hayden as he ran away towards the boundary from wide mid on. Ashwell Prince almost ran himself out and was nearly bowled hitting across the line against Waugh but managed, somehow, to stay with Jacques Kallis until stumps.It had all seemed so promising earlier in the day for South Africa. Steve Waugh took his score to 42, thereby ensuring that his Test average stands exactly at 50 now, before he was splendidly caught at second slip by Kallis off Makhaya Ntini and Glenn McGrath had his off stump removed by the first ball he faced.South Africa needed a solid start and it was given them by Gibbs and Gary Kirsten. The partnership, 142, was only the seventh century stand by a South African opening pair against Australia and the third since South Africa’s readmission and while it might not have broken Australia, it would certainly have brought renewed hope flooding into the South African dressing room.For once the Australian bowlers looked short of ideas and it took a spectacular run out to end the stand. Martyn’s sharp pickup and throw was gather by Brett Lee who demolished the wicket completely with Kirsten nowhere in sight. Kirsten had made 64 and, probably, most South Africans would have preferred the unpredictable Gibbs to have been the victim, but in this instance, it was not a matter of choice.Gibbs, though, played with greater restraint and common sense than he has shown all summer. He was at the crease for just under five hours, and although his downfall finally came about by way of an ill-judged shot, he could at least argue that he had made few other mistakes in energy-sapping heat.Australia took the second new ball three overs before the close and will have a final fling with it on Monday morning. South Africa need 71 to win and Australia have to take six wickets. It is hard to believe that the tourists will not back themselves to win. The real question, though, is whether South Africa believe they can finish the match off. They have Jacques Kallis, on 35, at the crease and you tend to think that if he stays there, the home side will prevail. If he falls early on Monday morning, though, then all bets would be off.

The Somerset and England bowler, Andrew Caddick, has received a reprimand under the ECB’s new discipline code following an incident during Somerset’s Frizzell County Championship Division One fixture with Yorkshire at Taunton.Caddick was reported by the umpires David Constant and Roy Palmer for a Level One breach of the new code (showing dissent at the umpire’s decision by word or action.)The penalty remains in force for a period of 12 months. Any further level 1breach will result in an automatic imposition of three penalty points.The ECB’s new discipline code came into force at the start of this season and Caddick is the first player to be penalised in this way.

Paul Adams, the unorthodox left-arm wrist spinner, will stay on with the South African squad in the Caribbean for the seven-match one-day series against the West Indies starting in Jamaica on Saturday.Adams is effectively the third-choice spinner name for the one-day squad following the return to South Africa of Nicky Boje who has had surgery to repair an injured tendon in his left shoulder and a fractured finger that cost Boje’s named replacement, Gulam Bodi, a place in the squad.Bodi fractured the little finger on his left hand playing Lancashire League cricket on Saturday.Adams, who came in for Boje in the South African team for the fifth and final Test match against the West Indies in Jamaica, has struggle to regain his form following the dislocation of a finger in the fifth Test match against England at the beginning of 2000.He has never quite established himself as an international one-day bowler, mostly because his unusual action frequently makes for one or two loose deliveries an over. He has, however, played 15 ODIs over the years since making his debut against England in 1996 and he played in the 1996 World Cup quarterfinal against the West Indies in Karachi.Adams will effectively be the second spinner in the one-day squad with Boland’s Justin Ontong having arrived in the West Indies over the weekend.

There are victories, and there are notable triumphs. These aregenerally in the nature of historic wins ­ the first victory inTest cricket, the first victory over a particular country, thefirst rubber triumph, the first win overseas, and so on. But insuch a plethora of historic firsts, an event that took place onMarch 10 1971 is remembered even today by Indian cricket fanswith noticeable fondness. For old-timers, it serves as a tripdown memory lane, while for a later generation, it is a reminderof a great event.

Even as Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was being swept back intopower with a huge majority, not all eyes were on events in NewDelhi. It was a watershed election in the history of the nation,but some 10,000 miles away, halfway around the globe, anotherwatershed event was taking place, one that held the interest ofnot just cricket followers in this country. India had won a Testagainst the West Indies at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port ofSpain. To some of today’s generation, not familiar with Indiancricket history, the reaction could well be, “So what is the bigdeal?” On the contrary, it was a triumph worth going gaga over,as I shall try and explain.Before the Indian team embarked on the Caribbean tour in February1971, the two countries had played 23 Tests dating back to 1948.The record read – West Indies won 12, drawn 11. As if this wasnot bad enough from an Indian viewpoint, the startling fact wasthat not once in all those matches did India even take a firstinnings lead! India had beaten England, Australia, Pakistan andNew Zealand, had scored rubber triumphs over three of thoseopponents, and had even registered three victories outside thesub-continent. But when it came to playing the West Indies, theIndians seemed to suffer some kind of mental block.Over the years, batsmen like Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott, FrankWorrell, Rohan Kanhai, Gary Sobers, Basil Butcher and Clive Lloydhad annihilated the bowlers, while the Indian batsmen came up acropper while facing up to the fiery pace of Wesley Hall, RoyGilchrist and Charlie Griffith, and even the spin of AlfValentine, Lance Gibbs and Sobers.This then was the background to the tour. Even though the WestIndies were going through a rebuilding process following theretirement of some stalwarts, even though the Indian team had anew look about it, including a new captain in Ajit Wadekar, noone gave the Indians any chance of even stretching the WestIndies, who still had Sobers, Kanhai, Lloyd and Gibbs in theirranks. Winning the rubber was of course out of the question.And yet, in the first Test at Kingston, India not only took thefirst-innings lead but also forced the West Indies to follow on.Dilip Sardesai, with his now-legendary innings of 212, was verymuch the star. The shock had been registered, but the home teamput up a much better show in the second innings to save the matchcomfortably. Following the dramatic events, there wasconsiderable interest in the second Test.Could India pull off something similar again, or was the SabinaPark performance just a fluke? When the West Indies weredismissed for 214 on the opening day, it was obvious that thenew-look Indian side meant business. Sardesai again lead the wayagain with 112, and with useful contributions from Ashok Mankad(44), Eknath Solkar (55) and an exciting debutant in 21-year-oldSunil Gavaskar (65), India managed to take a lead of 138, despitethe gallant effort of Jack Noreiga’s nine for 95 in only hissecond Test. At the close of play on the third day, West Indieswere 150 for one, and the pattern of play seemed to be followingthat of the first Test.But there was a dramatic change in the script on the fourth day,Wednesday, March 10. The Indian bowling attack was not even atfull strength, with Erapalli Prasanna injured. But SrinivasVenkatraghavan rose to the occasion, bagging five wickets for 95runs. That wayward genius, Salim Durrani, chipped in with thewickets of Lloyd and Sobers in successive overs ­ the latter fora duck. Ere long, West Indies were all out for 261, leaving Indiawith a modest victory target of 124.About the only interest inherent now was whether India wouldfinish it off on the fourth evening or whether the match would goto a fifth day. With Gavaskar (67 not out) leading the way, Indiawere home with a day to spare, the debutant completing amemorable debut by hitting the winning boundary. Fittinglyenough, it was the 25th Test between the two countries, and withthe remaining three Tests being drawn, the victory enabled Indiato win a rubber against the West Indies for the first time. Thewin at the Queen’s Park Oval was a definitive turning point inIndian cricket history, as future events proved.Little wonder, then, that the mention of March 10 1971 to anyold-timer will have his eyes sparkling with delight in a moment,and he will be “off” on that trip down memory lane again.

Stuart Broad has been rested from the one-day series against South Africa ahead of the World Twenty20 where he will be captain.Broad, whose lack of pace during the Test series was highlighted although he finished as England’s leading wicket-taker, will return to lead the team in the three-match Twenty20 series against South Africa before the squad departs for Sri Lanka.He is the only notable absentee from the one-day squad – Kevin Pietersen’s continued exclusion was not a surprise – which beat Australia 4-0 earlier in the season, a result which helped England to the top of the ODI rankings.Chris Woakes, the Warwickshire allrounder who has been around numerous squads this season, will hope that Broad’s absence will open the way for him.Ravi Bopara is back in the England set-up after pulling out of the Test series against South Africa due to personal issues. He returned for Essex at the weekend, making 1 against Netherlands in the CB40, and an agreement has been reached for him to play for Gloucestershire against the South Africans in a 50-over match at Bristol on Wednesday to help him prepare for the series.Geoff Miller, the national selector, said: “We are grateful to both Essex and Gloucestershire for agreeing to allow Ravi Bopara to play for Gloucestershire against South Africa on Wednesday. Ravi has had some time away from the game and we feel that he will benefit from some extra cricket ahead of the start of the NatWest Series and with no games for Essex before we begin our preparations for the first match this is an ideal opportunity for him.”All players in the 14-man NatWest ODI Series squad were involved in the recent series victory against Australia. We will be looking for this side to build on the recent success we have had and to show further signs of improvement against a strong South Africa side.”Squad Alastair Cook (capt) James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter, Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes