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More than 10,000 fans are expected to turn out each day for the pair of Twenty20s between New Zealand and West Indies on June 30 and July 1 in Florida. The two T20 matches in 2010 between New Zealand and Sri Lanka received lukewarm response with an average crowd of 4300, but more than twice as many seats have been sold for next weekend’s event.According to Jeff Miller, the event manager at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, about 5000-6000 tickets remain for each day’s play with capacity of the venue set at 16,400. According to another source, approximately 5000 fans from around the Caribbean who have tickets are expected to travel to Florida for the weekend.While the traveling supporters will be a good boost for the local economy, there are still some doubts regarding the appetite for cricket among the local population, which features a sizeable Jamaican expatriate contingent. Cricket Holdings America – the joint venture between the USA Cricket Association and New Zealand Cricket – is aiming to use south Florida and the Central Broward Regional Park to launch an expansion team for its proposed Twenty20 league slated to start next summer. A strong level of support from cricket fans residing in the area is needed to prove it can support a team in such a league.In general, the greater Miami area has a poor reputation for attendance at outdoor pro-sporting events. The NFL’s Miami Dolphins had the second worst home attendance percentage in 2008, a year in which they made the playoffs, and once again ranked 31 out of 32 teams in 2011. Baseball’s Miami Marlins ranked 28th out of 30 teams last year in home attendance percentage and while they have improved on that in 2012 to move up to 12th, that’s still low for a team playing in a brand new $634 million stadium which opened in April.West Indies have yet to name a squad for the Twenty20 matches, but the recent return of Chris Gayle could provide a late surge in ticket sales in the days leading up to the Florida fixtures.

Alviro Petersen will play in South Africa’s second match of their tour to England against Kent, despite carrying an injury on his left foot but Marchant de Lange, the fast bowler, remains a doubt with a back problem. Petersen took no part in the two-day tour game against Somerset in Taunton after picking up the niggle during the squad’s first training day on Saturday. However, in the interests of ensuring he has game time before the Test series he will be part of the team that plays in Canterbury.”Alviro went for a scan yesterday and the results show a minor joint sprain but he will push on to play this weekend,” Lerato Malekutu, South Africa’s media manager told ESPNCricinfo. Petersen and his opening partner Graeme Smith have not batted together since March when they played in a Test match against New Zealand in Wellington. Petersen, though, has had competitive cricket since that tour as he represented Essex in the County Championship and scored a century for them against his former club Glamorgan.Smith had his first outing since recovering from ankle surgery on Monday but scored just 10 before a booming drive took the edge and he was caught behind. Jacques Rudolph, who joined Smith at the top of the order in Petersen’s absence, managed 5 and was out in the same way. Rudolph’s form as an opener does not seem to have improved since he was also unsuccessful in that role during his Test comeback last November. He played five matches without a half-century and was moved down the order to No.6, allowing for Petersen to return to the top of the line-up.Given the composition of the squad South Africa have brought with them to England, Petersen’s fitness is crucial to their plans because they do not have another proven opener. If his injury worsens and he cannot play the first Test, Rudolph may have to do the job and it could allow for both JP Duminy, who has been tipped to bat at No.7 in the first Test, and replacement wicket-keeper Thami Tsolekile to feature in the starting XI.De Lange’s injury is less serious from a team perspective, because he was unlikely to be called upon unless there any of the frontline seamers became unavailable. It could, however, have an impact on his longer term availability which will concern South Africa’s medical staff.In his short international career, De Lange has already had more than one back problem. He also broke both his ankles as a schoolboy and was unable to represent South Africa at Under-19 level. “Marchant’s back scan is scheduled for Thursday and we’ll know more after that,” Malekutu said.South Africa have back up in the bowling department, though. Left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe is part of the squad and played in the tour match against Somerset. Although Tsotsobe had a poor first spell, he returned to take 2 for 9 in his second burst and finished with figures of 3 for 46 in the first innings. He also bowled again on Tuesday for three overs, showing marked improvement from his time in Zimbabwe when he appeared wayward.Allan Donald, South Africa’s bowling coach was pleased with the strides Tsotsobe had taken. “We worked very hard on his intensity,” Donald said. “That was the one thing that was missing in his approach – intensity. With that also comes a bit of shape and when he does that well, he gets a bit of swing.”Donald was also unconcerned about Morne Morkel, who was taken for 24 in his first over by Peter Trego conceded while conceding six an over overall and seemed to have gone backward from the progression in made in New Zealand and the IPL. “When you come on tour, the first thing you want to do is get that form, that confidence, that rhythm,” Donald said. “I’m not displeased about the performance.”

The ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit met with actress Nupur Mehta in connection with a report in March that said that the illegal booking mafia had hired an unidentified Indian actress to “honey trap” cricketers into match-fixing and spot-fixing. Mehta, whose unidentified photograph was used in the story, met with the ACSU’s Alan Peacock at a Mumbai hotel and later told the that she had been “given a clean chit”.The ICC would not comment on the meeting because it had a “no comment policy on the ACSU, which works independently”.The report was written by Mazher Mahmood, the undercover reporter behind the sting operation into spot-fixing. The report did not mention Mehta’s name but carried a pixellated photograph of an actress. The report said: “The ICC is aware of the activities of a Bollywood actress, suspected of attempting to subvert players.” A few hours after the story became public, Mehta stepped forward and identified the photograph as hers. She said while she had met a few cricketers, she did not have any links with bookies. Her lawyer said she would be suing the for Rs 10 crore ($1.78 million) for using her photograph without her permission.The quoted Mehta as saying, “They [the ACSU] are satisfied with the answers I have provided. I have many friends who are cricketers and with whom I socialise… I also know a lot of international cricketers.”It is learnt that the meeting – the exact date is not known but it is believed to have taken place over the weekend – between Mehta and Peacock was part of the ACSU’s routine practices of information-gathering whenever any individual’s name crops up. It was not to be confused with either an interrogation or an exercise in ensuring that Mehta cleared her name. Mehta was talked to by the ACSU because her name came up in the story.What the ACSU is unlikely to have accounted for, however, was her publicising her conversation with the ACSU. On Monday night, a television channel also carried blurred spycam images of the conversation between Mehta and Peacock.

Louis Vorster, the Namibia and South Africa domestic batsman, has died after being shot during an armed robbery in Gauteng.Vorster, 45, was shot by robbers at a fuel station on Tuesday night, while in Gauteng on business, South African papers reported. He had been pulling out of the fuel station in his car when his path was blocked, Gauteng police lieutenant colonel Tshisikhwawe Ndou was reported to have said. He was then shot and a package taken from his vehicle.South-African born Vorster had moved to Namibia five years ago and went on to represent the country. A left-hand batsman, he played 95 first-class matches and 96 List A games, the last of which was in October 2009. In Namibia, he had played a role in the coaching and development of young players.Cricket South Africa expressed its sadness, saying that Vorster would be best remembered for his 174 for Clive Rice’s Transvaal side against Western Province in the traditional New Year’s match in Cape Town in 1988.”It is a very sad day for Southern African cricket,” Jacques Faul, the CSA CEO, said. “Louis did a great deal for cricket both in South Africa and Namibia where he played for and coached the national team.”In the South African context he was the first top player to come out of the North West area and he and his father, who was a leading coach at Volkskool Potchefstroom where Louis went to school, were pioneers in making cricket the popular sport it is at Afrikaans-medium schools today.”Several cricketers tweeted condolences and about their shock at the incident.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dimitri Mascarenhas took his second five-for in Twenty20 cricket and helped Kings XI Punjab open their account•AFP

Dimitri Mascarenhas and Shaun Marsh were the architects of a comfortable win for Kings XI Punjab, their first this IPL after a poor start to the season. Mascarenhas picked up his second five-for in Twenty20 cricket, in conditions perfectly suited to his accuracy and medium pace. His performance helped bowl out Pune Warriors for just 115 on a slow track, and Shaun Marsh ensured the chase was on track with a composed half-century that marked his own return to form.On a Mohali track that had some grass and one that was livened up with some rain last night, the Kings XI seamers justified their captain’s decision to field, deriving swing and movement with some accurate bowling and picking up wickets at a steady pace in the process. After the early loss of Jesse Ryder, who was run out thanks to a late decision against a single by his partner Sourav Ganguly, Praveen Kumar, Parvinder Awana and Mascarenhas went about slowing down the innings considerably. Praveen got significant away movement and surprised the batsmen with ones that nipped back in.The top order hasn’t really fired for the Warriors and the trend continued. After promising much with a couple of delightful shots, Ganguly was dismissed thanks to the introduction of Mascarenhas. He got rid of Ganguly with some away movement that produced a leading edge, and saw off an edgy Marlon Samuels with a lovely delivery that moved just at the right time to clip the off stump.At the other end, with the Warriors soon reduced to 29 for 3, Uthappa was forced to curb his natural instincts but found an able partner in Mithun Manhas, whose swift running and busy approach didn’t allow his side to buckle down significantly. Interspersed between a spate of singles and twos were a couple of useful boundaries from Manhas, a wristy smack over Piyush Chawla’s head standing out.The 26-run stand for the fifth wicket ended when Uthappa holed out against Mascarenhas in his second spell and Steven Smith followed not long after, bowled off an inside edge. Smith and Uthappa had played a critical role in the Warriors’ previous two wins, chipping in with cameos that proved crucial in the outcome, but weren’t able to push on today.Mascarenhas returned to trouble the Warriors more in his final spell, and wasn’t perturbed when struck for a huge six over extra cover by Manhas. He stuck to a straight line, bowling Manhas the very next ball as he tried the scoop, and picked his fifth as Rahul Sharma skied one to deep midwicket; the innings was wrapped up shortly after.Barring a first-ball setback when Paul Valthaty was cleaned up by Ashok Dinda, Kings XI never really strayed off the track in the chase. Marsh, whose last seven Test innings have yielded just 17 runs, began his innings in style, pulling Dinda through midwicket. It didn’t help the Warriors that their fielding was poor, with misfields, overthrows, a missed run-out and a couple of dropped catches preventing them from putting up a fight.Together with Adam Gilchrist, Marsh saw off the early pressure with two crunching boundaries off Samuels through the off side and Gilchrist matched him, smacking Angelo Mathews for successive fours in the last over of the field restrictions. Marsh, who was reprieved when on 31 and 41, was ruthless when offered width and his adeptness at playing the pull allowed the Warriors bowlers little margin for error. Both timing and power were on display, a classy flick over midwicket off Nehra and a towering six over long-on off Rahul Sharma typifying both those features.Chawla, promoted above David Hussey, gave Marsh good company and sealed the win, the Warriors doing their bit to hasten it through some sloppy fielding.

Rahul Dravid, who announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket on Friday, has said the next few years will be interesting and challenging times for Indian cricket and that he believed the next generation of batsmen are capable of achieving more than he had.Dravid’s retirement has coincided with India’s worst phase as a Test team in recent times, having lost eight consecutive Tests in England and Australia and mixed results in one-dayers. Fans and the media have been calling for either a phased or complete revamp of India’s batting line-up and Dravid’s step was the first high-profile departure in the aftermath of the Australia tour. Dravid admitted that the results were painful but said India’s future looks healthy.Rahul Dravid: ” I was nowhere near as talented as some of these kids”•AFP

“We are all disappointed by the fact that we didn’t do well in England and Australia, not just for the cricketers, but for people all around,” Dravid said. “Having said that, I feel Indian cricket is in a good place and I think there are some really exciting young talents coming through. As to who will replace me, there are some waiting in the wings who can definitely step up and take over.”Dravid was India’s best batsman in England in 2011 by a fair distance. However, he suffered an unexpected slump in Australia, scoring 194 runs in four Tests at 24.25. The seniors were persisted with in all four Tests despite failing, while the in-form Rohit Sharma was benched. Virat Kohli’s century in Adelaide, which was followed by a passionate and uninhibited celebration, only increased the calls for phasing out the seniors for accommodating more youngsters. Dravid said talent is not in short supply in India.”They’ve got all the talent and skills required to achieve success at this level,” Dravid said. “When I look back at myself as a 23-year-old when I played for India, and when I look at the talent on show now, I just know that I was nowhere near as talented as some of these kids.”Just being talented doesn’t necessarily mean you will have a successful Test career. There are a lot of things that go with it, how you face the challenges and deal with things that are more internal than external. I think it will be interesting and really fun for me, as I sit back on my couch, to watch some of these young players try to establish themselves over the next two to three years.”Besides Kohli and Rohit, the batsmen vying for the vacancies in India’s Test batting line-up, at No.3 and No.6, include Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja and S Badrinath. However, nobody has firmly established himself in the line-up (Jadeja is yet to play a Test), due to reasons varying from injury, to form, inconsistency in selection and adaptability in foreign conditions. Dravid said he was fortunate his generation was able to nail down a position in the line-up over a period of time.”If you look at my generation, Sachin, Laxman, Sourav, Viru (Sehwag), Gauti (Gambhir)…we were able to establish ourselves. It makes a big difference. If you have people coming in and out, what that means is you are not performing well and it leads to instability. It’s going to be a challenging, interesting time to see how these kids end up.”Dravid stopped short of naming a particular player capable of replacing him. “I wouldn’t like to name one Indian player. I think there is a huge group of players that can be better than Rahul Dravid. I’m sure in 16-17 years’ time you will be attending a press conference of a player who has probably done a lot more than I have.”

Three days ago, Shane Watson was preparing to lead Australia in the third tri-series final against Sri Lanka in Adelaide. A victory, an early-morning departure and several flights later the Australians have arrived in St Vincent for a six-week tour of the West Indies and Watson said acclimatising quickly would be one of the biggest challenges ahead of Friday’s first ODI.Watson will captain Australia for the five-match ODI series in the absence of the injured Michael Clarke and it will be his first overseas tour as leader. He believes Australia can carry their good form from the Commonwealth Bank Series into the Caribbean tour, although they will be without Clarke and are waiting on the fitness of the fast bowler James Pattinson, who has a strained buttock.”Hopefully, we can produce some very good cricket for the fans over here,” Watson told reporters in St Vincent. “We have just come off a very big series in Australia, and hopefully, we can continue the form that we showed and bring it in the games against West Indies.”We are always confident. We know that if we are at the top of our game, we are going to be very hard to beat. Right now, the most important thing is to make sure we have recovered from our long flight and make the best of the next couple of days to make sure we are ready to go for the first match.”Australia have a vastly different squad compared to the last time they toured the West Indies. Only five men from the one-day group that whitewashed West Indies 5-0 in 2008 have made this trip: Watson, Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Brett Lee and Brad Haddin, although Haddin is now the backup wicketkeeper in the ODIs behind Matthew Wade and might not play in the 50-over series.West Indies have also had plenty of changes since then and their squad for the first three ODIs also features only five men who took part in the 2008 series: captain Darren Sammy, vice-captain Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Kemar Roach. West Indies face a tough task to defeat Australia, having not won an ODI series against anyone but Bangladesh, Zimbabwe or the minnows since April 2008, when they beat Sri Lanka 2-1 at home.”Australia are a very competitive team, so they will be looking to come at us hard,” Pollard said. “But we just have to take on board all of the preparation that has been put in place for us and it into the series and try to do our best.”

Ian Bell was forced to miss training on Wednesday after becoming the latest victim of a stomach bug that has affected several members of the England party.While Bell hopes to resume training on Thursday, his current absence is not ideal. Like the rest of England’s middle order, he has struggled to deal with the turning ball and was hoping to utilise every moment of practice time available before the third Test.The rest of the squad trained once again at the ICC Global Cricket Academy, with Jonathan Trott and Ravi Bopara hitting the ball particularly well in the nets.Afterwards James Anderson insisted the mood in the England camp remained upbeat and dismissed any suggestion that there was any split between the bowlers, who have enjoyed a fine tour to date, and the batsmen who, on the whole, have not.”The mood is pretty good, considering the position we’re are in in this series,” Anderson said. “There have not been any more meetings than usual. We always have a debrief after a game and, this time, it was a bit longer. We are an open and honest group and the guys have been open and honest in this last couple of days.”As bowlers, our job is to take 20 wickets in a Test. We thought that might be a difficult job for us out here, but we have probably exceeded our expectations in that department. We’re pretty pleased with the way it has been going.”The batsmen have been fantastic for us over the last couple of years. A lot has been made of two bad games, but the whole team still has confidence in our batting unit. They have been working very hard to correct things over the last couple of days.”At the end of the day, we lost the game and it reflects on the whole team. We don’t think of it as batters against bowlers. There will be times when the bowlers won’t get wickets and the opposition get 600 and we’re out in the field for two days. The batsmen won’t be happy with us then.”We have every faith in our batsmen that they will come out strong in the next Test.”Motivation should remain no problem for England. Despite having already been condemned to a series defeat, the motivation of remaining the top-ranked Test team and gaining some confidence in Asian conditions will, according to Anderson, ensure the tourists approach the final Test in a positive frame of mind.”There are a few important issues for us,” Anderson said. “The biggest thing is that we have another two tours in the subcontinent this year. So to perform well out here is a big thing for us. We want to stay No. 1 in the world as well, and losing Test matches isn’t going to help us achieve that. We’ve got to try to win every Test match we possibly can.”We also have a one-day series coming up, so to take a bit of momentum into that would be useful.”

ScorecardZimbabwe Under-19 sank to their second successive drubbing in the tri-series, losing to Pakistan by 129 runs in Somerset West.Batting first, Pakistan were steered towards a formidable total by their captain Babar Azam who made 85. Umar Waheed contributed a quick 63 off 49 balls in the middle overs to keep up the momentum, as Pakistan surged to 265 for 9. They could have finished with even more, but for Luke Jongwe’s restrictive and incisive spell of 3 for 46.Zimbabwe’s chase began in solid, if somewhat sluggish fashion, with the openers adding 43 in 16.1 overs. Thereafter, the wheels gradually came off, with opening bowler Zia-ul-Haq taking three wickets, and Usman Qadir chipping in with two. Luke Masasire finished with a half-century, but no one else went past 22 as Zimbabwe subsided to 136 all out in the 37th over.

United Bank Limited prevailed in the low-scoring match at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground, beating Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) by 20 runs. Chasing 164, KRL began the day on 4 for 0, and failed in pursuit of what would have been the highest total of the match. United Bank’s charge was led by new-ball bowler Tahir Mughal, who followed up his first-innings’ six-for with a five wicket haul. Shabbir Ahmed and Rumman Raees backed up Mughal well, sharing the other five wickets between them, as none of the KRL batsmen managed to make more than Nayyer Abbas’ unbeaten 40.A team bowling performance helped Lahore Ravi complete an innings-and-six-run win against Hyderabad at Niaz Stadium in Sind. Hyderabad had begun day three on 8 for 1, following on and still trailing by 194. Lahore Ravi did not allow them to get away, striking regularly. Several batsmen got starts, but could not convert them into big innings. Only captain Mir Ali managed a half-century, scoring 66. While all the Lahore Ravi bowlers struck, Waqas Ahmed and Asif Ashfaq were the most successful, claiming three apiece.Karachi Whites were made to follow on by Peshawar at the National Stadium in Karachi, after folding for 241 in response to the visitors’ first-innings total of 440. Karachi Whites had resumed on 46 for 2, and the overnight batsmen Zeeshan Jamil and Behram Khan showed strong resistance. The pair was involved in a 115-run stand as Jamil top scored with a patient 70. But there was nothing on offer from the rest of the line-up, as Karachi Whites lost eight wickets for 101 runs. Riaz Afridi was their destroyer in chief, with 5 for 53. Peshawar struck a parting blow after enforcing the follow-on: Waqar Ahmed trapped Jamil lbw for a duck, as Karachi Whites finished on 43 for 1.The Multan v Lahore Shalimar match at the Multan Cricket Stadium looks to be headed for an exciting final day, after the visitors finished day three on 40 for 2 in pursuit of 216. With fast bowler Asif Raza carving up their top order, Multan would have been in a much worse position had it not been for a fluent 94 from Naved Yasin, a knock that included 14 boundaries. That steered Multan from a wobbly overnight score of 46 for 4 to 250. The lower order adequately supported Yasin with cameos, but most eventually fell to Raza, who finished with a career-best 8 for 101. Mohammad Hamza and Ahmed Dar, Lahore Shalimar’s openers, looked to have settled, but Mohammad Zahid brought the match back into the balance by removing the pair in quick succession just prior to stumps.Quetta finished day three with a 169-run lead over Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), with four wickets in hand, at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Quetta batted through the day, after resuming on 1 for no loss, but had no stand out performer. Almost everyone got off to starts, but were out before touching 20. The innings was held together by a painfully cautious 34 not out off 184 balls from No. 3 batsman Abid Ali. Abid apart, the only batsmen who showed sustained resistance was No. 7, Mohibullah, who top scored with 73. He was out just prior to stumps, after setting up what could be an interesting final day.