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Tamim Iqbal has said being named one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year is all the more special for the fact that he is the first Bangladeshi to secure the honour. However, he added, nothing he’s experienced to date compares to the thrill of competing on home soil in the recent World Cup.Tamim, who produced a pair of captivating centuries at Lord’s and Old Trafford during Bangladesh’s tour of England in May and June last year, was one of four players selected for the 2011 Almanack, alongside Eoin Morgan, Jonathan Trott and Chris Read.”It really means a lot to me,” Tamim told ESPNcricinfo’s Switch Hit podcast. “It was always a dream to receive an international award, and an award like Wisden is special so I couldn’t ask for more. But the best thing is that Tamim Iqbal the individual doesn’t matter, Tamim Iqbal from Bangladesh is the biggest thing. For someone from Bangladesh to be in Wisden, that’s the biggest thing that can happen.”Tamim showed the ferocity of his talents during England’s tour of Bangladesh in February and March 2010, when he followed a brilliant ton in the opening ODI in Mirpur with a succession of hard-hitting half-centuries in the subsequent Test series, including an innings of 85 from 71 balls in Dhaka that, until he played one stroke too many against James Tredwell, looked set to result in a century before lunch on the first morning of the match.However, his exploits in the return series two months later were even more remarkable. In his first Test in English conditions, he flogged an attack including James Anderson and Graeme Swann for 55 from 62 balls in the first innings, and then followed that with a blistering knock of 103 from 100 to become the first Bangladeshi to have his name up on the Lord’s honours boards. The following week in Manchester he repeated the dose with a 114-ball 108 in the first innings, to take his Test record against England to five fifties in six innings.”Before coming to England, I had no experience of playing in England,” said Tamim. “Playing England in England is a very difficult opponent, everyone knows that, but I was working very hard on it, and when I came to Lord’s for the first time, it was just a dream come true. My father used to tell me about Lord’s when I was really young, so to score a hundred there, I couldn’t ask for more. I was the happiest man in the world, happier than Bill Gates!”Since then, however, Tamim and his team-mates have been on a remarkable journey through the 2011 World Cup – a campaign that encompassed memorable victories over England and Ireland, and a pair of depressing defeats at the hands of West Indies and South Africa, in which they were bowled out for scores of 58 and 78. Their failure to qualify for the quarter-finals sealed the fate of the coach, Jamie Siddons, whose contract has not been renewed by the BCB, but overall Tamim insisted that the team’s memories of the campaign were positive.”I am a Muslim, and in Muslim countries, Eid is the biggest festival you can get,” he said. “But I think the World Cup was bigger than Eid. For guys who didn’t see it up close, it was just unbelievable. It was as if the whole country was on vacation at one time.”Before we started the tournament our aim was to win three matches, one against one of the major teams and the two Associates [Ireland and Netherlands],” added Tamim. “So to be very honest, we achieved both of those aims. But the trouble was the 78 and 58 against West Indies and South Africa. If we could have played a bit better, it would have been a perfect World Cup. Luck wasn’t in our favour either, with West Indies losing to England when they were in total control of the game [in Chennai]. But all in all, except those two games, the World Cup was pretty good, I think.”The unquestionable highlight, however, was the thrilling two-wicket victory over England in Chittagong, in which Tamim’s turbo-charged 38 from 26 balls gave his side a flying start in pursuit of 226, before Shafiul Islam and Mahmudullah hauled them over the line with an over to spare.”That was a very important game,” said Tamim. “We were bowled out for 58 [in the previous game], and we got a lot of shit from a lot of people. We wanted to prove ourselves with a win against England and we managed to do so. We bowled, fielded and batted pretty well, and after that a lot of guys had to shut their mouths, you know?”The reaction to that West Indies defeat was one of the undoubted low points of Bangladesh’s World Cup experience, after a section of the fans outside the Sher-e-Bangla stadium threw rocks at the West Indies bus as it pulled out of the car park. Tamim, however, recognised that such inflamed passions were unavoidable at times, given the weight of expectation attached to the team.”The public are very different from England,” he said. “These things are expected in Asia, because in Bangladesh you need to win everything you are playing. We don’t mind because they still come to watch all our games and support us tremendously. We have no regrets and we are very happy they are still supporting us, and I’m sure they will support us throughout our careers.”There have been more setbacks since Bangladesh’s World Cup elimination. They are currently 2-0 down in their three-match series against Australia, having been mauled in the second game by an extraordinary performance from Shane Watson, who rampaged to 185 not out from 96 balls, with 15 fours and 15 sixes. He was on course to become the second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to post an ODI double-century when he ran out of runs to chase in the 26th over.When asked what it was like to field against a batsman in such a mood, Tamim was utterly candid. “To be honest, I was not fielding the ball, the crowd was doing the job,” he said. “That type of innings comes once in a lifetime, you can’t play them every time you want. When someone is playing in that manner, there is nothing you can do, whether it’s against Bangladesh or England.”All Tamim could do was sit back and take notes. “There are lessons to be learnt about how cleanly he hit the ball,” he said. “With a very good technique, you don’t need to hit with hardness, but keep your balance and hit big sixes. It was a thing we learnt and it was a great experience – not an enjoyable one because it was against Bangladesh – but in the end it was a fantastic innings, I need to tell you that.”With the World Cup out of the way, and one last game against Australia to come, the end of a long season is nigh for Tamim. But he is already itching for the next campaign. “Every new tournament we play, it’s almost like a festival,” he said. “The people in Bangladesh are crazy about cricket. If we can do something special in our last game, that will be the perfect finish. After that, we have a few months’ break, then we regroup for our tour of Zimbabwe. Sometimes you need some vacation to get your mind right, and hopefully we’ll come back and do something special.”

Before he led India to a World Cup victory, MS Dhoni’s earliest identity as a cricketer had been attached to the Twenty20 format. It was India’s victory in the World Twenty20 under Dhoni that was one of the factors that led to the speedy launch of the Indian Premier League. Dhoni then led his team, the Chennai Super Kings, to a double last year, winning the IPL and the Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa.Yet, more than once during this World Cup, Dhoni has demonstrated that he is conscious of the course taken by Indian cricket in the last three decades and where Saturday’s victory now stands.At the media conference following India’s six-wicket victory, Dhoni was asked by an English reporter to explain what the World Cup victory actually meant to Indians who, Dhoni was told, did not enjoy much success in other world-level sport. Yuvraj Singh, the World Cup’s Player of the Tournament sitting next to Dhoni, raised his eyebrow, and his captain took the opportunity to say that India had been growing as a nation that supports sport, citing the examples from shooting, badminton, hockey and football.But cricket, Dhoni said, “was special” to Indians because of the change that the 1983 victory achieved for Indian cricket. “People started loving the sport and you then saw two individuals making their debut, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar.” He then said that the successful careers of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, which began in 1996, marked the next step. “This was the chain of players because of whom we are in this position right now. We earn a lot of money, we get a lot respect and what we are trying to do is to pass it onto the next generation.”Three of the players mentioned by Dhoni were at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday night; Tendulkar a part of Dhoni’s team, Kumble in the audience and new commentator-columnist Ganguly, who stood at the boundary on the far side of dressing room from where he watched the Indian team go past on its lap of honour with Tendulkar sitting on Yusuf Pathan’s shoulders. Ganguly, who led India to the final of the 2003 World Cup and who still responds to India’s performance as if he were a part of the team, was beaming. “What a win,” he said, “what a performance.”Dhoni was asked to compare his two biggest victories as India captain and said, that while every format was “special” in its own way, “I have always loved the ODI format. Because I always think you see a lot of variety in one-day cricket.” The final he said had been the best example. “In this game, we lost a couple of early wickets and then you have two batsmen struggling to get runs.” He said that the one-day game showed “a glimpse” of what may not be Test cricket but was a shortened version of its demands.”Two batsmen looking for survival and looking to get runs at the same time. At the end you saw a slog, from Yuvraj and me. And at the end of it,” Dhoni said, “you see a result.” It is a summary that would please the ICC enormously which, after the unfortunate 2007 event in the Caribbean, has needed a successful World Cup to prove to its community that the three formats of the sport could survive. Between that World Cup and this one, there has been a mushrooming of the Twenty20 leagues, and was seen as a threat to the 50-over format. Now with the captain of the 2011 World Cup winners, and the biggest audience and market in the sport, enthusiastically endorsing the format, the ICC has further proof of what it has always maintained: that the 50-over game can play a few more innings.

At some level it probably suits Pakistan that the focus on them at these big dos is usually on the circus of controversy and scandal that travels with them. “Look here come Pakistan after the death of their coach, here come Pakistan after the spot-fixing brouhaha, here come Pakistan after the terror attacks, here come Pakistan with their 17th captain this month.” Generally, it tends to be overlooked – though probably not by their opponents – that they come with a hefty bounty of talent, capable of equally hefty things. It is why no right-minded, field-based discussion can ever ignore them.This World Cup, for the first time since 1999, they bring genuinely fresh personnel, players waiting to make a name, not players living off their names. Waqar Younis, coach and veteran of a number of World Cup heartbreaks, sifted patiently through a raft of spot-fixing questions before a practice session in Hambantota, ahead of his side’s opener against Kenya on Wednesday, before coming to the crux of his job: his team.There is, as Waqar noted, a blend in this squad, of youth and experience, of flair and pragmatism, of stars and shopfloor assistants. “In every big tournament there are some youngsters, and they will be in other teams as well, who are the livewires of the tournament,” he said.”We too have such players like Ahmed Shehzad, who has played two very good knocks, and I hope that Umar Akmal, another youngster, can come good here. Younis [Khan] is in good form. We have Wahab Riaz, who we hope will do well. We have got a good blend, good spinners, fairly good fast bowlers. All that matters is that we click at the right time.”Over six months, significant ODI wins in three different countries has shown as much. What has worried Waqar has been an inability to finish off close games, or longer contests such as bilateral series. Eight of their 19 ODIs since Waqar took over last year have been close ones: of their 10 losses, three have been by 24 runs or less and two, by three wickets and four wickets that went to the last over. Of their eight wins, two have been by a wicket, one by two wickets and another by 23 runs; two bilateral series have needed a fifth, deciding game – which they’ve lost – and six-game series they won 3-2. Almost always, they are nearly there.”It carried on for a while, when we played the Asia Cup, World Twenty20 and then even in England we came very, very close to the games but couldn’t finish it,” Waqar said. “Eventually we started finishing in New Zealand and yes, it is something which you can improve. Even I go out and learn something new from a youngster in cricket every day, so we are on a learning curve. We have learnt how to finish and make sure we don’t get to the situation in the first place where the game gets tight.”Under normal circumstances Kenya should not provide too stern a challenge, but given Ireland and all that, understandably Waqar is wary. “Everyone knows this is an important tournament so every match is important, whether the opponents are Kenya or Australia. We will play as if we are playing against any big team. We will not take anything lightly and go out to win every match.”Calling it a personal mission to undo miserable past World Cups would be overdoing it, but a good run here will mean something to Waqar. At his absolute peak in 1992, he had to pull out of the squad at the last minute in Australia with stress fractures of the back; he later greeted his team-mates, with a tear in his eye, at the airport in Lahore as they returned with the trophy. In 1996 he was hit for 40 runs in his last two overs of the quarter-final, swinging the match decisively in favour of India.He was a peripheral member of the 1999 World Cup squad, playing in just one game – the loss to Bangladesh. In 2003, he was captain as Pakistan crashed out in the first round. “I don’t have any regrets, because 1992 was a glory for Pakistan cricket. I wasn’t part of that team but that does not matter. I have been part of several World Cups, this is different role I’ve got, different challenges and hopefully, if as a cricketer I didn’t succeed in the World Cup, this is my opportunity as a coach.”

The 19-year-old Leicestershire seamer Nathan Buck has been called up to the England Lions squad for their tour of the Caribbean, as a replacement for Steven Finn, who will remain with the senior squad for the duration of their one-day series in Australia.Buck has been drafted into the Lions squad for warm-up period of the tour, which begins on Friday with a two-day game against a St Kitts/Nevis combined XI, as well as the opening two first-class fixtures against Leeward Islands and Barbados.Finn, who has taken the place of the injured Tim Bresnan in England’s ODI squad, is then scheduled to join the Lions in the Caribbean ahead of their third fixture against Trinidad & Tobago starting on February 18, with the Warwickshire fast bowler Chris Woakes scheduled to replace him for the second half of the tour.Buck had been selected for the ECB’s Fast Bowling programme this winter and after undergoing a conditioning programme at the National Cricket Performance Centre at Loughborough before Christmas was due to fly out to Chennai shortly to work with former Australian quick bowler Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation.Finn and Woakes are the latest graduates from the Fast Bowling programme to win full international recognition by England with fellow FB programme products Maurice Chambers, Jade Dernbach and James Harris also progressing to the Lions squad this winter.ECB Performance Director David Parsons said: “Nathan had an excellent summer with Leicestershire last year taking 49 County Championship wickets in his first full season in County cricket and the Lions tour will provide him with an excellent opportunity to further demonstrate his potential.”

The BCCI has suffered its second legal setback in consecutive days with a division bench of the Bombay High Court dismissing its appeal against the court’s order staying the termination of Kings XI Punjab. The order, which comes a day after a similar High Court decision favouring Rajasthan Royals, allows Punjab to continue being part of the tournament and to participate in next month’s player auction.In its ruling, the bench – comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Anoop Mohata – said the entire basis of the letter of termination issued by the BCCI to the Mohali franchise was “erroneous and flawed”.”It is abundantly clear that BCCI wanted to terminate the contract on the basis of what was factually incorrect,” it observed. “Termination was anything but fair and was wholly arbitrary.”The order was welcomed by Kings XI Punjab. “We have been on the right side since 2008,” co-owner Ness Wadia, said. “We have declared everything.” Another co-owner, the Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, called it a vindication of the franchise’s stand. “I feel happy. It’s good that things worked in our favour.”The BCCI had appealed against the interim stay issued by the High Court on December 8, which allowed the team back into the IPL subject to certain conditions, including retaining its shareholding pattern, fulfilling pending player payments and paying the BCCI guarantee money in case the final judgement goes against them.Justice S Vajifdar, who had issued the interim stay, said at the time that “prima facie” Punjab had a strong case against the expulsion and the “interim injunction” was only just. As part of his conditions for the stay, he also said that the four main owners – Wadia, Zinta, Mohit Burman and Karan Paul – needed to hold no less than 51% of the shares in KPH Dream Cricket Pvt. Ltd – the rights-holding company of the franchise – until the final judgement.Punjab will also have to clear its pending payments to its players, an amount running up to Rs.35 crore ($7.77 million), guarantee an amount of $18 million over the next two years (at the rate of $9 million per year) to protect player payments in case the franchise participates in the league, and $3.5 million to the BCCI as security towards any damage incurred by the board in case the final verdict goes against Punjab.The verdict comes a day after the High Court upheld the arbitrator’s stay on Rajasthan’s expulsion from the IPL, with the judge stating clearly that the facts were in the franchise’s favour. The decisions continue the trend of setbacks suffered by the BCCI in the courts as they attempt to block the two teams from being part of the 2011 tournament. The board still has the option of appealing the verdict to the Supreme Court.In October the BCCI had terminated Punjab and Rajasthan, holding the franchises guilty for violating the franchise agreement on three counts, including changes of ownership that went unreported to the board.

Multan‘s misery in the tournament continued as they sunk to their eighth consecutive defeat after being skittled out for 63 against Sialkot at the Gymkhana Ground in Okara. They had conceded a lead of 80 on the first innings and a century from Sialkot captain Mansoor Amjad with support from the tail resulted in a target of 309. Given Multan’s form this tournament, Sialkot were favourites to clinch the game. Multan simply failed to measure up, losing by 245 runs. It just took the two fast bowlers Waqas Ahmed and Prince Abbas to finish them off as the pair shared nine wickets. Only two batsmen reached double-figures and 16.5 overs was all it took for the innings to finish. Multan remained at the bottom of the table while Sialkot moved up to seventh place.Pakistan International Airlines thumped Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited by an innings and 122 runs at the Margzhar Cricket Ground in Islamabad. SNGPL had been reeling at 99 for 7 in response to PIA’s 401 at the end of the second day, but did put up a resistance on the third, with their lower order taking the score to 161. But they only survived 35.5 overs in the second innings after following on, capitulating to medium pace of Aizaz Cheema, who grabbed 6 for 29, to be bowled out for 118. PIA, after playing seven games, are now fourth on the table with 36 points while SNGPL are eighth.Rawalpindi tightened their grip over Karachi Blues at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Rawalpindi had gained a first-innings lead on the second day and thanks to Muzammil Nizam’s unbeaten 96, were able to push it to 95. Karachi struggled in their second innings as seamers Sadaf Hussain and Rashid Latif grabbed four wickets each to leave their opponents at 176 for 8, only 81 ahead, at stumps. Akbar-ur-Rehman top scored for Karachi with 49 and while others go starts, they failed to push on. Rawalpindi are currently sixth on the table, Karachi are 11th.Faisalabad turned the tables on Islamabad at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, and are in a position to win their contest after being behind the eight-ball on the first two days. A solid performance from the middle order helped put them in control on the third day, extending their lead from 104 overnight, with six wickets in hand, to 340 in the second innings. Wicketkeeper Mohammad Salman starred with a century, captain Ijaz Ahmed jnr made 94 and Abdul Rauf chipped in with a half-century. Rauf and Ijaz added 126 for the fifth wicket, while Salman remained unbeaten to stretch the score to 386 for 9 declared. Set a target of 341, Islamabad were in a precarious situation at stumps, at 83 for 3. Faisalabad and Islamabad are square on nine points, but are placed ninth and tenth respectively.In the battle of the top two teams in the table, Habib Bank Limited who looked good to retain their place at No.1 as they piled on a 270-run lead in the first innings at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. Water and Power Development Authority were in trouble at stumps, at 9 for 2 and still 261 behind on the lead. At 250 for 3 overnight, already having gained a first-innings lead, HBL set about strengthening their position. Captain Hasan Raza progressed to score 78, while wicketkeeper Humayun Farhat, top scoring with an unbeaten 117, batted with the tail to stretch HBL’s score to 509 for 9 declared. His innings was power-packed, taking just 84 deliveries and featuring 16 fours and four sixes. The pressure on WAPDA was enough to yield two wickets before the close and a tough final day awaits them.The contest between National Bank of Pakistan and Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot is interestingly poised, though not with any outright result in sight. In response to NBP’s first-innings score of 370, ZTBL reached 326 for 6 at stumps on the third day. Haris Sohail remains the key man, as he struck an unbeaten 103 after the top order had given a good start to the innings. Sohail struck 18 fours and resisted medium-pacer Uzair-ul-Haq’s spell of four wickets. ZTBL still need 45 runs to get into the lead and if they do so, they remain in third place but move closer to WAPDA who are currently second.

Group A

Tripura remained rooted to the bottom of the points table after their third straight loss, this one by an innings and 35 runs to Hyderabad at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad. Tripura actually started the day brightly, dismissing the hosts’ last six batsmen for 31 runs to limit their deficit to 172. That target, however, proved too be too much for a side that has only gone past 200 once this season, and they folded against the part-time legspin of Ravi Teja, who picked up career-best figures of 5 for 20. Biswajit Dey (31), and Timir Chandra (30*), were the only two batsmen to go past 20, as Tripura could only manage 137 in their second innings, giving Hyderabad their first win of the season.Vaibhav Deshpande’s maiden first-class hundred propelled Rajasthan to 523 against Madhya Pradhesh at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, before the visitors responded with an unbroken opening stand of 131 to reduce the deficit to 392. The 23-year-old Deshpande scored briskly, taking 191 balls for his 144, giving him a strike rate of 75.39, and striking 18 fours and a six. But he was overshadowed by Pankaj Singh, who made 70 from 65, with five fours and five sixes. The pair added 110 for seventh wicket to take Rajasthan past 400. Deshpande then added 81 with No. 11 Deepak Chahar, who made an unbeaten 22. Robin Bist missed out on his first hundred of the season, falling in the third over of the day without adding to this overnight 91. Medium-pacer Amit Sharma took 5 for 109. MP openers Naman Ojha (51), who played for the scrapped IPL team, Rajasthan Royals, and Jalaj Saxena (76) both made unbeaten half-centuries to, give their team a chance of hanging on for a point on the last day.Jharkhand face a tough fight if they are to get something from their game against Goa in Porvorim, as they trail the hosts by 302 runs heading in to the final day. It could have been much worse for the visitors, who were tottering at 128 for 7, but the last three wickets added a further 139 runs. Varun Aaron, who was the last man out for 72, added 83 for the ninth wicket with Kuldeep Sharma, who made 30, to see Jharkhand safely past the 200 mark. Ishank Jaggi also chipped in with 50, while Shadab Jakati, the Chennai Super Kings left-arm spinner, led the bowlers with 4 for 77. Jharkhand were 14 for no loss in their second innings when play ended. A win for Goa would take them level with Jharkhand on seven points.

Form Guide

Tracking ESPNcricinfo’s players to watch this season
Umesh Yadav: Picked up 1 for 22 in 11 overs against Kerala for Vidarbha

Group B

Karimuttathu Rakesh’s unbeaten century gave Kerala control of their game against Vidarbha in Malappuram. Rakesh batted for over seven hours to make 101, his maiden first-class ton, and formed the backbone of his side’s total of 366 for 8 declared. Rakesh added 104 wtih Padmanabhan Prasanth for the seventh wicket, before Prasanth was caught of Akshay Wakhare for 59. Kanakkatharaparambu Sreejith then trapped Akshay Kolkar leg before to leave Vidharba 6 for 1, and needing another 222 to avoid an innings defeat.Jammu & Kashmir stare defeat in the face as they trail Services by 224 runs with eight wickets remaining in their second innings at the Harbax Singh Stadium in Delhi. Medium pacer Nishan Singh and offspinner Arnav Kush combined to take either wickets and dismiss J&K for 172. Nishan had the slightly better figures of 4 for 38, compared to Kush’s 4 for 40. Arshad Bhatt made 56 and Samiullah Beigh made 40, but no one else got more than 16. Made to follow-on, J&K stuttered to 57 for 2 at the close of play, with Bhatt already back in the pavilion for 8.Andhra Pradesh ended the day on 138 for 1 after opener Harshad Khadiwale’s career-best 183 had carried Group B table-toppers Maharashtra to 368 in Vishakapatnam. AP lost opener Manoj Sai with just two runs on the board, but Hemal Watekar and Satyakumar Verma knuckled down to add 136 together, and give the hosts a chance of picking up the three points that comes with taking a first-innings lead. Both batsmen played cautiously, spending over four hours each at the crease, in compiling their unbeaten half centuries. Watekar will resume tomorrow on 67, while Verma is on 59.

Mickey Arthur, the former South Africa coach, has accused former South Africa fast bowler Makhaya Ntini of stabbing him in the back in his autobiography, but says he still has a lot of respect for him. The book, which will be released on Monday and is titled , claims that Ntini betrayed Arthur by complaining to senior administrators after he was dropped from the team, according to .Arthur alleges that Ntini did not handle being dropped well and took the issue to some of the country’s senior cricket administrators, including Cricket South Africa President Dr Mtutuzeli Nyoka and former president Ray Mali, which Arthur considered a big letdown. “It was disappointing at the back end of my time that he let us down by running to administrators, but I suppose he was insecure,” Arthur told ESPNcricinfo.Ntini was dropped from the one-day international side at the start of the 2008/9 season. In the book, Arthur says the incident caused him to see a side of Ntini he didn’t know, and as a consequence he, “lost a bit of respect for him.” He has since added to that comment, saying, “I still have the utmost respect for him and that is reflected in my book. He still is a huge role model in SA cricket, and there are passages in the book where I am very positive about him.”Arthur’s memoir is far more critical of Nyoka, whom he called a “gutless interferer.” According to Arthur, he had a breakfast meeting with Nyoka, Mali and Ntini in 2008, where Nyoka apologised to Ntini for his absence from the one-day side and apparently guaranteed him a place in place in the national team for the following series against Australia. So that was it,” Arthur writes. “Makhaya would be selected for the one-day squad for Australia, no matter what the coach or the selectors felt was appropriate.”Nyoka and another former CSA president Norman Arendse were vocal about the need for a black African player in the national team and almost caused a player boycott in 2008. Nyoka also criticised Arthur’s team selection in January, when there were no black, African players chosen to play the third Test against England. Ntini was dropped for that Test, and South African news services reported that he had accused Arthur and captain Graeme Smith of not wanting black players in the national team. Both insisted that Ntini was not included in the squad to face England in Cape Town because of poor form.Ntini would not play for South Africa again and announced his retirement earlier this week. He will be given a farewell during the Twenty20 international between South Africa and India at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on January 9, when he will make his final appearance for South Africa.Arthur resigned after the England series, saying that that he had a different vision to that of the administrators, but it was widely speculated that he was quitting because of interference in team selection.Arthur was a surprise choice for coach of the national team in 2004. Under him, South Africa won away Test series in England and Australia for the first time since readmission, and were ranked number one in both Tests and ODIs, although they did not win an ICC trophy. Arthur has since moved to Perth, where he coaches Western Australia.

ScorecardStuart Clark led his New South Wales side to a comfortable victory•Getty Images

New South Wales cruised to a ten-wicket win in their first Sheffield Shield match of the season, despite some fighting lower-order runs from South Australia’s Chris Duval. The Redbacks just managed to make the Blues bat a second time, but Nic Maddinson and Phil Jaques knocked off the six runs required within the first over.South Australia did well to avoid an innings loss following their disappointing first effort of 255. The lack of runs from their specialist batsmen was a serious concern, especially given the ease with which the bowler Duval compiled a career-best 87 on the final morning, with good support from Aaron O’Brien.Duval struck 13 fours and two sixes in his counter-attacking effort, before he edged to slip to become the maiden first-class wicket for Usman Khawaja, who had set up the Blues’ win with his first-innings double-century. The captain Stuart Clark (3 for 26) then grabbed the last two wickets to leave O’Brien unbeaten on 57.The match will leave South Australia pondering some of their off-season recruiting, after the strike-bowling imports Ben Edmondson and Rob Cassell combined for match figures of 1 for 190. In contrast, New South Wales would be thrilled with the efforts of three of their home-grown young talents, the centurions Khawaja and Nic Maddinson, and the spinner Steve O’Keefe, who collected seven wickets for the match.

Amjad Khan, the Danish-born fast bowler, will leave Kent when his contract expires at the end of the 2010 season with the county unable to afford him a new deal.Khan, 29, burst onto the county scene in 2002, picking up 63 wickets in his first season with Kent. After being awarded British citizenship in 2006, he popped up on the England selectors’ radar and overcame a career-threatening knee injury to make his Test debut against West Indies at Port of Spain in March 2009.”Amjad has been with the club for nine seasons and we are very sorry to see him leave,” said Jamie Clifford, Kent’s chief executive. “These are financially difficult times for the club and sadly we are not currently in a position to make Amjad a meaningful offer.”This has been a very hard decision. However, we believe that it is the right one given the financial context. I am sure the club’s members and supporters will join me in thanking Amjad for all his efforts and wish him the very best as he moves on.”Khan, who has continued to battle injury, understood Kent’s tough situation but admitted it was tough to have to leave the county. He will now have to hope there is a county willing to take a risk with his uncertain fitness.”I am sorry to be leaving having been with the club since 2002,” he said. “Ideally I would have liked to have continued my career with Kent but it is not to be. I sympathise with Kent’s off-field financial pressures and know that that the key people wanted me to stay. I look forward to new challenges with renewed vigour and believe I have what it takes to put myself back in the England frame.””It is disappointing that the club couldn’t offer Amjad a contract that would have seen him stay,” added Kent’s captain Robert Key. “He has been a pleasure to play cricket with over the last nine seasons and I have no doubt that our loss will be another county’s gain. I wish him the very best.”