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England have boosted their backroom staff by calling on the services of Jeremy Snape to act as sports psychologist.Snape, who is also Leicestershire’s captain, was already out in the Caribbean working with the Associates, but England have drafted him in for the World Cup. He will miss Leicestershire’s pre-season tour.England’s coach Duncan Fletcher said that while he expected a great contribution from Snape on the psychology front – Snape has a masters in sports psychology – he could also offer other skills.”Jeremy has extensive experience of the one-day game, ability to work with the spinners and good understanding of sports psychology,” he said.Snape will join England once he’s worked with the Netherlands.

ScorecardPeter Della Penna

Papua New Guinea’s batting underwhelmed again as they conceded the ODI series 2-0 to Scotland with a six-wicket defeat in Dubai. Scotland’s spin trio of Mark Watt, Con de Lange and Michael Leask returned combined figures of 6 for 91 in 30 overs to break the back of PNG’s batting. Scotland took 46.2 overs to run down the 193-run target, and lost six wickets in the process. Kyle Coetzer’s 66, and his partnerships of 61 for the second wicket with Calum MacLeod and 57 for the third with Richie Berrington proved crucial.After being invited to bat, PNG endured a slow start, Tony Ura and Kiplin Doriga putting on 26 in 10.5 overs. Watt was first to strike when he pinged Doriga in front to send him back for 11. PNG then lost three more wickets by the time they had doubled their score, ambling to 52 for 4 in the 22nd over. Sese Bau and Mahuru Dai briefly resurrected them with a 66-run fifth-wicket stand and finished as PNG’s top two scorers, notching up 41 and 38 respectively.Watt’s three wickets made him Scotland’s most successful bowler. He was also their most economical bowler, his 10 overs costing only 21. Leask took 2 for 42 in 10 overs, while de Lange ended his quota with 1 for 28.Scotland stumbled early in their chase, losing Matthew Cross for 3 in the second over. But they pulled themselves together with Coetzer taking control with his ninth ODI fifty. PNG’s bowlers did well to force Scotland to take the chase deep, and eventually the equation read 38 off 64 balls. By then Coetzer had gone. So too were MacLeod (19) and Berrington (39)It was George Munsey’s a run-a-ball 17 that took Scotland closer to the target as he partnered de Lange in a vital 25-run stand for the sixth wicket. De Lange remained unbeaten on 18 while a couple of lusty blows from Safyaan Sharif ensured the tension dissipated rather quickly.

Karen Rolton is on target to be the second player in the history of the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) to score 4000 runs. Rolton, the Australian captain, needs just 18 runs to reach the milestone first achieved by former captain Belinda Clark.Rolton will lead the South Australia Scorpions on their away trip to Sydney next week, which will feature a practice match v ACT, prior to the WNCL matches against New South Wales.Two new players join the squad: fast bowler Leanne Davis, and Tegan McPharlin, the middle-order batsman. Both players have been chosen following strong grade/district performances.England’s Jenny Gunn, who plays grade cricket in Sydney, will also play for the Scorpions for the second successive year.

The one-day series between England and New Zealand is one of the most eagerly awaited in years by local fans who are still unsure how good Daniel Vettori’s team is. Recent performances have given little away and the side to play England has a new look.Since the last time the teams met, when New Zealand won convincingly at the World Cup, the home side is missing five players and the regenerating team lost the Twenty20 series 2-0. The two most notable absentees are Stephen Fleming and Shane Bond. Fleming, who retired after 280 matches and 8037 runs, left a big gap when he departed, but the loss of Bond is bigger.Bond, who has terminated his New Zealand contract and joined the Indian Cricket League, has been the spearhead whenever he has been fit to play. In 67 ODIs he has taken 125 wickets at the phenomenal average of 19.32 and his departure is as significant as when Richard Hadlee stepped down in 1990. Justin Vaughan, the New Zealand Cricket chief executive, felt the departure of Bond was by far New Zealand’s biggest loss to the ICL and was a concerning development for the international game. The upshot is they now lack a genuine fast man.The others not included since the previous encounter are Lou Vincent, who has been dropped, Craig McMillan has retired and James Franklin is injured. In another major blow, Vettori may not be fit for the beginning of the series. He rested from the two Twenty20 matches with an ankle injury and is in doubt for the first ODI.Brendon McCullum, the stand-in captain, said Vettori would be sorely missed. “Dan’s injury is quite a big blow to the make-up of our bowling stocks,” he told NZPA, “and also just the general team.”With the loss of experience, the remaining senior players must step up if New Zealand are going to retain third place in the ODI rankings. Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum and Peter Fulton will need to score their share of runs, while Chris Martin and Kyle Mills will lead the bowling attack.Although Styris has just announced his retirement from Tests, he must now lead the ODI batting line-up. He has an impressive recent record in ODIs and this will need to continue if New Zealand are to compete with England. “The rigours of international cricket have become increasingly demanding,” he said, “and I would like to extend my career by focusing on the shorter versions of the game.”The niggles and injuries he has suffered by playing first-class cricket over recent years have made it difficult for him to get on to the park. “I am really enjoying both one-day and Twenty20 cricket,” he said, “and am looking forward to being heavily involved with New Zealand on our journey to the World Cup in 2011.”While his fitness to stay involved in the first-class arena was a concern, there are no worries about his productivity in limited-overs affairs. Styris excelled at the World Cup, making 499 runs at 83.16, and followed that up in South Africa where he averaged 62.Among the bowlers, Mills has a good ODI record and much will depend on him as they try to cover for Bond. He has already shown his ability to take wickets without having Bond at the other end. In the three match ODI series in South Africa late last year he took nine at 11.33, while he captured another nine against Bangladesh at 12.55. England will offer a greater challenge to his improvements.Martin, on the other hand, has a less than impressive record, but has come of age in Tests over the last few years. In the shorter version of the game, he has played just 15 matches and faces a steep learning curve against an England team of young and experienced batsmen. His omissions over recent seasons have been due to his high economy rate of 4.95 runs per over and it must be brought down closer to four for him to be useful over the next five matches.

The New Zealand opening combination will be another interesting focus of the series. If the young Auckland batsman Jesse Ryder opens with McCullum, there could be fireworks from the beginning. Ryder’s selection has met a mixed reaction. Adam Parore, the former New Zealand wicketkeeper, is a critic and told he had seen Ryder on the evening news and “there was no room for fat players in international cricket because the days of David Boon are gone”.But Hadlee, the chairman of selectors, believes Ryder can form an explosive opening partnership with McCullum. “He has certainly dominated New Zealand A tours,” Hadlee said, “and deserves an opportunity.”His performance is as highly anticipated as the series itself due to the debate over his selection and because he has been involved in a number of disciplinary problems off the field. One of these was when he signed to play for Ireland last year as an overseas professional and failed to turn up to the match against Surrey at the Oval.If the opening partnership can succeed and the bowling attack can get some quick wickets, New Zealand have a good chance of winning the series. But if not, their fans may decide they are no longer a team of the quality that drove them to a world cup semi-final.The 2-1 loss in South Africa was disappointing, but very few teams come away from there satisfied, and the victory was only the second New Zealand success in that country. On the way home Vettori’s men faced Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy and were comprehensively beaten, something most teams encounter.The next assignment was a home series against Bangladesh, who were annihilated as expected. This is why the jury is still out on Vettori’s regenerating team. With the arrival of England, there are no expectations either way, so the fans will finally have a chance to decide how good, or bad, their national side is.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

A chanceless 159 from Hashim Amla, buttressed by vital contributions fromMark Boucher and AB de Villiers, was the springboard for South Africa todominate the first two sessions of the second day, but India’s openersthen inflicted some punishment of their own on a dozy pitch where thebowlers were seldom more than peripheral players. By the time stumps weredrawn, with four of the scheduled 90 overs still to be bowled, India hadknocked off 82 in pursuit of an imposing South African total.Amla’s superb innings spanned 262 balls and ended only with a runout, but there was still time for Boucher, who made 70, and Morne Morkel,with a brisk 35, to flog sagging spirits before Harbhajan Singh returnedto mop up the tail and finish with 5 for 164. The 100 minutes of battingthat India faced had the potential to be tricky, but Sehwag’s insoucianceand Jaffer’s elegance made light of the challenge posed by a three-manpace attack.Sehwag started with a crisp cover-drive for four before rocking back tocarve Makhaya Ntini over third man for six. A magnificent square drive offDale Steyn and a couple of rasping cuts also roused the crowd, and Jafferwas quick to follow suit at the other end.There was a gorgeous on-drive off Steyn, and an unexpected slap over thirdman for six as Ntini again dropped short. The first 10 overs produced 47runs, and though Ntini and Morkel exerted more control in the final hour,Sehwag still found time to slash over point and drive languidly throughthe covers on his way to a half-century from just 59 balls.The run glut helped India forget a wretched fielding display, with runsleaked in every conceivable fashion. After 19 had been conceded inthe opening three overs, the new ball was taken. There was no immediatereward, though both Amla and de Villiers were extremely fortunate to seethick outside edges fall short of the slip cordon and speed to the rope atthird man.There was nothing fortuitous, however, about the three gorgeouscover-drives with which Amla, unbeaten on 85 overnight, reached hishundred. Sreesanth, as he had on the opening day, tried to do too much,and Amla cashed in with superb timing. He reached his century in 173balls, and India’s plight then got worse as de Villiers cut and pulled theinsipid RP Singh for fours.With such tripe being dished out, it was hard to see where a breakthroughwould come from, but Anil Kumble kept faith in Sreesanth and was soonrewarded for it. After a couple of entirely unnecessary sledges in thedirection of de Villiers, Sreesanth suddenly remembered that wickets aretaken with the ball and not the mouth. A superb delivery just outside offstump induced the edge and Dhoni dived to his right to hold-on.With the fast bowlers leaking runs, Kumble turned to the medium pace ofSourav Ganguly. The over-rate was abysmal and wasn’t helped by a ballchange and frequent consultations with the fielders, and Sreesanth’s lucktoo ran out as Boucher edged one and then survived a huge leg-before shoutcourtesy the thinnest of inside edges.By the time Kumble pressed himself into the attack with Harbhajan, South Africa had cruised past 400, and it only got worse on a real dog-day afternoon for the home side.

Amla’s grip on proceedings was absolute, and with RP and Sreesanthproviding comical examples of how not to stop the ball in the outfield,the scoreboard ticked along merrily. The ease with which the runs came wasembarrassing and Kumble was reduced to bowling into the pads from roundthe wicket to try and limit the damage.Sreesanth was brought back for another burst, but both batsmen continuedto cut and nudge at will on a pitch that might as well have been a fluffypillow. In such situations, the fielding side can only pray and any divineentreaties were answered with Amla being run out. Boucher played the ballinto the vicinity of Sreesanth at cover and though he threw to the wrongend, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was alert enough to rifle the ball through toKumble, who did the rest.Amla, whose ancestors went to the Cape from Surat a few generations ago,left to a richly deserved standing ovation, but India’s misery was farfrom over. Morkel was gifted a full toss by Sreesanth to get off the mark,and two confident off-drives further ruined RP’s woeful afternoon. Boucherand Morkel stretched the partnership to 54 before Boucher’s attempt toswipe Sehwag over midwicket ballooned off the top edge to Rahul Dravidbehind the stumps.Morkel then chipped a return catch to Harbhajan and it was left to Steynto swell the total a little more with some hefty slogs, the pick of whichwas an impudent reverse-slog-sweep off Harbhajan. Harris, reprievedearlier after gloving one to slip, was caught behind, and Harbhajan thenhad Steyn caught in the deep to end the innings. By then though, Indiawere playing catch-up.

A century by one-drop Kashinath Khadkikar helped hosts Maharashtra to301/7 at stumps on the opening day of their Cooch Behar Trophy prequarter final game against Karnataka at the Nehru Stadium in Pune onFriday.After winning the toss and electing to make first use of the wicket,Maharashtra lost opener SK Kamathe to left arm seamer Steve Lazarus inthe third over of the innings for nought.Off spinner Mulewa Dharmichand scalped the next two wickets as thehosts slipped to 80/3 before Khadkikar and RR Dharwat (37) launched arecovery, compiling 119 runs for the fourth wicket. Both weredismissed in the space of four balls at the same scoreline of 199.Khadkikar had made 123 of those, in 175 balls with 22 boundaries. Thelower order chipped in with useful contributions and at stumps APThakur (25) and KR Adhav (20) were holding sway. Dharmichand finishedwith the best figures of 3/96.

Mahela Jayawardene expressed disappointment that Marvan Atapattu had decided to opt out of the upcoming three-Test series against Bangladesh starting on June 25 at the SSC.”I just got to know over the weekend about Marvan’s opting out of the series. I am disappointed because it would have been great to have him around. The experience that he brings to the team would be immense,” Jayawardene told a press gathering held to welcome the Bangladesh cricket team at Hotel Taj Samudra on Monday.”Marvan’s absence definitely opens doors for new players. Hopefully they will grab it. That’s how I see it. We’ve already have a couple of young guys in the squad and we were thinking in the lines of giving them some exposure. I haven’t still sat with the selectors and finalized what the outcome would be after the news we’ve heard from Marvan. All of us have to take responsibility and look forward to the series,” said Jayawardene.Atapattu announced over the weekend that he was unavailable for the Test series citing personal reasons.When it was pointed out that two other experienced cricketers Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan would not be playing in the one-day series, Jayawardene stated: “We have to manage these players in the long term. Four years down the line we never know what will happen. We need to give opportunities to other cricketers to get the exposure and give them the experience.””Those were the lines that we’ve been thinking when we selected the sides. Vaasy and Murali have been playing a lot of cricket especially in the counties. If we could give them a break in between it would be ideal because after September onwards we’ve got a lot of cricket ahead of us. We need to make sure we manage them properly,” he said.On the opposition they will be encountering Jayawardene said that Sri Lanka would not take anything lightly. “Bangladesh has made a lot of strides forward from the time they were last here. The more exposure you get in international cricket the players mature. We know how good Bangladesh are. We knew how good they were in the World Cup. They were in our group and we knew how dangerous they could be. We had to play a really good game to beat them in Trinidad,” said Jayawardene.”There are a lot of our guys who want to prove a point. Test cricket for us is all about pride. Personally, for me that’s the ultimate challenge or for any cricketer. We are simply looking forward to this series. We haven’t played in Sri Lanka for almost one year and we are keen to go out and play good cricket and have the fans behind us,” he said.Trevor Penney who has taken over the role as coach of the Sri Lanka team after the departure of Tom Moody said the strategy for the series would be very much the same as it has been in the last few years.Penney hoped that the new coach who would take charge of the team would not interfere with it too much.”The two years Tom and I had dealt with the side we leave a bit of a legacy to go forward. I hope the new coach who comes in doesn’t try and change too much of what we’ve done with the side. We have made them a real team unit who believe in themselves and playing for each other,” said Penney who would also be leaving to join Moody in Western Australia at the end of the series.Sri Lanka Cricket on Friday signed another Australian Trevor Bayliss as the new coach to succeed Moody. Bayliss is expected to officially take over the national team from the first week of September.Mohammed Ashraful, Bangladesh’s new captain, said his team were hopeful of putting up a better performance in the Test series than their last tour to Sri Lanka which former captain Habibul Bashar described as one of the worst.Bangladesh on that occasion was routed 0-2 in the Tests and 0-3 in the one-day series. “We have been practicing hard and every day we are improving. One day cricket we have improved a lot but Test cricket we have some way to go. Our intention is to improve our Test cricket. We will play hard on this tour to achieve that,” said Ashraful.Bangladesh will play a full series of three Tests and three one-day internationals during their one month tour of Sri Lanka. They begin the tour with a three-day practice match at the Colts grounds on Wednesday.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

A hundred from Mohammad Yousuf and a fine all-round performance by Shoaib Malik led Pakistan to a comprehensive seven-wicket win over Zimbabwe at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. Yousuf and Malik put on 141 for the third wicket to steer Pakistan’s chase, with Yousuf’s 14th century the first in what has been a horribly one-sided Mobilink Cup. Malik’s 88 added to the three wickets he took earlier to restrict Zimbabwe to 244.The pair came together after Pakistan’s newbie openers had gone by the 15th over. Malik had already settled by then, returning to the one-down role he had once made his own, with Younis Khan resting. He averages over 40 from 34 innings at No.3 and it was immediately easy to see why so many argue for him to move up the order. He was off the mark immediately, clipping off his toes for four and in the next over he drove and cut Gary Brent for a couple more.Soon after, he twice cut Elton Chigumbura and then did likewise to Brent five overs later. Having grabbed the initiative then and with no real pressure, Malik’s calculating approach came out, as he dabbed and nudged runs for fun. A swift fifty was brought up, and though he lofted Ray Price over the boundary and welcomed Hamilton Masakadza with a brace of boundaries soon after, he was more than happy to play second fiddle.Yousuf, meanwhile, began regally, picking up singles when he felt like it and only occasionally breaking sweat to find the boundary. It seemed for a while as if he wasn’t even there, at least until a late dab to third man in the 27th over brought up the fifty partnership.He made his presence known after it, twice depositing Masakadza over wide mid-on to bring up his own fifty. His pace picked up to such an extent that only 34 balls later, he was bringing up an effortless hundred, the highlight of which was a magnificent loft over long-on off Price. The only blemish on a flawless innings was a mix-up with Malik, which prevented the captain from reaching a hundred of his own.It didn’t prevent Malik from taking the Man-of-the-Match award. He had already excelled earlier, prompting a slump as Zimbabwe – not for the first time in this series – let slip a position of considerable strength after opting to bat. Sean Williams and Tatenda Taibu had rescued the innings early, with an intelligent 85-run partnership, but just when much was promised, Malik dismissed both, and Brendon Taylor, during eight mid-innings overs.The pair have been Zimbabwe’s best batsmen this series and it was soon apparent why. Taibu repeatedly came out of his crease to neutralize the early swing which so bewildered the openers, most effectively when he drove Kamran Hussain past mid-off for the day’s first boundary. He cut twice soon after, but the real spurt came from Williams in the 14th over.Hussain tired after an impressive opening spell and Williams took toll, twice flicking him through midwicket for three and driving over point to bring up Zimbabwe’s 50. He then targeted Shahid Afridi, driving him elegantly through extra cover to mark the fifty stand, before cutting and lofting him for six an over later.Taibu provided typically impish support and at that stage, until Malik brought himself on little was of concern. But in his second over, Williams inexplicably chipped back two short of what would have been his third fifty of the series. Taylor went in Malik’s next over and the drive quickly petered out of the innings. Taibu fell immediately after getting to his ninth half-century and runs soon slowed to a trickle.Singles were grudgingly given up, boundaries even more so. Chigumbura and Chamu Chibhabha battled well without any great urgency and it was only at the death, through Keith Dabengwa, that Zimbabwe rallied. He took 19 off the last over, part of a 33-ball 45, to drag Zimbabwe to a competitive score. Competitive, but no more.

Andrew Strauss, the England opener, made 39 on his debut for Northern Districts in New Zealand’s State Shield competition on Sunday and announced he felt “invigorated”, but his breezy innings couldn’t prevent his side sliding to another defeat.Strauss announced his decision to join Northern Districts in December, after he was dropped by England for their tour of Sri Lanka. He was subsequently recalled to the Test side for their forthcoming tour of New Zealand, and could also feature in England’s one-day set-up.”This is almost like a fresh start for me, and there is nothing better than coming into a Test series feeling motivated, fresh, comfortable with your game,” he told BBC radio’s . “That final ingredient – being mentally switched on – is the only thing that holds most players back. I feel really refreshed and invigorated after having three months away. I’m really excited about 2008, hopeful it’s going to be a big year for English cricket and myself.”Batting first, Northern Districts got off to a confident start with Strauss reaching 39 from as many balls. After cracking eight fours, he was bowled by Bradley Scott to prompt a mid-order slump in which Northern Districts lost 5 for 32.Set 225, Otago were ushered to victory by another Englishman, Alex Gidman, the England A captain, who made 54 from 78, before Neil Broom took them home with a bristling 42-ball fifty.England’s tour of New Zealand gets underway with a tour match against Canterbury on February 2, preceding two Twenty20 Internationals and five one-dayers. The first Test in Hamilton begins on March 5.

Scorecard

Sarah Taylor’s unbeaten 52 provided the platform for England’s five-wicket win over New Zealand in the second women’s Twenty20 international at Bath Cricket Club, giving them a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.Taylor’s 50-ball innings was perfectly paced and included a superb six over long-on, and with Claire Taylor giving an early boost with a 13-ball 21, England were always ahead of the asking rate and they eased home with 14 balls to spare.New Zealand, who paid for not using their full allocation over overs, were restricted by tight bowling and impressive fielding which produced three run-outs, including two at the top of the order, to reduce them to 18 for 3. They also struggled with a much slower and lower pitch than had been the case yesterday.The losing captain Haidee Tiffen said: “We just wish it was a better result for us. England had a really really tough winter so to come back is a credit.” Charlotte Edwards, England’s captain, was delighted to take the Twenty20 series but expects a hard time in the one-dayers. “It will be a tightly fought series – the sides are really well matched.”The compact ground was packed, a reward for the decision to play the two matches at a more intimate venue. They enjoyed seeing England seal the series, bouncing right back from their winter of discontent – and their new coach Mark Dobson has now made it two wins in two.The sides meet again in the final Twenty20 international at Taunton on Thursday.