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Tony Dodemaide will return home to Melbourne to accept the post of Cricket Victoria’s chief executive after taking a globetrotting path to the job. Dodemaide, who played 10 Tests and 24 ODIs, was a swing-bowling allrounder for Victoria during his playing days before he spent five years as Marylebone Cricket Club’s head of cricket at Lord’s.In 2004 he joined the Western Australian Cricket Association as chief executive and oversaw a period where the organisation tackled severe debt problems and experienced an executive takeover led by Dennis Lillee, who is now the president. Dodemaide is expected to start his role with Cricket Victoria by the end of the current season.”I’m looking forward to returning to Victorian cricket immensely,” Dodemaide said. “The challenge of leading Cricket Victoria into the future is one that is extremely exciting and I’m pleased to be returning to where my cricket first started.”Geoff Tamblyn, the Cricket Victoria chairman, said Dodemaide had outstanding administrative credentials. “He led a strong list of candidates and we’re excited to have him at the helm,” he said. “Tony was an exceptional contributor to Victoria as a player and we look forward to him providing similarly strong performances in his new role.” Dodemaide will replace Ken Jacobs, who resigned in November after 26 years in the position.

Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, has said that while he is confident that match-fixing has been stamped out, he is not so sure that the all corruption has yet been eliminated.Speaking in Lahore, Mani told reporters that while widespread fixing was no longer happening, it was still possible that a few individuals were involved in skullduggery.”We have put in a lot of efforts to eliminate match-fixing and have gained success in it, but there might be chances that individuals may be involved in turning the fate of a match and the ICC was working in this direction to find ways to control it,” he explained. “No one can claim the game is 100% clean and free from corruption. Individually, some people may be involved.”He praised the efforts of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) and said that it was trying to address the match-fixing issue related to individuals. But, added Mani, the very existence of the ACU had proved to be a huge deterrent since 2000.

On the plan when he walked out to bat this morning
It was to get as much of a lead as possible. It was a bonus that Gillespie batted so long – three or four hours was fantastic. It would have been nice to set them 250-plus but history shows that it’ll be tough to chase on the last day here, and hopefully that’ll come true tomorrow for us.On whether the target of 229 is enough
I think so. We always want more. I think it’s about 200 that they need now, and it’ll be a great day of Test cricket tomorrow, which is what it’s all about. We’ve had plans when it comes to our bowling and hopefully they’ll come off tomorrow. We’ve got a great spin bowler in our ranks as well, and they’re going to have to bat very well.On whether he rated this innings better than the two centuries in Sri Lanka last March, and on what changes he had made to his technique for the subcontinent
It’s up there with my best hundreds in the sense that you had two world-class spinners bowling on the fourth day. It’s always satisfying as a batsman to test your skills against the best. Not much has changed [technique-wise]. We’ve played a lot of one-day cricket in India and Sri Lanka and all the batsmen over the last four or five years have had a chance to play on these pitches. That’s definitely helped us.On whether the pitch was less conducive to bounce when compared to the opening day
Yeah, but it varied a lot out of the footmarks. The centre of the pitch was playing well, but the natural variation out of the footmarks is getting all the wickets. If we can get a couple of early wickets tomorrow and throw the ball to Shane Warne, hopefully he can do well.On who out of Harbhajan and Kumble was more difficult to face
For the right-hander there were the left-arm bowlers’ footmarks for him [Harbhajan]. He doesn’t give you many scoring opportunities and you had to be patient out there.On whether Warne’s world record had been a source of solace on a rough day yesterday
It’s great that he broke the record but we were a long way behind on the first-innings score. I think it was a great fightback by us. We’d shown in Sri Lanka that we could come from behind, and we’ve done it again.On whether reverse-swing will be a factor tomorrow
It always happens over here when the shine goes off the ball after four or five overs.On the fielding lapses made by Australia earlier in the game
We had chances which were put down, but only a couple that you could say were easy. There were a lot of half-chances and we usually pride ourselves on taking those.On whether his Sydney experience of 1993-94 has had any influence on his batting in crunch situations
I don’t think Sydney has had an influence. I think it’s more about getting to know your game and being around international cricket for a long time. Look at someone like Michael Clarke who’s played one-day cricket for two years now, and been comfortable coming into Test cricket. The amount of cricket we play and the touring we do in different conditions helps you a lot.On whether he and Gillespie both being dismissed in the same over prevented a bigger total being scored
It’s disappointing, for sure. You have no trouble for almost four hours, and then ten minutes before tea, you lose two in four balls. But it’s part of the game.

Where is South African cricket going? From the only team in the worldcapable of matching the all-conquering Australians, the side has been on a slippery slope for two seasons, and events in England suggest that nothing is in place to stop the slide.On top of the disastrous World Cup campaign, the sacking of Shaun Pollock and the Lance Klusener debacle can be added the retirements of Alan Donald, Jonty Rhodes and Gary Kirsten. Their absence has left a void causing nervousness amongst the loyal core of supporters who hanker for the glory days inspired by coach Bob Woolmer and now deceased and disgraced former captain Hansie Cronje.Eric Simons, the coach, and Graeme Smith, the newly appointed captain, made promises of improved performances, including inflicting scars on the England team. But South Africa were shown to talk the talk without being able to walk the walk – they walked away from the recent NatWest Series bruised, battered and comprehensively beaten.Feelings of joy and national pride from only a few years ago have beenreduced to anger, frustration and a sense of hopelessness.The miscalculation of the Duckworth-Lewis system in the vital World Cupmatch against Sri Lanka that denied South Africa a place in the Super Six highlighted the sharp decline. The coach should have taken fullresponsibility for that mistake but it was the captain, Pollock, who was stripped of his duties.The chopping block did not end there. Klusener became the next victim on the pretext that he needed to rest. When he was not given a national contract it became obvious that he would not be going on the England tour.Smith’s comments about Klusener being a disruptive influence raisedspeculation that lack of form wasn’t the reason for his omission from the squad. An average of 91 and five wickets during the World Cup compounded the speculation.The United Cricket Board (UCBSA) stood by Cronje. At the same time they supported Herschelle Gibbs. Support for the same player after a marijuana session and subsequent after-hour behavioural problems led to the appointment of a mentor.Klusener, however, was not even given the courtesy of a telephone call. This, after he was given an indication that he would be receiving a contract and a call-up for the tour to England. Where was the UCBSA support and rehabilitation then?The capabilities of the coaching staff should also be questioned.Glaring faults seem to be ignored in both the batting and bowlingdepartments while the fielding capabilities of a team recognised as the best two years ago can now only be described as average.Makhaya Ntini has 31 Tests and 80 one-day internationals under his belt and he still lacks the ability to bowl a slower ball. Jacques Kallis was a feared and respected bowler; today he is the one targetted by batsmen. Pollock’s loss of pace is a concern. At 30, he should be in a position to add a yard or two to his pace, especially if he is to continue to open the bowling for South Africa.The rebuilding and recovery process requires a solid foundation starting with administration, management, coaching and selection in order to create unity and trust amongst all concerned. Strong leadership throughout the structure is imperative if South Africa is to regain its cricketing glory.

Never a batsman prone to wild abandon, Jacques Kallis slowly, steadily but ever so surely dragged the second Castle Lager/MTN Test match away from India on the third day at St George’s Park on Sunday.When an offer of bad light was offered to the South African batsmen with 14 overs still to be bowled (and with the floodlights on), Kallis’s contribution to the South African second innings score of 211 for five was 84 not out.Leaving aside for the moment the puzzle of why the home batsmen, well on top at that stage, should have taken the light, the significance of the South African total is that it gives the home team a lead of 372 with two days remaining.The significance of Kallis’s effort, meanwhile, is that he has now scored 585 runs in four Test matches this summer at an average of 290.25. This is a quite remarkable statistic, but it does go some way to underlining the strengths of Kallis as a batsman. He seldom, if ever, gives his wicket away, no matter the circumstances and his powers of concentration rival those currently in the game.He has been criticised at times for being one-paced, but there are moments and occasions when his value to his side lies mainly in him simply being at the crease. This was one of those occasions after South Africa had tumbled to 26 for three in their second innings after bowling India out for 201.At this point Javagal Srinath was bowling quite beautifully once again. He had nipped out Gary Kirsten and Neil McKenzie in an opening burst of 8-6-4-2 and with Ajit Agarkar bowling Herschelle Gibbs, South Africa were creaking ominously. The first innings lead was 161, but another wicket or two at that stage would have brought India right back into the match.Kallis, though, put down roots. He shared a fourth wicket partnership with Boeta Dippenaar which brought South Africa 65, a stand of 48 with Lance Klusener for the fifth wicket and the sixth wicket has so far produced 72 for South Africa, with Shaun Pollock’s share 38.Just as South Africa batted around Gibbs in their first innings, so they batted around Kallis on Sunday. He was not without fortune. On 21 he hooked at Agarkar, but the ball sailed between the hands of Srinath at fine leg to go for six. On 51 VVS Laxman snatched at, but could not hold, an edge off, again, Agarkar. But good players ride their luck and Kallis has placed South Africa, as Pollock put it, "into a good position at this stage".It should be a position from which only one of two results are possible – a South African win, which seems the most likely, or a draw. Both of these options, of course, could be dependent on the Port Elizabeth weather over the next two days.South Africa, then, have done much to get themselves into a position where they can almost smell a series win. They were also helped on Sunday, though, by some bewildering captaincy from Sourav Ganguly.As always seems to be the case, an Indian captain away from home finds himself under enormous pressure. This is the time when rumours and whispers start to surface and it is no different this time around.The word at St George’s Park was that Ganguly changed his team-sheet moments before the toss, scribbling in Anil Kumble and scratching out Ashish Nehra. Whether this is true or not is anyone’s guess. What is more certain, however, is that Ganguly let the South Africans off the hook after lunch when he started with himself and Sachin Tendulkar.South Africa were 47 for three at the interval and another wicket just after the break, if nothing else, would have made the Indians believe they were still in the game. Srinath, admittedly, already had eight overs under his belt, but India needed to strike and they needed to strike quickly.Instead, Kallis and Dippenaar were allowed to play themselves in again and it was 40 minutes before Srinath was brought back for his second spell. Kumble, too, was ignored until the 51st over when he bowled the last over before tea.For all that India have been handicapped by having to field unbalanced teams in both Test matches, they have also allowed South Africa off the hook several times. If the positions had been reversed, it is a safe bet that Pollock would have started the new session with himself and Nantie Hayward.If the guiding principle is always to do what your opponents like least, then India have missed more than a few tricks during this series.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRangana Herath bowled Sri Lanka back into the dominant position achieved by Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal’s double-century stand and squandered somewhat by a collapse that cost them their last seven wickets for 59 runs. At the end of an action-packed second day, West Indies were 66 for 2, trailing Sri Lanka by 418 runs.The quick demolition of Sri Lanka’s lower order raised West Indies’ spirits when they came out to bat, and the openers got off to a solid start against the quicks, with three fours coming off the second over, bowled by a Nuwan Pradeep erring generously on the full side. But Herath, introduced as early as the sixth over, pulled West Indies back down to earth with his ability to beat both edges.In his very first over, he had Kraigg Brathwaite adjudged lbw with one that turned sharply from leg to off, only for Hawkeye to rule the ball had pitched marginally outside leg stump. In his next over he sent down the arm ball, which snaked past the inside edge of Brathwaite’s defensive bat and rapped into his front pad. This time the batsman didn’t even review.Shai Hope was next to go, bowled by a beauty. The opener came half-forward in defence, inward drift causing him to open up, and the ball turned past his outside edge to clip off stump.Herath caused Darren Bravo problems as well, beating his outside edge on a couple of occasions and causing him to inside-edge sharply turning deliveries close to short leg. Bravo survived the testing spell in the company of Marlon Samuels, but both of them will have to come out and begin all over again on the third morning.The day began with Chandimal and Karunaratne extending their overnight stand to 238 – the highest by any third-wicket pair in Galle – after which Chandimal added a further 86 with Angelo Mathews. Sri Lanka were 425 for 3, and a 500-plus total looked like a formality. Their sights, perhaps, were set on 600, but they only managed 484.The slide began with tea around the corner, when Chandimal slapped Jerome Taylor straight to cover, against the run of play. In his next over, Taylor straightened one from around the wicket to produce an edge from the debutant Milinda Siriwardana.First ball after tea, Mathews was back in the dressing room. Jason Holder banged one in short, and Mathews, getting into an awkward position while trying to fend the ball into the leg side, popped back a simple return catch. Devendra Bishoo then sent back Dhammika Prasad and Rangana Herath off successive deliveries, before Kusal Perera, looking for quick runs, played on to Shannon Gabriel. The final wicket fell to Bishoo, who finished with four wickets as Nuwan Pradeep miscued a slog to deep midwicket.The tumble of wickets must have left West Indies wondering how good their position might have been had they held their catches. On day one, with Chandimal on 11, Taylor had put down a relatively straightforward chance while backtracking from mid-on. In the tenth over of the second morning, Chandimal cut Shannon Gabriel to backward point, where Jermaine Blackwood spilled the ball after getting both hands to the overhead chance. Chandimal was on 82 at that point.Bishoo had struggled on a slow pitch, the batsmen easily negotiating his legspin off the back foot, often making length balls look like short balls. In the third over after lunch, he managed to draw Mathews forward and find his edge, only for Jason Holder to put him down at slip.Later, Hope dropped Prasad at backward point, taking West Indies’ total of spilled chances to five, including Bravo letting off Lahiru Thirimanne on the first day.Coming in to bat at 339 for 3 – it was the first time since August 2014 that he had walked in with Sri Lanka’s score past 200 – gave Mathews license to play his shots. He hit two fours off Bishoo in the first over after tea – admittedly off bad balls – and continued going after the spinners after Holder dropped him. He pulled Bishoo for another four, ran down the pitch to Marlon Samuels to launch him over wide long-on, and scored his runs at a strike rate of above 100 until he reached 32.Chandimal was a little more sedate at the other end, but got enough scoring opportunities, with Kemar Roach and Taylor both feeding his favourite square-cut, and the latter shot getting him to 150.In the morning session, Samuels dismissed Dimuth Karunaratne 14 short of a double-hundred. The wicket was a result of the slowness of the pitch, which Karunaratne had dealt with expertly till then, picking the right lengths to drive and even then refusing to go hard at the ball. For once he jabbed at the ball, a short one from Samuels that stopped on him, and ended up lobbing a return catch to the offspinner.Till then a double-hundred had seemed inevitable. The ball was only 10 overs old at start of play, but there was little of the seam movement that had been in evidence on the first morning. The runs came at a good clip, with Karunaratne pulling Taylor to the square leg boundary in the fifth over of the morning before driving him through mid-off for another four to bring up his 150.At the other end Kemar Roach, bowling without either the seam movement or the pace he generated on the first day, conceded two fours in two overs to Chandimal. Taylor and Roach went out of the attack, and Gabriel, who replaced Roach, saw an edge from Karunaratne fly through the vacant slip area before Blackwood put down Chandimal. In his next over, Gabriel produced the only other moment of discomfort for a Sri Lankan batsman in the session when he straightened one past Chandimal’s edge.Chandimal was not unduly deterred. Following Bishoo’s introduction, he stepped down the track and whipped him away wide of mid-on, and in the next over flat-batted Gabriel over extra cover to bring up his hundred. It was his second in a row at the venue, after his match-turning 162* against India two months ago.

If anyone has a spare £8000 the final set of debenture seats for the Grandstand at Lord’s have gone on public sale. On offer is the right to purchase the best seats in the ground for all international and showpiece domestic matches from 2008 to 2015.Prime seats would be guaranteed for England’s two Tests a season, plus any one-day internationals hosted at the ground, along with the domestic one-day final and Middlesex’s home Twenty20 matches.Funds raised by the scheme will be spent by the MCC on promoting the game at home and abroad as well as on the continued redevelopment of Lord’s.”This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone who loves cricket to become a season-ticket holder at the best cricket ground in the world,” said the MCC chairman Charles Fry. “Lord’s has played a huge part in the history of cricket and the MCC continues to encourage the game in all its aspects on a worldwide basis.”The projects we have completed, and those we are considering, reflect the MCC’sdetermination to continue investing in Lord’s to ensure that our famous Groundretains its unique attraction and world-class status.”In 2008 Lord’s will host the first Test against New Zealand from May 15 and the opening encounter against South Africa from July 10 along with two ODIs.

Scorecard

Queensland maintained their 100% start to the KFC Twenty20 with a nine-run victory at the Gabba. The Bulls’ total was based around a set of solid contributions, with Clinton Perren and Chris Simpson both striking 39. Daniel Christian restricted the late-over slogs with three wickets. New South Wales stuttered from the start as Mitchell Johnson, who after a series of conflicting messages was asked to remain with Queensland rather than fly back to Sydney for the Ashes celebrations, struck early as the Bulls’ strong seam attack made inroads. The Blues’ main hopes went with Phil Jaques, who departed in the 11th over for 29 to leave them 5 for 80. Ashley Noffke completed an impressed four-over stint with two late strikes and conceded just 14 runs.
ScorecardVictoria have moved to second and Tasmania to fourth on the KFC Twenty20 table after their match at Hobart was rained out. Constant drizzle at Bellerive Oval appeared unlikely to ease, so the game was called off without a ball being bowled. Victoria opened their account on Monday with a 34-run victory over South Australia, while Tasmania are still winless after their opening loss to Queensland.

Imran Khan, the Pakistan legend, is to give Mohammad Sami, the fast bowler, specialist one-on-one coaching ahead of a home Test series against India in January, according to Inzamam-ul-Haq.”Imran is very concerned Sami has not yet fulfilled his potential,” Inzamam-ul-Haq told BBC Sport. “Imran has said that when we have our training camp for the Indian series he will come down and work with Sami to see what is the problem holding him back.”Sami, 24, has been struggling for form and confidence, and a record of only 65 wickets at 46.12 from 24 Tests has put his place in the national side under considerable threat. Sami burst onto the international scene with eight wickets in his debut Test against New Zealand in Auckland in 2001, and also claimed hat-tricks against Sri Lanka and West Indies during a promising start to his career.Since then, though, he has failed to live up to his reputation and has been tagged as inconsistent. In the recent three-Test series against a touring England, Sami managed only seven wickets. Shoaib Akhtar, who has faced similar criticism though being a proven matchwinner, silenced his detractors with a stunning 17-wicket haul in the series. Consistently troubling England with variations of pace, Akhtar emerged as the leading wicket-taker in the series.It is with optimism – and the desire to see Sami perform like Akhtar – that Inzamam has stated Imran’s intentions. “Imran believes that if Sami can start producing the performances that he has been threatening to do with his vast potential then Pakistan will have a very balanced bowling attack for Tests and one-dayers.”

It used only to be Australians who suffered from dead-rubber syndrome – that most infuriating of conditions whereby a dominant side could write off a failure to complete a clean sweep by claiming that the match never mattered anyway. Now, however, it is England’s turn to put complacency on the backburner, as they assemble at The Oval to push for a record-equalling seventh consecutive Test victory.With nine wins and one draw in their last ten matches, England are on a roll, the like of which they have never before experienced. Only twice in their history have they won seven matches in succession – against Australia between 1885 and 1888, in the early days of the Ashes, and against West Indies and Australia in 1928-29, when Percy Chapman was captain and a young Harold Larwood was thrusting his way to prominence.History is clearly beckoning, but understandably Duncan Fletcher, England’s no-nonsense coach, is putting all such thoughts out of his charges’ heads. “it is important that the guys now believe in their ability,” Fletcher told Sky Sports, “but they mustn’t be too arrogant about this. There are better sides, and against those better sides, if we played badly as we did [on occasions at Old Trafford], we are going to come unstuck.”There were “windows” in England’s performance, Fletcher felt, that might have been exploited by stronger opposition – most notably their crass use of the new ball on Saturday morning, and their top-order subsidence in the fourth innings. But, he added, that fact that England went on to win so handsomely was a good sign. “We realise that even though we do play poorly, we can still knuckle down and produce a result.”This is a side that wins, is happy and enjoys playing cricket, but the crucial part is to realise that this game might just come back and bite you,” Fletcher warned. “You have to be very careful when you win like this. People might just think things are getting too easy.”England should have little time for complacency, however, and an injection of new blood should underline the importance of the match if, as expected, Ian Bell makes his Test debut in place of the injured Graham Thorpe. “I can’t wait,” said Bell. “I know a few of the guys quite well, and I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”Bell was first drafted into the England set-up on the tour of New Zealand in 2001-02, but has had to back up his immense promise with a torrent of runs. After a lean couple of seasons, he has burst back to form with 1455 runs in 14 county matches for Warwickshire, including four centuries and a 96 not out in five consecutive innings. He knows full well that a place on the winter tour to South Africa is there for the taking, if he can grasp his chance in the same way that Andrew Strauss and Robert Key have done this season.England’s major concern, as ever, centres around their man of the moment, Andrew Flintoff, whose troublesome ankle is continuing to gnaw away at the selectors’ consciences. Flintoff sent down 32 overs in the Old Trafford Test, and dismissed Brian Lara in both innings, but Michael Vaughan is aware that he cannot afford to overburden his talisman, especially with the Champions Trophy around the corner. “Realistically we won’t want to bowl him too much,” admitted Vaughan, “but he’s such a good bowler and he gets you key wickets at key moments. You have to bowl your best bowlers in these situations.”Compared to the cares that dogged his predecessors, Vaughan’s dilemma is a minor quibble. Since he assumed the captaincy little more than a year ago, England have won 12 out of 18 Tests. Nasser Hussain (17 wins in 45) and Michael Atherton (13 in 54) must be spitting into their microphones in envy.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Robert Key, 4 Michael Vaughan (capt), 5 Ian Bell, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Steve Harmison, 10 Matthew Hoggard, 11 James Anderson.