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Zimbabwe Cricket has announced a new set of selectors led by Bruce Makovah with former convener Macsood Ebrahim, Ethan Dube and Robin Brown, the Harare Sports Club curator, making up the four-man committee.Makovak played first-class cricket soon after Zimbabwe were granted Test status in 1992, and represented Mashonaland and Zimbabwe A as a medium-pace bowler. Ebrahim and Dube were retained, while former Rhodesian left-arm spinner Richard Kaschula lost his place amid revelations that he told Zimbabwe Cricket that he could not work with Andy Pycroft, who has been appointed joint coach of the Zimbabwe A side. Kaschula, who had been outspoken in his criticisms of Phil Simmons, until last month the Zimbabwe coach, resigned.Although Ebrahim retains his place on the selection committee, his replacement as head of selection will be seen by many as a concession to player power. It was widely believed that his eventual removal was one of the conditions the rebel players demanded before they returned to national colours earlier in the year.Unsurprisingly, Tatenda Taibu retained the captaincy and former captain Heath Streak remained vice-captain. Stephen Mangongo, the former head of selectors, bounced back as Zimbabwe A’s joint coach, while Walter Chawaguta will take charge of the Under-19s at the inaugural Under-19 Afro-Asia tournament in India in November and the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka next February.All the appointments were made at the Zimbabwe Cricket board meeting which followed the annual general meeting at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.There was controversy before that meeting when the media were banned from attending. Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman, said they undertook the decision after he claimed that journalists hijacked last year’s meeting. It had been widely rumoured that reporters planned to ask the board potentially embarrassing questions resulting from the damning statement by Zimbabwe players at the weekend.

Warriors 251 for 7 (Jacobs 94, Boucher 77 Friend 3-36) beat Western Province Boland 164 for 9 (Gibbs 50, Strydom 4-26) by 75 runs (D/L Method)
ScorecardAt St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, three rain breaks resulted in reduced overs and, ultimately, a fairly easy first win for the Warriors, as Western Province Boland collapsed from 76 for 1 to 120 for 7.The Warriors batted first under threatening skies, and made a steady start with Mark Bruyns scoring 45, before rain forced the players off for a second time, causing a loss of five overs per team. On the resumption, Mark Boucher and Arno Jacobs took the attack to the WPBOL bowlers, scoring 128 in 89 balls, with Boucher making 77.Jacobs fell six short of his second consecutive hundred as he was bowled with three balls left in the innings. Two late wickets gave Quentin Friend three for the innings as the Warriors, scoring 126 runs in the final 10 overs, ended on 251 for 7.WPBOL made a perfect start in their pursuit of a revised target of 257, as Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Puttick added 76 for the first wicket. Gibbs was the quicker of the two, and went to his 50 in 29 balls, striking six fours and three sixes, before running himself out in the twelfth over.The wickets of Gibbs and Puttick, stumped for 40, started a collapse that left WPBOL on 120 for 7, with the spin of Pieter Strydom and Bruyns doing all the damage. One more run was added when, once again, the rain came down with WPBOL well behind the asking rate. On resumption, Con de Lange and Friend had a bit of a flurry, but when the rain returned at 164 for 9, the umpires called it a day.

Dominic Cork has joined Lancashire on a three-year deal, after parting with Derbyshire in acrimonious circumstances at the end of last season. Cork, who was a Derbyshire player for 16 years, asked to be released when his role as captain was put in doubt by their new director of cricket, Dave Houghton.”I am delighted to be joining Lancashire," said Cork. "They have had a great season this year, and I feel sure that the county will go on to greater things. I’m looking forward to working with Mike Watkinson and the rest of the team, I’ve been impressed with the set-up and I’m confident that it will pay dividends with my game, and hopefully help Lancashire to further success.”Lancashire finished second in this year’s County Championship after a late surge up the table, in stark contrast to Derbyshire, whose future as a first-class county is in serious doubt after they finished rock-bottom of the second division. “It is not often a player of Dominic’s proven ability comes on to the market," said Lancashire’s chairman, Jack Simmons. "I am delighted that he has shown a real desire to join us and add strength to our first team squad.”"I’ve been very happy with the performance of the team this season," said Mike Watkinson, Lancashire’s coach. "However, a player of Dominic’s ability will provide additional strength especially to the bowling department, and I’m pleased that Dominic has agreed to join us at Old Trafford. He’s a proven performer in all conditions, and with his wealth of experience, he’ll be a valuable addition to the dressing room.”Cork, who played the last of his 37 Tests against India at The Oval in 2002, took 131 wickets at 29.81, and was an abrasive lower-order batsman with a proven matchwinning ability – never better demonstrated than by his unbeaten 33 against West Indies in England’s two-wicket victory at Lord’s in 2000. He currently has 722 first-class wickets to his name.Two scholarship players, Paul Horton and Oliver Newby, have also signed contracts with Lancashire. Horton, 21, and Newby, 19, both made their first-class debuts against Durham UCCE in 2003, while Newby also played against Derbyshire in the Twenty20 Cup.

The first cricket match against New Zealand at Hamilton starting next Tuesday must be a Test too far for the touring Bangladesh side which today just managed to get their four-day game against Auckland into the fourth day on the Eden Park Outer Oval tomorrow morning.Unless there is heavy and persistent rain the tourists are certain to lose the match. They are still 210 runs behind Auckland, with only one second innings wicket intact. It is many a day since Auckland beat anyone, even an international side, with such dominating comfort.Today on the tick of lunch Auckland completed their first innings at 495, a lead of 375 over the Bangladesh first innings of 120 in the first two sessions on Wednesday.There was some merit in the Bangladesh performance before lunch for they held Auckland to 91 runs in the session, took five wickets and denied the 21-year-old Nick Horsley his first century in his third first-class game by cutting off his 247-minute innings at 95.But Bangladesh lost all that ground and more when they lost four wickets for 71 by tea, two immediately after the break. It took a four-hour vigil for 71 not out by the No 4 batsman Aminul Islam, and solid support from Khaled Mashud and the tail-enders Enamul Haque and Mohammad Sharif, to enable Bangladesh to survive eight overs of extra time to get to 165 for nine wickets and push the match, however marginally, into the fourth and last day.The tourists worked hard when bowling at the Aucklanders in the morning, especially the left-armer Manjural Islam who ended with four wickets and Sharif with three – complemented by the tidy keeping from the captain Mashud who ended with four catches, three this morning.Horsley rather lost the powerful rhythm which had so splendidly marked his 57 not out on Thursday, and the accurate bowling on a pitch losing all life and lustre gradually drained his confidence. Also, he seemed to be out-thought as the Bangladeshis went totally on the defensive when Horsley was tip-toeing through the 90’s – and he rather got himself out trying to break the drought.But the fact remained that on a nondescript pitch which produced the odd low bounce, especially when the ball was new – there were countless lbw appeals for balls skidding into the pads – the Bangladeshis never quite attained the consistency needed at international level.Their bowling, Manjural and Sharif apart, was only workmanlike and the batting repeated the frailties it showed on Wednesday. There was again a bad start to the Bangladeshi second innings when Javed Omar went quickly. Again Al Sahariar looked a genuinely good stroke-maker, but again his concentration ran out. Habibul Bashar looked likely to leave at the earlier moment, the teenaged Mohammad Ashraful batted with boyish impermanence and Sanwar Hossain and Khaled Mahmud were temporary visitors to the crease.So it was really too late by the time, at 73 for six, that Aminul and Mashud joined together in a dogged if unlovely show of defensive defiance. Mashud went stolidly along to seven in 70 minutes, starting his scoring from the 26th ball he faced.Aminul was not exactly a spectacular batsman, either, but at the least he showed that he had some ability to produce the determination and concentration needed to merely survive at international level.So, as in the first innings, the second half of the Bangladesh batting showed much more grit and defiance than the supposedly senior batsman in the top half.Perhaps the Bangladeshis will learn from their Eden Park disasters and give a much healthier performance on a better pitch at WestpacTrust Park in the first Test at Hamilton next week. They will have to improve, perhaps by about 100 per cent, if they are to struggle as manfully as they did during the last two hours today.Chris Drum, who seems fated to be the Test 12th man at Hamilton (and if so Auckland would be delighted to field him at Carisbrook on the same day) again bowled with fire and accuracy, with five wickets for 33 today to add to his four for 32 on Wednesday.Andre Adams, Tama Canning and Kyle Mills all had their moments, but had Brooke Walker’s leg-spin been more accurate this afternoon Auckland would have earned themselves a holiday tomorrow.

Jack Russell – age does not wither his infinite variety Photo © Stamp Publicity

Jack Russell celebrates his 37th birthday next month, but there is no signof his talent or enthusiasm waning. The former England wicketkeeper took a sensational catch and hit a typically chirpy half-century to ensure Gloucestershire kept up the pressure on Worcestershire and local rivals Somerset at the top of the National League.The home side made it a winning end to the Cheltenham Festival by overhauling Kent’s moderate 199-6 with five wickets and more than four oversto spare.But it didn’t look that easy when skipper Mark Alleyne walked out to joinRussell with his team is some disarray at 109-5.Together the pair built an unbroken stand of 91, with Alleyne contributing35 and Russell ending unbeaten on 55, having faced 60 balls and hit 6 fours.It was one-day batting of the highest quality, helped by some slipshod Kentfielding and a very short boundary on one side of a true pitch.Russell was at his impish best, sprinkling his innings with sweetly-timedstrokes, but also scampering every possible run while building his scorewith some characteristic deflections and improvised shots.His form behind the stumps remains exemplary and his ability to stand up tothe stumps to Gloucestershire’s seam bowlers is one of the key elements thathas made them into such a formidable limited overs team.But it was standing back to James Averis that Russell produced theoutstanding moment of this match – a stunning one-handed catch diving fulllength to his right to dismiss danger-man Rahul Dravid after Kent had wonthe toss.The Indian Test star has been in supreme form and had moved menacingly to 16in an opening stand of 34 when getting an edge to a flashing square cut.It was a crucial dismissal. Although Alan Wells capitalised on the shortboundary to hit two towering sixes in his 38, Kent were never able todominate the bowling.Just when they had worked a good position at 103-2 off-spinner Martyn Ballstruck twice in the same over to send back Wells and James Hockley, who hadadded 67 for the third wicket.Matthew Walker and Paul Nixon fell cheaply and it was left to Mark Ealham,back from England duty, to ensure a respectable total with an unbeaten 49off 52-balls.Gloucestershire suffered an early setback when Tim Hancock fell to MartinMcCague, but the pace bowler proved erratic and his first three overs cost26 runs.Ian Harvey came out swinging and smashed 9 boundaries in making 41 off just36 deliveries before being bowled attempting another big hit off MatthewFleming.Opener Dominic Hewson needed a couple of escapes in contributing a valuable45, but when he fell in a spell of ten overs that also brought thedismissals of Jeremy Snape and Matt Windows, Kent were right back in thegame.Russell and Alleyne soon extinguished their hopes, but it was in the bowlingand fielding departments that Gloucestershire really excelled.Skipper Alleyne said: “We were always confident after restricting Kent to199. It was a good track and from then on all we had to do was avoid beingbowled out.”

Rangers boss Gio van Bronckhrost has been handed a big injury boost over Ibrox midfielder Aaron Ramsey…

What’s the latest?

The Gers manager has provided a positive update on the Wales international’s situation and when he will be able to return.

The 31-year-old is among a number of first-team players who are unavailable tomorrow night, alongside Amad Diallo, Ryan Jack, Filip Helander and Steven Davis.

The club’s Twitter account quoted the head coach as saying: “Hopefully he (Ramsey) will join the team very soon, he is already working out on the pitch again. He is very disappointed and looking forward to a return.”

Delighted

Van Bronckhorst will surely be delighted with the prospect of Ramsey’s impending return to action, as it has been a frustrating time in Glasgow for the Juventus loanee so far.

He has only started one match in all competitions and is yet to make his full debut in the Premiership, with two substitute appearances to his name so far. The midfielder has been battling his own fitness and continues to do so, which has left Rangers fans with little to get excited about in terms of what he has offered on the pitch since his move to Ibrox.

However, this latest update suggests that he is on the right path and could start showing what he is capable of in the near future, as he is close to returning from his latest body blow. His track record suggests that he will provide a major boost to the team if he is able to remain fit and enjoy a run of games in the side.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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Ramsey has played more than 400 games for Arsenal and Juventus combined and it seems unlikely that he would be able to do that without possessing immense quality. His 142 direct goal contributions for those two clubs show that he has the quality to make a real difference at the top level, as he has demonstrated his ability to make a big impact in the final third over the years.

Therefore, Van Bronckhorst will surely be eager to have him fit and available for selection, as the Welshman has the quality to be a huge player for Rangers. The head coach will be buzzing to finally be able to call upon him in his starting XI and hopefully this update means that he will be able to do so sooner rather than later.

AND in other news, Forget Roofe: Van Bronckhorst can save Rangers millions in “big talent” who scores every 41 minutes…

Peter Nevill, Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa will make their Twenty20 international debuts at the World T20 in India, while Steven Smith will replace Aaron Finch as captain after Australia’s selectors dramatically shuffled the deck in a final effort to seek a winning combination.Finch was still chosen in the squad despite his removal as leader, but other recent T20 choices like Matthew Wade, Cameron Boyce and Nathan Lyon were not so fortunate as the panel chaired by Rod Marsh sought to find the right balance to claim a tournament Australia have never won.In order to take his place in the squad, Finch will have to prove his recovery from a hamstring injury, likewise with Nathan Coulter-Nile (shoulder) and James Faulkner (hamstring). They will be led by Smith, in a move Marsh said had been made to provide much-needed continuity to the T20 team.”Aaron Finch has done a very good job captaining Australia in T20 cricket,” Marsh said. “He will have benefited enormously from the leadership opportunity and will remain a highly-respected leader within the Australian squad.”However since he became T20 captain, there has been a broader leadership transition in Test and one-day international cricket with Michael Clarke retiring and Steve Smith assuming the captaincy in Test and one-day cricket.”We think now is the right time for Steve to lead Australia in all three forms of the game as it offers us important continuity, not only ahead of the World T20, but beyond that tournament as well.”The selection of Nevill will be welcomed by the likes of Brad Haddin, who had criticised the selectors for not choosing the best gloveman for the T20 team when Wade’s modest place in the batting order indicated that runs were not a major factor in his inclusion. Cameron Bancroft’s inclusion for the last T20 against India at the SCG now appears to have been a one-off experiment.”We feel our batting depth in this squad is sufficient enough that we can have a specialist wicket-keeper in the squad,” Marsh said. “We want Australia’s best wicket-keeper playing in this tournament and we consider Peter Nevill to be the best in the country right now.”Boyce and Lyon both have reason to feel miffed at their omissions, particularly as Agar had not figured in Australia’s limited overs team since last year’s tour of England. By contrast, Boyce has been the most consistently chosen T20 spin bowler since late 2014, and eight wickets at 19.00 with an economy rate of 6.60 from seven games is a strong return.Lyon, meanwhile, bowled one over in a T20 for Australia against India last month, the smallest possible sample size. Zampa was chosen for the Chappell-Hadlee series in New Zealand as a way for the selectors to view him at international level, and his two skilful displays were enough to earn him a berth.”Given the conditions we are likely to face in India, we wanted to have a number of different spinning options available to us,” Marsh said. “Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell give us plenty of flexibility in the slow-bowling department which is incredibly important in this format.”The inclusions of Nevill, Agar, Zampa and Coulter-Nile bring to 23 the number of players the selectors have included in various T20 squads over the past three weeks. After the two Tests in New Zealand, Australia have a three-match T20 series in South Africa before travelling to India for the ICC event.Australia also named the Southern Stars squad for the Women’s World T20 to be played concurrently. “We’ve got a number of options covered with our bowling attack as well as several batters who can produce the attacking game-style we want to play,” chairman of selectors Shawn Flegler said.The Southern Stars fly to New Zealand on February 18 for an ODI and T20 series ahead of their trip to India. Men’s squad: Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, James Faulkner, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Nevill (wk), Andrew Tye, Shane Watson, Adam Zampa Women’s squad: Meg Lanning (capt), Alex Blackwell, Kristen Beams, Lauren Cheatle, Sarah Coyte, Rene Farrell, Holly Ferling, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy (wk) Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney, Erin Osborne, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani.

Paul Collingwood: ‘It’s obviously unacceptable’ © Getty Images

England captain Paul Collingwood has been fined £1000 after admitting drinking at a lap-dancing bar in Cape Town on Saturday, the night before England’s crucial Super Eight match against South Africa. He was handed the fine by a panel that included England coach Peter Moores, chairman of selectors David Graveney and ECB chief executive David Collier.”Paul Collingwood has been levied with a suitable fine,” a terse ECB media release said. “The matter is now closed.””It’s obviously unacceptable,” Collingwood admitted. “I’m England captain and going to these places isn’t the thing to do. You learn from these lessons and hopefully it won’t happen again.”Collingwood was out the first ball in the game against South Africa which England lost by 19 runs. He claimed he had been taken to the club by friends and was not drinking seriously.The Collingwood incident will raise comparisons with the more serious ‘Fredallo’ incident during the World Cup in the Caribbean in March. As a result of that Andrew Flintoff was stripped of the vice-captaincy and banned for a match, while five other players were fined after being caught drinking into the early hours of a match day. However, Collingwood’s crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time rather than drinking to excess.Collingwood, whose captaincy in the current tournament won him praise from Graveney, said he was concentrating on Wednesday’s must-win match against India. “Hopefully we can quickly get over it and concentrate on this game on Wednesday. Mathematically we’re still hoping we can get through.”

Herschelle Gibbs arrives at Delhi’s police headquarters © Getty Images

Herschelle Gibbs is believed to have named the former South African offspinner, Derek Crookes, as one of three former team-mates involved in a match-fixing scam, during his questioning by Indian police in Delhi. The authorities now want to speak to those players.Ranjit Narayan, the crime branch joint police commissioner, led two-and-a-half hours of questioning of Gibbs who he said was “part of the conspiracy” to fix match results for money during a tour of India in 2000.”Gibbs was asked about his role in the entire episode and the illegal gratification offered to him to underperform or throw away matches,” Narayan said in a statement. “In light of the information given by Gibbs today, further investigation to collect corrobative evidence shall be conducted.”Gibbs has been informed that he may be questioned again should the need arise. He was cooperative and has agreed to provide any further information which may be sought later by the investigating agency. Gibbs admitted he was made the offer twice, first in 1996 and then in 2000. And he has revealed three names and we will be sending a letter [to South Africa] to seek their presence to question them in India.”Narayan noted that India had sent a first letter to South Africa in 2000 to which no reply has been received. “Gibbs’s lawyers described that as a huge mistake,” the police chief said.”He is cooperating with us. He has given us a lot of leads,” Narayan added. None of South Africa’s current Test squad in India for the Champions Trophy were implicated, he added. “We have certain information that helps us move forward.”Gibbs has admitted accepting money from disgraced former captain Hansie Cronje to score fewer than 20 runs against India in a one-dayer during a 2000 March-April tour. He subsequently scored 74 runs and said he had “forgotten” about the deal, but was suspended and fined by the South African authorities.

Derek Crookes: asked to open the bowling at Nagpur © Getty Images

Crookes, meanwhile, was asked to open the bowling during a one-day international at Nagpur on that same tour, and was taken for 69 runs in ten overs, including 53 in his first six-over spell. He was implicated in the scandal back in 2000, when his name cropped up in a taped conversation that was alleged to have been between Cronje and a representative of an Indian betting syndicate.Narayan said the whole South African team had received a match-fixing offer in 1996 but had turned it down. India was also shaken by a betting scandal that rocked the national team in the late 1990s, but Narayan said Gibbs did not name any Indians.Police officials took Gibbs’s voice samples to match it with the telephone records that they have. Gibbs, accompanied by his lawyer Peter Whelan, arrived at the police headquarters at 11am and was questioned by a high-level team of crime branch officials led by Narayan.”He [Gibbs] might need to appear again before the Delhi police so that the legal process can move forward and both Gibbs and his lawyer agreed that they would fully cooperate in this respect,” Narayan revealed.Gibbs went to the South African high commissioner’s office after meeting the police. He is scheduled to fly back to Mumbai at 7.30pm local time to rejoin the South African squad.Earlier, Gibbs had made it clear he could only repeat what he told the King Commission, the South African inquiry into match-fixing held in 2000.But KK Paul, Delhi’s commissioner of police, who headed the original Indian match-fixing investigation, said Gibbs would need to elaborate on the answers he had given the King Commission.”Whatever the cricket authorities decided by way of fines and bans is a matter for them alone,” Paul told The Daily Telegraph. “This is a criminal investigation into a conspiracy to defraud and is a serious matter and certain procedures must be followed. [He] will be asked a full range of questions, including about various bank accounts. I cannot predict what the outcome will be.”Gibbs had previously missed tours to India for fear he would be arrested. He is expected to join the rest of the South African squad later today.South Africa’s team spokesman, Gordon Templeton, told 702 talk radio that he had spoken to both Gibbs and his lawyer Peter Wheelan, who said the reports were inaccurate.

Most of Stuart MacGill’s Ashes tour has been spent in his training gear © Getty Images

Australia plan to give Stuart MacGill a decent spell in the tour match against Essex this weekend to determine whether he is ready for the series-decider at The Oval. MacGill has played only two matches in the past seven weeks, but John Buchanan confirmed he would be picked at Chelmsford. However, Buchanan refused to talk about possible changes for the fifth Test starting on Thursday.Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, said the make-up of the side would not be discussed until next week. However, Hohns has not ruled anyone out of the side, leaving the door open for MacGill and Shane Watson, the Hampshire and Queensland allrounder.MacGill has taken 39 wickets in six Tests against England and The Oval is expected to take spin. “Obviously if you talk to Stuart, whether he has bowled or hasn’t bowled, he is ready to play a Test match,” Buchanan told . “This game will be important for him, to have a bowl against Essex given that he hasn’t bowled a lot. Hopefully he’ll get plenty of overs.”After talking to Steve Rixon, the Surrey coach, Buchanan said the Test pitch would take bounce and turn, meaning a MacGill and Shane Warne tandem act is a possibility. “It aids both pace bowlers who hit the deck and spin bowlers,” Buchanan said. “Therefore I am sure Trevor Hohns would say Stuart MacGill is very much in the equation.”