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On an increasingly benign wicket, Victoria settled for batting practice today as their match in the Apple Islepetered out to a draw, with the Vics 331 ahead with five wickets in hand when stumps were called.Victoria were never in any threat of outright defeat today as they lost only three of their batsmen today,with Tasmania’s bowlers unable to gain any success in the opening session and thus unable to applyany pressure on their northern neighbours.Mark Ridgway took his last first class wicket in the fifth over after lunch trapping left handed Matthew Mottin front for 86 after over four hours resistance.An hour later, Laurie Harper after a brisk 40, was bowled by a ball from Andrew Downton.Meantime Brad Hodge was quietly closing in on a hundred and seemed set for it andin fact it took part time bowler Michael Divenuto to knock him over a boundary short of the milestone,trapping him in front for 96.Ian Harvey got a good two hours batting practice with an unbeaten 78 as his side look north to a chanceto take the Pura Milk Cup out of odds on favourite Queensland’s hands.Quite appropriately on a day of little other significance, Ridgway who fibbed about his age for acouple of years until someonechecked his driver’s licence one day in the changerooms,bowled his and the match’s last over andwas applauded off the ground as he led his side off the Bellerieve Oval for the last time.

England have beefed up their spin department by picking offspinners Danielle Hazell and Danielle Wyatt in the 14-member squad for the three-match Women’s Ashes T20 series. Left-arm spinner Rebecca Grundy has also been included in the squad. Seamers Kate Cross and Fran Wilson, who were part of the Test squad, have been left out of the T20 series, which starts at Chelmsford on Wednesday.Hazell is currently the top-ranked T20 bowler in the ICC Rankings while Wyatt has also featured in more than 50 T20s, claiming 46 wickets and scoring 395 runs.”We have called-up Danielle Hazell and Danielle Wyatt for the three must-win Women’s Ashes NatWest IT20s,” England’s head of performance, Paul Shaw, said. “Together they offer us a lot of international T20 experience, with well over 100 caps in this format between them, and Danielle Hazell currently topping the ICC T20 bowling rankings.”We know that we face a huge challenge to get back into this Women’s Ashes contest, but there is a lot of pride and fight within this England women’s squad, and I know that the players will give it everything in these last three matches.”The hosts, trailing 8-2, need to sweep the T20 series if they are to mount a successful defence of the Ashes. Australia, on the other hand, need only one win (or a no result) to reclaim the Ashes, after clinching the solitary Test and sealing a 2-1 victory in the ODI series.England squad: Charlotte Edwards (capt), Katherine Brunt, Georgia Elwiss, Lydia Greenway, Rebecca Grundy, Jenny Gunn, Danielle Hazell, Heather Knight, Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Taylor, Lauren Winfield, Danielle Wyatt

Former Derbyshire batsman Hamza Siddique is forging a new career as an actor with the help of the Professional Cricketers’ Association.Hamza Siddique says cricket hindered his need to show emotion•Getty Images

The 24-year-old, who had two seasons on Derbyshire’s staff and played three first-class matches for Cardiff MCCU, is currently completing a one-year Masters degree in acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.Siddique’s course has been part-funded by the PCA as part of the Association’s Personal Development and Welfare Programme educational funding.The PCA have also part-funded a short film ‘Glow’ which Siddique and three other students have just written and filmed as part of their final assignment.Siddique stars in the film as Elijah, who is taken to see the Northern Lights by his friends after he has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. The film will be shown at festivals around the country which Siddique hopes will help him land acting jobs when he completes the course later this year.”Ultimately this project is going to be shown at festivals and going to be a massive kick-start to our careers as actors,” Siddique said”The PCA’s willingness to help out with the funding was a massive help to us and we are very appreciative of their support.”We are now in the process of meeting with agents. We had our final showcase a few weeks ago and agents came to watch. That is what it is all about, getting an agent and starting to get paid professional jobs in acting.”Siddique studied philosophy and theology at Cardiff and only decided to switch to acting after he was released by Derbyshire three years ago.”From the age of nine all I had wanted to do was to play cricket. I got contracted to Derbyshire at 19 and it was amazing,” he said.”But I did feel there was a gap in my life and, for one reason and another, I felt that I needed to try something else.”I studied philosophy and theology at Cardiff and played on the MCCU scheme there but I started thinking that I would really like to give this media thing a go.”I decided to give it a really good crack. I stopped playing cricket for a while to give acting a go. The whole thing was pretty alien to me. I locked myself in my room and put my cricket stuff away and learned some Shakespeare monologues and some more contemporary pieces and auditioned to a number of drama schools”I had never done drama at school or acted so I had no idea what it meant to get into one of these drama schools To me it was: ‘wow, this is different to facing 90mph balls coming at my head.'”I thought: ‘great, let’s give it a go and see what happens’. It was only when I realised that people were flying in from South Africa and India for a 40 minute audition that I realised what a big deal it was.”Siddique opted for a place at Central, an acting school that includes Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones), Riz Ahmed (Four Lions) and Andrew Garfield (Spiderman) among its recent alumni.Although he initially struggled with aspects of acting, Siddique has found that his experiences in professional cricket have helped him in his new career.”I am actually writing an essay for my thesis titled In What Way Does Conditioning Inhibit an Actor’s Ability to be Spontaneous?,” Siddique said.”It’s amazing how conditioning , nurture and my sporting environment massively hindered me early on because when you are playing sport at the top level you are taught not to be vulnerable and to have this self-assurance and to absolutely back your skills.”But starting drama school was something bizarre to me because whatever emotions you have been taught to shut off in front of people you have to get rid of. There were times in class when I struggled with that early on.”To have to portray emotions to people in a classroom I found really tough but the dedication, the commitment and the work is absolutely comparable to that of professional sport. If you do not put in the hours you will not get the best out of it.”But I feel like I am a step ahead and I felt a step going into it because of cricket. Because of what I learnt in a team environment and the pressure of going out to bat on my first-class debut for Cardiff MCCU I have no qualms about going out and pretending to be someone else.”The stakes in professional sport are comparable to very little else. The things that go through your head, what it means to each person, the preparation that goes into the competition it’s a really great thing and I am really grateful to the part cricket played in helping me in this industry.”

After two sessions of dour batting, which left Zimbabwe at 105 for two attea after 69 overs, the batsmen began to come to life after the break, withAndy Flower leading the way in an all too brief cameo. They finished theday on 185 for four (Campbell 37, Wishart 10).Zimbabwe made a cautious start to the day, the first run coming in thefourth over, and after ten overs they had only eight runs on the board. Nodoubt in view of Zimbabwe’s recent failures at the top of the order it wasfelt that caution should prevail.Grant Flower enjoyed three boundaries through extra cover during McMillan’s spell as first-change seamer, while Rennie concentrated only on survival, no doubt following instructions. Vettori finally broke the stand with a ball that spun sharply to take the shoulder of Flower’s bat to be very well caught by Parore at the second attempt. He scored 24 and Zimbabwe were 40 for one. Carlisle, replacing Goodwin at three, settled in for lunch, when Zimbabwe were 51 for one.After lunch the pair continued steadily, with Rennie progressing to 36 in 207 minutes before he drove at Wiseman and was well caught low down by the diving McMillan at short extra cover; 91 for two in the 59th over. Campbell continued the war of attrition, despite looking a far more confident batsman in Test cricket than he has done for over a year.The waiting game eventually eroded Carlisle’s concentration when on 38, after tea, as he went on a big hit against Wiseman without getting to the line, and skied a catch to Horne at extra cover; Zimbabwe 120 for three.Andy Flower obviously decided that the time had come to carry the attack to the tourists. After playing himself in for a few minutes, he swung Wiseman over midwicket for two successive sixes. New Zealand responded by taking the second new ball, but Flower switched his assault to Cairns, taking ten off an over. Cairns got revenge, though, by having him caught at second slip by Astle for 29, driving outside off stump, and Zimbabwe were 157 for four. Once again a batsman had laid a firm foundation but failed to build on it; nevertheless he had raised the tempo of the game.Wishart looked positive from the start and survived with Campbell to the close. Zimbabwe’s position was perhaps no better than average considering the excellence of the pitch.

Little-known TC Bruce, playing his first competitive game at domestic level, slammed 88 off 65 balls to propel Central Districts to a 49-run victory against Otago in New Plymouth, and set up a finals clash against Auckland on February 1.Not much about Bruce is common knowledge at present – not his age, not his place of birth, not his previous cricket pedigree, and not his playing style – but he came out at No. 5 for Central Districts and hit half a dozen sixes and five fours to lift his team to 252 before they were dismissed in 48.1 overs.Central Districts had started poorly after choosing to bat, losing their top three batsmen for 38 runs by the 12th over. They were steadied by a 63-run stand between Dane Cleaver and Kruger van Wyk but both batsmen fell in quick succession and Central Districts were 107 for 5 in the 25th. That was when Bruce began his counterattack along with Doug Bracewell, who scored 45 off 53 balls. They added 102 runs for the sixth wicket. The Central Districts lower order fell away, though, and they lost their last four wickets in the space of nine runs. Jacob Duffy took 3 for 44 for Otago, while Neil Wagner and Sam Wells claimed two wickets each.Otago’s chase of 253 started poorly, with the openers falling cheaply to Doug Bracewell. Bevan Small then dismissed Michael Bracewell for a golden duck to reduce Otago to 16 for 3. There was an 89-run stand between Jesse Ryder and Aaron Redmond, but Otago lost both of them in the space of two runs and then slumped to 113 for 6. They were eventually dismissed for 203 in 41.5 overs. George Worker and Andrew Mathieson took three wickets each for Central Dictricts.

Maturity has been one of the reasons behind Michael Clarke’s elevation to Australia’s vice-captaincy and he showed it throughout the second day in Antigua, where he made what he described as his most special Test hundred. Clarke’s on-field promotion to Ricky Ponting’s deputy was delayed by the death of his fiancee’s father, Graham Bingle, and he stayed in Sydney while his team-mates prepared for the first Test.He has quickly made up for the lost time. Australia were looking to push towards a large total when Clarke resumed in the morning on 38 and he ensured the side was in excellent health by stumps, having scored his seventh Test century and chipped in with two late wickets.Clarke knew his duties would increase with the new role, but nobody expected such an immediate impact. When he reached his hundred he dripped tears and leaned back to look at the sky. “There were a couple,” Clarke said after play, “it was obviously very emotional.”However, he said it was an easy decision to return to the team and he had the blessing of those close to him. “I’ve been so keen to get over here and be part of the West Indies tour,” he said. “This is the first Test match I’ve played here. It was hard to leave the family back at home, but I had their support. I know they all wanted me to come over here and do my best.”Clarke said that was also the wish of Graham Bingle. “He told me [before he died] to come over here and play,” Clarke told . “He didn’t want me to stay at home, so it was special to make this hundred for him. No doubt I wanted to make a hundred for him, no doubt because I knew he wanted me to be over here playing cricket, he didn’t want me back at home.”For a player who hasn’t appeared in a game since March, his sensible 110 was an outstanding effort. There were 12 fours, including the on-drive to bring up his hundred, before the innings ended on the 187th ball when he top edged a pull to Xavier Marshall at midwicket. Clarke wasn’t finished.His magic touch transferred to his bowling when he picked up two vital wickets before stumps, including the set Marshall. In his third over Clarke trapped Marshall lbw when he padded up on 53, and followed it up five balls later when Runako Morton’s miscued slog went to Simon Katich at short midwicket.”I’ve snuck in a couple of wickets, it was nice,” Clarke said. “I asked Ricky for a bit of a bowl a few times and I think he got sick of me asking, so he had to give me a go.”West Indies finished at 125 for 3 and Australia hold a lead of 324. “We played really well, 479 is a really good score on that wicket,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow, so fingers crossed we can get out there and have another bat.”

Anil Kumble has backed the Indian middle order to come good against the Australians in the upcoming Test series. He also said much of the criticism of the seniors was due to traditional mindsets surrounding age.”I think everyone needs to perform, as it is a team game. You can’t take your place for granted and I can assure you that is not the case with any of the players,” he told the Indian news channel . “People may call us seniors but the amount of work we put in is the same as anyone else.”Sourav Ganguly’s omission from the Rest of India squad that faced Delhi in the Irani Trophy recently had cast doubts over the future of the rest of the ‘Fab Four’ – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. However, Kumble said the criticism was fuelled by conventional notions of age.”In India, it really doesn’t matter whether you are 31 or 32. As soon as you cross 30, I think people start talking. It is not fair to judge someone by just one performance or just one series, especially when someone has performed for 10 years.”I understand when he is a newcomer, though that is unfair as well. You cannot judge a player by just one series. But when you have played for 10-15 years and contributed to all the victories that India have had in the last 15 years, it is not fair to pass judgement.”He underlined the importance of getting runs in the series against Australia, which would help set the platform for the bowlers, especially the spinners. “I think the first Test match is going to be important. The batting will have to click and I am confident about that.”If we put runs on the board, we have got the bowling to pick up 20 wickets. The key will be to maintain our intensity throughout the Test. Australia will keep fighting and we will do the same. And if we fight till the last ball is bowled and not give up, I think we have a great chance.”Kumble, who will complete a year as Test captain in November, said the team could have done better during his reign in terms of results. “We could have at least had a series win in Sri Lanka, which would have been great. That would have been a really good year.”

Graeme Smith, the Rajasthan Royals opener, has been ruled out of the final of the Indian Premier League because of a hamstring injury he sustained during the semi-final against Delhi Daredevils on Friday.Smith was rested for Rajasthan’s last two league games because he injured his hamstring against Chennai but returned to open the innings in the semi-final. However, he pulled up while running a single in the second over and continued batting with a runner, Mohammad Kaif. He was eventually dismissed for 25 off 21 balls as Rajasthan crushed Delhi by 105 runs.”Smith has played a huge part in the team’s success and we had gave him a couple of games off to recover from his hamstring injury [against Chennai],” Shane Warne, the Rajasthan captain, said. “Yesterday he was running around like an 18-year-old and said he had no problem at all. However, during the game [against Delhi] he tore his hamstring in different spot.”Unfortunately, he [Smith] is out for tomorrow’s game [final]. We have to make the big decision on who will open the innings with Swapnil [Asnodkar]. Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal come to my mind as being likely to open in the final.”Smith’s injury is a blow to Rajasthan for he is their second-highest run-scorer with 441 at an average of 49. He also forged an attacking opening partnership with Swapnil Asnodkar – the pair average 59.71 at 8.96 per over, with two century stands.Rajasthan are likely to pick Akmal, who has scored 122 runs in five innings at a strike-rate of 171.83, over Younis who has played just one game in the IPL so far. If Akmal does get the nod, he is likely to keep wicket instead of Mahesh Rawat, which could also open the door for Niraj Patel’s return.Rajasthan will take on the winner of the second semi-final between Chennai and Kings XI Punjab, which will take place on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The final will be held on Sunday at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board was boosted after receiving pledges of support from several cricketers linked with the rebel Indian Cricket League, but the six players who retired on Sunday failed to appear at its headquarters as requested to discuss the situation.The BCB had asked the six to meet with officials on Monday, but the Daily Star reported that none of them turned up. Former captain Habibul Bashar and wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh were believed to have left the country for India, while the exact whereabouts of the other four were not known.The board claimed to have tried to contact them, but it emerged that they had only sent them text messages. “SMS is not a proper way to communicate with somebody,” Shahriar Nafees, another of the six, told the newspaper. “Any board official is yet to give me a call and only a board employee rang me yesterday [Sunday]. I will only think about attending the meeting if the invitation comes in a proper way.”Inside sources suggested the board had privately conceded that the six could not be dissuaded from signing with the ICL and had decided to concentrate its efforts in preventing more joining them. To that end officials met with the remaining contracted players and made clear the consequences of joining the ICL, as well as highlighting the benefits of remaining in the fold.”I think it’s a personal choice,” Shakib Al Hasan said. “But I am very much clear in my position. I want to play for my country and I believe everything will come in my way if I keep my position on the national side.”For a time there were also rumours that the six – Bashar, Ghosh, Nafees, Aftab Ahmed, Farhad Reza and Mosharraf Hossain – could be joined by Tamim Iqbal after it emerged that he had not attended the meeting. However, BCB officials were quick to point out that he was on an agreed break. There were also suggestions that Nazimuddin was also about to sign for the ICL and these grew after board officials admitted that he was “a suspect”.It is believed the BCB has been in contact with the ICC to discuss the legal ramifications of the breakaway, although nothing can be done until the rumours turn out to be fact.

N Srinivasan, the newly appointed secretary of the BCCI, has said the recent move to have a paid selection panel – the first time in the board’s history – will ensure complete accountability to the board. Srinivasan, formerly the board’s treasurer, was also appointed the convener of selectors and attended the meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday to pick the Indian squad for the first two Tests against Australia.”You now have a professional selection committee that is paid and therefore, completely accountable to the board,” Srinivasan told the . “There is a view that the BCCI will therefore, now have a greater hold over the selectors.”The idea behind this was that the selectors spend so much time for the board, that they should be reimbursed.”The members of the new panel, headed by the former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth, will be paid Rs 25 lakh (US$53,625) per year.Srinivasan also said the board will stress on improving cricket facilities across the country and that the state associations were being encouraged to spend more on improving infrastructure.”An opportunity, perhaps, is to make facilities more user-friendly,” he said. “We would like to improve facilities, increase the number of academies and take the game to the rural parts of the country in a more complete fashion. There are new stadia coming up in Hyderabad, Nagpur, Orissa. We will see the creation of more and more facilities for cricket.”When asked whether the BCCI would consider going public, he said: “This is not a corporate entity. We are an organisation for the development of the game. That’s the way we see ourselves.”