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Cricket Europe has reported that Graeme and Chris Davey, Netherlands’ South African-born twin brothers, were forced to sit out the opening match in the European Under-19 Division 1 Championship in Bangor after the board (KNCB) failed to complete the documentary formalities in time.The KNCB did not provide documents to show that the Daveys had fulfilled residence and development criteria as required by the ICC. The board has been reminded several times that all players needed to meet the ICC regulations and so the oversight was unforgivable.Graeme, who was appointed captain ahead of the tournament, had to sit out the opening game, an eight-wicket defeat by Ireland alongside wicketkeeper-batsman Chris. The necessary paperwork had been sorted in time for them to play in the second match today.

Hamish Bennett almost singlehandedly demolished the competition leaders Auckland, grabbing six wickets as Canterbury secured a three-wicket win at Eden Park Outer Oval. Bennett took 6 for 45 – his previous best in a one-dayer was three victims – and only half-centuries from Martin Guptill (51) and Rob Nicol (50) pushed Auckland to 178. Canterbury had some concerns of their own, wobbling at 10 for 2, but Shanan Stewart steadied the chase with 70 and they got there with nearly ten overs to spare.A blistering half-century from Ewen Thompson drove Central Districts to a five-wicket win over Northern Districts in Palmerston North. An 83-run stand from Thompson and Tim Weston was just what the home side needed after falling to 146 for 5 in pursuing 229. Thompson hammered four sixes in his unbeaten 62, which came from 36 balls and was his highest one-day score, while Weston made a career-best 77 not out. It was a fine day all-round for Thompson, who collected three wickets as the Northern Districts batsmen struggled to go on with their starts. Only James Marshall (65) was threatening and the defeat left his team in last place on the table.Stephen Fleming might have retired from ODIs – and probably soon from Tests as well – but he showed he still has plenty to offer in the limited-overs format with 93 as his team Wellington beat Otago by five wickets at the Basin Reserve. Grant Elliott had just as important a role, taking 5 for 34 in Otago’s 238, while Neil Broom top scored with 62 and Warren McSkimming chipped in with 59 for the visitors. But Fleming’s 96-ball effort guided Wellington into a winning position before he fell just short of a century, one of Bradley Scott’s three victims.

Uganda underlined their growing reputation as one of cricket’s emerging forces with a 12-run victory over neighbours Kenya in the final of the East and Central Africa Under-15 Championship. The win avenged their defeat by the Kenyans in last year’s final.Uganda rattled up 175 in their 40 overs, built on 58 from Taban Emmanuel. Kenya’s chase got off to a poor start when Emmanuel Bundi, who hit a hundred against Rwanda in the opening match, fell for 0 and none of their top-order batsmen were able to play the necessary anchor innings.Things started badly for Kenya as opening batsman Emmanuel Bundi, who hit a ton against Rwanda in their opening match, was bowled by Timothy Erumuka after only two balls without a run. Although Nikit Shah (33) and David Mumbo (19) chipped in with late runs, they were left with too much to do.”I knew it was going to be tough and I think we deserved to win,” said Amos Kyazze, Uganda’s coach.David Asiji, Kenya’s coach, admitted that the batting had been his side’s undoing. “The title was in our sight, but we let it slip at the crucial moment. That was an easy target for us, but I think after losing our opening batsmen early in the match, fear struck the other members of the team.”

Tony Cozier, the veteran Caribbean journalist and broadcaster, has launched a scathing attack on the way the ICC funds global cricket outside the Test-playing countries.Writing in his column which is syndicated throughout the Caribbean, Cozier was angry at the way that established regions, such as West Indies, were not allocated more money instead of so much being spent by the ICC on Associate competitions.”Certainly there is no ICC venture more illogical or costly than the one dubbed the Intercontinental Cup,” he wrote. “It is an annual tournament, described by the ICC as its ‘flagship first-class competition’, comprising round-robin, four-day matches between its second tier members, those one below Test status. These are countries where the game has always been based on amateur, weekend, one-day club cricket. They play no four-day domestic matches and almost certainly never will.”Yet the ICC doles out heaven knows how much cash every year to fly them, and their own entourage of officials, across the world and to house and feed them at venues as scattered as Aberdeen, Dublin, Namibia, Toronto, Sharjah and Windhoek.”Canada were unable to raise their strongest team for the African tour because many of their best players simply could not get time off from their jobs. The same problem affects others, rendering the tournament even less relevant.”The ICC maintains that the competition enables players from Associate countries to gain more experience in the longer form of the game.

Marlon Samuels will undergo independent analysis of his bowling action at the National Cricket Academy, at Loughborough University in England on February 11, after he was reported for a suspected illegal action by the umpires in the third Test between South Africa and West Indies in Durban.Due to the injury to Dwayne Bravo and absence of Chris Gayle, Samuels, a part-time offspin bowler, sent down 21 overs in South Africa’s only innings of the game. On-field umpires Simon Taufel and Aleem Dar and third umpire Brian Jerling reported their doubts over his action, especially with respect to his “fast” deliveries. Roshan Mahanama, the match referee, subsequently informed both the ICC and the West Indies team management of the report, as per the ICC regulations governing the reporting process.Samuels’ analysis will be performed by Dr Mark King, member of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists. The outcome of the analysis is expected within 14 days after the tests, which was confirm whether the offspinner’s action is legal. Although only Samuel’s “fast” deliveries have been reported as suspect, the process requires his action, including the “fast” deliveries, to be analysed.If the analysis confirms that only Samuels’ “fast” deliveries are illegal, then he would be allowed to continue bowling in international cricket without using that delivery but subject to the warning that should he bowl his “fast” ball he would run the risk of being reported a second time.However, if this month’s analysis concludes that Samuels generally bowls with an illegal action, he will be suspended from bowling in international cricket until such time as he has corrected his action and submitted to a fresh independent analysis that concludes that his action has been remedied.Samuels has taken seven Test wickets at 127.00 apiece and 57 ODI wicket at 43.24.

Sreesanth, India’s fast bowler, has denied clapping in the face of Andrew Symonds after he was dismissed in the fourth one-day match on Monday. Sreesanth, a 12th man in Chandigarh, reportedly had to be calmed down by Stuart Clark, who was also running the drinks, when Symonds was approached between the field and the entry to the dressing room.Sreesanth has had an eventful series after targeting the Australians with his strange behaviour and he apparently continued to argue with Symonds and his team-mates after the eight-run loss. Despite not playing, Sreesanth went to Symonds as he walked off with 75 and observers said he clapped in the batsman’s face.”I said to him: ‘Hard luck, you’re going to lose now,” Sreesanth said in the Australian. “That’s all.” Both the Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald reported the bizarre actions that continued an ugly series, which has its fifth game at Vadodara on Thursday.However, neither Chris Broad, the match referee, or Lalchand Rajput, India’s manager, were aware of the Sreesanth-Symonds incident. Rajput said Sreesanth had been talked to about his behaviour in the early part of the series.”He was told that he has been playing international cricket for long enough now that he should know what is right and wrong,” he told the Herald. Both players also had an on-field argument during the second match in Kochi when Sreesanth tried to run-out Symonds after he had gone to speak with Brad Haddin.

South Africa announced a packed international and domestic 2007-08 season, which includes as many as seven international tours for the national team, the inaugural World Twenty20 Championship as well as the regular domestic calendar.The season begins with South Africa’s first tour to Ireland, which begins this week, for a series of ODIs against the hosts and India. The squad, captained by Jacques Kallis, includes a number of new players.Subsequently, there are tours to Pakistan, Zimbabwe, India and Bangladesh, while New Zealand and West Indies are due to visit South Africa. In September, before the tour to Pakistan, they host the first Twenty20 championship.Gerald Majola, CEO Cricket South Africa, said, “This is going to be a bumper season for South African cricket, both domestically and internationally. The new season, which kicks off with the tour to Ireland this month, will include seven international tours and the hosting of the inaugural World Twenty20 South Africa in 2007.”We believe that the Twenty20 format is going to bring in a new audience for cricket, and we believe this interest will spread to other forms of the game. On the international front, we will be using this season to increase the pool of Proteas players so that we can meet the challenges of this busy 2007/8 season.”

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Shane Harwood’s five wickets helped Victoria seal their second win in a week against South Australia in Adelaide. While the Pura Cup victory was emphatic, this match was tighter, with South Australia showing some fight before losing their way at the end.The home side was boosted by the return of Shaun Tait, who showed what it had been missing with three wickets on return from a long lay-off. On a perfect spring day, he sprang back from elbow surgery, pursuing a typically full, and prosperous, line.He was the pick, even though Ryan Harris added his first five-wicket haul, including three in an over, while Dan Cullen offered a tight mid-innings spell. “He stood out,” the captain Nathan Adcock said of Tait, who he used in several one-over bursts. “A class above. I reckon he’s still got a bit more up his sleeve.”Tait may reveal just what next week in Hobart, where South Australia will head encouraged by their showing here. Concerns remain over a brittle top order, not least with Cameron Borgas, who made three ducks in a week to forget.Batting first, Victoria managed 263 on a turning pitch, thanks largely to Aiden Blizzard’s first one-day fifty and Cameron White’s slick 76. Blizzard cut and pulled his way to 72 and hit nine fours before he was trapped by one which skidded through off Dan Cullen, although replays suggested a thin edge.Despite a strong start in the second innings, the Bushrangers had to stave off the challenge from Mark Cosgrove, who made 92. He was beginning to threaten with Adcock (49) before the captain played a full toss too late from the excellent Harwood, who once again showed his one-day class, finding swing and fully deserving his 5 for 45. Bryce McGain, who was on debut aged 35, also bowled tidily, cleaning up the fellow first-gamer Andy Delmont (13) and profiting from Ryan Harris’ headrush on 19.Cosgrove, who fell to the mischevious tweak of White, and Adcock added 121 from 124 balls, and while they were together the momentum was firmly with South Australia, who finally looked to have discovered a sliver of the confidence badly lacking earlier this week. But their chase fell away in the face of some excellent bowling.

Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, has indicated that Shaun Pollock might not play the first Test against New Zealand starting at the Wanderers on Thursday. According to Arthur, the winning XI who won the Test series against Pakistan in October would probably take the field.”We’re very much a squad and there’s always going to be one guy that misses out,” Arthur was quoted as saying by the website. “The spinner [Paul Harris] has made a huge impact for us – he’s bowled particularly well – so I don’t think we’ll tinker too much. We’ll have a look at the conditions later and see where we go, but it’s still very much a squad system. If conditions warrant it, Polly [Pollock] will play.”Pollock was dropped for the first time in his 107-Test career during the Pakistan series with captain Graeme Smith explaining that it was a tactical decision to rest Pollock and give some young fast bowlers exposure to alien conditions.That successful series over, Arthur was not very worried about his bowlers having to switch from Pakistan’s flatter surfaces to the bouncier ones at home. “We need to get back into our own conditions quickly, and prepare accordingly,” he said. “The guys are skilled and good enough to make the change quickly.”That’s part and parcel of international sport – you change disciplines pretty quickly. We just have to tighten up our defences and tighten up our skills in the nets, so we’ll be fine. I’m hoping by the end of today the players will be back in Test-match mode.”

Surrey have signed Usman Afzaal on a three-year contract. Ufzaal, 30, left Northamptonshire by mutual consent last week.Afzaal started his career at Nottinghamshire, making three England appearances during the 2001 Ashes. He moved to Northamptonshire in 2004 where he was consistent, and this season he scored 570 runs at 35.62 in eight Championship matches.”I want to continue to learn more about myself and my game and feel a new challenge, in a new environment will help me achieve this,” Afzaal said. “To learn from and play with the likes of Alan and Mark Butcher and Mark Ramprakash will be an honour and something I’m looking forward to.”My dream is to play more cricket for England and I see this move to Surrey – where I will be under pressure to prove myself in a quality side – as a stepping stone to being recognised by the English selectors once more.”Alan Butcher, Surrey’s cricket manager, welcomed the addition to his squad. “With some of our top batsmen nearing the end of their careers, it was important for us to acquire a proven and experienced player approaching his prime. I believe Usman to be ambitious, both for himself and for the club and think that he has vital parts to play as the rebuilding of the team continues.”