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Deon Kruis, the 34-year-old Yorkshire fast bowler, has given the strongest indication yet that his playing days are coming to an end. Kruis, a South African who plays for the county as a Kolpak, is exploring other avenues beyond the field of play, including media work and coaching.”I don’t want to keep the younger guys out of the team when I feel they’re ready,” he told the . “I don’t feel they’re 100% there yet physically and skill-wise, but, if it’s up to my wife, this will be my last season. It’s hard for her being in South Africa for basically five out of the six months on her own with the little girl.”This could be my last season, but I’m hoping to do maybe one more year next year. I’ve done some media work and it’s been interesting to sit on the other side of the fence. I’ve been in touch with the guys at Sky and I’d like to keep involved in the game in some way. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”Hamstring and calf injuries limited his appearances last year to just six first-class matches, but although his body is beginning to show signs of wear and tear, he was Yorkshire’s leading wicket-taker in the Championship in 2006 with 38 wickets in 13 matches. “Last season, in particular, was very frustrating for me,” he said. “I had injuries and, as you come towards the end of your career, you obviously want to be playing as much as possible. But I’ve worked hard and I feel really good now. I feel as if I’m bowling well and in good rhythm.”I’d like to get 60 County Championship wickets this year. I’ve done it before, but that was in the second division. This would be in the first division and a better achievement.”

Tim Nielsen, the Australia coach, has taken confidence from Kevin Pietersen’s early talk about the Ashes following his opening game as England captain. The series doesn’t start until next July, but Pietersen said after opening his account against South Africa that “if we play like we played this week, we’ll beat Australia”.”I’m pleased that he is thinking about us already,” Nielsen said in the Age. “We’ve got a couple of big series coming up that are taking up most of our thinking at the moment, but we’re certainly very aware that in 12 months we’ll have an Ashes series on the go, and we’re very much looking forward to it.”Australia have a Test campaign against New Zealand in November followed by home-and-away contests against South Africa before they head to England. Nielsen felt England, who lost the 2006-07 Ashes 5-0, had a lot to improve before they could compete with Australia.”Without wanting to put too much on paper, I reckon it is interesting that he’s coming out and saying that already,” Nielsen said. “There are obviously some things they need to work on. It was a dead rubber and if they want to win the Ashes, they’ve got to win two more Tests than they won in this series, against us in England next year.”

Worcestershire County Cricket Club have awarded David Leatherdale a Benefit Year in 2003 following a long and distinguished career with the Club he first played for in 1988.Aged 34, `Lugsy’ was capped in 1994 and has scored over 9,000 first class and over 3,400 one day runs for the County. A genuine allrounder, he has taken over 200 wickets in all forms of cricket including 5-9 against Durham earlier this season in the Norwich Union League.Chief Executive Mark Newton said, "The award of this Benefit Year is a tribute to David’s long and successful career with the County and I feel sure the Worcestershire Cricketing Public will support him well."

Worcestershire Royals have regained their lead at the top of the first division of the Norwich Union League with a thumping win over local rivals Warwickshire Bears.A stand of 183 for the first wicket between Vikram Solanki (91) and Anurag Singh (75*) was the key as the visitors made light of a target of 216, to clinch victory by eight wickets with five overs remainingSolanki was fantastic, hitting first Carter (whose first four over spell cost 29) and then Mo Sheikh (three overs for 24) out of the attack as the hosts, skippered by Dougie Brown in place of the dropped Michael Powell, wilted under the assault.Delicate late cut was followed by flowing drive and powerful pull as Solanki produced the form that attracted the notice of the England selectors, while Singh proved his worth on a return trip to the club that used him so sparingly.Earlier a one-day career best of 84 by Mark Wagh had led Warwickshire Bears to a challenging score of 216-8.The Bears started cautiously in a key game for both sides. Knight and Wagh were happy to play percentage cricket for the opening overs, secure in the knowledge that winning the toss was worth about another 30 runs in a floodlit encounter, played in front of a good-sized crowd.Knight tried to push on, hitting 14 off one Sheriyar over, including his trademark straight drive following a skip down the wicket. He helped add 62 for the first wicket before slashing flat-footedly at Lampitt only to see the ball lodge in between Rhodes’ legs.Ostler fell to a similar faint edge, leaving Ian Bell to show his class in outscoring Wagh in a 50-run partnership before pushing Lampitt to a diving Solanki at point. Troughton fell to a fine stumping off a leg-stump wide as Royals checked the attempted acceleration, and ensured that there was to be no late surge in the hosts scoring rate. A final total of 216 was probably about par.Ironically, Warwickshire were hindered by the absence of lights in the later stages of their innings, with Wagh and Neil Smith falling to straight ones from Leatherdale (to leave him with 4-37) in increasing gloom, while the lights remained down.In the other Division One match at Taunton, a second century in two days by Kevin Pietersen led Nottinghamshire Outlaws closer to safety and, consequently, increased the likelihood of relegation for Somerset Sabres. Pietersen scored 147 in the Outlaws’ total of 296 for seven and was well-suppoted in a stand of 158 for the fifth wicket with Bilal Shafayat, who contributed a stylish 66.The Sabres had lost half their wickets with only 80 on the board when Keith Parsons (73) and Matthew Wood (61) made a fight of it. They could not threaten the visitors’ total, however, and Nottinghamshire Outlaws won by 59 runs.

Favourites Habib Bank are poised to extend their unbeaten record in the National One-day Cricket Championship when they face WAPDA in the day-night semifinal at National Stadium Tuesday.This match is a repeat of Pool ‘C’ clash in the preliminary round last month with Habib Bank coasting to a comfortable victory.The bankers made it the last four after three straight victories in the Group-I of the final round, including a crushing nine-wicket defeat of PIA at the same venue last Thursday.With the availability of current Pakistan stars Shahid Afridi, the big hitting all-rounder, and Younis Khan, Habib Bank should coast home without much problems.Taufiq Umer, left out of the Sharjah Cup squad, proved the national selectors wrong by scoring unbeaten centuries against Allied Bank and Sui Gas last week.Salim Elahi, another Pakistan reject, played two scintillating knocks before throwing away his wicket recklessly.Skipper Ijaz Ahmed Sr, the former Test stalwart, narrowly missed a century against Sui Gas. In addition, Habib Bank have the likes of Imran Farhat, Hasan Raza, Atiq-uz-Zaman to support the main batting cast.The bankers are equally strong in the bowling area with pace duo of Kabir Khan and Sajid Shah leading the way, followed by Test leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and the slow left-armer Abdul Rehman.WAPDA made to the semifinals by achieving a better net run-rate than either ADBP and Pakistan Customs. All three teams won one game in Group-II.Adil Nisar, the WAPDA captain, has the daunting task of restricting Habib Bank to a reasonable total on a pitch that is expected to be full of runs.WAPDA do not have any stars in their side but there is no doubt they will fight till the end.Teams (from):Habib Bank: Ijaz Ahmed Sr (captain), Imran Farhat, Shahid Afridi, Taufiq Umer, Salim Elahi, Younis Khan, Hasan Raza, Atiq-uz-Zaman, Sajid Shah, Akram Raza, Kabir Khan, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Rehman, Farhan Adil, Irfan Fazil.WAPDA: Adil Nisar (captain), Kashif Rasheed, Riffatullah, Tariq Aziz, Rizwan Malik, Zahid Umer, Waqas Ahmed, Kashif Raza, Sarfraz Ahmed, Aqeel Ahmed, Rehan Rafiq, Shiraz Butt, Ikramullah, Faisal Irfan, Aslam Qureshi, Raees Amjad.Umpires: Shakeel Khan and Asad Rauf.Match referee: Taslim Arif.

The two Shanes – Warne and Watson – are likely to play a significant role for Australia when one-day international cricket returns to Melbourne’s Colonial Stadium next month.After the national selection panel’s decision to cut Ian Harvey and Nathan Hauritz from the line-up, Warne remained the only spinner included in the 13-man party named today for the three-match series against Pakistan. Watson, meanwhile, represents the sole all-rounder in the squad.Along with pace quartet Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee and Andy Bichel, both players are now expected to perform major roles at the bowling crease throughout the series.”It’s great to be given another opportunity to play for Australia,” said Watson, 20, who made his international debut as part of a total of four matches in South Africa last month.”I learnt so much from the last tour and I’ve been continuing to work really hard to try and develop my game to be able to play well at international level.”Being able to play for Australia is exciting in itself but the chance to play games at home is even more of a thrill, definitely.”Obviously, there’s an exciting opportunity there for me now but there’s also a lot of hard work in front of me too to try and secure the all-rounder’s spot.”Australia’s selectors have flirted with Harvey, Shane Lee and Andrew Symonds in the all-rounder’s position for the last three years but none has genuinely made the spot his own. The optimism about his future that is reflected in Watson’s selection for this series is unmistakable.Aside from the omissions of Harvey and Hauritz, the selectors have otherwise opted to retain faith in the new-look squad that enjoyed a crushing 5-1 win in the recent series in South Africa.Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist retain their leadership roles, and batsmen Matthew Hayden, Darren Lehmann and Jimmy Maher have all been re-included after being recalled to the team and indulging in excellent individual campaigns in South Africa.The first two games in the three-match series against Pakistan will be contested at Colonial on 12 and 15 June respectively, before the players head north to the ‘Gabba ground in Brisbane for the third and final encounter – on 19 June.Pakistan’s squad is likely to be finalised by the end of this month.The full Australian squad is: Ricky Ponting (c), Adam Gilchrist (v-c), Michael Bevan, Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Jimmy Maher, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Shane Watson.

Martin Snedden was today named as New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive.Snedden, who has been serving on the board of NZC in recent years, replaces Christopher Doig, who resigned in February.NZC chairman Sir John Anderson said when announcing Snedden’s appointment today: “Martin Snedden is an excellent appointment for New Zealand Cricket. He brings sound corporate judgement and commercial acumen from his partnership in a successful law firm, but also has an in-depth knowledge and passion for the game from his participation at the highest level.”The 42-year-old lawyer is a former New Zealand representative and when lining up at international forums with other CEO’s he will have the rare distinction, in that company, of having played the game at its highest levels.That should allow Snedden to maintain New Zealand’s high reputation in international circles after the work done by Doig and Anderson for the International Cricket Council.Snedden, a medium-pace bowler who was part of New Zealand’s most successful era during the 1980s, played 25 Tests and 93 One-Day Internationals.During his career he took 114 ODI wickets and 58 Test wickets.After retiring from all cricket after New Zealand’s tour of England in 1990, Snedden served on the New Zealand Cricket Council but did not seek re-election in 1992. He returned to administration when invited to join the board of the revamped New Zealand Cricket.His career-best Test figures were achieved in New Zealand’s memorable 1986/87 victory over the West Indies at Lancaster Park.Snedden took five for 86 in the West Indies second innings, including the wicket of the side’s batting legend and captain Viv Richards. New Zealand won the Test by five wickets to tie the series and allowing itself to finish the 1980s unbeaten in Test series at home.In his last season of Test cricket, Snedden’s ability to hang around at the batting crease was twice demonstrated.During one of Test cricket’s great innings of defiance, played by Mark Greatbatch against Australia in Perth, Snedden batted for 202 minutes and 142 balls to be unbeaten on 33 at the end, New Zealand having saved the game. Greatbatch was 146 not out.Then in the return Test played at the Basin Reserve, Snedden, who was sent in as nightwatchman by skipper John Wright, went close to breaking the world record for the longest time without scoring in a Test match when he stayed on six for 94 minutes. New Zealand won that Test by nine wickets.He is the grandson of a former New Zealand captain Nessie Snedden and his uncle Colin Snedden also played a Test for New Zealand.Snedden has a law degree from the University of Otago and has devoted his working life to the family firm, first as a solicitor and for the past 11 years as a partner of Snedden & Associates.He has twice been a member of the New Zealand Cricket Board, from 1990-1992 and since 1999. He was co-opted onto the Hood Committee which reviewed the governance and structure of New Zealand Cricket in 1995. He has also been an Auckland Cricket representative on the Eden Park Board of Control 1993-1996.Snedden is married to Anne and has four children, Lucy (13), Stephanie (11), Michael (8), and Ella (6).Snedden will take up the Christchurch-based position on July 30. He will remain a member of the New Zealand Cricket Board until that date. A replacement member of the Board will be elected at the annual general meeting in September.

Lou Vincent’s chest injury is not expected to be bad enough to keep him out of New Zealand’s tour to Sharjah and Pakistan starting at the weekend.Vincent was hit in the chest by a ball from Andy Caddick during New Zealand’s first innings of the third National Bank Test and did not take the field during England’s first innings.He batted at No 8 in New Zealand’s second innings as a result of the time he spent off the field.He was seen by Auckland respiratory surgeon today who said Vincent had bruising on his left lung and has suffered a rupture of his left airway.He will see the surgeon again on Thursday for another look at the injury.Vincent batted tonight with a runner and hit out hard in the New Zealand run harvest, scoring 10 off 14 balls under the artificially lit conditions. He had New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming as his runner, although there were times when Vincent forgot about that and was halfway down the wicket before remembering he didn’t have to run.He also played some hefty attacking strokes which suggested his batting was not suffering too much from the complaint.Brooke Walker, who was recalled to the New Zealand team for the tour to Sharjah and Pakistan, took Vincent’s place in the field and produced some outstanding diving saves in the manner for which Vincent has become so successful.It is likely that Walker will field during England’s second innings tomorrow.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Jacques Rudolph scored another half-century to set up Titans•AFP

The underdogs Auckland Aces’ three wins out of three in the Champions League T20 was one of the developing feel-good stories of a tournament which is widely seen as being overrun by the cash-rich teams from the IPL. Auckland’s run of victories ended in a dismal manner as their batting collapsed to 113 against an efficient Titans side in Durban.Auckland’s top order had prospered with such regularity in the tournament that their middle order hadn’t been tested in any of their three matches so far. Against the Titans, though, the star names at the top finally floundered exposing the Auckland batting’s lesser lights, who failed the test after a series of unwise slogs.It was Titans’ top order which flourished this time, as their openers Jacques Rudolph and Henry Davids put on their second substantial partnership in a row. They lashed 74 at nearly nine an over, with a boundary coming in all but two of the first ten overs as Davids again showed off his power-hitting, while Rudolph once more showed he can thrive in T20s, mixing a series of off-drives with some reverse-sweeps.The Auckland bowlers pulled things back in the third quarter of the innings as Martin van Jaarsveld pottered along at just below a run-a-ball and Rudolph started to tire towards the end of the innigns. They couldn’t finish off the comeback though as Farhaan Behardien showed why he was a first-choice pick for South Africa with a withering onslaught on Kyle Mills, who has been one of the bowlers of the tournament so far. Mills was taken for 21 in the penultimate over, and a middling target suddenly became a challenging one.The most Auckland had to score in the competition so far was 139, but this time they were up against 173. Alfonso Thomas demonstrated why he is among the most successful Twenty20 overs and had Auckland gasping by the sixth over: he had Lou Vincent caught-behind, and had Azhar Mahmood dabbing a short ball straight to slip. In between Martin Guptill top-edged a slower bouncer from Ethy Mbhalati to the deep, and Auckland had lost the only three batsmen who had had proper hits in the tournament so far.Auckland were soon on their knees as Anaru Kitchen, Colin de Grandhomme and Colin Munro all managed to pick out outfielders on the leg side off fairly innocuous deliveries. At 58 for 6 in the ninth over, the game was virtually over. Three overs later, Auckland were staring at total humiliation as they teetered at 68 for 9, with a Kyle Mills run-out adding to the embarrassment of the bad shot selections.With net run-rate potentially a deciding factor on which teams qualify for the semi-finals, a defeat by more than 100 runs could have crippled Auckland’s chances. They were spared that ignominy by a free-swinging last-wicket stand between Michael Bates and Andre Adams, who put on 45 to take the total to three figures.For the Titans, it was a job well done, lifting them to the top of the table with a second consecutive convincing victory.

England A collected more bonus points today after skipper Mark Alleyne madehis first half-century in the Busta Cup against Windward Islands in StLucia.

His innings gave England A a lead of 79 runs over their opponents butweather permitting, they will have to double their total from 208 for sixtomorrow to gain the outright win they need from this match to make sure oftheir semi-final place.More rain fell over the Mindoo Phillip ground in Castries allowing just 76overs to be bowled on the second day and it was an offer of bad light thatfinally forced Alleyne and his partner Chris Read off the field with anotherrain-affected day forecast tomorrow.Alleyne’s 50 came off 97 balls and included three fours and a big six pulledthrough mid-wicket off pace bowler Fernix Thomas, who later retired hurtafter dropping the ball and falling onto it, twisting his knee in theprocess.Not only did his innings signal a welcome return to form for the captain butit also brought stability to England A’s middle order after a rocky start totheir reply which at one point saw the tourists struggling at 69 for four.Ian Ward showed he is not invincible when trying to dig out a yorker fromShane Shillingford, he was bowled having made 25 and John Crawley who lookedset fair for a big score was caught behind for 23 off the main strike bowlerThomas.Usman Afzaal was run out by a fine return throw from cover and ChrisSchofield, having provided a contrasting style to the smooth and steadyAlleyne to form a useful 45-run partnership, was bowled to leave England Afive wickets down and still 16 runs short of the 130 target needed for firstinnings bonus points.But Graeme Swann, who had earlier taken the last three Windward wickets in15 deliveries to wrap up the innings for 129, joined Alleyne and played withcalm assurance. With a drive through extra cover for four, he took England Apast the target and from that point on, the runs started to flow moreeasily.He pulled Deighton Butler over mid-wicket for six and picked off quicksingles to rattle up 48 runs propelling his side towards 200 but two runsshort of his half-century, he received a delivery from spinner Orlanzo Jacksonthat was pushed to silly mid off. The umpire raised his finger and Swanndeparted though was later surprised to find he had been adjudged lbw ratherthan caught.”It’s gone well today,” said Swann who joined the tour three weeks ago inGrenada after his county colleague Jason Brown left to take up England dutyin Sri Lanka.”It was good to get those quick wickets this morning and then get some runson the board this afternoon. I haven’t bowled that well on this tour,compared to how I can bowl, but I’m pretty happy with the way things aregoing. It was good to get a five-for and mop up the tail.”I didn’t realise I was two runs of a half-century until I came off thefield. But I felt good when I was batting and it was a shame to find I hadbeen given out leg before but it is just one of those things.””It started well this morning but we didn’t start well with the bat butrallied around at the end to finish 79 ahead which is a good position to bein. We have a good chance of winning now if we can push on tomorrow and get200 ahead perhaps.”The way we have been bowling sides out means we can back ourselves to winthis game,” Swann said.