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India Under-19 piped their Bangladeshi counterparts by one run in a rain-affected game in Pretoria. The match was the last of the round-robin stage of the triangular tournament – also featuring hosts South Africa – and both India and Bangladesh had already made their way to the final.Chasing 220, India were at 161 for 5 after 39.3 overs, before no further play was possible due to rain. According to the revised scores tabulated by the D/L method, India were ahead of the required target by one run, thus maintaining their unbeaten run in the tournament.For India, without Tanmay Srivastava, who had starred with his all-round performances in the tournament, Manish Pandey made 51, but it was a brisk 44 off 47 balls from Virat Kohli, the captain, and a cameo of 18 from 16 by D Shivkumar that sealed the win. Their unbroken 44-run stand from six overs proved decisive in the final result.Dolar Mahmud and Mahmudul Hasan bagged two wickets apiece during India’s chase, and had conceded only 27 runs from the 12 overs they had bowled. Bangladesh would rue the fact that their key bowlers couldn’t complete their entire quota of ten. With India needing a further 59 at nearly a run-a-ball when rain intervened, they would have considered themselves in with a chance to choke the chase.Earlier, Bangladesh were fortunate to manage 219, as they were struggling at 11 for 3 after choosing to bat. A 86-run stand for the fourth wicket between Nasir Hossain and Marshall Ayub helped them recover. Left-arm spinner KP Appanna, playing his first match of the tournament, dismissed Ayub for 38 and later got the wicket of Nasir, who scored 61. Bangladesh’s captain Suhrawadi Shuvo made an unbeaten 39 to guide the team to 219; his counterpart Virat Kohli finished with figures of 3 for 39.The two teams will meet in the final on Tuesday.

A quickfire 87 from Neil Broom propelled Otago to a five-wicket victory with nine balls to spare against Central Districts at Fitzherbert Park. Earlier, aggressive half-centuries from Jacob Oram and Brendon Diamanti spurred Central to 275 for 7 off 50 overs.Chasing a stiff target, Otago lost opener Jordan Sheed for 19. Craig Cumming, the captain, held the fort with 46 but two quick wickets reduced them to 91 for 3 in the 20th over. Broom and Greg Todd added 83 for the fourth wicket to put the chase back on track. Broom’s 87 came off just 84 balls and included five fours and three sixes.Otago needed 102 runs off the final 15 overs when Gareth Hopkins began his blitz. He slammed four fours and three sixes and raced to 56 off 39 balls to seal the victory. Oram was the best of Central’s bowlers with 2 for 44 off 9.3 overs.Central, who won the toss, had slipped 116 for 4 in the 20th over with only Geoff Barnett making a meaningful contribution. Oram and Diamanti provided the innings with momentum through a rapid 89-run partnership in just 10.1 overs. Oram remained unbeaten on 70 off 69 balls while Diamanti hammered 60 off 35 deliveries with three fours and four sixes.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

For the second consecutive day, the pendulum oscillated to and fro, with several stars lighting up the tense slugfest, as the game hung on a fine thread, with the scores level, at the end of a thoroughly engrossing battle at Perth. Two rollicking fifties gave South Africa a slender lead, their first against Australia for nearly nine years, but superb spells from the record-breaking Shane Warne and red-hot Brett Lee ensured the contest was tantalisingly poised.Punch followed counterpunch as both teams refused to let the game slip away. There was a bubbly half-century from AB de Villiers that helped South Africa reach 127 for 2; a teasing spell from Warne, who overtook Dennis Lillee’s tally of 85 wickets in a calendar year, that suffocated the middle order, reducing them to 187 for 6; a bouncing half-century from Mark Boucher, gaining the lead; a speedy burst from Lee that cleaned up the tail; and a final phase where Australia wiped out the deficit.There was a striking resemblance to yesterday’s events with the batting side bossing the game in the first session. de Villiers’s effervescent knock, accompanied by oodles of confidence, helped South Africa set a solid platform. Having set the tone late last evening, with a majestic hook off the very first ball of the innings, de Villiers drove through the nagging opening spell, from Glenn McGrath and Lee, and sparkled with rasping strokeplay. Rocking back and piercing the off-side field, he frustrated a disciplined attack, getting away with streaky moments as twinkling cuts flew in the vacant regions. Despite the risks, he backed himself and profited by adopting a positive approach.The same, though, couldn’t be said of the middle-order as they withdrew into a shell, only to inevitably succumb. Despite promising much in their short stints, Graeme Smith and and Herschelle Gibbs couldn’t build a sizeable score and their departure left the underbelly of the batting line-up exposed, allowing Warne and Co. to claw back into the contest. Warne’s teasing spell after lunch, when only 19 came off 13 overs, had the batsmen constantly guessing. A brilliant set-up undid de Villiers – a series of legbreaks preceding a slider that drifted in and stayed straight – before Warne put an end to Ashwell Prince’s misery with a ripping legspinner. None of the batsmen managed to break the shackles, with almost every ball being accompanied with a whir of mystery, and were gradually strangulated.McGrath and Lee gave Warne fantastic support, with both showing superb control with their variations. Justin Kemp, who initially struggled to get the ball off the square, wasn’t allowed to express himself as McGrath foxed him by varying length and pace. Lee accounted for Gibbs and Jacques Rudolph, before returning to mop up the tail, ending with his sixth five-wicket haul in Tests.

What saved South Africa, though, was a sizzling 77-run stand between Boucher and Shaun Pollock, who upped the ante immediately after tea. Six fours came in the four overs after the break as they dared to attack Warne and throw him off rhythm. Anything short was smashed to the square fence, inside out shots were attempted and the faster men were driven with aplomb. Scampering between the wickets and not hesitating to flash hard at the wide ones, the pair went about neutralising Australia’s advantage.Lee returned to break the stand, fizzing one through Pollock’s defences, and Boucher floundered against a ripping legbreak from Warne – with Hayden pulling off an outstanding slip catch. Hayden returned when Australia batted, began as if it was a Twenty20, unleashing five glorious pulled fours off Ntini, but, in what was a repeat of his first-innings dismissal, he top-edged while trying to pull Langeveledt. It was a fitting end to a day replete with first-day trends repeating themselves. Now, with three days to go and a clean slate to begin with, it’s all back to square one.How they were outSouth AfricaGraeme Smith c Ponting b Bracken 34 (1 for 83)
Herschelle Gibbs b Lee 21 (2 for 127)
AB de Villiers b Warne 68 (3 for 135)
Jacques Rudolph c Langer b Lee 8 (4 for 145)
Justin Kemp c Hodge b McGrath 7 (5 for 167)
Ashwell Prince lbw b Warne 28 (6 for 187)
Shaun Pollock b Lee 34 (7 for 264)
Mark Boucher c Hayden b Warne 62 (8 for 282)
Charl Langeveldt lbw b Lee 0 (9 for 283)
Makhaya Ntini c Hodge b Lee 12 (296 all out)
AustraliaMatthew Hayden c Boucher b Langeveldt 20 (1 for 37)

Bangladesh’s selectors have called up Khaled Mahmud, the former captain, for the first one-day international against India, to be played at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong on December 23. Mahmud replaces Talha Jubair, who played in the second Test which Bangladesh lost by an innings on Monday. quoted Faruque Ahmed, the chief selector, as saying: “We are against making too many changes in the one-day series. Talha was impressive on his comeback to Test cricket after two years. But we always consider him more suited for the longer version than the limited-overs matches and that’s why we preferred Mahmud.”Ahmed said that Mahmud was picked on the strength of strong performances in the Premier League – a domestic competition – and he added that Alok Kapali too had been considered before he picked up a knock that ruled him out. But since the squads for the three games are to be named on a match-by-match basis, Kapali could still feature in the two games to be played in Dhaka on December 26 and 27.Team: Habibul Bashar (captain), Nafis Iqbal, Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Khaled Mashud (wk), Mushfiqur Rahman, Khaled Mahmud, Manjural Islam Rana, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Mashrafe Mortaza and Nazmul Hossain.

Jonty Rhodes has confirmed that he will be retiring from first-class cricket at the end of the English season.Rhodes, who is currently enjoying a fruitful one-off season at Gloucestershire, quit international one-day cricket after the recent World Cup, explaining that he wanted to spend more time with his family.”I’m done, I’ve been playing for 14 years and I’ve enjoyed every day at the office, and have no regrets whatsoever,” he told the BBC. “Cricket has been such a major part of my life so it will be nice to have a break and see where the future takes me.”Rhodes, who has studied for a business degree between matches, has already received five job offers for non-cricketing work. He played 52 Tests and 245 one-day internationals for South Africa, after making his debut at the 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.As a batsman, Rhodes was a reliable Test cricketer, and capable of explosive hitting in the one-day game, but he will forever be best known for his brilliant fielding. He quit Test cricket in 2000 to concentrate on the 2003 World Cup, which took place in South Africa, but his campaign was cruelly cut short by a broken hand.”It’s sad for cricket that Jonty will not be continuing,” John Bracewell, Gloucestershire’s outgoing director of cricket, told the Press Association. “Having said that, we knew that the odds on him coming back for another year were probably against us. He’s lived up to every expectation we had, both on the field as well as in and around the dressing-room. He’s been a marvellous ambassador for cricket and his standing with the coaches and team puts him with the best of our overseas players.”

Daniel Vettori’s recovery from a ligament tear that forced him home from Australia, may have him making the return trip across the Tasman sooner than was expected.Vettori is in Christchurch for treatment for the injury which occurred when he was fielding a ball from his own bowling in Canberra.New Zealand Cricket’s operations manager John Reid said today the injury was healing faster than the initial diagnosis suggested.But he was refusing to get carried away with the progress.”We are monitoring it daily, and the signs are that he will be back in Australia earlier rather than later.”But we don’t want to be too optimistic. We are pleased with his response to the treatment but it is too early to say when the full recovery will be.”It is a different thing to be walking or running on the foot than it is to be pivoting on the foot when bowling, and it is his pivot foot that is injured,” Reid said.”How much earlier he goes back will depend on the next week of treatment,” he added.CLEAR Black Caps manager Jeff Crowe said he was very pleased to hear the news about Vettori and said the likelihood of a quick recovery had been why they said that his tour wasn’t over.The team physio Dayle Shackel and NZC’s fitness advisor Warren Frost will be having a meeting in Brisbane tomorrow to discuss the situation with NZC’s medical staff back in New Zealand about just where they think Vettori is.”Stephen Fleming talked to Daniel this morning and he was very positive after talking to him and said it was very encouraging,” Crowe said.

ScorecardBenny Howell added 129 with Hamish Marshall•PA Photos

Benny Howell and Hamish Marshall combined in a stand of 129 to help propelGloucestershire to a first-innings lead against Glamorgan.Marshall stepped up to the crease with Gloucestershire on a tricky 111 for3, trailing their LV= County Championship Division Two rivals by 188 runs,but they soon got to work.They remained for 34.5 overs, with Marshall completing a 106-ball 70 beforedeparting and Howell (67) followed soon after. Gloucestershire ended the day on301 for 6, to take a lead of two runs with four first-innings wickets left.Marshall, who was summoned from Bristol when Craig Miles broke down before thegame started on the first morning, and is still not fully fit, scored 11 foursand one six before he fell lbw to Michael Hogan.Howell, who was dropped from a straightforward chance to Andrew Salter at coveroff Hogan on 12, played a patient innings and did much to keep his team incontention .Glamorgan had added a further 26 runs to their overnight score, before theywere all out a run short of a third batting point, but Salter failed to add tohis overnight score of 73 when he sliced to second slip in the opening over.In reply, Gloucestershire soon lost Chris Dent, who played on to CraigMeschede, but Gareth Roderick counter-attacked effectively, striking Meschedefor three consecutive fours before edging Graham Wagg to slip in the followingover.Will Tavare was the next to go when he prodded to short leg off Salter’s offspin, but Howell and Marshall made sure there would be no further alarms.Apart from Hogan, the Glamorgan bowlers were not at their best in the afternoonsession, and it was Hogan who broke the stand by trapping Marshall lbw.Five runs later Howell also departed when a rash stroke outside the off stumpended up in Wallace’s gloves.Glamorgan were handicapped by an injury to Wagg, who left the field afterbowling two balls of his 13th over, but the left-arm seamer did return and hopesto resume bowling on the third day.Meschede took his third wicket when Kieran Noema-Barnett was caught at slip,but was then punished by Jack Taylor who drove him for three fours in an over.Glamorgan could have taken the new ball with eight overs remaining, but optedto wait for the morning and hope that Wagg is fit. With the last ball of theday, Taylor survived an appeal for a catch at second slip off Hogan, but theumpires ruled that the ball had not carried.

The England Performance Programme XI claimed a win by virtue their first-innings leady against an MRF XI in Chennai after rolling the home side out for 121. The second day of the match was washed out, but England’s bowlers enjoyed a solid work out with James Tredwell taking three wickets and two apiece for Chris Tremlett and Steven Finn.The EPP declared on the 358 for 4 they’d racked up on the opening day and the quick bowlers made an immediate impression. Tremlett, who would be the favourite to bolster England’s squad in Sri Lanka if the current injury problems escalate, grabbed two early strikes to leave the MRF XI at 25 for 3.Finn, the 18-year-old Middlesex quick bowler, nipped in with two during a four-over spell before Tredwell worked through the lower order. The only significant resistance came in a ninth-wicket stand of 56 between Onkar Khanvilkar (38 not out) and Malolan Rangarajan (27).The EPP declined to enforce the follow-on, favouring some extra batting time, and Chris Schofield hit a quickfire 43 off 40 balls. He then claimed two late wickets after the MRF XI had been set a notional 326 off 23 overs.

Victoria 7 for 251 (Hodge 88, Moss 60) beat South Australia 6 for 222 (Lehmann 77*) by 29 runs
ScorecardVictoria moved joint top of the table with a 29-run victory over South Australia in a day-night match at the Adelaide Oval.The result means the Redbacks go into Christmas propping up both one-day and Pura Cup standings, and increases the pressure on Darren Lehmann, their captain, and coach Wayne Phillips.Lehmann certainly pulled his weight with the bat, making 77 not out as South Australia reached 6 for 222 chasing Victoria’s 7 for 251, but he lacked enough support to mount a serious challenge.The Redbacks lost Matthew Elliott early for 10, and Mark Cosgrove (41) and Daniel Harris (47) then put on a breezy 57 before some inspired captaincy from Cameron White triggered the breakthrough – he brought on David Hussey for one over, and in it Hussey trapped Cosgrove leg-before. Callum Ferguson then holed out to midwicket, and Harris perished when he missed an attempted cut off White.By then, the asking rate was climbing, and although Lehmann and Graham Manou put on 44 for the fifth wicket, Manou’s run-out was followed three balls later by Ryan Harris’s dismissal and the game was as good as over. Lehmann’s belligerence at least enabled South Australia to gain a bonus point.The early stages of the game had been far more promising for the Redbacks. An excellent spell from Jason Gillespie, whose ten overs cost only 20, pinned Victoria down, but the other bowlers failed to back him up. Gary Putland’s opening over went for 14, although he removed Michael Klinger in his second, finishing with 2 for 60.Man of the Match Jon Moss and Brad Hodge put on 104 for the second wicket, and after a brief wobble, Hodge and David Hussey gave the vital mid-innings acceleration, adding 71 off only 76 balls. Hodge perished within sight of a hundred when he causally flicked the ball straight to midwicket.

ScorecardTim McIntosh proved that last season was a temporary aberration as he scored his ninth first-class century for Auckland against Central Districts at McLean Park, Napier. McIntosh moved to Canterbury last season to make a push for national selection, but had an embarrassing time of it, posting just 49 runs in 10 innings. He doubled that total in one knock with his 280-minute stay, scoring 101. He shared a 154-run partnership with nightwatchman Tim Lythe (63), who was making his first-class debut. However Auckland’s pedestrian scoring rate meant they never really capitalised on this foundation, moving through to 238 for 5, a lead of 14 when stumps were drawn. At the crease was Rob Nichol (29 not out from 146 balls) and Carl Cachopa (10 not out from 55) who shared a painstaking unbroken partnerhip of 26. Michael Mason, returning from injury, was the best of the bowlers with 2 for 20 from 22 overs. Lance Hamilton left the field with an injury and is unlikely to play again in this match.
ScorecardOtago moved into a near unassailable position against Northern Districts following two days of their clash at Gisborne’s Harry Barker Reserve. Chasing Northern’s sickly first innings total of 229, Otago passed that mark with the loss of only Jordan Sheed’s (62) wicket. They finished the day on 319 for 2. Craig Cumming, the Otago captain, retired hurt on 46 but that just paved the way for South African import Jonathan Trott, who had impressed with the ball taking four wickets, to join Aaron Redmond. Trott scored 89 before he was dismissed to a brilliant catch by Peter McGlashan. Redmond will resume tomorrow on 99. He started the final over of the day on 95, hit a four off the first ball but Te Ahu Davis, the young fast bowler, prevented him scoring from the final five deliveries. Joseph Yovich was the only successful bowler with 2 for 87 off 16 expensive overs.
ScorecardOnly 16 overs were possible on day two of the match between Canterbury and Wellington at the Village Green in Christchurch. In that time Wellington took their overnight score from 415 for 5 to 465 for 7. Jesse Ryder, the star of the first day, was dismissed without adding to his overnight total of 133. Grant Elliott, a South African who controversially transferred from Christchurch club cricket to Wellington before the start of the season, did not last long, scoring 2 before he was dismissed. Chris Nevin (28 not out) and Mark Gillespie (15 not out), were the unbeaten batsmen. Nixon McLean was the best bowler for Cantrbury, returning figures of 3 for 50.