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Former South African fast bowler Andre Nel has said that his decision to retire from international cricket to join Surrey as a Kolpak player was the “best decision” for his family and career.”You could see from the way South Africa were thinking that I wasn’t going to get a chance,” Nel told . “You can’t sit around wanting to play for your country. This is the best decision for my family and career.”It was a big decision to make to retire from international cricket but it’s probably the right time for me to move on and start somewhere else,” he said. “I can’t wait to get started now.”Nel, 31, played his final Test match against England at The Oval last August and finished with 123 wickets at 31.86. He had previous county stints with Northamptonshire and Essex.

MS Dhoni has spoken variously about the uncertainty the third pace bowler has caused. He is also one of the few who has tended to empathise with an underperforming first-change bowler. Dhoni the wicketkeeper should know. For, the third pace bowler’s role is a bit like a wicketkeeper’s. More often than not he gets noticed for a 0 for 80 rather than a 2 for 50.The truth of a third seamer’s life, though, is 2 for 50; he rarely gets a chance to take five-fors. So if the pitch is helpful to the bowlers, a major part of the damage is done by the time a third seamer comes on to bowl. His job then is to contain the batsmen, maintain the pressure, so that the chosen ones can strike from the other end.Munaf Patel fit that bill in Hamilton. Zaheer Khan had given India a superb start. Munaf was brought on to replace Ishant Sharma, who then replaced Zaheer at the business end, and got three wickets. Munaf, though, didn’t provide any respite from the other end, tying the batsmen down, and came up with a beauty of his own to dismiss Brendon McCullum. But for his poor results in the one-dayers preceding the Test series, he would have gone unnoticed, just like a good self-respecting third seamer should.In the one-day series, the pitches were flat, and more often than not the New Zealand batsmen got good starts. Munaf would come on during the second Powerplay, when the batsmen would be looking to capitalise. He failed to get noticed in the positive sense of the term.Wicketkeepers do get noticed for not conceding byes on a minefield. Flat pitches, where batsmen get good starts, are the third pacers’ minefields. Nobody wants to be the third seamer, but that’s a slot Munaf will have to live with – despite much better statistics when opening the bowling. When he has opened the bowling in ODIs, he has averaged 29.07 and given away runs at 4.52 an over, as opposed to 34.55 and 5.23 when bowling first-change. But Munaf cannot aspire to being an opening bowler now – surely not in the Tests.Munaf’s expensive figures had put pressure on him going into the Tests. On the eve of the Hamilton Test, he was an uncertain starter, which was surprising because he has been India’s No. 3 pace bowler for some time. Munaf’s fitness history doesn’t help. In fact every time the bowlers take him for runs, his fitness comes into question.Munaf is not a body-language player. His tired, disinterested look worsens when he is being hit around. After all he was the one who broke down in South Africa when India were chasing history in 2006-07. In the series-decider, when India had set South Africa 211 in the fourth innings, they went in one bowler short. He was in fact making a comeback following an injury. In that light, he is usually seen as a gamble going into a Test match.”We didn’t want him [Munaf] to bowl eight- or nine-over spells, like Ishant [Sharma] or Zaheer [Khan] do,” Dhoni said after the Hamilton Test. “He is a short-spell quickie whom you give three to four overs. He has to be at his best when it comes to pace especially, because the wicket was quite flat.”In Hamilton, his first Test in one-and-a-half years, Munaf exceeded the captain’s expectations. He started off with a seven-over spell, during which the intensity kept going up. His pace stayed in the late 130s, he was accurate, and kept exploiting the little help that the pitch accorded.His next spell, a three-over one, wasn’t as good, and he was promptly taken off. By the time he came on to bowl for the third time, Daniel Vettori and Jesse Ryder had put on 162 runs. And in the third over of that spell, he got two in two, getting a 140kph yorker to swing in late to dismiss Kyle Mills first up.That intensity at the fag end of the day, with a frustrating partnership on, would have pleased Dhoni. “There was not much help for the seamers,” Dhoni said. “[He had] to bowl in right areas, to bowl with a bit of pace, to be consistent with line and length. That’s what he did, so we’re quite happy with his performance.” In the second innings Dhoni reverted to the original plan of giving Munaf short bursts. He bowled one over of fantastic reverse-swing to get the nightwatchman Mills out off the last ball of the third day. Munaf ended up with more wickets than any other pace bowler in the match.There is still some way to go, but it would be fair to say India are now one step closer to finding a solution to the third-pacer puzzle. Munaf has quite a few notions – not unfair ones – to disprove, though. A third seamer should be prepared to bowl longer spells. Questions will be asked if it has something to do with his fitness. If he goes through the series with the same intensity and results, the final block of this largely settled team could fall into place.

Group A

The Rawalpindi Rams drubbed the Abbottabad Rhinos by ten wickets at the United Bank Limited Sports Complex. Babar Naeem’s decision to field first proved a good decision as his bowlers kept the opposition to a paltry 126 in 31.1 overs, and then the captain biffed an unbeaten 82 in 56 balls to take Rawalpindi to a massive win. Led by new-ball operator Rashid Latif, Rawalpindi had Abbottabad in early trouble and they never recovered. Latif took three wickets and was well supported by the rest of the attack and from 76 for 7 this was always one-way traffic. The highest contributions to a poor total was the captain Ghulam Mohammed and tailender Rashid Mansoor’s equal 23. The rout was completed by the opening pair of Naeem and Naved Malik, who slammed 127 in just 16.5 overs. Naeem hit 14 fours and a pair of sixes in his whirlwind innings and Malik a comparatively sedate 42 from 46 balls.The Hyderabad Hawks also chased down their target without much fuss at the Niaz Stadium. Having kept the winless Quetta Bears to 220 in 48.4 overs, Hyderabad eased home by six wickets. Quetta had also been put under early pressure by the opposition’s new-ball pair but unlike Abbottabad, their lower middle order did a decent job of trying to resuscitate the batting order. Taimur Khan (33), Jalat Khan (33) and Imran Khan (42 from 28 balls) chipped in at various junctures to get the total past 200, but it proved easy for Hyderabad. The opener Aqeel Anjum hit a composed 85 from 109 balls to shepherd the chase and there were valuable hands from No. 3 Mohammad Waqas (50) and Mohammad Urs (33 not out from 17 balls). Like Rawalpindi, Hyderabad have won two of four matches.Another win for the side chasing, at the National Stadium, but this one a tighter affair. Set 239 to win, table-toppers Multan Tigers ultimately overcame a sloppy start to seal victory by two wickets with 17 balls remaining. The Karachi Dolphins’ pace quotient had done well to reduce Multan to 35 for 4 and then hit back to dismiss the opener Sohaib Maqsood for 47, but Kashif Naved (86) and Mohammad Hafeez (25) combined to hold the innings together. Kashif was eighth out at 203 for 8, giving Karachi some hope, but Rizwan Haider and Mohammad Irshad stitched together an unbeaten 39-run stand to take Multan home. Haider made a crucial 31 from 40 balls and Irshad a brisk 24 from 17. The win kept Multan at the top spot and they have yet to lose a game. Karachi remain in second place.

South Zone

A stunning seven-wicket haul from medium-pacer Shoaib Ahmed helped Hyderabad pip Karnataka to qualify for the knockout stage in second place behind Tamil Nadu. Shoaib’s 7 for 15 floored Andhra in Visakhapatnam. They were bowled out for 130 in 41.1 overs, and Hyderabad chased down the target in 32.1 overs, thus earning a bonus point. Shoaib, playing his maiden List A tournament, took his tally to a phenomenal 21 wickets at 9.23 apiece from five games. Opener Hemal Watekar top scored for Andhra with 49, and it was the vital 30s from M Suresh and D Shivkumar that took them past 100. There were four ducks in the innings. Opener DB Ravi Teja guided Hyderabad to victory with an unbeaten 67.At Ukku Stadium, Karnataka crashed to 124-run defeat against Tamil Nadu. With a minus 1 from this game, Karnataka fell one point behind Hyderabad, but even if they had been equal, Hyderabad would have made it through, despite an inferior net run-rate, by virtue of having earned more bonus points. TN, batting first, made 298 with half-centuries for openers S Anirudha and M Vijay, and S Badrinath. S Vidyut also chipped in with 44, but TN struggled after the 35th over, losing seven wickets for 64 runs. Left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi removed the top three in his 3 for 51 off ten, while three run-outs and three strikes from left-arm medium-pacer Sreesanth Aravind kept TN’s total below 300. The total, though, proved too much for Karnataka. Captain Robin Uthappa made a brisk 54, but his team slumped to 174 all out in 37 overs. Vijay, leading TN in Dinesh Karthik’s absence, took three lower-order wickets in his three overs.In the other game at Port Trust Golden Jubilee Stadium, Goa edged out Kerala by 19 runs to complete their first win – this is their final game – of the tournament. Batting first, Goa were all out for 230 in 49.4 overs, with Ajay Ratra making 57, and Madhu Kamat chipping in with 47. Kerala were reduced to 69 for 4 in their chase, and despite captain Preambhastn Prem’s 52 and some lower-order contributions, they could manage only 211, all out in 48.2 overs.

West Zone

Baroda secured a bonus point in Rajkot – only just – against Maharashtra to seal their place in the knockout stage along with Mumbai. Maharashtra, who began with a chance of qualifying as well, failed to rally around a 140-ball 140 from List A debutant Rohan Bhosale. They managed only 250, which Baroda chased down in 39.2 overs. Kedar Devdhar (43) and Azharuddin Bilakhia (55) set the platform, while Pinal Shah (66 off 47), Swapnil Singh (34 off 25) and K Panchal (17 off 12) ensured they gained the full five points.At the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Saurashtra‘s one-wicket win over Gujarat in Rajkot was not enough for them to qualify, and also ended the opposition’s hopes: both teams finished with eight points from four games; Mumbai and Baroda had nine. Put in, Gujarat made 267, with opener Pratharesh Parmar scoring 82. Parthiv Patel made 43, while Rujul Bhatt chipped in with a quick 58 towards the end. Bhatt struck twice in the reply, and Viswajit Solanki took three, but Saurashtra managed to complete the win with 1.2 overs remaining. Chirag Pathak, Cheteshwar Pujara and Pratik Mehta ensured steady progress, but it was captain Rakesh Dhurv’s 32 that helped them edge towards the target – he fell four runs short of the win.

Central Zone

Uttar Pradesh bounced back from their shock defeat to Vidarbha the day before with an emphatic eight-wicket win against Rajasthan in Indore to seal a place in the knockout rounds. Fielding first, UP’s new-ball bowlers – RP Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – removed Rajasthan’s top four for 45. However, half-centuries from Rajesh Bishnoi and Ashok Meenaria, and a quick 30 from Pankaj Singh boosted Rajasthan to 206 all out in 48 overs. UP then eased to their target in 32.3 overs. Tanmay Srivastava blitzed an unbeaten 124 off 90 deliveries, which included 16 fours and five sixes. He put on 145 for the opening stand with Shivakant Shukla, who scored 52.Madhya Pradesh would count themselves hard done by the rules. They beat Railways in Indore with a bonus point to finish tied in second place with eight, and ended with a better net run-rate, but Railways still make it through having earned two bonus points to MP’s one. Opener Jalaj Saxena’s run-a-ball 114 not out, backed by useful scores from the middle order, steered MP to their target of 250 in 39.2 overs with four wickets in hand. Saxena had earlier taken three wickets in Railways’ 249. Former international Sanjay Bangar scored 101, and Railways added 81 runs in 62 balls after he fell with the score on 168.

North Zone

A strong top-order performance powered Delhi‘s 139-run win over Haryana in Dharamsala. Virat Kohli’s third century in four games was backed up half-centuries from openers Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan as Delhi, put in, scored 364 for 6 in their 50 overs. Haryana’s openers started briskly, with a stand of 76 in 12.2 overs. Amaradeep Sonkar top scored with 61, and Rahul Dewan chipped in with 36, but they lost their way against spinners Dharshan Kanjania and Yogesh Nagar. Despite Nitin Saini’s 43 at No. 8, Haryana were dismissed for 225 in 43.2 overs.In Una, a 147-run stand between Ravi Inder Singh and Ankur Kakkar set up Punjab‘s 72 run-win over Services. Both Ravi Inder (126) and Kakkar (74) got career-best List A scores as Punjab, asked to bat, made 240. Services’ challenge was all but over when their first four wickets fell for 23 runs in 11.4 overs. Yashpal Singh made 53 as they batted out 49.5 overs for their 168. Opening bowler Gagandeep Singh took 2 for 15 off his seven overs, while medium-pacer Taruwar Kohli finished with 3 for 26 off seven.Half-centuries from Sangram Singh, Paras Dogra and Vinit Indulkar, backed up by four-wicket hauls from Ashok Thakur and Mukesh Sharma, helped Himachal Pradesh bag their fourth straight win, over Jammu & Kashmir in Una. Chasing 285, J&K’s openers put on 111 in 24.1 overs. Ian Dev Singh fell for 53, but Imraj Thakur, playing his second List A game, went on to 117. However, the other batsmen failed to step up, and HP lost nine wickets for 82 runs to be dismissed for 250 in 48.2 overs.

East Zone

Ishank Jaggi’s unbeaten 159, with 15 fours and four sixes, led Jharkhand to their first win in the tournament, against Assam in Kolkata. Put in, Jharkhand made 304 for 3, with Saurabh Tiwary scoring a run-a-ball 64 and Shiv Gautham contributing a quickfire 28. Rashmi Parida, the Assam captain, made a quick half-century, but the rest of the top five failed to provide support. There were two more fifties down the order, from Deepak Sharma and Dhiraj Goswami, but Assam could only manage 266 before the overs ran out. Medium-pacer Kuldeep Sharma took 4 for 60 off his nine overs.At Eden Gardens, Bengal assured themselves of the top spot with a six-wicket win over Orissa. Put in, Orissa lost half their side for 79, but Halhadar Das (76) and Rakesh Mohanty (56 not out) helped them to 211. Ranadeb Bose took 3 for 40 for the hosts. Opener Shreevats Goswami anchored Bengal’s chase with his 71, and the others made useful scores as the target was reached with 19 balls to spare.

Ashwell Prince has rated himself a 60% chance of being fit for the Sydney Test, where South Africa will aim for a clean sweep having secured their first series win in Australia on Tuesday. Prince was part of what he called a “proper party” on the night of the historic victory, which he had watched from the sidelines after suffering a thumb injury before the first Test.Their celebrations included a boisterous rendition of in a joyous huddle in the middle of the empty MCG four hours after the winning runs were struck. Prince said the team would be back to business in a hurry as they aimed to complete a 3-0 win that would earn them the No. 1 Test ranking and would give them the perfect start to 2009 after a brilliant 2008.”We’ve come a long way as a team,” Prince said after the squad arrived in Sydney on Wednesday. “We’ve won in most countries over the last 12 to 18 months. The only place we didn’t win [the series] in was India, but we came away with a draw. The guys are very confident of their own ability and very proud obviously of what we have achieved and we’re looking forward to building on that and going from strength to strength.”The captain said Australia set the standard over the last decade and obviously we don’t want to go on a dip after just winning one series. We want to sustain that sort of performance for a long time.”Prince said he was a 60-40 chance to play at the SCG, although the selectors will face a quandary if he is available. His replacement JP Duminy starred in both the Perth and Melbourne triumphs and he would be desperately unlucky to be dropped following his 166 at the MCG.”We all knew what calibre JP Duminy brings to the team and he didn’t disappoint and all credit to him,” Prince said. “I think the way he handled himself in both the first and second Tests was superb for a young guy in his debut series.”

Despite conceding a 176-run first-innings lead, Mashrafe Mortaza believes Bangladesh can draw inspiration from their gallant effort in the previous Test in Mirpur and make a comeback over the next three days.Mortaza’s 63 helped Bangladesh avoid the follow-on – he added 63 for the tenth wicket with Shahadat Hossain – and he said the onus would be on the bowlers to put the team back in the hunt. “I think day three is crucial in the context of the match,” he said. “If we can bowl well and restrict them then this match can turn into a good contest. We have to show the application like in Mirpur.”The score was 145 for 9 when Mortaza was joined at the crease by Shahadat, and they needed another 40 to avert the follow-on. “The plan was to save the follow on,” he said. “I tried to take as much strike as possible but Rajib [Shahadat] was a brilliant partner. We have batted together in similar situations a few times before so I had confidence in him.” The two added 77 for the ninth wicket against India at the same venue in 2007.In his eight previous Test innings against Sri Lanka, Mortaza had been dismissed by Muttiah Muralitharan five times, and he admitted it was Murali and not Ajantha Mendis who he “was thinking more about”. “Muralitharan had got me…before and every time I had got out early. That’s why my goal was to survive first which I managed to do today. Also the boys in the dressing room, and Ash [Mohammad Ashraful] in particular, gave me tips on how to handle him.”Mendis is obviously world-class, and currently the top bowler in international cricket, but today I found Murali more difficult comparatively.”Mortaza felt the dismissal of Ashraful for 45 was the turning point of the day. “He had played brilliantly until he got out,” he said. The Bangladesh captain perished while attempting the reverse-sweep against Murali – his fourth unsuccessful attempt at the shot in the innings. “Ash has a habit of hurrying through the 40s and 90s,” Mortaza added. “Also, I think he spotted a scoring opportunity as the off-side fielders were brought in and Murali came round the wicket.”Mortaza did not feel the pitch was deteriorating, a welcome sign as Bangladesh have to bat last, and drew inspiration from New Zealand’s run-chase last year. “There are cracks but not that prominent and if you look back to the Test here against New Zealand in October the pitch actually got better for batting in the last three days.”

Ricky Ponting has said he would support shifting the Champions League Twenty20 to another country if the event does not take place in India following the terrorist strikes in Mumbai on Wednesday night. His comments were echoed by Shane Warne, captain and coach of the Rajasthan Royals, who was en route to Mumbai but said he didn’t think he would be going there.Several Australian Test players plus the Victoria and Western Australia squads were due to fly to India during the next week but Cricket Australia has temporarily suspended the plans.”They’ve said that any cricket travel has been cancelled at the moment,” Ponting said in Adelaide. “I think that’s definitely the right decision right now.”It should become clearer over the next day whether the Australian players are likely to be cleared to go to the tournament, which was due to begin on Wednesday with a match between Victoria and Middlesex in Mumbai. Victoria were scheduled to stay in the Taj Palace hotel, where terrorists entered the building and took hostages on Wednesday, but the games are expected to be shifted initially to Bangalore.At least 80 people were killed in the attacks across the city and Matthew Hayden, who is due to play for the Chennai Super Kings, said it was unclear if the tournament would proceed. He said it would be a “huge loss” for international cricket if the event was cancelled.”It takes a number of hours, up to 12 hours, to get any kind of position on it, so we’ll just have to be monitoring as the Test match goes on,” Hayden said. “There’s been murmurs of [playing in] Bangalore and different opportunities but we’ll just have to go with it and as always work with Cricket Australia and ACA [Australian Cricketers’ Association] and the various positions with DFAT [Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] to understand what we’re dealing with.”Ponting said the blasts in Mumbai were “close to home” for his players, who earlier this month were in India. He said they were keen to see the Champions League go ahead if possible.”That’s been the whole talk around the breakfast room this morning and certainly even at the start of training was about this incident,” Ponting said. “It goes to show the level of concern that we’re showing towards it.”Everyone who’s playing in the event or wants to see the event do well would like to see it go ahead. So if that means moving it to a different country then I guess I’d support that.”The terrorist attacks have been a more immediate concern for most of the members of the Champions League’s organising committee, who were either staying, or due to stay, at the Taj Palace. Many of them were working late at the BCCI’s nearby offices but Dean Kino, a member of the governing council, was at the hotel when the terrorists entered the building.Kino, who is Cricket Australia’s lawyer, devised the rules for the Twenty20 tournament. “We’ve been speaking to Dean since 6am (8pm GMT) and been in constant contact with him,” a Cricket Australia spokesman told Cricinfo. “We’ve been in contact with his family and we can confirm he is safe and no longer at the hotel.”Shane Warne has stopped in Singapore after being told to delay his travel to Mumbai. Warne and Darren Berry, also part of the Rajasthan Royals franchise, are waiting for further instructions.”I’m shocked,” Warne told the . “Darren and I got off the plane and saw the news on TV. It’s unbelievable. The place is chaos. We are heading to Mumbai and that’s the hotel we are staying at. I don’t think we will be going [to India] now. Why would you?”Warne said he had taken his luggage from the connecting flight and would stay put at the Singapore airport and wait for further information. “At this stage I am going to stay where I am for the rest of the day, but I reckon we are certainties to be on a flight heading home later today,” Warne said. “It is just not worth the risk. No amount of money is worth the risk with what is going on over there at the moment.” The Australian government’s travel advice has warned people to stay away from Mumbai, but has not increased the alert level for India.

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