By his own standards, Lance Klusener has had a quiet time of it in the Standard Bank one-day series against New Zealand, but on Kingsmead on Wednesday night he showed that there’s still a bit left in the great lump of wood he uses as a bat.Klusener’s ferocious onslaught in the fifth match of the series brought him 41 off 18 balls, the last 27 coming off just seven deliveries as the game was snatched away from New Zealand for South Africa to win by six wickets and take a 4-0 lead in the series.The South Africans had been chasing a revised target of 153 off 32 overs after two rain breaks while New Zealand were batting ended their innings at 114 for five off 32.4 overs. It might have looked tricky for the home side but Jacques Kallis batted through after coming in at the end of the second over of the innings, and Klusener battered the last of the life left out of New Zealand to see South Africa home with nine balls remaining.Kallis took the man of the match award, finishing not out on 50 to add to his 100th ODI wicket – picked up when he ripped out Roger Twose’s middle stump – and two catches at slip. The award might just as easily have gone to Klusener, though, as South Africa again denied New Zealand with another confident and assured performance.Kallis had to survive an awful blow to the nether regions when he was hit amidships by Shayne O’Connor. So fierce was the blow that it shattered his box and he noted afterwards (with his voice back to its usual pitch) that he was thinking of asking his sponsors for a couple of extras and might employ three protectors in future.But while nothing really serious can seem to go wrong for the South Africans, New Zealand remain stuck in the starting blocks. They were caught on a tricky pitch that offered bounce and lateral movement, lost two early wickets, rebuilt their innings through Stephen Fleming and Twose and then had to rebuild it again after both went in the space of six balls.”We’re getting closer to competing well enough,” said Fleming afterwards, “but we’re certainly not happy with not getting over the mark. It’s frustrating.”This was, perhaps, the closest of the four matches won by South Africa in the series after the adjustment. In effect, the South Africans had to face four fewer deliveries than New Zealand, but were asked to score 39 more. Kallis wasn’t the only one at Kingsmead somewhat perplexed by the arithmetic of it, but in victory he was able to concede that “I don’t think they’ve come up with the right system yet, but it’s probably the best system so far”.The South Africans claimed afterwards that they always felt they had the match in hand. This nonchalance may have stemmed from the fact that they chased down the target with a bit to spare, but it is also the product of the confidence that comes from winning.”They’ve got a number of quality players throughout their batting,” said Fleming. “Klusener hasn’t done it in this series for a while, so he was due his turn. It’s nice when you get into that rotation and we’ve had it. We had it against the West Indies at home. It’s a confidence thing. You know you want to be it and someone else is going to do it as well. Once you get on that roll, it’s a case of keeping it.”New Zealand, though, haven’t managed to peg down that elusive “it” since leaving Kenya. There’s one last chance in the final match of the series at Newlands on Saturday and for the sake of the confidence of the entire squad with the Test series lying ahead, they desperately need to break the rhythm of defeat.

Innings of the day
Brendon McCullum took seven deliveries to get off the mark, and 18 to record his first boundary. Standard fare, you might imagine. Yet, this is no standard batsman. In Bangalore last month, McCullum had slashed five fours and three sixes in his first 18 deliveries, and had racked up 10 and 13 respectively by the time his 20 overs ran out, at which point he was sitting pretty on 158 not out from 73 balls. His idea of a gear-change is subtly different to that of the rest of the cricket-playing universe, and on a day when England’s seamers were hooping the red ball around corners, his response was a run-a-ball 97 that, by rights, should have required at least double that number of deliveries. Until his desperate late demise, it was an innings of breathtaking self-assurance …Dismissal of the day
… and yet. There’s nothing quite like a Lord’s Test for rubbing in the magnitude of an international appearance. McCullum knows this only too well. At Lord’s he has now reached the nervous nineties in consecutive innings, and has failed to convert on both occasions. This time he went one better than his 96 in 2004, but his dismissal was every bit as anticlimactic – Monty Panesar beat him with a straight ball, albeit a very well-flighted one. If only he could have transplanted his IPL mindset for the final few runs of today’s knock. In that Bangalore innings, he went from 83 to 101 in four legitimate balls – six, four, six, two, thank you very much. But he couldn’t. There’s no escaping the sense of history at Lord’s.Shot of the day
The aerial route is McCullum’s favoured method, but he restrained himself admirably until his eye was keenly set. Dealing almost exclusively in width, he scythed 13 fours – occasionally streakily but mostly with aplomb – before withdrawing his front leg to heave Panesar with disdain, up and over his head and straight towards the journalists in the media centre. That was just for starters, however. Three balls later, McCullum planted his front foot down the pitch and with a startling whirl of his arms, drove Stuart Broad high and handsome over the covers for six, and cleared the longest corner of the ground by a distance.Doomed debut of the day
Poor Aaron Redmond had a tough act to follow. His father, Rodney, opened the batting for New Zealand in his solitary Test against Pakistan in 1973, and made the small matter of 107 and 56 in his two innings. Redmond Jr might not have anticipated such riches but, after racking up a stoical 146 in six-and-a-half hours against England Lions last week, he was being spoken of as the new Mark Richardson, New Zealand’s famously dour stonewaller … who scored 93 and 101on their last visit to Lord’s in 2004. So, it was with a sad sense of inevitability that James Anderson squared him up with a first-over outswinger, to send him on his way for a fifth-ball duck.Cameo of the day
In his own Cricinfo Diary, Ross Taylor told of how Geoffrey Boycott, no less, had warned him: “Lad, don’tbe playing those Twenty20 shots, you’re in my fantasy team.” Sadly, the great sage’s advice fell on deaf ears. Coming to the crease at 18 for 2, Taylor got off the mark with a first-ball swat for four, and two balls later, damn near ran out his partner, James Marshall. He then flashed a brace of boundaries in the arc between backward point and slip, before finally hoisting a pirouette pull high into the air where Paul Collingwood at second slip jogged back to complete the kill. Taylor’s 24-minute innings had come at a strike-rate of 105.2, which would have pleased his Royal Challenger paymasters, but the score as he departed – 41 for 3 – wasn’t quite what New Zealand had in mind.Kit of the day
For the first time in a week, the sun refused to make an appearance in St John’s Wood, but the sunglasses still had to come out in force when England strode out to field. Their radical new adidas kit is cut from a “brilliant white” cloth, as opposed to the grubby cream flannel of yesteryear. The combined effect was like watching Tom Cruise break into a rictus grin as they burst out of their huddle and spread to all corners of the field. It was distinctly unsettling, to tell the truth.

ScorecardJames Vince, seen here in England Lions action, made his first Championship century of the summer•Getty Images

James Vince notched his maiden LV= County Championship century of the season before the bowlers lead Hampshire well on the way to a crushing victory at the Ageas Bowl. Captain Vince amassed 1525 runs last season and seemed on the brink of an international call-up but bar three figures in a university match he has struggled in red ball cricket.His ton was followed up by a team effort with the ball as Liam Dawson and Fidel Edwards both snatched two each with Hampshire needing four wickets on the final day for their maiden home win of the season.Vince, with batting partner Michael Carberry, began the day as they ended the previous in glorious touch – the pair amassing 180 for the second wicket. Both went past 50, Vince in 105 balls and Carberry in 120 deliveries – with the former smashing a six over midwicket – as the hosts scored quickly.

Hampshire in false position – Brown

Warwickshire director of cricket Dougie Brown said: “If we’re totally honest we have been short in both disciplines, bat and ball. With the ball we have tried really hard but they have outplayed us.
“This game shows where the Division One Championship is at the minute: there are a lot of good teams. The position Hampshire are in in the Championship belittles their ability.”

The partnership was ended out of nowhere when England and Ireland international Boyd Rankin found an edge before Tim Ambrose pulled off an eye-catching catch behind – Carberry departing for 91, his second dismissal in the 90s this season. Will Smith came and west for two before lunch with a loose cut shot – another bowled Rankin, caught Ambrose.After lunch, Vince reached his lavish century from 170 balls – which included 11 fours and a six. Vince and Gatting scored quickly putting on 79 runs in 9.5 overs before the former called the sides off to give Warwickshire almost five sessions to either chase 444 or find a draw.And the quest to avoid defeat started badly when Varun Chopra was leg before to a Gareth Berg ball which nipped back and stayed low. Laurie Evans was then bowled by Jackson Bird – the ball pinging back the batsman’s off peg for a duck – and Jonathan Trott’s continued a horrendous week against Hampshire by departing lbw for 5. Wickets continued as Sam Hain was leg before to first innings star Edwards.Ian Westwood provided a minuscule of personal delight with his fourth fifty of the season – from 108 balls – but the next ball he looped a push to Will Smith at short leg. Former Test duo Tim Ambrose and Rikki Clarke delivered some resistance in the twilight with a sixth wicket stand of 64.Clarke became the second Warwickshire player to reach 50 in the match, coming in 55 balls, and brought up with a clanging pull in front of square. Wicketkeeper Ambrose prodded to Vince at first slip off the West Indian Edwards – as he ended the day with figures of 2 for 25, Dawson 2 for 34.

Surrey 560 (Ansari 106, Burke 79, Wilson 72, Durston 6-113) lead Derbyshire 313 by 247 runs
ScorecardZafar Ansari recorded the least-slow hundred of his first-class career•Getty Images

First-class cricket is the most meritocratic of sports. Played as it is over a matter of days, the best team will win, or at the very least dominate proceedings, more often than not. There is charm to such an egalitarian contest perhaps unmatched by any other sport. Quality will out.And so it was on day three at the Kia Oval as Surrey’s skill finally supplanted Derbyshire’s stoic resistance to take charge of this match. A day that began with the possibility of Derbyshire perhaps forcing a first-innings lead ended with them trailing by 247 runs after Surrey plundered 560.It was not that Derbyshire played particularly badly, although they did miss chances in the field, rather Surrey, specifically Zafar Ansari and James Burke, simply played very well. Having taken 4 for 61 in the first innings, Ansari’s typically obdurate 106 will only further intensify the growing calls for his international selection.After his four wickets came on a first-day pitch under cloudy skies, Ansari continued to confound conditions and challenges on day three by scoring his runs in spite of a turning pitch and a probing Derbyshire bowling attack. Although it was the fastest of Ansari’s three Championship centuries, to say so would be misleading; coming as it did off 213 balls, least slow would be more appropriate. His runs were earned as much as they were scored.On 21 not out overnight, Ansari was unflappable in the face of bowling that tempted temptation, but he refused to be drawn outside off stump, leaving with obsessive compulsion and defending with exaggerated due diligence. Boundaries – he accumulated ten – were as surprising as they were risk-free and never once did Ansari’s survival feel threatened.His 230-ball innings was made up of 168 dot balls – the equivalent to 28 maidens. It doesn’t take a man with a Cambridge degree like Ansari to decipher so many dots as essentially morse code for: I’m not going anywhere, you’re not going to bore me out, I’m going to keep batting. And keep batting he did. Through drinks, through lunch, through drinks, and through tea before he was finally dismissed by a quicker ball that skidded on from Wes Durston and trapped him lbw.Surrey’s brilliance extended beyond merely the anaesthetising blade of Ansari however. Indeed, the day began with comparatively reckless abandon as Gary Wilson struck six fours in the first eight overs to race past fifty before Mark Footitt found his edge to end a sprightly innings of 72. While Ansari will seize the headlines, and rightly so, Wilson’s contribution to Surrey’s day three riposte should not be forgotten or undervalued. Nor too should the contribution of Burke, who registered his highest first-class score in an innings of great maturity.Having trailed Derbyshire by 141 at 172 for 5 on day two, Ansari, Wilson and Burke put on 257 for the next two wickets. It took a tired Derbyshire attack a further 100 minutes, costing them 131 runs, to take the final three wickets as the Curran brothers and Gareth Batty smashed the ball around in the evening session. All Surrey’s batsmen reached double figures and their final five wickets reaped 388 runs.Despite never bowling terribly, the threat provided by Derbyshire naturally dissipated as the day wore on. Although the pitch took considerable turn and bounce, legspinner Matt Critchley, at just 19 years old, could hardly be expected to spin Derbyshire through Surrey’s middle-order, while nor could Durston, whose six wickets were not so much taken as they were received through sheer weight of overs. That he did finish with six is indicative of the challenge Derbyshire will face against Batty and Ansari on the fourth day.While day one and day two of this match exhibited the depth of the challenge presented by county cricket, day three showed the fine margins between those who succeed and those who do not. Patience was that margin. Surrey, in Ansari and Burke in particular, had it and with limited bowling options Derbyshire could do little but wait for the misery to end.

Australia batsman Adam Voges has expressed severe doubt about the ability of the experimental pink ball to hold up to 80 overs of battering in the upcoming day-night Adelaide Test, saying the ball had lost its colouring and was “more green than pink” by the end of the 50-over Prime Minister’s XI fixture against New Zealand.The manufacturer, Kookaburra, has gone through countless variations of the pink ball over the past five years in an effort to find a workable ball for day-night Tests, but Voges said the latest edition “didn’t hold up very well at all” to fewer than 50 overs of use at Manuka Oval, which has pitch characteristics not dissimilar to those expected in Adelaide.Cricket Australia chairman Wally Edwards and his heir apparent David Peever were seen closely observing the balls used in the match after the game. The various doubts raised by numerous players about a host of aspects of the experiment – including visibility, the quality of cricket and the change in conditions from day to night – will only be thrown into sharper focus by Voges’ critique.”There wasn’t much pink left on it by the end of the game,” Voges said. “The one that got hit onto the roof [by Martin Guptill] and didn’t come back was 28 overs old and it looked like it was 68 overs old to be fair. To be honest, it didn’t hold up very well at all tonight.”It looked as though the lacquer had come off and it was turning green basically. There were bits of pink left, but it was more green than pink by the end. I know that it stopped swinging, there was no reverse-swing or anything like that because both sides get chunked up equally, but yeah the older it gets, I can’t see it being any easier to see.”Voges’ previous experience of the pink ball had been in Brisbane and Perth, where the hard pitches and lush green outfields preserved its condition in an adequate fashion, though the ball swung extravagantly at times and made batting difficult. However at Manuka, pronounced early swing for Trent Boult and Tim Southee that left the PM’s XI in early trouble later gave way to featureless passages of cricket devoid of any movement or pace with diminishing visibility.”The two [Sheffield] Shield games I played with it were in Brisbane and Perth and it held up pretty well there. But this is my first experience of lower, slower wickets,” Voges said. “They’re very good new-ball bowlers and the key will be to get through their first spells and then get them back for second and third spells – as we saw with the pink ball tonight, in both innings, get them into their second spell and it can be a different story.”Other Australian players, including Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood, have expressed reservations about the concept, while the former captain Ricky Ponting has said he was “always against” an experiment that tampered with Test cricket’s traditions.Whatever has been said, one thing is now certain – there is no time to address the issues raised by the PM’s XI match before the Adelaide Test is played from November 27.

Knights‘ opener Reeza Hendricks slammed a 66-ball 98, but his knock was in vain as Cape Cobras held on for a four-wicket win in Kimberley to move up to third in the table. Knights, after being inserted, began brightly as Hendricks and his opening partner Rudi Second added 92 in 11 overs. Second fell for a 25-ball 35, but Hendricks, who could score only 101 runs from five innings in the Momentum One Day Cup, carried his bat to power the team to 174 for 5. Hendricks drilled 13 fours and a six during his knock, but received little by way of support from his other team-mates, as no other batsman could manage more than 19. George Linde was the pick of Cobras’ bowlers, collecting 4 for 21.Cobras lost early ground in their chase as both Richard Levi and Omphile Ramela fell inside three overs. However, Andrew Puttick led a recovery, putting up crucial stands with Justin Ontong (31) and Rory Kleinveldt. Puttick and Kleinveldt both fell off successive deliveries, but Kleinveldt’s 14-ball 36 had already swung the advantage Cobras’ way. Sybrand Engelbrecht ensured the team did not lose any momentum, slamming 33 off 15 balls to guide Cobras home with an over remaining.

Bangladesh scored a comfortable 95 run victory over Zimbabwe ina group I match of the Plate championship of the Under-19 WorldCup at the Nondescripts Cricket club ground in Colombo on Sunday.Electing to bat, Bangladesh were given an excellent start withopeners Nahidul Haq and Md Selim putting on 122 runs. G Ewingdismissed them in successive overs but not before the batsmengot 54 apiece. While Haq faced 66 balls and hit five fours,Selim faced 77 balls and hit four of them to the ropes.Zimbabwe then did well cutting through the middle orderas Bangladesh slid to 190 for six. But there was a revivalwith Mahfuz Kabir (41 not out) and Tariqul Hasan (35) adding71 runs for the seventh wicket off 10.4 overs to help Bangladeshpost a challenging total of 270 for seven in 50 overs.Zimbabwe lost wickets at regular intervals and were neverreally in the hunt though M Munson, at No 3, top scored with45. Only a belated fight by the ninth wicket pair of G Ewing(24) and H Henderson (26 not out) who added 49 runs off 13.2overs saw Zimbabwe reach 195 for nine in 50 overs.

The Karnataka under-19 team made a winning start to their tour of Sri Lanka when they defeated the Sri Lanka Schools Combined Under-19 side by 94 u runs in a two day game at the De Zoyasa stadium in Moratuwa on Thursday.The game was played on 70 overs a side. The visiting team were all out for 237 in 66 overs on Wednesday. The Lankan team in reply folded up for 143 runs off 47 overs. Wickets fell at regular intervals and no batsman, save M Fernando, put up a fight. Fernando scored 50 not out. After five wickets had fallen for 66 runs, Fernando and Chandana (16) added 30 runs for the sixth wicket. Later, Fernando and K Anthony (18) added 39 runs for the eighth wicket. But the home team never really got anywhere the Karnataka side’s total and their final score was inflated by as many as 30 extras. Medium pacer G Lhaitra was the most successful bowler with four for 41. He was ably supported by S Lazarus (2 for 26) and P Hajeri (2 for 24).

Kent extended their lead over fellow championship strugglers Hampshire to 250 runs on an action packed second day that saw 16 wickets fall in Canterbury.The first two sessions belonged to Kent as they extended their overnight first innings total of 268 for nine to a season’s best 323 all out courtesy of a county record 10th wicket stand against Hampshire worth 125 in 36 overs.But then Hampshire hit back in the final hour, reducing sixth-placed Kent to 83 for five after the hosts declined to enforce the follow-on.Kent dominated the first session when Paul Nixon recorded his first century since joining from Leicestershire and went on to record a career-best 134 with 17 fours and two sixes as he and David Masters frustrated the visitors for another 70 minutes.Masters chipped in with his championship-best score of 21 until a leg-stump yorker ended his stay, but the first-season rookie from Chatham went on to have his say with the ball as Hampshire succumbed for just 156.Kent’s leading wicket-taker Martin Saggers started the collapse with the wicket of visiting captain Robin Smith, who fell for five after a rare appearance at the top of the Hampshire order.Saggers went on to claim five for 47 to take his season’s tally to 48, while Masters bagged four for 31 as the basement side were shot out in 51.1 overs.Lawrence Prettypaul made an elegant half-century on his first-class debut for Hampshire, but only he, Shaun Udal (21) and Shane Warne (45) made it into double figures.With a first innings lead of 167, Kent’s acting captain Alan Wells decided not to enforce the follow-on, but soon started to regret his decision when Alex Morris sent back Rob Key and Rahul Dravid.The Kent balcony became even gloomier when Dimitri Mascarenhas trapped Ed Smith, Warne confused Matthew Walker with a googlie and Alan Mullally returned to send back night watchman Saggers.

When Mathew Sinclair goes, he quite clearly goes big. The 25-year-old from Wellington spread his second Test century out over six-and-threequarter hours at St George’s Park on Thursday and Friday and in doing so enabled New Zealand to give themselves at least a fighting chance in the second Castle Lager/MTN Test match against South Africa.Sinclair’s first Test hundred was a mammoth 214 against the West Indies. His second amounted to 150, just over half New Zealand’s 298 in Port Elizabeth, and it helped turn his side’s position around after the first day had belonged to the home team.This was underlined in the final session on Friday as South Africa lost three wickets after Gary Kirsten and Boeta Dippenaar had put on 81 for the first wicket. Dippenaar might have been a little unfortunate to be given out LBW for 35 to Chris Martin, but the other two wickets to fall were the products of good wicketkeeping.Jacques Kallis was caught close up by Adam Parore off Nathan Astle off a bottom edge from a delivery which barely bounced, and Kirsten was taken as he slashed at a wide one from Kerry Walmsley as he tried to get from 49 to his 23rd Test fifty.Those three wickets made it a very good day for New Zealand who had started it precariously at 206 for seven. That the tourists are at least at parity with the South Africans is due to Sinclair’s magnificent effort (and a 20 from Shayne O’Connor who stayed two hours to make 20 and help add 73 for the eighth wicket) and a slightly out-of-focus effort from the home team in the field.For the first two days of this Test match South Africa have been a little off the mark. The bowling has perhaps lacked intensity, Mark Boucher let through byes three times on Thursday and on Friday Lance Klusener dropped two catches at slip, letting off O’Connor on 5 and Sinclair on 121.By their own standards they haven’t quite been up there. At the same time, this is not to say that Sinclair was given an easy ride. "I had to work for my runs out there," he said afterwards. "I’m very much mentally drained … The South Africans are always at you. They bowl very good lines and lengths. I played and missed a lot. I guess I rode my luck a little."Sinclair’s hundred was the first by a New Zealand batsman since South Africa’s readmission to Test cricket and, more significantly perhaps, it was the highest score made by a Kiwi against South Africa, eclipsing John Reid’s 142 at the Wanderers in 1961/62.He had plenty of time to study the pitch and while agreeing that it played noticeably slower on the second day than the first, he wasn’t about to predict how it might play over the last three days. But the bounce has started to go up and down a little and it probably won’t improve. South Africa will have to bat last on Sunday or Monday, but first they have to get into the high 300s or 400 if they are to put pressure on New Zealand.Stephen Fleming’s tactics were there for all to see on Friday. He gave Astle 13 overs from the Duckpond End to block one end up and rotated his seamers from the other end. The tourists are trying South Africa’s patience, waiting to see who blinks first. It has not been particularly exciting cricket, but if and when one of the teams averts its eyes, this game could come quickly alight.