Smith ton seals nine-wicket win

Subcontinental conditions and the presence of three left-arm spinners did nothing to scare off the South Africans as their openers, Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs, added a century opening stand to help them go 1-0 up in the three-match series with a comprehensive nine-wicket win in Chittagong. Smith led the way emphatically, sealing the victory - with more than 13 overs to spare - and his seventh ODI hundred with the last scoring stroke of the match.

The only player to show any sign of resistance for Bangladesh was Tamim Iqbal, who top scored with a measured 82. That the second-highest contribution was a mere 15 - shared among three batsmen - only highlighted the bridge between him and the rest. The target of 179 was perhaps 100 short of challenging a team which has its sights set on displacing Australia as the best ODI team in the world.

After a disappointing Test series, Bangladesh would have fancied their chances against a new-look South African one-day line-up, which is missing Jacques Kallis, Mahkaya Ntini and Mark Boucher. Andre Nel and Paul Harris, though, gave little away and shared five wickets between them to bundle out Bangladesh for a paltry total after losing the toss.

The South African opening bowlers exploited whatever little juice there was on a pitch which was expected to play slow and low. Nel and Charl Langeveldt bent their backs and got several deliveries to fizz past the left-handers.

Bangladesh's batting worries started in the eighth over, when a circumspect Junaid fell to a miscued pull off Langeveldt. Nel joined in the act soon after, getting his 100th ODI wicket with the dismissal of Shahriar Nafees, caught behind after attempting one poke too many. Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al Hasan fell tamely, and by the halfway stage of the innings, it was an all-too-familiar top-order wobble for Bangladesh.

They were fortunate to have Tamim hold one end up and keep the South Africans at bay. Tamim was fluent with his off-side strokes and began his innings with a punch through extra cover off the second ball of the day. He was particularly strong against the short deliveries, which sat up nicely for him to cut or pull.

He looked set for a century but the going got tougher once the spinners, Harris and Johan Botha, operated in tandem. Harris got appreciable turn from the rough outside off, which Tamim managed to fend off. He finally broke the shackles by punching one through the covers to end a boundary drought which had lasted eight overs.

A bowling change in the 35th over gave the muted crowd something to cheer, as Tamim bludgeoned a JP Duminy full toss past extra cover, followed by a slog sweep for six over deep midwicket. Tamim chanced his arm the next over against Harris but failed to get the desired elevation over long-on, giving Morkel a sitter. He walked back for an impressive 82, though his dismissal went against the run of play. The lower order failed to push on after Tamim's departure, and it was hard to expect an inexperienced lower order - there were three debutants in the line-up - to repair the damage.

The one-dimensional bowling attack proved Bangladesh's biggest weakness. The intention of packing the side with spinners seemed a good one given the slow nature of the surface, but the bowlers failed to extract the sort of turn that South Africa's left-arm spinner, Harris, had managed earlier.

Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, curiously decided against giving the new ball to Shahadat Hossain, and instead handed it to Abdur Razzak, the senior-most of the left-arm spinners. Smith and Gibbs used the pace of Razzak's skiddy deliveries to nudge boundaries to third man, while anything full outside off was pierced through the infield on the off. Mosharraf Hossain, the debutant left-arm spinner, hardly got any turn, while Shahadat's introduction in the 20th over too failed to break the monotony as Smith greeted him with a fierce pull, before Gibbs caressed one wide of mid-on.

Smith brought up his half-century with a streaky edge past the keeper. Gibbs changed gear after a patient start and regularly waltzed down the track to the spinners, bringing up his fifty with a loft over extra cover off Mosharraf. At 66, Smith got the benefit of the doubt over a contentious catch by Shahadat at short third man, which was referred to the third umpire. Shakib broke through soon after, trapping Gibbs in front with one that kept a little low, but that was Bangladesh's only success in the field.

Hashim Amla, playing his first ODI, joined Smith after an opening stand of 143 and the pair completed the formalities. Smith jumped down the track to Shakib and a loft over mid-on brought up his ton, a big smile, and revenge after Bangladesh had surprised them in the World Cup less than a year ago.

Cricket Australia upset by Harbhajan's remarks

Cricket Australia has taken objection to Harbhajan Singh's recent outburst, when he labelled the Australian team "arrogant", called Matthew Hayden a "big liar" and said Adam Gilchrist was "not a saint" and has written to the Indian board on the issue. There are also reports in the Australian media that the ICC has taken cognisance of Harbhajan's remarks, which he later denied saying.

The Sun-Herald reported that James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, wrote a letter to Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, indicating his displeasure over Harbhajan's conduct. "Enough is enough," Sutherland wrote. "Despite assurances that you have instructed him not to fuel this issue any more, Harbhajan continues to say whatever he wants. When will it ever end? Could you please deal with your player in regard to these comments?"

Hayden had created a furore by calling Harbhajan a "little obnoxious weed" on a radio show during the CB Series, for which he was quickly reprimanded. Cricket Australia now believes the same standards should be applied by the BCCI with regard to its players.

"We were disappointed because there has been a significant discussion, managed with great diplomacy behind the scenes," Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young told the Australian. "We were disappointed that as soon as he [Harbhajan] got off the plane [in India] and, despite the assurances we've had, just launched off again.

"James's [Sutherland's] expectation is that the BCCI do something about this and James, in his last email, said enough was enough after the extended discussion we've had," Young said. "We've been assured by the BCCI that they were going to counsel Harbhajan about his public comment.

"James has got a strong view that inappropriate comment from both sides has not resulted in the game being held in the esteem he would like it to be held in. He was frustrated to pick the paper up and see that we've done all the right things, but [Harbhajan] seems to still be getting it wrong."

Harbhajan was at the centre of controversy during the tour to Australia, with Andrew Symonds alleging the offspinner made racial remarks against him during the Sydney Test, charges that were later dismissed due to lack of sufficient evidence. The Australian also revealed the ICC is investigating Harbhajan's latest outburst.

"We are aware of Harbhajan Singh's comments and are in dialogue with the two boards [Australia and India]," an ICC spokesman told the newspaper. The report also said the Indian team management was warned by match referees Jeff Crowe and Mike Procter over Harbhajan's behaviour with crowds, as it could have incited conflict.

"We've been told by ICC match referees that they briefed the Indian team management to counsel Harbhajan around appropriate on-field behaviour," Young said. "No one has a problem with interaction with crowds but inappropriate behaviour can provoke them into going too far."

Harbhajan was largely booed by the crowds after the Symonds episode and during the first final of the CB Series in Sydney, a few spectators alleged Harbhajan gestured and spat at them. Crowe viewed the evidence and felt there was no need to take action against him.

Vettori revels in proudest performance

Daniel Vettori was a proud and content captain after leading from the front with bat, ball and in the field, as New Zealand routed England by 189 runs on the final day in Hamilton to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

After an early declaration, England were left needing a nominal target of 300 in 81 overs, but they never came close thanks to a sensational new-ball burst from Kyle Mills, who claimed four prime wickets in his first six overs, as England collapsed to 110 all out.

"This is probably my most satisfying Test win over the long time that I have played," said Vettori, who made his debut against England during the 1996-97 series. "This was a very flat wicket and it didn't offer a lot, but what we did was bowl well and set up a good total in the first innings. That's the way you go about winning Test cricket. It's something we haven't done that well and to step up and do it against a very good England team and win ...

"I would like to reflect on how well we bowled," said Vettori. "It was a tough wicket to score on and the five of us got together and put in a pretty consistent performance. In 170 overs of Test cricket you don't see that often, you normally have a little spell where it gets away from you, but I thought we produced 170 overs of continually good bowling."

It was Mills and his new-ball partner, Chris Martin (3 for 33), who were the stars of the final day. "It's a pretty fantastic atmosphere in the changing-room," said Mills, who finished with career-best figures of 4 for 16 from 13 overs. "To go one-up on the Poms is just fantastic. We'll definitely enjoy the moment."

At the start of the fifth day, the general assumption was that New Zealand's chief threat would come from their spinners, Vettori and Jeetan Patel, but thanks to Mills' early onslaught and a mid-innings burst from Chris Martin, they ended up taking only two wickets between them

"Our plan for the day was maybe to get one or, at the most, two wickets with the new ball, then bowl the spinners in the middle session before having another spell with the older ball," said Mills. "But this exceeded all expectations. We got on top of them early and took the game right away from them."

"The performances of Chris and Kyle probably set up the victory," said Vettori. "They bowled superbly, especially Kyle with the new ball - any time you get a team four for 30 and take probably the best four batsmen out of play it makes a huge difference. That set up a real belief in the side, and then there was the second spell from Chris coming back with the ball starting to reverse. The ball that bowled [Tim] Ambrose is one of those balls that you only get once every four or five years."

"Kyle felt confident," said Vettori. "He didn't bowl too much yesterday, he only bowled the one ball. He just wanted to take a chance with it. The whole way, we have stressed that we just have to put the ball in the right spot. It's easy to say but to get a group of bowlers to do it is nice. At the end of his spell, I think Kyle was beginning to reverse it. He knew what wanted to do with it, and he did it consistently."

Nevertheless, New Zealand's stand-out performer was Vettori himself, who produced crucial innings of 88 and 35 from the pivotal No. 8 position, and bowled with skill, stamina and control in both innings to prevent England's nervous batsmen from taking control at any stage of the match.

"I think the best way you can captain a team is with your performance," said Vettori. "I was surprised to get Man of the Match, but when you put some runs on the board and do a job it helps the side. At least you've got one person going in the right direction and the rest will follow from there. A lot of them don't need leadership, they know what they need to do every time they step on the park, but it does set a nice tone when your captain is out there performing."

Vettori's biggest task of the fifth day was in the timing of his declaration, which came at 177 for 9 - a target of exactly 300 - after the addition of 30 runs in the first half-hour's play.

"It felt right," said Vettori. "It was the situation we wanted to be in last night. While we were still confident with a lead of 270-280, the declaration gave us a little bit of momentum and we took that into the field."

Confidence was something that New Zealand displayed throughout the game, even while Ryan Sidebottom was ripping through their middle-order during their dramatic collapse on the fourth afternoon. Sidebottom finished with career-best figures of 6 for 49, including a hat-trick, as New Zealand lost six wickets for 20 to slip from 99 for 1 to 119 for 7, but Vettori refused to panic.

"We were a bit shellshocked at the time," he admitted. "We went out there aggressively and I think the way Stephen [Fleming] batted was outstanding. He took a lot of the initiative away from England but then we lost that clump of wickets. Once again, the way Sidebottom bowled was fantastic but we came back into the shed last night knowing that 270-280 would be enough. There were only going to be two results - a win or a draw."

After Mills' final-morning onslaught and Martin's mid-innings efforts, New Zealand were made to wait for victory as Ian Bell and Monty Panesar dug in defiantly during a 33-run stand for the tenth wicket. But Vettori already knew that the match was in the bag.

"We probably knew after [Paul] Collingwood's wicket," he said. "I think we were pretty comfortable. Their top six are proven and we wanted to get into Ambrose and their longish tail so once we got Collingwood there was a good feel in the camp."

ODI omission hurts Ganguly

Still unable to come to terms with his omission from the Indian one-day side, Sourav Ganguly has said he doesn't know "what more" he must do to regain his spot.

Left out of the side prior to the CB Series in Australia, Ganguly felt he was dropped "despite being in good form" and is unclear whether a good showing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) would help his case for a recall.

"I was left out despite scoring close to 1300 runs (sic. 1240) in a year," Ganguly told Cricinfo. "I really don't know what more there is to do. The best bit was I was in good form. So if I was left out then..."

Did he think a fine showing in the Twenty20 matches in the IPL would strengthen his case? "I'm not really sure if there's a link between Twenty20 and one-day cricket. It's a completely different format. I've not really thought about it that way also."

Ganguly is set to play the Deodhar Trophy zonal one-day tournament, starting on March 14, but he didn't want to read too much into those performances too.

"I am looking at it as practice for the Tests against South Africa," he said. "I'm not viewing it in any other way. It's an important series and I'm gearing up for that. We've played some good Test cricket recently and it will be nice to do well against a good side like South Africa."

Ganguly returned to the one-day side in January last year, marking the end of 15 months in the wilderness. He enjoyed a fine year with the bat, scoring 1240 runs in 32 matches at an average of 44.28, including ten half-centuries. However, his performances in the last ten matches saw the average dipping to 25.66. The team management in Australia had reasoned that Ganguly was overlooked for the sake of blooding youth, with the added emphasis on fielding abilities.

He was excited about leading the Kolkata franchise, a power-packed line-up that includes star names like Ricky Ponting, Shoaib Akhtar, Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle.

"It's a new format, a new tournament, new concept, in fact. I'm looking forward to it. It's a great opportunity for young players to play alongside the greats. They can learn a lot from them."

Ganguly spent half a day at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore to undergo routine tests prior to the selection for the South Africa series. He went through a medical examination, bleep test, body strengthening and fielding practice and was passed fit at the end of it.

IND vs SA: Selection for 1st Test postponed

The national selection committee meeting, to pick the Indian squad for the first Test against South Africa, will be held in Bangalore on March 17 instead of March 9 in Mumbai.

A press release by the Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Thursday that the schedule of the meeting was changed at the behest of chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar. Vengsarkar wanted to watch some Deodhar Trophy matches with his colleagues before finalising the team.

The first Test against South Africa will played in Chennai's M.A. Chidambaram Stadium March 26-30. The other two Tests will be in Ahmedabad (April 3-7) and Kanpur (April 11-15).

The South Africans will land in Chennai on March 21.

All the players who returned home from Australia after the Test series will be put through fitness tests at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore Friday. Test skipper Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman and Wasim Jaffer, who had returned after the Tests in January, will undergo fitness assessments as well.

Injured fast bowlers Zaheer Khan and R.P. Singh will be checked for their fitness levels before the selectors meet. While Zaheer is getting his ankle treated in South Africa, Singh returned home from Australia with a stretched hamstring.

NZ vs ENG 1st Test, Day 4: Ryan bags hat-trick

Ryan Sidebottom claimed a stunning hat-trick to spearhead an unlikely England comeback and keep them in contention for a shock victory over New Zealand in the opening Test.

Having been dominated by New Zealand for the majority of the Test at Seddon Park and conceded a 122-runs first innings deficit, few in the ground expected England to still have a chance of victory by the end of the fourth day.

But left-arm seamer Sidebottom claimed England's first hat-trick since Matthew Hoggard achieved the feat four years ago against the West Indies in Barbados to leave New Zealand on 147 for eight by the close, leading by 269 runs with a day remaining.

Sidebottom struck in late afternoon just as New Zealand appeared to be heading for a declaration which would have put England under severe pressure on the final day.

He removed Stephen Fleming with the final ball of his ninth over and then claimed the scalps of Matthew Sinclair and Jacob Oram with the the first two balls of his next over to become only the fourth England player to achieve the feat in the last 50 years.

His efforts sparked a collapse of four wickets for six runs in nine balls and ensured New Zealand slipped from a comfortable 109 for two, leading by 231 with 18 overs of the day remaining, to 115 for six in just two overs.

It brought the momentum firmly back in England's direction after they had been dismissed for 348 shortly after lunch following another defensive batting display in the morning session.

England had resumed the fourth morning still trailing by 184 on 286 for six knowing early wickets would give New Zealand a stranglehold on the match and delivered another determined performance by adding only 61 off 33 overs in the morning session.

But their defensive policy paid off with England only losing Paul Collingwood, who had battled for four hours for his 66 before being given lbw to Oram shortly before lunch.

Wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose, who was playing his maiden Test innings, battled to reach 55, but fell just three balls after lunch when he drove at off-spinner Jeetan Patel and edged low to Stephen Fleming at slip for 55.

Steve Harmison followed to the next delivery when he attempted a pre-determined sweep shot which flicked off his shoulder into Fleming's safe hands.

Last man Monty Panesar lasted for 21 minutes but with the second over with the new ball - and the first of the day from seamer Kyle Mills - he ended the innings by hitting him low on the pad in front of the stumps.

England responded immediately with Ryan Sidebottom inducing opener Matthew Bell into edging behind off the third ball of their replay to immediately lift the tourists' spirits.

But How and Fleming forged a 99-run stand which appeared to have put New Zealand back on course for a declaration that would have left the tourists needing to bat for the remainder of the match to prevent an opening Test defeat.

Just as the pair began to open out as New Zealand set their sights on quick runs, Sidebottom broke the partnership thanks to a stunning catch at deep mid-wicket from Matthew Hoggard which prevented How claiming a six.

Former New Zealand captain Fleming, who had played superbly to reach 66, fell off the final ball of Sidebottom's next over when he was caught at backward point for the second time in the match by Alastair Cook.

Hard-hitting wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum had been sent out to try and score quick runs, but top-edged an attempted slog-sweep off Monty Panesar in the next over and was superbly caught by Andrew Strauss running back to mid-wicket.

That set the stage for Sidebottom's next over and Mathew Sinclair became Cook's second smart catch of the innings when he dived to his left to take the chance at gully.

It brought all-rounder Jacob Oram out to face the hat-trick ball and Sidebottom pitched the ball up and won an lbw decision to spark frenzied celebrations among England's players.

Panesar maintained England's momentum was grabbing a simple return catch to dismiss birthday boy Ross Taylor, who is 24 today, and then claimed Mills lbw as he tried to sweep to leave all results still possible on the final day.

NZ vs ENG 1st Test, Day 3: Pietersen makes case for defence

Kevin Pietersen insisted England "batted brilliantly" after going on the defensive throughout the third day to prevent New Zealand taking control of the first Test.

The tourists, who had resumed 383 runs behind on 87 for two, lost only four wickets all day and progressed to 286 for six by the close, still 184 runs adrift of New Zealand's first-innings total of 470.

They scored only 199 runs in 93 overs and allowed New Zealand to bowl 34 maidens just a day after England's attack had been flogged for 188 in 49 overs.

But Pietersen, who hit only three boundaries in his 42 compiled in over three hours at the crease, believes England performed superbly on a pitch which he insists has now changed to make batting difficult.

"Our guys batted brilliantly, I think we put in a great performance here," said the Hampshire batsman, who hit 22 singles and three twos in his innings.

"If a few of us had tried to play our normal games and got out for 10 or 15 we could have been in a whole lot of trouble tonight - we were asked to bat the whole day, we were asked to scrap and we certainly scrapped as much as we can.

"To lose only four wickets in the day is a fantastic effort. Yes, we haven't scored as many runs as everybody would have liked, but it's not that kind of wicket."

Pietersen became so circumspect in his approach that after hitting off-spinner Jeetan Patel for six from the third ball he faced, he did not record another boundary until he clipped seamer Chris Martin through mid-wicket for four 91 balls later.

But he stressed: "I needed to be a different Kevin Pietersen today. The conditions didn't allow you to be a free-flowing batsman and I think their bowlers bowled particularly well.

"(Daniel) Vettori is a world-class spinner, Patel bowled well and their seamers made it difficult as well. It was really, really hard batting conditions out there and the wicket didn't help to score freely.

"To be honest, I think today was one of my better knocks I think I've played for England even though I blocked the ball.

"I didn't try anything stupid in my whole innings, I've developed into a player who can adjust and, if needs be, play like that."

Patel, who claimed one for 90 from his 35 overs, agreed that New Zealand had bowled well but they were equally happy that England had been so defensive on such a flat batting wicket.

"I think we bowled really well and that made it hard for them to score," he explained.

"I thought they'd come at us a little bit harder but it just shows how well we did bowl, how straight we bowled it and how much we did with the ball.

"They're a pretty strong side and they're a positive side and they've got some really good players.

"I just thought we bowled really well today and fielded extremely well and that's shown by the fact we were really close to bowling them out today on a really flat wicket."