Nadeem Shahid has announced his retirement from first-class cricket following a ten-year career with Surrey. Shahid, 35, has decided to seek a new career path after having recently had a stint as the captain of Surrey’s 2nd XI.But Shahid, who had previously given seven years’ service to Essex, remained upbeat about the role he played at Surrey, during which time he helped them to three County Championship titles. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Surrey, made some great friends and hopefully made a meaningful contribution on and off the field,” said Shahid, who may come to be better remembered as Ed Giddins’s partner in their business enterprise, Nad and Ed’s Christmas Trees.However, he did stroke nine centuries and more than 6000 runs in his career, with a top score of 150 for Surrey against Sussex in 2002.Meanwhile, Surrey’s England A batsman Scott Newman has signed a new three-year deal, following a successful first full season in 2004.Newman took just 11 matches to reach 1000 runs for Surrey last season, a club record which he shares with another left-hand opener in John Edrich. He scored 1162 runs in the County Championship last year, at an average of more than 43.”I’m thrilled to have committed my future to Surrey,” he said. “I can’t wait to repay their faith in me over the coming seasons.”

There is no deadline for West Indian players to sign the match and tour contracts for the upcoming tour of Australia, scheduled for November 2005, according to a source close to the negotiations between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA).The WICB, in its September 13 invitation to 30 players for the tour of Australia, had stated that “the players accepting the invitation are required to sign the letter and return it to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) by 5 pm on September 19”.On September 16, Dinanath Ramnarine, the WIPA president and CEO, said in a press release that according to an agreement between himself and Ken Gordon, the new WICB president, all players “may accept the invitation to participate in the camp in preparation for the tour of Australia with the clear understanding that there has been no agreement with regards to the match/tour contract and that the players would not be bound by the draft match/tour contracts which accompanied the invitations sent by the WICB for the Australian tour later this year as discussions are ongoing”.Ramnarine stated that the counsel for the West Indies Cricket Board, represented by senior counsel Charles Wilkin, and the West Indies Players Association, being advised by Dr Kusha Haraksingh, CARIFORUM Lead Negotiator on Dispute Resolution, were to meet over the weekend to “settle all outstanding issues” on match/tour contracts for senior West Indies cricketers.The source said that players were advised by WIPA not to sign any match/tour contracts because negotiations “are still in progress”. The source also said, contrary to a Barbados report, fast bowlers Pedro Collins and Fidel Edwards only indicated that “they accepted the invitation and never indicated they would sign the match/tour contracts”. “They were misquoted,” the source said. “They will not sign now because the contracts are still being negotiated.”WIPA had pointed out Friday that they only received a copy of the match/tour contract on September 13, “the same day it was sent to the players”, and reiterated that they want to reassure the public and all stakeholders that “we are committed to finding a resolution and for the best team to tour Australia…”Despite the lack of a settlement to date, players are still expected to turn up for a preparatory one-week camp from September 24-30 at the Three Ws Oval at the Cave Hill campus of the University of West Indies.Invited players:Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Denesh Ramdin, Daren Ganga, Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Dave Mohammed, Sylvester Joseph, Ryan Hinds, Runako Morton, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Smith, Devon Smith, Narsingh Deonarine, Carlton Baugh Jr, Omari Banks, Xavier Marshall, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Jermaine Lawson, Tino Best, Fidel Edwards, Ian Bradshaw, Deighton Butler, Daren Powell, Dwight Washington, Jerome Taylor.

Bankstown’s Corey Richards has been rewarded for some good early season form with selection in the New South Wales squad for the first ING Cup match of the season against Queensland. Brad Haddin will captain the side, which also includes Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark and Phil Jaques, all of whom are on the fringes of national selection.Richards, 30, scored 122 for Sydney Central against the A-C-T in State League Cup in Round Three, and has previously played 47 one-dayers for New South Wales, scoring 1172 runs. He made one appearance for Australia A, but a string of poor performances meant that he was dropped from the state side after 2002-03.Squad Brad Haddin (Capt), Nathan Bracken, Doug Bollinger, Stuart Clark, Ed Cowan, Phil Jaques, Matthew Nicholson, Aaron O’Brien, James Packman, Matthew Phelps, Corey Richards, Dominic Thornely.

A minor shoulder injury has ruled out Daryl Tuffey from the remainder of New Zealand A’s tour to Sri Lanka. He will be replaced by Graeme Aldridge, a 27-year-old right-arm fast bowler, for the rest of the tour.Explaining the decision, Lindsay Crocker, the manager of the team, said: “We expected Daryl would have been fit enough to return to cricket in time for the last match, in two weeks. However, having Daryl out of contention for the next two games would have seen the squad one member short and with a busy season ahead, we decided it was sensible for Daryl to return home for rehabilitation.”Tuffey played just two of the five matches that New Zealand A played in the triangular tournament, which South Africa A won by beating the New Zealanders in the final. Tuffey missed out on the final, but did reasonably well in the two games he did play, taking four wickets at 20.75 apiece.New Zealand A will play three four-day games against their Sri Lankan counterparts, with the first of those games starting on October 7 at Kandy.

Steve Waugh believes Michael Clarke needs to “tighten up his technique” but does not have to overhaul his match-winning game plan. Clarke admitted during the weekend he had to score runs during the second Test at Hobart this week to avoid the same fate as Simon Katich, who was cut from the squad, and Waugh predicted the omission of Australia’s new No. 4 was inevitable.”At some stage, like most players, he’ll probably get dropped,” Waugh told the magazine . “I think in some ways it’s good because you reassess, you analyse and you work out how you can improve.”However, Waugh said Clarke had the tools for long-term Test success. “He’s learning in front of the world and it’s not an easy place to make mistakes,” Waugh said. “He’s got things he can work on. He’s got a good temperament. He’s a good listener, which is really crucial. He’s got his feet on the ground. But he’s going to go through some tough times.”Waugh understands the difficulties of growing up in the spotlight and struggled when trying to develop his best method to combat Test attacks. Dropped in 1990-91 for his brother Mark, Waugh changed from an attacking approach to a more defence-orientated style on the 1993 Ashes tour and it helped him become the world’s best batsman.While Waugh rebuilt his outlook he said Clarke’s technique was the thing that had to be tightened. “You don’t want to change him,” he said, “because he’s a match-winner and that’s the way he plays his game.””I know the reality,” Clarke said in the . “I’m not stupid, I need to score runs. That’s the way our game is. The reality is that I haven’t scored a hundred for a little while and people are trying to find out why. There are some past players and people in the public who might think my technique is terrible. I’ve got no problem with constructive criticism, but the way some people have spoken it’s like there’s some major problems and that’s a bit frustrating.”Clarke has scored two centuries in 19 Tests but has not reached three figures since his 141 against New Zealand at Brisbane last summer. In his next 14 games he has struggled to match his early brilliance and scored 526 runs at an average of 26.30.

Police have warned spectators against unruly behaviour during the final match of the Chappell-Hadlee Series between New Zealand and Australia in Christchurch on Saturday.”We want the game to be the event, not the crowd,” Peter Cooper, a senior sergeant, told NZPA. “We’re not trying to stop the fun, but please have some respect for the rest of the crowd who are there to see the game.”He asked the fans who consume alcohol to treat the game with respect after the Australians had beer cans and other objects thrown at them during the first ODI at Eden Park in Auckland. Police also arrested 15 people and ejected 46 from the stadium during the second game at Wellington.

New Zealand return to their happy hunting ground at Jade Stadium confident of wrapping up the one-day international series against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.A win would put New Zealand firmly into fourth place in the world rankings while Sri Lanka would drop out of the all-important top six teams guaranteed direct entry into the Champions Trophy tournament later in the year. New Zealand lead the five-match series against Sri Lanka 2-0 – resumed last Saturday after it was abandoned following the Indian Ocean tsunami on December 26, 2004 – and relish the opportunity to return to the Jade Stadium where just three weeks ago they produced a world-record run chase of 332 to beat Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.In their last 12 matches at this venue, New Zealand have won nine – including the last five when in their favoured position of batting second. Daniel Vettori, the current New Zealand captain, said they would like to bat second again on Tuesday after easily topping Sri Lanka’s total of 164 with seven wickets remaining on Saturday. New Zealand have kept an unchanged squad from Queenstown, and the Jade Stadium wicket is expected to provide another batting bonanza.”We’ll look to bowl first and make the most of that Supersub the second time round with Nathan (Astle). It’s not 100 percent confirmed but I’ll be surprised if there are any changes,” Vettori said. “I would (like the option to bat first). But it’s also about balancing up what’s best for the team and how to push the team forward.”Despite their success in batting second, Vettori conceded he would like the team to mix up their approach in case they became too accustomed to hunting a target instead of setting one. The team also have to consider the pitches they’re likely to face in the 2007 World Cup with West Indian pitches prone to dying later in the match favouring the team batting first. “At the moment we just want to win games and we see chasing as our best option of winning.”If Shane Bond, Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram, New Zealand’s frontline bowlers, can repeat Saturday’s performance in extracting the extra bounce to trouble Sri Lanka’s batsmen, the remaining matches at Wellington and Napier could be seen as dead rubbers.Tom Moody, the Sri Lankan coach, said he did not expect any major alteration to his squad, but whoever fronted up had to cope better with the wicket. “We’ve come from subcontinent conditions and been in India for two months, then gone straight down into a very good bouncy cricket wicket and we didn’t adjust as well as we could,” he said. “Whether it’s confidence to execute their game in different conditions, or whether it’s self confidence, only time will tell, but the players are very determined to turn things around.”Moody refrained from reading his team the riot act, but admitted there had been some frank discussions about their play in the opening match of the series. He also denied that Sri Lanka were lacking confidence after their recent 6-1 loss in India.* * * *New Zealand (probable) Lou Vincent, Jamie How, Peter Fulton, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Chris Cairns, Brendon McCullum (wkt), Daniel Vettori (capt), Kyle Mills, Shane Bond. Supersub Nathan Astle

Scorecard
An unbeaten 90 to Chris Rogers gave Western Australia a stunning day to remember as they took a 46-run first-innings lead after dismissing Tasmania for 86. Rogers finished with 14 fours from his 105 balls to prove the Bellerive Oval pitch was fine for run-scoring once the home side had lost a dramatic 9 for 46 to set a new low against the Warriors.Sent in by Justin Langer on a green surface, Tasmania started at a crawling pace, making only 12 in the 16 overs before David Dawson was dismissed, and only Michael Di Venuto (25) and Brendan Drew (13) reached double figures. Steve Magoffin was on a hat-trick after lunch, removing Michael Bevan and George Bailey, but Dan Marsh, who was returning to the lead the side after recovering from a shoulder injury, narrowly survived the third ball.However, Marsh became Magoffin’s third victim four balls later when he was caught behind by Luke Ronchi. Ben Edmondson then arrived to match the haul of his former Queensland 2nd XI team-mate, and the only positive for Tasmania was they crept past their lowest score at Bellerive of 76.Langer and Rogers replied at almost five an over to collect first-innings points in their opening stand of 111, which was broken when Adam Griffith dismissed Langer for 35. Griffith also picked up Shaun Marsh and Adam Voges as Tasmania hit back late in the day, but with Rogers in charge his side controlled the match when bad light stopped play 14 overs early.

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

Shoaib Akhtar provided the initial incision with the prized wicket of Rahul Dravid, and Mohammad Asif and Abdul Razzaq then produced sterling displays of seam bowling as Pakistan romped to a 341-run victory at the National Stadium. The triumph was every bit as emphatic as the marginsuggested, with India left to look back ruefully at the opening morning when Kamran Akmal’s century for the ages lifted Pakistan from the depths of 39 for 6. Set a mammoth 607 to win, or more realistically 164 overs to survive, India lasted just 58.4 overs, with Yuvraj Singh’s magnificent 122 the only spot of balm on a gaping wound.India’s stumble towards their second-heaviest defeat – Australia had routed them by 342 runs at Nagpur in October 2004 – started in the very first over when Shoaib’s fearsome pace induced the thinnest of edges from Dravid’s bat. That set the stage for Asif, the 23-year-old whose accuracy and use of the seam at lively pace evoked the incomparable Glenn McGrath.He got prodigious movement back to flummox the leaden-footed Virender Sehwag and leave India down for the count. Sachin Tendulkar, perhaps playing his final Test innings against Pakistan, then walked to the middle and appeared determined to go down swinging, playing two superb back-foot punches through the off side and a pull for four off Shoaib bowling at near-maximum pace. He and Laxman drove and nudged their way to lunch, swaying out of the way of some nasty bouncers, but soon after the interval, it all went pear-shaped. Again, it was Asif’s brilliant use of the seam that did the damage, with Laxman undone by subtle movement into him and Tendulkar floored – literally – by one that kept slightly low to cannon into the middle of off stump.

Sourav Ganguly started with a couple of sublimely timed off-drives and with Yuvraj also driving and pulling like a dream, the runs came at a frenetic clip. Asif kept probing away, beating the bat regularly, while Shoaib came back for a fiery second spell where an edge from Yuvraj felljust short of Imran Farhat at second slip. With the match almost certainly lost, both batsmen played with great freedom as Pakistan set attacking fields. Yuvraj took just 45 balls for his half-century, and both he and Ganguly saw off the threat of Danish Kaneria with only the odd alarm.Any hope of great escapes and miracles was however extinguished as soon as the players came back after tea, with Razzaq shaping one back onto Ganguly’s pad. Having already taken three wickets in the first innings and made 135 runs, Razzaq made an even greater impression with his spell in the final session. Faisal Iqbal dropped a sitter at square leg with Yuvraj on 77, but Razzaq didn’t let his shoulders droop, getting Mahendra Dhoni on the drive with some extra bounce and then having Irfan Pathan fend off a bouncer to gully.Kaneria, who finally got a bowl in the 24th over of the second innings, then winkled out Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan, before Razzaq capped a splendid allround display by having Yuvraj caught behind. By then, Yuvraj had let his stamp on proceedings with a second Test century, an innings of the highest class in a patently hopeless situation. He drove beautifully and pulled with power when the ball was pitched short, finishing with 19 fours and a six in an innings that stood out among the ruins of a famed batting line-up.Before doing untold damage with the ball, Pakistan had exacerbated India’s pain with the bat, piling up 88 runs from just 13.1 overs in the morning before the declaration came. Razzaq thumped his way to 90 before lofting Kumble down to Yuvraj at long-on, soon after Iqbal had departed, having stroked a wonderful 139 from just 220 balls.Razzaq started the morning’s carnage by slapping a Rudra Pratap Singh delivery past point, and then took 14 from an Pathan over that included a big six over long-on. Iqbal joined in the fun, pulling and flicking Rudra Pratap in another 14-run over. That prompted Dravid to turn to spin, butRazzaq’s response was to smash Kumble over long-on for six. Tendulkar’s introduction provoked a similarly violent reaction from Iqbal, who smacked him down to the sightscreen and over cover, before an effortless loft cleared the rope behind the bowler’s head.By the time he and Razzaq tried one biff too many, the damage had been done, leaving India with a Himalayan target to scale. With the exception of Yuvraj, no one even left base camp, and they can now reflect on a match where Pakistan finally produced the promised green-top and then pulverised them.

PakistanFaisal Iqbal c Tendulkar b Zaheer 139 (598 for 6)
Abdul Razzaq c Yuvraj b Kumble 90 (599 for 7)
IndiaRahul Dravid c Akmal b Shoaib 2 (8 for 1)
Virender Sehwag b Asif 4 (8 for 2)
VVS Laxman b Asif 21 (63 for 3) Sachin Tendulkar b Asif 26 (74 for 4) Sourav Ganguly lbw Razzaq 37 (177 for 5) Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Farhat b Razzaq 18 (208 for 6) Irfan Pathan c Iqbal b Razzaq 4 (216 for 7) Anil Kumble c Farhat b Kaneria 5 (231 for 8) Zaheer Khan b Kaneria 10 (251 for 9) Yuvraj Singh c Akmal b Razzaq 122 (265 all out)

Close England 393 and 297 for 3 (Cook 104*, Collingwood 36*) lead India 323 (Kaif 91, Hoggard 6-57) by 367 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

A brilliant maiden Test century from England’s new boy-wonder, Alastair Cook, and a typically pugnacious – and decidedly fortunate – 87 from Kevin Pietersen set England up for a shot at an extraordinary Test victory, after a fourth day at Nagpur that exceeded the wildest expectations of even the most diehard member of the travelling Barmy Army.By the close England led by the small matter of 367 runs, with Cook leading the way and receiving a tumultuous ovation for his 104 not out on debut, an innings that had spanned the best part of six hours and included 243 balls of supreme application. It is extraordinary to think that he is just 21 years old, for this was a performance that Marcus Trescothick, the 69-Test veteran whom he has replaced for this match, could scarcely have bettered.Allied to his first-innings 60, Cook’s performance was the best by an England debutant since his opening partner, Andrew Strauss, made 112 and 83 against New Zealand at Lord’s in 2004. He too had been called up in desperate circumstances, when Michael Vaughan’s dodgy knee gave way in the nets, but even Strauss would admit that his own magnificent debut has to pale in comparison. Given the venue, the opposition and the strength-sapping heat, not to mention Cook’s own tender years, this was in a class of its own. England cricketers, we are led to believe, should not be mature enough at 21 for such jaw-dropping feats of endurance.But this is no ordinary youngster. Cook had been marked out for great things since his days at Bedford School where he spent his summers breaking batting records for fun, and you could well imagine that his self-confident and economical stance has hardly changed since the day he first picked up a bat.For much of his innings, Cook was content to bide his time and play every delivery on merit. Thanks to Matthew Hoggard’s six-wicket haul, which was wrapped up within seven balls of the resumption of India’s innings this morning, England had earned themselves a priceless 70-run lead. Cook and Andrew Strauss set about doubling this and more in a 95-run opening stand, seeing off the new ball with aplomb and repelling the best efforts of Anil Kumble who, on a desperate day in the field for India, remained a shining beacon of virtue and persistence throughout.

Even when Irfan Pathan struck twice in two balls after lunch to remove Strauss for 46 and Ian Bell for 1, Cook’s resolve was unshakeable. He ploughed onwards and upwards with a resolve that Geoffrey Boycott could not have bettered, and somehow remained oblivious to the byplays accompanying Pietersen’s outrageous performance at the other end. The pair added 124 for the third wicket, but Pietersen enjoyed a charmed life amid some typically rabid hitting, the most extraordinary moment of which came when he had made just 36.With 15 minutes remaining before tea, Pietersen appeared to toe-end a half-volley straight back to the bowler, Kumble. The Indian players had absolutely no doubt they had their man, but Pietersen stood his ground and a lengthy delay ensued as the third umpire, I Shivram, studied the incident from all angles.In the opinion of most observers, the ball clearly bounced first on the turf, then looped up off the bat and into Kumble’s hands, but to the astonishment of the entire stadium, Sivaram decided otherwise. Even Pietersen was surprised in hindsight. “I have looked at it from a few angles,” he admitted to Sky Sports afterwards, “and I think I am very fortunate to get 87 today.”He compounded his good fortune when Sreesanth in the covers dropped a skier, again off the luckless Kumble, and not even his eventual dismissal could compensate for Kumble’s ill-fortune. Pietersen had smeared the previous over for 16 adrenalin-fuelled runs, and though two balls later he top-edged a sweep to Dravid at leg slip, Paul Collingwood somehow survived a stone-dead lbw appeal first ball, as a Kumble topspinner fizzed into his back pad. When Lady Luck turns against you, she really lets you know about it.But then again, the Indians did little to earn much luck either. As the innings progressed, Cook began to sense the need to lift his tempo to match his team’s needs, but Harbhajan Singh dropped the simplest of return catches when he had made 70, and then looked on aghast as Dravid at slip spilled a one-handed chance on 92. By now it was a race against the close for Cook, and he began playing as many shots as the circumstances would allow. A sweet cover-drive off Kumble took him to 96, but with Collingwood on hand to scamper the singles, he reached 99 with two overs of the day remaining.In the event, he needed just one more ball. Harbhajan offered some width outside off stump, and Cook was onto it like a flash, carving through point for four before haring down the pitch with his arms aloft in triumph. He had become just the 16th player to score a century on debut for England, and at 21 years and 69 days, he had ousted Peter May as the youngest of them all. If his efforts today go on to set up an extraordinary Test victory against the odds, you can be sure it will be recalled as one of the greatest as well.

IndiaSreesanth lbw b Hoggard 1 (323 for 10)
Wicket-to-wicket delivery, struck in lineEnglandAndrew Strauss c Dhoni b Pathan 46 (95 for 1)
Nipped off the pitch, grazed edge, low catch for keeperIan Bell c Dhoni b Pathan 1 (97 for 2)
Cut across bows, thin edge to keeperKevin Pietersen c Dravid b Kumble 87 (221 for 3)
Sweeping out of the rough, top-edge to slip