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Paul Harris, a former Cricket South Africa (CSA) board member has said that the body must undergo a forensic audit in order to fully exonerate chief executive Gerald Majola of financial impropriety. “The auditors have been kept away from the process,” Harris, who is a former chair of the remunerations committee, told ESPNcricinfo. He also claims that CSA has lost money because of bonuses paid to Majola and 39 other staff members after last year’s Indian Premier League (IPL).Harris, together with Colin Beggs, former chairman of CSA’s audit committee and Professor Hentie van Wyk, former chairman of CSA’s finance committee, issued a statement disassociating themselves from the findings of the board’s internal commission of inquiry to look into bonus payments. The investigation, run by CSA vice-president AK Khan, was tasked with looking into R4.7 million (US$671,428) in bonuses paid to staff of which Majola received R1.8 million (US$257, 142).The commission made its findings public on Monday and cleared Majola of all charges of wrongdoing. They found that he made an “error of judgment” by not disclosing his bonus to remunerations committee (REMCO), but this was in line with precedents set in past non-CSA events and said they would put processes in place to make sure that all future payments are fully disclosed. They also instructed Majola to pay back R28,169 (US$4,024) for travel costs incurred by his children. Harris, Beggs and van Wyk were among the people who made submissions to the commission.The three claim that they “requested to the see the report before it was made public on several occasions,” according to Harris, but they were not provided with a copy. They have still not seen the report and said they have had to “rely on press reports in regard to the findings and board decisions.” The trio have still not seen the full report but are “dismayed at the press reports of the decision taken” and believe the board was too hasty is letting Majola off the hook.In their statement, the three claim that REMCO paid bonuses to staff, including Majola, in excess of the guidelines in 2009 and 2010 because the body had hosted the IPL and Champions Trophy. These bonuses went through the board and were considered to be CSA bonuses. The event bonuses which were paid independently and were paid by the IPL and International Cricket Council were not disclosed . Harris said this was a “duplication” of the money the board had already allocated to be paid as bonuses.He claims that the money from the IPL and ICC “belongs” to CSA and could have been used to “develop the game at grassroots level rather than … go into the pockets of executives who had already been adequately compensated.” Harris believes the board’s affiliates could have benefitted from the money and had the remunerations committee known the extent of the event bonuses, they would “never have authorised them”.CSA insisted that it distributed the bonuses according to precedents set during other ICC events, particularly the World Twenty20 in 2007. Harris said he was surprised to hear such a precedent existed. “I was always under the impression that bonuses were distributed from money that belonged to CSA and it was a complete surprise to me to hear that some money bypassed the system.” Harris, who is also the chief executive of First Rand Bank, believes that if needs be, the 2007 money should also be investigated.Both the 2007 and 2009 payments took place under the watch of Harris, Beggs and van Wyk, but they have only mentioned the 2009 payments in their statement, presumably because of the controversy surrounding it. They said that they consider themselves to be “legally accountable” for what happened and will consider their options once they have seen the report. Harris, Beggs and van Wyk were voted off the board at CSA’s annual general meeting in August.

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Keith Dabengwa’s 127 set up Tuskers’ huge win against Eagles•Zimbabwe Cricket

Keegan Meth took a career-best eight wickets as Matabeleland Tuskers crushed Mashonaland Eagles by an innings and 124 runs at the Harare Sports Club. Meth picked up four wickets in both innings after centuries from Sean Williams and Keith Dabengwa had boosted Tuskers to 478.The Tuskers seam bowlers, led by Meth, were all over Eagles in their first innings. The follow-on mark seemed far away when Eagles were reduced to 3 for 1. At 27 for 7, only a miracle could have made them reach the follow-on target. Andrew Hall, the South Africa allrounder, tried to restore some sanity to proceedings but was ninth out for 33, as Eagles were blown away for 76.In contrast, Williams and Paul Horton hadn’t allowed the early fall of opener Terry Duffin to bother them in a 79-run stand. Williams (127) and Dabengwa (114) then added 228 runs for the third wicket to set Tuskers on their way to a substantial score, which Adam Wheaters’ unbeaten 79 ensured they reached. Both Williams and Dabengwa hit 19 fours each and fell to medium-pacer Douglas Hondo, who took 4 for 75. Williams had been left out of the Zimbabwe playing XI for the third ODI against South Africa in Benoni after making 10 and 0 in the first two games, and this knock marked a welcome return to runs.In the follow-on innings, Meth again had Eagles in trouble at 21 for 3, but the middle order, led by Greg Lamb, ensured there would be no repeat of the first-innings collapse. However, Dabengwa struck twice in quick succession with his left-arm spin to end Eagles’ hopes of a recovery. After Ryan Butterworth fell to Dabengwa for 49, Lamb added 83 runs with Hall for the seventh wicket. Lamb hit 13 fours and three sixes in his 101 but once he fell to Dabengwa, it was all but over for Eagles. Meth returned to prise out the last two wickets to take Tuskers to the top of the table with 15 points from three games.

Tasmania 1 for 33 v Queensland
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Tasmania suffered only one setback after they were sent in by Queensland on a day severely affected by rain at the Gabba. The Tigers were 1 for 33 after 17.4 overs when play was called off, with the watchful Ed Cowan on 12 and Alex Doolan on 10.Steven Cazzulino (11) was the one casualty for the visitors after he was caught behind by Chris Hartley off Chris Swan. Hartley is standing in as captain for James Hopes, who is headed to India for the one-day international series, and would have hoped for some more success on the greentop after winning the toss.

Darren Bravo struck the first hundred of this season’s WICB regional one-day competition to lead reigning champions Trinidad & Tobago to an eight-wicket victory against Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) at Kensington Park in Jamaica. Coming in at No. 3, after his older brother Dwayne was dismissed with the score on 17, Bravo hit six sixes during an innings of 104 off 121 balls. He pushed towards the century with three sixes in left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh’s ninth over. Bravo forged a half-century partnership with Adrian Barath and then added another 119 with his captain Daren Ganga to achieve the target of 201 in the 43rd over.CCC nearly had a centurion too but Floyd Reifer’s innings was cut short on 99 when he was caught by Dave Mohammed off Kieron Pollard. Reifer’s contribution was the only one of note in CCC’s innings, though their captain Romel Currency scored a painstaking 49 off 104 balls. CCC were comfortably placed at 138 for 3, but T&T’s seamers Ravi Rampaul (4 for 36) and Pollard jolted the middle order and restricted them to 200 for 8.An ankle injury to Chris Gayle and rain aided Windward Islands in their task of upsetting Jamaica at the Trelawny Stadium. Gayle was forced to retire hurt on 0, with Jamaica on 16, and watched as his team lost wickets in their struggle for momentum. He returned with the score on 134 for 4 and blitzed 58 off 38 balls, an innings that included four fours and four sixes. Gayle’s strike-rate of 152.63 was the only one greater than 65 in Jamaica’s innings and, as a result, the home team was able to post 223 for 5.Windward openers, Devon Smith and Johnson Charles, added 65 by the 15th over of the chase before rain stopped play. When they resumed two hours later, the target had been revised to 113 off 25 overs, leaving Windwards to get only 48 off ten with all their wickets intact. They lost quick wickets, though, and went from 66 for 0 to 85 for 5 in 29 balls. Smith remained firm and was unbeaten when rain interrupted their chase for a second time after 20 overs. The umpires inspected the conditions when the weather cleared, but ruled it was not suitable to continue. Under the D/L method, Windwards were 10 runs ahead.

Geoff Lawson, theformer Australian fast bowler and Pakistan coach, has criticised the PCB andits chairman, Ijaz Butt, for failing to provide the strong leadership thatthe country’s cricket needs during “one of its biggest challenges.””Even through this crisis we have heard virtually nothing from theirchairman,” Lawson said on ESPNcricinfo’s audio show . “He hides from a crisis, he is not aleader and when Pakistan need a strong leader and people to show them theway forward, they are not getting it from their board.”Lawson said before the appointment of Butt, Pakistan cricket had in place detailed long-term plans to develop the game from the grassroots up.”There were 10 and 15 year plans, plans to build regional cricket academies, fitness, fitness trainers, physios and stocking gyms with better equipment and better pay for the first-class players.”Things in Pakistan changed after Butt took charge, Lawson said. “Afterthe elections in 2008, it took some months with their hung parliament toappoint a new chairman and Ijaz Butt was appointed and really, I just seefrom that instant, there has been a decline in Pakistan cricket.”Before the spot fixing controversy, Butt’s tenure coincided with theLahore attack on the Sri Lankan team, the refusal by other countries totour Pakistan, several captaincy changes, the fallout of the Australiatour with match-fixing and disciplinary charges being levelled on playersand deteriorating relations with the ICC.Last week, Test captain Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were charged under the ICC’s anti-corruption code and provisionally suspended from the game while their case is being heard. However, Lawson said Salman Butt had done a great job with a young side since being appointed captain of Pakistan and that he would be shocked if Salman Butt turned out to be at the center of the spot-fixing scandal.”If it is the case that these young players are being affected, then there is something very bad with the environment in which Pakistan cricket is being played in.”Given the stakes, Lawson said the current crisis is the greatest Pakistan cricket has faced, and unlike previous crises, the team will not have the opportunity to mend fences by playing matches at home once things calm down.”The hearings on Asif, Amir and Salman will be extremely important,” he said. “I hope against hope that things will turn out alright but this is very much a watershed for Pakistan cricket right now.”

The ICC has suspended Netherlands fast bowler Mark Jonkman from bowling in international cricket after an independent test found that his deliveries exceeded the tolerance threshold level of 15 degrees for bending of the elbow.The independent analysis was performed by Prof. Bruce Elliott, member of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists, at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth on July 30.Prof Elliott, in his report, said, “Mean elbow extension levels of 32.9 degrees (±3.74) and 31.4 degrees (±4.52) for the length and yorker deliveries respectively, unfortunately show Mr Jonkman at more than double the allowable extension threshold. Additionally, a mean elbow extension level of 38.8 degrees (±3.73) for the bouncer delivery indicates that Mr Jonkman’s extension levels increase significantly as he bowls the ball shorter.”Jonkman had been reported by on-field umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Buddhi Pradhan following a match between Netherlands and Ireland on July 9 in Amstelveen during the ICC World Cricket League Division 1.Jonkman can apply for re-assessment of his action after he has modified it in accordance with clause 2.4 of the regulations for the review of bowlers reported with suspected illegal bowling actions. He also has the right to appeal against UWA’s conclusions to the Bowling Review Group, within 14 days of receiving the report.

ScorecardSussex’s Monty Panesar marked his return to first-team action with three wickets before Chris Taylor led Gloucestershire’s fightback on an even first day of their Championship Division Two tussle at Arundel.Panesar was overlooked during Sussex’s Friends Provident t20 campaign and kept himself ticking over instead by playing league cricket for Bexhill. But he relished the slow turn offered by a dry pitch at the Castle Ground to take three for 68 from 29 overs before Gloucestershire, led by former captain Taylor’s 89, recovered from 142 for six to close the first day on 286 for 9.The left-arm spinner was brought into the attack 75 minutes after the start and wheeled away in four productive spells. He briefly switched ends before lunch to claim his first victim and finish a promising innings by 19-year-old left-hander Chris Dent, who edged to slip.After lunch he ended a patient vigil by opener Kadeer Ali, who sliced a drive to mid-on after making 58 in just over three hours, and Panesar claimed his third wicket when Jon Lewis (32) was bowled heaving across the line having added 73 in 17 overs for the seventh wicket with Taylor.It was an important partnership, for Gloucestershire had looked in some trouble when the persevering Corey Collymore picked up two wickets in three balls. Skipper Alex Gidman and then James Franklin were both lbw stuck on the crease, Franklin falling for a duck. Like Panesar, Collymore has not played competitively since Sussex’s last four-day game finished on June 7 but his control of line and length was exemplary.Yasir Arafat was the ideal foil for Collymore as his skiddy pace proved difficult to master and he picked up two wickets. Opener Jon Batty fell in the fifth over, lbw to one which hurried on, and the Pakistani returned after lunch to bowl Hamish Marshall with an off-cutter.Initially, it was not such a productive day for Robin Martin-Jenkins in his last Championship game before retirement. The all-rounder had Kadeer dropped at slip on 31 and a vociferous appeal for leg before against Dent from the next ball turned down. To add to his dismay, Dent struck the next three balls to the boundary – although Martin-Jenkins did return to take two wickets after tea.Taylor produced the most impressive strokeplay of the day, particularly after tea, driving fluently against the seamers and using soft hands to manipulate Panesar and off-spinner Ollie Rayner into the gaps.He looked on course for a hundred when he feathered a catch to wicketkeeper Matt Prior to give Martin-Jenkins his second wicket just before the close. Taylor’s 89 came from 112 balls and included 12 fours as well as a six off Panesar, but no Gloucestershire batsman has yet scored a Championship hundred this season.

Marcus North feels stronger after his Test career survived a near-death experience in New Zealand and hopes to display that extra confidence in the two matches against Pakistan. North left for the neutral series in England on Tuesday and will be the No. 6 in a side that will have to be re-jigged to cope without the injured Nathan Hauritz.But North knows he wouldn’t be in the squad if he hadn’t scored an unbeaten 112 and 90 against New Zealand in March, contributions which followed a desperate home campaign of 207 runs in six Tests. “It was a pretty defining couple of innings for my career,” he told AAP. “I was struggling a little bit there no doubt.”I’m glad the faith was shown there by the selectors and Ricky Ponting and the management to give me that opportunity. To go over there under a lot of pressure and perform was pretty rewarding and hopefully I can take that experience into my career from this day onwards.”In the nets before that series Ponting noticed North’s eyes weren’t level and it took five balls to correct the damaging flaw. “It’s funny how little things can cause major problems,” he said.Steven Smith is expected to come into the side for Hauritz for the opening Test against Pakistan at Lord’s from July 13. However, Australia’s immediate task is to hit back after losing the opening three matches of the one-day series against England.”I wouldn’t think we would read too much into the one-day series leading into [the series with] Pakistan or the Ashes later this year,” North said. “Australia have come across an England side that’s been playing a lot of cricket and probably playing the best one-day cricket they’ve played for a while.”

When Matthew Wade got the call to replace Tim Paine in the Australia A side this week, it was nothing new. He’s been following Paine all his life. The two wicketkeepers who are next in line behind Brad Haddin have a history together, from their childhood days of taking each other on in backyard cricket in the Hobart suburb of Lauderdale.”We’ve known each other for years,” Wade told Cricinfo. “We used to play games every summer in the backyard. Him and his brother and me and my two cousins used to have some pretty gruelling cricket matches in the backyard. The loser always had to go and get fish and chips at the local shop.”Wade, 22, is three years younger than Paine, which meant that when he was looking to break in to first-class cricket in Tasmania, Paine was already there. It encouraged Wade to move to Victoria, where he eventually overtook the incumbent gloveman Adam Crosthwaite in both formats, and now the childhood friends are grabbing their opportunities.”He’s a couple of years older so I’ve always been behind him and to a certain degree have always looked up to what he did,” Wade said of Paine. “Moving was a really tough decision but I didn’t want to be sitting back three or four years down the track wishing that I had have gone. I knew that Tim was always going to be a really strong player down there and I knew that I probably would have been sitting behind him.”It was a good decision for Wade, who in 2008-09 claimed a Victorian record 57 Sheffield Shield dismissals and averaged 49.54 with the bat. Last summer he tallied 677 Sheffield Shield runs at 48.35, and his strong batting combined with his youth has made him an attractive prospect for the national selectors.Over the past two years, the list of keepers behind Haddin has seemed like a game of snakes and ladders. Luke Ronchi was the No. 2 in 2008 but was then dropped by Western Australia, before Graham Manou played the Edgbaston Ashes Test and then lost his Cricket Australia contractThe consistent Chris Hartley provided cover on the Ashes tour and had an outstanding summer for Queensland, finishing fifth on the competition run tally, but Paine is the man who has seized his chance to become first reserve for Australia. In this environment, it is credit to Wade that the selectors have chosen him to take on Sri Lanka A later this month, after Paine replaced the injured Haddin in the ODI team.”It was a bit of a shock and I was really excited when I got the news,” Wade said. “The keeping is really strong in Australia at the moment. Everyone who takes the gloves is doing really well – Manou and Hartley are really good players at first-class level. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing.”If that allows Wade to stand in line with Paine in for national honours, it’s better than waiting behind him in the Tasmanian squad. Or in the Lauderdale fish and chip shop.

ScorecardMarlon Samuels batted steadily, bowled economically and took two wickets to lead Jamaica to a 47-run win in a Twenty20 game against USA in Lauderhill. Samuels’ half-century led Jamaica to 145 for 3 and then the bowlers restricted the hosts to 98 for 9.Jamaica lost opener Donovan Pagon for 13 after getting sent in but Samuels, who made an unbeaten 52, and Wavell Hinds added 54 for the second wicket to put the innings on track. The acceleration was provided by Danza Hyatt, who came in at No. 4 and smashed 48 off 22 balls before falling to the last ball of the innings. Hyatt helped add 72 runs off 46 balls for the third wicket with Samuels.USA’s chase slipped from 26 for 0 to 39 for 5 in the space of four overs and there was no recovering from such a collapse. Wicketkeeper Ashhar Mehdi top scored with 28 in a total of 98. Samuels, Bevon Brown, Krishmar Santokie and Hyatt all took two wickets each to ensure a Jamaican victory.