The XXXX Queensland Bulls will welcome back crafty swing bowler AdamDale and greet the arrival of teenage batsman Nick Kruger for their PuraCup clash against the Western Warriors in Perth starting on Saturday.Dale will make his return to the Bulls team for the first time sinceundergoing major shoulder surgery last season.The 1999 World Cup player has made encouraging progress since making hiscomeback at the start of the season, and helped the Queensland Academyof Sport to an outright win over Tasmania before Christmas.Kruger, a powerful left-hand opening batsman from the Valley club, isone of the leading runs-scorers for the QAS team in the ACB Cup 2nd XIcompetition this season.The 19-year-old has scored 293 runs at 48.33 so far for the QAS, whichis in a four-way tie for first spot in the ACB Cup.Kruger, who was not named in the Bulls’ squad of 23 players at the startof the season, will make his first class and Pura Cup debut if he playsin Perth.The Bulls will be minus seven front-line players for the match againstthe Warriors, with Matthew Hayden, Andy Bichel and Martin Love oninternational duty in the Fifth Test in Sydney and captain Jimmy Maher,Andrew Symonds, Ashley Noffke and Nathan Hauritz involved with Australia’A’ in Adelaide.The Bulls have also been buoyed by the return of quick bowler MichaelKasprowicz, who has overcome a hamstring complaint that forced him tomiss Queensland’s outright win over Tasmania before Christmas.Kasprowicz will captain the side for the second time in the absence ofregular skipper Maher, and will seek to retain his undefeated recordafter leading the Bulls to an outright against the Tigers at the Gabbaearlier this month.Opening batsman Daniel Payne, allrounder James Hopes and left-armspinner Matthew Anderson have all been selected in the Queenslandline-up for the first time this season.Kruger, Dale and Anderson will join the remainder of the Bulls playersalready in Perth on Thursday.Queensland play the Warriors in a day/night ING Cup match on Thursday atthe WACA.XXXX Bulls v Warriors, Pura Cup, January 4-7, WACA, Perth: MichaelKasprowicz (c), Brendan Nash, Daniel Payne, Lee Carseldine, Stuart Law,Clinton Perren, James Hopes, Wade Seccombe, Adam Dale, Joe Dawes,Matthew Anderson, Nick Kruger.

ADELAIDE, Dec 19 AAP – Young Western Australian left arm spinner Beau Casson took the first six wickets of his first-class career today as South Australia wasted a solid start to crash to all out for 226 at stumps on day one of their Pura Cup match at Adelaide Oval.Casson, 20, and playing in just his second first-class match, took 6-64 in 29.4 overs to be the hero for WA.It was a vital role for the Warriors, missing veteran Brad Hogg, who has been called up to play for Australia in the one-day match against Sri Lanka at the WACA on Sunday.Casson, who like Hogg spins the ball both ways, said he had attempted to model his own performance on his fellow left-arm spinner.”I had been rooming with Brad, and I was just trying to learn as much as I could from him,” Casson told AAP.”Obviously he went to play for Australia and I got my opportunity and it was just great, I was just trying to learn, see how professionally the side does it and try to learn as much as I can.”SA looked to have gained a crucial advantage when skipper Greg Blewett won the toss and elected to bat first on a flat pitch in extremely hot conditions.Openers David Fitzgerald (63) and Shane Deitz (56) looked to have the WA bowlers at their mercy when they put on an opening partnership of 114 with few troubles, although it came at a slow rate, taking almost 50 overs.But Casson then led a fightback by taking three wickets in the space of six overs, starting with his career-first scalp of Deitz, caught at deep midwicket, then dismissing Fitzgerald and Chris Davies (two) as SA lost 3-9 to slump to 3-123.SA skipper Greg Blewett (48) and Jeff Vaughan (nine) put on a 52-run fourth-wicket stand to help SA recover briefly, before Casson struck again, this time in bizarre fashion.Vaughan played a full-blooded pull shot off a short Casson delivery, which cannoned off short leg fieldsman Chris Rogers, who was trying to avoid it, and ballooned up to provide Mike Hussey with a simple catch at forward square leg.Rogers spent several minutes writhing on the ground in pain before leaving the field with a badly bruised ankle.The wicket sparked another SA meltdown, with Brad Williams dismissing Blewett eight overs later with the first delivery with the new ball.Mark Higgs was run out by Paul Wilson two after that, and left-arm paceman Michael Clark then dismissed Brad Young and Mike Smith cheaply, before Casson returned to snare tailenders Paul Rofe and Shaun Tait, both for ducks, completing his six-wicket haul.Casson credited WA skipper Justin Langer for helping the Warriors maintain their resolve after failing to take early wickets.”It was just pretty much perseverance … obviously they started getting away from us a bit, then a few things went our way, such as that freakish effort from the short leg and (Paul Wilson) got a run out,” Casson said.”Justin just made sure we persevered right down to the last ball, and it came off.”

HOBART, Jan 11 AAP – Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and will bat in today’s one day cricket international against England at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval.Key fast bowler Glenn McGrath returns to the Australian team from injury, relegating Andrews Symonds to 12th man.England has included fast bowler Steve Harmison, who was in doubt through injury, while Adam Hollioake will carry the drinks.The umpires are Darrell Hair and Dave Orchard, with Steve Davis third umpire.Fine weather with a maximum temperature of 23 degrees is forecast.Teams:Australia: Ricky Ponting (c), Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Michael Bevan, Jimmy Maher, Shane Watson, Brad Hogg, Andy Bichel, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds (12th).England: Nasser Hussain (c), Nick Knight, Marcus Trescothick, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Alec Stewart, Ian Blackwell, Ronnie Irani, Andy Caddick, Jimmy Anderson, Steve Harmison, Adam Hollioake (12th).

SYDNEY, AAP – Australia must be favoured because South Africa is carrying a passenger. He doesn’t bat, bowl or field, but his presence is felt. He’s the ghost of the last World Cup.A dream final against Australia at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on March 23 will force South Africa to face its inner demons, the haunting memories of England, 1999, when they had Australia beaten not once, but twice.Both times, they choked. There’s no other description, no denying the fact. Herschelle Gibbs dropped Steve Waugh at Headingley and Lance Klusener had a brain explosion in a run-out at Edgbaston that knocked his side out of the tournament. Australia lifted the trophy.South Africa has stewed on these blunders for the last four years. A long-awaited chance for redemption is nigh but it will take courage to achieve. A nation will be watching.Fans from both countries are aching for an Australia v South Africa final. The ICC rankings demand it. Australia is No.1 ahead of South Africa with daylight third, then Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England, India, West Indies, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Bangladesh.But there’s no guarantee the script will be followed. Anything can happen. That’s the beauty of one-day cricket, and the problem. Luck plays a major role. The best teams don’t always win.Sri Lanka and India proved as much when they upset Australia and South Africa at last year’s Champions Trophy. Those games were in dusty Colombo, though. Conditions in South Africa – fast, bouncy pitches – will help the favourites and hinder those from the subcontinent.Australia has gained an edge over South Africa since 1999, playing 17 times for ten wins and two ties. It’s won eight of the last ten clashes including five, and a tie, from seven starts under new captain Ricky Ponting.However, leading the best of seven series 5-nil last year, Australia slipped to a 65-run loss in the final match at Cape Town. South Africa can beat Australia, but can they do it when it matters?Eight members of South Africa’s heartbroken side from Edgbaston are back: Gibbs, Klusener, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Allan Donald, Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten and Jonty Rhodes. Australia has six survivors: Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. The Waugh twins, Tom Moody, Paul Reiffel and Damien Fleming are gone.Both sides are brilliant. Australia has better bowlers, South Africa has the world’s best allrounders. The fielding can be breathtaking. It would be a battle royale.South Africa’s most recent series was a 4-1 home triumph over totally unpredictable Pakistan, Australia’s dangerous first opponent on February 11. Any side boasting Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar is a worry.What of the others?West Indies are the wild cards if Brian Lara fires. They beat New Zealand 3-1 at home last June, then India 4-3 in India in November, and then Bangladesh 2-0 away in December. They were nudged out in the Champions Trophy by South Africa by just two wickets.Sri Lanka ran hot and cold while missing out on the tri-series finals this summer behind Australia and England. They need the stars – on the pitch and in the sky – to align. Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan are capable of great things if the gods allow it.England is travelling all right, while New Zealand has just thumped India 5-2 at home, even without Chris Cairns. He’s back for the World Cup. Zimbabwe could be a handful, on the field and off. India is a mystery but then again, so is the whole tournament. There will be 44 games in 54 days.South Africa has the advantage of playing at home, but with that comes pressure. The hosts’ biggest challenge might come from within.

Kenya’s best chance of reaching an astounding semi-final slot in the World Cup almost certainly rests in their Super Six match against Zimbabwe, a team they have never beaten, at Bloemfontein. Implausible though it may still seem, a win tomorrow would see the Kenyans through to the last four, regardless of whether they can achieve an upset of volcanic proportions in their final Super Six game against Australia.Past form makes Zimbabwe red-hot favourites – they have won 12 out of 14, with two washed out – but misfortune with injuries has hampered them, most recently against New Zealand when Brian Murphy was unable to deliver a ball after injuring a calf muscle in the nets. Neither he nor Mark Vermeulen, who suffered another net injury, a hairline fracture of the skull, will take any further part in the tournament. Their places in the squad have gone to Stuart Matsikenyeri and former captain Alistair Campbell, whose omission from the original 15 surprised many.Zimbabwe’s progress thus far has been achieved without a win over significant opposition. Their points are from wins over Namibia and the Netherlands, a forfeit from England and a washout with Pakistan. Beaten by New Zealand on Saturday, they desperately need a win. And Kenya’s former captain Maurice Odumbe, who has found timely form with bat and ball, believes now is the time to draw first blood.”They have had the better of us over the years, although we have come close to beating them," Odumbe said. "But there’s a new confidence in our team these days. We’re playing good cricket at the moment, and we’re enjoying it.”Kenya made their first international splash in the 1996 World Cup, beating the West Indies, but unlike Bangladesh, whose victory over Pakistan three years later catapulted them prematurely into the Test arena, Kenya are still waiting. Their Group B win over Bangladesh was a succinct statement on the situation, while to defeat Sri Lanka as well was an outstanding result. Add to that the New Zealand forfeit, and Kenya remain in third place despite losing to India last Friday.”We’ve been criticised that we’re not supposed to be in the Super Sixes,” Odumbe said. “In any World Cup you want to see surprises, and that’s just what we have delivered. But it seems some people are still not happy. We deserve to be here. We didn’t ask New Zealand not to come to Kenya. Who knows, maybe we could also have beaten them?”Odumbe is confident of overcoming a thigh strain by tomorrow, and is looking to current captain Steve Tikolo and Ravindu Shah for telling contributions. “Steve is due for a good score, and Ravindu should also enjoy himself here,” Odumbe added.One man Kenya will not want to see in the Zimbabwe line-up is fast bowler Henry Olonga, who took six for 28 in their last encounter in Bulawayo in December. Olonga has played in just one World Cup match so far, against Namibia, in which he and Andy Flower wore black armbands as a protest at human rights abuses in their country. Olonga bowled just three overs and was then dropped.”I had a great game against Kenya last time and I’d love to have another crack at them,” Olonga said today. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity of playing against them again, but it’s not up to me. I’ve done a lot of fielding (as 12th man) but I’m very fresh, there’s plenty of energy left in these legs."Flower, who has retained his place in the team despite the protest, is still troubled by a groin strain but is unlikely to sit out such an important match. If Zimbabwe win tomorrow, they still have a chance of reaching the semi-finals, depending on other results and whether they can beat Sri Lanka in East London on Saturday.

WESTERN Warrior Murray Goodwin’s sparkling century has taken Subiaco-Floreat into their third consecutive WACA Pennant competition grand-final.Goodwin hit 118 not out as Subi reeled in Wanneroo’s 245 for the loss of four wickets.Wanneroo batted first on a lively WACA Ground wicket and fell under the spell of Subiaco’s deadly new-ball duo of Gavin Swan and Sam Howman.Wanneroo was 6-99 but recovered thanks to a record-breaking partnership between Graham (39) and Gary (63) Atkinson.The brothers put on 97 for the ninth wicket which was a record for Wanneroo. Swan finished with 4-64 from 27.5 overs and Howman claimed 3-66 from 32.In the other semi-final Warriors’ rookie fast-bowler Michael Thistle claimed career best figures of 7-73 to bowl Bayswater-Morley into the SunSmart League grand-final.Melville had no answer to Thistle’s pace and swing as they folded for 173.All-rounder Shawn Gillies top scored with 41 but captain Adam Voges could only manage one.Bayswater batted first and was soon in trouble with in-form paceman Paul Wilson claiming the first four wickets to fall.From 4-43 the Bear’s recovered to 216 thanks to 47 to Nick Pishos and 40 to captain Chris Mason. Wilson finished with 4-47 from 28 overs.Bayswater last held the first-grade pennant in 1998-99. The teams will clash at the WACA Ground in a two-day match this weekend.Radio 1170 6AR will provide ball by ball coverage in Western Australia for both days play.

Yorkshire CCC have today announced that they have slashed admission prices for their 3 home Twenty20 Cup Matches on 14th, 20th and 24th June.Adults will be admitted for only £2 and children U16 will have free entry when accompanied by an adult.To encourage more Cricket in the Community the Club are offering free tickets to all schools in Yorkshire via the Cricket Development Officers. Any school wishing to participate should contact Howard Clayton at the Yorkshire Cricket Board in the Yorkshire Cricket Centre on 0113 2033610 or [email protected]

Pakistan 298 for 7 (Younis 69, Imran 66) beat Northants 236 (Sales 104) by 62 runsPakistan’s tour of England hadn’t got off to the ideal start – a tentative one-wicket win over Scotland and a comprehensive thrashing from Essex – but at the third attempt they hit top form. Not even a fine century from David Sales could disrupt their progress towards a 62-run win.Pakistan batted first and piled up an impressive 298 for 7 in their 50 overs. Imran Nazir (66) and Mohammad Hafeez (38) gave them a purposeful start after Rashid Latif had won the toss and opted to bat first on a typically easy-paced Wantage Road pitch. They added 116 in 18 overs, and Pakistan looked set for a total in excess of 300 when Younis Khan (69) and Yasir Hameed (62) were in harness for the third wicket. But a late flurry of wickets revived Northants’ prospects, as Pakistan slumped from 252 for 2 to 274 for 6.Northants’ reply was none too confident. Phil Jaques continued his impressive form with 29 from 26 balls, but when he top-edged a pull off Umar Gul to deep square-leg they had slumped to 47 for 3. But Sales and Jeff Cook (45) engineered a recovery, adding 106 in 19 overs. Pakistan’s relatively inexperienced attack were running out of ideas,but Shoaib Malik came to the rescue by bowling Cook before Umar removed Graeme Swann and Toby Bailey with successive balls to kill off the Northants challenge.

Chris Cairns’s return to the bowling crease for his English county Nottinghamshire in their most recent game, against Kent at Maidstone, saw him join a select band of New Zealand cricketers.When his New Zealand team-mate Daniel Vettori caught Ed Smith for 113 from Cairns’s bowling, it wasn’t only a cause for celebration after the towelling Vettori had been getting from the batsmen. It represented the end of a long wait by Cairns for his 600th first-class wicket.Plagued by knee injuries in recent seasons, Cairns had moved to 599 when taking 2 for 10 in Canterbury’s opening game of the State Championship last season – and didn’t take any wickets in his only other bowl in the domestic summer. This is his first appearance at the bowling crease in a first-class match since then. It didn’t look too promising for him in the first innings, when his three overs cost 29. But things were much better yesterday as he bowled 12 overs for 1 for 43.Only six other New Zealanders have achieved the feat of 600 first-class wickets and only four of them are home-grown products. Richard Hadlee heads the list with 1490 wickets (average 18.11), and after him are: Clarrie Grimmett 1424 (22.28), Syd Smith 955 (18.08), Tom Pritchard 818 (23.03), Dipak Patel 654 (33.23) and Stephen Boock 640 (22.36). Cairns’s average is 27.60.Of the group, only Boock achieved the feat largely because of his play for, and in, New Zealand. Hadlee took 622 wickets for Notts at 14.51, Grimmett took all but 22 of his wickets for, or in, Australia. Those first 22 came in New Zealand before he moved to Australia.Smith, whose career started in the West Indies but which flourished in England, took 502 of his wickets for Northamptonshire at 17.42. He later moved to New Zealand. Pritchard, formerly of Wellington, joined Warwickshire after the Second World War and ended his county career with 706 wickets at 23.58. Included in that haul are four games for Kent. Patel started out with Worcestershire and took 357 wickets for them at 36.66 before emigrating to New Zealand.The closest active players to Cairns on the New Zealand bowling list at the moment are: Paul Wiseman 312 wickets at 32.94, Vettori 263 at 31.01, Andrew Penn 239 at 22.97, Warren Wisneski 219 at 26.89, Heath Davis 212 at 31.27, and Matthew Hart 208 at 35.01.

Rudi Koertzen and David Shepherd will officiate in India’s two-Test home series against New Zealand, while Ranjan Madugalle will be the match referee. For the one-day triangular series which follows, Shepherd and Neil Mallender will be the neutral umpires, while Madugalle will continue as match referee.The ICC also announced that four umpires who are not part of the elite panel – but are in the list of international panel of umpires – will officiate in Test matches this season. Tyron Wijewardena from Sri Lanka will stand in the Pakistan-Bangladesh Test in Karachi later this month, while Aleem Dar gets two Tests on England’s tour to Bangladesh and two more when England play Sri Lanka. Mallender and Peter Willey are the two other umpires who are not part of the elite panel but will officiate in Tests.A press release from the ICC also stated that Koertzen, Shepherd, Steve Bucknor and Brent Bowden will share duties in India’s four Test matches in Australia.Click here for the full list of umpires officiating in international matches this season.