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Andy Waller, the former Zimbabwe batsman, has been confirmed as the country’s new head coach. He will take up his post after the Bangladesh tour.As revealed by ESPNcricinfo Waller will replace current acting national coach Stephen Mangongo with Mangongo becoming Waller’s assistant.Waller, 53, played two Tests – both against England – and 39 ODIs for Zimbabwe between 1987 and 1997. He became coach of Namibia before being appointed Zimbabwe coaches manager in 2009. He then joined Midwest Rhinos as head coach before coming to the UK to work at Eastborne College.”Waller takes over the reins at a time when the demands on our performance are very high,” Zimbabwe Cricket Board chairman, Peter Chingoka, said. “We are confident that the strategy he presented to us and his unique style of coaching will yield positive results.”Waller said he had high expectations: “We have a busy calendar of tours and our performance needs to start reflecting the preparation that goes into these games. My long-term focus is to build a team of the future and I am looking forward to working with the boys.”

As he delivered a series of reassurances that a degenerative back condition would not hobble his forthcoming Ashes campaign, Australia’s captain Michael Clarke issued a stern reminder that the tourists’ promising pace battery would be rendered useless without sufficient runs to defend.The announcement of an Australian Ashes squad stocked to the hilt with pace bowlers of quality, plus the scheduling of the first two Tests at the seam and swing friendly surfaces of Trent Bridge and Lord’s, has contributed a sense of quiet optimism to many Antipodean observers of the game.Clarke, though, was frank in reminding his batsmen that they would have to find ways of constructing decent tallies if that bowling strength is to become meaningful. It was a lesson demonstrated during the ODI series between the two countries in England last year, when Australia’s bowlers looked tame by comparison with their English counterparts – despite helpful conditions – when given few runs to defend.”We’ve got a good attack, there’s no doubt about it. The squad of quicks we have is a really good combination. They gel well together, they’re all a little bit different,” Clarke said. “But there’s the other side. As batters we’ve got to put runs on the board, it’s no good giving our attack 150 runs to bowl at. So as batters we have a huge responsibility and a big job to make sure we’re getting 350, getting 400 and putting those runs on the board, and I’m very confident if we can select the best attack we can have some success over there.”Clarke also disputed the possibility of England winning the series on dry, turning pitches prepared in the wake of Australia’s 4-0 rout by India in February and March, instead noting that the overhead conditions had always been a more critical factor in how batsmen and bowlers fared than the surfaces themselves.”I think conditions more in the air play a bigger part in England than what you see on the surface. If the sun’s out generally the wickets in England are very good for batting. If it’s overcast, it doesn’t matter how dry the wicket is, you get a lot of swing and some seam in the UK. I don’t think you can plan too much over there. I think England will use their strengths in their conditions. We’ll be able to adapt, we’ve got Nathan Lyon, hopefully I can bowl a few part-timers as well. We’ll find a way.”As part of his extended rehabilitation from the back and hamstring injuries that ruled him unfit for a Test match for the first time since his debut in 2004, Clarke recently completed a two-week training camp in the southern highlands of New South Wales with his trainer Duncan Kerr. Clarke said the recipe for his return to full fitness had not been any dramatic change in his regimen, but rather a tightening of its monitoring by the national team physio Alex Kountouris and others.”I’ve used the experts around me,” Clarke said. “Alex Kountouris, the Australian physio, has been fantastic and he’s been monitoring my program. In regards to my back it’s the daily maintenance I do … I’ve had another two-week boot camp with Duncan Kerr, we went away to my property there and trained really hard.”So my preparation in regards to last year has been very similar, but it’s been monitored extra closely by the support staff to make sure I’m getting the strength I need, and to make sure I’m well prepared to play the whole 12 months.”I’m confident it’ll be no different to what it has been through my career. I’ve managed to play 90-odd Test matches and only miss one through my career. That’s a big part of why preparation is so important for me, I need to make sure I’m fit, need to make sure I’m not carrying too much weight, I need to make sure I’m putting in the work to be fit in eight or 12 months’ time.”Clarke has also been a regular visitor to the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, where those Ashes squad members not waylaid by the IPL or already in England have trained on well-grassed pitches and used the Dukes ball that will be a key player in the series to come.”It’s more just getting used to facing a different ball to a Kookaburra,” Clarke said. “With your bowling action hanging on to the ball, catching and fielding as well, just because the ball is a little bit different to what we’re used to in Australia.”We’re disappointed with our most recent results in India, we know that’s unacceptable as an Australian cricket team, and we’ve been working hard to try to turn that around. All I can ask for from the boys is to continue to prepare as well as we can, and give it a red hot crack. We know we’re playing against a very good team in their own back yard. Test cricket in my eyes will always be the pinnacle, and playing against England in England is as big as it gets.”Clarke was speaking in Sydney, where Cricket Australia announced the upgrade of their longtime sponsor Commonwealth Bank to become the major partner of the Test team and home Test series, following their previous commercial support of ODIs and continued backing of the Southern Stars women’s team and grassroots cricket over 26 years.

ScorecardJohn Simpson benefited from some poor bowling to register his first Championship half-century since September 2011•Getty Images

It is probably only natural that a club based in the middle of one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Europe will reflect the community it serves. But, even by the standards of London, this Middlesex side is a cosmopolitan bunch.It contains two men born in Australia, three men born or brought up in South Africa, one born in German, another in Wales and one each from Lancashire and Kent. Even the two London-born players, Tim Murtagh and Toby Roland-Jones, have previously passed through the Surrey system. You could make a strong case to argue that not one of this team have developed through the Middlesex development programme.Middlesex, noting their reliance upon imports, have invested heavily in their facilities in recent times and it is hoped, in time, they will be more self reliant.But they were grateful for a couple of their imports on the second day of this game. First Sam Robson established a platform before John Simpson built on it to earn Middlesex a position from which they could earn a match-defining advantage on day three.Robson looks a fine player. There is more than a passing resemblance to Mike Atherton in his determination and the way he looks at the crease, with the fluency through wide mid on and the similarities of the cut stroke most uncanny.But quite who benefits from his development remains to be seen. Robson, who claims he is uncertain over his qualification status, was born in Australia, played for the U19 side and returned to participate in Grade cricket this winter. He has a British mother, however, and is ensuring he spends enough time in the UK to qualify for England at the start of the 2014 season. In this weather, that probably shows some level of commitment.Bearing in mind Australia’s current dearth of batting talent, however, he could well be one of three men in this match (Chris Rogers and Ed Cowan are the others) considered for national selection some time before then. His options remain open and Australia could do a great deal worse.Certainly he was reluctant to categorically confirm his commitment to England when asked about it at the close of play. “Everyone wants to play international cricket,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I’m loving playing in England and my home is in London. I’m not looking at anything more than that.”Whether that is a satisfactory situation in a county game that is duty bound to support the development of the England team is debatable. While it might be argued that players like Robson help raise the standard, it might equally be argued that they impede the progress of young men who would be less equivocal in their national commitments. Robson, understandably focused on making his way in the game, is hardly to blame for the unsatisfactory regulations.Robson, keeping with the theme of this match, battled hard only to then play a large part in his own downfall. Throwing his hands at a wide ball, he edged to the keeper in a spell of play that brought Nottinghamshire back into the game; a shot he later described as “criminal”. Middlesex, having posted 106 for the first wicket, then lost five wickets for 69 runs. Still trailing by 103 with their top-order gone, the match was in the balance.That Nottinghamshire side were unable to capitalise upon that position was largely their own fault. On a pitch offering variable bounce and in conditions offering just enough seam and swing, they delivered far too many release balls to build the requisite pressure. Middlesex accumulated 160 runs in boundaries and another 38 in extras – including 11 from wides and eight from no-balls – as Nottinghamshire’s bowlers squandered the conditions and sprayed the ball around.”We’re slightly disappointed,” Luke Fletcher, the pick of the bowlers, admitted afterwards. “We didn’t put the ball in the right areas enough. It is still moving around and swinging.”Gareth Berg – South African born, but an Italian international cricketer – and Simpson also deserve some credit. The pair added 116 for the sixth wicket with Simpson registering his first half-century in the Championship since September 2011. He drove and cut nicely, but could count himself fortunate that Nottinghamshire’s bowlers remained so inconsistent. He had earned his side a lead of 19 by the time bad light ended play 9.2 overs early. Possibly, had Ollie Rayner been dismissed, play could have continued: if is often said you can see clearly once Rayner has gone.Perhaps the cold contributed to Nottinghamshire’s problems. In conditions so cold that even Captain Oates would think twice before venturing out for a walk, the floodlights remained on for the entire day and fielding was an uncomfortable business.When Nottinghamshire did stick to a decent line and length, they won due reward. Chris Rogers, who may have nudged the Australian selectors once more by passing 19,000 first-class runs on his way to another half-century, perished when he left a straight one that swung back at him before Joe Denly, Dawid Malan and Neil Dexter were all forced onto the back foot by sustained and impressive spells of short bowling and then dismissed when they failed to get fully forward to fuller balls.While Fletcher may still more resemble the chef at Hooters he used to be than an elite athlete, he bowled with skill and discipline. Ajmal Shahzad, among some pretty horrid stuff, also bowled some excellent deliveries, but Andy Carter, feeding the cut shot, endured a disappointing day and Andre Adams, by his lofty standards, was surprisingly inconsistent.Middlesex’s hopes of pressing for victory could be harmed by an injury to James Harris, though. The club fear he has a hamstring strain, but hope he has been suffering from cramp after his exertions on the first day. It remains to be seen if he will bowl again in the game.

The curator at the MA Chidambaram stadium has expressed satisfaction with the way the pitch for the Chennai Test, which was termed “ugly”, behaved over the duration of the Test. The pitch took turn from the first day, but held together till the fifth.”I like to see a result in Test cricket, and the fact that the game went five days says to me that it’s a pretty good Test match wicket,” K Parthasarathy, the curator, told the .”We started by making the entire pitch firm. After that we watered it selectively. The areas on either side of the stumps were kept dry, and so turned out to be loose. The line of the stumps was watered and rolled, so it stayed firm through the Test.”Australia lost all their wickets in the Test to the spinners, with R Ashwin inflicting maximum damage. “Australia need Raffa Nadal here in Chennai on the clay,” Shane Warne had tweeted with a picture of the third-day pitch. But James Pattinson, with his extra pace, also managed a five-wicket haul in the first innings. Both the captains also said the pitch played better than expected.”If I had kept the entire pitch dry, people would have called it under-prepared. But now nobody is complaining,” the curator said.Parthasarathy had used the method of selective watering back in 1998 when Australia lost to India by 179 runs. Warne, who frequently bowled round-the-wicket line during that series, struggled to make an impact as Sachin Tendulkar took the attack to him.”I kept the square patches outside the leg stump, on either side of the wicket, really hard. It was difficult to get turn from that part as there would be no rough there.””After that game, Warne came to me and asked why he wasn’t getting the turn and others were. I told him it was because of his dodgy shoulder, that was to be operated later in the series.”

Steve O’Keefe has forfeited the captaincy of New South Wales in order to more vigorously pursue a place bowling left-arm spin for Australia.Towards the end of his second summer leading the Blues whenever Michael Clarke is not available, O’Keefe volunteered to give up the job ahead of the state’s final two Sheffield Shield matches, reckoning it would give him a greater chance of taking the wickets he needs to push for an international spot.The Blues will instead by led by the batsman Ben Rohrer, who enjoyed success as interim captain last month when O’Keefe was briefly injured.O’Keefe stated recently his disappointment at being passed over for a place in the Test squad to tour India, despite his possession of the most persuasive first-class bowling figures among all slow bowlers in the Sheffield Shield.However apart from an eight-wicket match haul against Western Australia at Blacktown Oval recently, O’Keefe’s bowling and batting returns have diminished during his time as captain, occasionally leaving selectors to ponder his best role in the NSW side.O’Keefe’s decision to abandon the captaincy also follows two years of largely barren results for NSW, and a raft of recent changes at the state association, which now has vacancies for the positions of chief executive and head coach plus a new chairman in John Warn.Taking on the captaincy at the start of the 2011-12 season, O’Keefe was an unexpected choice to replace Simon Katich, who was keen to continue as state captain but was encouraged by the former CEO David Gilbert that the time was right for a change.This left O’Keefe and the new coach Anthony Stuart as the inexperienced duo in charge, contributing partly to a poor summer. When results did not improve this season, Stuart was dismissed, and Gilbert and the chairman Harry Harinath have also now left.

Ricky Ponting has stated a most eloquent case for rotating Australia’s cricketers at appropriate times in a calendar that, he argues, is now impossible for any player to negotiate without a break.Citing his own decision to retire from Twenty20 Internationals as a personal form of workload management, Ponting said a series of indifferent displays against Sri Lanka should not be used as evidence of a failed policy. Instead, he reckoned that Cricket Australia may have to do more to educate broadcasters, sponsors and the public about what they were doing when resting the likes of Michael Clarke, David Warner and Matthew Wade.”The rotational thing… I’m totally for it,” Ponting told . “The thing we have to understand is that the people who are making these decisions are making them for the right reasons, and they’re making them for the betterment they think of the team and the betterment of individual players there and then at the time.”I made some decisions in my career, to retire from T20 cricket when I did, to be as fresh as I could be for every one-day game and every Test match I played. Some of the guys, or most of the guys, in this current team are playing all three forms of the game and IPL and Champions League. They’re playing a lot of cricket. So I can understand why the public would at some times be disappointed that our best players aren’t playing every game, but I really think it is impossible to expect that our best players do play every game.”Ponting cited the examples of other sports, the schedules of which cricket has only recently begun to reflect when T20 tournaments began to fill up the off-season periods traditionally used for rest and pre-season fitness training.”If you look at Manchester United or the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan probably didn’t start in every game the Chicago Bulls played, and Wayne Rooney and those guys don’t start, certainly don’t play every game Manchester United play,” Ponting said.”But I think an educational process should be put in place to let the sponsors, the people who are covering the game and the fans understand what’s actually going to happen before the day the team is announced.”Rather than railing at sports science invading the game, Ponting said that the greater amount of knowledge at the fingertips of coaches, selectors and CA management represented a step forward from the culture of “cricket fit” he had entered as a teenaged first-class debutant in 1992.”These days, it’s all about the athlete and everything that’s happening with sports science around the Australian cricket team is to try and get the best out of each one of our players,” Ponting said. “I know there’ll be arguments at the moment suggesting that what we’re doing is not working or we should go back to the way it was 10 or 15 years ago. But I’ve been around and seen it all and I think the track we’re on is definitely the right one.”We need to be giving every young player the best chance to be everything they can be and hopefully on Wednesday, you’ll see the boys bounce back; and when we get to India, you’ll see them play some great cricket there, and it’d be great to see the Test team win the Ashes back as well. If they do that, then a lot of the critics, a lot of the things being talked about around Australian cricket at the moment, will be silenced.”

South Africa have named four uncapped players – Quinton de Kock, AaronPhangiso, Farhaan Behardien and Rory Kleinveldt – in their ODI squad forthe three-match series against New Zealand this month. Jacques Kallis wasrested while JP Duminy is still recovering from the Achilles’ injury hesustained in Australia.In keeping with their redesign of limited-overs sides, six of the groupthat last played fifty-over cricket for South Africa in England inSeptember have been left out. Apart from Duminy, whose exclusion wasforced, Dean Elgar, Wayne Parnell, Albie Morkel, Imran Tahir and JustinOntong all missed the cut.Elgar is perhaps the most surprising omission as convenor of selectorsAndrew Hudson said he was “part of their future plans.” He played in allfive fixtures in England, batted in four of them but scored 93 runs and not a single half-century. He has since played Tests for South Africa and may be tasked with focusing on that. Colin Ingram has taken his place for now, having not played for South Africa in a year.Ontong may consider himself unlucky having done well when he was picked in the Twenty20 squad against New Zealand. He played in the final fixture in Port Elizabeth on Boxing Day and brought up his highest score of 48.Tahir was dropped from the Test squad after his disastrous performance inthe Adelaide Test where he conceded 260 runs without taking a wicket. Hehas since been sent back to the domestic game to regain confidence where he took 12 wickets in a first-class fixture this weekend to show that he is slowly getting there.Parnell picked up a wrist niggle which ruled him out of the Twenty20s andit seems he has done the same for the ODIs. He will see a specialist this week to determine an estimated come back period. Morkel has also battled with injury recently and has not overcome his chronic ankle problem. He may even require surgery to overcome the problem completely.Someone who has recovered from an ankle problem is Lonwabo Tsotsobe who hasbeen named in the ODI squad. Tsotsobe was due to play in the T20s againstNew Zealand but needed a two to three week rest period after his ankleflared up. Once the top-ranked ODI bowler in the world, Tsotsobe has alsofallen down the pecking order and will want to rectify that in this series.AB de Villiers returns to captain the side after CSA granted his request tobe rested from the T20s. He is unlikely to keep wickets, however, as part of his workload management program. De Kock will take the gloves, as he didduring the T20 series.The rest of the group is made up of a familiar core of experience withGraeme Smith, Hashim Amla, the pace duo of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel,although both may be rested as the series wears on, and Robin Peterson.Petersen will be partnered by Aaron Phangiso who played in the T20s afteran impressive domestic run. The latest spin decision means that Johan Botha is unlikely to make a comeback. Botha relocated to Australia last October after he asked to be released from his CSA contract and although he remains available for selection, it seems the administration is looking to the future.”We only have the three ODI matches against New Zealand plus another fiveagainst Pakistan to prepare our squad for the Champions Trophy in themiddle of the year,” Hudson said. “The Champions Trophy also marks thehalfway point to the next World Cup so this is a critical part of ourpreparation to win these two major events.”South Africa’s quest for ICC silverware is well documented. The last trophy they won was the ICC KnockOut Trophy, which later became the ChampionsTrophy, in 1998 and tried everything in pursuit of further glory. The nextexperiment in that regard starts with the series against New Zealand.The three matches will be played in Paarl, Kimberley and Potchefstroom,starting on January 19, three days after the second Test is scheduled toend. Ryan McLaren, who is part of the one-day squad, has been called up as cover for the Test squad but will not play. Vernon Philander is nursing a left hamstring strain and is likely to sit out of the Port Elizabeth match.Kleinveldt will take his place and McLaren will only be used in anemergency.South African ODI squad: AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, FarhaanBehardien, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Rory Kleinveldt,Ryan McLaren, Morne Morkel, Robbie Peterson, Aaron Phangiso, Graeme Smith,Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Danish Kaneria’s appeal against the lifetime ban given to him by the ECB was adjourned in London on Monday and is unlikely to resume until the New Year.The adjournment came following legal submissions from both sides and a new date for the hearing will be agreed in due course. Mervyn Westfield was not present on Monday.Kaneria was punished by an ECB disciplinary panel in June for his role in the spot-fixing case involving Westfield when the two were team-mates at Essex in 2009. Westfield was jailed for four months for his part in conceding a set number of runs in an over during a CB40 match against Durham.Westfield, who was banned for five years but can play club cricket after three, gave evidence against Kaneria at the initial ECB hearing, revealing details about how the former Pakistan legspinner introduced him to an Indian businessman known as Arun or Anu Bhatt.Kaneria, who had been warned about Bhatt’s alleged connections to illegal betting, admitted putting the two in contact but claimed he had been trying to distance himself from Bhatt.The PCB said in July that Kaneria would be suspended from playing until the outcome of the appeal was known.

ScorecardJim Allenby’s first hundred of the season and a fighting half-century from Ben Wright ensured that Glamorgan came away with a draw from their County Championship battle with Essex at Colchester.The game ended with the visitors on 260 for 6 in their second innings, an overall lead of 178 after Essex had looked the likely winners 75 minutes into the opening session. After resuming on 16 without loss, the visitors slumped to 63 for 4 as Harbhajan Singh claimed three wickets.In the India offspinner’s opening over, he had Will Bragg caught behind by James Foster pushing forward and, in his next, got rid of first-innings centurion Stewart Walters, the wicketkeeper again holding on. Harbhajan also trapped Nick James lbw for 32 in between paceman Graham Napier bowling Australian Marcus North off an inside edge.But from the precarious position that Glamorgan found themselves in, Wright and Allenby pointed the way to safety with a partnership embracing tenacity and concentration. They defied a succession of bowling changes for well over three hours to deny Essex the victory they required to give themselves a realistic chance of getting into the promotion race.Captain Foster consistently juggled his six-man bowling attack but the fifth-wicket pair were able to survive for 53 overs on a pitch, which despite the early flurry of wickets, generally favoured the batsmen.Wright was first to his fifty containing just four boundaries from 115 balls, while the more aggressive Allenby followed him to that landmark in 87 deliveries with the help of six fours and one maximum. The pair were to add 180, which signalled a record fifth-wicket stand for a visiting side at Castle Park before they were separated. Wright’s fine effort was ended by seamer Charl Willoughby for 83 as Harbhajan accepted a slip catch with the total on 243.Willoughby got rid of Graham Wagg immediately afterwards but long before then, Glamorgan had completed their mission of saving the game and the captains shook hands on a draw. Allenby finished on 103 not out, an effort lasting four and a quarter hours containing 11 fours and two sixes, as the visitors were left to settle for nine points to Essex’s 10.Harbhajan toiled away for 30 overs to claim his three wickets at a cost of 62 runs and emerge with match figures of 7 for 153.

Mark Boucher has successfully undergone eye surgery in Cape Town on Thursday. His medical team said there were no complications during the three-hour procedure, and that the blood accumulated due to the trauma caused by a freak on-field accident had been removed.The extent of damage to the eye was also as expected, and the important parts of the retina were intact. “The outcome looks very positive and the surgeon is pleased with the procedure,” a Cricket South Africa release said.Boucher was forced to end his international career earlier this month after a severe injury caused during a warm-up match against Somerset, when a bail struck him in his left eye. He had already undergone a surgery in England on the day he sustained the injury.It is too early to tell if Boucher will play cricket again, although there have been suggestions that he is interested in representing his franchise, Cape Cobras. He still has to undergo several medical procedures, which could include more surgery.