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ScorecardDawid Malan finished unbeaten on 125•Getty Images

Middlesex team-mates Steven Finn and Dawid Malan shared the individual honours as England Lions took the lead in their three-match series against South Africa A with a clinical team performance at Trent Bridge.Finn took three wickets in an eight-ball burst and there were two wickets each for Tom Curran, Craig Overton and Liam Dawson as the tourists were dismissed for 268 despite significant contributions from opener Reeza Hendricks, who made 79, and wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn, with 81 not out.Then Malan stroked an unbeaten 125, his third century in nine one-day innings for the Lions, to secure a nine-wicket win with more than nine overs to spare. He faced 110 balls and hit 15 fours and a six.Ben Duckett, who had already taken a spectacular diving catch, gave the Lions reply a flying start with a 43-ball half century. The Northamptonshire left-hander fell lbw to the left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi for 69 in an opening stand of 134 inside 18 overs.But Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond, who has been so consistent for the Lions in one-day cricket both in Sri Lanka in the winter and in last summer’s tri-series, joined Malan to maintain the momentum in an unbroken partnership of 135. Bell-Drummond ended with 62 from 76 balls with four fours, the third time in four one-day innings for the Lions he has passed 50.James Vince won the toss and chose to field on a fine Nottingham morning, and it was his early introduction of Dawson’s left-arm spin which broke South Africa’s opening stand. JJ Smuts was bowled swinging across the line at his third ball, and in the next over Overton dismissed the dangerous Theunis de Bruyn courtesy of Ben Foakes’s tumbling low catch to leave the tourists on 42 for 2.Hendricks and Temba Bavuma, who is due to join the senior South Africa squad for their Test tour of England later in the summer, responded with an intelligent third-wicket partnership of 95 for the third wicket.It was Dawson again who made the breakthrough, winning an lbw decision against Hendricks to dismiss the experienced opener for 79 from 73 balls. Again the Lions made it a double strike in the next over, as Tom Curran found some extra bounce to surprise the diminutive Bavuma, and Liam Livingstone caught his top-edged cut running towards the point boundary.That was a good catch but it was eclipsed by Duckett’s effort to dismiss South Africa’s captain Khaya Zondo 10 overs later, one-handed diving full length to his right to give Overton his second wicket. Then Finn took over, trapping Mangaliso Mosehle leg before and seaming the ball away to find the outside edge of first Sisanda Magala, then Shamsi.The Curran brothers, who had shared the new ball, then did likewise with the last two wickets, although they were separated by a stand of 44 between Dane Paterson and Kuhn, a 33-year-old with seven T20 international appearances.Tom Curran earned fine figures of 2 for 39 from his 10 overs, taking his tally of one-day wickets for the Lions to 24 in 12 matches, and Dawson ended with 2 for 41.

Dinesh Karthik will lead the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League 2018. It will be his first season with them, having been bought at the auction in February for INR 7.4 crores (approx USD 1.1 million). An old hand, Robin Uthappa, who was also among the top contenders for the job, has been appointed vice-captain.

Venkatesh Prasad joins Kings XI Punjab

Venkatesh Prasad was announced as Kings XI Punjab’s bowling coach on Sunday. He had recently quit as chairman of India’s junior selection panel in anticipation of picking up a job at the IPL and keeping both positions would have left him on the wrong side of the conflict of interest rules as advocated by the Lodha panel.
Prasad was the bowling coach at Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008 during the first season of the IPL. He then took the same role at Chennai Super Kings from 2009-10 before moving back to Royal Challengers between 2011-13.

Karthik, 32, has been part of the IPL since its inception in 2008, and he has played for five different teams – Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and most recently Gujarat Lions. He has also been stand-in captain for some of those teams, and has long been part of the leadership group with his home state Tamil Nadu.”I think the thing that stood out is that DK is at the age now in his career where he’s got the best years of his career in front of him,” assistant coach Simon Katich told . “He’s been involved in the IPL for 10 years. He’s got a fantastic domestic record captaining Tamil Nadu in the T20 tournament there. I think he’s got a 72% win-rate which is outstanding as a T20 skipper.”Karthik takes over from Gautam Gambhir, who is the Knight Riders’ leading run-scorer and took them to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. Venky Mysore, the CEO of the franchise, said they were keen to retain Gambhir for the 2018 season as well but the player had asked for a fresh start. It appears KKR are also chasing the same by putting a man who is yet to make his debut for them as their captain.”The team that Gambhir led in the last seven years, I think he’s done a fabulous job. “Karthik said. “He’s left a sort of legacy which is the kind of thing I’d like to do, where you leave the team in good hands, and you take a team that was probably doing well and take it to a different level altogether. I would definitely like to be a part of that journey.”Knight Riders went all out to pick up the lynch pins of India’s Under-19 World Cup winning squad – Shubman Gill (approx USD 281,000), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (approx USD 500,000) and Shivam Mavi (approx USD 468,000) – and Karthik was keen to see how they fare in the IPL. “It’s a very young side. There are few very interesting talents from the India Under-19s that we’ve picked up. I’m really looking forward to meeting them, interacting with them and getting the best out of them.”Uthappa, the 32-year old who has played for the Knight Riders since 2014, might have missed out on the chance to lead them on account of limited captaincy experience. He has been at the helm of eight T20 matches, whereas Karthik’s corresponding figure is 18.”To come in at this role is really exciting for me,” Uthappa said. “I’ve been able to add value to the team in the past in different scenarios in different forms. This gives me a more direct impact within the decision-making group so I hope to be adding the kind of value that bring us championships.”I’m sure all of Kolkata will be right behind DK, as will I and as will the rest of the team. I’m going to be available to DK anytime he needs me, always ready to share my inputs. DK and I have known each other since our Under-17 days, so looking forward to working with him”The 11th season of the IPL begins on April 7 in Mumbai.

Criminal charges may result from allegations of corruption in Australian cricket, the ICC has warned, as an investigation began in earnest in the wake of claims that the ongoing third Ashes Test at the WACA has been targeted by spot-fixers.According to a report in The Sun, two men asked the newspaper’s undercover reporters for up to £140,000 (USD187,000) to “spot fix” markets in the third Test, such as the exact amount of runs scored in an over. No individual players on either team were singled out in the report.The ICC responded with a statement from Alex Marshall, general manager anti-corruption, who said there was currently “no evidence” that the Perth Test had been corrupted. He later added that the ACSU would be cross-referencing the new information from The Sun with their existing intelligence, and confirmed that they would push for prosecution if it was deemed that offences had taken place in countries, such as Australia, where match-fixing is a criminal offence.”It is obviously very early stages and our priority on receiving everything from The Sun late last night was to consider whether the integrity of the third Ashes Test had been compromised,” said Marshall. “There is no evidence, either from The Sun or via our own intelligence, to suggest the current Test match has been corrupted. At this stage of the investigation, there is no indication that any players in this Test have been in contact with the alleged fixers.”We are now working through the rest of the information from The Sun as part of what will be a wide-ranging investigation and we will map this against our own existing intelligence and live investigations to look for any corroboration or cross over. We are taking these allegations very seriously and will follow the correct processes of a thorough investigation. We will look for clear and usable evidence that proves or disproves the allegations made. This will include looking for corroboration, speaking to key witnesses and securing all relevant evidential material.”This will not be concluded overnight and we will be working with ACU colleagues from Member countries to investigate every single allegation in full. We will not be making any comment in relation to the identity of any individual names in the dossier whilst this investigation is ongoing.””The allegations are wide ranging and relate to various forms cricket in several countries, including T20 tournaments. We will look closely at all the information as part of our investigation. We ask anyone with information about these allegations to get in touch with the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit via [email protected].”The ACSU’s sentiments were echoed by England and Australia officials. “Cricket Australia takes a zero-tolerance approach against anybody trying to bring the game into disrepute,” said a CA spokesman.”Cricket Australia will co-operate fully with any ICC Anti-Corruption Unit investigation.”Australian cricket has a long-standing, proactive approach to sports integrity management and Cricket Australia has a dedicated Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) to prevent corruption within Australian domestic comptetitons, including the BBL.”In addition to this, all players participating in CA sanctioned competitions, including the BBL, are required to complete an anti-corruption education session before they can compete.”CA works closely with the ICC ACU on all international fixtures played in Australia.”Players are able to report any suspicions they have on a confidential basis and in the past there has been a strong Australian player culture to do so.”An ECB spokesman added: “ECB work closely with the ICC and their Anti-Corruption unit to protect the integrity of the international game. We are aware of these allegations and there is no suggestion that any of the England team is involved in any way.”The game’s most high profile spot-fixing scandal was broken by the now-defunct – sister paper to – in 2010, which led to Pakistan’s Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif being given prison sentences for bowling deliberate no-balls in a Test at Lord’s.Marshall confirmed that similar action could be on the cards if deemed appropriate. Recent legislative changes at state and federal levels have made fixing a criminal offence in Australia and New Zealand, while in the UK it is covered under the Bribery Act.”Nothing has been referred [to the police] as yet because we are still assessing the information,” he said. “If we deem that offences have taken place in countries where match-fixing is illegal then yes we will work with the local police and report our concerns and share information to push for prosecution.””As with any investigation we will use all options available to us should we deem it necessary and appropriate. The ability to download mobile phones is one part of the investigative toolkit for us.””We are conducting a live investigation and will do that by focusing on the facts, intelligence and evidence at hand. We will be looking in detail at the allegations, looking for any corroboration of what has been alleged, either from the Sun’s own investigation or our own intelligence, and we will be examining whether there is any evidence which we can now use and take forward. We will do this without further speculation or comment.”Australia’s wicketkeeper Tim Paine said the allegations had not been a distraction to him during the first day of the Test match, and reiterated that he and others in the team had long been educated about the pitfalls of corruption.”I heard very briefly about it this morning, not a lot else about it,” he said. “What I do know is that all of our guys have been educated on that sort of stuff for a long time, I’ve been contracted since I was 16 and been through it every year, so we certainly know what’s right and wrong and I know there’s no-one in our team who’s involved in any way.”

Match facts

Kolkata Knight Riders v Gujarat Lions
Kolkata, April 21, 2017Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

Head to head

This season: Kolkata Knight Riders thumped Gujarat Lions with 10 wickets and 31 balls to spare, chasing a target of 184.Overall: Lions still lead 2-1

Form guide

• Kolkata Knight Riders (Second): beat Delhi Daredevils by four wickets, beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 17 runs, beat Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets

• Gujarat Lions (Eighth): lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 21 runs, lost to Mumbai Indians by six wickets, beat Rising Pune Supergiant by seven wickets

In the news

This is the mismatch of the season. Kolkata Knight Riders have overcome the loss of one of their biggest players – Andre Russell – so well that another of their biggest players – Shakib Al Hasan – is struggling to break into the XI.Lions are so badly reeling from the absence of Dwayne Bravo that they have tried all but one of their 14 players with international caps. The West Indian allrounder said he was still a “couple of games” away from fully recovering from a hamstring injury so his team has to find a way to cope.

The likely XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Colin de Grandhomme, 3 Robin Uthappa (wk), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Chris Woakes/Shakib Al Hasan, 8 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Umesh Yadav/Piyush Chawla.Gujarat Lions: 1 Brendon McCullum, 2 Dwayne Smith, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Aaron Finch/Jason Roy/James Faulkner, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Ishan Kishan, 8 Andrew Tye, 9 Basil Thampi, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Shadab Jakati

Strategy punt

• There is evidence to suggest Andrew Tye should try bowling more often in the Powerplay. He has given up only one boundary from 18 deliveries in this phase at the IPL. In his last T20 tournament as well – the Big Bash League – he had an economy rate of 4.66 in the first six overs.
• Left-arm spin could be a very useful weapon to have in this match. Brendon McCullum has been dismissed by it 20 times – the most among all IPL batsmen – closely followed by Robin Uthappa on 19. Dinesh Karthik and Manish Pandey have also suffered, with 15 and 14 dismissals respectively. All of these batsmen, barring Karthik, hit left-arm spin at a strike-rate under 115. So could there be a case for Shakib to be drafted in for KKR? Could Jadeja hope to bounce back from his worst IPL figures in the last match?

Stats that matter

• Knight Riders have made a conscious move to be more attacking in the Powerplay. Their average run rate in the first six overs has been 9.90 – the highest among all teams this season. In 2016, the corresponding number was 7.96
• The captain appears fully committed to this plan. Gautam Gambhir hit a boundary every 6.9 balls on average in the Powerplay last year, but in 2017, he smacks them every 3.6 balls. His strike-rate during this stage of the innings is 148.75, a significant rise from the 110.94 in 2016.
• Lions’ bowlers appear ripe for the picking as well. They have taken only four wickets in the Powerplay in IPL 2017. One of their best sources for early strikes, Dhawal Kulkarni, has had an awful time. He took 14 wickets in the first six overs in 2016 – the highest among all bowlers. In 2017, he is yet to pick up one in the Powerplays and has instead recorded his worst economy rate in this phase of the innings across nine years – 10.20.
• Manish Pandey, who is among the top-five run-scorers this year, has only made one run from two innings against Lions. He averages 0.5 against them.

Sam Northeast, who was given permission to speak to other counties last month by Kent, has joined Hampshire on a long-term contract. At least eight clubs were keen to sign him – a greater number, it is believed, than have sought any English cricketer in the past. Northeast almost moved to the Ageas Bowl three years ago and, having been replaced as Kent captain after signalling he would not sign a new contract, now believes he has to play in the first division in order to be in contention for selection by England.At the age of 28, Northeast is approaching his peak years. A batsman in England, according to another former Kent captain, Colin Cowdrey, does not reach his prime until he is 30. So Hampshire are acquiring a proven run-scorer, one who will not be absent through Test cricket or the IPL for the time being and an individual whose family are close friends with Liam Dawson, the Hampshire allrounder, and his family. Northeast is likely to bat at No. 4, coming in after James Vince, England’s most-recent Test No. 3.Geographically, Northeast is better suited to joining Hampshire than Lancashire or Nottinghamshire, although Southampton is too far to commute from the home he bought recently in Canterbury. Essex, the county champions, were keen to sign him as well, but he was unsure where he would fit into their batting order. Joining Sussex, the closest club, and Jason Gillespie – who believed Northeast should have gone to Australia with the full Test party – would have meant remaining in the second division.So for Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, this is a fillip after the disappointment of not being granted an Ashes Test in 2023. His plans to continue developing the club and the Ageas Bowl will continue apace, also, with a proposed second hotel, possibly a boutique one, owing to the high demand on space at the Hilton. Hampshire will have to pay compensation to buy Northeast out of the remaining year of his contract, but it will not be the equivalent of his salary. An official announcement is expected next week.Kent maintain that they offered Northeast one of the best contracts in their history to stay with them beyond this season. Although the captaincy is an annual appointment, they were not prepared to allow him to remain as captain for this year unless he signed an extension. “We wanted to plan for the future and spoke to Sam for several months, but he did not want to stay,” said a spokesman.Northeast, who grew up on the Kent coast at Deal and first played for Kent when still at school, was told last year by Matt Walker, the head coach, that he was not their preferred choice of captain. Their relationship broke down irretrievably – to the extent that Northeast stayed away from the St Lawrence ground and practised instead at Beckenham. He has also been frustrated by the club’s shortage of finance – largely caused by poor management in the past – and, despite a number of talented young players on the staff, not gaining promotion.He sought a meeting last month with Simon Philip, the new chairman, but discovered that only Jamie Clifford, the chief executive who was on the cusp of leaving to join MCC, and Graham Johnson, the chairman of the cricket committee who is not standing for re-election to the main committee at the annual meeting this spring, would be present. In that Kent have to start the new season without Sam Billings, their new captain, who will be tied up with the IPL, quite apart from not having Northeast’s runs to play with, this change appears to make little sense. Billings will miss the first five or six Championship matches of the summer.In terms of the breakdown of communication and lack of information to the club’s supporters and members, this sorry episode is uncannily reminiscent of the departure of Mike Denness, the most successful captain in Kent’s history, and who had captained England, in 1976. What Kent would give now for the two trophies he won that season.

ScorecardMatt Parkinson claimed five wickets on debut to propel Lancashire into a strong position•Simon Pendrigh

‘Mutare vel timere sperno’, as they rarely say in Horwich. And the Bolton School motto – ‘I scorn to change or to fear’ – carried a rich resonance on the third day of this game at Emirates Old Trafford.For it was one Old Boltonian, Matt Parkinson, who displayed unwavering accuracy as he took five wickets on debut to give his side an advantage; and it was another, Haseeb Hameed, who exhibited no fear as he sought to preserve that advantage with an unbeaten 81 against a strong Warwickshire fightback led by the Manchester-born seamer Keith Barker.By the close, Lancashire had extended their 45-run lead on first innings to 215 but they achieved that slight advantage only at the cost of five prime wickets. This quite marvellous game remains finely balanced going into the final day and perhaps it is only right that two 19-year-old cricketers have played important roles in the four-act drama.For although thousands of children did not reappear at Old Trafford on Wednesday, a childlike simplicity lingered on. It was best expressed at 12.35 when Parkinson turned the ball through a gap between Olly Hannon-Dalby’s bat and pad which was not so much a gate as a portico. That wicket completed the leg spinner’s first five-wicket return at a cost of 49 runs from 23.1 beautifully disciplined and skilful overs.The recent history of English cricket is strewn with the reputations of promising young leggies. Some are now specialist batsmen; others are selling VHS recorders. Leg spin can be a thankless calling. So let us murmur a quiet prayer as we say that Parkinson is one to watch. His accuracy, his economy and, more than anything else, his ability to turn the ball suggest he has a fine future.On Tuesday he removed Jonathan Trott and Varun Chopra. On Wednesday he had Barker, who made 64, caught by Neil Wagner at short fine leg when sweeping and he then mopped up the tail. Each wicket saw him embraced by his team mates and the members rose to him as he walked off into the distant dressing rooms at Old Trafford, still clutching the ball with which he had become only the second leg-spinner to take five wickets on Championship debut since the war. In less than a day Lancashire supporters have gone from: ‘Who’s this lad, Parkinson’ to ‘Parky’. If he takes more wickets in the second innings, there may be folk songs.But this game has been the finest entertainment because both Lancashire and Warwickshire have played excellent cricket, albeit spiced with occasional fallibility. Tim Ambrose’s undefeated 70 in the visitors’ first innings was a tribute to understated, professional efficiency and when Lancashire had progressed smoothly if slowly to 87 for the loss of Tom Smith, Ian Bell’s bowlers proved for the third time in this match that this is a wicket on which one wicket often brings four.In the third over after tea Luke Procter’s defensive push merely edged a catch to Chopra at slip. Four overs later, Alviro Petersen came down the wicket to the same bowler but only chipped a catch to Rikki Clarke at a slightly short cover. Croft, perhaps knackered by leadership, his first-innings century and over a hundred overs’ wicketkeeping, played a tired defensive shot to his first ball and nicked off to Ambrose. And when Patel had Karl Brown caught at the wicket for one just three balls later, Lancashire had lost three wickets in five balls and four batsmen had been swept aside for 17 runs in five overs.Hameed watched all this from the other end with no doubt increasing concern yet his technique remained quite unaltered. At its most serene the Lancashire opener’s batting is as calming as a Chopin nocturne, as reassuring as the late-night shipping forecast. There were boundaries in his innings, five of them, in fact, and not all of them behind the wicket. Pulled fours off Barker and Rankin provided evidence of attacking capability yet Hameed’s first instinct is, as yet, to make his wicket hard to take. ‘Something there is that doesn’t love a wall’ wrote Robert Frost. But then he never saw the great Rahul Dravid.And in the last 90 minutes of play Hameed was joined by Livingstone, whose lovely ability to hit the ball very hard made him a perfect foil for his partner. This pair added 66 in an unbroken stand that left Lancashire slightly ahead in this game, if only because they have the runs on the board. Livingstone’s 39 not out has already included cover-driven boundaries off Patel and a wondrous pick-up for six off Clarke which sailed deep into the crowd at long on.Hameed, for his part has batted 268 minutes, faced 223 balls and is 19 runs short of what will be the first of many hundreds. When he returned to the dressing room, he no doubt received the congratulations of Parkinson, the happy courtesy of earlier in the day equally happily returned.And perhaps it is not surprising that Parkinson and Hameed should join forces. This area has never been short of effective double acts: Jack Simmons and David Hughes, David Lloyd and Barry Wood, Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst. And now they have Has ‘n’ Parky, appearing soon at a cricket ground near you.Some would counsel caution, of course. They would say that to be a young cricketer is to receive a crash course in life’s turbulence. They might echo the final words of another Boltonian, the grumpy and troubled Ezra Fitton in Roy Boulting’s 1966 film “That’s life, son. At your age it’ll make you laugh but one day it’ll break your bloody heart.”But no. It would be better for both Hameed and Parkinson to pay no attention whatever to the words of that rather miserable old bugger. For the moment, they live in the green world of debuts, new grounds and first experiences. But maybe we all do, if we would only open our eyes…and look.

Sri Lanka fast bowler Shaminda Eranga’s bowling action has been cleared and he can resume bowling in international cricket. Eranga underwent a reassessment of his action at the ICC accredited testing centre in Chennai with the conclusion that the amount of elbow extension in his standard deliveries was within the 15-degree level allowed by the ICC.Eranga’s bowling action was found illegal in June last year after it was reported following the second Test in England. His action was assessed in Loughborough on June 6 when it was found illegal.Incidentally, he was suspended from bowling in international cricket on the same day as he was hospitalised for experiencing an elevated heartbeat.Eranga had played the third Test against England after his action was reported and the subsequent two ODIs against Ireland in June. He has not played any competitive cricket since then.

ScorecardAssociated Press

Bangladesh A took a 2-0 lead against Ireland A after their eight-wicket win in the third unofficial ODI in Cox’s Bazar. Left-arm fast bowler Abu Hider starred with the ball, bagging a three-for, as the visitors were skittled out only for 103 runs. The home side won with 27 overs to spare.Andy Balbirnie’s decision to bat first backfired for the entire Ireland A batting line-up, barring himself. His 90-ball 52 amounted to more than half of the team total and featured three fours and a six. Having come in at No. 3, he added 48 runs for the seventh wicket with Shane Getkate, whose 23 was the only other double-digit score by an Ireland batsman other than Balbirnie’s.After Balbirnie fell to legspinner Tanbir Hayder in the 33rd over, Ireland added one more run at the expense of the last three wickets.Hider took out three of the top five batsmen – Stuart Poynter, Sean Terry and Simi Singh – while Sunzamul Islam and Hayder bagged two each. Subashis Roy, Abul Hasan and Al Amin also took one wicket apiece.Both openers got starts but failed to sustain their innings. Anamul Haque, playing his first match of the series, fell for 20, while Shadman could only amass 24. Captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto subsequently took Bangladesh A home with an unbeaten 41 off 38 balls.The fourth and fifth ODIs are scheduled to be held on October 25 and 26 in Cox’s Bazar.

Former South Africa fast bowler Makhaya Ntini’s contract as Zimbabwe’s bowling coach is unlikely to be renewed when it expires in January next year, and he may even be released before that date. Ntini is on a two-year deal that started in January last year.

Zimbabwe squad for three one-dayers against Netherlands

Graeme Cremer (captain), Regis Chakabva, Peter Moor, Solomon Mire, Hamilton Masakadza, Sean Williams, Craig Ervine, Chamu Chibhabha, Sikandar Raza, Donald Tiripano, Christopher Mpofu, Richard Ngarava, Tarisai Musakanda, Ryan Burl, Malcolm Waller, Tendai Chatara

ESPNcricinfo understands that complaints from several players about Ntini’s approach have forced Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) administration to let Ntini go. With the World Cup qualifiers due to be played in March next year, ZC would prefer that process to take place earlier than his contract’s expiration date, so that they can find a replacement ahead of the tournament.But, ZC’s managing director Faisal Hasnain said discussions about Ntini, or anyone else’s contract, had not yet begun and that any suggestion that Ntini had been fired was untrue.”ZC denies in the strongest possible terms any suggestions that Makhaya has been sacked. When his contract comes up for renewal, will we deal with it in the manner we deal with all our contracts,” Hasnain said. “Makhaya is a valued member of our staff, he is highly respected and he has done some great work. He has his hands full preparing the team for the matches against Netherlands, Pakistan A and then the two Tests against West Indies.”Zimbabwe will be playing three 50-over matches against Netherlands in Harare next week and have named a strong squad for the series, although they will be without Brendan Taylor, who has been allowed a few days off after his return to the country. Taylor was released from his Nottinghamshire contract last week and will be available for Zimbabwe’s series against West Indies.Zimbabwe are pinning a lot of hopes on Taylor’s comeback and the revamped structures to see them through to the 2019 World Cup but are planning to get there without Ntini. The South African has not obtained any coaching qualifications prior to or since getting the job, though he has gained significant experience.After almost six months under Dav Whatmore, Ntini was appointed interim head coach when Whatmore was sacked at the end of May. Ntini took charge of Zimbabwe for three ODIs and three T20s against India and two Tests against New Zealand. Zimbabwe lost all but one of the T20s. Ntini was then relieved of the head coach job in October, when Heath Streak took over but he stayed on as a member of Streak’s support staff.The Zimbabwe job was Ntini’s first foray into coaching after his international retirement in 2010. He is one of the ambassadors of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stars, the Port Elizabeth-based team in the Global T20 League, South Africa’s franchise tournament which kicks off in November.

ScorecardFile photo: Assad Vala struck his second successive I-cup century•IDI/Getty

Stand-in captain Assad Vala scored an unbeaten 144 in the first innings to set up Papua New Guinea’s 199-run win over Namibia at Port Moresby in their first Intercontinental-Cup match at home. It was PNG’s second win in the competition, moving them past Scotland and Hong Kong into fourth place with 40 points from four games and putting them just six points behind Netherlands for third.Vala, who took over captaincy for the injured Jack Vare, elected to bat and scored his second century in as many I-Cup matches after making 120 in January against Ireland. It set up PNG’s first-innings total of 311. Namibia struggled in reply after medium-pacer Norman Vanua took 3 for 39 to reduce the visitors to 52 for 6.Captain Sarel Burger produced an unbeaten half-century to keep Vanua at bay and added 52 for the eighth wicket with JJ Smit. Part-time bowler Lega Siaka broke the stand, removing Smit lbw for his maiden first-class wicket and then finished off the tail to hold Namibia to 146, giving first-innings points to PNG with a lead of 165.PNG elected not to enforce the follow-on and Vani Morea opened their second innings with a brisk 61 off 86 balls. Left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz kept Namibia in the match by ripping through PNG’s middle order to take 6 for 65, to finish with 11 for 170 in the match. His effort helped keep the hosts to 189 in their second innings, setting up a target of 355 for Namibia.As they had done in the first innings, Vanua and Siaka did most of the damage early. Vanua helped reduce Namibia to 14 for 4. Siaka finished with 4 for 38, and a match haul of 7 for 54.