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The USA Cricket Association has announced plans to hire a new chief executive by October 19. The association has been without a full-time chief executive since the dismissal of the former chief Don Lockerbie in November 2010. USACA, which has not held a national tournament this year, also declared that multiple tournaments will be organised before the end of the year.At the same time, the press release has sparked more administrative dysfunction within USACA. Internal emails obtained from sources by ESPNcricinfo suggest a widening rift between USACA executive secretary Kenwyn Williams and other members of the board.In the October 5 release, USA’s governing body presented an update of its 100-day plan, which was initially drafted at a USACA board meeting on May 19. Among the objectives laid out in the original 100-day plan were that USACA would approve a short list of candidates for the chief executive position currently held by interim CEO Nabeel Ahmed within 90 days.USACA also pledged to have a model in place for youth and women’s cricket development. On August 11, USACA issued a subsequent press release stating that a national women’s tournament was being planned for the month of September in Philadelphia. The tournament never happened, which follows the pattern of the national Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and men’s tournaments which were all scheduled to take place between January and August but none of which occurred.However, USACA has now pledged to hold a women’s tournament “in the near future.” The release also states that high performance clinics and coaching sessions will be conducted by Robin Singh in the USA by November 19 to begin preparation for ICC WCL Division Three, which takes place from April 28-May 5 in Bermuda. USACA also declared that it will hold a national men’s tournament by December 19.The release drew Williams’ ire after it was posted on without his knowledge. Last month, Williams started a new USACA web site, , after increasing frustration over the inactivity of , which is managed by USACA vice-president Rafey Syed. After the press release was posted on , Williams sent an email to the board on October 8 to chastise them for once again leaving him out of the communication loop. He pushed to have the press release taken down from because he had nothing to do with the “drafting or distribution” of it and instead attached a different press release to be published on which touted Williams’ goals for women’s cricket.”My tolerance for the unprofessionalism of this organisation has reached its limit,” Williams wrote in the email. “From the unethical behaviour of some of its members to the greed exhibited by others. Take notice that this board is divided and as such cannot carry on with the business of USA Cricket. As the executive secretary of USACA, I will move to rectify that division. I have worked to bring a sense of calm and respect to the organisation and at the flip [sic] of an egotistical switch all that is washed away.”USACA president Gladstone Dainty responded to Williams by stating that Williams’ approval wasn’t needed for a press release to be posted on the USACA website. Dainty also chided Williams for his methods of communication. In addition to his strident tone with administrators, Williams manages USACA’s social media pages where stakeholders and visitors who voice their disagreement or disapproval over certain content are often met with hostile and insulting responses.”I authorised the posting of the press release,” Dainty wrote back to Williams. “To the ICC officials, your colleagues and other stake holders, your communication has been rude and demeaning. The vast majority of your [sic] colleagues find you stressful to deal with. So I will not force them to work with you unless you, at minimum, respect opinions and communicate more professionally.”

Crushed by nine wickets in Wednesday’s first leg, Eastern Province found the bowlers to square their Standard Bank Cup semi-final against KwaZulu-Natal with a 28-run-run victory at Kingsmead on Friday night that takes the two sides into a sudden-death third leg at the same venue on Sunday.Where EP both batted and bowled poorly on Wednesday, they rediscovered their game on Friday, defending a total of 225 for eight by bowling Natal out for 197 in 40.5 overs.Meyrick Pringle broke through the top of the Natal batting with a beautiful opening spell of controlled swing bowling that reduced the home side to 27 for three and then when he came off, Nantie Hayward took over.Left out of the EP team on Wednesday, Hayward returned to bowl a characteristic mixture of wides and unplayable balls to take three wickets as the middle order crumbled and at 52 for six Natal seemed dead and buried.But not as far as Lance Klusener was concerned. The left-hander smashed 51 off just 32 balls to revive Natal hopes and it seemed another 10 overs of his hitting might turn the game around completely. But there was yet another twist to come as Dave Callaghan came into the attack to concede a six and a four off his first four balls before bowling Klusener off a bottom edge.Callaghan then trapped Jon Kent leg before at 125 for eight but it wasn’t quite finished. Shaun Pollock and Eldine Baptiste put on for the ninth wicket, but when Pollock went, miscuing a pull off Garnett Kruger to mid on, Natal had to resign themselves to returning to the same ground on Sunday.Last man in Jon Bastow hit Hayward for six, but was bowled by a slower one to give Hayward figures of four for 42 while Pringle ended with three for 29.Earlier, EP had improved on their dismal batting on Wednesday night, but still seemed to have left themselves short as Gulam Bodi produced best ever figures of five for 46 in his nine overs.The visitors were given a much improved start with Robin Peterson pushed up the order to open and he responded by clubbing 38 off just 29 balls. He was out the ball after colliding heavily with the Natal wicketkeeper Errol Stewart, but Callaghan and James Bryant added 59 for the fourth wicket to steady the innings with Callaghan eventually making 56 and Bryant 44.EP, however, never really managed to push it through as Gulam Bodi, bowling left-arm wristspin came into the attack, taking best ever figures of five for 46. His victims included both Bryant and Callaghan and he also managed to give Stewart two stumpings.The real value of his spell, though, was to check EP in their tracks by taking his wickets at regular intervals and the visiting side surely ended their innings believing they had fallen 15 or 20 short of a total that once seemed to be within their grasp.

Gulam Bodi’s trip to the West Indies is over before it started. The KwaZulu-Natal left-arm spinner fractured the little finger of his left hand over the weekend and he will not be travelling to the Caribbean as scheduled to replace Nicky Boje in the squad for the forthcoming one-day series against the West Indies.Details of how Bodi injured himself were unclear on Sunday, but it is believed that the finger was broken while playing Lancashire League cricket on Saturday. It has been confirmed that instead of flying out of England for the West Indies, he will probably now return to South Africa.The 22-year-old Bodi was named to replace Boje when the Test spinner withdrew from South Africa’s West Indian tour to return home for surgery to injured tendons in his left shoulder.No replacement for Bodi has been named yet, but an announcement in this regard might be made on Monday.

Dominic Ostler battered Gloucestershire to their second National League defeat of the season with his maiden century in the competition under the Egbaston floodlights.Ostler’s 134 not out equalled Nick Knight’s Warwickshire-best individual score in the league and laid the foundations for a comfortable 39-run win. There were 12 fours and three sixes in Ostler’s 114-ball innings, but his last 84 runs came from just 44 balls as Gloucestershire failed to contain him.Gloucestershire felt the absence of Ian Harvey, their influential Australian all-rounder, as they lacked his improvisational skills and their bowling and fielding became unusually ragged under the mounting pressure. Warwickshire plundered 118 runs from their last ten overs with Ostler and Trevor Penney scoring 113 of them in a rapid fifth wicket stand.Penney unselfishly gave Ostler the strike and he responded by milking the short Pershore Road boundary. But Penney also struck five fours in his unbeaten 30 and helped Ostler take 23 off James Averis’s expensive final over.Gloucestershire always faced an uphill struggle to overhaul such a daunting target under temporary floodlights and despite a flurry of boundaries from Matt Windows, Reggie Williams and Martyn Ball they subsided quietly to 209 all out.

Sri Lanka cricketers stole the limelight in the four Mercantile `A’division cricket matches played on Saturday.Off-spinner Kumar Dharmasena performed a hat-trick on his way to taking six wickets for 13 runs off seven overs as he guided Hatton National Bank to a thumping 173-run win over John Keells at the Moors grounds.Dharmasena’s deadly spell saw John Keells shot out for a paltry 71 runs off 26 overs in reply to HNB’s total of 244 for 7 in 50 overs. Following a rousing start of 59 off 49 balls of which Avishka Gunawardana made 41 off 33 balls (8 fours), skipper Russel Arnold maintained the tempo hitting an unbeaten half-century off 101 balls to give HNB the winning total.Former Sri Lanka batsman Hahan Tillakaratne hit an undefeated 88 off 132 balls with a six and three fours to steer Singer to an exciting two-wicket win over East-West at the NCC grounds. Chasing a moderate East-West total of 198, Singer were greatly in debt to Tillakaratne who kept up his end to secure the win.Aravinda de Silva put behind allegations of match-fixing behind him to come up with fine all-round performance which gave Access a comfortable six-wicket win over Janashakthi at the Colts grounds.De Silva captured three wickets for 13 runs with hi wily off-breaks and then hit an undefeated 31 to enable Access pass the total, after national player Indika de Saram had set the pace with a scintillating knock of 60 off 47 balls inclusive of one six and nine fours.Seylan Bank got the better of Sampath Bank by five wickets at Bloomfield grounds following a good all-round performance from Tilan Samaraweera, who is tipped to lead Sri Lanka `A’ against Pakistan `A’ in next month’s series.Samaraweera took two wickets for 46 runs and hit an unbeaten 55 off 59 balls with three sixes and one four as Seylan Bank passed Sampath’s total of 204 for 9, in the 48th over. Seylan choosing to bat first were in dire straits at 106 for 7, and it was their eighth wicket pair of Shantha Kalavitigoda and Rangana Herath who got them past the 200-mark total by adding 92 run off 106 balls. Kalavitigoda finished unbeaten on 54 off 82 balls, and Herath made 46 off 67 balls.

When he announced his retirement from first-class cricket in1987, Sunil Gavaskar had made 34 Test centuries, more than anyoneelse in the history of the game. Don Bradman, with 29 hundreds,had stood at the pinnacle all alone for 35 years until the mastertechnician from India got century number 30 against the WestIndies at Madras in December 1983.By the time he played his last Test against Pakistan at Bangalorein March 1987, Gavaskar had raised that figure to 34. Till today,that has remained the benchmark for other batsmen. It is a targetthat eluded Gavaskar’s great contemporaries Vivian Richards andGreg Chappell, while Allan Border, who surpassed the Indian’srecord Test aggregate of 10,122 runs, had to be satisfied with 27hundreds. After all these years, the figure after Gavaskar’s 34still remains Bradman’s 29. Of course, Sachin Tendulkar, with 28hundreds, seems resolutely on course to better Gavaskar’s record.But how and where did it all start? It took Gavaskar 125 Testsand 16 years to get 34 hundreds. Hundred number came in only hissecond Test at the Bourda ground in Georgetown, Guyana, on hismaiden tour with the Indian team ­ the epoch-making trip of theCaribbean islands in 1971.It is now exactly 31 years since Gavaskar got the hundred thatstarted him off on his record-breaking tally. Even though he wasa newcomer, Gavaskar was one of the certainties in the Indiansquad to tour the West Indies, largely because of his talent andhis potential to run up big scores. At school in the mid-60s, hehad rattled off many double hundreds, and during the 1970-71season, he scored 327 in the Inter-University tournament for theRohintan Baria Trophy to set aside Ajit Wadekar’s long-standingrecord of 324, made in 1958-59.But Gavaskar had to miss the first Test because of treatment toan injured finger, and he made his debut only in the second Testat Port-of-Spain. Scores of 65 and 67 not out that played animportant role in India’s historic seven-wicket victory confirmedhis class. In the next Test, he displayed his propensity towardsbig scores.The West Indies led off with 363, and Gavaskar and Ashok Mankadopened the Indian innings after the tea interval on the secondday. The two put on 72 runs before Mankad was out for 40.Gavaskar and Wadekar then took the score to 114 without furtherloss at stumps. Gavaskar was batting on 48 and Wadekar on 16.Within minutes of the resumption of play on the third day, SundayMarch 21, Wadekar, in the midst of a lean trot, departed withoutadding to his score. This brought together Gavaskar and GundappaViswanath, who were to be the country’s batting bulwarksthroughout the 70s. The two were playing in tandem in a Testmatch for the first time and celebrated with a third-wicketassociation of 112 runs.All along, Gavaskar had batted with the assurance of a veteranrather than as a 21-year-old playing only his second Test. But hewas also the beneficiary of some good fortune. When he was onsix, he cut at a short rising ball from Grayson Shillingford. Itflew like a bullet straight at Garry Sobers, who got his hands toit but dropped the ball. Then, on 94, he was again dropped bySobers off Jack Noreiga. As he recalls in : “Atthe end of the over, Garry stood in front of me and said ‘Maan,why are you after me? Can’t you find some other fielder?’Fortune, however, favoured the brave. As he was nearing hiscentury, dark clouds began gathering over the ground, and itstarted to drizzle. Play continued. Then, when he was on 98, raincaused a slight interruption. Already displaying the temperamentthat was to become his trademark, Gavaskar kept his nerve and,almost immediately after play resumed, he got to his first Testcentury.Gavaskar describes his feelings in his autobiography. “Manypeople must be wondering as to what is the feeling when one getsa century in Tests. My own reaction was simply to think of myparents who had given me every encouragement and that they wouldbe beaming when the news reached them.” Simple, yet with theright touch of sentiment.Shortly afterwards there was yet another stoppage due to rain.When play resumed, Sobers took the new ball and operated from oneend himself. Shortly Gavaskar, in trying to force Sobers into thecovers, edged the ball to Joey Carew at second slip. His firstTest century saw him bat almost four-and-a-half hours for 116,and he was third out at 228.In many ways, it was a knock typical of his batting approach,based on sound technique, an unruffled temperament, fiercedetermination, intense concentration, solid defence and a widerange of strokes. Almost exactly 16 years later, he played hislast Test match with another 33 hundreds against his name. But asanyone would agree, the first of anything is always special, andGavaskar’s maiden Test hundred will no doubt occupy an honouredplace in his long and illustrious career.

Hampshire recorded their first victory of the season, defeating Surrey at the Oval in the Benson & Hedges Cup match, by the narrowest of margins.Surrey won the toss and put Hampshire in on a greenish looking wicket, and a damp outfield, following heavy rain overnight. The groundstaff had worked hard to prepare this for a prompt start.With the forecast of showers, Hampshire got off to a good start, with pinch-hitter James Hamblin and Zimbabwean Neil Johnson posting 50 in 7.1 overs before Hamblin, attempting another big hit skied a catch to Butcher, running back from the slips.Johnson was next to go, edging a lifting ball from Tudor to the slips. As has happened in Hampshire’s past two innings, the middle order collapsed and 100-1 soon became 140-6. Robin Smith, who had been short on runs so far this season came to the rescue and with support from Giles White and Shaun Udal took the score to a respectable 243.Surrey quickly lost skipper Mark Butcher, who edged to Alan Mullally to wicket-keeper Nic Pothas, but Alec Stewart and Mark Ramprakash steadied the innings in a partnership of 70 before the latter became the first of Gold Award winner Udal’s four scalps.Stewart went for 52, but it was Azhar Mahmood, Surrey’s temporary overseas player who struck the ball for a 37-ball half century before he was brilliant run out by Will Kendall, who at that time was captaining the side after Robin Smith had left the field, feeling unwell.Mahmood and Tudor took Surrey from requiring nine an over in the last ten down to a more obtainable 6.5, but with Ian Salisbury joining Tudor, this exciting game fell to the home side needing 9 runs to level the scores, thus winning by losing the least wickets.The responsibility for the last over fell to young Chris Tremlett but apart from a wide, he contained the hosts to just eight, giving Hampshire victory by a single run.A feature of the Surrey innings was the Hampshire bowling. Mullally was at his tidy best, Udal bowled with his experienced skill taking a career best Benson & Hedges tally, but the surprise package was ten overs from Will Kendall, who, although conceding 42 runs bowled a steady line when Surrey were attempting to throw the bat.Couple the bowling with the excellent ground fielding of the Hampshire players, the victory, albeit narrow, was well deserved.

Hampshire recorded an exiting 3 run victory over Middlesex at The Rose Bowl, but it was too late to qualify for the Quarter Final stages of the Benson & Hedges Cup.

The inability of the middle order has been Hampshire’s downfall in this year’s competition, but this was put right with two of their number, John Crawley and Giles White who saved the innings after a bad start. With three wickets down for 41, these two batted with extreme care, before opening their shoulders. White finally fell at the end of a 127 run partnership for a well executed 60, then with help from wicket-keeper Nic Pothas, Crawley completed his first Limited-Overs century for his new club winning him the Gold Award, to take the home side to a comfortable 237 run total.Angus Fraser playing his last match for Middlesex before becoming a journalist was the tidiest of the bowlers taking 2/34 in his 10 overs.Middlesex began as Hampshire had, losing 2 wickets cheaply, but as with the home sides innings they rallied with Owais Shah and Ed Joyce bring the game round. Many of the batsmen contributed, but some indifferent shots when going strong was their downfall. Middlesex who had more to gain from a victory than their hosts came agonisingly close to victory against a Hampshire attack so weakened that they had to rely of occasional bowlers Prittipaul and Will Kendall captaining the side in Robin Smith’s absence with a shoulder problem.Dimitri Mascarenhas was the pick of their bowlers, with a tidy spell from Mullally, but with Middlesex requiring 11 to win from the last over, Kendall held his head to restrict them to 7.So, the curtain comes down on Hampshire’s 31 year history in the Benson & Hedges Cup, winning 66 of the 142 matches played over the years, and winning the competition in 1988 and 1992.

Easton & Martyr Worthy’s unbeaten spell as early season Southern Electric Premier League, Division 2 leaders is over after a 46-run defeat by the Hampshire Academy.They lost top spot to United Services, who inched a point ahead after whipping Hungerford by seven wickets at Portsmouth Grammar School.But Easton, who lost control of affairs in a key three-over spell immediately before tea, showed just why they had made such a bright start to the season.A three-wicket spell by new West Indian army recruit Keith Brewster (3-52) had the Academy wobbling at 62-4 (Iain Brunnschweiler 34).The Young Hawks, parading four Under-17s in their top six, were revived by Lawrie Prittipaul (63) and Tom Burrows (30), who doubled the score before Steve Green (3-42) broke through.Ian Hilsum (21) took the total on to 192-7, but when Luke Merry (24) and James Schofield took 30 runs off the final three overs, the Academy were sitting pretty at 230-7.Fresh from four straight wins, Easton needed one of their top five to make a big score – but it did not materialise. They dipped to 50-4 and 82-5 before Brewster’s defiant 47 boosted their flagging fortunes.But Prittipaul (3-37) ripped out the middle-order, leaving Easton to taste their first defeat at 184-9.United Services leapfrogged into pole position, overhauling Hungerford’s 175-8 to win by seven wickets at Hilsea. Owen Dawkins (67) and Steve Wyatt (35) top scored in Hungerford’s 175-8.But a century second-wicket partnership between Portsmouth University students James Robson (65) and Tom Clark (59 not out) guided US to within sight of an important victory.Fourth-wicket pair Tim Richings (66 not out) and Andy Heyes (62 not out) shared an unbroken century partnership to guide Sparsholt to a third successive win over Lymington at the Norman Edwards Memorial Ground.Having bowled Lymington out for 181, Sparsholt were 68-3 when Richings and Heyes came together.Left-armer Mike Ball (4-23) shone for Sparsholt, removing openers Aaron Heal (23) and Glyn Treagus before Ben Craft (58), supported by Martin Hunt (26) and Matt Malloy (22), provided the bulk of Lymington’s runs.Winchester KS moved off the bottom for the first time this season after Paul Marks (37 not out) and Raj Naik (27 not out) set up a six-wicket win over Rowledge at River Park.Basement new boys Rowledge struggled for runs after being put into bat and were dismissed for 128, with teenage spinner Rhys Oxley (4-26) cutting through the lower order.Chris Yates (2-29) and David Lloyd (2-24) shared the spoils as Winchester slipped to 79-4 before Marks and Naik set up a second consecutive win.Old Tauntonians & Romsey tailenders Jeff Stothert (21) and Mukesh Morjaria (13 not out) put on 28 in a frantic last-wicket stand before Trojans all-rounder Paul Douglas broke the partnership off the penultimate ball to force a 141-run each tie at Romsey.Trojans 141 all out (Mario Mohamed 54) appeared a long way off when the pair came together at 113-9 with OTs facing probable defeat.But OTs, who had earlier dipped to 49-6 against Douglas (4-28) and Jamie Donaldson (2-29), rallied through Jeremy Ord (26) and Stothert.They were on the brink of an unexpected victory at 141-9 when, two balls from the end, Douglas had Stothert caught at cover by Mohamed.

Charles Dagnall launches his bid for a first team return with three one-day matches next week.The former Warwickshire seamer, who joined the Grace Road staff this summer, has undergone a manipulative operation in an attempt to cure the hip problem which has been plaguing him since the early part of the season.Although he has played in the Championship games against Lancashire,Hampshire, Sussex and Yorkshire he has not appeared in any of Leicestershire’s one-day games.But he is hopeful that the latest treatment will sort out the hip problem and plans to test it out next week. Dagnall has been pencilled in to play in the one-day matches against Northants and Middlesex for the Second X1 on Tuesday and Thursday, plus the one-day match against the Indian tourists at Grace Road on Wednesday.Dagnall said: “If all goes well I will bowl 10 overs on each day, and that should give me a good idea whether the treatment has worked.”In addition to Dagnall there could be some other players given the opportunity to show what they can do against the Indians. Youngsters Stephen Adshead and Ashley Wright along with Rob Cunliffe, who is recovering from a broken finger,are all likely to be included.